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Ewen Montagu

Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu (29 March 1901 – 19 July 1985) was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer, and author.

He is best known for his leading role in Operation Mincemeat, a critical military deception operation that misdirected German forces' attention away from the Allied invasion of Sicily ("Operation Husky").

Montagu was president of the United Synagogue from 1954 to 1962, and President of the Anglo-Jewish Association from December 1949 on.

Life and career
Montagu was born in 1901, the second son of Gladys, Baroness Swaythling (née Goldsmid) and Louis Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling. His family was Jewish. He was educated at Westminster School before becoming a machine gun instructor during the First World War at a United States Naval Air Station. After the war he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and at Harvard University. He was admitted to the Middle Temple on 22 November 1920 and was called to the Bar on 14 May 1924. One of his more celebrated cases as a junior barrister was the defence of Alma Rattenbury in 1935 against a charge of murdering her 30-years-older husband, the architect Francis Rattenbury, who was savagely beaten with a mallet at the Villa Madeira in Bournemouth. He took silk in 1939.

Naval intelligence
Montagu was a keen yachtsman, and enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1938. Because of his legal background he was reassigned to specialized study. From there he was assigned to the Royal Navy's East Yorkshire headquarters at Hull as an assistant staff officer in intelligence. Montagu served in the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander RNVR. He was the Naval Representative on the XX Committee, which oversaw the running of double agents.

Operation Mincemeat
While Commanding Officer of NID 17M, Montagu and Squadron Leader Charles Cholmondeley RAFVR conceived Operation Mincemeat, a major deception operation. Montagu had the idea of having a corpse dressed as a British officer wash ashore in Spain, carrying faked papers revealing plans for invasion of Greece (the real target was Sicily). The location chosen was where pro-German Spanish officials would show the papers to German agents. Montagu manufactured a false identity, "William Martin", for the body of Glyndwr Michael to have in his pockets: military ID, theatre ticket stubs, love letters and a photo of his fiancée, bills from a tailor and jeweller. To follow the normal wartime procedure that dead or missing officers were required to be listed in the obituary column of The Times, Acting Major William Martin was so listed in the edition of 4 June 1943.

The Germans were fooled completely. German documents found after the war showed that the false information went all the way to Hitler's headquarters, and led to German forces being diverted to Greece. The invasion of Sicily was a success. Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper called it the best deception in the history of military deception. For his role in Operation Mincemeat, Montagu was appointed to the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire. In November 2021 the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, working with the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women and the London Borough of Hackney placed a memorial at the Hackney Mortuary, where the corpse had been prepared.

Later career
From 1945 to 1973 Montagu held the position of Judge Advocate of the Fleet. He wrote The Man Who Never Was (1953), an account of Operation Mincemeat that was adapted as a theatrical film three years later. Montagu also wrote Beyond Top Secret Ultra, which focused more on the information technology and espionage tactics used in World War II. He was a governor of a public health project, the Peckham Experiment, in 1949.

Before the Courts Act 1971 Montagu was Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the Middlesex area of Greater London and recorder in the County of Hampshire. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Southampton.

Montagu was president of the United Synagogue from 1954 to 1962, and President of the Anglo-Jewish Association from December 1949 on.

Family
Montagu's youngest brother, Ivor Montagu, was a film maker and Communist. Ewen Montagu married Iris, the daughter of the painter Solomon J. Solomon, in 1923. They had a son, Jeremy, who became an authority on musical instruments, and a daughter, Jennifer, who became an art historian.

Montagu was a first cousin once removed of comedian Christopher Guest, through Montagu's maternal grandparents.

In popular culture
Montagu has been portrayed on screen twice. In the 1956 film The Man Who Never Was, he was portrayed by Clifton Webb. In the 2021 film Operation Mincemeat, he was played by Colin Firth. Montagu himself appeared in The Man Who Never Was, playing an Air-Vice Marshal questioning the Ewen Montagu character in a briefing.

He has also been portrayed by Natasha Hodgson, Holly Sumpton, Geri Allen, and Emily Barber in Operation Mincemeat, a musical first written and performed in 2019 and premiered in the West End in 2023.

Montagu also appears as a character in the Terence Rattigan play Cause Célèbre.

title: Ewen Montagu


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NAA

NAA or Naa may refer to:

People

 * Naa Ashorkor (born 1988), Ghanaian actress and radio/ TV broadcaster
 * Naa Govindasamy (1946–1999), Singaporean Tamil-language writer and computer font developer
 * Naa Someswara, Indian science writer and TV presenter

Airports and aviation

 * Narita International Airport Corporation, Japan
 * Narrabri Airport (IATA code NAA), New South Wales, Australia
 * National Aeronautic Association, US
 * National Aviation Academy, training school in the US
 * National aviation authority or civil aviation authority, in each country
 * North American Airlines, founded 1989, ceased operations 2014
 * North American Aviation, major US aerospace manufacturer from 1928 to 1967
 * Norwegian Air Argentina, an Argentinian airline

In other fields

 * National Academy of Arbitrators, US and Canada
 * National Academy of Arts, Bulgaria
 * National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, US
 * National Archives of Australia
 * National Assessment Agency, in the UK Department for Education and Skills
 * National Association of Actors, a Mexican television and motion picture performers union
 * National Auctioneers Association, US
 * Negro American Association, US baseball minor Negro league
 * Newspaper Association of America, a trade association
 * Nigerian Accounting Association
 * North American Arms, an arms company

In science and technology

 * 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid, a synthetic auxin (organic compound and plant hormone)
 * N-Acetylaspartic acid, a neurochemical often imaged in magnetic resonance spectroscopy
 * Neutron activation analysis, a nuclear process used for determining the concentrations of elements in materials
 * Nicotinamide, also called niacinamide, the amide of nicotinic acid
 * No abstract available bias, an academic tendency to preferentially cite journal articles that have an abstract available online
 * Nucleic acid amplification, a molecular biology technique for replicating segments of DNA
 * Network Address Authority, iSCSI terminology

Other uses

 * National Arabic Alphabets, in the Unicode standard
 * VLF Transmitter Cutler (call-sign NAA), a radio station in Cutler, Maine, operated by the United States Navy
 * NAA (Arlington, Virginia) a Navy radio facility located in Arlington, Virginia from 1913 to 1941

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

title: NAA


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Voiced labiodental flap

In phonetics, the voiced labiodental flap is a speech sound found primarily in languages of Central Africa, such as Kera and Mangbetu. It has also been reported in the Austronesian language Sika. It is one of the few non-rhotic flaps. The sound begins with the lower lip placed behind the upper teeth. The lower lip is then flipped outward, striking the upper teeth in passing.

Symbol
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ⱱ⟩, which resembles Cyrillic izhitsa, $⟨ѵ⟩$, but is composed of a V and the hook of the flap ⟨ɾ⟩. In 2005, the International Phonetic Association, responding to Kenneth Olson's request for its adoption, voted to include a symbol for this sound, and selected a v with a right hook, that is, a combination of ⟨v⟩ + ⟨ɾ⟩. As of version 5.1.0, the Unicode character set encodes this character at U+2C71 (ⱱ). In earlier literature, it is often transcribed by a v modified by the extra-short diacritic, ⟨v̆⟩, following a 1989 recommendation of the International Phonetic Association. Another historic symbol for this sound was v with curl $⟨ⱴ⟩$, which had been employed in articles from the School of Oriental and African Studies, by Joseph Greenberg, and others.

Features
Features of the voiced labiodental flap:

 * Its manner of articulation is flap, which normally means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that the tongue makes very brief contact. In this case, being a non-rhotic consonant, the flap is made with the lower lip.
 * Its place of articulation is dental, which means it is articulated behind upper front teeth.

Occurrence
The labiodental flap is found primarily in Central Africa, in as many as a few hundred languages found in the Chadic family (Margi, Tera), Ubangian (Ngbaka, Ma'bo, Sera), Mbum (e.g. Kare), Central Sudanic (Mangbetu, Kresh), and Bantoid (Ngwe, some Shona dialects). It is extremely rare outside Africa, though it has been reported from Sika in Flores.

The bilabial flap is a variant of the labiodental flap in several languages, including Mono. This sound involves striking the upper lip rather than the upper teeth. The two sounds are not known to contrast in any language; the term labial flap can be used as a broader description encompassing both sounds.

In Sika, the flap is heard in careful pronunciation, but it may also be realized as a voiced labiodental stop,, or an affricate. It contrasts with both a bilabial and a labiodental fricative:

title: Voiced labiodental flap


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Sufri

The Sufris (الصفرية aṣ-Ṣufriyya) were Khariji Muslims in the seventh and eighth centuries. They established the Midrarid state at Sijilmassa, now in Morocco.

In Tlemcen, Algeria, the Banu Ifran were Sufri Berbers who opposed rule by the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates, most notably under resistance movements led by Abu Qurra (8th century) and Abu Yazid.

The Khawarij were divided into separate groups such as the Sufri, Azariqa, Bayhasiyya, Ajardi, Najdat, and Ibadi Nizari. i] The Sufri and Ibadi sects are considered the most moderate of the Kharijite groups due to their refusal to shed the blood of those who disagree with them. Of all the Kharijite sects, only the Ibadi sect continues to exist today.

