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Gerry Hunsicker

Gerald Hunsicker (born June 10, 1950) is an American baseball executive. He is the senior advisor of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. Hunsicker has been an executive with the New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays and the general manager of the Houston Astros from November 1995 until the end of the 2004 campaign. He graduated from Saint Joseph's College, Pa. in 1972.

Early life
Hunsicker received a master's degree in education from Florida International University in Miami, Florida, in 1976. From 1975 to 1978, he was an assistant coach of the FIU baseball team, before entering professional baseball.

Baseball career
From 1988 to 1992, he held various positions with the New York Mets, including director of minor league operations and assistant general manager.

He was hired by the Houston Astros as general manager by Drayton McLane in November of 1995.

Hunsicker would have eight MLB drafts to help assemble a lineup that contained two future Hall of Famers with Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. His first pick as a GM in Mark Johnson did not work out, although he would be used in a trade for .300 hitter Moises Alou in 1998; other choices would develop better. Roy Oswalt was drafted by the team through shrewd scouting that resulted in a 23rd round pick in 1996; five years later, he would become a ten-year star for the Astros and be a key piece in the 2004 & 2005 teams. In 1997, he drafted Lance Berkman in the first round. He would make five appearances in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in his eleven years spent with the Astros. After losing Darryl Kile in free agency to the Colorado Rockies, he used the compensation pick granted by the move to draft Brad Lidge with the 17th pick in the 1998 draft, and Chris Burke was drafted by him in 2001 as the tenth overall pick. He would also find some success within other rounds of the draft, such as Chad Qualls (2nd round, 2000) alongside Hunter Pence (who had not signed when drafted by Milwaukee in 2002) in 2004 alongside Ben Zobrist.

The Astros would have their first 100-win season in team history in 1998, which notably finished with the acquisition of Randy Johnson as a summer rental, for which the Seattle Mariners acquired three prospects (Freddy García, Carlos Guillén, and John Halama). Of the three prospects, only Garcia made an impact for the Mariners, having two All-Star Game selections.

Notable free agency signings included players such as Ken Caminiti (where he played 137 games in two seasons in the second tenure with the team), Jeff Kent (best known for his walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS), Andy Pettite, and Roger Clemens. There were a handful of trades that would shape the Astros in later years, such as trading for Brad Ausmus in 2000 after he had been traded from the Detroit Tigers to Houston and vice versa in 1996 and 1999. Ausmus would be a mainstay in Houston in two tenures that combined for ten seasons. However, not all of his decisions worked to his benefit; most notably, when it came time to protect players for the 1997 expansion draft, he chose to protect Richard Hidalgo over Bobby Abreu (he would be selected by the Tampa Bay Rays, who bizarrely traded him soon after to the Philadelphia Phillies). While Hidalgo had a couple of decent years with the Astros, Abreu thrived well in Philadelphia, and Hunsicker admitted his mistake years later. An attempt to trade for five-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens from the Toronto Blue Jays in late 1998 stalled due to their demands that left him angry at the agent of Clemens, who ended up landing with the New York Yankees for the next five seasons. Owner Drayton McLane tried to keep the interest alive, even coming to an idea to trade pitcher Scott Elarton, shortstop Julio Lugo and outfielder Richard Hidalgo to Toronto, but it fizzled out.

In nine seasons at the helm of general manager from 1996 to 2004, the Astros would go 793-665 under four managers in Terry Collins, Larry Dierker, Jimy Williams, and Phil Garner whole having a payroll generally out of the top ten in the majors. They would make the playoffs five times (including four division titles in a span of five seasons, all under Dierker), with just one season finishing under .500. In the playoffs, success was less forthcoming, as they lost in the first round each of the first four times. Billy Wagner had criticized the team (specifically ownership) in 2003 for not building a team worthy for the playoffs (owing from owner Drayton McLane trying to save money) and found himself traded after the year had ended. In 2004, however, things swung in the way of the Astros. It did not start out with the best of beginnings, as manager Jimy Williams would be fired after winning half of the team's first 88 games. A trade on June 24 between the Astros and two other teams gained them the services of Carlos Beltran, who would hit 23 home runs. Spurred on by the arrival of Phil Garner as manager, he would lead them on a hot streak that included winning 36 out of the last 46 games to finish 92-70 and sneak into the playoffs as a Wild Card team by one game. That year, Clemens would win the Cy Young Award (his seventh all-time) while Beltran tied the record for most home runs hit in a postseason with eight. The Astros would fall one win short of making the World Series, but Hunsicker's nucleus of players had reached a level that the Astros had not managed to reach before. He would step down as the GM for the Astros after the 2004 season, whereupon Tim Purpura would replace him. Reportedly, he resigned due to being tired of McLane's influences on team management, and it was believed that McLane was jealous of Hunsicker getting credit for the success of the team, which extended to Hunsicker being a friend to lower management, as he had to push for McLane to start a 401K retirement plan and have the team office remain closed between Christmas and New Year's Day. Hunsicker even interviewed for the New York Mets job in 2003 with McLane being close to letting him go before it came to a head at the end of the season, where Hunsicker went to him and said that he had enough.

He spent seven years with the Tampa Bay Rays as senior vice president, baseball operations and left that post to join the Dodgers front office in October 2012. Hunsicker advised Andrew Friedman with the Rays, and he was reunited with Friedman when he was named the Dodgers' president of baseball operations in October 2014.

Legacy
Hunsicker is the longest-lasting general manager of the Astros. That year, led by Oswalt, Berkman, Clemens and various Astros acquired by Hunsicker, they advanced all the way to winning the National League pennant and advanced to the World Series (where they lost in four games).

In 2005, he was recognized by FIU as one of its outstanding alumni. He received his bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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

title: Gerry Hunsicker


text:
Sanghi Temple

Sanghi Temple, which is said to be the replica of Tirumala temple is located at Sanghi Nagar in Telangana in India, is about 35 km from Hyderabad city.

The sacred Raja Gopuram, which is very tall, can be seen from several kilometers away.

The temple is located on the top of Paramanand Giri hill, which attracts a number of devotees.

The temple is managed by Mrs Anita Sanghi of the Sanghi Family.

title: Sanghi Temple


text: Category:Bignoniaceae

title: Category:Bignoniaceae


text:
TTO

TTO may refer to:
 * Time-trade-off
 * Trinidad and Tobago, by ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 and IOC codes
 * Tactical Technology Office, a division of DARPA
 * Technology Transfer Office
 * Toontown Online, massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Disney
 * Transtrachreal oxygen, as used during Jet ventilation
 * Trailing throttle oversteer, also known as lift-off oversteer
 * Twist-to-open razor, a type of safety razor (see mention under Gillette (brand))
 * Triple tibial osteotomy

title: TTO


text: User talk:80.177.25.108

title: User talk:80.177.25.108


text:
Free Wheelchair Mission

The Free Wheelchair Mission is an international faith-based nonprofit, humanitarian organization providing wheelchairs for people with disabilities in developing nations who do not have the resources to obtain one, of whom the World Health Organization estimates number over 70 million.

Impact
The Free Wheelchair Mission has given away over 1.3 million wheelchairs to people in need in over 94 countries.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, this organization was founded by Dr. Don Schoendorfer, who has a PhD in biomedical engineering from MIT and owns over 60 patents. In 2008, Schoendorfer was awarded the civilian Above and Beyond Medal of Honor by retired General Colin Powell at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Other awards received by the organization and/or its founder include the CLASSY Award for Health and Well-being in 2012; the US House of Representatives Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition in 2010; the White House Faith-Based Initiatives “Portraits of Compassion- International Service” in 2008; the White House Call to Service Award in 2007; a Proclamation from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2007; the Entrepreneur Dream Award from Loyola Marymount University in 2006; a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Assembly in 2006; and the Top Orange County Nonprofit by OC Coast Magazine Community Awards in 2014.

Working in partnership with other like-minded groups, Free Wheelchair Mission has distributed wheelchairs in over 94 developing countries around the world, delivering its one-millionth wheelchair in mid-2017.

Funding for the wheelchairs are provided by private and public donations including individuals, groups, corporations, churches, universities, and foundations. To save on costs and ensure quality control, the wheelchairs are shipped from the factory by the container and assembled by pre-approved distribution partners in recipient countries, which will then be distributed and given to recipients.

Miracle Wheels Book
On December 6, 2022, Founder, Dr. Don Schoendorfer released a book entitled Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World. In it Schoendorfer shares the story behind the “miracle wheels” that have transformed the lives of more than 1.3 million people living with disabilities across 94 developing countries.

Wheelchairs
Free Wheelchair Mission wheelchairs include the GEN_1 wheelchair, the original design; the GEN_2 wheelchair, a more customized fit that received FDA clearance in 2012; and the GEN_3 wheelchair, a foldable version of the GEN_2 for ease in transportation and storage that received FDA clearance in 2013.

