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John Dobson (Canadian politician)

John Dobson (8 September 1824 – 27 January 1907) was a Conservative member of the Senate of Canada from 23 February 1892 until his death.

Born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, the son of John Dobson and Mary Henry, he was educated at the Public Schools. After residing in Toronto for a few years he moved to Lindsay, Ontario. He was elected Mayor of Lindsay by acclamation in 1873, and also to the office of President of the Board of Trade. He was President of the South Victoria Agricultural Society and Chairman of the School Board. He was also President of the South Victoria Conservative Association for over 25 years. A Conservative, he was called to the Senate on the advice of John Joseph Caldwell Abbott on February 23, 1892 and represented the senatorial division of Lindsay, Ontario for almost 15 years until his death.

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

title: John Dobson (Canadian politician)


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Tweakers.net

 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 no consensus to delete -- Francs2000 | Talk 02:33, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Tweakers.net
nn Y0u (Y0ur talk page) (Y0ur contributions) 19:43, July 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Non-notable. (is that what "nn" stands for?) Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 19:54, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Yep, it's shorthand for "non-notable" or "not-notable." Y0u (Y0ur talk page) (Y0ur contributions) 19:55, July 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * strong keep and expand. in NL it *is* a well known site amongs computer geeks Spearhead 19:57, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Week keep. I'm not dutch so wouldn't know too much but after looking at the site which as 100,000+ registered users, certainly seems to have some notability. Sasquatch′↔T↔C 21:54, July 24, 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.


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Daniel P O'Connell

 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 Keep --Allen3 talk 16:14, July 30, 2005 (UTC)

Daniel P O'Connell
I found an article about his house. That's about it. Sounds like a great Democratic power player, but not notable for it. humblefool® 19:43, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * That article is missing a key verb. I'm going with delete unless expanded to establish notability and actually say something about the guy. -R. fiend 21:07, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * All right. Been expanded enough to make it a marginal keep. -R. fiend 18:27, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep From this website I get the impression that he is notable enough for an article, we just need to write one. NoSeptember  21:21, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep as per NoSeptember. I've formated the article and expanded a little. Also note that he got an obit in the Albany Times-Union which refers to him as "boss of the Albany Democratic machine" Meelar (talk) 14:20, July 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep, looks notable. feydey 20:55, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Fifty years running political machine in major county. DS1953 03:13, July 26, 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.


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Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Famekeeper

In order to remain listed at Requests for comment, at least two people need to show that they tried to resolve a dispute with this user and have failed. This must involve the same dispute, not different disputes. The persons complaining must provide evidence of their efforts, and each of them must certify it by signing this page with ~. If this does not happen within 48 hours of the creation of this dispute page (which was: 19:43, 24 July 2005 (UTC)), the page will be deleted. The current date and time is:, 29 July 2024 (UTC).

 * (Example user | talk | contributions)

Statement of the dispute
This RfC is about the conduct of Famekeeper, in particular, incivility and POV-pushing with respect to issues of Catholic Church complicity in the Holocaust. Famekeeper is annoyed that his name has been domain registered so has chosen the unattractive name of User:PureSoupS. By now, he has adopted the name of EffK.

Description
The user in question maintains that leaders of the Catholic Church, including Pope Pius XII and Ludwig Kaas, the leader of the Catholic Centre Party, were guilty of collusion with Adolf Hitler and so share responsibility for the Holocaust. He claims that because the articles do not present that POV, they are not neutral. That claim is a POV that has been stated by several scholars and it is appropriate to present it as POV. However, while the user in question demands that discussion in order to achieve NPOV, his use of article talk pages as a soapbox makes any resolution impossible. He has in the past treated deletion of unsourced arguments as censorship. Requests for a summary of specific passages that he considers to show a lack of neutrality have been responded to with lengthy non-specific rants. Several Wikipedians have given up on the possibility of improving on any of the articles in question. The user's swamping of article talk pages has the effect of a filibuster.

The user in question has more recently developed an unusual method of highlighting, which is to put large amounts of text in brackets. This causes the bracketed text to be displayed in red, with links. Clicking on one of the links causes a message that a page by that name has not yet been created. This disrupts Wikipedia, whether to make a point about Wikipedia, or to make a point by yelling.

Evidence of disputed behavior
Breach of civility and using Wikipedia as a soapbox:
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas

Using a VfD on an article that he wrote as a soapbox:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AVotes_for_deletion%2FPope%27s_Hitler&diff=19447073&oldid=19439011

Inserting a complaint into a Wikipedia official policy article on NPOV:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ANeutral_point_of_view&diff=19419918&oldid=19413306

A request (from another editor) not to disrupt Wikipedia to make a point, to which the response was insulting:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Pope_Pius_XII&diff=22498844&oldid=22498593
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Pope_Pius_XII&diff=22510399&oldid=22510163

One of a series of rants about "intractable disputes" and "intellectual dishonesty" posted in red (as false wiki-links), also containing personal attacks:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Ludwig_Kaas&diff=22535426&oldid=22490582

Personal attacks: For a section accusing an editor with an alternate point of view of being an "agent of the Vatican":
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas

Calling a consensus of Wikipedians who disagreed with him on a VfD "cyborgs"
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AVotes_for_deletion%2FPope%27s_Hitler&diff=19455663&oldid=19453589

Calling an editor who disagreed with him "very naughty" and the consensus of Wikipedians as "stupid:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Hitler%27s_Pope&diff=22496960&oldid=22494854

An apparent threat to wikistalk another editor:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Hitler%27s_Pope&diff=22500070&oldid=22498691

Accusing another editor of being untrustworthy and a bully:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Ludwig_Kaas&diff=22486964&oldid=22364512

Another attack on the Wikipedia community:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Pope_Pius_XII&diff=22510163&oldid=22504727

A lengthy and vituperative personal attack on an editor's talk page, containing a variety of strange attacks:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Robert_McClenon&diff=22546962&oldid=22526422

Posting unverifiable 'common knowledge' in an article
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hitler%27s_Pope&diff=19411498&oldid=19036250

Posting an article that stated that it made no attempt to distinguish POV and NPOV
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope%27s_Hitler&diff=19421356&oldid=19408928

Wikistalking by responding to an article in user space to which no links had yet been posted:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Robert_McClenon/Crisis&oldid=21991491

No legal threats What appears to be a threat to use a German court to charge Wikipedia with Holocaust denial (though nothing warranted this charge)
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ARobert_McClenon&diff=19720017&oldid=19632981
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope%27s_Hitler&diff=19444810&oldid=19435899

Applicable official policies
{list the policies that apply to the disputed conduct} Be civil What Wikipedia is not Wikipedia is not a soapbox No personal attacks Resolving disputes Verifiability and citing sources No legal threats

Applicable guidelines
{list the guidelines that apply to the disputed conduct} Assume good faith Talk page guidelines Common knowledge WP:POINT

Evidence of trying and failing to resolve the dispute
(provide diffs and links) An early request to be civil was:
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas, to which the response was
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas

Another request to be civil was:
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas, in response to which Famekeeper apologized for calling Str1977 an "agent of the Vatican" but continued to use Wikipedia talk pages as a soapbox

A request to identify the factual portions of the article that were in dispute was:
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas, to which the response was
 * Talk:Ludwig Kaas, which does not state the sections that are in dispute but only that there is a dispute.

An attempt to provide a neutral point of view article for the discussion of arguments supporting and opposing his contention of Catholic complicity was made in: However, no points of view were added to that stub by the user in question. Instead, he created an article entitled Pope's Hitler (listed above) that admitted that it mixed POV and NPOV.
 * Talk:Hitler's Pope by creating
 * Catholic Holocaust Complicity Views.

A more recent reminder to refrain from personal attacks by an admin:
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Famekeeper&diff=22550459&oldid=22535848

Users certifying the basis for this dispute
(sign with ~ )
 * Robert McClenon 19:43, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Str1977 09:23, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Other users who endorse this summary
(sign with ~ )
 * john k 22:41, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
 * JASpencer 12:58, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Rangerdude 03:21, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

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

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

Users who endorse this summary (sign with ~ ):

. This is the centre of modern world history - the mysterious 'suicide of democracy'. All argument stems from this one point - the meeting these two held in private on 2 April 1933. (see Timeline which due to the time this argument has persisted, has been changed now to here by the outside organisation, not by myself- [] ). The subject for complex reason spills between the church  and the  political. Both are relevant, but to see reason you have to visit archives etc on
 * Pope John Paul II (his Book)
 * Pope Pius XII ( the Concordat
 * Pope Benedict XVI Scandal of 1933
 * AIDS
 * Theology of Pope Benedict XVI ditto
 * Anti-semitism ditto
 * Centre Party Germany (Mowrer /Witness POV of Journalist report  etc
 * Hitler's Pope
 * Pope's Hitler (deleted) fair-use source centre
 * Ludwig Kaas, Monsignor
 * Rhenish-Westphalian Industrial Magnates and the Nazis
 * Enabling Act
 * Reichskonkordat
 * Holocaust
 * Weimar Germany
 * Sam Spade

No, I do not soapbox, I follow JWales explanation guideline. I currently ask Jimmy Wales about the TV report on the  2005 vatican spring Conference re WP(amongst other media organs) and the conclusion of it  for infiltration  hereof. My attempts at persuasion with sourced reference are  extensive  and disparate in the archives relevant to that persuasion,. The accusation that McClenon makes is that I push POV, because I needed at length to fight the editing of my  opponent .I remain quite in line with sources, and behave in utter good faith. Anyway it is ridiculous to complain at sense and reasoned argument entering the discussions, or that this disallows other users space. This is a dishonest argument. No,I cannot be blamed for  un-POV users holding back   from editing articles  thru  my Filibuster- My history shows  I do not interfere with them at all on articles. This whole page is malign, and shows  future arbitration  the extent of malignity .In real law a threat is not a threat if it is something that  can  be done ( ie presumably something legal). WP should stick to the meaning of the word in law, and allow verifiable law to be posted as pure info. I said "bordering on"  prosecutable to Robert McClenon  for the twisting of reality on the Holocaust article. This is all wrong, and I shall expect a full arbitration in due course. I was made supicious when I arrived on WP - my  belief good faith  is much damaged. I require an answer from JWales about the order to infiltrate, and I require that all users come under a resulting suspicion, as if they were susceptible to a Cult , one billion strong. Sorry Jimbo- there had to be a catch .(Please visit my name page to see the question and his answer, as I cannot obscure the outside  response below with my defence, yet :fair enough ,reader?) In fact user Str1977 did not attempt to resolve the dispute as he Str1977 is the dispute Therefore he has no basis to certify. IF there were two honest users who understood I would invite them to put up a request for study upon Str1977 within wikipedia  source guidelines for Str1977 entire editing history .I refer any  potential two intellectually honest users to  [] in red at bottom.Irrefutable proof and to entire discourse where this user does never mediate but only denies source.

