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Bravia (brand)

Bravia (stylized as BRAVIA) is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony, and is used for its television products. Its name is a backronym for "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the logo for BRAVIA since 2005. BRAVIA replaces the "LCD WEGA," which Sony used for their LCD TVs until summer 2005 (early promotional photos of the first BRAVIA TVs still bearing the WEGA moniker). In 2014 (on the part of Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai's plans to turn Sony around), BRAVIA was made into a subsidiary rather than simply a brand of products.

BRAVIA televisions and their components are manufactured in Sony's plants in Mexico, Japan, and Slovakia for their respective regions and are assembled from imported parts in Brazil, Spain, China, Malaysia, and Ecuador. Principal design work for BRAVIA products is performed at Sony's research facilities in Japan, in the research and development department at the Sony de Mexico facility in Baja California, Mexico, and at the Sony Europe facility in Nitra, Slovakia.

The brand was also used on mobile phones in North American, Japanese, and European markets as of 2007.

TVs
In May 2013 Sony introduced their first 4K BRAVIA TV models smaller than X900 from late 2012. In May 2015, Sony launched their first lineup of Android television Bravia models, which allows users to easily access content from services like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu as well as install apps and games from the Google Play Store. Noteworthy for being the first Android TV available, Sony's Android TVs are now integrated with the Google Assistant for controlling home automation and voice commands.

In September 2016, Sony announced that TVs older than 2012 will lose access to YouTube.

Sony introduced their first 4K Ultra HD OLED Android TV under the BRAVIA brand, named as the A1E in January 2017 with an X1 Extreme processor. The A8F was the next OLED TV introduced by Sony at CES 2018. At IFA 2018, the A9F with an X1 Ultimate processor was unveiled. In 2019, Sony introduced newer version 4K OLED models, A8G and the Master Series A9G, followed by the A8H in 2020. For 2021 Sony offered the world's first cognitive intelligence TVs with its latest XR A.I. Cognitive Processor in the new A80J and Master Series A90J.

Accessories
In April 2007, Sony launched the BRAVIA TDM-IP1, a docking cradle to permit playback of audio and video hosted on an Apple iPod on a BRAVIA model television.

Current accessories available include a Skype camera (CMUBR100) and Wi-Fi adapter (UWABR100).

Sony Bravia Internet TV and Video
Sony Bravia Internet Video first became available in late 2009 on Internet enabled Bravia TV's, later becoming available on Sony Blu-ray and home theatre systems. The original Bravia Internet Video was built around Sony's XMB interface and had several streaming media partners including: Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube, Yahoo!, Netflix and Sony Video (Qriocity). 2011 saw a revamp of Bravia Internet Video, with a rework of the interface and an added Skype capability.

Sony Bravia Internet TV is the first TV to incorporate Google TV, currently only available in the US. It plans to revolutionize IPTV.

XBR8 is a series of Sony BRAVIA LCD High Definition Televisions. They were released into the US marketplace starting in September 2008.

The 46- and 55-inch models of the XBR8 series features an RGB LED backlight system which Sony calls Triluminos. The new backlight system is claimed to provide a truer and higher color spectrum and allows this series of televisions to rival plasma displays in terms of dark blacks. This model also marked the debut of Sony's new video processor, the BRAVIA Engine 2 Pro. The display panel uses ten-bit processing and offers the 120 Hz MotionFlow technology.

The XBR8 line offers two screen sizes; the 46" (KDL-46XBR8) was released on September 29, 2008. The second model, the 55" (KDL-55XBR8) became available for order in October 2008.

In the United Kingdom, recent Bravia Televisions also include YouView built in, which gives users access to an interactive EPG in addition to on-demand services from the BBC and ITV incorporated into a single search menu.

Green TV
For sale in Japan on July 30, 2008, Sony's green product, a new flat-panel 32-inch TV for ¥150,000 (US$1,400; €900) BRAVIA KDL-32JE1 offers ecological consumers the advantage of 70% less energy consumption than regular models with same image quality. For consumers who rely on electricity generated from carbon dioxide emitting sources, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions totaling 79 kilograms (174 pounds) a year.

Mobile phones
Sony uses a BRAVIA image processing engine in high-end mobile devices produced by its Sony Mobile Communications, starting with the Xperia arc model in 2011. Subsequent flagship models of Sony's smartphone range such as the Xperia S, and Xperia Z use enhanced versions of the BRAVIA engine.

In addition, BRAVIA brand phones have been produced by Sony/Sony Ericsson. BRAVIA brand phones are able to watch 1seg terrestrial television.

 * For NTT DoCoMo
 * FOMA SO903iTV (Released in June 2007)
 * FOMA SO906i (Released in June 2008)
 * FOMA SO-01C (Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc) (Released in March 2011)

 * For au by KDDI
 * U1 (Released in December 2009)
 * S004 (Released in May 2010)
 * S005 (Released in November 2010, successor of S004)

Internals
The LCD panels within BRAVIA TVs are manufactured by Sony Corporation with a special architecture. Since 2010, the high end Bravia LX, HX and selected NX series use a 10th gen Sony Bravia ASV panel. The 8th gen SPVA panel from Sony LCD continue to serve other midrange and budget Bravia models.

Many Sony televisions with USB connectivity run Linux.

Upgrading and maintenance
The software can be upgraded via a USB type A interface labeled "DMEx / service only" and via the Internet for later models.

2006–2007 models may be updated using a memory stick or USB. Depending upon the country and TV standard the tuner may need a service device to update it.

It appears that units manufactured through November 2005 for sale in Asia and North America contained a software bug that prevented the device from powering up/down after 1200 hours. A free upgrade is available.

Uses and features

 * Can be used to watch live TV
 * Can stream original contents from streaming apps
 * It is supported by Dolby audio

Region locking
Sony TVs sold in 2019 and earlier are region locked, which limited apps and media to be playable only in the same region that the TV was purchased from. However, as of 2020, with the release of the H series BRAVIA TVs, this is no longer the case, and any language can now be selected.

Language table
The two letters after the Sony TV codename in the build number denote the region.

title: Bravia (brand)


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Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway

The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by act of Parliament on 4 July 1838. It was opened to passenger traffic on 21 February 1842, between its Glasgow Queen Street railway station (sometimes referred to at first as Dundas Street) and Haymarket railway station in Edinburgh. Construction cost £1,200,000 for 46 miles (74 km). The intermediate stations were at Corstorphine (later Saughton), Gogar, Ratho, Winchburgh, Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk, Castlecary, Croy, Kirkintilloch (later Lenzie) and Bishopbriggs. There was a ticket platform at Cowlairs. The line was extended eastwards from Haymarket to North Bridge in 1846, and a joint station for connection with the North British Railway was opened on what is now Edinburgh Waverley railway station in 1847.

Patronage on the line quickly reached double the railway's initial estimates, and by 1850 58 locomotives and 216 coaches were needed to handle the traffic. Goods traffic started in March 1842 and slowly increased, overtaking passenger revenue by 1855.

The line still runs today as the main line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. It was electrified and improved under the auspices of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme. 8-car electric Class 385 trains started operating from Monday 29 July 2019 between Glasgow and Edinburgh via Falkirk High. The fastest trains are scheduled to take 42 minutes.

Early schemes
The earliest railways in Scotland were waggonways, intended for horse drawn operation, in most cases from a colliery or other mineral source, to a waterway for onward transport.

Notable early lines were the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway of 1812 and the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway of 1826, the first of the "coal railways" of the Monklands area. The Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway (G&GR) was authorised in the same year, and it opened in 1831.

There were unfulfilled ideas of connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh as early as 1824 and when the G&GR got its authorising Act, there were thoughts of extending from Broomielaw in Glasgow over the G&GR to Edinburgh and Leith; the connection to sea-going shipping was paramount. In 1830 the railway engineers Thomas Grainger and John Miller were commissioned to survey for such a line. There was to be a tunnel under the centre of Glasgow but there was furious opposition to this; it was so strong that the proposal failed.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway had opened in 1830, and was more successful than its promoters expected, showing that an intercity railway could be commercially successful. The pressure to connect the two great cities of central Scotland continued, and in the second half of the 1830s money became freely available, and investors, chiefly in England (many of them shareholders in the Liverpool and Manchester line), promoted a viable railway.

E&GR authorised

The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by the (1 & 2 Vict. c. lviii) on 4 July. The bill had been in committee for 37 days.

The first contract was let in late 1838, to William Aiton and his company. Bad weather delayed the progress of the work but on New Years Day 1842 the public were invited to walk through the tunnel at Glasgow Queen Street. Policeman were stationed to prevent the entrance of disorderly persons. The tunnel was whitewashed and gas lit, and the proceeds went to the Paisley Relief Fund and workmen injured on the railway.

The Glasgow terminal was designed by James Carswell.

The line was engineered as a main line, and substantial earthworks, viaducts and tunnels were incorporated into the route, forming an almost perfectly level route, apart from the climb out of the Glasgow terminal. The original intention was to descend gently into Glasgow, crossing over the Forth and Clyde Canal, but opposition from the canal company obliged the E&GR to be brought under it instead, resulting in a steep descent at 1 in 41 from Cowlairs mostly in tunnel. Cowlairs tunnel is 1000 yards (914 m) in length.

There were other major structures on the line: the Garngaber Viaduct carried the line over Bothlin Burn and the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway; Castlecary Viaduct consists of 8 arches and is 200 yards long. The Falkirk (or Callendar) tunnel is 845 yards long. Approaching Linlithgow the Avon Viaduct consists of 23 arches; Winchburgh tunnel is 372 yards in length; and the Almond Valley Viaduct has 36 arches; it cost £130,000 to build.

The permanent way consisted of malleable iron rails on stone blocks; the form of construction was already obsolete; "half logs" were used in some places.

The construction of the E&GR line to the Haymarket terminal in Edinburgh cost £1,200,000 for 46 miles (74 km). The 30 miles (48 km) of the Liverpool and Manchester had cost £1,407,000.