According to an Ibadi website, Prima Qur'an, Sufriyya was absorbed into the Ibadi school in North Africa.

title: Sufri


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Walking Liberty half dollar

The Walking Liberty half dollar is a silver 50-cent piece or half dollar coin that was issued by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1947; it was designed by Adolph A. Weinman, a well-known sculptor and engraver.

In 1915, the new Mint Director, Robert W. Woolley, came to believe that he was not only allowed but required by law to replace coin designs that had been in use for 25 years. He therefore began the process of replacing the Barber coinage: dimes, quarters, and half dollars, all bearing similar designs by long-time Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber, and first struck in 1892. Woolley had the Commission of Fine Arts conduct a competition, as a result of which Weinman was selected to design the dime and half dollar.

Weinman's design of Liberty striding towards the Sun for the half dollar proved difficult to perfect, and Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo, whose department included the Mint, considered having Barber create his own design. Mint officials were successful in getting Weinman's design into production, although it never struck very well, which may have been a factor in its replacement by the Franklin half dollar beginning in 1948. Nevertheless, art historian Cornelius Vermeule considered the piece to be among the most beautiful US coins. Since 1986, a modification of Weinman's obverse design has been used for the American Silver Eagle, and the half dollar was issued in gold for its centennial in 2016.

Inception
On September 26, 1890, the United States Congress passed an act providing:

"The Director of the Mint shall have power, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause new designs ... to be prepared and adopted ... But no change in the design or die of any coin shall be made oftener than once in twenty-five years from and including the year of the first adoption of the design ... But the Director of the Mint shall nevertheless have power, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to engage temporarily the services of one or more artists, distinguished in their respective departments of art, who shall be paid for such service from the contingent appropriation for the mint at Philadelphia."

The Barber coinage was introduced in 1892; dimes, quarter dollars, and half dollars with similar designs by Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber. The new pieces attracted considerable public dissatisfaction. Beginning in 1905, successive presidential administrations had attempted to bring modern, beautiful designs to United States coins. Following the redesign of the double eagle, eagle, half eagle and quarter eagle in 1907 and 1908, as well as the cent and nickel redesigns of 1909 and 1913 respectively, advocates of replacing the Barber coins began to push for the change when the coins' minimum term expired in 1916. As early as 1914, Victor David Brenner, designer of the Lincoln cent, submitted unsolicited designs for the silver coins. He was told in response that Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo was completely occupied with other matters.

On January 2, 1915, an interview with Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Adam M. Joyce appeared in the Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record:

"So far as I know ... there is no thought of issuing new coins of the 50-cent, 25-cent, and 10-cent values. If, however, a change is made we all hope that more serviceable and satisfactory coins are produced than the recent Saint-Gaudens double eagle and eagle and the Pratt half and quarter eagle. The buffalo nickel and the Lincoln penny are also faulty from a practical standpoint. All resulted from the desire by the government to mint coins to the satisfaction of artists and not practical coiners."

In January 1915, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury William P. Malburn sent McAdoo a memorandum about the silver subsidiary coinage, noting that "the present silver half dollar, quarter, and dime were changed in 1892, and a new design may, therefore, be adopted in 1916. This can be done any time in the year." In reply, McAdoo wrote "let the mint submit designs before we try anyone else" on the memorandum.

In April 1915, Robert W. Woolley took office as Mint Director. On April 14, he asked Joyce to request Engraver Barber, then in his 36th year in office, to prepare new designs. The same day, Malburn requested the opinion of the Treasury Department's Solicitor concerning the Mint view that it could strike new designs for the three denominations in 1916. On April 17, the Solicitor's Office responded that the Mint could change the designs. At the time, the Mint was intensely busy producing the Panama-Pacific commemorative coin issue, and immediate action was not taken. In October, Barber was summoned to Washington to discuss coin designs with Woolley, although it is uncertain whether or not he had by then prepared sketches for the new coinage.

On December 3, Woolley met with the Commission of Fine Arts. Woolley asked the Commission to view sketches produced by the Mint's engraving department. Barber was present to explain the coinage process to the Commission members. Woolley suggested to the members that if they did not like the Mint's work, they should select sculptors to submit designs for the new pieces. It was Woolley's intent to have distinct designs for the dime, quarter and half dollar—previously, the three pieces had been near-identical. The director informed the Commission that as the existing coinage had been in use for 25 years, it would have to be changed—which numismatic historian David Lange calls a "misinterpretation of the coinage laws".

The Commission disliked the sketches from the Mint (submitted by Barber) and selected sculptors Adolph Weinman, Hermon MacNeil and Albin Polasek to submit proposals for the new coins. The sculptors could submit multiple sketches. Although the Mint could decide to use a design on a denomination not intended by its sculptor, the designs were not fully interchangeable—by statute, an eagle had to appear on the reverse of the quarter and half dollar, but could not appear on the dime. Woolley hoped that each sculptor would be successful with one piece.

The three sculptors submitted design sketches in mid-February, and on February 23 met with Woolley in New York City to make presentations of their work and answer his questions. After discussions between Woolley and McAdoo, Weinman was notified on February 28 that five of his sketches had been selected—for the dime and half dollar, and the reverse of the quarter. The same day, Woolley wrote to MacNeil to tell him he would sculpt the quarter's obverse, and to Polasek to inform him of his lack of success. Members of the Commission persuaded Woolley that so much should not be entrusted to a single artist, and MacNeil was allowed to design both sides of the quarter, subject to the sculptor producing a design satisfactory to Woolley.

On March 3, the new coins were publicly announced, with the Treasury noting, "[d]esigns of these coins must be changed by law every 25 years and the present 25-year period ends with 1916." The press release indicated that the Treasury hoped production of the new coins would begin in about two months, once the designs were finalized. The same day, Woolley wrote to Mint Engraver Barber, telling him that his sketches were rejected and that models from Weinman and MacNeil would arrive at the Philadelphia Mint no later than May 1. According to numismatic historian Walter Breen, Barber became "sullen and totally uncooperative". Lange notes that "numerous delays were encountered as the artists fine-tuned their models while simultaneously avoiding obstacles thrown in their path by Barber. While his observations regarding many aspects of practical coinage were quite accurate, they clearly could have been presented in a more constructive manner." In his book on Mercury dimes, Lange notes that Barber, by then aged 75, had been "compelled over the past ten years to participate in the systematic undoing of a lifetime's achievements"; he had to participate in the process which resulted in coins designed by others replacing ones designed by him.

With the new pieces, all American coins would have had a recent change of design (the Morgan dollar was not then being struck). According to a column in The Art World magazine later in 1916,

"Since that day [the 19th century] much artistic progress has taken place in our coinage. Sculptors of reputation have been employed with admirable results ...And now we are to have a new half dollar and a new dime by Weinman and a new quarter by McNeill [sic]. Altogether, in the retrospect, it seems an incredible achievement."

Design

According to Secretary McAdoo in his 1916 annual report,

"The design of the half dollar bears a full-length figure of Liberty, the folds of the Stars and Stripes flying to the breeze as a background, progressing in full stride toward the dawn of a new day, carrying branches of laurel and oak, symbolical of civil and military glory. The hand of the figure is outstretched in bestowal of the spirit of liberty. The reverse of the half dollar shows an eagle perched high upon a mountain crag, his wings unfolded, fearless in spirit and conscious of his power. Springing from a rift in the rock is a sapling of mountain pine, symbolical of America."

Weinman's obverse bears a resemblance to Oscar Roty's "Sower" design for French coins; according to numismatic historian Roger Burdette "Weinman has taken the ideal of a nineteenth century provincial figure and turned it into an American icon". Burdette ties both the appearance of the head of Liberty and of the branches which she carries to Baltimore's Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument, designed by Weinman. The sculptor may also have drawn inspiration from a 1913 bust he did of his tenant, Elsie Stevens, wife of lawyer and poet Wallace Stevens. Elsie Stevens is generally believed to have been a model for Weinman's Mercury dime; her daughter Holly wrote in 1966 that her mother had been the model for both coins. The reverse is similar to Weinman's medal for the American Institute of Architects, although the sculptor replaced the laurel on the medal with a pine sapling. Weinman's work on the medal had been widely admired for the power of the depicted eagle.

Breen, in his comprehensive volume on US coins, said of the half dollar "Ms. Liberty wears the American flag, anticipating a rebellious counterculture by half a century". Though admiring the piece generally, he noted that Liberty is striding towards the east, that is towards war-torn Europe, and wrote "she points into the sky at nothing visible (perhaps aiming a warning at German warplanes?)". Breen objects to the use of the mountain pine on the reverse, calling it not particularly American nor especially notable except for an ability to thrive near the tree line.

Art historian Cornelius Vermeule wrote that the Walking Liberty half dollar "really treat[s] the obverse and reverse as a surface sculptural ensemble. The 'Walking Liberty' design particularly gives the true feeling of breath and sculptural services on the scale of a coin." Vermeule noted the resemblance of the half dollar to Roty's "Sower" but states that Weinman's piece "is an original creation, not a slavish copy". On the reverse, Vermeule admired the eagle, which dominates but does not overwhelm the design, and stated that the bird's feathers are "a marvelous tour de force", showing the influence of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, under whom Weinman studied. Vermeule characterized the Walking Liberty half dollar to be "one of the greatest coins of the United States—if not of the world".