GEN_1 made headlines for its simple yet revolutionary retrofitting of a white plastic chair into a multipurpose mobility tool for the less-abled. The design features a standard white resin lawn chair that is positioned and fastened to a steel frame, with two mountain bike tires serving as the wheels. Schoendorfer described it as a “one-size-fits-all” model.

The GEN_2 and GEN_3 come in four sizes: small, medium, large, and extra-large, and can be appropriately adjusted to fit each recipient.

Recognition
In August 2019, the organization was featured by Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, on their Instagram feed along with other organizations including the Earth Day Network and BlinkNow Foundation.

title: Free Wheelchair Mission


text:
Talk:The Black Mass

Initial material
(moved from article)

Original contributor Max notes: I am going to try to contact someone who worked on the series with Erik Bauersfeld; if I get anything more on the series, I'll post it here.

PACIFICA PROGRAM SERVICE AND RADIO ARCHIVES 3729 Cahuenga Blvd. West North Hollywood, CA 91604 (818) 506-1077

If Max wishes to get in touch with me, I was the technical producer of virtually all of these programs.

John Whiting <john@whitings-writings.com.

Dates?
I said these were produced in the 1960s because one of the tapes was dated in that decade. Can we be more specific? While we're at it: what genre was this in? What is its significance? RJFJR 16:51, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

 might be of some help BenjaS 06:22, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

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

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

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

BetacommandBot (talk) 14:47, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:The Black Mass


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/History of Dharmasastra (P.V. Kane)

 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 to keep the article. =Nichalp  «Talk»=  08:20, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

History of Dharmasastra (P.V. Kane)
Verbatim copy from sections of Pandurang Vaman Kane and an unnecessary duplication as the articles have the same content while the titles suggest difference. btw, I am the original author of Pandurang Vaman Kane-- Gurubrahma 16:52, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Comment: I think important books like this one should have their own article. This is at least the way it is done in other author-articles. --Machaon 17:17, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Agree with Machaon and I think that means keep Tintin 22:49, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Comment: An article should add value - if I follow the link to the book from Pandurang Vaman Kane, I'd find it a duplication of material well placed in the Kane article. Either the info about the book should be expanded or it should be made a re-direct to Pandurang Vaman Kane. Also, it may be pertinent to point out that Machaon is the author of the Afd. --Gurubrahma 06:13, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep: This article is about a book by a particular author, who also has an independent article in wikipedia. Here, the issue is duplication of some texts from the article about the writer. In my opinion, to begin a stub, sometimes such duplication/ same contents with minor changes would be inevitable. This has perhaps happened in this instance. Over a period of time, other editors shall surely add relevant materials and this page shall continue to grow and the contents shall have further value addition. As such, there appears no justification to delete this page on the ground of duplication of contents. The contents should be allowed to mature. I am not sure, but I may add that the page may be moved to a page name 'History of Dharmasastra, book' or something similar. --Bhadani 09:46, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Hm. Yes, keep - and definitely renamed, so as to distinguish the history of Dharmasastra from the History of Dharmasastra. DS 16:53, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

 * keep and definitely rename - sorry for listing the article on afd. Now I am clear about the purpose of having an article on the book as well. would edit both the pages on the book and the author significantly by the end of this month to reduce unnecessary duplication. Pls suggest a better re-name (am thinking of ---(book)). Hope this serves as a lesson to me before crying wolf on Afd in future. --Gurubrahma 06:04, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I think the present title of the article would also be ok. See for example Shakespeare (Anthony Burgess), Civil Disobedience (Thoreau), Confessions (Jean-Jacques Rousseau). But it could of course as well be called "History of Dharmasastra (book)" or "History of Darmasastra - Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India". --Machaon 10:20, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


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Gave de Pau

The Gave de Pau is a river of south-western France. It takes its name from the city of Pau, through which it flows. The river is 181.3 km long (190.7 km including the Gaves réunis), and although its source is considered to be on the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees mountains waters feed it from the slopes of Monte Perdido in Spain. From the Lago Helado on the slopes of Perdido water works through a cave system to emerge from the Resurgence Brulle via the Grotte Devaux on the French side of the border. The Gave de Pau joins the Gave d'Oloron in Peyrehorade to form the about 9 km long Gaves réunis (united Gaves), which is a left tributary of the Adour. The Gaves réunis is often considered to be part of the Gave de Pau.

Its main tributaries are the Béez, the Néez, the Ouzoum and the Ousse.

The Gave de Pau flows through the following départements and towns:

 * Hautes-Pyrénées: Argelès-Gazost, Lourdes.
 * Pyrénées-Atlantiques: Pau, Orthez.
 * Landes: Peyrehorade.

title: Gave de Pau


text:
Barnt Green Cricket Club

The Barnt Green Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club in Barnt Green, near Bromsgrove in North Worcestershire. The club are fortunate enough to own two grounds in close proximity to one another and have both artificial and grass practice areas. The 1st XI and 2nd XIs currently play in the Worcestershire County Cricket League and Birmingham and District Premier League. The 3rd and 4th XIs play in the Worcestershire County Cricket League. They were the last club to be invited into the Old Birmingham League set-up before the pyramid system was introduced, replacing Mitchells and Butlers Cricket Club, and won the Division 1 title in their first season, in 1995. They also won the Division 1 title in 1997, and the Premier Division title (after the introduction of the pyramid system in 1999) in 2005 and 2011. They were runners-up in the ECB National Club Cricket Championship in 2002 and 2005. They play their home games at Cherry Hill Road, Barnt Green, which is also used by Worcestershire County Cricket Club 2nd XI. Former internationals who have played for the club include Grant Flower, Richard Illingworth, Dougie Brown and Gus Mackay.

In 2016 the boys U15 team appeared in the ECB National Club championships final. They were successful in beating St Cross Symondians CC by 107 runs to clinch the trophy for the first time in the club's history.

title: Barnt Green Cricket Club


text: User talk:70.246.87.208

title: User talk:70.246.87.208


text:
B0

B0 may refer to:
 * B0, a net magnetisation vector in medical imaging
 * La Compagnie, a French airline (IATA code B0)
 * Neutral B meson (B0)
 * Pininfarina B0, an electric car
 * B0, an ISO 216 paper size
 * B-0, the original name for the FLOW-MATIC data processing language
 * B0 star, a subclass of B-class stars

title: B0


text: User talk:81.86.117.120

title: User talk:81.86.117.120


text:
User talk:Mother's Truck Shop

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! , SqueakBox 16:55, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Woody Guthrie Quote.
Thanks for your interest in the Woody Guthrie site. Please don't correct the idiomatic speech of Woody Guthrie is his quote on that page. If you google that exact quote as it was prior to your revision you will find that he wrote it that way. He probably wrote it that way to convey meaning as he was a mon of dust bowl Oklahoma. Changing it would be something akin to changing the spelling in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. thanks!   [http://www.airmedia.org/airspace/fall04/j_campbell.shtml ]--Gaff talk  08:07, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mother's Truck Shop


text:
Bell X1 (band)

Bell X1 are an Irish rock band from County Kildare. The group consists of Paul Noonan (lead vocals, guitar, percussion, keys), David Geraghty (guitar, vocals, keys, percussion, banjo, piano, harmonica) and Dominic Phillips (bass, vocals).

They have performed on the Late Show with David Letterman and their music also has appeared in popular drama series such as the TV series Grey's Anatomy and The OC.

Bell X1 are known for regular changes in sound from album to album, their range taking in alternative, indie, hard rock, post-punk, acoustic, lo-fi, folk rock, ballad, pop, synth-pop, new wave and electronica. They have been compared to The Blue Nile, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Coldplay, U2, Animal Collective, Elbow and Talk Talk.

Juniper
The trio began life as members of the alternative rock band Juniper, along with former Bell X1 member Brian Crosby and singer-songwriter Damien Rice. The quintet had garnered a level of interest in the Irish music press and had built up a live following. In 1998, having signed a multi-album deal with PolyGram and releasing two top-20 singles, Rice quit the band just as Juniper were preparing to record their debut LP in France.

With a body of songs already accumulated, the remaining four members decided to continue, with Noonan swapping drums for vocals and Paul "Binzer" Brennan coming in on percussion duties. The name Bell X1 was adopted after Noonan had read Tom Wolfe's 1979 non-fiction book The Right Stuff in which the aircraft of the same name makes history by breaking the sound barrier.

Neither Am I
Juniper's original contract with Polygram Ireland was moved to Island Records UK, and the band released their debut LP, Neither Am I on 13 October 2000. It was preceded by the singles "Pinball Machine" and "Man On Mir", both of which would become live favourites. The album also featured two collaborations with Rice from the Juniper days, "Face" and "Volcano" (Rice would release his solo version of the latter on his 2002 debut album, O). The album was produced by Nick Seymour of Crowded House in The Windings studio, Wales and mixed at Mute Records in London. It achieved gold sales in Ireland despite mixed reviews.