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

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

View of User:Pjacobi
The behaviour of User:Famekeeper on talk pages seems to be borderline problematic. But in the factual case, he has some points: Reichskonkordat get's only very few wikilinks. Even Pope Pius XI doesn't link to it. In fact critical encyclicals from 1931 and 1937 are mentioned, and nothing is written about the time between. I also consider it strange by User:Robert McClenon to create the stub Catholic Holocaust Complicity Views which can be seen as an effort to keep critical views out of the main articles. --Pjacobi 23:36, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

Users who endorse this summary (sign with ~ ):
 * 1) --AI 01:24, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

View of FuelWagon
Whether Famekeeper's assertions around the topics are true or not, he seems unable to write those assertions within wikipedia guidelines for NPOV, especially avoiding writing assertions as absolute truths or as "views from nowhere" (explained in NPOV). His assertions need to be put into terms of "so and so said this" and provide a link to verify it. Famekeeper could also benefit by learning to play well with others on the talk pages. FuelWagon 14:37, 31 July 2005 (UTC) Users who endorse this summary (sign with ~ ):
 * 1) - Robert McClenon 18:47, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
 * 2) - Str1977 11:51, 4 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 3) - AnnH ♫ 17:23, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Discussion
All signed comments and talk not related to a vote or endorsement, should be directed to this page's discussion page.


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Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the eleventh entry overall. Set in the fictional Liberty City, based on New York City, the single-player story follows Eastern European war veteran Niko Bellic and his attempts to escape his past while under pressure from high-profile criminals. The open world design lets players freely roam Liberty City, consisting of three main islands, and the neighbouring state of Alderney, which is based on New Jersey.

The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot and by vehicle. Throughout the single-player mode, players control Niko Bellic. An online multiplayer mode is also included with the game, allowing up to 32 players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting. Two expansion packs were later released for the game, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which both feature new plots that are interconnected with the main Grand Theft Auto IV storyline, and follow new protagonists.

Development of Grand Theft Auto IV began soon after the release of San Andreas and was shared between many of Rockstar's studios worldwide. The game introduced a shift to a more realistic and detailed style and tone for the series. Unlike previous entries, Grand Theft Auto IV lacked a strong cinematic influence, as the team attempted an original approach to the story. As part of their research for the open world, the development team conducted extensive field research in New York, capturing over 100,000 photographs and several hours of video. The developers considered the world to be the most important element of the game; though not the largest map in the series, they considered it comparable in scope due to its verticality and level of detail. The budget climbed to over US$100 million, making it one of the most expensive video games to develop.

Grand Theft Auto IV was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in April 2008, and for Windows in December. Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with praise particularly directed at the narrative and open-world design. Grand Theft Auto IV broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history at the time, earning US$310 million in its first day and US$500 million in its first week. Considered one of the most significant titles of the seventh generation of video games, and by many critics as one of the greatest video games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. It is among the best-selling video games with over 25 million copies sold by 2013. The game generated controversy, with criticism directed at the game's depiction of violence and players' ability to drink-drive. Its successor, Grand Theft Auto V, was released in September 2013.

Gameplay
Grand Theft Auto IV is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. It is possible to have several active missions running at one time, as some require players to wait for further instructions or events. Outside of missions, players can freely roam the game's open world and complete optional side missions. Composed of the fictional city of Liberty City, the world is larger in area than most earlier Grand Theft Auto series entries. At the beginning of the game, players can only explore the first island—composed of Dukes and Broker—with all other islands unlocking as the story progresses.

Players use melee attacks, firearms and explosives to fight enemies, and may run, jump, swim or use vehicles to navigate the game's world. There is a first-person perspective option when using vehicles. In combat, auto-aim and a cover system can be used as assistance against enemies. Should players take damage, their health meter can be fully regenerated by consuming food or drinks, using medical kits, or calling for paramedics. If players commit crimes, the game's law enforcement agencies may respond as indicated by a "wanted" meter in the head-up display (HUD). On the meter, the displayed stars indicate the current wanted level (for example, at the maximum six-star level, efforts by law enforcement to incapacitate players become very aggressive). Law enforcement officers will search for players who leave the wanted vicinity. The wanted meter enters a cool-down mode and eventually recedes when players are hidden from the officers' line of sight.

The game's cover system allows players to move between cover, to fire blindly, aim freely, and target a specific enemy. Individual body parts can also be targeted. Melee attacks include additional moves, such as dodging, blocking, disarming an opponent and counter-attacking. Body armour can be used to absorb gunshots and explosive damage, but is used up in the process. When health is entirely depleted, gameplay stops, and players respawn at the nearest hospital.

The single-player mode lets players control an Eastern European war veteran, Niko Bellic. During the story, Niko meets and befriends various new characters. They can then perform favours for Niko whenever he asks; for example, his cousin Roman, who owns a taxi service, can send one of his cabs to take Niko to any destination around the city. Cabs are always available during gameplay for quick travel to a destination. Throughout the course of the game, players are also faced with morality choices, which alter the storyline appropriately depending on the player's choice. While free roaming the game world, players may engage in context-specific activities such as bowling or darts. Other available activities include a vigilante mini-game, and in-game television programming. Niko has a cell phone for contacting friends and starting activities. The cell phone is also used to access the game's online multiplayer mode, and to enter cheat codes. To access the in-game Internet, which allows Niko to send and receive emails and set up prospective dates with potential girlfriends, Niko can use Internet cafés located around the city. The game also features a subway system, allowing players to quickly traverse through the game's world.

The online multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto IV allows up to 32 players to freely roam across the map. Players decide which game mode they wish to play, including deathmatches and street races. Both cooperative and competitive game modes are available, split into ranked and unranked matches. For players to level up through ranks, in-game money has to be earned. The game also features a Free Mode, in which players have the entire map open to explore, with no end goal or mission to complete. Hosts of the game can control many variables, such as police presence, traffic, and weapons. The multiplayer mode was discontinued on Windows in 2020.

Setting
Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in 2008, within a redesigned version of Liberty City. The design of the city focuses on a recreation of four of the boroughs of New York City: Broker (based on Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (The Bronx), and Algonquin (Manhattan). The setting also includes the neighbouring state of Alderney (based on New Jersey). Initially, bridges are locked down due to a terrorist threat, and police constantly pursue players if the bridges are crossed. The blockades are lifted as the story progresses, allowing the player to traverse between islands safely.

Grand Theft Auto IV is set in the fictional "HD Universe", which mirrors and parodies the real world. The previous games formed fictional universes of their own, which despite having many similarities with the HD Universe, are considered to be different continuities. Hence, the Liberty City depicted in Grand Theft Auto IV is different from its previous renditions, and the game itself serves as a reboot for the series. The new timeline established by Grand Theft Auto IV would continue with two expansion packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, and a sequel, Grand Theft Auto V, as well as its online component, Grand Theft Auto Online. The handheld game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also considered part of the HD Universe, because it features the same map as Grand Theft Auto IV, except for Alderney.

Plot
Niko Bellic, an Eastern European ex-soldier, arrives in Liberty City aboard a cargo ship, the Platypus, to escape his criminal past, pursue the American Dream, and search for the man who betrayed his unit to an ambush during a war ten years prior. Reuniting with his cousin Roman, he discovers that his tales of riches were lies concealing his small, dirty apartment, unprofitable taxi company, gambling debts, and disputes with loan sharks. Niko begins assisting Roman with his problems, which leads him to make his first criminal contacts in the city. He befriends Yardies second-in-command Little Jacob and is forced to work for Vlad Glebov, Roman's Russian loan shark, whom Niko eventually kills upon learning he had slept with Roman's girlfriend, Mallorie.

In retaliation, Niko and Roman are kidnapped by Russian mobsters on orders of their boss Mikhail Faustin and his lieutenant, Dimitri Rascalov. Indifferent to Vlad's murder, Faustin releases them and employs Niko as a hitman, eventually ordering him to kill the son of Russian crime lord Kenny Petrović. When Petrović threatens retaliation, Dimitri convinces Niko to assassinate Faustin. However, he then betrays and brings Niko to his former employer, Ray Bulgarin, who accuses Niko of stealing from him during a botched human trafficking job years earlier. Niko denies the allegation and a firefight ensues, allowing Dimitri and Bulgarin to escape.

