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Angelica Catalani

Angelica Catalani (10 May 1780 – 12 June 1849) was an Italian opera singer, the daughter of a tradesman. Her greatest gift was her voice, a dramatic soprano of nearly three octaves in range. Its unsurpassed power and flexibility made her one of the greatest bravura singers of all time. She also worked as a singing teacher. Her pupils included Laure Cinti-Damoreau and Fanny Corri-Paltoni. She was a close friend to both Beethoven and Rossini.

Biography
Catalani was born on 10 May 1780, at Sinigaglia, where her father was a tradesman. About the age of 12 she was sent to the convent of Santa Lucia at Gubbio, near Rome, where her beautiful voice soon became a great attraction. In its full freshness, according to Fétis and all other authorities, it must have been one of extraordinary purity, force, and compass, going as far as G in altissimo, with a sweet clear tone. This exquisite quality was allied to a marvellous truth and rapidity of execution. No singer has ever surpassed, or perhaps equalled, her in chromatic scales, whether in velocity or precision.

On leaving the convent, into which she had been introduced by the Cardinal Onorati, and where the congregation could frequently not be prevented from openly applauding her splendid notes in the services, she found herself, owing to the sudden impoverishment of her parents, compelled to perform in public. Her musical education had been but ill cared for in the convent, where she passed three years; and she had contracted bad tricks of vocalisation, which she never entirely overcame, even after hearing such great models as Luigi Marchesi and Girolamo Crescentini. One of her faults was that she could never execute certain passages without a very perceptible oscillation of the lower jaw, which made them, instead of being even and smooth, sound like a succession of staccato passages on the violin. In spite of this fault, which was indeed more within the criticism of connoisseurs than of the public generally, her voice was so full, powerful, and clear, her intonation so pure and true, and her instinctive execution of difficult and brilliant music so easy and unfaltering, that her singing had a charm which has scarcely ever been equalled, and her very first steps in a theatrical career were marked by the most extraordinary success. When she began, the favourite style was that of expressive and pathetic song, and in this she never produced the effect which she subsequently made in bravura. Thus at Paris she failed comparatively in a tender song of Piccini's, 'Se'l ciel mi divide,' though shortly after, she created the greatest enthusiasm by her 'Son regina,' by an air of Rode's with variations, concerti for the voice, and other pieces of the most florid execution.

In 1795, at the age of 16, she obtained her first engagement at La Fenice at Venice, and made her début as Lodoiska in the opera of that name by Mayer. Her face, figure, and voice, assured her success, a success which grew day by day, and lasted for nearly thirty years. In the season of 1798, she sang at Leghorn with Crivelli, Marchesi, and Mrs. Billington; the year after, at La Pergola in Florence, in Nasolini's 'Monima e Mitridate'; and, in 1801, at Milan, in the 'Clitemnestra' of Zingarelli, and Nasolini's 'Baccanali.' In these early efforts her effect was not due to method or skill; it was her superb voice that carried all before her. From Milan she went to Florence, Trieste, Rome, and Naples, exciting everywhere the same astonishment and admiration.

Her reputation now reached the ears of the Prince Regent of Portugal, who engaged her, with Elisabetta Gafforini and Crescentini, to sing at the Italian Opera there, and she arrived about the end of the year 1804. Her salary was 24,000 cruzados (£3,000) - the equivalent of £292,458.41 in 2018.

Some writers have said that she derived very great advantage from the instruction of Crescentini, which, indeed, seems more than likely; but Fétis, on the authority of Crescentini himself, contradicts this statement categorically, affirming that Crescentini told him that he had endeavoured to give her a little advice, which she had seemed incapable of understanding. During her stay in Portugal, Catalani made the acquaintance of Paul Valabrègue, the French attaché at Lisbon and former French captain, and they married in 1804. Her husband, appears to have had no ideas beyond helping his talented wife to gain the utmost possible amount of money on every occasion, and spending it for her afterwards. From their marriage dates one of the worst of the many speculations that have been based on the capital of a grand voice and great personal charm. They went first to Madrid, and then to Paris, where she sang only in concerts, but where she gained even more fame than before.

On October 26, 1805, Mme. Catalani signed her first engagement (in the possession of the writer) with F. Goold and W. Taylor, manager and proprietors of the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, for the season from September 15, 1806, to August 1807, at a salary of £2,000 sterling, with 'a further sum of £100 sterling to defray the expenses of her journey to London,' and also 'one Benefit Night free of expense in the month of March, at which a new opera shall be performed.' Before crossing, however, she gave concerts at Madrid and Paris, by which she gained large sums of money, and created a deep impression; indeed, Napoleon offered her an engagement from which she had some difficulty in escaping, in order to fulfil that at the King's Theatre. At the moment of her arrival in London, Grassini and Mrs. Billington had just retired; and, as Lord Mount Edgcumbe says, "the great, the far-famed Catalani supplied the place of both, and for many years reigned alone, for she would bear no rival, nor any singer sufficiently good to divide the applause...It is well known, that her voice is of a most uncommon quality, and capable of exertions almost supernatural. Her throat seems endued (as has been remarked by medical men) with a power of expansion and muscular motion by no means usual, and when she throws out all her voice to the utmost, it has a volume and strength that are quite surprising; while its agility in divisions, running up and down the scale in semi-tones, and its compass in jumping over two octaves at once, are equally astonishing. It were to be wished,... that she was less lavish in the display of these wonderful powers, and sought to please more than to surprise; but her taste is vicious, her excessive love of ornament spoiling every simple air, and her greatest delight (indeed her chief merit) being in songs of a bold and spirited character, where much is left to her discretion (or indiscretion), without being confined by the accompaniment, but in which she can indulge in ad libitum passages with a luxuriance and redundancy no other singer ever possessed, or if possessing ever practised, and which she carries to a fantastical excess." The opinions of all good judges were nearly the same with the above; but the public was led completely away by her marvellous powers. She made her début December 15, 1806, in the 'Semiramide' of Portogallo, composed for her expressly.

She appeared also in 'Mitridate,' 'Elfrida,' and most unwillingly in 'La Clemenza di Tito,' for the strict time required in Mozart's music, and the importance of the accompaniments, were not suited to her style. She was, however, the singer who introduced to the English stage his 'Nozze di Figaro,' in which she played Susanna to admiration. In the 'Orazi' she performed the part of the first soprano, Curiazio, that of the first woman being filled by Ferlendis. In 'Didone' she caused the rôle of Enea to be sung by Madame Dussek, who was entirely unfitted for it; and, in another opera, she made Madame Dussek act the first woman's part, choosing for herself that of the primo uomo. Subsequently, she assumed also the place of prima buffa, and succeeded equally well in that line; singing with greater simplicity and ease, she was by some preferred in comic opera. Her face and figure suited both styles; for her handsome countenance was capable of great varieties of expression. Her gains soon became enormous. She was the great attraction of Goold's management, and her engagements entailed on the theatre an expense surpassing anything before experienced.

Mr. Waters, in a pamphlet which he published, gives the total amount received by her from the theatre in 1807, including benefits, at £5,000, and her total profits that year, with concerts, provincial tour, etc., at £16,700,—an immense sum to be received in such a period for the services of a single artist. That she sometimes found a difficulty in getting payment is not surprising, especially from such a manager as Taylor. Ebers relates that, on one occasion, she refused to sing unless a debt of £1,000 due to her was paid; and that he gave security for this, of which he had ultimately to pay every farthing. She received as much as 200 guineas for singing 'God save the King' and 'Rule Britannia,' and at a single festival £2,000. Had she practised the least economy she must have amassed a very great fortune; but this she did not do. It is said, for example, that the consumption of beer by her servants during a single year amounted to £103. More serious causes, however, contributed to dissipate these riches as fast as she gained them; for her husband was passionately addicted to gambling, and lost vast sums at play. She remained seven years in England, where she finally succeeded in becoming the only singer of eminence, and led in both lines; but one singer does not constitute an opera, though Valabrègue used to say 'Ma femme et quatre ou cinq poupées,—voilà tout ce qu'il faut.' Neither would her disposition endure the possibility of rivalry, nor the extravagance of her increasing demands allow any manager to engage other singers.

She quit the theatre at the end of the season of 1813, having first endeavoured (unsuccessfully) to purchase it, and so become sole proprietor, sole manager, and sole singer. After leaving this stage, she for many years never trod any other, except at Paris, where she obtained the management of the Italian opera, with a subvention of 160,000 francs; but the undertaking was not fortunate. On the return of Napoleon, in 1815, she left Paris, going first to Hamburg, and afterwards to Denmark and Sweden, and exciting everywhere the wildest admiration and enthusiasm. She returned to France, after the Restoration, by the Netherlands and Belgium. On her arrival at Paris, she resumed the direction of the Théâtre Italian, and established the same ruinous system which had destroyed, for a time, opera in London. Every expense of scenery, orchestra, and chorus, was curtailed, and every singer of worth excluded, in order that the entire receipts might go, with the subvention, into the purse of Valabrègue. This was not all. To suit this state of things the operas were arranged in such a manner that little of the original but the name remained. The rest consisted of variations by Rode, and similar things, with the famous 'Son regina,' interpolated in place of the concerted pieces and songs which had been cut out. In May 1816, Catalani left her opera in the hands of managers, and went to Munich to give some concerts and representations. Thence she proceeded to Italy, and only returned to Paris in August 1817.

In the next April she left her opera entirely, and resumed her wanderings. Having engaged Mme. Gail to accompany her, as Pucitta had done in London and Paris, she started for Vienna. No sooner had they arrived than she quarrelled with her companion, who returned to Paris. Catalani continued her tour alone, and it lasted nearly ten years. In 1824, she returned to London, performing a certain number of nights with no regular engagement. She reappeared in 'Il Nuovo Fanatico per la Musica,' an opera by Mayer, arranged for her. 'Her powers were undiminished, her taste unimproved.' She next continued her wanderings on the continent. In 1826, an attempt was made by Ebers to engage her, but the terms proposed by her were so exorbitant that it was impossible to consider them seriously. Her voice was, however, no longer what it had been, especially in the highest part of her register. Though still beautiful, flexible, and strong, it was losing gradually a little of these qualities. In turn she visited Germany, Italy, and Paris once more, where she sang without success; then Poland, Russia, and the north of Germany again in 1827. About this time she sang for the last time at Berlin, and resolved to cease singing in public.