Music in Mouth
In late summer, 2001, the band decamped to Wexford to write songs for what would be their second LP. They entered Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, England in 2002 with producer Jamie Cullum and released Music In Mouth in July 2003 in Ireland and then the UK on Island. Singles released from the album included "Snakes & Snakes", "White Water Song", "Tongue", "Next To You", "Alphabet Soup" and "Eve, The Apple of My Eye", four of which went top-40 in the Irish charts. The album went double platinum in Ireland.

Taking its title from a line in the poem "The Planter's Daughter" by Austin Clarke, the album received positive reviews and the band began to perform support slots with Snow Patrol, Starsailor, Keane, Aqualung and Tom McRae.

John Meagher of the Irish Independent named Music In Mouth the fourth best Irish album of the 2000s and the 30th best of all time, while RTÉ's Harry Guerin described it as a band "pushing themselves in different directions and coming up with a joy and sadness that prove as contagious as each other [...] a band thinking outside the a, b, c of guitar rock". Hot Press magazine described the record as "more unified, distinctive and cohesive" offering than Neither Am I that showcased the band's "multiple directions", while Entertainment.ie claimed that the album should see Bell X1 at the forefront of a new Dublin rock movement.

Two tracks from the album, "In Every Sunflower" and "Eve, The Apple of My Eye" were used in the TV drama The OC. The latter soundtracked a lesbian kiss between Olivia Wilde and Mischa Barton and was selected for inclusion on the compilation The OC Mix 4. Looking to capitalise on this, the band played their first ever US shows in New York's Mercury Lounge and the Viper Room in Los Angeles in 2003. 2004 also saw Bell X1 open for former bandmate Damien Rice on one of the singer-songwriter's New York dates.

Flock
Summer 2004 saw Bell X1 return to Wexford on the South-east of Ireland to commence writing on what would become their third long-player, Flock. Following a headline show in Dublin's Olympia Theatre in December 2004, the band entered Dublin's Westland Studios in early 2005 to record with producer Roger Bechirian and engineer Phil Hayes. In June of that year, the band recorded a live session for Nic Harcourt's Morning Becomes Eclectic radio show on KCRW in Los Angeles.

"Bigger Than Me" was the first single to be taken from the album and went to No.16 in Ireland in September 2005. It was followed on 14 October by the release of Flock itself. It went straight to No.1 in the album charts in Ireland where it would go on to sell five-times platinum.

The album was met with largely positive reviews. On Metacritic it holds a score of 72 out of 100. The Boston Globe deemed that the record displayed the group's "musicality and charm", while RTÉ's Kate Moten described the album as "an accomplished collection from a clever and inventive band, whose talent deserves heapings of praise".

Following a sold-out performance in Dublin's 5,000-capacity RDS Main Hall on 31 January 2006, the band released "Flame", which entered the Irish singles charts at No.12 that March. George Whyte of the Irish Independent reported that Bell X1 "received a more passionate welcome than anyone else" during their Main Stage appearance at Oxegen music festival that summer. The third and final single to be lifted from Flock was "Rocky Took A Lover", the song having become a highlight of the Bell X1’s live setlist. Both songs remain on heavy rotation on Irish radio to this day.

Flock was subsequently released in Europe and the US in Spring 2008, the latter territory given a rejigged tracklist that incorporated "Eve, The Apple Of My Eye" in order to springboard the band to wider attention stateside.

Tour De Flock and departure of Brian Crosby
In February 2007, Bell X1 parted company with Island Records after the UK label's roster was affected by mergers and buyouts. Although Island offered the group a new deal after Flock, Bell X1 opted to go independent and release records through their own BellyUp label. In June 2007, to coincide with becoming the first Irish act to headline Dublin's Malahide Castle, the group put out Tour de Flock, a two-disc concert album and live DVD of Bell X1’s sold-out Point Theatre homecoming show the previous December. The band rounded off 2007 by playing the Other Voices festival.

On 15 March 2008, while on tour in the US, the band's tour bus burst into flames outside their hotel in Medford, Massachusetts. Noonan and Geraghty were on board the vehicle alongside their manager and a friend. Fire fighters were called to the scene shortly after 3:30am and spent 90 minutes fighting the blaze which had caused an estimated $50,000 worth of damage. The band and crew were able to get all equipment and instruments off the vehicle undamaged. After sourcing a replacement vehicle, the band travelled to New York City where they played a sell-out show in the Bowery Ballroom, followed by a performance of "Rocky Took A Lover" on the Late Show with David Letterman. Other North American television appearances during that Spring 2008 tour included MTV Canada, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Bell X1 would return to North America for a fourth time in 2008 as special guests of Canadian indie act Stars on their September tour. Shortly afterwards, in October, founding member Brian Crosby announced that he was parting ways with the band to pursue a career as a producer and film composer. In a statement, Crosby said: "It's been an extraordinary privilege to be in a band with your mates for more than 15 years. I'm really grateful for everything I got to do with Bell X1, for all the adventures we had and for the great support of our fans. It's been particularly wonderful to have connected with so many people and to have got to meet people all over the world doing what I love. I look forward to continue making those connections. At the same time I'll be applauding the boys continued success." His final show with Bell X1 was the closing night of the Flock tour in October 2008.

Blue Lights on the Runway
Having undergone such significant changes, the band wanted to regroup after coming out of a "speed wobble". In late 2008, they decamped to Ballycumber House, Offaly in the midlands of Ireland for pre-production on what would be their fourth LP and their first studio release on their own independent label. Touring drummer Tim O'Donovan accompanied them as did engineer Phil Hayes. Noonan and Geraghty set out to write traditionally on guitar and piano and then "dress" the songs in beats and electronic flourishes. A digital guitar known as a Casio DG-20 was acquired prior to song-writing sessions for the album and Noonan attributes this to the album's "playful" and "goofy" nature. Self-produced by the band, Blue Lights On the Runway was recorded in Ballycumber House and mixed by Phil Hayes.

Ahead of the LP hitting shelves, Bell X1 put out a lead single in the form of "The Great Defector" on 30 January 2009 (3 February in the US and UK). Peaking at No.3 in the Irish charts as well as going Top 10 in the US AAA Radio charts, the song remains the band's most enduring radio hit to this day.

Blue Lights On the Runway was released in Ireland on 20 February 2009, and in the US on 3 March. It went straight to No.1 in the Irish album charts and went Top 20 stateside in the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart. The record received generally favourable reviews both sides of the Atlantic and holds a Metacritic aggregate rating of 73/100. Billboard described the album as having "cold, wonderous Radiohead-esque moments within a warmer sound all their own" while NPR praised the record's "artfully constructed songs and offbeat lyrics". PopMatters described the album as "delicate", "expansive" and Bell X1’s best work to date. The album was nominated for the Choice Music Prize that year.

Within weeks of each other, the band had performed "The Great Defector" on two primetime late-night chat shows in both Ireland (Tubridy Tonight) and the US (a return visit to The Late Show With David Letterman). Letterman hailed the song as "fantastic" afterwards. Irish Independent journalist Eamon Sweeney described the song as "the best thing on the airwaves at the moment". "The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella", the second single to be taken from Blue Lights On The Runway, was later released.

With Marc Aubele replacing Crosby on keys and Rory Doyle on drums, the band toured heavily in promotion of the new record, with arena shows at Summer festivals in Europe including Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, Spain, Electric Picnic, Ireland and Live at The Marquee, Cork, Ireland. The band also supported U2 on the last show of their three-night residency in Dublin's Croke Park. After some dates in the US at the end of the Summer – including the Austin City Limits Festival – the band returned to Ireland for two sell-out homecoming shows in Dublin's Olympia Theatre as well as a live session at Other Voices (broadcast in early 2010).

Bloodless Coup
In Summer 2010, the band went into a rehearsal room in preparation for recording their fifth studio album. Marc Aubele and Rory Doyle now completed the line-up, something the band has credited with making writing sessions more streamlined. Bloodless Coup was recorded in Grouse Lodge studios in Ireland with Rob Kirwan (Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey, Hozier), a longtime friend of the band from the Juniper days. It was recorded mostly live with some minimal overdubbing.

Noonan's lyrics were once again a talking point of the new record. Members of the band had recently begun families while at the same time seeing friends losing their own parents, a theme touched upon in "Built To Last", "Nightwatchmen" and "74 swans". Songs like "Sugar High" as well as the very album title itself, meanwhile, saw Noonan reflect on the perversities and injustices of the harsh economic downturn that had recently hit Ireland. In his four-star review in the Irish Independent, John Meagher praised Bell X1 for being one of the few bands to lyrically tackle the "turbulent, uncertain times".

The album was released on 1 April 2011. Ahead of its release, Bell X1 released the track "Hey Anna Lena" on 18 January before an official single, "Velcro", on 1 March. The album received mixed reviews with a Metacritic score of 58/100 based on reviews from 5 critics. State called the LP "an emphatic return to form", commenting that the band sounded "rejuvenated". Entertainment.ie noted that it felt as if the band were "hungering for something new" on the record, and that they deserved kudos for "refusing to make music for anyone but themselves". The feeling was echoed by a review on Addict Music that felt the music on Bloodless Coup was "hinting at a new direction". The Sunday Times named Bloodless Coup its CD of The Week in a 5 star review, while the Boston Herald gave the record an "A" grading, calling the songwriting and playing "superb".