Dimitri's men burn down Niko and Roman's apartment and taxi company, forcing them to flee to Bohan. While Niko finds work with several local drug lords, Dimitri kidnaps Roman in a failed attempt to lure Niko into a trap. Later, Niko discovers that his romantic interest, a woman named Michelle, is a government agent, who then entraps him into working for her agency. In exchange for the murders of several known or suspected terrorists, the agency clears Niko's criminal record and assists him in searching for the traitor he seeks. Niko and Roman's fortunes improve when the latter receives a large amount of insurance money from his destroyed business, which he uses to rebuild it and buy an apartment in Algonquin. Roman also proposes to Mallorie, who accepts.

While working for the Irish Mob, Niko befriends gangster Patrick "Packie" McReary and helps him and his brothers carry out various jobs, including a major bank robbery. Niko is later hired by Ray Boccino, a caporegime in the Pegorino crime family, to oversee a diamond deal, which goes awry. Boccino repays Niko by helping him find his ex-comrade Florian Cravic, now known as Bernie Crane, who claims he was not the one to betray their unit. Niko concludes that the traitor was Darko Brevic, the only other survivor. Niko continues working for the Mafia in Liberty City and eventually earns the trust of Don Jimmy Pegorino, who orders Niko to kill Boccino after suspecting him of being a police informant. Niko also helps Packie kidnap Don Giovanni Ancelotti's daughter to ransom her for the diamonds, but Bulgarin intercepts the exchange. In the ensuing firefight, the diamonds are lost.

Eventually, the government agents find Darko in Romania and bring him to Liberty City for Niko to decide his fate. Afterwards, Niko is summoned by Pegorino for one final favour: to help with a highly lucrative heroin deal in collusion with Dimitri. Niko must either agree to work with Dimitri or exact revenge on him. If Niko goes through with the deal, Dimitri betrays him again, kills Pegorino, and attempts to kill Niko via an assassin at Roman's wedding, but accidentally kills Roman; Niko retaliates by tracking and murdering Dimitri. If Niko chooses to exact revenge, he kills Dimitri aboard the Platypus, prompting a furious Pegorino to target Niko but accidentally kill Packie's sister Kate, whom Niko had been dating, at Roman's wedding; Niko retaliates by tracking and murdering Pegorino. Later, either Mallorie or Roman tells Niko that Mallorie is pregnant.

Development

Preliminary work on Grand Theft Auto IV began in November 2004, a month after the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Rockstar president Sam Houser felt that following up San Andreas was "a nightmare". Rockstar North, the core 220-person team behind the game, co-opted studios owned by parent company Rockstar Games to facilitate development between a full team of over 1,000, including 50 employees at Rockstar NYC, 40 at Rockstar Lincoln, 10 at Rockstar San Diego, and around 600–700 working part-time internally and externally. Some key members of the development team worked 12-hour days during production, often without holidays. The team decided to continue the numbering scheme absent from the previous two main games to represent the same leap in production as Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999) to Grand Theft Auto III (2001). Development of Grand Theft Auto IV ceased by 21 April 2008 when the game was submitted for manufacturing. Producer Leslie Benzies estimated that the budget of the development efforts exceeded US$100 million, making Grand Theft Auto IV one of the most expensive video games ever made.

Research and open world design
The game's setting, Liberty City, is based on New York City. The team did not look at the previous renditions of Liberty City as inspiration, wanting it to retain the "general feel" but nothing else. The map is roughly three times the size of Grand Theft Auto III's. The developers originally considered using the entire state of New York, before restricting it to Manhattan, and then expanding it out again. They considered including more suburbs with woods, and would regularly vote on which areas to include. Art director Aaron Garbut said that the team chose the setting because of the detail and variety it provided, describing New York as "an amazing, diverse, vibrant, cinematic city". Writer Dan Houser added that the team "wanted to be somewhere where we had a foothold" due to the amount of research required for the world; Rockstar Games's main headquarters are located in New York. The team consciously avoided a precise recreation of New York City to allow for more enjoyable game design, selecting the areas that they felt "characterised it the best". Garbut wanted to capture a caricature of the city as he felt that most people were familiar with "the highlights" from film or literature but did not need to know the areas precisely. The city was not built with specific missions in mind; the area was created first, and missions implemented later.

To achieve a realistic environment, 60–70 employees from Rockstar North travelled to New York for research: first at the beginning of the project in March or April 2005 for a week and a half, and a smaller trip in 2007. Police officers who previously worked the beat drove the team around Washington Heights. A full-time research team based in New York handled further requests for information, such as the ethnic minority of a neighbourhood or videos of traffic patterns. Videos shot in New York were played on televisions at the Rockstar North offices "so while they worked they could look up and there was New York". Benzies claimed that the team took over 100,000 photographs on location in New York, though Garbut estimates that they took around 250,000. They also studied architectural plans for apartments, used satellite images to determine city block layout, researched sales figures for models of cars, and read books that detailed the city's infrastructure, including its subways, sewers, and garbage disposal. Hove Beach is based on Brighton Beach, which Sam Houser found "pretty incredible" and unusual; the name is based on the English city Brighton and Hove, made up of the former neighbouring towns Brighton and Hove. Houser appreciated that Brighton Beach was home to several Eastern Europeans due to the nature of the game's characters.

Dan Houser described Liberty City as "the biggest character" of the game. The Grand Theft Auto IV rendition of Liberty City is more detailed and larger in size than most earlier entries in the series; although smaller than San Andreas, the setting of the previous main game, the developers considered it comparable in scope due to city's verticality, number of buildings, and level of detail. The team wanted less dead spots and irrelevant spaces, such as the wide open deserts in San Andreas. They wanted the game to be "a more focused experience" than San Andreas, and Dan Houser felt that the limited activities of New York allowed this. The team felt that the addition of Niko's mobile phone added to the immersion of the world and represented society's shifted focus on phones. The in-game brands and products are designed over several years; the billboards were implemented in the game around six months prior to release.

Story and character development
The game's script, written by Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries, is about 1,000 pages. Approximately 660 actors provided voices for the game over 80,000 lines of dialogue. After conceiving the character and setting, Dan Houser spoke with his brother Sam Houser and Leslie Benzies to bounce story ideas before writing a rough synopsis, a six-paged, detailed document. Once the synopsis was reworked, the designers broke it into missions, represented by a large flow document demonstrating each section. The writers then work on the introductions to the missions; the gameplay dialogue comes much later. Unlike previous Grand Theft Auto games, Grand Theft Auto IV does not have cinematic influences. "We were consciously trying to go, well, if video games are going to develop into the next stage, then the thing isn't to try and do a loving tribute or reference other stuff," said Dan Houser. He said that the writers wanted something "fresh and new and not something that was obviously derived from [a] movie". Dan Houser felt that the quality of the writing had to improve alongside the advancements in graphics and technology. He noted that the improvements in facial animation allowed for slower-paced cutscenes. The unique dialogue that plays when a mission is retried was to ensure that the gameplay felt "less canned and less like Groundhog Day".

Dan Houser described Niko Bellic as "a more rounded character" than those in previous games. He felt that his dual personality—often saving innocent people, while also being a "cold-hearted killer"—made him more relatable. He also felt that Niko's unfamiliarity with Liberty City allowed for the player to relate to him more, only driven by his vague past and relationship with Roman. When deciding on Niko's background, the writers felt that being an immigrant could lead to more dangerous situations, and therefore more enjoyable missions; after discussions with criminal experts, Dan Houser found that "the real scary characters are not born in America anymore". He felt that Niko's outsider view of American culture was "fun". The team wanted Niko to be "more of an anti hero than a hero, capable of making positive actions within his criminal world". They wanted his demeanour to reflect the weight of his past and choices.

Niko's design underwent a few changes, but was finalised early in development. His outfit underwent several changes based on Eastern Europeans, particularly photographs of men fighting in winter wars in Yugoslavia and Chechnya. The primary motivation for the design was a face to convey the appropriate emotions and a body that could move nicely with the new animations. The in-game purchasable outfits were also designed to fit with the character. The team ensured that the gameplay choices presented to the player were not too extensive, as they still had to make sense to the character, who is driven by the people around him. Dan Houser felt that the missions in San Andreas had become too linear, and wanted to present choices to the player in Grand Theft Auto IV.

The writers found that Niko needed a motivation to come to America, so they created his cousin, Roman. Dan Houser felt that the two could not be brothers as there would be a deeper level of familiarity than necessary. He described the two as a double act, with Roman's fantasist charm playing off Niko's tough cynicism. The team gave other non-playable characters (NPCs) more definable behaviours and dialogue to make them feel more alive. The writers initially considered having a smaller group of characters, but found that the story became boring and that players were less likely to explore the world. The stranger characters found in the game world were based on the "crazy people" that populate New York, according to Dan Houser, which in previous games were only able to be captured through radio stations or mild pedestrian behaviours. The team based the ethnicities, clothing, and behaviours of the NPCs on the photographs and videos that they captured around New York, divided into different areas; they created mood boards for each location. The NPCs also converse in different languages.