But she revisited England once more in 1828, and sang at the York Festival. Lord Mount Edgcumbe heard her the same year at Plymouth, and describes her as having lost, perhaps, a little in voice, but gained more in expression: as electrifying an audience with her 'Rule Britannia;' and as still handsome, though somewhat stout. After a time, she retired to a villa which she had bought in the neighbourhood of Florence. On the stage, she is described as having always produced an unnatural impression, owing to an invincible nervousness, which made her exaggerate the effects she wished to create. She said herself, that it was as painful to her to sing in the theatre as it was delightful to perform at a concert.

She never lost her simplicity and purity of manners, nor her piety, modesty, and generosity. Her charitable deeds were innumerable, and the amount of money earned by her in concerts for such purposes alone has been estimated at 2,000,000 francs. At her residence she founded a school of singing for young girls.

Catalani died of cholera at Paris, June 12, 1849.

Catalani's sister-in-law, Adelina, was also a soprano, though of far less note. She was known variously as la cognate della famosa and la Catalani juniore to distinguish her from her far better-known relative.

Publications

 * Henry Sutherland Edwards, The Prima Donna: Her History and Surroundings from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century, volume i (two volumes, London, 1888)
 * George T. Ferris, Great Singers (New York, 1893)
 * Ellen Creathorne Clayton, afterwards Mrs. Needham, Queens of Song (London, 1863)
 * Henry Charles Lahee, Famous Singers of To-Day and Yesterday (Boston, 1900)

Interpretations

 * , David McGuinness, piano

title: Angelica Catalani


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Earth Moving

Earth Moving is the 12th record album by British musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1989. Unlike Oldfield's albums released prior to Earth Moving, the album contains no instrumental tracks.

Album analysis
Oldfield used several vocalists on the album, including his then girlfriend, Anita Hegerland. The album's music was performed mainly with synthesizers. It was the first time Oldfield recorded an album without an instrumental piece; each track being vocal-based pop and rock songs. Oldfield's only other album free of instrumentals is 2014's Man on the Rocks.

The final track, despite appearing to be a lengthier piece, consists of two short, apparently unconnected songs, combined into one track, with a noticeable pause in between. According to Oldfield, the album was made in full compliance with his recording company, Virgin Records, which demanded he create more commercially oriented material than his previous albums. After recording Earth Moving Oldfield wanted to move away from 'computerised music' and return to real musicians and instruments; this is evident in his next album, Amarok.

Promotion
According to an interview Mike Oldfield and Anita Hegerland gave on the television programme Good Morning Britain, the song "Innocent" was inspired by their young daughter Greta, who appears in the song's music video. In the programme, Oldfield and Hegerland performed an acoustic version of the song, Hegerland singing and Oldfield playing the guitar.

"Earth Moving", "Innocent" and "(One Glance Is) Holy" were released as singles.

Equipment
Earth Moving is the first album on which Oldfield used PRS guitars, having previously used Gibson guitars. Synthesizers on the album include a Fairlight Series III and various instruments made by Roland and Korg (including an M1). The album was recorded using an Atari 1040ST with C-Lab Notator software, a Harrison Series X console, a Studer A8800 tape deck with Dolby SR noise reduction, an Ampex Grand Master tape and ATC SCM200 monitors.

Track listing
All tracks written by Mike Oldfield.

Side one

 * 1) "Holy" – 4:37
 * 2) "Hostage" – 4:09
 * 3) "Far Country" – 4:25
 * 4) "Innocent" – 3:30
 * 5) "Runaway Son" – 4:05

Side two

 * 1) "See the Light" – 3:59
 * 2) "Earth Moving" – 4:03
 * 3) "Blue Night" – 3:47
 * 4) "Nothing But" / "Bridge to Paradise" – 8:40

Personnel

 * Mike Oldfield – guitars and keyboards
 * Max Bacon – vocals ("Hostage", "Bridge to Paradise")
 * Adrian Belew – vocals ("Holy"), left channel guitar solo ("Far Country")
 * Nikki "B" Bentley – vocals ("Earth Moving")
 * Anita Hegerland – vocals ("Innocent")
 * Carol Kenyon – vocals ("Nothing But")
 * Raphael Ravenscroft – saxophone
 * Maggie Reilly – vocals ("Blue Night")
 * Phil Spalding – bass guitar, backing vocals ("Bridge to Paradise", "See the Light", "Holy")
 * Chris Thompson – vocals ("Runaway Son", "See the Light")
 * Carl Wayne – backing vocals ("Earth Moving")
 * Mark Williamson – vocals ("Far Country")

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

title: Earth Moving


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Chalkhill blue

The chalkhill blue (Lysandra coridon) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is a small butterfly that can be found throughout the Palearctic realm, where it occurs primarily in grasslands rich in chalk. Males have a pale blue colour, while females are brown. Both have chequered fringes around their wings.

Subspecies
Subspecies include:
 * Lysandra coridon coridon
 * Lysandra coridon borussia (Dadd, 1908) – (Urals)
 * Lysandra coridon asturiensis (Sagarra, 1922) – (Spain)

Description
Lysandra coridon has a wingspan of 30 - 36 mm. These small butterflies present a sexual dimorphism. The males having pale silvery-blue upperside of the wings with a submarginal line of grey spots on the hindwings and a thin brown and white chequered fringe. Females have dark brown upperside of wings, with marginal orange spots and also with chequered fringes. The underside of the wings show a light ochre colouration, several dark spots surrounded by white, a submarginal line of black marks, a series of marginal orange spots on the hindwings and a blue dusting near the body.

As with many blue butterflies, separation from similar species in the field is on the underside markings. Aberrations are common.

Description in Seitz
L. coridon Poda (81 c, d). male above light blue green with a silvery glitter, the black margin of the forewing broad, the hindwing with dark dots at the margin. The underside light violet-grey on the fore- wing, brownish on the hindwing, variegated with white and bearing yellowish red submarginal spots; both wings very densely ornamented with ocelli. Female above russet grey-brown, beneath earth-brown and like the male with very numerous ocelli. The area of distribution is essentially smaller than in most Blues, being apparently entirely restricted to Central and South Europe. The species occurs from England, Pommerania, and St. Petersburg southwards to Spain. Italy and Brussa, and from the Pyrenees to Orenburg. Although the species is very uniformly developed, quite a number of forms have been provided with names, being partly based on very minute differences. We deal first with the variation of the upperside. — hispana H.-Schiff. (= arragonensis Gerh.),[ now Lysandra hispana (Herrich-Schäffer, [1851])] from Spain, is paler with the distal margin more strongly spotted. — apennina[ now Lysandra apennina (Zeller, 1847 ])(81 d) is on the whole paler, the dark marginal border of the forewing being lighter in consequence of an intermixture of the ground-colour; from Italy.The Greek form graeca  Ruhl-Heine is quite similar. — rezniceki Bartel, [now L. hispana var. rezniceki Bartel, 1904] from Northern Italy, is a transition to the previous; according to the description the upperside of the males is still paler. — albicans H.-Schaff. [ now Lysandra albicans (Gerhard, 1851] (81 d) is the lightest form, which is almost white above; it flies on limestone in Spain, sometimes as the only form, sometimes in the company of hispana (Ribbe). — caucasica Led. (= ossmar Gerh.) [now Lysandra caucasica (Lederer, 1870)] (81 e) extends on to the   Asiatic continent, flying in Armenia and at the Black Sea. The upperside of the male is brighter blue. —  In specimens from the Taurus Mts. even a slight violet sheen is present, especiallv in the outer area of the wings; this is corydonius H.-Schaff. (= olympica Led.) (81 d).[ now Lysandra caucasica (Lederer, 1870)

— The blue colour of the male may occasionally appear also in the female, being sometimes restricted to the base — ab. semibrunnea Mill. (=semi-syngrapha Tutt) — sometimes occupying the whole upperside: ab. syngrapha Kef. (= mariscolore Gerh.). (81 d). On the other hand the blue upperside of males dulled by a grey suffusion: ab. suffusa Tutt. Other accidental forms are males with red spots at the margin above: ab. suavis Schultz, and females with such spots: ab. aurantia Tutt. In ab. inaequalis Tutt the glossy blue colour forms irregular streaks on a dark ground. In ab. marginata Tutt the black margin is broadened. In ab. fowleri South the margin is white instead of black, while in ab. punctata Tutt the margins are spotted. ab. calydonius Lowe has the ground darkened and the black borders enlarged. — Equally variable as the upperside is the under surface. The ground-cqjour beneath may be very dark (especially in certain females or remarkably pale; the latter is the case in ab. pallida Tutt. The ocelli may be distorted into rays: ab. striata Tutt. Some of the ocelli  may be united: ab. tiphys Esp. They may be increased in number: ab. luxurians Courv., or they may be reduced (ab. privata, unipucta, impuncta) or all be absent: ab. cinnus Hbn. {= sohni Ruhl) (81 d). More over, all these variations may be more or less slightly developed or vestigial (ab. semiaurantia, caeruleomarginata, etc), or various aberrational characters may be combined in one individual, as for instance in ab. parisiensis Gerh., which is an ab. syngrapha with the ocelli as in ab. tiphys, etc.

— Egg greenish white, with minute pale reticulation, the meshes being hexagonal. Larva bright blue-green, beneath paler, the dorsal line appearing dark owing to the dorsal vessel, accompanied by chains of yellow spots, a similar but duller row of spots above the abdominal legs. Until June on Hippocrepis, Coronilla, Astragalus. Vicia, etc. Visited by Formica flava, which is attracted by the dorsal gland. Pupa rather slender, smooth, dirty yellowish brown, with dark dorsal line and on the wing-cases pale smears, free on the  ground, often under stones. The butterflies occur from June till August, being rare in some places, exceedingly abundant in others; they are everywhere found in particular localities. They have a rapid flight, which is also more sustained than in most other Blues, and go early to sleep, settling for the night with closed wings on stalks of grass or on the top of flowers while it is yet full day-light. This offers the best opportunity for collecting aberrations, since the ocelli of the underside are so clearly visible that one  can pick out without difficulty and put into the cyanide bottle wliat one requires.