Preparation

The three sculptors met with Woolley on March 6, 1916 at the New York Assay Office to be formally told of the outcome of the competition, including the change in the outcome for the quarter, and to receive back rejected models and sketches. Polasek, who received his participation fee of $300 (equal to $ in adjusted for inflation) on March 10, never again had any connection with the Mint or coinage design. Until a plaster model of one of his submissions was discovered at the Polasek Museum (formerly his house) in 2002, his participation was known only through the Mint's records.

After Weinman's success in the competition, he visited the Mint to discuss the conversion of his models to finished dies. On his first visit, he found Barber absent but had a productive talk with long-time Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan. Other visits followed, and on March 29, Woolley wrote to Superintendent Joyce "confidentially, the sculptors designing the new coins felt that on their last trip Mr. Morgan was much more cordial and cooperative than Mr. Barber was. I realize I am dealing with artistic temperaments at both ends." Woolley came to New York twice in April to examine MacNeil's evolving reverse design for the quarter, on May 26 he also visited Weinman's studio and viewed progress on the models of his designs. A severe case of tonsillitis delayed Weinman's work, and caused him to request an extension of the May 1 deadline. On May 29, Woolley wrote Weinman that the designs, both for the dime and half dollar, were accepted by the Mint.

During June, the Mint's engraving department, headed by Barber, reduced the models to coin-sized hubs and prepared dies for experimental pattern coins, which were subsequently struck. Woolley hoped to begin production of the new coins of all three denominations by July 1, but the grant of time to Weinman required the Mint to act with greater speed. Burdette suggests the haste with which the dies were prepared caused coins struck with them to appear worn and without sharp detail. By June 22, Weinman had viewed the first patterns, as he wrote to Woolley stating that he did not like the way the word "Liberty" on the obverse had turned out, and asking for the loan of two patterns so he could redo the lettering. On June 24, Woolley wrote to Joyce, informing him of the loan and stating of the new pieces,

"The model of the obverse on the half dollar will have to be made over and Mr. Weinman informs me he is now at work on it. The same is true of the quarter dollar. The reverse of both the quarter dollar and the half dollar, as shown on the coins struck from the polished dies, are satisfactory ... Everyone to whom the coins have been shown here thinks they are beautiful."

With Woolley's permission to redo the obverse, Weinman decided to remove the word "Liberty" from above the figure and place it above "In God We Trust" to the right of it. This permitted him to extend Liberty's head almost to the top of the coin, maximizing the size of the depiction. The letter "L" was placed in the concavity formed by the flag as it drapes under the figure's left elbow, and the rest of the word extended to the right from there, with the letter T in larger print, actually saving room as the larger size allowed the crossbar of the "T" to extend above the capitalized letters "R" and "Y". This allowed the letters to be squeezed closer together. When Woolley resigned on July 15 to become director of publicity for Woodrow Wilson's reelection campaign (a function he also fulfilled for Democratic nominees in 1912 and 1920), he mentioned in his resignation letter to Secretary McAdoo (Wilson's son-in-law), "in working over the model for the obverse side of the half dollar Mr. Weinman is making a slight rearrangement of the word 'Liberty', and will have it ready for your inspection in a few days. I like it and believe you will." Weinman wrote to the former director on July 20 that increasing the size of the figure of Liberty improved its appearance.

McAdoo accepted Weinman's revised design on July 26; at that time Fred H. Chaffin, Adjuster of the Bureau of the Mint, was serving as Acting Mint Director until President Wilson could nominate a replacement for Woolley and have him confirmed by the Senate. Weinman decided, on his own initiative, to rearrange the legends on the reverse. On the original pattern, "United States of America" is at the top of the reverse, with "Half Dollar" directly below and "E Pluribus Unum" at the bottom of the coin. Weinman's revision has the legends in the places they would occupy on the circulation strikes and was approved by McAdoo on August 10. On August 18, Wilson nominated Woolley's successor, Friedrich Johannes Hugo von Engelken, who was promptly confirmed by the Senate. Von Engelken was supposed to be sworn in on August 21; his swearing in was delayed until September 1 by President Wilson's failure to sign his commission.

Modification
When von Engelken took office as Mint Director on September 1, 1916, the half dollar had been approved, and pattern coins had been struck. Actual production of the 50-cent piece was delayed as the Mint struggled to finalize Weinman's Mercury dime. On September 6, production of the dime was halted as companies testing the new 10-cent piece found that the new pieces would not work in vending machines. The defect was found to be a "fin", excess metal at the edge of the coin, making it seem too thick when inserted in machines. The fin could also break off, leaving the silver coins underweight. The problem was found on the pattern half dollars as well. On September 6, von Engelken wrote to Assistant Secretary Malburn, using information that Burdette suggests came from Barber:

"I am sending you with this letter ten of the new dimes and one of the new half dollars. If you examine these coins carefully, you will find that they are decidedly imperfect. You will note both on the half dollar and the ten cent piece a sharp projection of the metal on the edge, which is the "fin" to which I have referred. You will note also, particularly on the half dollar on account of its size, a variation in the thickness of the coin, specifically noticeable at the edge. I went to Philadelphia yesterday to ascertain whether or not this could be overcome, and I find that we are faced with certain mechanical restrictions which make it impossible to produce a coin of uniform thickness of edge, and to obviate the fin edge, as long as we maintain the high relief of the coin as it is at present."

Von Engelken's letter caused concern in the Secretary's office—McAdoo feared that if the Mint proved unable to successfully issue new coins, the Republicans might exploit the failure as an issue in the presidential race. The Secretary enquired how long it would take "our Mr. Barber" to produce new designs; after consultation with officials at the Philadelphia Mint, von Engelken replied that it would take six to eight months. The two officials decided that Weinman must be asked to modify his design for the half dollar—it was hoped that if Weinman shrank the figure of Liberty, and lowered the relief, the piece would prove coinable.

Weinman arrived at the Mint on September 11. He left with two pattern half dollars and instructions to reduce the size of the figure of Liberty. Barber appealed to Joyce for permission to make major changes to Weinman's design, but this was initially refused. However, when an additional change by Weinman failed to eliminate the fin problem, Joyce gave in and allowed Barber a free hand. Engraver Barber shrank the design, moving the design further from the edge, and creating a wide space between design and rim. Barber insisted that this was the only way to prevent a fin and uneven edge. A beaded border was added within the rim. According to Burdette, patterns struck from the new dies were dull and uninteresting, as the size of the figures had lent them strength.

On October 18, Weinman wrote to Joyce, asking how the Mint was getting on with the dies for the half dollar and dime, and expressing his willingness to come to Philadelphia. Joyce replied two days later, informing him that the design of the half dollar was being reduced in size to prevent recurrence of the edge difficulties, and informing him of the beaded border. Weinman responded hoping that Joyce would prevent the figure of Liberty from being unduly reduced and rendering his account. As the sculptor and superintendent corresponded, the Mint began the work of converting the Barber-modified designs to working dies from which circulation coins could be struck, but Joyce interceded before coining could begin. The Philadelphia Mint superintendent, who had the support of von Engelken, felt that Barber's modifications were unnecessary. Joyce believed that coins closer to Weinman's concept could be struck by lowering the relief slightly, adjusting the force with which the Mint's presses struck the planchets or blanks, and better preparing the planchets for striking. Joyce's position prevailed, and Barber and his department prepared working dies for striking of circulation pieces, omitting Barber's beaded border and wide space between rim and design. Working dies were at the Denver and San Francisco Mints on November 27, and production began at all three mints soon after.

In late December Weinman, who had received no update from the Mint since being told of the Barber modifications, but who had read in the newspapers that the half dollars were being struck, sent a $10 money order to Joyce with a request for 20 of the new coins. On January 2, 1917, Weinman wrote to Joyce again, telling him the new pieces had been received in time to be given as New Year's gifts, and wishing the superintendent "every good wish to you for every day of the New Year and with thanks to the Almighty and yourself that the beads are not on the border of the Half Dollar".

Reception
Although the dime's debut on October 30, 1916 had seen considerable publicity, the Mint had little comment on the release of the half dollar and Standing Liberty quarter the following January. There were few newspaper mentions of the new half dollar; the United States was moving towards war with Germany, and the dime release had exhausted much of the public interest in the novelty of new coins. The quarter dominated what public attention there was with an argument over whether the eagle on its reverse was portrayed accurately. Despite the minimal publicity, according to a January 1917 report from Mint Adjuster Chaffin, all three mints initially had trouble keeping up with public demand for the new half dollars.

The New York Times noted on January 3 that the new pieces had been received by the Sub-Treasury and would be released two to a customer, starting on January 9. It stated that the Mint was working as hard as possible to keep up with demand, but that initially, quantities would be limited. Banking, the journal of the American Bankers Association, stated that "The designs of the new coins have been highly praised by those having expert knowledge of such matters". Connecticut's Meriden Daily Journal predicted readers would like the new half dollar five times as much as the new dime.

The Huntsville (Alabama) Mercury, however, expressed its dislike of the new half dollar. In a piece entitled "New half dollar is sick", it stated:

"The new coin is radically different from all other monies produced by the government mints. A suffragette is shown sowing small stars in a western field that hasn’t been plowed very deeply. The sun is setting and the old girl looks rather tired from her day’s labors, in fact, perspiration can be seen trickling from her forehead. The lady wears sandals and her feet are rather dusty. She also appears, to have on overalls under her thin dress. She carries a load of firewood in one arm and wears a large napkin around her neck which leads to the belief that she left a small child at the house. The wind is blowing from the north and the sun has a blizzardly appearance. In great letters LIBERTY is spelled, extending more than half way around the entire surface. On the other side appears an eagle, grown to enormous size and marching madly toward Mexico, a cactus bush being shown in the background. The eagle has raised his wing as if to strike; the old fellow looks like he could put up a good fight if aroused but he has a swell crop of feathers on his legs."