Art design
Grand Theft Auto IV sees a shift in the series to a more realistic and detailed style and tone, partly a result of the transition to consoles which offered high-definition graphics and the new and improved capabilities of such consoles. The development team worked to represent the upgrade in quality across all design aspects while maintaining the coherence of the previous games. The team took the game's development as an opportunity to "strip things back and start again", refining the art style without losing the style of the series; they distanced the game from the "cartoon-like style" of its predecessors while creating a new style that was consistent across all aspects of the game. Garbut found the increased demand of detail brought on by the advanced technology daunting. A technique used to make the visuals look real was to avoid harsh edges, instead blending surfaces together to make the world look dirty and lived-in. The props department created multiple variations of different objects to make the world more interesting and unique. Grand Theft Auto IV was the first contemporary game in the series since 2001's Grand Theft Auto III; the team felt that enough time had passed to avoid feeling repetitive. The types of in-game vehicles were decided upon early in development, after which the vehicles department begin creating the designs. The vehicles are not based on specific real-life counterparts, but take elements from several, with some original ideas by the developers.

Technical and gameplay design

The proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine was used for Grand Theft Auto IV. Garbut found the game's technical design similar to Grand Theft Auto III's, with both being the first in the series released on their respective platforms. He claimed an operable game engine was not finalised until late in development, at which point "there's still plenty of guesswork" until optimisation near release. The characters' physical performances were recorded using motion capture. Up to eight actors, dressed in full suits, could perform on the motion capture stage at one time. The camera included a teleprompter for actors to read their scripts. Over a hundred moves would be captured each day of production. The voice acting performances were often recorded months later alongside facial reference capture, and an actor's voice could be composited over a different actor's physical performance. The in-game animations were crafted similarly, using a combination of different motion capture performances.

For the gameplay and animations, the team redid a lot of the work from previous games, wanting Grand Theft Auto IV to "feel next-generation". The role-playing elements from San Andreas were removed fairly early in development, partly due to the animation work it would have required, and because consistently needing to visit the gym felt antithetical to Niko's motivations. The game's targeting system was one of the first focuses of development due to the advanced technology; the team wanted it to feel realistic without being too technical. The cover system was a "natural addition" to the targeting. Benzies described the multiplayer as the hardest part of the game's development. The team wanted the multiplayer to feel like an extension of the cinematic single-player experience. Dan Houser described it as "a section of a film rather than the whole narrative". The developers considered adding co-operative multiplayer to the main story campaign, but decided it worked better as a single-player experience.

When Sam Houser first showed interest in using the Euphoria software in the game, he was told that it would be impossible or only limited to cutscenes, but some members of the team were able to make it work. Engineers from NaturalMotion worked on-site at Rockstar North for several months at a time to incorporate Euphoria software into the game. Rockstar also worked with Image Metrics for the game's facial animations. The facial rigs had around 100 joints, with a total of 300 minutes of facial animation. The scale of the project caused some issues for the animators, forcing them to have rigs completed before animation began. They also faced difficulty in the direction of the actor's head—either straight on when looking at the teleprompter, or down when looking at a script. Image Metrics head of production David Barton noted that "having realistic eyes is 90 percent of the battle", as it allows the player to believe the character. SpeedTree was used for in-game environment rendering.

Music production
When selecting music for the in-game radio stations, music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich said "[we had] to pick the songs that make New York today what it is, but make sure they won't feel dated by the time the game comes out." The developers contacted over 2,000 people in order to obtain recording and publishing rights; they hired a private investigator to locate the relatives of late Skatt Bros. member Sean Delaney to license the band's song, "Walk the Night". Billboard reported that Rockstar paid as much as $5,000 per composition and another $5,000 per master recording per track. Developers originally considered letting players purchase music in an in-game record shop and for Niko to have an MP3 player, but both ideas were cut. DJ Green Lantern produced tracks exclusively for the game's hip-hop radio station The Beat 102.7. Record label owner and record producer Bobby Konders, who hosts the in-game radio station Massive B Soundsystem 96.9, flew to Jamaica to get dancehall artists to re-record tracks to make references to the boroughs of Liberty City. The Housers's father, jazz musician Walter Houser, provided several classical music tracks for the game.

Release

At E3 2006, Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division, formally announced Grand Theft Auto IV by rolling up his sleeve to reveal a Grand Theft Auto IV temporary tattoo. The game became widely anticipated. Rockstar Games initially appeared to be committed to the original 16 October 2007 release date. However, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter suggested that Take-Two may choose to delay the release of the game in order to boost its financial results for 2008 and to avoid competing with the release of other highly anticipated titles, such as Halo 3; Rockstar responded by saying that Grand Theft Auto IV was still on track for release in "late October". However, Take-Two announced in August 2007 that Grand Theft Auto IV would miss its original release date, and would be delayed to their second fiscal quarter (February–April) of 2008, attributing this to technical challenges. In particular, the delay was caused by technical difficulties with the PlayStation 3 version and storage problems with the Xbox 360 version. IGN predicted that other publishers would benefit from Grand Theft Auto IV's delay, particularly Activision with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. On 24 January 2008, the company announced the game's release date of 29 April 2008. Some gameplay features were censored for the Australian and New Zealand versions of the game, though these restrictions were subsequently removed.

In August 2008, Rockstar announced that the game would be coming to Windows on 18 November 2008 in North America and 21 November in Europe, with additional development work by Rockstar Toronto. Microsoft partnered with Rockstar in a US$50 million deal to bring two episodic downloadable content packs to the Xbox 360: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned on 17 February 2009, and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony on 29 October 2009. Dan Houser wanted the episodes to show "a different side of Liberty City". In January 2010, Rockstar announced that the DLC would be bundled as Episodes from Liberty City, released for PlayStation 3 and Windows on 13 April 2010 in North America and 16 April in Europe. Episodes from Liberty City was also bundled with the main game in The Complete Edition, released on 26 October 2010 in North America and 29 October in Europe. The Xbox 360 version of the game and its DLC were made backwards compatible with the Xbox One on 9 February 2017.

Promotion

Industry analysts found Grand Theft Auto IV's marketing much more subtle than Microsoft's marketing of Halo 3 (2007), identifying Rockstar's interest in controlling the output at all times. The game was marketed through video trailers and press demonstrations. On 29 March 2007, the debut trailer was released. It was narrated by protagonist Niko, and depicts the open world accompanied by the song "Pruit-Igoe" by Philip Glass, originally composed for Godfrey Reggio's 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. The trailer is credited for starting the Rickrolling meme; after the higher viewership crashed Rockstar's website, several users re-posted the trailer, but some misleadingly played the music video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". The second trailer was released on 28 June 2007, showcasing the game's physics engine and featuring the song "Arm in Arm (Shy Child Remix)" by the Boggs. Dan Houser noted that the game was "still rough" when the first trailer was released, but that cutscenes were "coming on board" by the second trailer's release.

To unveil the game's cover art, Rockstar contracted artists to paint a mural on a wall at a secluded warehouse location, showcasing the art in a video on 28 November 2007. A third trailer was released on 6 December 2007, introducing some of the game's characters, such as Roman and Michelle. The trailer features the song "King Ring" by Russian rap artist Seryoga, which Rockstar felt captured the "melting pot mentality" of Liberty City. Dan Houser wanted the third trailer to capture the "visceral qualities" of the game, but focus less on the story, as the first two trailers had done. On 8 February 2008, five teaser trailers for the game were released, each showcasing a particular character or service within the game. Similar teaser trailers were later released in pairs on 21 February, 7 March, and 11 April. Another trailer, released on 27 March 2008, showcases some scenes from the game, such as a bank robbery and police chase. A television commercial from GameStop debuted on 1 April, focusing on the activities in Liberty City.

Viral marketing strategies were used to promote the game. Wanted posters were placed around New York City promoting the game's characters and website; billboard versions were also posted throughout the city. Murals and posters advertising the game were placed on buildings and public transport. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) removed advertisements promoting the game from their property in April 2008; Take-Two filed a lawsuit in response, claiming that the CTA had violated a contract. Visitors to the website of WKTT Talk Radio—a fictional radio station within the game—were offered a chance to leave a voice mail message stating their problems. Prior to leaving the message, callers were asked to read the terms and conditions, which revealed that some of the voice mail message would be selected for use in the game.

In the month prior to launch, Rockstar and GameStop held a competition offering up to US$10,000 and a trip to New York City for the game's launch event. Microsoft held a similar sweepstakes competition, offering consoles, games, Microsoft Points, a baseball bat, and an invitation to the launch event as rewards. The official Grand Theft Auto IV website was redesigned on 8 February 2008 to show a preview of activities and locales within the game's world. To encourage pre-order sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets to provide a special edition version of the game. It includes a metal safe deposit box, an art book, and the soundtrack CD. The publisher also collaborated with Sony to release a 40 GB PlayStation 3 console with a copy of the game. GameStop hosted midnight launch events at over 3,500 of its American stores, with contests and giveaways.

Critical response
Grand Theft Auto IV received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. It is the second-highest-rated game on the site, and the highest-rated PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game. Reviewers praised the narrative,   open world design   and combat system. Hilary Goldstein of IGN felt that the game "sets a new benchmark for open-world games", and Andrew Reiner of Game Informer wrote that the game "completely changes the landscape of gaming".

Reviewers lauded the open world design, some further complimenting the freedom that it allows the player. Seth Schiesel of The New York Times named the city the "real star" of the game. Official Xbox Magazine's Hicks was impressed by the city, attributing this to the game's artificial intelligence. Robinson of Computer and Video Games considered the environment believable, and felt that the world was "utterly unmatched". Goldstein of IGN felt that, although Liberty City is inspired by New York, it is not beholden to it. He wrote that the city "exists in its own universe and rightfully so". Crispin Boyer of 1UP.com directed praise at the city's "breathtaking vistas, incredibly varied scenery, and lived-in look." Conversely, Jesse Costantino of GameRevolution felt that the game lacked important features common in other open world games.