Geographical range
This species can be found in the Palearctic realm (western Europe, southern Europe, central Europe, Asia Minor, south Urals, and northwest Turan). The range of L. coridon occurs throughout Central Europe, and is endemic to Europe. There are a few exceptions to where it is located in Central Europe: it is not found in the countries of Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the Iberian Peninsula (except in its northern provinces), some Mediterranean islands (found in Corsica and Sardinia), and most of southern Italy.

Habitat
This particular species of butterfly has a preference for dry calcareous grasslands, at an elevation of 100 - 2000 m above sea level. This species also has a preference towards grasslands that have short grass with many flowering plants. L. coridon is a sedentary organism which means that they do not travel very far within their habitat range. These individuals have the tendency to stay within their habitat patch rather than perform long migrations to find new habitats.

Biology
Note that information in this section applies to Great Britain and some details may not be consistent with the species in other parts of its range. This species only produces one generation per year making them a univoltine, which means that this species only breeds once per year and will only produce one set of offspring.

L. coridon is monophagous, which means that they only feeds on one specific species of plant. The larvae or caterpillars of this species feed on the leaves of horseshoe vetch (Hippocrepis comosa).

When they are ready they pupate on the ground within the leaf litter of the host plants.

The caterpillars are attended by several different ants of the genera Myrmica, Lasius, Formica, Plagiolepis, Tetramorium, Aphaenogaster and Tapinoma.

This butterfly is usually seen on the wing from June to October.

In the research into the effects of trophic interaction and fragmentation it was found that there are no known parasitoids that are specialized to this species, but there are other parasitoids that are related to other species that are part of the family Lycaenidae which will sometimes predate this species. It could be a viable option that the parasitoids that did predate upon this species became extinct due to the fragmentation of their habitat in the past.

Sibling species
Upon using allozyme analyses when looking at the species L. hispana and L. slovacus showed a difference in evolutionary history with L. coridon. The analysis showed that L. hispana has a large genetic distance between the two species and that there was allopatric speciation from L. coridon. L. slovacus seems to show that there was sympatry with L. coridon but the genetic analysis could not prove this hypothesis, so the researchers made the conclusion that this particular species was a local population that has an atavism of bivoltinism.

Post-glacial expansion
The expansion of the species travels from western Europe into eastern Europe from the ice-age refugium into the Balkans. The starting point for the expansion is in western Hungary traveling into the Balkans and then into Brandenburg and Poland. This expansion shows that are two routes due to the changes in gene allele frequencies and the degree of homogeneity of the species.

The two routes are:

1.) Starting in the western tip of Hungary traveling into north-eastern Hungry along the Hungarian Mountains into eastern Slovakia

2.) Starts in western Hungary and travels along the eastern Alps into western Slovakia and Czech Republic

The expansion caused there to be two unique genetic populations that were separated by mountain ranges. And the expansion also caused the movement of species that were only found in warmer areas to move into new habitats that were previously cooler in temperature and did not have the biotic components to support these new species.

Habitat fragmentation
This would be physical features of the environment that separate populations of the same species. One type of would be mountain ranges which separate west and east population of L. coridon, and this separation causes there to be changes in the allele frequency of both population and there can be mixing of these populations only when there is an area that is connected.

Another type would be the loss of habitat which can lead to large habitat areas being fragmented, this loss can occur due to human interaction with the ecosystem in way that isolates populations of the species. The loss of habitat changes the number of individuals that the area can support or blocks the population off from a larger population. The limiting number of individuals in the population or the isolation can cause a decrease in the heterogeneity of population and leads to a decrease in fitness.

Habitat fragmentation causes conservation efforts to be difficult because it has to be decided what areas get protect or have the best possible chance of helping increase a population without damaging the overall fitness of the population, so great care is taken when selecting what areas will be protected.

Status
According to IUCN Red List for Threatened Species, this particular species is of Least Concern, and this is due to this species not having a significant decline in population in the last ten years, which would be a decline by 25% in the number of adults.

Conservation
Since this species is of Least Concern there are few conservation efforts being put forth. But in certain areas that have been having large decline or had large decline implemented conservation efforts. This species is considered by researchers to be an indicator species of calcareous grassland habitat quality and could also be a good model organism to help develop conservation programs for more At Risk species.

Conservation in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland
All three countries have done research into the conservation of the calcareous grassland. Protecting this species would also lead to helping protect higher trophic level individuals that are located in this ecosystem.

United Kingdom
The chalkhill blue experienced a significant decline in population number in the 1950s. There was a rise in population between 1981 and 2000. In this time period there was a significant increase in numbers and this led to the stabilization of the population in the 1990s. The UK Biodiversity Action Plan had monitoring plans in place to see these changes and the data that was collected during that time period showed that the increase in population number came from the use of controlling grazing levels, conservation designation, and agri-environment schemes entry and management. These practices improved the quality of the habitats that were located in the United Kingdom.

Germany and Poland
Both Germany and Poland came up with action plans such as that if conservation efforts where to take place that the ideal area for protection would be large habitats that were interconnected with other Grassland habitats that were fragmented, and had a high abundance of the juvenile host plant located within it or had the ability to support a large number of plants.

title: Chalkhill blue


text:
Hessian fabric

Hessian, burlap in North America, or crocus in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, is a woven fabric made of vegetable fibres, usually the skin of the jute plant or sisal leaves. It is generally used (in the crude tow form known as gunny) for duties of rough handling, such as making sacks employed to ship farm products and to act as covers for sandbags (although woven plastics now often serve these purposes), and for wrapping tree-root balls. However, this dense woven fabric, historically coarse, more recently is being produced in a refined state, known simply as jute, as an eco-friendly material for bags, rugs, and other products.

The name "hessian" is attributed to the historic use of the fabric as part of the uniform of soldiers from the former Landgraviate of Hesse (1264–1567) and its successors, who were called  Hessians. Hessian cloth comes in different types of construction, form, size and color.

The origin of the word burlap is uncertain, though it appeared as early as the late 17th century. Its etymology is speculated to derive from the Middle English borel ('coarse cloth'), the Old French burel and/or the Dutch boeren ('coarse'), in the latter case perhaps interfused with boer ('peasant'). The second element is the Dutch word lap, 'piece of cloth'.

History
Hessian was first exported from India in the early 19th century. It was traditionally used as backing for linoleum, rugs, and carpet.

In Jamaica and certain parts of the Caribbean (where it is only known as Crocus), many labourers who used to work on the plantations were not often given pleasant materials with which to make clothes. Some had access to cotton that was spun, woven, cut and sewn into serviceable clothing (often called homespun) while others had to make do with clothing fashioned from roughly hewn sacking. Labourers used their resourcefulness to recycle discarded sacking and fashion them into garments that, although fairly uncomfortable by all accounts, provided protection from the heat and dust. A traditional costume of Jamaican Maroons uses fabric very similar to this material as a way of drawing an affinity and paying homage to the resourcefulness and creativity of their labourers who gained freedom. For the rest of the population, it was used to make bags for carrying loads of coffee and other items, edible or not.

Uses
Hessian is often used to make gunny sacks, and to ship goods like coffee beans and rooibos tea. It is breathable and so resists condensation and associated spoilage of contents. It is also durable enough to withstand rough handling in transit; these properties have also led to its use for temporary protection as wet covering to prevent rapid moisture loss in the setting of cement and concrete in the construction industry. Hessian is also commonly used to make effective sandbags; hessian sacks filled with sand are often used for flood mitigation in temporary embankments against floodwaters or field fortifications.

Shipping
The transportation of agricultural products often involves bags made from hessian jute fabric. Hessian jute bags (commonly known as gunnysacks) are used to ship wool, tobacco, and cotton, as well as foodstuffs such as coffee, flour, vegetables, and grains. Hessian jute's ability to allow the contents of bags to breathe makes it excellent for preventing or minimizing rotting due to trapped moisture. In some cases, hessian can even be specially treated to avoid specific kinds of rot and decay.

Hessian is also often used for the transportation of unprocessed dry tobacco. This material is used for much the same reasons as it would be used for coffee. Hessian sacks in the tobacco industry hold up to 200 kg (440lb) of tobacco, and due to hessian's toughness, a hessian sack can have a useful life of up to three years.

Landscaping and agriculture
Hessian is used to wrap the exposed roots of trees and shrubs when transplanting and also for erosion control on steep slopes. One major advantage of hessian jute fabric is that, because it is made entirely from natural vegetable fibers, it is completely biodegradable.

This property also makes it extremely useful in landscaping and agricultural uses that require incorporating fabric support into outdoor projects. Landscape designs that include tree transplantation often rely on hessian jute to ensure that young trees arrive at the planting venue intact and unharmed. This is achieved by wrapping hessian jute fabric around the roots and soil of a tree shortly after digging it from its original location. The breathability of the fabric allows sufficient aeration of the soil, and the hessian's moisture-resistant properties prevent excess water from accumulating and allowing the growth of mold, mildew, or other types of rot. Once planted, young trees may require the protection of hessian jute to ward off mice and other rodents that might otherwise eat their bark and compromise their structure. To keep rodents at bay, landscapers often wrap swathes of hessian jute around the trunks of young trees of all varieties.

In addition to protecting from animals, hessian jute also has the capacity to protect trees from excessive sun and wind. By building windbreaks from hessian jute, landscapers can exert some control over the environment in which young trees grow, thus maximizing their chances of growing to maturity so that they can withstand more intense weather conditions.

For planting grass, on areas that have steep slopes or high levels of soil erosion, a layer of hessian jute tacked on over grass seeds can prevent seeds from being moved by rain, runoff, or wind. Landscapers can use this fabric for many uses due to its strength, durability, moisture resistance, and protective properties.

Apparel
Due to its coarse texture, it is not commonly used in modern apparel. However, this roughness gave it a use in a religious context for mortification of the flesh, where individuals may wear an abrasive shirt called a cilice or "hair shirt" and in the wearing of "sackcloth" on Ash Wednesday. During the Great Depression in the US, when cloth became relatively scarce in the largely agrarian parts of the country, many farming families used burlap cloth to sew their own clothes. However, prolonged exposure to the material can cause rashes on sensitive skin.