Opening
A ceremonial opening of the line took place on 19 February 1842 and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened for passenger traffic on 21 February 1842, between its Glasgow station (sometimes referred to at first as Dundas Street, and later named Queen Street) and Edinburgh, where the station was at Haymarket, at the western edge of the New Town. It was Scotland's first trunk line. Goods traffic started in March 1842.

There were four passenger trains each way daily; and there were ten intermediate stations and the journey took 150 minutes. Two passenger trains ran each way on Sundays, "timed at hours which would not interfere with the ordinary period of divine service". This provoked great controversy as the observance of the Sabbath was held as sacred by much of Scottish public opinion at the time. Edinburgh time was observed, 4.5 minutes later than Glasgow time. The intermediate stations were at Corstorphine (later Saughton), Gogar, Ratho, Winchburgh, Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk, Castlecary, Croy, Kirkintilloch (later Lenzie) and Bishopbriggs. There was a ticket platform at Cowlairs.

The opening created phenomenal passenger demand, three times what was expected, and by 1850 company needed 58 locomotives and 216 coaches to handle the traffic. The quantity of passenger business on the line considerably exceeded the estimates, reaching almost double the daily volume; third class travel was especially buoyant, although in the first years third class passengers did not have seating accommodation, and even second class carriages did not have glazed windows. Goods traffic started in March 1842 and slowly increased, overtaking passenger traffic in revenue terms by 1855.

In the years 1845 – 1846, Alexander Bain installed an electric telegraph system along the line; the cost to him was £50 per mile.

Cowlairs incline
The incline section was worked by stationary engine and cable haulage: an 80 hp (60 kW) high pressure steam engine was constructed at Cowlairs, and a continuous hemp rope was used to pull trains up the gradients. Special brake vehicles were attached to downwards trains to control the descent. There was soon difficulty with the hemp rope slipping in damp weather, and two banking engines named Samson and Hercules, were introduced in 1844, but they were found to be damaging to the track, and the powerful exhaust caused vibrations in the roof, leading to leakage of the canal water. The banking engines were sent to the Monklands area in 1848, and wire rope haulage with the stationary engine was used instead.

The endless rope for the incline was driven by two beam engines at Cowlairs, of the high pressure type, made by Kerr, Neilson and Company of Glasgow. They had 28 inch cylinders, and 72 inch stroke. The crankshaft had a spur wheel of 12 feet diameter, which drove the cable drum through gearing. The main cable drum was 18 feet in diameter, mounted in a pit under the track. The beam engines were supplied with steam at 50 psi by 8 boilers, each 30 feet long and 5 feet diameter.

The boilers were replaced in 1862 – 1863 by seven Cornish boilers. The cable haulage continued in operation until 31 January 1908, when banking engines took over. The stationary engines at Cowlairs were scrapped the following year.

An accident took place in 1869 and the Inspecting Officer's report gives a flavour of the operations on the incline:

"Trains are worked up the incline between Queen's Street station and Cowlairs by attaching them to an endless wire rope, which is worked by a stationary engine at the top of the incline, and trains are piloted down the incline from Cowlairs to Queen's Street station, by attaching heavy breaks with a breaksman in each break in front of the trains. Sometimes the engines remain attached to the tail of the trains in descending the incline, and sometimes the trains proceed without an engine. This depends on whether the engine is required at Queen's Street or not, but in every case the breaksmen, who travel on the incline breaks in front of the train, are placed in charge of the train."

"On the 25th of last November, 13 empty waggons were required at Queen's street station, and a message to that effect was telegraphed to Cowlairs, where there is a large depot. A train of 13 empty waggons, with two incline breaks and two breaksmen in front, and an engine and tender behind the waggons, was formed at the top of the incline at the west end of Cowlairs station on the day in question, and it was despatched by signal at 5.6 pm to Queen's Street. 'Line Clear' had been received from Queen's Street telegraph hut, and the telegraph clerk at Cowlairs, after telegraphing to Queen's Street that the train of empties had left, telegraphed 'engine behind'."

The rear part of the train became derailed in the tunnel, and the train became divided; the front part continued and the telegraph clerk failed to satisfy himself that the whole train had arrived; later,

"At this time a passenger train from Helensburgh had been twice telegraphed from Cowlairs to Queen's Street, but the clerk at Queen's Street would not accept the train, as the empties had not arrived. As soon as the 11 empties arrived, he telegraphed 'line clear' and a train, which consisted of three incline breaks and three breaksmen, a carriage truck, a horse box, a 3rd [class carriage], a 1st, a 3rd, a 1st, a guard's van, a 1st, a 3rd, a 1st, a 3rd, and a guard's van, coupled in the order given, left Cowlairs for Queen's Street station at 5.15 pm. As the breaksmen entered the tunnel they found it full of smoke and steam."

The passenger train collided with the derailed rear part of the trains of wagons.

Hamilton Ellis described the operation after the banking engines were first discontinued:

"Rails continued to break under the heavy banking engines and the stationary engine was brought out of retirement, and Newall’s untwisted cable substituted for the earlier hemp rope. The cable was 2.78 miles long and weighed 24 tons. Leaving Glasgow the train moved slowly to the tunnel mouth and there a chain secured to a hemp messenger rope, lashed in turn to the cable, was linked to the front drawhook [which was inverted]. The locomotive then set back slightly to make the messenger rope taut. This of course brought the main cable up against the underside of the engine, where a pulley wheel was mounted to engage with it and prevent it from fouling. With the locomotive thus secured to the cable, the driver, advised by the foreman cable attendant, gave a whistle signal, and the Queen Street signalman then telegraphed the Cowlairs box. If and when the line was clear, the Cowlairs signalman sounded three blasts on a horn, piped down through the tunnel and the winding engine was started."

"As the cable began to pull, simultaneously the driver started his locomotive and the train, thus double powered, swept solemnly up to Cowlairs. South of the Cowlairs engine house, the gradient eased off and the locomotive, working hard, would gain on the slowing cable, so that the messenger automatically dropped off the inverted drawhook and left the train entirely to the power of its own engine. A boardwalk about 100 yards long laid in the four foot way prevented the dropped messenger with its chain getting into mischief in the few moments before the winding engine stopped. For the downward journey the procedure was simple. On arrival at Cowlairs the train engine would be detached and run round its carriages, after it had shunted on to the head end three or more special brake wagons. Tickets were meanwhile collected. The engine would then propel the train gently over the top of the incline, whence it trundled down into the city with all the brakes squealing."

Monkland Railways
The coal railways of the Monkland district had been very successful early entrants in the field of conveying minerals to market, but as technological pioneers they were now at a disadvantage, with their primitive track and a track gauge that was now non-standard, preventing through running. They worked together in a loose collaboration. In 1844 the E&GR agreed a takeover with them, and from the first day of 1846 took on the operation of their lines, while Parliamentary permission for formal takeover was sought. On 3 July 1846 this was refused by Parliament, and the E&GR withdrew from the informal arrangement at the end of 1846. At this time the Caledonian Railway was planning its route linking Glasgow, and the Caledonian concluded an agreement to take over the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway and the Wishaw and Coltness Railway. The other coal railways aligned themselves away from the Caledonian Railway's influence, and in 1848 they merged to form the Monkland Railways.

Extending to Waverley
The Haymarket terminal was at the western extremity of Edinburgh and inconveniently located, and an Act was obtained on 4 July 1844 to extend the line to a more central location. The North British Railway was building its main line from North Bridge station to Berwick-upon-Tweed, there to connect with the Newcastle and Berwick Railway (later to form the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway).

The E&GR extended their line eastwards from Haymarket to their own station at North Bridge immediately adjacent to the NBR station. The line opened for passenger traffic on 1 August 1846. The NBR had started operations on 22 June 1846. By then the North British Railway had commenced their passenger service, on 17 June. For a time the two stations were separate, and with separate goods stations in addition. The primitive passenger accommodation at first was only temporary: from 3 August 1846 E&GR passengers were accommodated at a single platform partly under the northernmost of the Waverley Bridge's three wide arches."

On 17 May 1847 the permanent joint passenger station came into use. The North British Railway referred to it simply as "Edinburgh" station, or "North Bridge", although it was also known as the General station.

On the same day the Edinburgh Leith and Granton Railway (formerly the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway) opened its line from Scotland Street to Canal Street station, adjacent to the new Edinburgh station and at right angles to the other routes. There was a siding connection to the E&GR line.

The E&GR and NBR joint station was formally inaugurated on 22 February 1848. The accommodation at the station was clearly cramped, largely due to the built up surroundings limiting available land. Extension was under way in subsequent years but in 1852 a financial crisis within the North British Railway called a halt to the work and the original single platform under North Bridge was brought back into use.

Parallel routes
Stage coach operation on the route of the E&GR fought a brave but futile rearguard action, but the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde Canal continued to trade in goods and especially mineral traffic, although they lost nearly all of their passenger business.

In 1845 there was a frenzy of railway promotion in Scotland, and the Caledonian Railway, among many others, was authorised by Act of Parliament; its capitalisation was £1,500,000, to build a line from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Carlisle, linking there with English railways. Well before its Act, the Caledonian had set about capturing as many other railways, whether completed or still only proposals, as it could. It did so by concluding leases of those lines; the advantage of that was that the lease charge payments only became due later, and were annual percentages: no large front-end payment was necessary.

The Caledonian would soon have its own line, albeit somewhat longer than the E&GR, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and its predatory behaviour led to alarm in the E&GR board room that further Caledonian acquisitions and leases would result in serious harm to the E&GR. Accordingly, the board proposed an amalgamation with the Monkland Railways, the Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway and the Scottish Central Railway, and the Forth and Clyde Canal, the Union Canal and the Monkland Canal. (The canals still carried substantial mineral traffic.)