Reviewers praised the narrative. IGN's Goldstein accepted that the darker tones to the story were a break from series tradition. Jon Hicks of Official Xbox Magazine felt surprised by the amount of depth to the story. Reiner of Game Informer wrote that the level of freedom in the game contributed to his enjoyment of the story. The morality choices faced by players throughout the narrative were also welcomed. 1UP.com's Boyer felt that they gave the game an element of "replayability". Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell considered the morality choices a fair substitute over "bosses with large health bars".

The game's characters—particularly Niko—received positive reactions from critics. Hicks of Official Xbox Magazine and Andy Robinson of Computer and Video Games both called Niko "charismatic" and "likeable", stating that they prefer him over previous protagonists of the series. George Walter of GamesRadar praised the depth of the character, and IGN's Goldstein felt that the character of Niko feels relatable when faced with difficult decisions. Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb felt that Niko was "the only thing that mattered to [him]" as he progressed through the story, with the character becoming one of his favourite features of the game. Schiesel of The New York Times named Niko one of the most realised video game characters attributing this to the game's script, while 1UP.com's Boyer commended the use of character bonding during missions.

Many reviewers found the combat system was more responsive than in previous games, particularly praising the addition of the cover system. Justin Calvert of GameSpot wrote that the cover system makes the game's combat a "huge improvement" over previous games. Reiner of Game Informer agreed, writing that the targeting system makes players feel responsible for all deaths. IGN's Goldstein praised the fluidity of the cover system, and felt that the auto aim mechanic is a "great help in larger battles". GamesRadar's Walter wrote that the cover system has "paved the way to a new style of mission". David McComb of Empire called the combat "sharp and instinctive", and Hicks of Official Xbox Magazine felt that the cover system allows players to execute an attack plan. In addition to the combat system, most reviewers noted the vehicle handling was more realistic than in previous games. Robinson of Computer and Video Games felt that the vehicle handling echoed realism, while Hicks of Official Xbox Magazine called the vehicle selection "excellent". Costantino of GameRevolution praised the improvement of the game's mechanics, particularly the physics engine's advanced vehicle and character animations.

Reviewers praised the sound design. Goldstein of IGN praised the actors' performances and the use of licensed music. GameSpots Calvert and GamesRadars Walter also commended the licensed music, the latter admiring the humour of the radio's talk stations. Michael Pinson of The Pro Audio Files praised the separate features of the sound design—including the city's ambiance, licensed music, character dialogue, and vehicle and weapon sound effects—applauding the developer's use of uniting the features together. Carolyn Gudmundson of GamesRadar also retroactively praised the soundtrack, commending its suitability to the setting.

The online multiplayer mode received positive reactions from critics. Reiner of Game Informer praised the character customisation available in the multiplayer mode, and noted that it runs "just as smoothly" as the single-player game. 1UP.coms Boyer called the multiplayer modes "excellent", and IGNs Goldstein named it one of the best. Official Xbox Magazine's Hicks dubbed the multiplayer as "hugely entertaining", while Walter of GamesRadar praised the "seamless" process of entering a multiplayer match. Giant Bombs Gerstmann and GameRevolutions Costantino felt divided about the multiplayer, the latter naming it a "fantastic idea", but feeling as though connectivity problems resulted in a "broken" experience.

Windows version
The Windows version received "universal acclaim", according to Metacritic. Reviewers liked the enhanced visuals and the additional features,   but criticised the port for its inferiority over the console versions.

The in-game features added in the port were well received. The addition of the Video Editor was met with positive reactions; GameSpot's Calvert called it "a great way to get creative", while Kieron Gillen of Eurogamer criticised the unpredictability in its timing. Critics also praised the addition of the customisable radio station, which allows players to listen to their own choice of music; Tom Chick of 1UP.com named it the best feature of the port, and Steven Hopper of GameZone called it a "great touch". The port's upgrade to 32 concurrent players in the online multiplayer mode, as opposed to the console version's 16 players, was also met with positive feedback; Eurogamer's Gillen said that the "possibility for mayhem... increases", while Will Tuttle of GameSpy felt that the player increase "changes the action significantly".

The port's enhanced visuals were commended by many reviewers. GameZone Hopper considered the visuals an improvement over the original versions. Andy Robinson of Computer and Video Games called the visuals "impressive", while Tom Orry of VideoGamer.com called them "superb". Conversely, the port's system requirements, considered difficult to run with advanced settings, received criticism. Eurogamer's Gillen said that, though the Windows version is "the most attractive version", it's "annoyingly fiddly to get there". GameSpy's Tuttle was able to overlook the demanding system requirements in exchange for the game's other features.

Awards

Grand Theft Auto IV earned awards from several critics and publications. It received Game of the Year awards from Digital Spy, the Entertainment Merchants Association, GameTrailers, Giant Bomb, IGN Australia, Kotaku, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and Time. The game led the nominees at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards with eight nominations; it led the winners (tying with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots) with three awards: Game of the Year, Best Action Adventure Game, and Best Performance by a Human Male for Michael Hollick's role as Niko. The following year, The Ballad of Gay Tony won Best DLC.

Grand Theft Auto IV was nominated for three awards at the 9th Game Developers Choice Awards including Game of the Year, four at the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards including Overall Game of the Year, and seven at the 5th British Academy Games Awards, tying with Modern Warfare for the most nominations at the latter. At IGN's Best of 2008, it won eleven awards, including Best Voice Acting across all three platforms and overall,   and Best Story for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was nominated for Choice Video Game at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards.

Sales
Within twenty-four hours of its release, Grand Theft Auto IV sold over 3.6 million copies, equating to approximately $310 million in revenue. Within a week, it generated more than $500 million in worldwide revenue, equating to approximately 6 million copies sold for Take Two. The numbers surpassed analysts' expectations for the title. After one month of availability, the game had sold over 8.5 million copies. It broke three Guinness World Records on 13 May 2008: highest grossing video game in 24 hours, highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours, and fastest-selling video game in 24 hours. On 11 March 2011, Take-Two announced that the game had sold over 20 million copies, with the Grand Theft Auto series surpassing a collective total of 100 million copies. As of July 2013, the game has sold over 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games, and one of the best-selling games on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. All sales records broken by Grand Theft Auto IV were beaten by its successor, Grand Theft Auto V.

In the United Kingdom, the game became the fastest-selling game of all time, selling over 631,000 copies in twenty-four hours. This broke the record set by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at 501,000 copies over the same period. During the first five days of availability, the game sold over 927,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Grand Theft Auto IV sold 2.85 million units in its first five days. By the end of 2008, the game had sold over 5.18 million copies in the US. In its first four days of availability in Japan, it sold 133,000 copies on the PlayStation 3 and 34,000 on the Xbox 360, according to Media Create.

In the first week of availability, the Windows version of Grand Theft Auto IV debuted at seventh place on the weekly charts; by the second week, it had left the top-ten. Based on unique user counts, the game was the most played Games for Windows – Live game in 2009 and 2012, and the second-most played in 2011.

Pre-release

In 2007, then-Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, known for his campaigns against the series, stated he would take measures to prevent the sale of Grand Theft Auto IV to minors. On 14 March, Take-Two filed a lawsuit against Thompson to preemptively restrict his attempts to ban the game from sale. Thompson responded by filing a countersuit accusing Take-Two of violating federal RICO statutes, committing perjury and obstruction of justice, and conspiring to deprive him of his civil rights. On 20 April, both parties reached a settlement agreeing to drop their lawsuits: Thompson was barred from suing to ban the sale or distribution of Take-Two's games but able to act as counsel in lawsuits by other parties, while Take-Two agreed to drop the contempt of court lawsuit against Thompson regarding alleged improper conduct during the court hearings for Rockstar's game Bully (2006).

On 18 September 2007, Thompson filed a document with a federal court in Florida, claiming the assassination target of a mission in Grand Theft Auto IV is a lawyer character based upon himself. He threatened to "take necessary and proper means to stop release of the game" if the similarities were not removed. In April 2008, Thompson wrote a letter directed to the mother of Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, in which he labelled Grand Theft Auto a "murder simulator" and criticised Zelnick's upbringing, comparing his Boy Scouts experience to Hitler Youth. Thompson subsequently claimed he sent the letter to Zelnick's lawyer, formulating it as a parody to induce "shame" in Zelnick.

Following the release of the first trailer in March 2007, New York City officials criticised the choice of their city as inspiration for Liberty City; Peter Vallone Jr., chairman of the council's public safety committee, compared it to "setting Halo in Disneyland", and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called it "despicable to glamorize violence in games like these". A spokesman for mayor Michael Bloomberg said "the mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers". Jason Della Rocca, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, accused city officials of double standards for criticising video games but avoiding the argument for books, films, and television series set in the city.

Post-release

In April 2008, non-profit organisation Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) criticised the ability to drink-drive in the game. MADD requested the Entertainment Software Rating Board change the rating of the game to "Adults Only", effectively removing it from sale. They asked Take-Two and Rockstar to consider halting distribution out of a sense of social responsibility and respect for victims of driving under the influence. Rockstar said it respected MADD's work but felt the game's audience "is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game's content", adding "you can't judge Grand Theft Auto IV by a small aspect of the game".

On his program in May 2008, conservative American radio host Glenn Beck used the game as an example of violence in video games "training our kids to be killers", erroneously stating the player can attack police officers with a chainsaw; Kombo's David Oxford rebutted that the game is not targeted at children. Beck said games like Grand Theft Auto IV were being used to make militaries more violent; Destructoid's Jim Sterling countered that violent wars occurred prior to the creation of video games. Computer and Video Games's Robinson compared Beck's "rant" to the game's satirical radio shows.