Owing to its durability, open weave, naturally non-shiny refraction and fuzzy texture, hessian is often used in the fabrication of ghillie suits for 3D camouflage. It was also a popular material for camouflage scrim on combat helmets during World War II. Until the advent of the plastic "leafy" multi-color net system following the Vietnam War, burlap scrim was also woven onto shrimp and fish netting to create large-scale military camouflage netting.

In art
Hessian has been used by artists as an alternative to cotton or linen as a stretched painting or working surface.

Emergency flood response
Hessian bags are often deployed as sandbags as a temporary response to flooding. Because of their material, they can either be reused or can be composted after use. Agencies like the State Emergency Service in Australia and Technisches Hilfswerk in Germany often deploy sandbags, and these are found in the majority of their emergency response vehicles. Plastic bags have been used as a substitute, but SES units have found hessian bags to be more versatile as they can be used in a variety of rescue applications: as an edge protector for rope rescue operations, for use as padding on slings used in animal rescue or used to dampen and beat out bush-fires.

In beekeeping
Hessian fabric is often used as smoker fuel in beekeeping because of its generous smoke generation and ease of ignition.

Building material
In the 19th and first half of the 20th century, in Australia, hessian fabric, laid over a crude timber framework, was used to create the walls of primitive dwellings, particularly in mining towns and in settlements of unemployed people during the Great Depression.

The resulting semi-permanent structures — part way between a tent and a permanent dwelling made of conventional materials — were inexpensive to build. The durability and weatherproofing of the hessian walls were often improved by painting the hessian fabric with lime wash or conventional house paint, creating a less permeable, more rigid, rot-proof wall of a more attractive appearance. Hessian fabric was also used to create simple internal partitions. Roofing was typically corrugated iron, but sometimes canvas, usually with an earthen floor.

Hessian was also used for the internal lining of some slab huts in Australia.

title: Hessian fabric


text:
Test harness

In software testing, a test harness is a collection of stubs and drivers configured to assist with the testing of an application or component. It acts as imitation infrastructure for test environments or containers where the full infrastructure is either not available or not desired.

Test harnesses allow for the automation of tests. They can call functions with supplied parameters and print out and compare the results to the desired value. The test harness provides a hook for the developed code, which can be tested using an automation framework.

A test harness is used to facilitate testing where all or some of an application's production infrastructure is unavailable, this may be due to licensing costs, security concerns meaning test environments are air gapped, resource limitations, or simply to increase the execution speed of tests by providing pre-defined test data and smaller software components instead of calculated data from full applications.

These individual objectives may be fulfilled by unit test framework tools, stubs or drivers.

Example
When attempting to build an application that needs to interface with an application on a mainframe computer, but no mainframe is available during development, a test harness may be built to use as a substitute this can mean that normally complex operations can be handled with a small amount of resources by providing pre-defined data and responses so the calculations performed by the mainframe are not needed.

A test harness may be part of a project deliverable. It may be kept separate from the application source code and may be reused on multiple projects. A test harness simulates application functionality; it has no knowledge of test suites, test cases or test reports. Those things are provided by a testing framework and associated automated testing tools.

A part of its job is to set up suitable test fixtures.

The test harness will generally be specific to a development environment such as Java. However, interoperability test harnesses have been developed for use in more complex systems.

title: Test harness


text:
Paddy Roberts (songwriter)

John Godfrey Owen "Paddy" Roberts (18 January 1910 – 24 August 1975) was a British songwriter and singer who lived in Devon, England having previously been a lawyer and a pilot (serving with the RAF in World War II). He then joined BOAC and flew Lockheed Constellations for that airline in the late 1940s/1950s.

Roberts, who was born in Durban, Colony of Natal (in modern day South Africa), enjoyed success with a number of songs in the 1950s and 1960s and wrote songs for several films. He released several LPs and EPs of his own material, often featuring what were, for the time, slightly risqué lyrics. One of his most popular and amusing compositions that he recorded himself was titled "The Ballad of Bethnal Green", which was also recorded by Beatrice Lillie.

Roberts was five times the winner of an Ivor Novello Award, four for songwriting and one for services to the British Music Industry. He co-wrote the 1955 UK chart-topper, "Softly, Softly", as sung by Ruby Murray, and "Lay Down Your Arms" by Anne Shelton, which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1956.

Roberts died in August 1975 in Dartmouth, Devon, England.

Songs

 * "L'Anglais Avec Son Sang-froid"
 * "Follow Me"
 * "Love Isn't What it Used To Be"
 * "The Book" (David Whitfield)
 * "Lay Down Your Arms" (Anne Shelton) (1956)
 * "Meet Me on the Corner" (Max Bygraves)
 * "Pickin' a Chicken" (Eve Boswell)
 * "Evermore" (Ruby Murray)
 * "Softly, Softly" (Ruby Murray) (1955)
 * "Johnny Is the Boy for Me"
 * "It's a Boy" (Lita Roza)
 * "That Dear Old Gentleman"
 * "Send For Me"
 * "The Three Galleons"
 * "Merry Christmas You Suckers" (released in the US as "And A Happy New Year")
 * "The Belle of Barking Creek"
 * "The Big Dee Jay"
 * "The Lavender Cowboy"
 * "The Ballad of Bethnal Green" – Ivor Novello Awards winner (1959)
 * "Tattooed Lady"
 * "What's All This Fuss About Love"
 * "I Remember Tilly"
 * "Our Little Village"
 * "Auntie Bridget"
 * "I Love Mary"
 * "Country Girl"

Soundtrack songs

 * "Magic Carpet" (from "No Time for Tears")
 * "You Are My First Love" (from It's Great to Be Young)
 * "I'm in Love for the Very First Time" (from An Alligator Named Daisy) – Ivor Novello Award winner (1955)
 * "The Heart of a Man" (from The Heart of a Man) (Frankie Vaughan)
 * "Play Rough" (from Violent Playground)
 * Several songs from The Good Companions (1957)
 * "Give Me a Man" (from To Dorothy a Son)

Albums

 * Strictly for Grown Ups (1959) – No. 8 UK Decca LF 1322
 * Paddy Roberts Tries Again (1960) – No. 16 UK Decca LK 4358/SKL 4104
 * Paddy Roberts at the Blue Angel (1961) Decca LK 4410
 * Songs for Gay Dogs (1963) Decca LK 4560
 * ...But Not in Front of the Children (1966) Decca LK 4774
 * Funny World (1967) Decca LK4964/SKL 4964
 * Doctor Dolittle – With Marty Wilde and others (1967) Marble Arch MAL 738
 * The Best of Paddy Roberts (1968) – Re-recordings MFP 1276
 * The World of Paddy Roberts (1969) – Compilation Decca PA 37/SPA 37

EPs and singles
Singles: featuring recordings not issued on albums
 * "Love Is A Wonderful Thing" / "Send For Me" Decca F11446
 * "Merry Christmas You Suckers" / "Got’N Idea" Decca F11552

EPs
 * Strictly for Grown Ups Decca DFE 6584
 * Paddy Roberts Strikes Again (with The Dennis Wilson Octet) Decca DFE 6641
 * Paddy Decca DFE 6701

Notes:
 * A Featuring recordings not issued on albums.

Discography notes
Many of Roberts' recordings were made available in the United States. "Merry Christmas You Suckers" was issued with an alternative title of "And A Happy New Year".

Although most of the albums were only issued in mono, it appears that the studio albums at least were recorded in stereo. The tracks from Strictly For Grown Ups that are included on The World of Paddy Roberts" are in stereo, leading to the assumption that the whole album was recorded that way (but never issued that way). Songs for Gay Dogs was issued in stereo for the first time in 2006 when released on CD which indicated that ...But Not in front of the Children was also recorded that way.

The musical director on most recordings was Dennis Wilson. The exceptions being Songs For Gay Dogs (Peter Knight), Funny World (Ronnie Aldrich), Live at the Blue Angel (Barry Morgan) and Doctor Dolittle (Cyril Stapleton). The director for "Love Is A Wonderful Thing" / "Send For Me" was Johnny Pearson. There is no director listed for his MFP album.

All Decca Material with the exception of ...But Not in front of the Children and Funny World was produced by Hugh Mendl.

CD releases

 * Strictly For Grown Ups/Paddy Roberts Tries Again
 * Must Close Saturday Records MCSR 3022
 * Songs For Gay Dogs/Funny World
 * Must Close Saturday Records MCSR 3034'

Strictly For Grown Ups has also been released without Paddy Roberts Tries Again, but with various other Roberts compositions sung by others on MCSR 3046.

title: Paddy Roberts (songwriter)


text:
Talk:Valens

J.B Bury
The paragraph which notes J.B bury as a 'historian' of 'the period' cannot be correct, he was around in the 1970's. - Obviously he was not a historian of 'the period' of which these battles and events occured. - It should be rewritten since many may confuse 'of the period' with being alive during that time, such as a Cassius Dio etc. Orasis 07:02, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Plagiarism?
This is essentially the exact same article that appears at www.roman-emperors.org/valens.htm. Is the author of this article the same person or, if he or she is not, is that a source from which one can freely copy?

Asphyxiated
What, did he leave his chariot running in the garage? Would strangled be a better word choice?

Valens is the subject of the article
This article reads like the history of Rome. To me, much of the material should be in another article. The focus should be Valens. Thanks for considering this.