Production and collecting
The mint marks had initially been placed on the obverse, the first time that had been done for a regular issue US half dollar since 1839. On February 14, 1917, von Engelken ordered that the mint mark be moved from the obverse to the reverse, stating that the obverse placement had the appearance of a die defect. At that time, Von Engelken had resigned pending appointment to the post of president of the Federal Land Bank for the Third District; once he left to take that position, he was succeeded by Raymond T. Baker. In April Joyce asked Baker for written confirmation of von Engelken's order, and after he obliged, the mint mark was duly moved. The majority of the 1917 half dollars struck at Denver (1917-D) and San Francisco (1917-S) bear the mint mark on the reverse.

Throughout the time in which the Mint struck the Walking Liberty half dollar, it had difficulty bringing out the design fully. According to Breen,

"Mint authorities knew well that the Weinman design, despite its great artistic merit, no matter how thorough Barber's original attempt to reduce relief, was technically unsatisfactory. Areas of highest relief still opposed relief areas on the other side."

The San Francisco Mint especially had difficulty with the coins; many pieces struck there are noticeably weak. In 1918 Morgan, who had succeeded Barber as Engraver after the latter's death the previous year, modified the design, incising some of the details at Liberty's neck. According to Breen "The attempt was a failure". Morgan's successor, John R. Sinnock, made additional attempts in 1937 and 1938, with little better results. Breen suggested that the difficulties in striking the piece contributed to the willingness to replace it after World War II.

No Walking Liberty half dollar is especially rare, but many dates are scarce in mint state condition, particularly the 1921 and 1921-D. The Mint struck proof coins in 1916–1917 and 1936–1942, all at Philadelphia. The 1916 pieces were struck in very small numbers—Breen stated that he had seen only four—and only three 1917 proof coins are confirmed, most likely struck for VIPs at a time when proof coins were not sold to the public. A number of the later proof coins lack Weinman's monogram, apparently lost through overpolishing of dies. This is most common with the 1941 proof pieces—much of the year's production lacks the monogram—but is known for other years. A total of 74,400 proof coins were struck for the series.

There are few varieties in the series, and they are relatively minor. They principally involve the mint mark: several repunchings, one overpunching of a D over an S in 1942, and some changes in letter size. One oddity is the 1943/1942, which is not a true overdate but was formed by a working die struck once from a 1942-dated master die, and once from one dated 1943. Some 1946 half dollars show a doubled die on the reverse.

Replacement
In 1947, Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross asked Engraver Sinnock to produce a design for a half dollar featuring Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. Ross had long been an admirer of Franklin, and wanted to see him on a coin. Mint officials had considered putting Franklin on the dime in 1941, but the project was shelved owing to heavy demands on the Mint for coins as the United States entered World War II. During the war, the Mint contemplated adding one or more new denominations of coinage; Sinnock prepared a Franklin design in anticipation of a new issue, which did not occur. In 1946, the Treasury replaced the Mercury dime with a piece depicting the recently deceased president, Franklin Roosevelt, who had been closely associated with the March of Dimes. With the Lincoln cent popular and politically inexpedient to replace, the half dollar was the only piece being struck which was available for redesign without congressional permission. The Treasury approved the new design. Although Sinnock died before the coin was issued, the Franklin half dollar went into production at the start of 1948, ending the Walking Liberty series. A total of 485,320,340 Walking Liberty half dollars were struck.

Design reuse
Since 1986, Weinman's obverse design has been used as the obverse design for the American Silver Eagle bullion coin. In adapting the design, Mint Sculptor-Engraver John Mercanti and other members of the engraving staff strengthened many of the details. Mercanti noted that Weinman's original plaster was only 6 in in diameter, and was softly modeled. Mercanti increased the detail so that the design, struck on a larger coin, would be bolder and would have a more even metal flow when struck than Weinman's original coin. Treasury Secretary James Baker chose a heraldic eagle design, by Mercanti, as the reverse of the American Silver Eagle.

The United States Mint in 2015 announced plans to restrike, in gold for collectors, the three silver coins first issued in 1916. This coin has the weight and fineness of gold, thus technically making it a bullion coin. The gold version of the Walking Liberty half dollar, containing a half ounce of gold and struck at the West Point Mint, went on sale to the public on November 17, 2016. A maximum of 75,000 were minted at the West Point Mint (mint mark "W" appears at the same place as on regular issues of this coin).

title: Walking Liberty half dollar


text:
User talk:Howee

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Thanks for your aggressive stance at the Michael Lohman VFD which will soon wrap up. Since no consensus has been established, it will likely remain.

Regards, lots of issues | leave me a message 02:39, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks. Lucky 6.9 04:37, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Howee, the new article looks great. Thanks for getting back to me. Best, Lucky 6.9 05:56, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Hi there Howee. You tagged Latina/o Studies. There needs to be a separate Latina/o Studies from a Chicana/o Studies--they are not the same. NACCS as a link is for Chicana/o Studies. I can help you with informatio for chicana/o studies if we make it separare without redirection. Creator1981

title: User talk:Howee


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Philip Cheng

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was ALREADY SPEEDIED, but not by me. -Splash 01:08, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

Philip Cheng
non notable person, search showed 1 possibly relevant result which was a bc.edu student userpage, appears to be a vanity page Jtkiefer 02:41, July 14, 2005 (UTC)

 * Delete for the above mentioned reasons. Jtkiefer 02:43, July 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. As per above. AlbertR 03:12, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Actually it looks more like an attack page. -- BD2412 talk 03:20, July 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Delete appears to have been made to harass person.--GrandCru 03:28, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy as per above royblumy 06:22, July 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * Already speedied Stewart Adcock 07:27, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
User talk:Debigboy

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

lots of issues | leave me a message 02:42, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:50, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Debigboy


text: User:Sanctu

title: User:Sanctu


text: User:Khoisan

title: User:Khoisan


text:
Republican Palace, Baghdad

The Republican Palace (القصر الجمهوري, al-Qaṣr al-Jumhūriy) is a palace in Baghdad, Iraq, constructed on the orders of King Faisal II. It was Saddam Hussein's preferred place to meet visiting heads of state. The United States spared the palace during its shock and awe raid during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the belief that it might hold valuable documents. The Green Zone developed around it. The palace itself served as the Multi-National Force – Iraq Headquarters of Coalition troops during the U.S. Occupation of Iraq as well as the primary base of operations for the American diplomatic mission in Iraq until the opening of the new US Embassy in Baghdad in 2009.

Early history
The palace was officially commissioned by King Faisal II of Iraq in the 1950s as the new principal Royal residence following his planned wedding to Egyptian Princess Sabiha Fazila Khanim Sultan. The architect was J. Brian Cooper of Birmingham, England, renowned for his modernist designs. The architect's watercolour, drawn by Lawrence Wright, shows that the then Royal Palace was originally designed to be only the central section under the dome with two wings. The rest of the building, extending out from these three sections, was added under Saddam Hussein, including large bronze portrait heads on the roof. The fountain in front of the Royal Palace was part of the original design. The young King would never live in the palace, as he was assassinated before his wedding in the 1958 coup. The palace was thus renamed the Republican Palace.

In the early 1990s, Saddam sponsored a competition for original works of art for his palaces. Nahla, an Iraqi artist, architect, and member of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, submitted a work on paper for a mural. She won first prize in the competition and her work was realized as shown, in the north wing of the Republican Palace, in stone, by other craftsman. She was allowed no part in the development of the mural and in fact, to this day, she has not seen it in person. Her first view of the completed mural was a photograph on a website. Nahla is currently living in exile in Paris, France.

Nahla's title of the piece, included in Arabic across the face of the mural, is Baghdad My Beloved.

Recent history
Before the new denizens moved in, the Palace was completely vacant and somewhat emptied by looters as some of the heavy brass gilded doors had been taken. This building in particular was not the reason that 4/64 Armor (3rd Infantry Division) and 1/6 Infantry (1st Armored Division) were securing this area. This entire area was home and office to all of the key Ba'ath Party officials and most of the documents and items being sought by the coalition forces. When the coalition forces rolled into this area on April 9, 2003, most of the occupants simply fled as fast as they could, taking only what they could carry.

Palace use
As early as April 2003, some of the first tenants had started to occupy office space in the Palace, such as Andrew Goledzinowski (ORHA), of the Australian Foreign Affairs Council, charged with the task of setting up the new Iraqi Ministry of Justice. However, in May 2003, the Republican Palace was still mostly vacant as, until then, no one had realized that it was uncontrolled and space was available on a first-come, first-served basis. Charlie company 3/124 infantry of the Florida Army National Guard settled among the orange groves behind the palace and successfully provided security for the palace and a large portion of the sector from April 2003 to February 2004.

The influx of civilians to the Palace was immediate beginning with ORHA, US Department of Defense personnel, US State Department, and their respective contractors including the civilian life-support/logistics contracting company. In about a week, the Palace filled to absolute capacity with people commandeering any and every niche they could find to work in. Because there was not yet any central control of the building itself there were cases where people laid claim to the broom and supply closets. Work spaces doubled as sleeping space, except when the office was already filled. It was a frequent sight when walking the hallways to see someone sleeping on the floor. Because of the heat, it became common to see men and women in various states of undress as they slept while others worked only feet away. Halliburton was eventually contracted to convert the palace into use as an office space.