In June 2008, six teenagers who were arrested for robbery in New Hyde Park, New York, claimed they were inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV, according to the Nassau County Police Department. In August, an 18-year-old student was arrested in Bangkok for the murder of a taxi driver after attempting to hijack the vehicle; according to the police captain, the student "wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game". The game was subsequently banned in Thailand. In August 2013, 87-year-old Marie Smothers was killed in Slaughter, Louisiana, when her eight-year-old grandson shot her in the head with a handgun after playing Grand Theft Auto IV; under state law, the boy could not be charged for her death due to his age.

title: Grand Theft Auto IV


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Salpointe catholic high school

 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 Keep --Allen3 talk 16:18, July 30, 2005 (UTC)

Salpointe catholic high school now moved to Salpointe Catholic High School
nn schoolcruft ' Y0u (Y0ur talk page) (Y0ur contributions) 19:46, July 24, 2005 (UTC) Keep I apologize for nominating. I mistakenly belived that precedent was to delete secondary schools with a few exceptions. Y0u (Y0ur talk page) (Y0ur contributions) 19:42, July 28, 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep -Although the page needs much work and more information, its limited information merits its inclusion as a source of reference.--68.84.203.76 07:09, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy delete substub. Dunc|☺ 21:06, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete no notability established. Dunc|☺ 22:37, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong delete no encyclopediac content. Unfortunately not technically eligable for a speedy under WP:CSD. DES 22:28, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep - I fixed it up some so I think it fits the keeping policy for NPOV, etc. Actually move to Salpointe Catholic High School --gren 22:32, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Still contains no notable content. Still Delete. DES 22:38, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I understand your article -- but instead of nonesense it now is the classic argument over school deletionism or keepinimism gren 22:45, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Granted. I am in most cases a mergist, but on primary and secondary schools I am a deletionist, absent something quite unusual, i don't think such schools are notable enough to warrent inclusion. No one ever said this was patent nonsense, or at least I never did. The annon user says "content is low" but what notable coneten could there ever be for such an article? DES 22:58, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, I said it was nonesense, it was just a dead media link and no context. Nothing is notable in the normal encyclopedic sense, but argument I follow is NPOV information makes it worthwhile.  But, this is why there is still a debate on this subject I guess. gren 23:24, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep - I admit the content is low but more can be added over time. I don't see why High Schools should be excluded from wiki. Then of course, I'm just an anonymous user :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.186.40.146 (talk • contribs) 18:41, 24 July 2005
 * Keep per anonymous user. Kappa 22:58, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. This is silly. -- Visviva 23:16, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Perfectly good school stub. --Tony Sidaway|Talk 04:59, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. Added some notables from their own Hall of Fame.  No A-listers, but a few head honchoes, opera soloists and whatnot. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tony Sidaway (talk • contribs) 05:45, 25 July 2005
 * Keep on nominating these. Maybe next week we can try reinventing the wheel.  —RaD Man (talk) 05:16, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Taco. For the usual reasons. --Carnildo 07:31, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep perfectly reasonable stub Salsb 13:01, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep for reasons already stated.  Un focused 13:46, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep — Time for a boiler-plated notice message to people who nominate... RJH 14:47, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep A good start. CalJW 21:35, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep per the above keeps. DS1953 03:05, July 26, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep per Wikipedia schools arguments.-Poli (talk • contribs) 20:47, 2005 July 27 (UTC)
 * Frying pan to the head of the nominator for nominating an article whose topic is near-universally considered to be notable. Oh, and Keep.  Almafeta 13:34, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep on keeping schools. Grace Note 00:17, 29 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.


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Bit converter

In horseback riding, bit converter, also known as a pelham rounding, is used on pelham bits to change them from two-rein bits to one-rein bits. It is a leather strap that attaches from the snaffle ring to the curb ring, onto which the rein is then attached to the loop made between the two rings. A bit converter is very helpful when riding the cross-country phase of eventing, so that a rider using a pelham does not have to keep track of two reins— especially helpful when riding drop fences, which require the rider to slip the reins and then gather them back up on landing. It is also commonly used by children, who may have not yet become skilled enough to handle two reins with ease. However, the bit converter diminishes the rider's ability to apply the curb and snaffle functions of the pelham independently and discriminately, and thus is usually considered unsuitable for other types of riding; it is illegal in hunt seat equitation, for example.

A bit converter is also known in some places as 'roundings' or 'pelham roundings'.

title: Bit converter


text:
Talk:Onion skinning

Untitled
This needs a screenshot. - Omegatron 19:48, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

Disambiguation
This page should have a disambiguation link to onion skin paper, the product this software feature called "onion skin" is imitating.69.241.236.77 02:58, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Onion skinning


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Gleaner

A gleaner(Noun) is a person who engages in gleaning, utilizing crops and resources left behind in a harvest.

Newspapers

 * The Gleaner, a newspaper of record in Kingston, Jamaica, published by:
 * The Gleaner Company, a newspaper publishing enterprise in Jamaica
 * The Daily Gleaner, a daily newspaper serving Fredericton, New Brunswick, and the upper Saint John River Valley in Canada
 * Henderson Gleaner, a daily newspaper in Henderson, Kentucky, U.S.
 * Alamance Gleaner, a newspaper which was based in Alamance County, North Carolina, U.S.
 * Northeast News Gleaner, a weekly newspaper that served Northeast Philadelphia, U.S.

Other uses

 * Gleaners, a non-profit that helps feed the homeless in Jackson, Mississippi
 * The Gleaners, a painting by Jean-François Millet
 * The Gleaners (Lhermitte), painting
 * The Gleaners (Breton painting)
 * Gleaner Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of combine harvesters
 * Gleaner A85, a combine harvester
 * Gleaner E, a combine harvester
 * HMS Gleaner (1809), a mercantile ketch
 * HMS Gleaner (J83), a survey vessel launched in 1937 and converted into a minesweeper in 1939
 * HMSML Gleaner (H86), a survey motor launch in commission since 1983
 * The Gleaners (album) by Larry Grenadier
 * La Spigolatrice ("The Gleaner)"), a controversial statue installed in 2021 in Sapri, Italy
 * Les Glaneurs et La Glaneuse (2000), (The Gleaners and I), a documentary by Agnès Varda

title: Gleaner


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WZBY

WZBY may refer to:

 * WZBY (FM), a radio station (92.7 FM) licensed to serve Grand Portage, Minnesota, United States; see List of radio stations in Minnesota
 * WDKF, a radio station (99.7 FM) licensed to serve Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, United States, which held the call sign WZBY from 2006 to 2009

title: WZBY


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Trest

Trest may refer to:

 * Třešť, a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic
 * Trade name for Metixene
 * Operation Trust, a Soviet deception operation also called Trest

title: Trest


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Hemetsberger indole synthesis

The Hemetsberger indole synthesis (also called the Hemetsberger–Knittel synthesis) is a chemical reaction that thermally decomposes a 3-aryl-2-azido-propenoic ester into an indole-2-carboxylic ester.

Yields are typically above 70%. However, this is not a popular reaction, due to the lack of stability and difficulty in synthesizing the starting material.

Reaction mechanism
The mechanism is unknown. However, azirine intermediates have been isolated. The mechanism is postulated to proceed via a nitrene intermediate.

title: Hemetsberger indole synthesis


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Ipatovo, Stavropol Krai

Ipatovo (Ипа́тово) is a town and the administrative center of Ipatovsky District in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Kalaus River about 120 km northeast of Stavropol, the administrative center of the krai. Population:

It was previously known as Chemrek, Vinodelnoye (until 1935).

History
It was founded in 1860 as the settlement of Chemrek. It was later renamed Vinodelnoye (Виноде́льное, lit. winemaking) because there had been many state wine cellars. In 1935, the settlement was renamed Ipatovo in honor of Civil War hero P. M. Ipatov, who died here in 1918. Ipatovo was granted town status in 1979.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Ipatovo serves as the administrative center of Ipatovsky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with three rural localities, incorporated within Ipatovsky District as the Town of Ipatovo. As a municipal division, the Town of Ipatovo is incorporated within Ipatovsky Municipal District as Ipatovo Urban Settlement.

title: Ipatovo, Stavropol Krai


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Double Seven

Double Seven is a studio album by The Upsetters.

Track listing
All tracks composed by Lee Perry; except where indicated

Side one

 * 1) "Kentucky Skank"
 * 2) "Double Six" – U Roy
 * 3) "Just Enough" (Buddy Mize, Ira Allen) – David Isaacs
 * 4) "In The Iaah"
 * 5) "Jungle Lion"
 * 6) "We Are Neighbours" (Eugene Record, Quinton Joseph) – David Isaacs

Side two

 * 1) "Soul Man" (Isaac Hayes, David Porter)
 * 2) "Stick Together" – U Roy
 * 3) "High Fashion" – I-Roy
 * 4) "Long Sentence"
 * 5) "Hail Stones"
 * 6) "Ironside"
 * 7) "Cold Weather"
 * 8) "Waap You Waa"

title: Double Seven


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Bleu

Bleu or BLEU may refer to:
 * the French word for blue
 * Three Colors: Blue, a 1993 film
 * BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy), a machine translation evaluation metric
 * Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union
 * Blue cheese, a type of cheese
 * Parti bleu, 19th century political group in Quebec, Canada
 * Bleu (blue-rare), synonymous with "extra rare", indicating a barely-cooked meat preparation; very red and cold
 * Le Bleu, a 2001 album by Justin King

People

 * Bleu (musician), a member of the pop group L.E.O.
 * Corbin Bleu, an American actor, model, dancer and singer
 * Yung Bleu, an American record producer, rapper and singer also known as "Bleu"
 * Deis, a character from the Breath of Fire role-playing video game series known as "Bleu" in the English versions

title: Bleu


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User:DevilishlyGrape

Hi, folks. I am currently working on this project. My interests include writing systems, world music, and, apparently, Pokemon. ^>^

title: User:DevilishlyGrape


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Goriška

Goriška (the Gorizia Region)   is a historical region in western Slovenia on the border with Italy. It comprises the northern part of the wider traditional region of the Slovenian Littoral (Primorska). The name Goriška is an adjective referring to the city of Gorizia, its historical and cultural centre.