On 5 April, NPR recorded a special live concert by the group at Dublin's Guinness Storehouse before 27 May saw the band play a rooftop set at Facebook's European HQ in Dublin in the presence of founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Besides extensive touring in Europe and the US, Bell X1 played headline shows that year in Marlay Park, Galway Arts Festival and Cork's Live At The Marquee. The band added a date at Dublin's Olympia Theatre to their winter tour in order to stage a benefit concert for homeless charity Capuchin Day Centre. It was reported that the show raised €20,285 and that the centre received a further €225,000 due to the awareness raised.

Field Recordings
In early May 2012, Bell X1 announced that they would be releasing a two-disc collection of 21 live acoustic tracks and tour photographs entitled Field Recordings. The audio-visual compendium was captured by the band's long-time engineer Phil Hayes, and taken from shows both in Europe as well as North America where the band had stripped their arrangements down to guitars, piano and an iPod. The release, which featured tracks from across their entire catalogue, was only made available via the group's webstore.

Hot Press magazine praised the album, calling it "an essential purchase for both fans and newcomers alike… It reminds you once again just what a great songwriter Paul Noonan is, with his carefully crafted miniatures about love and life." Like Hot Press, State awarded it four stars, calling it "a keeper for die-hard fans and a great introduction for the new ones".

Chop Chop
Summer of 2012 saw Bell X1 convene in Geraghty's home studio to demo a new batch of songs for what would become the group's sixth studio LP. Unlike Bloodless Coup, there was no overarching thematic thread to Noonan's lyrics this time but the song "A Thousand Little Downers" did touch on some of the social commentary themes found in the previous record.

On 8 January 2013, RTÉ reported that the band had begun work on a new album at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut with producer Peter Katis (The National) and composer and producer Thomas Bartlett (The Gloaming, Sufjan Stevens, Martha Wainwright). The trio found themselves energised by the approach of Katis and Bartlett, resulting in a recording process that took just two weeks.

Chop Chop was released on 28 June 2013 and premiered at a sell-out date at Dublin's National Concert Hall the following night. It became the third Bell X1 LP to enter the Irish charts at No.1 and is among the best reviewed studio album releases in the band's career, holding a 76/100 score on review aggregation website Metacritic, based on reviews from 7 critics. Writing in Mojo, James McNair praised the record's "zest and focus", while the Independent on Sunday deemed it "Funny, sad, perfect". Q Magazine gave the album three stars, conceding that "the more you ignore Bell X1, it seems, the better they get".

Back in Ireland, music journalist Tony Clayton Lea, reviewing in the Irish Times, said Chop Chop was the best album of Bell X1’s career to date. Hot Press magazine said that the band's back-to-basics approach on the new record had yielded "powerful results". It was the fourth Bell X1 album to be nominated for the Choice Music Prize for album of the year.

To connect with their audience while promoting the release in Ireland, the band opened "Pop-up shops" at 10 different venues on the tour where fans could access vouchers to attend special acoustic sets. There was a special promotional chopping board issued to launch the album. The band toured the new record extensively both in Europe and North America, as well as embarking on their first ever tour of Australia in summer 2014. In 2015, Bell X1 supported Ed Sheeran on both nights at massive Croke Park Shows in Dublin.

Arms
While Chop Chop took two weeks to record, making a follow-up record would take two years. In late 2014/early 2015, the band assembled in Geraghty's home studio once more to write and demo new material before relocating to the Donegal studio of producer Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers, Soak) to record. The trio, however, were not satisfied with the overall shape of the record and road testing the material on live dates revealed that some tracks needed to be re-approached. The original release date of summer 2015 was scrapped.

Seeking to make something "looser" in structure and more "unhinged" to their previous records, the band chose not to record to a click track for a lot of the songs, believing that the irregular tempos and imperfections would have more resonance with listeners.

It would be 14 October 2016 before Arms, Bell X1’s seventh album, would be released and enter the Irish album charts at No.2. The album received universal acclaim and holds a Metascore of 81/100 on the music aggregate site Metacritic. Talia Schlangar of NPR called the record "bright, thoughtful and gracefully rough around the edges…". Mojo said Arms was "a humane and typically eclectic affair with winning flashes of eccentricity". The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Hozier, meanwhile, described lead single "The Upswing" as "new beautiful greatness".

Some commentators picked up on a sense of solace and ease in Noonan's lyrics, with Brynn Davies of The Music commenting that the album was "elegantly melancholy, reflecting the determination, optimism and bittersweet musings of a band finding wisdom in the next stages of their lives and careers". In its review of the album, Hot Press magazine noted that "The Upswing" (released as single four months ahead of Arms) was "Bell X1 at their melancholic moodiest, but still optimistic and hopeful", while "I'll Go Where You Go" was addressing the concerns of being a touring musician and parent at the same time.

The band returned to Australia in December 2016 for a three-date mini-tour before bringing Arms to the US for a string of live shows in February 2017. Following a headline outdoor show in Dublin's Trinity College in July, the band embarked on a 20-date European tour supporting Tori Amos.

20th Anniversary shows
In 2018, Bell X1 played a series of gigs marking their 20th anniversary across Ireland. This included a five-night residency in Dublin's Vicar Street 21–25 March 2018, with the first three nights featuring a classic album played in full – Neither Am I, Music In Mouth and Flock – and the final two comprising a greatest hits set and an acoustic evening, respectively. All five nights quickly sold out. There were also greatest hits shows in both King John's Castle, Limerick in May and Live At The Marquee, Cork in June of the same year.

In August 2018, the band concluded their "Bandiversary year" with two shows at Dublin's National Concert Hall on 28 and 29 November. The shows featured string accompaniment from Dowry Strings (Éna Brennan), with whom Bell X1 had performed earlier in the year at an event in aid of Aware.

In 2019, they played two January dates in the band's beloved Union Chapel in London, one of which sold out immediately. Following this, the group embarked on a nine-date February tour of Ireland which, like the November shows, would be "Acoustic-ish" performances with Dowry Strings again providing accompaniment.

They played a headline outdoor show at King John's Castle in July 2019 in the full-band format, as well as a major date at the Galway Arts Festival.

The Acoustic-ish with Dowry Strings Tour 2020 dates were released in November 2019 for the following summer across Ireland and the UK but were postponed due to COVID-19. In May 2020, Bell X1 announced the rescheduled tour dates from January 2021 for the gigs on their official website.

Lyrics and style
Noonan's lyrical style has been described as being confessional, occasionally bemusing, and incorporating aphorisms and colloquialisms. Thematically, he is known to cover a wide variety of subject matter. The unconventional nature of Noonan's lyrics is regarded as a signature feature of Bell X1's music. Noonan has also said in the past that most Bell X1 songs are lyrically driven during development stage rather than musically driven. Although the group has never categorised themselves as "Irish rock", lyrically Noonan has often woven in elements from everyday Irish life into songs, from the changing economic fortunes of Ireland during the Celtic Tiger era and subsequent recession, to a popular Irish ice-cream known as a Cornetto.

Noonan has also expressed a growing interest in prose writing. The singer revealed that he has written some short stories. He has described himself as a big fan of the Irish writer John McGahern.

The BBC has described Bell X1's music as "remarkably warm — as if imported from the Caribbean via Dublin City".

Side projects and solo work
David Geraghty has released two solo albums under his own name. His solo debut, Kill Your Darlings, was nominated for the 2007 Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year. More recently, Geraghty has composed music for film and television, including the Oscar-nominated short The Crush, and You're Ugly Too, which was selected for the 2015 Berlinale. He has a website for this film score work here. davidgeraghtymusic.

Since 2014, David has been releasing music under the Moniker Join Me in the Pines. 2014 saw the release of "Inherit" and in 2019 "Monomania" was released.

Over the years, Paul Noonan has appeared on a number of side projects and as a guest musician (usually percussion and vocals) for fellow artists such as Cathy Davey and Gemma Hayes. Since 2011, Noonan has curated a solo project called Printer Clips which took the form of collaborations on original material with a range of female artists. In May 2014, a self-titled debut album was released featuring collaborations with Joan As Policewoman, Martha Wainwright, Gemma Hayes, Amy Millan, Julia Stone, Lisa Hannigan, Danielle Harrison, Cathy Davey, Maria Doyle Kennedy and fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. In July 2017, Noonan announced solo dates across Ireland performing new material as well as songs from Bell X1 and Printer Clips.

The band and individual members have been involved in several charitable endeavours, including the recording of The Cake Sale, a collaborative compilation spearheaded by former Bell X1 founding member Brian Crosby. David Geraghty wrote the opening track "Last Leaf", which was sung by Lisa Hannigan. This song also features on Geraghty's debut solo album but under the title "Long Time Running". Another song from the Cake Sake – "Some Surprise", features Noonan and Lisa Hannigan – and it appeared on an episode of Grey's Anatomy in November 2007.