Moving out
During the time that the ORHA was reorganized into the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), new housing areas were assembled in the Palace grounds. People readily moved their sleeping areas out of the offices and halls and into small two-person units at the back of the Palace towards the river. When the changeover of power occurred in June 2004, the CPA went away and the US State Department assumed administrative control of what was now seen as a US asset. The palace now became the temporary US Embassy in Baghdad while the new embassy was being constructed down the road.

PCO offices
In addition to housing office space for the US Embassy staff, the palace also served as headquarters for the Army's Program Management Office (PMO), later Project and Contracting Office (PCO), while the PCO's off-site location was under construction. This lasted for quite some time as there were problems getting their own compound built. For this reason, the relatively new annex on the south wing of the Palace was dubbed the "PCO Annex." This was the same annex that a rocket struck on the night before the first elections in January 2005. The rocket fatally wounded two PCO members even though it did not explode. The PCO moved to their own compound elsewhere in the Green Zone in October 2005.

Up until mid-2005, there were many organizations using the Palace for office space but it was not for reasons of centralization at all - far from it. The place was crammed with people and information flow was inefficient at best. The main reason is that it was the only large hard-structure building that provided better protection from incoming mortars and at the same time was on a compound that is relatively easy to secure at a respectable distance from the building itself.

Dining facility
Until July 2005, there was a central dining facility inside one of the ballrooms. This caused many problems as the Palace was not designed for the foot-traffic flows in excess of 10,000 people a day. Prior to the invasion the palace included only Saddam Hussein's private dining room and kitchenettes for servants. There was rarely a meal served where the central-south wing of the first floor was not crammed with people, as this was the only dining facility (DFAC) that the coalition forces had set up for a long time. This was not a ballroom; it was the Republican Congress meeting room. It had a round table encompassing the entire room. This was removed and converted into a mess hall in the fall of 2003. It primarily served Southern food such as grits, cornbread, hot dogs, pork chops, and sausage. All of the food and water in the building was transported in from outside Iraq, and no Iraqis were hired as staff. Halliburton hired mostly Indian and Pakistani migrant workers from Kuwait. The extensive use of pork caused controversy since it is haram in Islam.

Renovation
In 2011, the Republican Palace was renovated for the 2011 Arab League Summit. Renovation work was done by a Turkish firm.

Pool

Behind the palace is a semi-kidney-shaped swimming pool with a multi-level diving platform and a stone cabana/pool house on the side.

Current stability
While still a highly secured area, most of the organizations have long since found other, less cramped, working conditions on other locations in the International Zone (Green Zone). In the past, there were days of jockeying through one particularly notorious doorway in the middle of the long corridor called "Choke-Point Charlie".

title: Republican Palace, Baghdad


text:
Serratus anterior muscle

The serratus anterior is a muscle of the chest. It originates at the side of the chest from the upper 8 or 9 ribs; it inserts along the entire length of the anterior aspect of the medial border of the scapula. It is innervated by the long thoracic nerve from the brachial plexus. The serratus anterior acts to pull the scapula forward around the thorax.

The muscle is named from Latin: serrare = to saw (referring to the shape); and anterior = on the front side of the body.

Origin
Serratus anterior normally originates by nine or ten muscle slips – arising from either the 1st to 8th ribs, or the 1st to 9th ribs; because two slips usually arise from the 2nd rib, the number of slips is greater than the number of ribs from which they originate.

Insertion
The muscle is inserted along the medial border of the scapula between the superior and inferior angle of the scapula The muscle is divided into three parts according to the points of insertion:

 * the serratus anterior superior is inserted near the superior angle;
 * the serratus anterior intermediate is inserted along the medial border;
 * the serratus anterior inferior is inserted near the inferior angle.

Innervation
The serratus anterior is innervated by the long thoracic nerve, a branch of the brachial plexus. The long thoracic nerve travels inferiorly on the surface of the serratus anterior muscle.

Relations
The serratus anterior lies deep to the subscapularis, from which it is separated by the subscapularis (supraserratus) bursa. It is separated from the rib by the scapulothoracic (infraserratus) bursa.

Function
All three parts described above pull the scapula forward around the thorax, which is essential for anteversion of the arm. As such, the muscle is an antagonist to the rhomboids. However, when the inferior and superior parts act together, they keep the scapula pressed against the thorax together with the rhomboids and therefore these parts also act as synergists to the rhomboids. The inferior part can pull the lower end of the scapula laterally and forward and thus rotates the scapula to make elevation of the arm possible. Additionally, all three parts can lift the ribs when the shoulder girdle is fixed, and thus assist in respiration.

The serratus anterior is occasionally called the "big swing muscle" or "boxer's muscle" because it is largely responsible for the protraction of the scapula — that is, the pulling of the scapula forward and around the rib cage that occurs when someone throws a punch.

The serratus anterior acts in concert with the upper and lower fibers of the trapezius muscle to sustain upward rotation of the scapula, which allows for overhead lifting.

The serratus anterior muscle is interconnected with the rhomboid and ipsilateral external oblique muscles. The external oblique connects with the contralateral internal oblique and the adductors. This connectivity is crucial for horizontal force production, akin to the serape effect, which enhances the efficiency and coordination of movements such as punching or throwing. The serratus anterior also plays a significant role in scapular protraction and stabilization, essential for optimal shoulder function and injury prevention. Proper engagement and strength of this muscle can improve posture, reduce the risk of shoulder impingements, and enhance overall athletic performance.

Clinical significance
The long thoracic nerve that supplies the serratus anterior muscle is vulnerable during certain types of surgery (for example, during lymph node clearance from the axilla for breast cancer). Damage to this nerve is the most common cause of winged scapula.

Other animals
The muscles of the shoulder can be categorized into three topographic units: the scapulohumeral, axiohumeral, and axioscapular groups. Serratus anterior forms part of the latter group together with rhomboid major, rhomboid minor, levator scapulae, and trapezius. The trapezius evolved separately, but the other three muscles in this group evolved from the first eight or ten ribs and the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae (homologous to the ribs).

Functional demands have resulted in the evolution of individual muscles from the basal unit formed by the serratus anterior. In primitive life forms, the main function of the axioscapular group is to control the movements of the vertebral border of the scapula: fibers concerned with the dorsal movement of scapula evolved into the rhomboids, those with ventral motion into serratus anterior, and those with cranial movements into levator scapulae. The evolution of the serratus anterior itself has resulted in (1) grouping of its distal and proximal fibers, (2) size reduction of its intermediate fibers, and (3) the insertion of its dominant superior and inferior parts onto the superior and inferior angles of the scapula.

In primates, the thoracic cage is wide and the scapula is rotated onto its posterior side to have the glenoid cavity face laterally. Additionally, the clavicle takes care of medial forces. In cursorial mammals (for example the horse and other quadrupeds), the scapula is hanging vertically on the side of the thorax and the clavicle is absent. Therefore, in climbing animals, the serratus anterior supports the scapula against the reaction forces of the free limb and exerts high bending forces on the ribs. To sustain these forces, the ribs have a pronounced curvature and are supported by the clavicle. In cursorial animals, the thorax is hanging between the scapulae at the serratus anterior and pectoralis muscles.

title: Serratus anterior muscle


text:
Missouri Route 83

Route 83 is a state highway in western Missouri. Its northern terminus is at U.S. Route 65/Route 7 at Warsaw; its southern terminus is at Route 13 in Bolivar. It is a two-lane highway its entire length.

title: Missouri Route 83


text:
Romance & Cigarettes

Romance & Cigarettes is a 2005 American musical romantic comedy film written and directed by John Turturro. The film stars an ensemble cast which includes James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, Aida Turturro, Christopher Walken, Barbara Sukowa, Elaine Stritch, Eddie Izzard, and Amy Sedaris. The film was nominated for a Golden Lion at the 2005 Venice Film Festival.

Plot
In early 1980s New York, seamstress Kitty Kane learns that her construction worker husband, Nick Murder, has been having an affair after finding a sexually explicit poem he wrote to his mistress. The revelation generates a rift between Kitty and Nick and sends shockwaves both through their family and closely knit suburban neighborhood; as characters contemplate what love, sex, and physical pleasure mean to them, their thoughts are conveyed via elaborate musical numbers representing their deepest fears, anxieties, and fantasies.

Against the backdrop of her parents' deteriorating relationship, their daughter Baby- who plays lead guitar and provides vocals for a local rock band- finds herself embarking on her own romance with Chetty Jr., an attractive but dimwitted neighborhood boy who insists on referring to himself in the third person as "Fryburg." When Baby announces her plans to marry to Kitty, she forbids it, fearful that Baby's life will turn out like her own. Meanwhile, Nick continues to see his mistress, Tula, a much younger Mancunian woman who works in a lingerie shop and who first came onto him after seeing him working shirtless at a job site; hoping for a lifelong commitment from Nick, Tula encourages him to get a circumcision, which he eventually does after convincing from his best friend and coworker Angelo, a sexual compulsive who waxes philosophical on the nature of romance and intercourse.