Fair use rationale for Image:Shapur ii bust.jpg
Image:Shapur ii bust.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 04:47, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

"Adrianople was the most significant event in Valens' career"
Haha I'm sure this sentence shouldn't be here but it made me laugh anyway. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.195.249.137 (talk) 23:21, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

 * I was just about to start a section of with that title and a "Are we sure about this?" comment then I saw someone beat me to it. Seriously, can't it be put in better words? Or else I'm gonna come back and add a citation needed tag to it.  Volunteer Marek   08:33, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Cavalry?
Really, some of the comments about the battle of Adrianople are inconsistent with most recent research. Cavalry was important, sure, but it was an infantry battle, and didn't mean the eclipse of infantry. 72.66.37.62 (talk) 01:42, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

This article has many problems
This article has many problems. Some have been pointed out above. The episode with Procopius and Jovian is too detailed for an article on Valens (besides being very confusing). The information that 200'000 Gothic warriors and 1'000'000 Goths had reached the shores of the Danube is pure fantasy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.5.187.42 (talk) 14:40, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

'Ostrogoth' is anachronistic term in Valens' time
The term 'Ostrogoth' should be replaced by 'Greuthungi'. The former term is more properly applied to only the later Italian Gothic kingdom. Traditionally the Greuthungi have been incorrectly interpreted as the linear ancestors of the Ostrogoths; a confusion introduced by Jordanes and not attested in Ammianus. See 'Roman's Gothic Wars: Tervingi, Greuthungi and Other Goths', page 111, Michael Kulikowski — Preceding unsigned comment added by RMcPhillip (talk • contribs) 16:50, 27 March 2021 (UTC)

Pronunciation of "Valens"
The early versions of this page included a Latin pronunciation for Valens ({IPAc-en|ˈ|v|eɪ|l|ən|z}) but that was removed and replaced (on 16:02, 14 August 2020) with the Greek pronunciation "{lang-grc-gre|Οὐάλης}" which (not being a speaker of Greek) I would try to say as "waylenz".

Now I understand that Valens was the emperor of the eastern portion of the Roman Empire where Greek was the predominant language. And yet it was all still one empire and there would have been many native speakers of Latin. Wouldn't they have pronounced his name "valens"?

Shouldn't both pronunciations be provided?

I also assume that by the late 4th century 'v' was pronounced as 'v' and not as 'w' as per the classical period.

RMcPhillip (talk) 21:02, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Valens


text:
File:Earth moving Cover.jpg

The cover of the Mike Oldfield album Earth Moving.

Rationale for fair use in article Earth Moving
It is believed that this image is subject to fair use in the article Earth Moving because:
 * 1) This image is used to represent the album.
 * 2) It is of much lower resolution than the original (copies made from it will be of very inferior quality).
 * 3) The image's inclusion does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the album or CDs in any way.
 * 4) No free equivalent is available or could be created that would adequately give the same information.

title: File:Earth moving Cover.jpg


text:
Leonardo Manco

Leonardo Manco (born 16 December 1971) is an Argentine comic book artist.

Career
Manco is best known for his dark and gritty style on such titles as Marvel Comics’  Hellstorm (1994), Blaze of Glory (2000, #1-4), Apache Skies (2002, #1-4), Deathlok Vol. 3 (1999–2000), and Hellblazer (2004) from DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint.

Other work by Manco has included Marvel’s Archangel #1 (1996), Werewolf by Night Vol.2 #1-6 (1998), Doom #1-3 (2000) and Doom: The Emperor Returns #1-3 (2002).

In 2004 he drew an original graphic novel Hellblazer: All His Engines, written by Mike Carey, and was the regular artist on the Hellblazer ongoing series for Vertigo. In June 2004 Manco was signed to a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics.

Manco also contributed to the War Machine series from Marvel Comics.

DC Comics

 * Hellblazer #194-195, 200-205, 207-228, 230-237, 239-242, 247-249 (2004-08)
 * John Constantine, Hellblazer: All His Engines (graphic novel, 2005)
 * Wacky Raceland #1-6 (2016–17)

Marvel

 * Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #8, 12-13, 15-16, 18-21 (1994)
 * Druid, miniseries, #1-4 (1995)
 * Wolverine Annual '97 (1997)
 * Werewolf By Night Vol.2 #1-6 (1998)
 * The Avengers '99 Annual (1999)
 * Dr. Doom #1-3 (2000)
 * War Machine #1-5 (2009)

Boom! Entertainment

 * 28 Days Later #9 (2010)
 * Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Pursuit of the Flesh Prelude + Chapters 1-2 (2012)

Collected Comics

 * Hellblazer (DC Comics):
 * Stations of the Cross (with Mike Carey, collects #194–195 and 200, ISBN 1-4012-1002-3)
 * Reasons to be Cheerful (with Mike Carey, collects #201-205, ISBN 1-4012-1251-4)
 * The Gift (with Mike Carey, collects #207-212, September 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1453-3)
 * All His Engines (with Mike Carey, graphic novel, Vertigo, 2005, paperback, ISBN 1-4012-0317-5, hardcover, ISBN 1-4012-0316-7)
 * Empathy is the Enemy (with Denise Mina, collects #214–222, ISBN 1-4012-1066-X)
 * The Red Right Hand (with Denise Mina, collects #224–228, ISBN 1-4012-1342-1)
 * Joyride (with Andy Diggle, 192 pages, Vertigo, February 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1651-X, Titan, April 2008, ISBN 1-84576-775-6) collects:
 * "In at the Deep End" (Hellblazer #230-231, 2007)
 * "Wheels of Chance, Systems of Control" (Hellblazer #232-233, 2007)
 * "Joyride" (Hellblazer #234-237, 2007)
 * The Laughing Magician (with Andy Diggle, 128 pages, August 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1853-9) collects:
 * "The Passage" (Hellblazer #239, 2007)
 * "The Laughing Magician" (Hellblazer #240-242, 2008)

2000 AD

 * Judge Dredd: "A Better Class of Criminal" (with Rory McConville, 2000 AD #2091–2094, 2018)
 * Sláine: "Dragontamer" (with Pat Mills, 2000 AD #2212–ongoing, 2020–2021)

title: Leonardo Manco


text:
Taboo (musical)

Taboo is a stage musical with a book by Mark Davies Markham (extensively rewritten for the Broadway production by Charles Busch), lyrics by Boy George, and music by George, John Themis, Richie Stevens, and Kevan Frost.

Set in an abandoned London warehouse, the partly imagined story of a group of club 'names' set in the location of what was the city's most fashionable nightclub, the now-legendary Taboo (1985–87) of the title, which was the creation of Leigh Bowery. Boy George is featured as one of the club's regulars, but in reality, George rarely attended. The show also focuses on George's life prior to and after achieving fame.

Productions
The show premiered in London's West End at the newly opened Venue Theatre on January 29, 2002, produced by Adam Kenwright, written by Boy George & Mark Davies Markham with a cast that included Luke Evans, Euan Morton, Matt Lucas and was directed by Christopher Renshaw with choreography by Les Child and costume design by Mike Nicholls. Comedian/talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell was so enamoured with it that she decided to finance a Broadway production. After 16 previews, it opened on November 13, 2003, at the Plymouth Theatre. Hampered by mostly scathing reviews, the production closed after 100 performances. The cast, directed by Christopher Renshaw, included Boy George (credited under his real name, George O'Dowd), Euan Morton, Liz McCartney, Raúl Esparza, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Jeffrey Carlson, and Cary Shields. O'Donnell reportedly lost her entire $10 million investment in the project. O'Donnell said in a 2007 interview about Leigh Bowery that she will take Taboo back to Broadway in the future.

Plot
Although predominantly taking place some years after it concluded, the show is based partly on the New Romantic scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. At its core is the life and career of colourful pop star Boy George (who rose to global prominence in the early 1980s with his band Culture Club) and his contemporaries, including performance artist and club promoter Leigh Bowery, pop singer Marilyn, Blitz nightclub host Steve Strange (later of the electro-pop group Visage), and Philip Sallon, punk groupie and Mud Club promoter. Although George was intimate with the central figures, artistic license around relationships and time frames was taken for continuity; for example, Bowery never attended the Blitz nightclub, as he was living in Australia at the time.

Act 1
The show begins with Philip Sallon introducing us to all the New Romantics in London's Soho district ("Ode To Attention Seekers").

Next we enter the James family home where Billy lives with his mum, Josie, and dad, Derek who is unemployed thanks to the Thatcher era. Billy's dad starts ranting about Billy being a waste of space and starts to mock him because he wants to be a photographer. Billy finally snaps and decides it's time to leave home and move to London and discover himself. He packs his bag and says goodbye to his long suffering mom and leaves ("Safe In the City").

Billy is in London. Whilst walking around the streets, he runs into a cross-dressing drug dealer named Petal, but Phillip drags Billy away from him. Philip tells Billy he knows of a place where he can stay, a squat with a few other people living there. ("Gimme A Freak")

On arriving at the squat Billy is met by the fiery Kim, a punk looking girl who wants to be a fashion designer. She says he can't live there as it's full, but George, her roommate, decides Billy can stay with them. George is wearing heavy makeup and what can only be described as a white toga; Billy is fascinated by him. George explains to Billy that his father is a builder so he was never happy with how George turned out, but his mother is a different story. Billy goes to the kitchen with Kim whilst George reflects on his mother's unconditional love towards him ("Stranger In This World"). When Billy reenters the room George kisses Billy taking him by surprise and Billy runs off.

At the local night club we meet Steve Strange who is acting as bouncer. Kim, Billy, Philip, and George arrive at the club for a big night out. Billy is fascinated by the club's patrons and begins to take pictures of everyone. Steve Strange premieres his new hit record ("Fade To Grey"), but the rest of the revelers are sick of hearing the song so they pull the plug halfway through his performance. Petal turns up dealing drugs but the bouncer kicks him out after a disturbance. The audience is then introduced to another popular face on the New Romantic scene, Marilyn, a man who dresses like Marilyn Monroe ("Genocide Peroxide"). We then meet Jane who works for the magazine ID, she asks George for a quote about the New Romantic scene and he gives one.

During the night we go into the men's bathroom at the club to find Leigh Bowery, an outrageous fashion designer and performance artist who traveled from his home land, Australia, to be a part of the New Romantic scene. He explains to the audience that he can't get enough of boys with pretty faces. Billy enters the bathroom and is amazed by Leigh's outlandish look ("I'll Have You All"). Leigh is instantly attracted to the good looking photographer and gives him his number. ("I'll Have You - Reprise")

Time has swiftly moved on and Kim and Billy are closer than ever. Billy is taking pictures of Kim modeling her latest creations. The two are falling for each other ("Love Is a Question Mark"). Just when they are about to take their actions further, George comes home and makes a scene by flirting with Billy and insisting he should be with him. George and Kim start to argue with each other. Billy is sick of it and runs off.