That group of companies worked as a voluntary combination for a few months under Bryan Padgett Gregson, an experienced manager of canals and railways from Lancashire. In late 1846 the Lancashire shareholders, insensitive to the fear of Caledonian hegemony and reluctant to spend money acquiring canals, which they considered to be beaten competitors, overturned the arrangement, and Gregson was dismissed. (In 1849 the E&GR purchased the Union Canal for £209,000, still against the opposition of the Lancashire shareholders.)

On 1 April 1848 the Caledonian Railway opened its line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. It was difficult in operational terms, but in July the Caledonian accelerated its passenger trains and added new fast services, and cheap fares. The E&GR responded with fare reductions, and a desperate price war soon developed. It could not continue and in September fares were increased by mutual agreement.

Shieldhill branch
The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened its Shieldhill branch on 28 August 1847. This ran from the Slamannan Railway at Causewayend, heading westward to Blackbraes. There was already a considerable network of mineral tramways in the area, leading to the Union Canal, serving pits and tile works.

The Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway
The Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway (WM&CR) was another of the "coal railways" serving mineral sites in Lanarkshire. It opened in 1845, and ran from a junction with the Wishaw and Coltness Railway at Morningside, to Longridge. The Board of Trade Inspecting Officer commented about the Longridge terminus: "The line terminates in a large field, about a mile from a small village called Whitburn". Although the line connected a number of pits, it was dependent on a long haul to Coatbridge, handing over to the W&C railway at Morningside, and the line was not commercially successful. Raising money to continue eastwards to a more lucrative destination proved beyond the resources of the company.

In 1847 the company decided that it could not continue independently, and the negotiated the sale of their line to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. A legal prohibition on amalgamation of companies which had not expended half of their authorised capital delayed the process until 1849, when an Act was obtained, authorising the sale to the E&GR, which took full effect in 1850.

In the hiatus period, and with the authorisation of the Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway, the WM&CR enlisted E&GR financial help and set about extending from Longridge to Bathgate. The E&GR wished to exclude the Caledonian Railway from the area. The line opened to goods and mineral traffic early in 1850, and passenger traffic started in May 1850, after the takeover by the E&GR.

Stirling and Dunfermline Railway
The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway was authorised on 16 July 1846. As well as linking the named places, there were to be branches to Alloa and Tillicoultry. The line opened between Dunfermline and Alloa on 28 August 1850, and Alloa Harbour and Tillicoultry were connected on 3 June 1851. The section from Alloa to Stirling was completed on 1 July 1852. At Dunfermline, the line made an end-on connection with the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway, giving onward connection to Fife.

The company was vested in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway by Act of 28 June 1858.

The Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway
When the Caledonian Railway opened its line throughout in 1848, it had a connection to Greenhill, joining the E&GR and the Scottish Central Railway there. The SCR gave access to Stirling and Perth and was an important connecting route. Moreover, the Caledonian and the SCR concluded a working arrangement which they expected to lead to formal merger.

The E&GR needed to ensure that it got access to the Stirling and Perth line from the Edinburgh direction, and to do so it sponsored the Stirlingshire Midland Junction Railway. The nominally independent company got its authorising Act of Parliament on 16 July 1846, to build a line from Polmont (on the E&GR) through Grahamston (part of Falkirk), crossing the Forth and Clyde Canal and turning north to join the SCR near Larbert. Its capital was £450,000, and branches were authorised to Carron Ironworks and to Falkirk Ironworks.

The company's authorising act empowered sale to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and this was done on 1 October 1850, before the line opened.

The Campsie branch
On 5 July 1848 the E&GR opened the Campsie branch. This left the E&GR main line east of Lenzie, and dropped down into the Kelvin Valley, running through Kirkintilloch, where it had a station separate from the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway station. The line continued from there through Milton of Campsie to Lennoxtown.

The Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway
Bathgate was an important manufacturing town and on 12 November 1849 the Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway was opened, from a junction with the E&GR at Ratho. The line was worked by the E&GR.

The Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway
The Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway was opened on 28 May 1858 from a junction at Cowlairs. The line was worked by the E&GR, and goods traffic was handled at the E&GR Sighthill yard; Queens Street was used for passengers. There was a last minute disagreement between the two companies, and at first the trains from Helensburgh ran to Buchanan Street via Sighthill, reversing on to the Caledonian Railway line. The disagreement was resolved and the intended use of E&GR facilities took effect from 30 June 1858.

The Alva Railway
The Alva Railway was vested on 22 July 1861 and was opened from Alva to Cambus, on the Stirling and Dunfermline line, on 11 June 1863. It was vested in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway on 31 July 1864.

Grangemouth
The Forth and Clyde Canal entered the Firth of Forth at Grangemouth, and a considerable harbour had been built up there. Grangemouth was only three miles from the E&G's Polmont to Grahamston line, and a branch railway was an obvious move. The Forth and Clyde Canal company built the line, from Grahamston. It opened in 1860 for goods traffic, and in 1861 for passengers. It was a single line and it was worked by the E&GR.

In 1867 the Caledonian Railway acquired the canal, and in doing so acquired the railway branch too. By now the North British Railway had absorbed the E&GR, and the Grangemouth line was deep inside the territory the NBR considered its own. The NBR was given running powers over the line, giving access to the harbour. The Caledonian went to considerable lengths to improve the harbour (and the canal generally).

The volume of rail traffic increased over time as Grangemouth became the dominant port, and a second route into Grangemouth, diverging from the Grahamston line west of Falkirk, was opened in 1908, both the NBR and the Caledonian having constructed their section, joining at the swing bridge over the canal.

Alliances, and a merger
On 28 January 1862 the E&GR and the Caledonian Railway signed the Thirty Years Agreement, in which traffic and receipts on a number of routes were shared by a pre-arranged formula. This resulted in North British Railway transfer traffic to Glasgow being charged very high rates, and Hodgson, Chairman of the NBR, determined to get control of the E&GR.

In 1864 the Great Northern Railway and the North Eastern Railway suggested to Hodgson, that the three companies should jointly lease the E&GR, forming an East Coast route into Glasgow, but it proved impossible to negotiate a deal. Hodgson prepared a scheme for a Glasgow and North British Railway, which would build an entirely new route to Glasgow. Alarmed, the E&GR immediately reduced its rates to Glasgow, which broke its agreement with the Caledonian. On 23 June 1864 the E&GR announced a change of policy and an end to the Thirty Years Agreement, and "an agreement of a permanent nature with the North British Company".

The E&GR had long been harbouring a plan to absorb the Monkland Railways, which had an extensive network in central Scotland mainly devoted to mineral sites. The proposal came to fruition on 31 July 1865, when the Monkland Railways were absorbed by the E&GR.

Absorbed by the North British Railway
The following day, on 1 August 1865, the North British Railway absorbed the E&GR, and with it the Monkland Railways.

The Locomotive Superintendent of the NBR made a tour of inspection of E&GR and Monkland Railways depots and found the rolling stock in an extremely poor state, badly under-reported in official returns. The E&GR Cowlairs workshops were far superior to the NBR St Margarets, and they became the principal depot for the combined company.

Developments under the North British
Now part of the North British Railway network, the E&GR line formed the trunk of the westward routes from Edinburgh.

In 1872 a siding connection was provided near Lenzie for the construction of a mental hospital, at the time known as Woodilee Lunatic Asylum. The hospital itself opened in 1875. The siding was removed in 1963 after a period of disuse.

The Glasgow Queen Street station was very cramped, and included a goods station. More branch services were terminating at the station, and in 1877 the North British Railway opened up the mouth of the tunnel and widened the station throat, and provided six platforms. (It had been built with a single arrival platform and a single departure platform, with three carriage stabling sidings between, and a goods station on the east side next to North Hanover Street.)

The ascent of the Cowlairs incline continued to be a difficulty, and electric traction was proposed, but not proceeded with. From August 1909 steam traction with banking assistance handled everything; the cable haulage was discontinued.

Traffic to Stirling and beyond had used the route to Polmont and Carmuirs, joining the Scottish Central Railway there, although the Edinburgh and Northern Railway route, involving two ferry crossings was available from 1847, and the NBR opened a route from Ratho to South Queensferry in 1866, enabling a crossing of the Firth of Forth by ferry there. The northwards routes were greatly simplified when the Forth Bridge was opened in 1890. A more direct route from Edinburgh to Dalmeny, at the south end of the bridge, was provided as part of the work; it left the E&GR main line at Saughton.

The intervening terrain between Edinburgh and Glasgow, served largely by the former Monkland Railways lines, but also by several mineral branches of the E&GR main line, was mostly given over to coal and iron pits, and ironworks. While some extensions were constructed to serve new or expanded pits, the best times for the industries in the area had gone, and decline over several decades set in. As the industrial sites closed, so did the railway connections.

In greater Glasgow, the North British Railway very gradually built up a suburban passenger network, and served industrial sites on the north bank of the River Clyde west of Glasgow. The great improvement took place when Airdrie and Coatbridge were connected directly to Glasgow in 1870. These developments put increasing pressure on the Queen Street terminus, which was still very cramped. This was finally resolved when the Glasgow City and District Railway was opened in 1896, allowing trains to run through Glasgow without entering a terminus station.

The twentieth century
In 1902 a branch line was opened to Corstorphine, serving a growing residential suburb of Edinburgh.

At the "grouping" of the railways, the North British Railway was a constituent of the new London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923, following the Railways Act 1921. In turn the LNER was nationalised as part of British Railways, Scottish Region in 1948.

The direct line through Falkirk High was closed between 9 March 1980 and 8 December 1980 for tunnel repairs and the installation of slab track; for the time being through trains ran via Grahamston.

Dieselisation
From 7 January 1957, Swindon-built inter-city diesel multiple units were introduced; running in six car formations, they operated the fast trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The new trains were a considerable success, and the unit formation avoided the engine run-round and disposal moves at each end of the journey, which was especially useful at Glasgow because of the tunnel constraint. The journey time was 55 minutes.