Struggling to recover from Nick's affair, Kitty resumes going to church, where she reconnects with her old parish priest and joins the choir. Wanting to confront Tula but unsure of her identity, she enlists the help of her cousin Bo, a rockabilly fixated, paranoid man who insists that he got away with the murder of his adulterous wife, Delilah, who is in fact still alive and living with her boyfriend. The pair eventually track Tula to the lingerie shop where she works, where she and Kitty get into a violent physical altercation. Shortly thereafter, Nick suffers licorice poisoning following an eating binge. He's rushed to the hospital, where his mother and Angelo confront him about his behavior. Nick's mother tells him that he's following in the footsteps of his similarly unfaithful and repulsive father and grandfather, both of whom engaged in sexually questionable behavior and who are now remembered as nothing more than "whoremongers." Genuinely ashamed and fearing he'll be remembered the same way, Nick breaks off his affair with Tula. He attempts to reconcile with Kitty, who consents to him remaining in the house but who refuses to forgive him for the affair.

Baby breaks up with Fryburg after she realizes he has no ambition in life and would make a poor life partner. Later, Nick gets into a physical altercation with a neighbor who piles snow on their lawn; the younger, fitter neighbor gets the upper hand and brutally beats Nick, almost killing him before Kitty intervenes on his behalf, beginning a tenuous reconciliation. Not long after, Nick is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, the result of years of heavy smoking. Distraught, he goes to Kitty's priest and confesses to the affair and his generally bad behavior. Kitty agrees to care for him while he dies, though she tells him she can never bring herself to have sex with him again. As his condition deteriorates, Nick is hospitalized; one night, Kitty comes to visit him, and Nick composes her a poem expressing his love for her and gratitude for their life together. Not long after, Nick dies, leaving a conflicted Kitty to reconcile her feelings for him while contemplating her own future.

Cast

 * James Gandolfini as Nick Murder
 * Susan Sarandon as Kitty Kane Murder
 * Kate Winslet as Tula
 * Steve Buscemi as Angelo
 * Bobby Cannavale as Chetty Jr. / "Fryburg"
 * Mandy Moore as Baby Murder
 * Mary-Louise Parker as Constance Murder
 * Aida Turturro as Rosebud / "Rara"
 * Christopher Walken as Cousin Bo
 * Barbara Sukowa as Gracie
 * Elaine Stritch as Grace Murder
 * Eddie Izzard as Father Gene Vincent
 * Amy Sedaris as Frances
 * P. J. Brown as Police Officer
 * Adam LeFevre as Frances's Boyfriend
 * Tonya Pinkins as Medic
 * Cady Huffman as Roe
 * Kumar Pallana as Da Da Kumar
 * Tony Goldwyn as Kitty's first love (uncredited)

Production and release
Produced by upcoming New York production company GreeneStreet Films, with financial backing from United Artists, the Coen brothers and Mel Gibson's company Icon Entertainment International, Romance & Cigarettes premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2005, followed by a showing at the Toronto International Film Festival a week later. It was first released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 24, 2006, quickly followed by a number of other European countries in March and April 2006. In the United States the film got a limited release on September 7, 2007, distributed by director Turturro himself, although it was originally intended that United Artists should handle the US distribution. UA still owns a financial stake in this film, but the main underlying rights are currently with Icon.

Reception
Romance & Cigarettes has received mixed reviews; on Rotten Tomatoes, as of June 2020, it has a score of 52%. The website's critic's consensus reads, "This movie musical aims for fun and modern, but Romance and Cigarettes is too scattered and uneven to achieve either."

On April 27, 2008, the film was screened at the 10th Annual Ebertfest, in Champaign, Illinois. Ebertfest is Roger Ebert's film festival near his hometown of Urbana, Illinois. Aida Turturro and Tricia Brouk were scheduled to attend the event. Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4.

Soundtrack

 * 1) "Delilah" - Tom Jones
 * 2) "A Man Without Love" - Engelbert Humperdinck
 * 3) "Piece of My Heart" - Dusty Springfield
 * 4) "Answer Me, My Love" - Gene Ammons
 * 5) "Red-Headed Woman" - Bruce Springsteen
 * 6) "Scapricciatiello (Do You Love Me Like You Kiss Me?)" - Connie Francis
 * 7) "Hot Pants" - Bobby Cannavale
 * 8) "Quando m'innamoro" - Anna Identici
 * 9) "Little Water Song" - Ute Lemper
 * 10) "Prisoner of Love" - Cyndi Lauper
 * 11) "Trouble" - Elvis Presley
 * 12) "Samson and Delilah Theme" - Victor Young

 * 1) "El cuarto de Tula" - Buena Vista Social Club
 * 2) "Piece of My Heart" - Erma Franklin
 * 3) "I Want Candy" - Mandy Moore with Aida Turturro and Mary-Louise Parker
 * 4) "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" - James Brown
 * 5) "It Must Be Him" - Vikki Carr
 * 6) "The Girl That I Marry" - James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon
 * 7) "Ten Commandments of Love" - Harvey & The Moonglows
 * 8) "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" - Aida Turturro
 * 9) "Banks of the Ohio" - David Patrick Kelly and Katherine Borowitz
 * 10) "Piece of My Heart" - Janis Joplin
 * 11) "When the Saviour Reached Down for Me" - The R&C Choir

title: Romance & Cigarettes


text: Template:NorthCarolina-geo-stub

title: Template:NorthCarolina-geo-stub


text:
E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals

E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals is the debut studio album by pop punk group The Matches. It was originally self-released in February 7, 2003 and later re-released on May 11, 2004 via Epitaph Records.

The self-release contained the track "Superman" which was removed from the Epitaph re-release because the band felt it would be a good bonus to those fans who had been with them from the beginning. The versions of "Scratched Out" and "The Jack Slap Cheer" that appear on the Epitaph Records version each have changed lyrics due, in both cases, to copyright liability. The Epitaph re-release contained two new tracks, "Borderline Creep" and "More Than Local Boys" although "Superman" was removed and "Scratched Out" was renamed as "Track 11".

The album title is a reference to the band's legal battle with Yvonne Doll and their subsequent name change from The Locals to The Matches.

Personnel
The following credits are presented for the original 2003 release, adapted from Discogs

 * Shawn Harris – lyrics, vocals, guitar, artwork
 * Justin San Souci – lyrics (track 10), vocals, bass, artwork
 * Jonathan Devoto – vocals, guitar
 * Matt Whalen – drums
 * Mike Harwood – lyrics
 * Matt Esposito – lyrics (tracks: 3, 5, 8)
 * Vanessa Harris – vocals (track 11)
 * Rene Carranza – synthesizer, percussion & keyboards (track 11)
 * Mo Juanson – blues harp (track 9)
 * Mike Green – additional guitar (track 4), engineering (tracks: 1, 2, 10) , additional producer (track 2) , producer & recording (tracks: 3-6, 8, 11)
 * Matt Radosevich – producer & recording (tracks: 1, 2, 7, 9, 10)
 * Alex Studer – engineering (track 4)
 * Miles Hurwitz – producer, management
 * Mark Chalecki – mastering
 * Gene Grimaldi – mastering (for Epitaph re-release only)
 * Joe Barresi – producer & mixing (for Epitaph re-release only)

title: E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals


text:
Payne Whitney House

The Payne Whitney House is a historic building at 972 Fifth Avenue, south of 79th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in the High Italian Renaissance style by architect Stanford White of the firm McKim, Mead & White. Completed in 1909 as a private residence for businessman William Payne Whitney and his family, the building has housed the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States since 1952.

The house has a five-story-tall gray-granite facade that is curved slightly outward. Each story is horizontally separated by an entablature. The interiors of the Payne Whitney mansion were designed in 16th- and 17th-century Renaissance styles. The first floor includes a rotunda that was decorated with an artwork attributed to Michelangelo, as well as the Venetian Room, a reception room that William Payne Whitney's wife Helen Hay Whitney particularly valued. Since 2014, the second and third stories have housed a French-language bookstore, Albertine Books.

The Whitney house was commissioned in 1902 by William's uncle Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne as a wedding gift. Construction took so long that, in the meantime, the couple's two children John (Jock) and Joan were born and Stanford White was killed. After the house's completion, William and Helen lived there until their respective deaths in 1927 and 1944. Jock Whitney sold the house in 1948 to a developer who converted it into apartments. The French government bought the building four years later. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 972 Fifth Avenue as an official landmark in 1970. Various renovations have been conducted at the house over the years, including in the 1990s and 2010s.

Site
The Payne Whitney House is at 972 Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is on the east side of Fifth Avenue, directly across from Central Park, midblock between 78th and 79th Street. The land lot covers 4,500 ft2 with a frontage of 45 ft on Fifth Avenue and a depth of 100 ft. Nearby sites include the Harry F. Sinclair House to the north, the Stuyvesant Fish House to the east, and the James B. Duke House and 960 Fifth Avenue to the south. There is a yard on the south side of the house, separating it from the James B. Duke House. The Payne Whitney House was also built with a rear entrance on 79th Street, measuring 15 ft wide.

The city block between Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, and 78th and 79th Streets was part of the Lenox family farm until 1877, when Marcellus Hartley bought the block for $420,000. The railroad magnate Henry H. Cook acquired the site for $500,000 in 1880. and owned it for the remainder of the 19th century. Cook built a house on the southwest corner of the block in 1883. Cook intended the block to house first-class residences, not high-rises, and only sold lots for the construction of private dwellings. By the early 1910s, the value of the land had increased to $6 million. Through the early 2000s, the block of Fifth Avenue remained largely intact, compared to other parts of Fifth Avenue's "Millionaire's Row".