Bell X1 also contributed a track called "No Retreat, No Surrender" to the Sparks n' Mind charity compilation in aid of the Irish group Aware.

Current

 * Paul Noonan – vocals; guitar; drums; percussion; kazoo
 * David Geraghty – vocals: guitar; drums: banjo; piano; keyboards: harmonica
 * Dominic Philips – bass guitar; vocals

Live

 * Bill Blackmore – horns
 * Marc Aubele – guitar; keyboards (2008–present)
 * Rory Doyle – drums (2008–present)
 * Glenn Keating – keyboards (2014–present)

Former

 * Brian Crosby – guitar; keyboards; vocals (1999–2008)
 * Tim O'Donovan – drums

Discography

 * Neither Am I (2000)
 * Music in Mouth (2003)
 * Flock (2005)
 * Tour De Flock (2007)
 * Blue Lights on the Runway (2009)
 * Bloodless Coup (2011)
 * Field Recordings (2012)
 * Chop Chop (2013)
 * Arms (2016)
 *  Merciful Hour  (2023)

Choice Music Prize
Bell X1's third album Flock was nominated for the 2005 Choice Music Prize. Although considered the favourite, it did not emerge as the winner on the night, with Julie Feeney's 13 Songs taking the award.

Fourth album Blue Lights on the Runway was nominated for the 2009 Choice Music Prize. It lost out to The Season of the Sparks by Irish singer-songwriter Adrian Crowley.

Bloodless Coup, Bell X1's fifth LP, was nominated for the 2011 prize, but was a runner-up to Ocean of Frequency by Jape.

"Chop Chop" was nominated for the 2013 Choice Music Prize, the eventual prize for Album of the Year going to Villagers for Awayland. Villagers were a support act for Bell X1 on their 2009 UK tour.

 * 2006 || Flock || Irish Album of the Year 2005 || Nominated
 * 2010 || Blue Lights on the Runway || Irish Album of the Year 2009 || Nominated
 * 2012 || Bloodless Coup || Irish Album of the Year 2011 || Nominated
 * 2014 || Chop Chop || Irish Album of the Year 2013 || Nominated
 * 2012 || Bloodless Coup || Irish Album of the Year 2011 || Nominated
 * 2014 || Chop Chop || Irish Album of the Year 2013 || Nominated
 * 2014 || Chop Chop || Irish Album of the Year 2013 || Nominated
 * 2014 || Chop Chop || Irish Album of the Year 2013 || Nominated

Meteor Music Awards
Bell X1 have been nominated for several Meteor Music Awards. They were nominated in the Best Irish Band category and Music in Mouth was nominated in the Best Irish Album category at the 2004 Meteor Awards. They were again nominated in the Best Irish Band category at the 2005 Meteor Awards.

They were nominated in three categories at the 2010 Meteor Awards: Best Irish Album, Best Irish Band and Best Irish Live Performance.

In addition, the band have performed at the 2005 Meteor Awards on 24 February 2005 and at the 2006 Meteor Awards on 2 February 2006.

 * 2004 || Music in Mouth || Best Irish Album || Nominated
 * 2004 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Band || Nominated
 * 2005 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Band || Nominated
 * 2010 || Blue Lights on the Runway || Best Irish Album || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Band || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Live Performance || Nominated
 * 2010 || Blue Lights on the Runway || Best Irish Album || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Band || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Live Performance || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Band || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Live Performance || Nominated
 * 2010 || Bell X1 || Best Irish Live Performance || Nominated

title: Bell X1 (band)


text:
Mandate (trade union)

Mandate is a trade union representing retail, administrative and distributive workers in Ireland.

The union was founded in 1994, when the Irish Distributive and Administrative Trade Union merged with the Irish National Union of Vintners', Grocers' and Allied Trades Assistants. The merger was criticised by some members because the word "union" was not contained in the title. Later, the union was renamed "Mandate Trade Union".

On formation, the union had 22,000 members, and this grew to 40,000 by 2005. Due to the turnover of staff in retail, at the time, it was recruiting around 16,000 members per year in order to maintain this level of total membership.

A new logo was designed in 2009.

In 2020 and 2021, Mandate members at Debenhams Ireland took part in a lengthy industrial dispute with their former employer, campaigning for four weeks' redundancy pay per year of service as had been agreed under a 2016 collective agreement.

General Secretaries

 * 1994: Owen Nulty
 * 2005: John Douglas
 * 2020: Gerry Light

2021 Jonathan Hogan Interim General Secretary

title: Mandate (trade union)


text:
TKM

TKM may refer to:

 * TKM (karting)
 * TKM (Polish term)
 * TKM Institute of Technology
 * Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering
 * Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu, a Congolese artist
 * Toyota Kirloskar Motor, a car maker
 * Tonne-kilometre, a unit of transportation measurement
 * Turkmenistan, by its IOC and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code

title: TKM


text:
Sad Lovers & Giants

Sad Lovers and Giants are an English rock band from Watford, Hertfordshire, England, which formed in 1980. Their sound blends post-punk, atmospheric keyboards and psychedelia.

History
The original lineup included vocalist Garçe (Simon) Allard, guitarist Tristan Garel-Funk, bassist Cliff Silver, drummer Nigel Pollard and keyboardist/saxophonist David Wood.

Following their debut EP Clé and the "Colourless Dream" single, both issued in 1981, they released their debut studio album, Epic Garden Music in 1982. It reached No. 21 in the UK Independent Albums Chart.

During this initial period they recorded a John Peel Session for the BBC, and a live concert for Radio Netherlands Worldwide in 1983 (later released as the album Total Sound in 1986). Live performances included headline dates at UK colleges and clubs with occasional trips to Europe, although they did support the Sound at a major London venue on the day that Epic Garden Music entered the chart. The singles "Lost in a Moment" (1982) and "Man of Straw" (1983) both made the UK Independent Singles Chart, reaching No. 48 and No. 31, respectively.

European interest in the band grew, and with the 1983 release of second album Feeding the Flame, they toured Germany and the Netherlands, gaining a dedicated fanbase. Tensions within the band caused a split, with Garel-Funk and Pollard leaving to form the Snake Corps.

During a hiatus, their label Midnight Music released the In the Breeze collection in 1984, which included one of their previously unreleased signature tunes, "Three Lines".

SL&G returned in 1987 with an updated line-up including original members Allard and Pollard along with newcomers Tony McGuinness (guitar), Juliet Sainsbury (keyboards) and Ian Gibson (bass), releasing a new album that year, The Mirror Test.

As interest abroad grew, the band performed extensively in the Netherlands, Spain and France, and headlined at the Marquee Club in London. Original bassist Silver returned, replacing Gibson, and they released a fourth studio album, Headland, in 1990.

After the 1991 release of Treehouse Poetry, Midnight Music folded and the band split once again, coming together occasionally for gigs supporting And Also the Trees at London's Marquee Club and Electric Ballroom.

E-mail from Eternity, a best-of compilation, was released by the record label Cherry Red in 1996, after the company picked up the Midnight catalogue.

In 2000, McGuinness formed progressive trance trio Above & Beyond with Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki, also initiating his electronic dance music labels Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep.

In 2002, Sad Lovers and Giants released their sixth album, Melting in the Fullness of Time on Voight-Kampff Records, recorded predominantly by Allard and McGuinness with studio contributions from Sainsbury, Snake Corps bassist Liam McGuinness, drummer Kevin Mathews, and two members of Lovebabies, vocalist Jenny Clark and guitarist Bob Bradley. They played two dates in Italy a year later.

Another reformed line-up (Allard, McGuinness, Pollard, Gibson) played in Italy and Greece in April 2009, coinciding with Cherry Red's rereleases of Feeding the Flame and Epic Garden Music. Keyboardist Will Hicks joined later in 2009.

During 2010, the band played a handful of live dates in Athens and Barcelona (supported by the Snake Corps and the Essence, both previous Midnight bands), reissued The Mirror Test, and recorded a new 7-inch double A-side single, "Himalaya". They played at the Purple Turtle in Camden in December 2011, which was their first London gig since the early 1990s. In 2012, they played gigs in Berlin and Salerno and began writing and recording new material for a future album.

An extensive interview feature on SLAG appeared in the autumn 2013 and spring 2014 issues of music magazine The Big Takeover.

In 2014, frontman Allard published an autobiography of the band, Things We Never Did – The Story of Sad Lovers and Giants.

In March 2016, Sad Lovers and Giants embarked on a short tour of North America, performing mainly on the West Coast. They made their U.S. live debut at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2017, Cherry Red issued a five-disc retrospective box set, Where the Light Shines Through 1981-2017.

On 31 October 2018, the band released their seventh studio album and first in 16 years, Mission Creep.