Although the new trains were a considerable advance over what had gone before, by the end of the 1960s they were perceived as inadequate, and trials were undertaken with a class 37 locomotive in push and pull mode; but this was not considered successful and pairs of class 27 locomotives were used instead, with mark II coaches. One locomotive was marshalled at each end of the train. This system was introduced from 3 May 1971, and reduced the journey time to 43 minutes.

After some years the class 27 locomotives were suffering persistent failures due to the heavy use, and new arrangements were put in hand from 1979 using single class 47/7 locomotives, specially converted from class 47/4. A driving trailer (DBSO) was used at the remote end of the train, and control was effected through the lighting circuits. The maximum speed was 95 mph (153 km/h). The full service on this arrangement started in December 1980.

The next generation was class 158 diesel multiple units, which were introduced in 1990, making the journey in 50 minutes with three stops.

The present day
The original main line between Edinburgh and Glasgow is in operation, with a frequent fast passenger train service between the two cities. The route via Grahamston is also in use. The Edinburgh and Bathgate line was closed to passengers in 1956 but has reopened as part of an electrified route between Edinburgh and Glasgow via Bathgate and Airdrie. The other sections of line built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway have closed.

Early trial of electric traction
Robert Davidson was a resident of Aberdeen, living 1804 to 1894. He became interested in electromagnetism, and he designed a four-wheeled car that used his batteries and a rudimentary electric motor. He approached the directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway suggesting a railway trial, having built a full size locomotive 16 feet long, powered by his batteries. It was run on a section of the Edinburgh to Glasgow line in 1842 and was thus the world's first electrically powered railway locomotive. It only managed to achieve a speed of 4 mph and as the batteries were not rechargeable its practicality was doubtful. The E&GR directors were not sufficiently impressed to take the concept further. The locomotive was reported as being destroyed whilst stored in the engine house at Perth.

Topography
Edinburgh Waverley to Haymarket was opened on 1 August 1846.

Locations on the original E&GR main line, opened 21 February 1842, were:

 * Haymarket; may have been known as Edinburgh until the line was extended on 1 August 1846;
 * Haymarket East Junction; divergence of line to Kirknewton;
 * Haymarket Central Junction; divergence of line to the Edinburgh Suburban Line;
 * Haymarket West Junction; convergence of line from Princes Street, and of the Edinburgh Suburban Line; divergence of Corstorphine line;
 * Corstorphine; renamed Saughton 1902; closed 1 January 1917; reopened 1 February 1919; closed 1 March 1921;
 * Saughton Junction; divergence of line to the Forth Bridge; (now a geographical junction only; there are two double track routes from Haymarket and they diverge here);
 * Edinburgh Park; opened December 2003;
 * Gogar; opened July 1842; closed 22 September 1930;
 * Queensferry Junction; divergence of Kirkliston line to South Queensferry 1866 - 1966;
 * Ratho; closed 18 June 1951;
 * Bathgate Junction; divergence of line to Bathgate;
 * Broxburn; closed 12 November 1849;
 * Winchburgh; closed 22 September 1930;
 * Winchburgh Junction; convergence of line from the Forth Bridge;
 * Philpstoun; opened 12 October 1885; closed 18 June 1951;
 * Linlithgow;
 * Manuel; opened 10 June 1856; may have been open previously as Bo'ness Junction; closed 6 March 1967;
 * Manuel Junctions; divergence of line to Slamannan 1847 - 1972; convergence of line from Bo'ness 1851 - 1979;
 * Polmont;
 * Polmont Junction;
 * Falkirk; renamed Falkirk High 1903; divergence of line to Camelon 1892 - 1956;
 * Camelon; opened November 1843; closed October 1844; note: there were other Camelon stations at different times;
 * Roughcastle Junction; convergence of line from Camelon 1892 - 1976;
 * Bonnybridge; opened 1 May 1870; renamed Bonnybridge High 1953; renamed Bonnybridge 1965; closed 6 March 1967; note: there were other Bonnybridge stations;
 * Scottish Central Junction (station); opened 1 March 1848; closed May 1854; Greenhill Junction opened on the same site August 1855; renamed Greenhill Upper Junction later; closed September 1865;
 * Greenhill Upper Junction; convergence of Scottish Central Railway from Perth and Stirling;
 * Castlecary; closed 6 March 1967;
 * Dullatur; opened March 1867; closed 5 June 1967;
 * Croy;
 * Waterside Junction; divergence of line to Coatbridge 1895 - 1959;
 * Garngaber High Junction; convergence of line from Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway 1844 - 1959;
 * Kirkintilloch; replaced by Kirkintilloch Junction (station) a short distance east on 26 December 1844; reverted to original site 5 July 1848; renamed Campsie Junction 1849; renamed Lenzie Junction 1867; renamed Lenzie 1890; convergence of Campsie branch 1848 - 1966;
 * Bishopbriggs; sometimes known as Bishopsbridge at first;
 * Cowlairs East Junction; divergence of line towards Anniesland (from 1878);
 * Cowlairs West Junction; convergence of line from Anniesland; divergence of line to Springburn;
 * Cowlairs Chord Junction; convergence of line from Springburn, opened 1993;
 * Cowlairs: opened 1859 :closed 7 September 1964
 * Glasgow Queen Street.

Locations on the Polmont to Carmuirs line, opened 1 October 1850, were:

 * Polmont Junction;
 * Grangemouth Branch Junction; convergence of line from Grangemouth;
 * Grahamston; later known as Falkirk Grahamston;
 * Swing Bridge Junction; convergence of line from Grangemouth;
 * Falkirk Camelon; opened 15 June 1903; closed 1 January 1917; reopened 1 February 1919; closed 4 September 1967;
 * Camelon; opened 25 September 1994;
 * Carmuirs East Junction; divergence of line towards Greenhill Junctions;
 * Larbert Junction; convergence with main line from Glasgow to Stirling.

Almond Valley Viaduct is the longest structure on the E&GR main line; it was constructed in a 20-month period. It is in two sections separated by a high embankment about a quarter mile in length. The eastern section consists of 36 ashlar-faced segmental arches of 50 feet span, and the line is on a sweeping curve of about 2,500 yards radius. The spandrels have been strengthened by steel spandrel ties. The western section is of 7 arches, and the centre span bridges the Edinburgh to Bathgate road. This arch of 66 feet span has been badly affected by subsidence in connection with shale extraction.

The contractor for the construction was John Gibb. The contract included Winchburgh tunnel and cutting, and he lost £40,000 on the estimate as his calculation contained an error; he discovered this before his tender was accepted, but he felt an obligation to honour the tender offer.

Winchburgh Tunnel is 367 yards long. It took 24 months to construct. Firedamp was a problem in the construction and a workman was badly burned. The Myers Burn west of the tunnel passes under the line in twin inverted siphons.

Cowlairs tunnel is actually in three parts, Bell's Park (272 yards), Asylum (292 yards) and Broomhill (476 yards).

Accidents

 * 1862 - Winchburgh rail crash, 15 killed and 35 injured
 * 1874 - Bo'ness Junction rail crash, 16 killed and 28 injured.
 * 1917 - Ratho rail crash, 12 killed and 46 injured
 * 1937 - Castlecary rail accident, 35 killed and 179 injured
 * 1968 - Castlecary rail accident, 2 killed
 * 1984 - Polmont rail accident, 13 killed and 61 injured

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

title: Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway


text:
Talk:Nicole Bobeck

FWIW, there is no Australian skater named "Nicole Bobeck", and it isn't just a typo for "Nicole Bobek", the U.S. skater. This is a long-time prank carried over from the Usenet newsgroup rec.sport skating.ice.figure, where a poster known as "Chuckie" (who now posts under a bunch of other names, and who always claims he's not Chuckie) has constructed an entire fantasy world of skaters representing obscure countries. Dr.frog 19:11, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Nicole Bobeck


text:
Talk:SonicStage

Encyclopedia article or review?
This article reads like a (quite harsh) magazine review of the software, and it definitely is not NPOV.

I'll sit down with my Vaio notebook this weekend and explore SonicStage to get a better feel for the program and see if this can be cleaned up. LarryMac 19:11, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

What a biased article
this software is the worst program ever, it wasn't even created by sony, it was created by a company called sonic. the software is unbelievably terrible, from messing your mp3's to very high cpu usage.

Alternatives for Sonicstage
I shurly hope there will be more alternatives soon for this crappy software. Sony released a somewhat better tool: MP3 File Manager Version 2.0 for Network Walkman This software is 'installed' on the device itself and lets you update the carried music library from more than one computer, something that is forbidden with the Sonicstage software. ( unless re-initializing the device every time you use a new Sonicstage installation is an option for you ) The tool lacks a lot of features, but being a winamp user, I do not care.

I would like to ask the open source programmers to see if the device format can be de-coded and recoded in f.i. winamp modules.

Marcel Heijkoop

Does anyone know if the NW-E00x Walkmans work with MP3 File Manager? -A

Pathetic Sonicstage
Although this artical reads like a harsh review, it is actually very accurate. The inability of the software to encode in mp3 format means that many sensible users (anticipating future non-sony products) will want to encode using itunes or WMP, and then import their library into the Sonicstage software to transfer the music to their sony device. Otherwise they will have to encode in proprietary ATRAC format, which is not supported by the majority of products.

However, Sonicstage has a critical flaw which makes it unable to properly fulfill the role of a even a simple shell product which imports the list of mp3s on your computer and transfers desired songs to your device: when importing songs, the software assumes that songs with the *same* album title but different artists are indeed different albums. So if artist X collaborates with Y on a song, the songs will appear as different albums. And you must manually tell sonic stage, track by track (!!) that each song is in fact part of the same album. And of course, the order of songs is jumbled and must next be corrected.