Architecture
The Payne Whitney House was designed in the high Italian Renaissance style by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White. It was commissioned by Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne for his nephew William Payne Whitney and William's bride Helen Hay Whitney. The house was developed concurrently with the neighboring Henry Cook House at 973 Fifth Avenue; the two houses were among the last residences White designed before his death in 1906. According to Henry Hope Reed Jr., the inspiration for the Payne Whitney House's design is unclear, though the Pesaro Palace in Venice may have been one inspiration.

Facade
The Payne Whitney House's five-story facade is made of granite from Bethel, Vermont. The facade is curved slightly outward toward Fifth Avenue. It is designed to appear continuous with the facade of 973 Fifth Avenue directly to the north, which Stanford White also designed. The facade is divided horizontally into three sections: the base, the middle stories, and the attic. Each story is separated by an entablature. The facade details were evocative of those of the Joseph Pulitzer House on 73rd Street and, by extension, those of Palazzo Pesaro, Venice. The ground floor contains blocks of rusticated stone, with a large marble entryway at the center flanked by a window on either side. The central entrance has a set of double doors with decorated grilles. Flanking the doorway are molded floral designs, as well as vertical pilasters with lions' heads at their bases and acanthus-and-maple-leaf panels above. Adolph Alexander Weinman designed these panels. There is a frieze directly above the doors, containing carvings of a wreath and medallions; directly above the frieze are egg-and-dart, dentilled, and acanthus leaf-and-dart moldings. The frieze is topped by a projecting cornice supported by carved console brackets on each end. Above the ground-floor windows on either side of the doorway, the joints of the rusticated facade are angled inward, creating voussoirs. Above the center of each window is a paneled keystone. The ground floor is topped by dentils and a band course with wave motifs.

The second floor contains round-arched windows flanked by paired Ionic pilasters. The spandrels at the arches' top corners contain carvings of cherubs, while the windows themselves are topped by bracketed keystones. The entablature above the windows consists of a frieze, dentils, and a cornice. The third-floor windows are square-headed and are flanked by paired Corinthian pilasters; each window has carved lions' heads and swags above it. The entablature above the third story also has dentils and a cornice. The fourth story has square-headed windows and paired composite pilasters, as well as low relief marble panels above each window, which depict classical scenes. A smaller entablature runs above the fourth story. The fifth floor has square-headed windows between pairs of carved vertical panels. Above each panel are ornamented brackets with foliate details. The tile roof is slightly pitched and is carried by a cornice made of stone.

There is a secondary facade facing south toward the James B. Duke House. The rusticated first story and the entablatures wrap around from the Fifth Avenue facade, but the window designs are simpler than on Fifth Avenue. The center of the southern facade has a slightly projecting pavilion. The rest of the south facade is flat. Adjacent to the south facade is the Florence Gould Garden. The side garden had been designed simultaneously with the rest of the house.

Interior
The house was built with masonry load-bearing walls and a steel superstructure. The house had 40 rooms in addition to two elevators, a basement, and a sub-basement. The building also contained 11 bathrooms, some of which had marble baths. The interiors of the mansion were designed in 16th- and 17th-century styles. The French firm of Allard et Fils imported the furnishings in the house. John La Farge designed four stained-glass windows themed to the seasons, while muralist James Wall Finn painted the decorations in entrance rotunda. The interior has been used as a setting for films such as Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940). It is still used as a filming location; for instance, the house has appeared in episodes of the TV shows Law & Order and ''The Blacklist. ''

First floor
Just inside the entrance is a rotunda. Measuring 32.25 by, it can fit 75 people. The rotunda's design resembles that of a peristyle and was inspired by the Villa Giulia's portico. The floors of the rotunda are clad in marble and are arranged in a grid with molded copper borders. Originally, the skins of various animals were used as floor coverings for the rotunda. Sixteen marble columns surround the rotunda and are arranged in pairs. The ceiling contains a motif of green leaves and yellow-tinted trellises; it is inlaid by eight medallions of playing children. These were painted by James Wall Finn. A white marble staircase leads to the second floor; it was originally decorated with a bronze railing, a wall frieze, and a carved-wood ceiling.

The center of the rotunda has a replica of Young Archer (c. 1490), a marble statue attributed to Michelangelo. After the sculpture had failed to sell at a 1902 auction in London, White had purchased the sculpture and installed it on a 3 ft pedestal at the Payne Whitney mansion. It went relatively unnoticed until 1990, when graduate student James Draper speculated that the work was by Bertoldo di Giovanni, a mentor of Michelangelo's. In 1996, Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, a longtime art historian for the New York University Institute of Fine Arts in the neighboring James B. Duke House, identified the sculpture as a genuine Michelangelo work after attending one of the French Cultural Service's exhibitions. In 2009, the statue was placed on loan several blocks north at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Venetian Room, measuring 14 ft square, is just east of the rotunda, on the south wall of the house. It is accessed by wrought-iron doors from the rotunda. Serving as a reception room for the Whitney family, the Venetian Room was used to receive guests before they proceeded upstairs. The room's furnishings include painted furniture and a French-style clock. The walls contain mirrored panels framed by gold leaf. In place of a cornice, the coved ceiling was originally decorated with a latticework pattern containing plants and enameled flowers. Other decorations include high Renaissance doorways and mantels, as well as a candelabra in the Bavarian rococo style. , the public has limited access to the room. North of the Venetian Room is a corridor leading from the rotunda to restrooms and private offices.

Other stories
The staircase from the first-floor rotunda leads directly to the main reception room on the second floor, which is used as a reception area for events. The main reception room measures 24 by and can fit 75 people. Architecture magazine described the second-floor reception room as having "some excellent antique columns, a staircase with beautifully designed bronze rail, and a truly wonderful frieze and carved wood ceiling". The room also contains decorations such as gilded doors with mirrors. Immediately in front of it is another reception room facing Fifth Avenue, which measures 30 by and can fit 75 people.

When built, the house had other decorated rooms scattered throughout the interior. One of these was a salon with velvet hangings and pictures on the walls. The dining room had a coffered ceiling and hanging lamps above a tapestry. The breakfast room was decorated with a bright color scheme and also had a mantel and paneling in the Louis XVI style. Payne Whitney's private library had brocade walls, a carved-wood ceiling, and a Baroque-style doorway, as well as upholstered tacks on the walls. Helen Hay had a studio with a segmentally-arched ceiling, sparsely-decorated walls, and ornate furniture. One of John La Farge's four stained-glass windows, entitled Autumn, is on a staircase landing between the second and third floors.

On the second and third floors are the Albertine Books bookstore and reading room, designed by French designer Jacques Garcia. Albertine Books is considered part of the French consulate, so sales of books in the store follow French law. The reading room and bookstore are on separate levels, connected by their own staircase. The second-story section of the bookstore is within the Whitney family's former private library. Its ceiling has a mural depicting constellations, with a blue background and decorative gold details that converge at the center. The mural was inspired by one in Germany's Villa Stuck. The Albertine space also has custom furniture and carved busts of French and French-American historical figures.

History
William Payne Whitney and Helen Hay married in February 1902. The groom was the son of William Collins Whitney and Flora Payne, of the prominent Whitney family. The bride's father was John Milton Hay, who was the United States Secretary of State at the time. Media at the time reported that William's uncle, Oliver Payne, would erect a mansion for the newlyweds as a wedding gift.

Construction
In March 1902, Oliver Payne paid Henry H. Cook $525,000 for a lot measuring 70 by on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 78th and 79th Streets. The purchase included a 15 by parcel that led to 79th Street, creating an L-shaped assemblage. As a condition of the sale, Cook required that any structure on the parcel be made of "light-colored stone". McKim, Mead & White were hired as the architects for both Cook's house at 973 Fifth Avenue and Payne Whitney's at 972 Fifth Avenue, and the firm filed plans for both houses around the same time. In September 1902, McKim, Mead & White submitted plans to the Manhattan Bureau of Buildings for a six-story marble-and-granite house at 972 Fifth Avenue, which would cost $195,000.

The Real Estate Record and Guide indicated in February 1904 that the Payne Whitney House had been "enclosed". However, by that November, the windows and doors had not been installed yet. In April 1905, the same publication noted that the windows had been installed, but the entrance was unfinished and the interior work was underway. That June, the Elektron Manufacturing Company received the contract to install three dumbwaiters at the house. During the long period of construction, Helen gave birth to the Whitneys' two children, John (Jock) and Joan. Helen said to White: "It made me so disgusted I felt like chucking the whole thing and getting a nice ready-made house that I could have when I wanted it."

White carefully selected the house's decorations, even asking John Hay about the color of the marble in Helen's childhood house so it could be replicated. From 1903 to 1905, he spent much of his time in Europe to select antiques and art. This increased the total construction cost by $1 million, to Oliver Payne's consternation. When Oliver objected to the high cost of decorating the Payne Whitney House, White apologized, saying the house "was really of the first water and could stand in beauty with any house in the world". Ultimately, Oliver was compelled to forgive White. The Whitneys reportedly moved into the house in April 1906, although the house was "not yet completed", according to the New-York Tribune. White had finalized plans for the house's Venetian Room the same month. White ultimately never oversaw the completion of the Payne Whitney House, having been murdered that June. The house was completed in 1909.