Out on the street late at night, cross-dressing drug dealer Petal is selling drugs ("Shelter"). Billy walks the streets after running out on Kim and George bumps into Petal. He expresses his disgust at Petal's dealing and almost winds up getting attacked by Petal but luckily Billy manages to get away.

Billy's mom is on the phone with Kim and the two talk about their love for Billy. Josie just wants to know that her son is ok. Kim reassures her that he's fine. On her own Kim starts to question whether Billy will still like her even if she removes all her makeup and opens up to him, a prospect terrifying to her ("Pretty Lies").

When Billy sees Kim without the make up he is shocked out how beautiful she looks. Kim apologizes for her and George arguing and explains it's just how they are and that they love each really. Kim explains to Billy that she is a virgin, and before you know it the two are in the bedroom and couldn't be happier. ("Love Is A Question Mark - Reprise")

George, annoyed that Billy wants to be with Kim instead of him, joins Marilyn and heads down to Selfridges, a department store, to do some shopping. George tells Marilyn that he's met a drummer who wants him to sing in his band, Marilyn is excited for him, if not a little jealous. After a quick run in with the sales girl who is disgusted at the appearance of both men the two discuss their fantasies of being famous ("Guttersnipe").

Josie is at home missing Billy and wondering where her life went so wrong, she doesn't love her abusive husband anymore, the only night out she gets is down the local pub, and her life is just going in no direction ("Talk Amongst Yourselves"). Josie then calls Billy, but he's out and Phillip answers the phone instead. He invites Josie down to London to come and see Billy at Philips club and Josie wholeheartedly decides to go and visit her son.

Its time for George to record his demo with his new group Culture Club and the session goes well, apart from the producer stopping one song after realizing that George was singing about another man. ("The Eyes of Medusa") So he records a different song to keep the producer happy ("Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"). Culture Club start to rise to fame and their single hits number 1. Billy sees George at the club and tries to talk to him but after George felt Billy picked Kim over him George isn't so forthcoming. Eventually George lets Billy take his picture and Billy flirts outrageously, but it appears he is just using George.

George runs into Jane who used to work for ID magazine now works for the Sun, Jane never used to give him any attention in ID magazine but now he's a star she's begging him for an interview. Jane storms out and as she does Billy bumps into her and tells her he's got some pictures of George and asks if the paper would buy them. Jane isn't interested but, she hands Billy her card if he ever has any juicy stories about George and leaves.

Billy tries to talk to George again and asks if he could put a word in for him at his record company to be a photographer. George annoyed that Billy has barely asked him how he is, leaves annoyed. Billy not knowing what to do calls Leigh Bowery who told him to call if he was ever at a loose end. Leigh tells him to come round and that he will make Billy's dreams a reality. Leigh is entering his latest creation in to a talent contest called the Miss Mud Day Queen Ball and wants Billy to model for him. Leigh tells Billy that he can get him in front of the camera instead of behind it, he just has to do everything Leigh tells him to. ("Guttersnipe - Reprise")

When Billy gets to Leigh's house, Leigh and his slaves begin to give Billy a makeover to turn him in to a star of the New Romantic scene ("Touched By The Hand Of Cool"). Leigh tells Billy he will make him the talk of the town and proceeds to call everyone telling them that Billy is now one of his models and will be in the show. Rumors also start to fly that Billy is sleeping with Leigh, which get back to Kim leaving her heartbroken ("Church Of The Poisoned Mind").

It's the day of the Miss Mud Day Queen Ball and Leigh's collection wins the contest, modeling it is Billy now nicknamed Spartacus. Leigh also announces he is opening a club called Taboo. In walks Kim and Billy's mother, shocked at what they see and Leigh makes Kim believe that the two have been sleeping with each other. Kim is outraged and his mother is disappointed in him and the two leave Billy alone ("Stranger In This World Reprise").

Act 2
Taboo is now open and everyone who is anyone is there ("Everything Taboo"). Kim and Josie, who has decided to leave Billy's dad and stay with Kim in London, go to the club to see what all the fuss is about. Whilst at the club Josie and Kim decide to team up and create a fashion line of their own and rent a flat from Philip who is with them. Billy is now hanging out with Boy George and Kim sees them together and presumes that they are sleeping together. Billy tries to apologise to Kim about the Leigh Bowery incident but Kim doesn't want to hear it, she claims that he is just using people who can help his career. Billy tells Leigh he doesn't want to work as his model anymore as he's unhappy and wants Kim back and Leigh calls him ungrateful. Josie tells Billy she is ashamed of him and annoyed at what he's done to Kim.

George now deeply affected by fame has begun to take drugs specifically with Petal and Marilyn at the club. George gives Billy drugs and Billy asks George if he can work at Virgin Records and be the official Boy George photographer. George agrees and tells Billy to go to Virgin and tell them that he's working for George now and Billy is thrilled.

Josie and Kim are at home and their business is starting to take off. Josie is like a new woman full of ambition, shes found a true friend in Kim and in Philip. Then there's a knock at the door and it's Josie's husband, Derek. He wants her to come home but Josie stands up to him. He takes an instant dislike to Philip and Kim and verbally abuses them causing Josie to kick him out. Josie is shocked she has just stood up to him after all these years ("Independent Woman").

Back in George's Apartment he and Marilyn are having a drug binge and George's habit has gotten completely out of control. Billy enters annoyed at George after going to Virgin Records expecting a job but realizing George had not set it up. He tells George enough is enough and that he's killing himself with the drugs ("I See Through You"). Billy storms out with Marilyn leaving George alone.

Walking home from the shop Philip sees Josie's husband at the bus stop. Philip tells Derek that Josie did the right thing ending it with him. Derek beats Philip up in the street and spits on him, leaving Philip bruised and bloodied ("Petrified").

Leigh's live-in helper, Sue, opens a giant curtain to reveal that Leigh has installed himself behind a sheet of glass as a work of art at an art gallery. He explains to the audience that he is art (Ich Bin Kunst). After his performance art Sue tells Leigh that he needs to go to the hospital for a check up, but Leigh won't go, he's obviously scared about his HIV positive status. ("Ich Bin Kunst - Reprise")

Billy has been away to New York to photograph Marilyn's first concert to launch his debut single. When he arrives in London he goes to see his Mom, Kim, and Philip. Kim still refuses to talk to Billy. Billy tells her that he can't stop thinking of her and apologizes for sleeping with George. Kim starts to come around but unfortunately her efforts are wasted as George turns up at the house and has a go at Billy for leaving him and going to New York with Marilyn. George collapses in a heap on the floor. Josie and Kim are shocked at Billy for knowing that George was abusing drugs and not trying to help him.

Billy meets up with Jane and gives her pictures of George using drugs and the full story about his addiction. He takes no money, he does it thinking that it will push George to get help. The story breaks and the media is outrage at George. ("Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Reprise")

George is arrested for possession of drugs and the seriousness of his addiction hits him. George, Steve Strange, Marilyn and Billy all ponder how they have his rock bottom. George reflects how quick his life is falling apart, Marilyn thinks about his failed career, Steve realizes he's a has been, and Billy is riddled with guilt over what he has done to George ("Out Of Fashion").

At the hospital Leigh lays dying of AIDS, his trusted friend Sue is the only with him when he dies ("Il Adore").

Back on the street of London, Petal is still dealing drugs. Annoyed Billy tries to stop him selling to a young boy and ends up in fight with Petal. The dealer pulls a knife on Billy but just in the nick of time George turns up to rescue him. The two talk about everything what has happened and the mistakes they have made. Billy apologizes for informing the media about Georges addiction, but George tells him that Billy revealing the story saved his life ("Pie In The Sky").

Billy tells George how he's going to India to take some time to study with the Hare Krishners and that George should join with him if he'd like. So George, Billy, Philip, Kim, and Josie all go travel to India. After a few weeks the group decides to go home after finding the answers they were looking for, but Billy decides he's going to stay for a while and take some time to think ("Bow Down Mister").

And the entire company, sing ("Karma Chameleon") as they leave the stage.

Characters, Original London production and UK tour

 * Billy – the protagonist, Billy is an aspiring photographer. Frustrated with suburban life in Bromley, he runs to London ('Safe in the city') to make his fortune. There he meets Philip Sallon, who introduces him to Kim and George. He soon falls in love with Kim, and attaches himself to George's rising star. Not based on any one real life person. Played by Luke Evans in the original London production.
 * Kim – an aspiring punk fashion designer and George's squat-mate. Kim is fiery but insecure, rarely emerging from behind her makeup. She ran away from home at 15, and her mother was too drunk to come looking for her. Not based on any one real life person. Played by Dianne Pilkington in the Original London Cast
 * George – Artist, poet, singer/songwriter George O'Dowd is shown before and during his initial success, as a supporting role. He takes an immediate shine to Billy. Thrives on attention and shocking others, never appears dressed conventionally. Originally played by Euan Morton, of whom Boy George said was 'more Boy George than I am'.
 * Leigh Bowery – flamboyant Australian designer and performance artist. He delights in antagonising Kim, and is constantly surrounded by a gaggle of admirers/slaves. Absorbs Billy into his flock. Played by Matt Lucas in the London production and Boy George himself on Broadway productions.
 * Philip Sallon – the second person Billy meets in London, who takes him to Kim and George's squat. Opens the show. Character based on a real person. He was played by Paul Baker.
 * Josie James – Billy's mother, who later becomes Kim's best friend and business partner. Not based on any one real life person. Supposedly a part written specially for the performer Lyn Paul to play.
 * Marilyn – another of the Blitz Kids, Marilyn is first George's rival, then best friend.
 * Janey – a reporter for the Sun newspaper, who has a connection to George.
 * Steve Strange – doorman at the 'Blitz' club, and singer with the group Visage who achieved success with 'Fade to Grey'. Good-natured rival of George.
 * Derek – Billy's father. Violent, drunk and homophobic, he beats up Philip for verbally teasing him. Not based on any one real life person.
 * Petal – scary cross-dressing drug pusher. Not a convincing woman, just a violent man in a miniskirt. In previews Petal killed Billy near the end of the show. Based on a very real person.
 * Big Sue – Leigh's main assistant and confidante. Character based on Sue Tilley.
 * Gary/Guru Dazzle – the bouncer at the 'Blitz' club, who becomes a Krishna devotee.