A woefully inadequate and poorly executed product! If I had known, I would have voted with my pocketbook by refusing to buy a Sony network walkman. abc

Sonicstage alternatiuve article covering gym the winamp plugine.. MP3FM and the GPL Mp3FM "implementation" needs to bew written.. check atrac life for more details .. alterion

Wikipedia is not a reviews site
Whether it is 'accurate' or not is immaterial - Wikipedia articles are supposed to represent a Neutral Point of View and the article doesn't include any balanced information or the positive aspects of SonicStage's sound format (such as the good sound quality in comparison to an equivalent-bitrate MP3)

However, as with most other articles, a criticism section may be appropriate. Leaving out the very numerous and nearly unanimously agreed upon criticisms would be to limit the accuracy of the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.181.42.112 (talk) 03:50, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Definetly a review
While the article does contain a very well thought out biased review of the software, an acceptable article would only explain the use of the software, and what it's limited functions are. It should not discuss what the software's abitlites aren't, or suggest changes to make it better.

the correct way to do it, imo, would be to have factual and neutral page with a 'criticisms' section at the end --Neon white 16:51, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

About security flaws on SonicStage
Sony has a nice line of portable music players. From its first tape walkmans to the latest flash memory mp3 players. However, in a world where computer useage is turning into something almost ubuquitous, they have decided to create a player that will only run in Windows, and, not only that, they decided to impose the use of _their_ software of choice, instead of the _users_ software of choice, Sonic Stage.

However, the point is not on the choice of software, instead, on the security flaws created by the SonicStage player. In the connected context that we are living into, security is turning into a big concern, that can be seen on the amount of efforts applied to it. Take for instance the new Windows version, Vista, that implements a new feature called UAP - User Account Protection, that, simply put, enforces the useage of a restricted access rights for daily useage and administrator access rights only for out of ordinary tasks.

So, what is the problem? Simply put, Sony's SonicStage won't allow you to run the software as a restricted user. Only with super-user privileges. Altough not a flaw as serious as Sony's latest approach to DRM, the installation of rootkits through music cd's, but a serious flaw none the less, that indulges most users to use their software as an administrator, what definitely is not a reasonable approach. Taken that the "Least Privilege Principle" is well know in computer security, where the user is to be given the required access rights to be able to do his tasks, no more, no less.

 * Version 4.3 runs under a limited user account with no problem. 109.153.242.10 (talk) 17:53, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

No such thing as neutrality
As much as Wikipedia is supposed to present to an objective view, what positive comments can you give about this software? It is utterly dire. Wikipedia is supposed to present the truth (uncertain as this may be) and in my opinion the article is pretty sound. It could have been a lot more negative.

Made some revisions.
I made some revisions and got rid of some of the biased/non-neutral writings. 06 January 2006.

Impossible task.
While some here complain of the lack of positive coments about SonicStage, they havent stoped to consider that the cause of such an absence, is the simple fact that there IS NO positive aspect of this terrible software. It is so terrible that the only way you could say something good of SonicStage is by telling untruths. I have been a keen user of the MiniDisc-format and tried to convert friends to it and they were detered by SS. The only reason anybody would use this software is the lack of any alternative, when you have minidiscs. An alternative to use when dealing with HardDisc based MP3 players is readily available: the hardware of just about ANY other vendor.

This is a very exasperating piece of software.

Removed NPOV (Jan 8th, 2006)
The NPOV has been attached to the article for 6 months, and the article is considerably different than the article to which the NPOV was attached.

Having a NPOV attached to the article is very distracting. New readers assume that the NPOV was attached to the current article, and have tried to "improve" the article by removing comments that may be construed as being biased against Sony.

Without the distraction of the NPOV, people may pay more attention to the actual quality of the article, and feel more free to add to its content, whatever form that may take.

PSP and omg
Loads of music, mangled by OMG and maybe, just maybe, play on PSP. No joy.

42 hours lost? Not relevant
The guy who keeps reposting his 42 hours of lost information site is very much biased and doing self-promotion for his own needs. He should create an article about his website instead.

 * Yes, I am very biased -- at least, I am as biased as a Sony employee who is promoting Sonicstage -- so why should I be any different? Is there one rule for Sony marketers and another for frustrated customers?

 * I have created a website about it -- it is very relevant to a Sonicstage wiki -- therefore, I'll keep on putting it back.

The web site maintainer is an idiot. He keeps making the assumption that I'm a Sony employee, which is incorrect. Running a simple nslookup would indicate that I post from a university computer. (For the record, I work exclusively for a university and not in a field relating to musical equipment or musical software.)

 * The reason I think you are a Sony employee is that you are 1) so persistent in your criticism when you shouldn't really care all that much, and 2) you are constantly insulting me. Nearly every time you post/e-mail on this subject, you refer to me as an idiot, or worse. So what is your problem? You are either 1) a Sony employee or connected to Sony somehow, 2) you have an ideological objection to consumer complaints, 3) you're just a busy body who enjoys sticking his nose into places it's not welcome. Which is it?

Admittedly, that doesn't prove a thing but it's not proof that I work for Sony either. He even ignored my criticisms of Sony when I posted to his site which would indicate that I have a more open mind than him. Wikipedia is not a Sonicstage Wiki.

 * I suggest you READ my site. Your criticism are covered on the home page and on the background page. I believe your criticisms are invalid, which is my right to do so.

Yes, but information about SonicStage being unreliable would be relevant (this is the SonicStage article after all) if it wasn't original research. Cynical 14:45, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I did read it. I'm sure everyone thinks you're a moron for deleting your master copies and not transferring the recordings to plain WAV files.

 * Again you have to call me a moron!!! What is it with you?

 * What master copies are you talking about? The ones on the disc itself? If so, sorry but older versions of SS would only transfer recordings from discs ONCE, so it is utterly irrelevant to complain that I deleted the disc copies.

 * Basically, I think you are being nasty and pointless. If you don't agree with my dispute, that is your problem, not mine. I find your attitude to be disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself for carrying on like this over something in which you are not involved, doesn't affect you whatsoever, and you cannot influence.

42 hours lost? Very relevant!
I find the 42hours.org very informative. I have had similar difficulties with SonicStage and so have others.

 * I am wondering where the 42 hours deleter is coming from. Perhaps he could be more explicit about his opinions. There is, for me, an interesting issue here as to what "knowledge" is. The person who created the 42 hours site "knows" something about SonicStage in a way that the person who keeps deleting the reference to that site does not. If the deleter keeps deleting the reference because of preconceived opinions as to what wikipedia should or should not contain, or what the 42 hours creator "should" know, then I have my doubts as to whether the deletion is justified. If the site creator "should" know something, but doesn't, then it seems to me that such knowledge is precisely what "should" be incorporated in wikipedia. What's the point of the article if not to provide _useful_ ( as opposed to theoretical and factual) information? I very much support the reference to the 42 hours site.

_________________________

The 42-hours website saved me from disaster; and just in time too. To me, it was by far the most relevant piece of information I found about sonicstage on the web. I totally agree with your questioning the motives of the person who deleted the reference.

Though the main article is not bad at all, I think the use of the MD as a live sound recording device is underexposed. Contrary to most people, who have a choice of comparable programs, the people who record with an MD are fully dependent on Sonic Stage. And many will, like, me, have wrestled with SS and the "wav-conversion-tool" which, for instance, would not install under SS v. 2 since it needed "version 1 or higher" etc.etc. hm

Comments on Version 4 Changes. Do they belong, or not?
I noticed that someone deleted some comments about Version 4. There may be some useable stuff in what was deleted:

- Sonic Stage CP is an improvement over the previous version, though in look and feel it is very similar to version 3. One major addition is the ability to import AAC music files (used by Apple for the Ipod) with extensions *.3gp, *.mp4, *.m4a as well as continued wav, mp3, and wma support. The program is a bit trick to use, with some non-obvious learning curve issues. The power to sort and edit groups of files doesn't become apparent until you set it to show all tracks. Then clicking on any headers will sort and allow you to modify the properties of groups of tracks (for example marking the tracks in a compilation album so the different artists don't show them as different albums) or deleting a group of files you've manually moved on your hard drive.

- The gracenote cddb music database worked oddly when importing wav files, but seemed to work well if your converting your cd library to one of Sony's ATRAC format. The ATRACPlus LossLess is well supported, and you can go through the awkward process of converting to wav and mp3 if necessary. -   - Unless you are using a Sony portable digital walkman, I don't see why you would use SonicStage. If you have one, then this version is actually useable if still limited compared to many other systems (such as Yahoo's new music engine). Unfortunately, converting files back and forth loses most of the album and track data, and it is an extra step that you have to go through wav to convert anything.

- The databases are using microsoft's jet database package, and can back up and restore to another computer if needed. That's handy, but once again, using some kind of file that other programs could read (such as id3 tags or Yahoo's xml based system) would be a real plus. If the program crashes, or otherwise fails to work properly (I had some problems with it accessing cd-rom and dvd drives on two computers) theres doesn't seem to be any way to report the error to Sony.

 * There is some useful information in there, but it needs to be written in a more appropriate style. It's full of opinion and original research.  --LarryMac 14:34, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Choice of Bitrate
The edit of July 9th changed this section, I believe incorrectly. The suggested text was:
 * As a simple rule of thumb: ATRAC3Plus at 128 kbit/s gives CD quality. ATRAC3Plus at 96 gives near CD quality. ATRAC3Plus at 64 kbit/s gives generally acceptable quality. ATRAC3Plus at 48 kbit/s gives better than FM quality. For more information see [ATRAC]].

Unfortunately Atrac doesn't give CD quality at 128 kbs - that's why Sony provides an ATRAC bit rate of 256kbs. Not even Sony are claiming CD quality at 128kbs. I also believe this text overrates the quality of the sound compared to FM - a lot.