Albums

 * Epic Garden Music (1982, Midnight Music) UK Indie No. 21
 * Feeding the Flame (1983, Midnight Music)
 * The Mirror Test (1987, Midnight Music)
 * Headland (1990, Midnight Music)
 * Treehouse Poetry (1991, Midnight Music)
 * Melting in the Fullness of Time (2002, Voight-Kampff Records)
 * Mission Creep (2018, Voight-Kampff Records)

Singles and EPs

 * Clé 7-inch EP (1981, Last Movement)
 * Colourless Dream 7-inch single (1982, Last Movement)
 * Lost in a Moment 7-inch single (1982, Midnight Music) UK Indie No. 48
 * Man of Straw 7-inch/12-inch single (1983, Midnight Music) UK Indie No. 31
 * Seven Kinds of Sin 12-inch single (1987, Midnight Music)
 * White Russians 12-inch single (1987, Midnight Music)
 * Cow Boys 12-inch EP (1988, Midnight Music)
 * Sleep split 7-inch single with the Essence (1988, Midnight Music)
 * Clocks Go Backwards 12-inch EP (1990, Midnight Music)
 * Himalaya 7-inch single (2010, Voight-Kampff Records)
 * Copacetic - The Part Time Punks Session 12-inch EP (2016, Voight-Kampff Records)
 * Paradise (2018, Voight-Kampff Records)
 * Asylum Town (2020, Voight-Kampff Records)

Live albums

 * Total Sound (1986, Midnight Music)
 * La Dolce Vita (Live in Lausanne)  (1999, Voight-Kampff Records)

Compilation albums

 * In the Breeze (1984, Midnight Music)
 * Les Années Vertes (1988, Midnight Music)
 * E-Mail From Eternity - The Best of Sad Lovers and Giants  (1996, Anagram Records/Cherry Red Records)
 * Headland & Treehouse Poetry  (2001, Voight-Kampff Records)
 * Lost in a Sea Full of Sighs (2016, Dark Entries Records)
 * Where the Light Shines Through 1981-2017 box set (2017, Cherry Red Records)

authors: ಮಲ್ನಾಡಾಚ್ ಕೊಂಕ್ಣೊ

title: Sad Lovers & Giants


text:
Passé simple

The passé simple (, simple past, preterite, or past historic), also called the passé défini (, definite past), is the literary equivalent of the passé composé in the French language, used predominantly in formal writing (including history and literature) and formal speech. As with other preterites, it is used when the action has a definite beginning and end and has already been completed. In writing it is most often used for narration.

Constructing the passé simple
Even though the passé simple is a common French verb tense, used even in books for very young French children, it is usually not taught to foreigners until advanced French classes. The passé simple is most often formed by dropping the last two letters off the infinitive form of the verb and adding the appropriate ending.

The three main classes of French regular verbs (-er, -ir, -re) are conjugated in the passé simple tense in the following way:

Several common irregular verbs:

Many other irregular verbs are easily recognized because the passé simple often resembles the past participle. For example, il courut (he ran) is from courir, for which the past participle is couru. Some, however, are totally irregular. Naitre (to be born) has a past participle né and yet the passé simple is (for example) je naquis  (I was born).

How the passé simple is used
The passé simple is used to express:

 * an event or action, of long or short duration, that is complete, and over, but not necessarily remote in time:

Le Général de Gaulle vécut 80 ans.

General de Gaulle lived for eighty years.

En 1991, l'équipe de France de tennis gagna la coupe Davis.

In 1991, the French team won the Davis Cup.

 * a series of completed events, perceived as points in time:

'' ... l'image fut bonne ... cela parut pour son entourage l'essentiel ... on sentit tout de même ... son épouse lui fit signe de ... ''

... the impression was good ... that seemed to be the essential thing for his entourage ... they felt nevertheless ... his wife signalled to him to ...

 * in combination with and in contrast to the imperfect tense, which describes the background of the event or series of events:

''Puis, il tourna le robinet de l'évier, se lava les mains, s'essuya au linge accroché sous le grêle tuyau ... Et elle guettait ses moindres gestes ... ''

Then he turned on the tap, washed his hands, dried them on the towel hanging under the thin pipe. ... And she watched his slightest movement ...

Modern usage
While literary and refined language still uses the passé simple, the standard ordinary spoken language has renounced passé simple for the passé composé, which means that in spoken French, there is no longer a nuance between:

Passé composé ''« Je suis arrivé. »'' ("I have arrived." I have come to town. I may have just arrived.)

and

''Passé simple « J'arrivai. »'' ("I arrived." I came to town, but it is possible that I am not still here.)

Local usage
In modern spoken French, the passé simple has practically disappeared, but localised French has its own variations, like this sample from Langue d'oïl in the North of France where "mangea" is replaced by "mangit":

''« Malheureux comme le chien à Brisquet, qui n'allit qu'une fois au bois, et que le loup le mangit. »'' Unfortunate like Brisquet's dog, who went into the woods only once and whom the wolf ate.

In Canada, the passé simple continues to be used, at least more than in France.

In modern spoken French, the passé simple is used occasionally as a joke to make the sentence sound either snobbier or more refined, especially after the first or second person plural, which are rarely if ever used in contemporary French, even in writing.

title: Passé simple


text:
Canara Bank

Canara Bank is an Indian public sector bank based in Bangalore, India. Established in 1906 at Mangalore by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai. The bank was nationalized in 1969. Canara Bank also has offices in London, Dubai and New York.

History
Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist, established the Canara Hindu Permanent Fund in Mangalore, India, on 1 July 1906.

Canara Bank's first acquisition took place in 1961 when it acquired Bank of Kerala. This had been founded in September 1944 and at the time of its acquisition on 20 May 1961 had three branches. The second bank that Canara Bank acquired was Seasia Midland Bank (Alleppey), which had been established on 26 July 1930 and had seven branches at the time of its takeover.

In 1958, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered Canara Bank to acquire G. Raghumathmul Bank, in Hyderabad. This bank had been established in 1870, and had converted to a limited company in 1925. At the time of the acquisition G. Raghumathmul Bank had five branches. The merger took effect in 1961. Later in 1961, Canara Bank acquired Trivandrum Permanent Bank. This had been founded on 7 February 1899 and had 14 branches at the time of the merger.

Canara Bank acquired four banks in 1963: the Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank, Thrippunithura, Arnad Bank, Tiruchirapalli, Cochin Commercial Bank, Cochin, and Pandyan Bank, Madurai. Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank had been established on 21 February 1923 and at the time of its acquisition it had 14 branches. Arnad Bank had been established on 23 December 1942 and at the time of its acquisition had only one branch. Cochin Commercial Bank had been established on 3 January 1936, and at the time of its acquisition had 13 branches.

The Government of India nationalised Canara Bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks in India, on 19 July 1969. Karkala Pulkeri Janardhan Prabhu (KPJ Prabhu) served as chairman of the bank post nationalisation. In 1976, Canara Bank inaugurated its 1000th branch. In 1985, Canara Bank acquired Lakshmi Commercial Bank in a rescue.

In 1996, Canara Bank became the first Indian Bank to get ISO certification for "Total Branch Banking" for its Seshadripuram branch in Bangalore. Canara Bank has now stopped opting for ISO certification of branches.

On 30 August 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Syndicate Bank would be merged with Canara Bank. The proposed merger would create the fourth largest public sector bank in the country with total business of inr 15200000000000 and 10,324 branches. The Board of Directors of Canara Bank approved the merger on 13 September. The Union Cabinet approved the merger on 4 March 2020. The merger was completed on 1 April 2020 with Syndicate Bank shareholders receiving 158 equity shares in the former for every 1,000 shares they hold.

Shareholding
As of December 2023, the promoter holding at the bank is 62.93% and the public holding is 37.07%.

Overseas subsidiaries, branches and offices
Canara Bank established its international division in 1976. In 1983, Canara Bank opened its first overseas office, a branch in London. Two years later, Canara Bank established a subsidiary in Hong Kong, Indo Hong Kong International Finance. In 2008–9, Canara Bank opened its third foreign operation, this one a branch in Shanghai. Later Canara Bank established a branch each in Leicester and Bahrain, and converted its Hong Kong subsidiary into a branch.

Since 1983, Canara Bank has been responsible for the management of Eastern Exchange Co. WLL, Doha, Qatar, which Abdul Rahman M.M. Al Muftah established in 1979.

Subsidiary companies

 * Canfin Homes Limited (CFHL), with a network of 110 branches and 28 satellite offices throughout India
 * Canbank Factors Limited
 * Canbank Venture Capital Fund Limited
 * Canbank Computer Services Limited
 * Canara Bank Securities Limited
 * Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Limited
 * Canbank Financial Services Limited
 * Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited

Regional rural banks
Canara Bank sponsors four regional rural banks (RRB):
 * Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank
 * Kerala Gramin Bank – Its headquarters are at Malappuram and it operates in all districts in Kerala. It was established in 1976 as a Scheduled Commercial Bank.
 * Karnataka Gramin Bank has its headquarters at Bellary, Karnataka, and has 1119 branches spread over eleven districts.
 * Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank was constituted on 12 September 2005 after amalgamation of four Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) – Malaprabha Grameena Bank, Bijapur Grameena Bank, Varada Grameena Bank and Netravathi Grameena Banks – following the recommendations of the Narasimhan Committee.