Geography
The region stretches from the Julian Alps (Triglav) in the north down the Soča River to Nova Gorica and the Karst Plateau in the hinterland of Trieste. It encompasses the following municipalities (from north to south): It is entirely included in the Gorizia Statistical Region, except for the southernmost municipalities of Komen and Sežana, which are part of the Coastal–Karst Statistical Region.

Goriška borders on Upper Carniola in the northeast and Inner Carniola in the east. In the south, it is confined by Slovenian Istria and the Trieste city limits. Together with the adjacent Italian provinces of Gorizia, Udine and Pordenone in the west, it may be considered part of the larger Friuli region.

History
Upon the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps from about 600, Slavic tribes in contact with the neighbouring principality of Carantania moved into the Karst Plateau into the eastern Bassa Friulana, then part of the Lombard Duchy of Friuli. After Charlemagne had defeated the Kingdom of the Lombards at the 774 Siege of Pavia, the territory was incorporated into the Carolingian frontier March of Friuli. Margrave Berengar had himself crowned King of Italy in 888, while the adjacent marches of Carinthia (former Carantania) and Carniola had become part of East Francia upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun. When in 951 the East Frankish king Otto I of Germany invaded Italy, he seized the Friulan lands as part of the larger March of Verona, ruled by the Bavarian, later Carinthian dukes.

In 1077 King Henry IV of Germany enfeoffed the Patriarchs of Aquileia with Friuli; the town of Gorizia (Görz) became the power base of their advocates from the comital Meinhardiner dynasty. They were able to acquire and consolidate an immediate home territory, the County of Görz, which they retained even after the Friulan territory of Aquileia was conquered by the Republic of Venice in 1420 and incorporated into the Domini di Terraferma. When the House of Gorizia became extinct in 1500, their county fell to the House of Habsburg; with neighbouring Carinthia and Carniola it was administrated within Inner Austria. From 1754 onwards, the region belonged to the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, a crown land of the Habsburg monarchy. When in 1809 Napoleon created the short-lived French Illyrian Provinces, he drew the border with the re-established Kingdom of Italy in the west along the Soča/Isonzo River. After the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the entire crown land of Gorizia and Gradisca with Trieste and the March of Istria as well as Carinthia and Carniola formed the Austrian Kingdom of Illyria with its capital at Ljubljana (Laibach).

Part of the Austrian Littoral from 1849, the Soča Valley was the site of the fierce Battles of the Isonzo on the Italian front of Austria-Hungary during World War I. According to the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the whole Littoral region passed to the Kingdom of Italy. Together with the adjacent Inner Carniolan and Istrian lands, it was incorporated into the Julian March administrative region. The border with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was confirmed in the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo. During the Fascist regime the Slovene minority was submitted to a violent policy of Italianization, against the resistance of the TIGR movement.

After World War II, the present borders were established: most of the Slovene-inhabited areas were ceded to the newly established Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, while the town of Gorizia itself with Gradisca and the territory downstream the Isonzo River to the Adriatic coast were left to Italy.

Notable people
Well-known people from the region include
 * architects Max Fabiani and Vojteh Ravnikar
 * poets Simon Gregorčič, Alojz Gradnik, Srečko Kosovel, and Matej Bor
 * writers Danilo Lokar, France Bevk, Ivan Pregelj, and Ciril Kosmač
 * aviation pioneer Edvard Rusjan
 * artists Veno Pilon, Zoran Mušič, and Anton Gojmir Kos
 * military men Anton Haus, Sergej Mašera, Janko Premrl (nom de guerre Vojko), and Leon Rupnik
 * the composer of the melody for the Slovenian national anthem Stanko Premrl
 * sportsman Jure Franko
 * entrepreneur Ivo Boscarol
 * politicians Engelbert Besednjak, Drago Marušič, Marko Natlačen, Robert Golob and Borut Pahor
 * scholars Simon Rutar, Milko Kos, Dušan Pirjevec Ahac, Ivo Urbančič, and Dean Komel.

title: Goriška


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User talk:GuruCMU

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! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Y0u (Y0ur talk page) (Y0ur contributions) 19:54, July 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Editing tutorial
 * Picture tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

title: User talk:GuruCMU


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User talk:RFGS

Welcome! (We can't say that loudly enough!)

Here are a few links you might find helpful:

 * Be Bold!
 * Don't let grumpy users scare you off.
 * Meet other new users
 * Learn from others
 * Play nicely with others
 * Contribute, Contribute, Contribute!
 * Tell us about you

You can sign your name on talk pages and votes by typing ~~~~; our software automatically converts it to your username and the date.

If you have any questions or problems, no matter what they are, leave me a message on my talk page. Or, please come to the Wikipedia Boot Camp, where experienced Wikipedians can answer any queries you have! Or, you can just type   on your user page, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions.

We're so glad you're here!

Dave (talk) 19:55, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

PS Do you think you could include a source for your claim on Same sex marriage about the Defense of Marriage Act? I don't know the details of ERISA. Thanks, and happy editing.

title: User talk:RFGS


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Pico Rivera Sports Arena

The Pico Rivera Memorial Sports Arena is a multipurpose arena located in Pico Rivera, California, United States. It can seat a range of 5000 to 6250 patrons, depending on the event configuration.

About
The arena is used for concerts, rodeos, professional wrestling and boxing. Notably, it used to host Circus Vargas during their tour of the West Coast. Famous for hosting many presentations of Antonio Aguilar, a regional Mexican singer, and his family. Adjacent to Bicentennial Park is the 6,000 seat/10,000+ With Standing room. Pico Sports Arena, famous for its Mexican charreadas and jaripeos and Latin entertainment, the Pico Rivera Sports Arena is a popular recreation spot for the Los Angeles area Hispanic community. This facility was built in 1979 and is reputed to be the largest Mexican rodeo ring in the country. An average of 25 shows, preceded by a traditional Mexican rodeo, are held at the Sports Arena every year.

As a concert venue, the Pico Rivera Sports Arena can seat up to 6,250. With a 132 ft diameter arena floor, the arena is modeled after a Mexican rodeo ring. The arena, located at Bicentennial Park, is dedicated to Pico Rivera residents who fought for and served the United States during every war up to the Vietnam War.

title: Pico Rivera Sports Arena


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My Sister, My Sitter

"My Sister, My Sitter" is the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 2, 1997. In the episode, Marge and Homer leave Lisa to babysit Bart and Maggie. Annoyed that his younger sister is his babysitter, Bart does everything he can to annoy her. When Bart is injured, Lisa must find him medical attention without spoiling her reputation as a good babysitter.

The episode was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Jim Reardon. The script was written to focus on the relationship between Bart and Lisa and the episode has further been used to discuss the difficulties in letting children babysit themselves. The episode received mostly positive reviews.

Plot
Inspired by The Baby-Sitters Club series of novels, Lisa decides to become a babysitter, but no one takes her seriously because of her age. When Maude is taken hostage in Lebanon, Ned must leave suddenly to get her released. In his haste, he agrees to let Lisa babysit Rod and Todd. Ned puts out the good word for Lisa, who experiences a business boom.

Inspired by the success of Baltimore's revamped wharf, the Springfield Squidport reopens and throws a gala. Homer and Marge attend, leaving Lisa to babysit Bart and Maggie. Bart is upset that his younger sister is his babysitter; Lisa thinks his childish antics warrant it. Bart torments Lisa by having a giant submarine sandwich delivered, hiring Krusty for a bachelor party, claiming that Lisa saw a UFO, dialing 9-1-1 for a "sisterectomy", and feeding Maggie coffee ice cream for dinner.

Bart's pranks anger Lisa so much that she lunges at him, causing him to fall down the stairs, dislocating his shoulder and leaving a large bump on his head. Bart realizes if Lisa fails to take him to a nearby hospital, her reputation as a babysitter will be ruined. To make his condition worse, Bart locks himself in his room and repeatedly bangs his head against the door, eventually knocking himself unconscious.

Lisa tries to call for an ambulance, but the 9-1-1 operator refuses to assist her due to Bart's earlier prank calls. Lisa considers asking Dr. Hibbert for help, but realizes that would ruin her reputation as a babysitter. Instead, she takes Bart to Dr. Nick Riviera's clinic in a wheelbarrow, bringing Maggie along in a pet carrier because the coffee ice cream has overstimulated her. Lisa is unable to see the doctor due to a long queue in the waiting room.

Frantic, Lisa tries to wheel Bart and Maggie to the hospital. After encountering Chief Wiggum whilst he is on patrol, she loses control of the wheelbarrow, and it rolls down a cliff into a muddy river — in front of aghast onlookers at the Squidport. The crowd assumes Lisa is on drugs, has murdered Bart, and is about to drown the caged Maggie, and accuse her of bad babysitting.