Is there any evidence to support these changes? mtj 9th July 2006

That's no excuse to blank the section.B|Cube 21:07, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

NPOV?
Reading this article on 7/19/06, it seems as though, in the interest of maintaining a NPOV, the article has been stripped of nearly all evidence of criticism of the software. Perhaps the article is in need of a criticisms/controversy section, so that the various criticisms of the software are at least documented on this page. It would still be neutral to at least state that these criticisms exist. It is equally non-neutral to deny/ignore the software's infamy as it is to argue for it.

In regards to 42hours.org, perhaps this would be more relevant were it (42 hours) a website dedicated to documenting the list of criticisms of the software, rather than a blog of a single user's complaints. Maybe even the author of the website can agree that it would be more appropriate for an encyclopedia to list links to articles regarding the criticisms, (such as the engadget article listed in his links section) rather than to his personal blog.

ATRAC'S Quality ( was "Final comment")
I know that the crash was introduced by some VBR mp3s, which is potentially a problem of mp3 codec that also inference many other jukebox like iTunes. However, partly of this problem is solved in latest version SonicStage 4 CP.

Frankly speaking, the SonicStage interface received a lot of good commends in Aisa Pacific market and meanwhile those users think iTunes is a crappie thing.

For ATRAC's quality, I can say I conducted a serious test with a top quality Krell audio system (which cost more than 20 thousand US dollars) against same record encoded with WMA9, iTune6 and FGH's mp3. I am pretty sure that a carefully encoded 64kbps ATRAC3plus is superiour over 128kbps mp3 and 96kbps WMA9. The only rival against ATARC3plus is HE-AAC, which I can't notice too much different between HE-AAC and ATRAC3plus when both are encoding at or beyond 96kbps.

To sum up, SonicStage is a good jukebox for people who owned a lot of CDs, and willing to copy them to their HDD one by one. Not those who just download mp3 from the web.

I think this commend will end the long waiting arguement on ATRAC's quality, as I don't believe too many people can afford a 20 thousand US dollars for an audio system for just a lossy audio codec testing.

No longer needed
You can copy music to and from newer players without drivers or additional software (USB mass storage device class plug-and-play). SonicStage was the one reason I stayed away from Sony players before, but my new one plays nice with Ubuntu. --78.149.120.106 (talk) 23:21, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

So suddenly, old players become irrelevant? I for one still have nw-e003, and I think alternative software is important. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.101.100.60 (talk) 16:57, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Agreed, I still have an MZ-N710 which doesn't support Mass Storage, only SS. At least SS works under XP in a VM with USB passthrough. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.23.50.220 (talk) 02:53, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Criticism section
While I agree that this article shouldn't read like a bad magazine review, I think that there does at least need to be a 'Criticism' section in it, seeing as there is certainly plenty of it going around. Yes/no? Fairweather01 (talk) 03:30, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

about the flash memory in the walkman
i had formatted the device in the computer, now when i try to transfer songs from the software sonicstage it ask me to empty the harddisk of the device as well as initialise the harddisk now what should i do as the model no. is NW-E003F —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.78.12 (talk) 11:50, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

CP/4.3 no longer avialable
I've just added that SonicStage 4.3 is not avialable for download from the Sony site. It's the first ref I've added & don't know how to add any comments to it. The download page is still there. It has a Sony Asia address (http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/60444). It's the only one I found when I looked for the download the other year, and is English. Even though Sony have localised sites (song.co.uk, sony-europe.com etc.) this appears to be The download page. Dannman (talk) 12:02, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

 * This is exactly why I intensely dislike software that is totally dependant on being downloaded from the internet. Should one ever need to rebuild a Windows system disc (a not unlikely requirement given its inherent instability), it becomes impossible to reinstall such software when this is necessary.  It is (in my view) always a bad idea when you cannot download the software itself, but only download an installer which is still totally dependant on finding the software itself on the internet and thus remains totally dependant on the supplier maintaining its availabilty.  86.145.151.250 (talk) 16:41, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

 * I'm sorry to disappoint you (or anyone else seeking Sonicstage 4.3), but all the linked site allows you to actually download is a message basically telling you, "hard luck, Sonicstage ain't here any more". 86.149.79.140 (talk) 16:29, 11 December 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on SonicStage. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080424045859/http://ipastudio.com:80/forums/showthread.php?t=1385 to http://ipastudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1385

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 02:06, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

SonicStage Digital Archive external link
Hello, I am Nicolas Bahamondes, I was doing some freelance research during this quarantine season. Criticisms aside, I created a compilation of major versions of SonicStage at Internet Archive. This archive will be kept updated as soon as I find more versions of this program. Even if this program has bad reputation on the internet, it is important to keep track of its files for the posterity.

The external link of the archive has been added at the External Links section of the wiki. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.160.142.89 (talk) 05:04, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:SonicStage


text: User talk:67.70.197.125

title: User talk:67.70.197.125


text:
Audley Miller

Audley Montague Miller (19 October 1869 – 26 June 1959) was an amateur cricketer who played one Test match for England in 1896, and stood as an umpire in two Tests, also in 1896.

Life and career
Miller was born in Gloucestershire and educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He married Georgiana Porter in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in August 1897.

Miller's participation in his only Test came on England's tour of South Africa in 1895-96. The early England touring parties to South Africa comprised mostly good minor county or club cricketers, with a small number of first-class cricketers thrown in. The games against South Africa were only given Test status retrospectively. Miller was one of the minor players on the tour, and he made his first-class and Test debut in the 1st Test at Port Elizabeth in February 1896, scoring 4 not out and 20 not out. Due to the bowling of George Lohmann (7-38 and 8-7, including a hat-trick), England won easily, by 288 runs. On the tour Miller played in most of the non-first-class matches, batting low in the order, and finished with 123 runs at an average of 11.18.

Miller stood as an umpire in the remaining two Tests of the tour, the 2nd Test at Johannesburg and the 3rd Test at Cape Town, both played in March 1896. Both matches were largely dominated by Lohmann's bowling and won easily by England. These were the only Test or first-class matches in which Miller stood as an umpire.

After he returned to England, Miller played four more first-class games over the period to 1903, all for the Marylebone Cricket Club. He played many seasons for Wiltshire and was team captain for 25 years until 1920. Under his captaincy, Wiltshire won the Minor Counties Cricket Championship in 1902 and in 1909, when he took 6 for 39 in the second innings of the final.

For three years before his death in 1959, Miller was the oldest living Test cricketer. His nephew, Thomas Miller, played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire between 1902 and 1914.

title: Audley Miller


text: User talk:192.223.226.6

title: User talk:192.223.226.6


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Horse the band (0th nomination)

 * Delete. Already exists as a much better article. --Casiotone 19:14, 25 August 2005 (UTC)


text:
Rosignol

Rosignol is a village on the west bank of the Berbice River in Mahaica-Berbice, Guyana.

The town is important because it has a port, the Rosignol Stelling, that used to be the main crossing point on the western bank of the Berbice River. Major bus lines include Route No. 56 from New Amsterdam to Rosignol and Route No. 50 from Rosignol to Georgetown. The East Demerara Highway will be extended out to Rosignol. New Amsterdam is on the east bank. The population consists primarily of people of Indian and African origin.

D’ Edward Village is associated with Rosignol. It is also a joint NDC with the village of Zeelust.

Public Services
Rosignol has three schools, a nursery school called Liberty hall Nursery, Rosignol Primary and Rosignol Secondary school.

Economy
Blairmont Estate is a major source of employment for the village.

Rosignol was home to two cinemas, the Atma and the Ritz (the latter of which burned down). On Saturdays, the village holds the biggest one-day market in the region. The huge Rosignol Fisheries is next to the stelling. There are two banks in the village. Sweet Lips Disco is the life of the small nearby village.

Another major attraction was Hollywood Bar (Naggy's), which was owned by Edward Barratt. There were also Iris Chan bar (Mr. Chan's rum shop), and at one time Rosignol hosted the only gas station for entire West Berbice.

title: Rosignol


text: User talk:216.101.215.30

title: User talk:216.101.215.30


text:
225 (number)

225 (two hundred [and] twenty-five) is the natural number following 224 and preceding 226.

In mathematics
225 is the smallest number that is a polygonal number in five different ways. It is a square number (225 = 152), an octagonal number, and a squared triangular number (225 = (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)2 = 13 + 23 + 33 + 43 + 53).

As the square of a double factorial, 225 = 5!!2 counts the number of permutations of six items in which all cycles have even length, or the number of permutations in which all cycles have odd length. And as one of the Stirling numbers of the first kind, it counts the number of permutations of six items with exactly three cycles.

225 is a highly composite odd number, meaning that it has more divisors than any smaller odd numbers. After 1 and 9, 225 is the third smallest number n for which σ(φ(n)) = φ(σ(n)), where σ is the sum of divisors function and φ is Euler's totient function. 225 is a refactorable number.

225 is the smallest square number to have one of every digit in some number base (225 is 3201 in base 4)

225 is the first odd number with exactly 9 divisors.

title: 225 (number)


text:
Shivers (video game)

Shivers is a single-player horror-themed PC adventure game, released on CD-ROM by Sierra On-Line in November 1995. It was developed with Sierra's Creative Interpreter. Being the first Sierra first-person adventure game, Shivers was compared to contemporary Myst and The 7th Guest, gaining praise mostly for its atmosphere. The game takes place in a fictitious haunted museum.

Plot
Sir Hubert Windlenot was a peer of the British nobility, and as an archeologist, a member of the Royal Society. His interest in controversial fringe topics such as ancient astronauts, hollow earth, Atlantis and cryptozoology earned him the reputation of a mad scientist. Renouncing his life as a noble, he moved to America, where he attempted to open "Professor Windlenot's Museum of the Strange and Unusual" in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, dedicated to his findings and theories. Construction took two decades to house both exhibits and thematic installations with several puzzles to entertain the visitors (such as an Ancient Egyptian-themed artificial lake, an underground maze that leads to a Dero installation, a greenhouse, and a diorama dedicated to Atlantis). However, Windlenot mysteriously disappeared before the museum was completed.