Development projects
Canara Bank partnered with UNEP to initiate a solar loan program.

Empower
Canara Bank offers Unified Payment Interface (UPI) app named "empower". This app empowers Canara Bank and other Bank customers to perform pay and collect transactions using a single mobile app. On 19 November 2017, it launched Canarites (Candi) app, a digital library, a field recovery mobile app, a retail loan (vehicle) – tracking system, and a regulatory guidance tracking system.

On 7 May 2020, Bhanu Srivastav from Canara Bank, partnered with NGOs to donate all his royalty proceeds for the betterment of needy children. He is working at Canara Bank Head Office, in Human Resource Department and a bestselling author.

On 23 May 2020, Canara Bank announced credit support for borrowers affected by COVID-19 to enable them to avail the sanctioned facilities to the full extent and improve their business.

On 19 July 2020, Canara Bank announced to raise up to Rs 8,000 crore equity capital in Financial Year 2021 to strengthen capital base and to boost capital adequacy ratio in view of expansion plans. The Bank will seek nod from shareholders for the same in its AGM in August 2020.

Controversies
On 6 June 2018, the UK division of Canara Bank was fined £890,000 ($1.2 million) by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and was blocked from accepting new deposits for around five months for systematic anti-money laundering (AML) failures.

title: Canara Bank


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Coventry and North Warwickshire Sports Club

The Coventry and North Warwickshire Sports Club (CNWSC) (comprising, and formerly called, the Coventry and North Warwickshire Cricket Club (CNWCC), founded in 1851) is an amateur sports club in Coventry, England. Its 1st and 2nd cricket XIs were, as of 2014, in the Birmingham and District Premier League 2nd and 1st Divisions respectively. The cricket teams play their home games at the club's ground in Binley Road, Coventry. Collins Obuya played for the club in 2003. The England cricketer Ian Bell at one time played for the club.

The cricket ground was one of three venues historically used by Warwickshire County Cricket Club, which now plays solely at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham.

The sports club is a members' club, in which is also open to the public and provides facilities for other sports in addition to cricket, including tennis, netball, bridge, squash, racquetball and physical fitness training. It hosts a variety of events and sessions such as private salsa classes and baby sensory, these are all bookable through their own entities.

Notable members

 * Ian Bell (born 1982), England cricketer
 * John Collings, British and English bridge international
 * Martin Jones, British and English bridge international
 * Susan Norton (Stockdale), English bridge international and world champion
 * Gareth Roberts FRS, statistician and bridge player


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Extinction (band)

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was Keep (No consensus). --Ryan Delaney talk 02:25, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

Extinction (band)
No AllMusic entry, only album gets 171 google hits. Punkmorten 16:57, 1 October 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:
Second Great Fire of London

The Second Great Fire of London in December 1940 was caused by one of the most destructive air raids of the Blitz during World War II. The Luftwaffe raid caused fires over an area greater than that of the Great Fire of London in 1666, leading one American correspondent to say in a cable to his office that "The second Great Fire of London has begun". Fires started by the raid included an incendiary bomb that broke through the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, which was being guarded by a fire watch team at the behest of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Attack
On the night of 29–30 December 1940, approximately 100,000 (mostly small incendiary) bombs fell on the city. The Germans dispatched 136 bombers to the city. Fewer incendiaries were dropped than in the raids of 15 November or 8 December. The raid was focused on a part of the city that contained many non-residential buildings, such as churches, offices, and warehouses. Many of these were locked and were not covered by the Fire Watchers Order of September 1940, which applied to places of work with at least 30 employees, warehouses with an area of 50000 cuft and sawmills or timber yards with more than 50,000 cubic feet of timber.

Incendiary bombs were the main armament that night. Moderately small, at 12 x—each bomber was equipped with approximately 180 of them—the bombs carried magnesium and started fires. The raid saw 1,500 fires begin in the city.

Firefighting
Firefighters' efforts were hampered by a water shortage. The primary water-main in the City was bomb-fractured. Units trying to get water from other hydrants caused the water pressure to drop. Efforts to draw water from the River Thames were hampered by the low tide. The fire brigade's difficulties were further exacerbated by wind, combined with the concentrated area of the attack.

Twelve of the 160 people killed in the raid were firefighters, while 250 were injured.

Artist Leonard Rosoman was serving with the Auxiliary Fire Service on the night of the raid. While fighting a fire in Shoe Lane, Rosoman was relieved of his hose. Moments later a wall collapsed, burying the two firefighters working where Rosoman had just been. The moment haunted Rosoman for the rest of his life. He immortalised the scene in his painting A House Collapsing on Two Firemen, Shoe Lane, London, EC4. William Sansom, a friend of Rosoman's who would go on to become a novelist and travel writer, survived the incident. The fireman who relieved Rosoman of his hose was killed.

Sam Chauveau of the London Fire Brigade described the scene that faced the fire fighters:

"By the time we finished tackling the fires on the roof of the [Stock] Exchange, the sky, which was ebony black when we first got up there, was now changing to a yellowy orange colour. It looked like there was an enormous circle of fire, including St Paul's churchyard."

St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral and the immediate area was struck by 28 incendiary bombs. Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent the message that "St Paul's must be saved at all costs".

A famous photograph, St Paul's Survives, was taken from the roof of the Daily Mail building (Northcliffe House on Carmelite Street) by Herbert Mason. Mason was the chief photographer at the Daily Mail, and was on the roof firewatching when he took the picture. Mason described the moment he created the photograph:

"I focused at intervals as the great dome loomed up through the smoke... The glare of many fires and sweeping clouds of smoke kept hiding the shape. Then a wind sprang up. Suddenly, the shining cross, dome, and towers stood out like a symbol in the inferno. The scene was unbelievable. In that moment or two, I released my shutter."

The camera is believed to have been a Van Neck on a quarter plate glass negative. The Royal Photographic Society magazine Photographic Journal, remarked on the brightness of the scene, saying that "The light that was available for an instantaneous exposure is an indication of the fierceness and extent of the fire."

Volunteers serving as part of the St Paul's Watch patrolled the iconic building. The Watch was first put together during the First World War. Then it was meant to protect the building from German Zeppelin raids. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the group was reconstituted to guard against the anticipated air raids.

American correspondent Ernie Pyle observed the raid from a balcony:

"Into the dark shadowed spaces below us, while we watched, whole batches of incendiary bombs fell. We saw two dozen go off in two seconds. They flashed terrifically, then quickly simmered down to pin points of dazzling white, burning ferociously... The greatest of all the fires was directly in front of us. Flames seemed to whip hundreds of feet into the air. Pinkish-white smoke ballooned upward in a great cloud, and out of this cloud there gradually took shape—so faintly at first that we weren't sure we saw correctly—the gigantic dome of St Paul's Cathedral. St Paul's was surrounded by fire, but it came through. It stood there in its enormous proportions—growing slowly clearer and clearer, the way objects take shape at dawn. It was like a picture of some miraculous figure that appears before peace-hungry soldiers on a battlefield."

Aftermath
The medieval Guildhall and several Christopher Wren churches were among the many historic buildings in the central City of London heavily damaged or destroyed in the attack.

The publishing industry bore heavy losses in the raid. Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Row, an area known since the 19th century as the centre of the London publishing and book trade,   were badly hit, and the buildings and stock of 20 publishing houses were totally or partially destroyed. Stationers' Hall, neighbouring offices, the book wholesalers Simpkin Marshall, and several bookshops were lost. An estimated five million books were lost in the fires caused by tens of thousands of incendiary bombs.

title: Second Great Fire of London


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Biddenham

Biddenham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, located around 2 mi west of Bedford town centre near the A428 road. It forms part of the wider Bedford urban area.

History
The earliest archaeological evidence from Biddenham dates to the Palaeolithic, from the site of Deep Spinney. These were some of the first major Palaeolithic discoveries in England, although they were probably deposited there by glacial flow.

Biddenham is the location of the Manor Hospital, a BMI Healthcare private hospital. The village also contains St James Church, The Three Tuns pub, and a sports pavilion with a cricket pitch and football pitch (interchangeable depending on the season).

Sometime before 1920, a short gauge railway was operated by S.W. Jarvis & Son at the Biddenham Gravel Pit. The line was removed in the 1930s.