Residential use
After the Whitneys moved into the house, they hosted several events, such as a Lent sewing club in 1907 and a dinner with music in 1908. Payne Whitney purchased a small parcel on the south side of the site, measuring 20 by, from his neighbor James B. Duke in September 1909. Helen's mother Clara Stone Hay died at the house in 1914 while visiting her daughter and son-in-law. The house continued to host events including a speech on World War I fighting conditions in 1915, a "food bazaar" featuring a live pig in 1916, entertainments for schoolchildren during Christmas 1920, and a speech by conductor Kurt Schindler in 1924. The 1920 United States census indicated that fifteen servants lived with the four members of the Whitney family. Payne Whitney lived at 972 Fifth Avenue until his sudden death in 1927 at Greentree, the family estate in Manhasset, New York. In his will, Payne Whitney had bequeathed 972 Fifth Avenue to his wife.

Through the 1930s, Helen Hay Whitney continued to host social events, including a bazaar to benefit the unemployed, a fashion show for charity, and a supper dance honoring film producer David O. Selznick. In 1941, the Venetian Room's ceiling was restored. Helen continued to live in the house until her death in 1944. Helen had her favorite space in the mansion, the Venetian Room, removed and preserved before her death; the decorations were placed in 75 crates and stored at Greentree. She bequeathed the house to her son Jock. Soon afterward, the first floor was closed and its windows boarded up. On February 7 and 8, 1946, Parke-Bernet Galleries auctioned off many of the artworks, furnishings, and architectural design details. The auction grossed $31,119 on its first day and $70,267 on its second day, for a total of $101,386. Even after the auction, many original furnishings remained, and a caretaker was hired to maintain the furnishings. A tax appraisal filed in December 1948 appraised the 972 Fifth Avenue house at $140,000, out of a total estate of about $6.1 million.

In May 1949, Jock Whitney sold the house to a private investor, 972 Fifth Avenue Inc., in an all-cash transaction. The buyer, who was unidentified at the time, intended to convert the house into apartments. The next month, Jock officially turned the property title to 972 Fifth Avenue Inc. The mansion was assessed at the time at $507,000. 972 Fifth Avenue Inc. was headed by Lony Arnault, a Frenchwoman who headed who took out a loan from the Lurie Mortgage Corporation to fund the project. By February 1950, the building had been divided into 15 suites and two doctors' offices. That November, Sonnenblick Goldman Corporation placed a $160,000 first mortgage loan on the building. 972 Fifth Avenue Inc. transferred title to the building to Arnault in February 1951.

French Cultural Services
Arnault transferred the building in May 1952 to the Title Guarantee and Trust Company, who in turn transferred it to the Republic of France, subject to two existing mortgages on the property. After the French government bought the Payne Whitney House, the building was used by the Cultural Services division of the French embassy to the United States. This made the Payne Whitney House one of a few embassy buildings outside a country's capital city. The French Embassy was operating two small private libraries in the house by mid-1953. By 1964, the French Cultural Services office was among the United States' busiest cultural-exchange buildings. The office directed exhibitions of French creative works, such as visual art and performances, in the United States.

As early as 1966, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) was considering designating the Payne Whitney House as part of a city historic district. The LPC designated the house as a city landmark on September 15, 1970. The LPC also added the house, in 1977, to the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century mansions around Fifth Avenue between 78th and 86th Streets. The roof and a section of the facade were renovated in 1980, followed by a portion of the ground floor in 1981. The restoration uncovered an artwork that had long been hidden in the ceiling. The house was restored in 1987, uncovering John La Farge's stained-glass window.

In 1997, Jock Whitney's widow Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney donated the Venetian Room to the French-American Foundation, which in turn offered to help reinstall the room in its original location. Four layers of floor surfaces, the oldest dating from the 1950s, were removed as part of the restoration, and the physical space containing the room was repaired. Many of the original decorations remained in good condition after half a century; when the decorations were retrieved from a stable at Greentree, one restorer compared it to "opening up King Tut's tomb". The restoration was completed in April 1998. Among the other discoveries in the late 1990s was that of the statue in the rotunda which was authenticated in 1996 as a Michelangelo work. A dress worn by actress Marilyn Monroe was also discovered on the third floor around that time; it is unclear how the dress ended up in the house, since Monroe was not known to have visited the French Embassy.

The French Embassy celebrated the Payne Whitney House's centenary with a party in July 2006. The genuine Michelangelo statue in the rotunda was loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009, and a replica was installed in the rotunda. The Albertine Books bookstore and reading room opened in September 2014, functioning as a cultural space with public events. The Venetian Room was restored again in the late 2010s, reopening in 2018. The Venetian Room's restoration cost $250,000 and was partly funded by a $100,000 gift that the Selz Foundation had given to the World Monuments Fund. In June 2021, the French-American Foundation donated the Venetian Room to the French government.

Reception
David Carrard Lowe, in a 1992 book about White's work, described the curved facade as having "an almost mannerist quality", emphasized by its vertical pilasters, horizontal entablatures, and cornices. In a 2008 book, White's great-grandson Samuel G. White wrote that the design of the house "illustrates [Stanford] White's ability with settings for elaborate social rituals and also with the patterns of family life".

Several publications praised the house's interior. Architecture magazine wrote that the decorations were "an illustration of his incomparable cleverness in discovering and purchasing antiques, valuable not only from a standpoint of their costliness, but also because of their intrinsic beauty". Town and Country magazine praised the Italian decorations as "a triumphant blending of decorative art, old and new". When the Venetian Room was restored in 1998, John Russell wrote for The New York Times that, while he considered the design "imperfect", "White's appetite for life is everywhere present, as is his sense of affectionate companionship". Lowe said that the smaller rooms "are among the most delightful of Stanford White's creations".

title: Payne Whitney House


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Content validity

In psychometrics, content validity (also known as logical validity) refers to the extent to which a measure represents all facets of a given construct. For example, a depression scale may lack content validity if it only assesses the affective dimension of depression but fails to take into account the behavioral dimension. An element of subjectivity exists in relation to determining content validity, which requires a degree of agreement about what a particular personality trait such as extraversion represents. A disagreement about a personality trait will prevent the gain of a high content validity.

Description
Content validity is different from face validity, which refers not to what the test actually measures, but to what it superficially appears to measure. Face validity assesses whether the test "looks valid" to the examinees who take it, the administrative personnel who decide on its use, and other technically untrained observers. Content validity requires the use of recognized subject matter experts to evaluate whether test items assess defined content and more rigorous statistical tests than does the assessment of face validity. Content validity is most often addressed in academic and vocational testing, where test items need to reflect the knowledge actually required for a given topic area (e.g., history) or job skill (e.g., accounting). In clinical settings, content validity refers to the correspondence between test items and the symptom content of a syndrome.

Measurement
One widely used method of measuring content validity was developed by C. H. Lawshe. It is essentially a method for gauging agreement among raters or judges regarding how essential a particular item is. In an article regarding pre-employment testing, proposed that each of the subject matter expert raters (SMEs) on the judging panel respond to the following question for each item: "Is the skill or knowledge measured by this item 'essential,' 'useful, but not essential,' or 'not necessary' to the performance of the job?" According to Lawshe, if more than half the panelists indicate that an item is essential, that item has at least some content validity. Greater levels of content validity exist as larger numbers of panelists agree that a particular item is essential. Using these assumptions, Lawshe developed a formula termed the content validity ratio: $$CVR = (n_e - N/2)/(N/2)$$ where $$CVR=$$ content validity ratio, $$n_e=$$ number of SME panelists indicating "essential", $$N=$$ total number of SME panelists. This formula yields values which range from +1 to -1; positive values indicate that at least half the SMEs rated the item as essential. The mean CVR across items may be used as an indicator of overall test content validity.

provided a table of critical values for the CVR by which a test evaluator could determine, for a pool of SMEs of a given size, the size of a calculated CVR necessary to exceed chance expectation. This table had been calculated for Lawshe by his friend, Lowell Schipper. Close examination of this published table revealed an anomaly. In Schipper's table, the critical value for the CVR increases monotonically from the case of 40 SMEs (minimum value = .29) to the case of 9 SMEs (minimum value = .78) only to unexpectedly drop at the case of 8 SMEs (minimum value = .75) before hitting its ceiling value at the case of 7 SMEs (minimum value = .99). However, when applying the formula to 8 raters, the result from 7 Essential and 1 other rating yields a CVR of .75. If .75 was not the critical value, then 8 of 8 raters of Essential would be needed that would yield a CVR of 1.00. In that case, to be consistent with the ascending order of CVRs the value for 8 raters would have to be 1.00. That would violate the same principle because you would have the "perfect" value required for 8 raters, but not for ratings at other numbers of raters at either higher or lower than 8 raters. Whether this departure from the table's otherwise monotonic progression was due to a calculation error on Schipper's part or an error in typing or typesetting is unclear. , seeking to correct the error, found no explanation in Lawshe's writings nor any publications by Schipper describing how the table of critical values was computed. Wilson and colleagues determined that the Schipper values were close approximations to the normal approximation to the binomial distribution. By comparing Schipper's values to the newly calculated binomial values, they also found that Lawshe and Schipper had erroneously labeled their published table as representing a one-tailed test when in fact the values mirrored the binomial values for a two-tailed test. Wilson and colleagues published a recalculation of critical values for the content validity ratio providing critical values in unit steps at multiple alpha levels.

The table of values is the following one:

title: Content validity