Original London Production & UK tour

 * Act I
 * "Ode To Attention Seekers" – Philip Sallon and Freaks
 * "Safe In The City" – Billy
 * "Freak" – Philip Sallon and Freaks
 * "Stranger In This World" – Boy George and Josie
 * “Fade to Grey” - Steve Strange and Princess Julta
 * "Genocide Peroxide" – Marilyn and Ensemble
 * "I'll Have You All" – Leigh Bowery and Billy
 * “I’ll Have You All” (Reprise) - Leigh Bowery and Phillip Sallon
 * "Love Is A Question Mark" – Billy and Kim
 * "Shelter" – Petal and Tarts
 * "Pretty Lies" – Kim
 * "Love Is A Question Mark" (Reprise) - Phillp
 * "Guttersnipe" – George and Marilyn
 * "Talk Amongst Yourselves" – Josie
 * "The Eyes of Medusa" / Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" – Boy George
 * "Guttersnipe" (Reprise) - Billy
 * "Touched By The Hand Of Cool" – Leigh Bowery, Billy and Slaves
 * “Church of the Poison Mind” - Kay Cole and Ensemble
 * "Stranger In This World" (Reprise) – Billy, Marilyn, Petal, Steve Strange, Big Sue and Ensemble

 * Act II
 * "Everything Taboo" – Leigh Bowery and Full Company
 * "Independent Woman" - Josie, Kim and Phillip Sallon
 * "I See Through You" - Billy
 * "Petrified" – Philip Sallon
 * "Ich Bin Kunst" – Leigh Bowery
 * "Ich Bin Kunst" (Reprise) - Leigh Bowery
 * “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (Reprise) - Ensemble
 * "Out Of Fashion" – Steve Strange, Billy, Boy George and Marilyn
 * "Il Adore" – Big Sue
 * "Pie in the Sky" – Boy George and Billy
 * Bow Down Mister" – Full Company

Encore:
 * "Karma Chameleon" – Ensemble

2012 London Revival

 * "Ode To Attention Seekers" – Philip and Freaks
 * "Safe In The City" – Billy
 * "Stranger In This World" – George and Josie
 * "Dress To Kill" - Freaks
 * "Fade To Grey" – Steve Strange and Princess Julia
 * "Genocide Peroxide" – Marilyn
 * "I'll Have You All" – Leigh
 * "Love Is A Question Mark" – Billy and Kim
 * "Shelter" – Petal and Tarts
 * "Pretty Lies" – Kim and George
 * "Guttersnipe" – Marilyn, George and Company
 * "Talk Amongst Yourselves" – Josie
 * "The Eyes Of Medusa / Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" – George
 * "Touched By The Hands Of Cool" – Leigh, Sue and Slaves
 * "Talk Amongst Yourselves" (Reprise) – Derek
 * "Stranger In This World" (Reprise) – Billy, Marilyn, Steve, George, Leigh and Philip

 * Act II
 * "Everything Taboo" – Leigh and Company
 * "No Need To Work So Hard" – Philip, Kim and Josie
 * "I See Through You" – Billy
 * "Petrified" – Philip
 * "Ich Bin Kunst" – Leigh and Sue
 * "No Need To Work So Hard / Stranger In This World (Reprise)" – Josie, Kim and Billy
 * "Il Adore" – Big Sue
 * "Out Of Fashion" – Steve, George, Marilyn and Billy
 * "Pie In The Sky" – George, Kim and Billy
 * "Come On In From the Outside" – Company

Encore:
 * "Karma Chameleon" – Company

Broadway production

 * Act I
 * "Freak" / "Ode to Attention Seekers" – Philip Sallon and Ensemble
 * "Stranger in This World" – George, Big Sue, Philip Sallon and Ensemble
 * "Safe in the City" – Nicola and Ensemble
 * "Dress to Kill" – Ensemble
 * "Genocide Peroxide" – Marilyn and Ensemble
 * "I'll Have You All" – Leigh Bowery and Men
 * "Sexual Confusion" – Big Sue, Philip Sallon, George and Marcus
 * "Pretty Lies" – George
 * "Guttersnipe" – George, Marilyn and Ensemble
 * "Love is a Question Mark" – Marcus, George, Leigh Bowery and Nicola
 * "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" – George and Ensemble
 * "Church of the Poison Mind" / "Karma Chameleon" – George and Ensemble

 * Act II
 * "Everything Taboo" – Leigh Bowery and Ensemble
 * "Talk Amongst Yourselves" – Big Sue
 * "The Fame Game" – George and Ensemble
 * "I See Through You" – Marcus
 * "Ich Bin Kunst" – Leigh Bowery
 * "Petrified" – Philip Sallon
 * "Out of Fashion" – George, Marilyn, Philip Sallon, Marcus and Leigh Bowery
 * "Il Adore" – Nicola and Ensemble
 * "Come On in From the Outside" – Company

Cast recordings
Two cast albums have been released: the original West End cast in 2002, and the original Broadway cast in 2004.

title: Taboo (musical)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/ASERTH

 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 delete. Sjakkalle (Check!)  08:42, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

ASERTH
Promotion/Original research. Quote from the linked website "was released in July 2005". If it gains any usage then it may be worth an article, but not yet. andy 11:49, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete: Non-notable, also gives no information whatsoever, seems more of a personal rant than anything else. -- CABHAN   TALK   CONTRIBS  13:57, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, as per nominator. —Tokek 18:28, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, as much as I like this kind of things. Agree that it may be re-created if the layout spreads- LjL 00:43, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/ASERTH


text:
The Adventures of Robby Roto!

The Adventures of Robby Roto! (Robby Roto for short) is a 1981 arcade video game produced by Bally/Midway. In Robby Roto, the player digs through a dirt-filled maze collecting items while avoiding pursuing creatures. It is one of the few games made available to legally download on the official website of video game emulator MAME.

Gameplay

The player controls the titular character who enters an underground maze to rescue trapped miners and collect treasures. The mine is initially filled with dirt, which Robby digs away as he moves through it, clearing a path behind him. The entire mine is shown without dirt briefly as each new level starts. As he digs, Robby will sometimes bump into rocky areas which he cannot dig out, in which case small arrows appear indicating the directions he can move.

Scattered in the mine are three trapped miners, represented by frowny faces in a red box. When Robby digs them out, they turn into smileys and begin to follow him as he moves. The goal of each level is to return the trapped miners to the surface, and only one path, at the top center or the map, leads outward. At higher levels, a door closes behind Robby after he enters, and must be opened by retrieving a key before the level can be completed.

Also found in the mine are a number of enemies, initially spiders, who chase Robby and can kill him. The game starts with three lives. They will also re-trap the miners if they touch them, dragging the miners away from Robby. Robby can temporarily render the enemies impotent with the Robo Device, which can be collected in the maze, and use this to recapture the miners.

Reception
Robby Roto sold fewer than 2,000 units and was much less popular than 1982's Dig Dug. Co-developer Dave Nutting claimed, "it was a very complex game and those who played it found themselves on the defensive—most were intimidated. Gamers like to be aggressive."

title: The Adventures of Robby Roto!


text:
HRH (disambiguation)

HRH is an abbreviation for His or Her Royal Highness, a style used by high-ranking members of royal families.

HRH or Hrh may also refer to:
 * Aligarh Airport, 	Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh; IATA airport code
 * H.R.H. (novel), a 2006 novel by Danielle Steel
 * Health human resources, also known as human resources for health
 * Hereditary renal hypouricemia, a benign medical condition
 * Horsham railway station, West Sussex, England; National Rail station code
 * Human Resources for Health, a healthcare journal
 * Kinney HRH, a 2001 American helicopter
 * McDonnell HRH, an unbuilt 1950 American compound helicopter for the US Marine Corps

title: HRH (disambiguation)


text:
Gino Torretta

Gino Louis Torretta (born August 10, 1970) is an American former football player who was a quarterback for five seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1992 and was a member of the national championship teams of 1989 and 1991. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 1993 NFL Draft and was a member of several NFL teams, but never became a regular starter as a pro. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Early life
Torretta was born in Pinole, California. He graduated from Pinole Valley High School, where he was a standout high school football quarterback for the Pinole Spartans.

College career
Torretta accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Miami, where he played for the Miami Hurricanes football team from 1989 to 1992.

1989 and 1990 seasons
As a quarterback for the Hurricanes, Torretta spent his first two seasons mostly on the bench behind then starting quarterback Craig Erickson, with his only significant playing time coming with three starts in 1989 after Erickson injured his throwing hand. During that span, however, the then-unknown Torretta lit up San Diego State for 485 yards, setting a school record for most passing yards in a game that was only broken on September 29, 2012 by Stephen Morris.

Sebastian the Ibis incident
Prior to an October 28, 1989 game against long-standing rival Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, University of Miami mascot Sebastian the Ibis was tackled by a group of police officers for attempting to put out Osceola and Renegade's flaming spear. Sebastian was wearing a fireman’s helmet and yellow raincoat and holding a fire extinguisher. When a police officer attempted to grab the fire extinguisher, the officer was sprayed in the chest. Sebastian was handcuffed by four officers and detained but ultimately released. Torretta, who started that game for Miami, later told ESPN, "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'"

1991 season
In his first year as a starter, Torretta garnered further attention by stealing the show in a nationally televised 1991 game versus the Houston Cougars and their Heisman-frontrunning quarterback, David Klingler. As Miami's defense stymied Houston's run-and-shoot offense with relentless blitzing, Torretta put on the performance that many expected out of Klingler en route to a 40–10 victory; Klingler's lone touchdown pass in the game came with three seconds left in the fourth quarter against Miami's third-string defense, long after the game was decided. Torretta went on to lead Miami to a fourth-quarter comeback win on the road versus #1 Florida State and ultimately to an undefeated season and a co-national championship.

1992 season
Torretta passed for more than 3,000 yards his senior year in 1992 on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy and the Davey O'Brien Award that season. He also won the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award, the Johnny Unitas Trophy, and the Chic Harley Award. One of the key games of the season came against West Virginia when he threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns in the 35–23 victory. His career as quarterback at Miami was hugely successful, with Torretta leading the team to 26 wins and only one loss, which came in the 1993 Sugar Bowl where the Hurricanes were dominated by the Alabama Crimson Tide's defense. Torretta was flummoxed by Alabama's 11-man fronts, and threw three interceptions after only throwing four all season. Alabama won the game, 34–13, and the national championship.