Later, Bart, whose injuries have been treated, apologizes to Lisa for causing the ordeal and ruining her babysitting business. She forgives him, but feels bad for being called the "World's Worst Babysitter". Much to her delight, she receives babysitting requests from Hibbert and Ned, who brush off accusations against Lisa of her supposed attempt on Bart's life because they cannot find any other sitters.

Production and themes
The episode was directed by Jim Reardon and written by Dan Greaney. Like numerous preceding episodes, "My Sister, My Sitter" deals with the relationship between Bart and Lisa. Greaney specializes in writing Bart and Lisa episodes from the perspective of a kid. Elaine E Sutherland, who is a member of the Law Society of Scotland's Family Law Sub-Committee and Professor of Child and Family Law at the Law School, Stirling University, used the episode to describe the potential problems of letting one of your kids babysit the rest. While one child may be mature enough to babysit, it is not certain that the other kids accept the babysitter's authority. According to Alan S. Brown and Chris Logan, the writers of the book The Psychology of the Simpsons: D’oh!, the episode is an example of how feminine anger rarely solves the problem on The Simpsons. “Here, Lisa’s rage and ongoing frustration contribute to her difficulty in making good decisions about what to do with her emotion,” they write. Keeping with the babysitter theme, there are cultural references to The Baby-Sitters Club: Lisa reads book #14 - The Formula Formula, while Janey is on book #20 - The President's Baby Is Missing.

The idea of revamping the waterfront came from cities like Baltimore, who were always trying to fix formerly horrible places. Chris Turner, the author of the book Planet Simpson, writes about the scene at the Squidport: "The 'satirical' setting seems almost documentary". The Squidport is a local revitalization project, which recast a historic industrial area as a pedestrian mall. He calls this an example of how "hyper-consumer culture of Springfield moves front and center". On the waterfront, Rainier Wolfcastle opens a restaurant called "Planet Hype". This is a parody of the international theme restaurant franchise Planet Hollywood. Wolfcastle is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who launched Planet Hollywood along with Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg in 1991. According to Matt Groening, the show had written an entire episode around Planet Hollywood, which featured the voices of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Willis as The Three Stooges type of characters. The episode was never animated, because it turned out that it was only the publicist of Planet Hollywood's idea and the actors did not want to participate.

Reception
In its original broadcast, "My Sister, My Sitter" finished 47th in ratings in a tie with Melrose Place for the week of February 24 – March 2, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 9.0, equivalent to approximately 8.7 million viewing households. It was the fifth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week.

Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "a clever episode, if a little disjointed — the two stories don't gel as well as normal."

Tim Raynor of DVDTown.com said that the episode "is full of the usual, fun antics that you would expect from Bart or any of the other dumb Simpsons."

DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said that "the segments in which Lisa babysits the various kids in town are a delight" and that the episode "mixes wacky moments with reality as it places Lisa in a logical position. Her conflict with Bart creates realism and also brings out the comedy."

title: My Sister, My Sitter


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Atlanta College of Art

The Atlanta College of Art (ACA) was a private four-year art college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1905, it was the oldest art college in the Southeast when it was sold out by the Woodruff Arts Center board of directors to the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006.

History
In 1905, the Atlanta Art Association helped establish an art college and museum that would later become the Atlanta College of Art and the High Museum of Art, respectively. In 1963, the college was incorporated into the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center, later called the Woodruff Arts Center on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta, named for its primary benefactor, Robert W. Woodruff. The center opened in 1968, comprising ACA, the High Museum of Art, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Alliance Theatre.

In August 2005, the boards of trustees of the Woodruff Arts Center and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) formally approved the merger of ACA and SCAD. In June 2006, the two institutions combined operations at SCAD's Atlanta location. The merger was widely contested by many ACA students, faculty and members of the Atlanta arts community.

Campus
In 2002, the High Museum of Art announced an expansion plan for the museum that included a new dormitory for the college. Italian architect Renzo Piano was hired for the project. SCAD acquired this dormitory in its merger with ACA and named it "ACA Residence Hall" in honor of the college.

Courses and programs
The college offered studies in the mediums of drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, digital art, sound, video, interior design, and graphic design. The school also offered degrees in business and programs through the Georgia Artists Registry, ACA Gallery shows, community education classes for adults, and summer programs in the arts for children and teens.

Notable alumni
Notable alumni of the Atlanta College of Art include Radcliffe Bailey, Roe Ethridge, Steven Evans, Maxwell Stevens, and Kara Walker.

title: Atlanta College of Art


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User talk:MorganStanMan

Please see No personal attacks, violation of which can get you blocked. Exploding Boy 19:57, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do, since testing in articles will be removed quickly. Please see the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks. -Splash 19:20, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Eh?
You have no idea what you are talking about. I have dealt with this issue already. I bullied noone. I also note that I don't know who you are, and you don't know me. - Ta bu shi da yu 07:58, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:MorganStanMan


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Toktogul Satylganov

Toktogul Satylganov (Токтогул Сатылган уулу, Perso-Arabic: توقتوعۇل ساتىلعان ۇۇلۇ; Токтогул Сатылганов; 25 October 1864 – 17 February 1933) was the most famous of the Kyrgyz Akyns – improvising poets and singers. The Kyrgyz town of Toktogul in the Jalal-Abad Region is named in his honor. Toktogul was born in Kushchusu, a village now submerged in the Toktogul Reservoir.

Career
Toktogul was a well-known poet and composer with democratic views even during the Tsarist Russia's colonial era in Southern Kyrgyzstan (1876–1917).

On the eve of the revolt led by Muhammad Ali Madali, the Sufi ishan, Toktogul was harshly criticizing local Kyrgyz lords in Ketmen-Tobe valley.

Madali ishan, seeking to rid the area of the Russians and restore the formerly independent khanate of Khokand, called for "holy war", and led 2,000 men against Tsarist Russia on 17–18 May 1898 (30–31 May 1898 in the Gregorian calendar). However, his force was blocked outside the city on Andijan by the Russian 20th Line Battalion and defeated. Of those 2,000, 546 were put on trial, and Madali and five of his lieutenants hanged.

Most of the sentenced people were Kyrgyz people in the Ferghana valley and mountainous areas in Chatkal, Aksy and Ketmen-Tobe in what is now southern Kyrgyzstan. Among them was prominent poet-improviser and composer Toktogul, who was jailed by a false accusation by his political foes in the Ketmen-Tobe valley about his alleged participation in the revolt. He returned from Siberia jail (in the village of Kuitun near the town of Irkutsk) in 1905.

His fame reached a high point in the Soviet era when his works were promoted by the state as a musician of the people and he was known throughout Kyrgyzstan simply as "Toktogul". This distinction was founded largely on his works in the pre-revolutionary era which were interpreted as reflecting the class struggle. Modern interpretations, however, suggest that they had more to do with clan rivalries. Despite this, he welcomed the revolution, writing "What woman gave a birth to such a person like Lenin?" in celebration. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union Toktogul's songs remain popular among Kyrgyz performers, and many streets, parks, schools, and even his home town are named after him.

title: Toktogul Satylganov


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Byam Shaw School of Art

The Byam Shaw School of Art, often known simply as Byam Shaw, was an independent art school in London, England, which specialised in fine art and offered foundation and degree level courses. It was founded in 1910 by John Liston Byam Shaw and Rex Vicat Cole. In 2003 it was absorbed by Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.

History
The Byam Shaw was opened in May 1910 by John Liston Byam Shaw and Rex Vicat Cole with the name Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art. The teaching staff initially consisted of W. Dacres Adams, D. Murray Smith and C. Austin Cooper; additional lectures were given by Evelyn Eunice Pyke-Nott (Mrs. Byam Shaw), Kenneth Martin and Percival Silley. Other early members of the staff were Ernest Jackson, who was principal of the school from 1926 to 1940,, and the late Pre-Raphaelite painter Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale. Brian Thomas was principal from 1946 to 1954. The painter and art educator Maurice de Sausmarez was principal of the school from 1962 until his death in 1969. During his time at Byam Shaw de Sausmarez championed choosing students based on their talent rather than the entrance requirements set by the local authority.

The original premises were at 70 Campden Street, Kensington, London W8; in 1990, while Geri Morgan was principal, the school moved to larger premises in Archway. In 2003, it was absorbed into Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.

Alumni
Among those who studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art are artists such as Winifred Nicholson, Bernard Dunstan, Yinka Shonibare, Mona Hatoum, the stained glass artist Evie Hone and the wood-engraver Blair Hughes-Stanton; theatre designers including Maria Björnson, Laurence Irving and Stefanos Lazaridis; the inventor James Dyson; the actor John Standing and the musician Paul Simonon.

title: Byam Shaw School of Art


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Return of the Super Ape

Return of the Super Ape is a reggae studio album produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, credited to the Upsetters. The album was originally released in Jamaica in 1978 and was the last album by the Upsetters to be released before Perry closed down his Black Ark studio.

The album has been re-released on several different labels. In 1998, it was re-issued by Jet Star with five bonus tracks under a slightly different title, The Original Super Ape. The cover was by Lloyd Robinson.

Track listing
All tracks composed by Lee "Scratch" Perry

Side one

 * 1) "Dyon Anaswa"
 * 2) "Return of the Super Ape"
 * 3) "Tell Me Something Good"
 * 4) "Bird in Hand"
 * 5) "Crab Yars"

Side two

 * 1) "Jah Jah Ah Natty Dread"
 * 2) "Psycha & Trim"
 * 3) "The Lion"
 * 4) "Huzza a Hana"
 * 5) "High Ranking Sammy"

title: Return of the Super Ape