The player steps into the shoes of a teenager dared by his friends to spend the night on the grounds of the museum, which is said to be haunted.

Upon entering and exploring the museum, the player discovers that fifteen years prior, in 1980, while Windlenot was on one of his archaeological excursions, two students from the local high school had broken into the museum and accidentally released evil spirits from an exhibited set of ceramic vessels from the Moche Valley. These spirits, known as "ixupi", draw the "life essence" or "Ka" from humans. They had been trapped in the vessels by the Zapana, a fictional South American indigenous people. The ixupi are each associated with various materials, elements and natural forces, such as sand, cloth, wax, and electricity, which they can inhabit and lie in wait for unsuspecting humans. The ixupi killed the teens, and eventually Windlenot himself, allowing three of the thirteen spirits to escape into the world.

The player becomes tasked with finding a way to capture the ten remaining spirits before the sun rises (though no actual time limit is imposed on the player) and freeing the trapped ghosts of Windlenot and the teens. This can be done by finding each vessel and its matching talisman/lid throughout the museum, and then using it on the corresponding ixupi to capture it. In order to find all these items, the player has to explore the museum by completing puzzles of varying difficulty, navigating mazes, and making use of secret passages. Along the way, the player can find documents chronicling the exploits of Windlenot and the belongings of the two students, expanding their backstory, with elements hinting at their lives, relationships and motivations.

At the end of the game, the player captures the ixupi of electricity from the museum's power generator, causing an explosion. The player's friends appear outside the broken wall as dawn breaks. A newspaper clipping then reveals that the bodies of Windlenot and the two teens were recovered by the authorities, solving the 15-year-old mystery of their disappearance.

Gameplay
Playing in first-person perspective, the game is similar in style to the Virgin Interactive/Trilobyte production, The 7th Guest, which introduced this style of gaming.

The only interface feature is an elaborate bar at the bottom of the screen which mostly serves as a health bar, showing how much "life essence" the player has remaining; life is lost whenever the player is attacked by an Ixupi. It also serves as the game's inventory, with the active Ixupi vessel or cover the player is currently holding, with the option to examine it in close-up. It also indicates progress in the game, as the vessels with the trapped Ixupi are placed there as trophies.

The vessels and their covers are the only items that can be picked up and stored in the inventory. Uncommonly for an adventure game, the inventory can hold only one of these items: a vessel, a cover, or a vessel combined with its cover. This means that the player can pick up a vessel and then find and pick up its corresponding cover to complete it, but if the player attempts to pick up an item that can't be combined with the one held (i.e. another vessel or a cover corresponding to another vessel), the items will switch positions. This feature obliges the player to take notes of where they have found or dropped which item, and to travel back and forth in order to pick them up.

While holding a completed vessel, the player can look for the corresponding Ixupi in order to trap it. Each vessel is marked with a Zapana pictograph representing a material, helping the player associate each vessel with an Ixupi.

The locations where the items are found are mostly fixed every time, although which is where is mostly random, ensuring slightly different game progression each time the game starts.

A "Flashback" feature allows the player to review game cutscenes and re-read most of the in-game text that has been found, such as books from the museum library or the victims' notebooks. These not only advance the game's backstory but also contain hints to several of the puzzles.

Upon completion of the game's main story, the player may then continue to roam freely through the museum, with all ten captured Ixupi appearing along the health bar. One benefit of this is the luxury of getting to read over the many in-game exhibit descriptions without the worry of being attacked by Ixupi. Reading these descriptions or exploring previously undiscovered parts of the museum can continue to add to the player's score.

Development
The game was programmed in SCI-32, the proprietary game engine/programming language by Sierra. A challenge faced by the team was the steep learning curves, as many were inexperienced in 3d modeling or adventure game design, and it was the first time the SCI language was used for a 1st-person adventure video game.

Roberta Williams served as creative consultant, which was during the time she was working on Phantasmagoria.

In somewhat of a deviation from other FMV-based games of the era, dialogues are provided with closed captions. This was a suggestion by lead game developer Willie Eide, who came from a deaf family.

Themes
Designer Marcia Bales credited her interest in travels and archeology as her main drive force for the game. Some of the footage seen in a cutscene was taken by Bales herself during a trip in Belize around 1994.

Regarding the themes seen in the fictional museum, Bales claimed that most of them presented are factual, except for Windlenot's pseudoscientific theories. The way the museum was designed, with each room assigned to a different artist, reflected the Professor's deductive fallacies of connecting otherwise unconnected facts to draw his conclusions. The elements were left for the player to decide how much of the Professor's theories were arbitrary.

The concept of the Ixupi is a retelling of an almost universal motif of vampiric spirits sucking the life out of humans, often coming out of the elements. The Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul was also an inspiration.

Gameplay
Shivers was the first first-person adventure game by Sierra On-Line to feature a nameless and unseen silent protagonist, instead of a visible player character.

Bales mentioned the game Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe as an inspiration to design Shivers as an open-ended game, with the random elements enhancing the non-linear gameplay; a characteristic considered uncommon for an adventure game. Once entering the museum, the player is immediately free to explore and access almost all locations, without having to solve a puzzle to see what is next. The player's order of actions are the factor of how the backstory elements are revealed, without mattering the order these are discovered.

Graphics
The game was created using scans of watercolors – some 2500 of them – touched up in Photoshop, along with 3D Studio. Each room was assigned to one out of a team of ten artists with the art director ensuring continuity and consistency.

The cutscenes were filmed with live actors in front of a blue screen, who were superimposed on the digital backgrounds with Ultimatte. Each shot required proper camera angles and lensing before filming to ensure matching quality with the digital background. Occasionally, masonite props would stand in for foreground objects. The actors were found by talent agencies and were coached by Bales, producer Wendy Albee and director Tony Ober.

Sound and music
Guy Whitmore worked as a sound engineer, sound designer and music composer for the video game soundtrack. According to context, some pieces were composed as orchestral music whereas others were more modern. Some bands were cited as inspiration, such as Nine Inch Nails. Whitmore also had dark ambient music in mind. The interactive nature of the game demanded for a repetitive motif which would provide the background and foreboding mood of suspension for the player, while being unnoticed in the same time. The crescendo happens in the cues whenever the player triggers an attack of an Ixupi monster. Sound effects were derived mostly from a stock sound effects CD. The mumblings heard in the abandoned theatre is a relevant speech by the Ghost from a Hamlet performance.

Reception
Shivers drew mostly praise for its atmosphere. Presenting a deviation from earlier Sierra titles, the game was both praised and criticized for the same reasons, while it also drew comparisons with Myst and The 7th Guest. It holds an aggregated 72.2% score on GameRankings, based on reviews from various professional critics.

Quandary gave the game a 5 out of 5, praising the atmosphere and simplicity of gameplay, mentioning the ample number of save game slots and closed captions among the game's advantages. Next Generation, while briefly complimenting the graphics and interface, derided the game as an unoriginal Myst clone. They added that "the long load times, grating music, and overreaching puzzles keep it mediocre at best." French site Jeuxvideo.com called it "an undeniable success". In a retrospective review, Adventure Lantern noted that the game still looked fairly pleasant after its time, and its (mostly) clever design, while praising the game's mood and atmospheric soundtrack. Adventure Classic Gaming named Shivers a sleeper hit of the year and recognised its cult status.

Ron Dulin of GameSpot called the gameplay repetitive, as the player is forced to travel back and forth many times after a certain point. Ray Ivey of Just Adventure favored the game's atmosphere, and praised the "Flashback" feature.

All Game Guide described it as "lacking" while Finnish magazine Pelit considered it an example of Sierra's downward spiral, criticizing the puzzles and the storyline.

Sequel
Shivers was followed in 1997 by Shivers II: Harvest of Souls which takes place in a ghost town.

title: Shivers (video game)


text:
Abutilon theophrasti

Abutilon theophrasti, also known as Velvetleaf, Velvet Plant, Velvetweed and the Chinese jute  is an annual plant in the family Malvaceae that is native to southern Asia and it serves as a type species of the genus Abutilon. Its specific epithet, theophrasti, commemorates the ancient Greek botanist-philosopher Theophrastus.

Description
Velvetleaf grows 3–8 feet tall on branched, stout stems covered in downy hairs. The annual plant grows during the warmer seasons, germinating in the spring and flowering in the summer. Velvetleaf's leaves are large and heart-shaped with pointed tips at their ends, which grow alternately at different points along the length of the stem. The leaves are attached to thick, long stems, and when crushed, release an odor.

The plant's flowers are yellow and grow up to an inch in diameter, with five petals attached at the base. Flowers grow on stalks and can either be found in clusters or individually where the stalk meets the leaf stem.

Pod-like capsules produced by the plant consist of 12-15 wood segments that form cup-like rings. Through the maturation of the seeds, the segments remain joined, and upon maturation, the mature seeds are released through vertical slits on the outside of the capsule.

Reproduction
During reproduction, the plant generates a number of seeds ranging between 700 and 44,200 units per plant. The seeds take 17–22 days to mature once pollinated. Seeds can last for about 50 years when stored in a dry location or in the soil. In order to disperse the seeds for reproduction, each carpel in the plant is opened with a vertical slit along the outer edge. For successful germination of the seeds, the temperature must range between 24-30 °C. Velvet plants are able to grow in various types of soil, from gray-brown podzols and sandy to clay loams with an ideal soil pH range between 6.1 and 7.8, depending on location.

Cultivation and medicinal uses
Velvetleaf has been grown in China since around 2000 BCE for its strong, jute-like bast fibre. The plant is known as maabulha in the Maldives and its leaves were part of the traditional Maldivian cuisine, usually finely chopped and mixed with Maldives fish and grated coconut in a dish known as mas huni. The seeds are eaten in China and Kashmir. The plant is also used to make ropes, coarse cloth, nets, paper, and caulk for boats, and is still cultivated in China to this day. Velvetleaf is used in Chinese traditional medicine as a treatment for dysentery and to treat eye injuries, including opacity of the cornea. The leaves of the velvet leaf contain 0.01% of rutin and are used for a soothing, lubricant treatment that softens irritated tissues. When the leaves are softened, they can be used as a remedy for ulcers. The bark of velvetleaf can reduce the flow of bodily fluids such as blood, secretions, and mucous, and promote the flow of urine.