1993–1994
Despite his collegiate-level success, Torretta was not regarded as a high-level NFL prospect; his NFL career was fairly unremarkable. He was not selected until the Minnesota Vikings took him in the seventh round in the 1993 NFL Draft and then did not play him at all that year. In 1994, Torretta was on the Vikings' roster, and then was picked up by the Detroit Lions. As was the case in 1993, he failed to play at all in 1994, serving the entire season in a backup role with the Lions.

1995–1999
In 1995, Torretta moved to NFL Europe and was also on the roster for the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions but was again relegated to backup roles. He was cut by the 49ers in 1996 and subsequently picked up by the Seattle Seahawks. His only chance to play in an NFL game came in the 1996 season finale when he came off the bench for the Seahawks against the Oakland Raiders. He immediately threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway that put Seattle ahead, leading the team to victory.

In 1997, Torretta was on the roster for Seattle and later the Indianapolis Colts but again did not play. After a brief stint with Kansas City in 1999, he retired from the NFL.

Post-football career
Torretta followed his NFL career with a position at Wachovia Securities as a senior financial advisor. He is chairman and CEO of Touchdown Radio, broadcasting an NCAA game of the week on national radio. He is also an NCAA football expert on Sirius XM channel 91, College Sports Nation.

Torretta is vice president for GAMCO Asset Management, working with institutional clients nationwide and working out of the firm's Palm Beach office.

title: Gino Torretta


text:
Talk:Human genome

quality
according to the url below, a paper from top experts in a top journal (ie highly authoritative) says that there are many many gaps (unsequenced) regions in the human genome imo, the lack of attention paid to these gaps is somewhat misleading for the general public; eg when scientists use the word "complete" it means, per the dictionary, that we have no gap, no missign sequence genome yet this is empirically false http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13907.html

Number of genes
We don't know the exact number of genes in the human genome. There are at least 19,000 protein-coding genes and no more than 20,000. The number of noncoding genes is all over the map. There are only a few thousand (at most!) that have been confirmed as real genes but there are many more transcribed regions that some scientists call genes even though they have not been shown to have a function. This is a problem since the definition of a gene requires that it produce a FUNCTIONAL product.

The number of noncoding genes predicted by Ensembl is down to 25,967 in the latest annotation (CRCh38.13) but most of those are stretches of DNA that produce lncRNAs that have not been shown to have a function.

The issue was raised last year (see Noncoding DNA above) but not resolved. We need to present a consistent view of the number of genes in this article and we need to point out the controversy over the number of noncoding genes. Genome42 (talk) 14:41, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

Chromosome table
The data in the large table on individual chromosomes is ten years old. Not only does it contain outdated information and unfounded speculation but it's also far too complicated and specific for a Wikipedia article.

I think we should remove it. What do others think? Genome42 (talk) 14:49, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

Reorganization
I suggest that we reorganize the entire article to eliminate redundancy and conflicting information. I think we should begin by moving some information out of the introduction and putting it into the main body of the article.

I think the main subsections should be:

Size of the human genome Content of the human genome Sequencing the human genome Information content (in bits) Genomic variation in humans Personal genomics Human genetic disorders (including gene knockouts) Evolution Mitochondrial DNA Epigenome Genome42 (talk) 18:12, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

 * The section on content could have the following subsections:
 * Protein-coding genes
 * Non-coding genes
 * Regulatory sequences
 * Centromeres and telomeres
 * Other functional elements
 * Pseudogenes
 * Transposons and viruses
 * Junk DNA
 * If there are no objections, I'll begin by moving the current content into the new subsections. Then we can edit the information to make it more consistent and more readable. Genome42 (talk) 18:17, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

3,054,815,472
3,054,815,472 base pairs? The box claims 3,117,275,501. Neither are, of course, right (or maybe both are). Why not give a little credit to the readers and presume that they can handle a bit of complexity? Like saying the number of base pairs is determined using a specific individual's dna (or a group of specific individuals). Why not mention that while we're a diploid species, as far as known we all contain tetraploid and octaploid cells? (This is true, I'm guessing, after a number of cell divisions in the embryo.) Why not say the reference dna is normally selected to be typical and avoids individuals with known aneuploidy, euploidy (except as mentioned), and sex chromosome (rare) variations. In counting the base pairs, there are errors, and any two (independent) researchers are NOT likely to come up with the same exact number, even if the same reference dna is used? Why not say that doing a complete genome is very, very difficult? (I'm not sure that it's ever been fully done ("fully" means counting all base pairs in one lab, by one group of researchers). Also, why not mention that even a reference person will have a number of mutations in their cells (those with nuclei) so that even "their" genome doesn't fully describe their "complete set"?98.21.208.178 (talk) 07:13, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

 * I tried to fix this and started the reorganization that I suggested in July 2023. Genome42 (talk) 23:09, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Human genome


text:
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway

John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway is a scenic road and protected area that connects Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is federally owned and managed by the National Park Service by Grand Teton National Park. It is named in remembrance of John D. Rockefeller Jr., a conservationist and philanthropist who was instrumental in the creation and enlargement of numerous national parks including Grand Teton, Virgin Islands, Acadia and the Great Smoky Mountains. This parkway carries U.S. Route 89, U.S. Route 191, and U.S. Route 287

Created in 1972 through the authorization of the United States Congress, and consisting of 24,000 acre, it also borders National Forest lands and is an integral part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Caribou-Targhee National Forest borders the parkway on the west and Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Teton Wilderness forms the eastern border.

The land was originally part of Teton National Forest and was transferred to the National Park Service from the United States Forest Service to assure an unbroken connection between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. The parkway road itself extends from the northern end of Grand Teton National Park, through the parkway lands, and then on to West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, a distance of 27 miles (43 km).

The parkway is a transitional zone in terms of geology with ancient lava beds being found in the north and the granitic rocks of the Teton Range in the south. The Snake River flows through the parkway as it heads south to Jackson Lake and is considered a prime trout fly fishing area. In Grand Teton and Yellowstone, grizzly bears, black bears, moose, elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer can be found there. The Yellowstone fires of 1988 affected the northern sections of the parkway consuming 4,000 acre). As of 2005, the forest had begun to be rejuvenated and wildlife habitat had actually increased due to better mix of meadow and forest lands. A major relocation project for the Flagg Ranch concession operation (consisting of a lodge, gas station, camp store, cabins and a campground) from along the Snake River to a point higher up and less visible from the road was completed in 2002. Rafting is a popular activity during the summer and guided snowmobile tours use the parkway as a starting point for trips into Yellowstone during the winter.


text:
Kelvin Gosnell

Kelvin Gosnell is a British comics writer and editor. He was involved in the founding of the long-running comic 2000 AD in 1977, and was its second editor (1977–1978). He also edited Starlord (1978) and Tornado (1979).

Biography
Gosnell was working as a sub-editor in IPC's competition department when Pat Mills asked if he would be interested in working on Action where he wrote Dredger and The Suicide Club. It was during this period that he read an article in the Evening Standard on the forthcoming sci-fi films in the late seventies and concluded that a science-fiction comic would complement the other genres the company was publishing. He suggested it to managing editor Jack Le Grand who turned it down, but mentioned it to Mills who suggested Gosnell write his ideas down in a memo, which Mills then passed on to John Sanders, head of the Youth Group in IPC. Sanders recalls Gosnell from those years:

"'Gosnell wrote lots of memos and Le Grand stuffed lots of them. I liked talking to Gosnell. He was a better ideas man than he was an editor, and there is always a place for someone like him. Gosnell was enormously noisy, enormously enthusiastic. He was a great guy to have around because he was always bubbling. Good ideas men often create dissent. You have to give them space to do that.'"

Sanders liked the ideas and passed it over to Mills to develop into a dummy issue to show to the IPC Board. After it was approved Mills brought Gosnell onto the staff in an official capacity as he recalls "I felt I owed Kelvin something for suggesting the idea in the first place, for which he hadn't been paid. I asked for him to be appointed editor designate. His input was valuable on strips like M.A.C.H. 1 and Dan Dare, because of his technical and science fiction knowledge." Kevin O'Neill, who was the art assistant in the early days, recalls the discussion between Mills and Gosnell "They had these ranting conversations, lots of swearing and cursing... Pat and Kelvin had a poisonous, venomous hatred of cosy editorial chats seen in the like of Valiant, that sort of kindly 'Uncle Editor' stuff. They wanted to do the opposite of that, an irreverent sort of editorial figure." Gosnell suggested either "an imperious intelligent alien or a computer" and it was the former that met with the most approval. They then bought a latex Neanderthal mask, added a pony tail, a brooch (for the Rosette of Sirius) and Gosnell put it on with a grey jumpsuit with silver stripes to complete the outfit. Tharg's alien slang also largely came from Gosnell based on "invented swearwords from his schooldays."

Mills resigned after the first 16 issues, partly because of the interference from senior management, and handed the reins to Gosnell. Nick Landau moved over from Action to become Gosnell's chief sub-editor. Gosnell relied more on Landau when he had to oversee the launch of Starlord, and the eventual merger of the title into 2000 AD, which saw Landau swap places with Battle sub-editor Steve MacManus. Gosnell eventually resigned from his editorship over friction with managing editor Bob Bartholomew, during the time of the launch of Tornado (1979), with MacManus being promoted to editor. Gosnell would continue to work on Tornado as both editor and freelance writer during its short run.

On the writing front Gosnell is best known for his three adaptations of Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat, illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra and serialized in 1979, 1980 and 1984 in 2000 AD. He also co-wrote the 1977 series of Dan Dare for that weekly comic. Gosnell also worked for the Dutch comic strip weekly Eppo for a number of years, writing Storm, with art by Don Lawrence, and Rud Hart, art by Belgian artist Gilbert DeClerq. A two-page Wonder Woman text story in London Editions Magazines' Super-Heroes Annual for 1983 is also credited to him.

title: Kelvin Gosnell