Invasive species
In the midwestern and northeastern regions of the US, eastern Canada, and the Eastern Mediterranean, A. theophrasti is considered a damaging weed to agricultural crops, especially corn and soybeans.

Since being introduced to North America in the 18th century, velvetleaf has become an invasive species in agricultural regions of the eastern and midwestern United States. It is one of the most detrimental weeds to corn, causing decreases of up to 34% of crop yield if not controlled and costing hundreds of millions of dollars per year in control and damage. Velvetleaf is an extremely competitive plant, so much so that it can steal nutrients and water from crops. Because of the season it germinates in, the plant matures right before the fall harvest on farms.

Velvetleaf is a tall plant that can cause the shorter crops around it to not thrive by severely reducing light penetration into them. Not only does it affect crop plants by starving them of light, but it also houses different diseases and pests of crops like corn, cotton, soybeans, and others. Examples of pests and diseases that velvetleaf harbors are maize pests, tobacco pests, and soybean diseases.

When destroyed, the plant releases a chemical odor that is also known to be harmful to surrounding crops when released into the soil by inhibiting the germination of crop seeds. In order to eradicate velvetleaf, individual plants should be dug up or pulled out manually and not tilled or plowed to avoid seed germination. The plant can also be mowed while it is still small. Additionally, velvetleaf is controlled by herbicides.

This species is typically found in areas where the soil has been disturbed. This causes the dormant seeds in the soil to be brought closer to the surface, allowing for growth when the soil is at an optimally warm temperature.

Threats to A. theophrasti
Different predators and pathogens affect velvetleaf at different life stages of the plant. Examples of threats include but are not limited to:

title: Abutilon theophrasti


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Katzi Vaptzarov

 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!)  12:49, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Katzi Vaptzarov
Not notable - Google mainly derives from wiki Dlyons493 19:14, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete huh? Notability not established.  --  Etacar11   03:24, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - Not notable - Tεx  τ  urε  21:06, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text: User talk:216.105.163.3

title: User talk:216.105.163.3


text: User talk:61.0.219.171

title: User talk:61.0.219.171


text:
Category:San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers

For players of the basketball team, see Category:San Lorenzo de Almagro (basketball) players.


text:
Charles Chauvel (politician)

Charles Pierre Chauvel (born 16 April 1969) is a New Zealand lawyer and former New Zealand politician who was a Labour list Member of Parliament (2006–2013) until his resignation to take up a position with the UN Development Programme. He was the first New Zealand MP of Tahitian ancestry.

Early years
Born and raised in Gisborne, he was awarded dux of Gisborne Boys' High School. While studying at the University of Auckland, Chauvel captained the University's winning University Challenge team in 1987. He was involved in student politics having been appointed as National Affairs Officer for the Auckland University Students' Association in 1987. Chauvel graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) from Victoria University of Wellington in 1989, and a Master of Jurisprudence (with Distinction) in 1994 from the University of Auckland.

In addition, the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin (Italy) awarded Chauvel the Diploma in International Labour Standards in 2001, and he also holds a Certificate in Health Economics (with Merit) from Victoria University of Wellington (awarded 1993) along with a Certificate in Public International Law from the Hague Academy of International Law (1997).

Legal career
He was admitted as Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 1990, and to the New South Wales (Australia) Bar in 2003.

He wrote the re-issued Public Safety Title and served as consulting editor for a re-issue of the Gaming Law Title in the Laws of New Zealand Legal Encyclopedia. Chauvel has also co-authored two books, the New Zealand Employment Law Guide (LexisNexis, 2002) and Employment Mediation (Thomson Brookers, 2005). Prior to entering Parliament, Chavuel was on the board of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (2003–2005) and became a partner in the Minter Ellison Legal Group in 2000. The 2005/06 edition of the Asia Pacific Legal 500 listed him as a "Leading Individual" in employment law.

Other involvements
Chauvel was a board member of the New Zealand Aids Foundation from 1990 to 1994, serving as chair in 1996. He was appointed in 1995 to the Board of the New Zealand Public Health Commission; as Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Lotteries Commission, and as Deputy Chair of Meridian Energy in 2005, having served as a director of that company from 2002.

Political career

A member of the Labour Party since 1985, Chauvel has held a number of Labour Party positions including Chair of the Princes Street Branch, President of Young Labour (then known as Labour Socialist Youth), membership of the Party's controlling body (the New Zealand Council) and Policy council and co-Chair of Rainbow Labour.

Chauvel stood as Labour's electoral candidate for, in 1990 losing to the National Party's Bill Birch. He next stood in 2005 as Labour's candidate for Ohariu-Belmont, then losing to United Future leader Peter Dunne. However, he was able to become a list MP on 1 August 2006 when Jim Sutton retired. He sought the Labour candidacy in Wellington Central ahead of the 2008 election but withdrew. Chauvel lost twice more to Dunne in the reconfigured Ōhariu electorate in 2008 and 2011, but was elected on both occasions as a list MP.

In his first term of Parliament—the last of the Fifth Labour Government—Chauvel was a member of the Commerce Committee and the Government Administration committee from August 2006 to February 2007, and thereafter chair of the Finance and Expenditure committee and a member of the Justice committee until October 2008. He was also parliamentary private secretary to the Attorney-General in 2008, although his appointment to the role was delayed from the Government's late-2007 reshuffle because Chauvel announced he would be accepting the position before it had been officially confirmed.

In Labour's opposition years, he held party spokesperson roles for energy, climate change and the environment from 2008 until 2011, and for justice and the arts from 2011 until 2013. He was shadow attorney-general and chair of the privileges committee from 2011 to 2013. He supported David Cunliffe over David Shearer in the Labour Party leadership election of 2011.

On 19 February 2013, Chauvel announced his resignation from parliament, effective 11 March, to take a job working at the United Nations Development Programme. He gave his valedictory statement on 27 February 2013. He was succeeded in parliament by the next candidate on the Labour party list, Carol Beaumont.

Repeal of the Provocation Defence
Provocation, as a defence to murder, was publicised in New Zealand due to the high-profile trials of Clayton Weatherston in 2008 and Ferdinand Ambach in 2009, both of whom attempted to plead provocation in court (the latter successfully). The Law Commission, in its 2007 report on the issue, had argued for repeal of the defence. Chauvel drafted a member's Bill to repeal the provocation defence in 2009, although a separate Government bill was later introduced and passed in November 2009 by 116 votes to five; the ACT Party voicing the only opposition.

International roles
In February 2009, he and the former leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, Helen Clark, were appointed as New Zealand's inaugural representatives on the Board of the Pacific Friends of the Global Fund, the regional partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's major initiative against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In June 2010, Chauvel was appointed as a member of the United Nations Global Commission on HIV and the Law.

After leaving Parliament, Chauvel worked for the United Nations Development Programme in New York and then as the United Nations Asia and Pacific regional ombudsman.

title: Charles Chauvel (politician)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Genworth

 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 and redirect to Genworth Financial. Sjakkalle (Check!)  11:37, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Genworth

 * Delete. This article is part meaningless gibberish and part vanity. I didn't realize it was possible to write a page this badly. There's not even a pretence of it not being vanity: note the "our companies" bit. --Blackcap | talk 19:17, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * After delete, Redirect to Genworth Financial as per Mgm. --Blackcap | talk 16:53, August 26, 2005 (UTC)
 * They didn't write the page, they copied and pasted it from various bits of the Genworth website, such as here, which accounts for the execrable formatting. It's copyvio, but is it worth flagging it as such or just letting the VfD run? Delete. Tonywalton | Talk 19:41, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

 * I didn't realize that. That explains the lack of punctuation. As for the copyvio, it's such a miserable article that the VfD ought to run anyway, but it's good that you pointed it out. --Blackcap | talk 20:20, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete nn co., reads as advert. Alf 20:28, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete as advert. Don't list as copyvio. A 5 day VFD run should draw enough editors to clean it up if it's possible to write a valid article about this company. - Mgm|(talk) 21:30, August 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * After deletion, redirect to Genworth Financial per Alba. Nothing worth merging. - Mgm|(talk) 08:46, August 26, 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge anything salvageable to Genworth Financial, delete copyvioish crud, and redirect to Genworth Financial. Alba 22:34, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete ad/spam. -- Etacar11   03:25, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Ratibor

Ratibor or Ratiboř may refer to:

People

 * Ratibor (Polabian prince) (died 1043), a prince of the Obotrite confederacy from the Polabian tribe
 * Ratibor I, Duke of Pomerania (1124–1156), duke of the House of Pomerania (Griffins)
 * Ratibor II, Duke of Pomerania (died after 1223), a Pomeranian duke, son of Ratibor I

Czech Republic

 * Ratiboř (Jindřichův Hradec District), a municipality and village in the South Bohemian Region
 * Ratiboř (Vsetín District), a municipality and village in the Zlín Region
 * Ratiboř, a village and part of Chyšky in the South Bohemian Region

United States

 * Ratibor, Texas, an unincorporated community

Poland

 * Racibórz, a city called Ratibor in German and Ratiboř in Czech

Other uses

 * SV Ratibor 03, a former German association football club from what is today Racibórz in Poland

title: Ratibor


text:
User talk:Iluvcraig09

Welcome, from Journalist
Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  Journalist  C. Holla @ me!
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
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AfD nomination of Craig DeRosa
I have nominated Craig DeRosa, an article you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/Craig DeRosa. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time. IRK! Leave me a note or two 16:20, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

title: User talk:Iluvcraig09