Biddenham International School and Sports College is located on Biddenham Turn. It is a state secondary school for Biddenham and the western part of Bedford. The school was originally named John Howard Upper School, but was renamed after a merger with another school in 1988. St Joseph's and St Gregory's Catholic Primary School is also located on Biddenham Turn. The school was formed following the merger of St Joseph's Lower and St Gregory's Middle in September 2017. St. James' Primary School, located on Main Road, is the village's primary school.

title: Biddenham


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Legendary Frog

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was KEEP. — J I P | Talk 19:10, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Legendary Frog
I found this article by following a link on Talk:Joseph Blanchette. The link admits to cheating, and that article was deleted in this AfD. Whilst I have no opinion, I think this article should also been seen by AfD. Note that it is not speediable as a recreation, really, since it is a rewrite (just). -Splash talk 16:59, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep and rename to Joseph Blanchette. It seems to me the article on Joseph Blanchette was deleted in error, the subject is clearly notable enough. --Mysidia (talk) 18:17, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
 * keep rewrite After reading the article and talk, I agree. — brighterorange  (talk) 19:09, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep
 * Keep for reasons given on the talk pages of both articles, as well as my objections to the original VfD on the other article. And the "cheating" line was probably a joke, man. (As for the naming aspect, people are just as likely to search for Legendary Frog as Joseph Blanchette; he puts both names on every movie he does. Whatever happens, one should redirect to the other.) CaptHayfever 03:43, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. .:.Jareth.:. babelfish 18:38, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep (disclosure: I created this page). I'm not sure I can say much more than what I've already said elsewhere. If we are to have any articles on flash animated artists/series at all (and we certainly do), then Legendary Frog is more than notable enough for inclusion. (I have a much bigger defence for keeping this article, in the article's talk page - please go there.) In any case, whatever the outcome of this vfd, I'm relieved that this issue will finally see some formal resolution. Wandering oojah 15:02, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, as for my comment about 'cheating', yes, I was mostly joking. It's true I created this article in a, ah, fairly sneaky manner...but I was also under the impression that rewriting deleted articles, when there is due cause, is generally tolerated on Wikipedia. Wandering oojah 15:02, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


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The Greatest Show on Turf

"The Greatest Show on Turf" was a nickname for the high-flying offense of the St. Louis Rams during the 1999, 2000, and 2001 National Football League (NFL) seasons. The offense was designed by attack-oriented offensive coordinator (during the 1999 season) and head coach (during the 2000 and 2001 seasons) Mike Martz who mixed an aerial attack and a run offense in an Air Coryell-style offense. The Rams' offense during these three seasons produced record scoring and yardage, three NFL MVP honors, and two Super Bowl appearances (1999 and 2001 seasons) and one championship (1999 season). In 2000, the team set an NFL record with 7,335 total offensive yards (broken in 2011 by the New Orleans Saints with 7,474). Of those, 5,492 were passing yards, also an NFL team record.

The offense aimed to put all five receivers into patterns that stretched the field, setting up defensive backs with route technique, allowing the quarterback to deliver to a spot on time where the receiver could make the catch and turn upfield. The system saw frequent pre-snap motion and shifting, often including shifts to or from empty backfield formations or bunch formations. Pass protection was critical. At least two of the five receivers would run a deep in, skinny post, comeback, speed out, or shallow cross pattern, and running backs would often run quick rail routes out of the backfield. Screens, draws, and play action passes were often used to slow the opponent's pass rush. Mike Martz said the offensive system was invented by Sid Gillman and refined at San Diego State by Don Coryell, who later transmitted his system to the NFL. Martz learned the Coryell 3-digit system from offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese when they coached for the Rams under Chuck Knox in 1994–96.

Background
The first nickname for the Rams offense of the 2000 season was "The Warner Brothers", a play on the movie studio and a reference to new quarterback Kurt Warner, who had assumed leadership from center after slated starter Trent Green was injured against San Diego in the preseason, and his receivers.

Several weeks into the 2000 season, ESPN's Chris Berman, preparing to cover highlights of a 57–31 win over the San Diego Chargers that year, told viewers, "Forget Ringling Brothers; the Rams are the Greatest Show on Earth" — a reference to the circus' longtime marketing slogan. Over the following weeks, "Earth" was replaced with "Turf", alluding to the artificial playing surface of the Trans World Dome and its suitability for the Rams' speedy offense. The term was also retroactively applied to the 1999 team, as the offensive philosophy and key players were the same.

That year, Berman and his highlight show NFL Primetime frequently alluded to the circus when covering the Rams. For the Chargers-Rams highlights that introduced the term "The Greatest Show on Turf," the William Tell Overture was played over the highlights rather than a standard NFL Primetime theme. The music was then muted when the Chargers were shown scoring a touchdown on the highlights package, and muted again when a flashback to Trent Green's injury was shown (Because the Rams were leading by so much in this game, Green came into the game in the second half making this his first regular season game since the injury, hence the flashback. The music resumed with Green leading the Rams to yet another touchdown). When the Rams finally lost in Week 8 to the Chiefs, a special introductory screen for the Rams as "The Greatest Show on Turf" was shown as a parody of "The Greatest Show on Earth" logo before the highlights of the upset were shown. Near the end of the 2000 Week 15 episode of NFL Primetime, Berman was briefly revealing the last two games that would be shown before cutting to a commercial break, as was standard for the show. The last game shown that week was the Vikings-Rams matchup. Since the Vikings also had a high-flying offensive attack (and, like the Rams, a poor defense), Berman announced, "The Greatest Show on Turf meet the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey!" Berman's nickname for the Vikings didn't stick.

The Greatest Show on Turf was anchored by running back Marshall Faulk, NFL Offensive Player of the Year for three consecutive years from 1999 through 2001, quarterback Kurt Warner, 2-time NFL MVP, the receiving duo of Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, as well as Az-Zahir Hakim and veteran Ricky Proehl. Together they formed the nucleus of the first team in NFL history to score 500+ points in three consecutive seasons. Quarterback Kurt Warner and running back Marshall Faulk finished first and second in MVP voting each of the three years, also an achievement unmatched by any offense in NFL history.

The Rams went 13–3, 10–6, and 14–2 in those three seasons, respectively, and reached the playoffs every year. In 1999, the team reached Super Bowl XXXIV and defeated the Tennessee Titans to claim the first franchise championship in almost half a century. The Rams lost in the first round of the 2000 playoffs to the New Orleans Saints, but returned the next year to reach Super Bowl XXXVI, where they ultimately fell to the New England Patriots.

Though much less heralded, the St. Louis defense during those years modeled a praiseworthy unit and often outperformed opposing offenses that was essential to overall team performance. In 2000, when the Rams barely managed to reach the playoffs, the defense was ranked among the NFL's worst, giving up a league-worst 471 points that year. In 1999 and 2001, when the Rams reached the Super Bowl, their defense statistically ranked among the NFL's best – and fittingly, it was a last-second defensive stop known as "The Tackle" by Rams linebacker Mike Jones that sealed the Rams' memorable championship in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Records and achievements

 * The St. Louis Rams scored 526 points in the 1999 season, a team record which was broken in 2000 when they accumulated 540 points. For their last consecutive 500+ season, the Rams scored 503 points in 2001. These three seasons of 1,569 points were the most points scored by any team over any three-year stretch.
 * 1999: The Rams were first in the league in passing (4,580 yards), yards per pass attempt (8.64), passing touchdowns (41) and total offensive yards (6,639).
 * 2000: The Rams were first in the league in total offense (7,335 yards), completions (380), passing yards (5,492), yards per pass attempt (9.36), passing touchdowns (37) and rushing touchdowns (26). Their 63 offensive touchdowns was 5 more than the 1998 Vikings, and only 4 less than the 2007 Patriots.
 * 2001: The Rams were again first in the league in total offense (6,930 yards), completions (379), passing yards (4,903), yards per pass attempt (8.90), passing touchdowns (37), rushing touchdowns (20) and yards per rush attempt (4.87)

Kurt Warner
Quarterback, St. Louis Rams (1998 to 2003), New York Giants (2004), Arizona Cardinals (2005 to 2009)

Quarterback Kurt Warner was cut in training camp by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, then three seasons later had a workout with the Chicago Bears fall through due to a scorpion sting he got on his honeymoon. After being cut by the Packers, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee supermarket in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He was a starter with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and then continued to the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe before ultimately signing with the Rams as a backup to Tony Banks.

After Trent Green was injured in the 1999 pre-season and would miss the regular season, many speculated that St. Louis would miss the playoffs. However, the Rams — and Warner in particular — lit up defenses throughout the league. Warner threw 41 touchdown passes, setting a new franchise mark, and his 109.2 quarterback rating was the third highest (for a minimum of 200 attempts) in a season next to Joe Montana (112.4) and Steve Young (112.8). (The record now is owned solely by Aaron Rodgers after his record-breaking 2011 season.)

The Rams finished 13–3, a franchise best record for the 16 game schedule, which the 2001 Rams would break when they finished 14–2. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz's innovative variation on the Coryell offensive system suited Warner well; he threw only 13 interceptions during the regular season. For his innovation, Martz would be regarded as one of the most ingenious coordinators of his time. The Rams first demolished the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round in a shoot-out, where Warner burned the Minnesota secondary for 391 yards and five touchdowns en route to victory. In the NFC Championship, the Rams faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coached by Tony Dungy. Facing one of the league's best defenses, Warner had one of the worst postseason performances of his career, throwing three interceptions to the heavily loaded Buccaneers defense which featured Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Donnie Abraham, and Ronde Barber. However, the Rams proved they were more than just a good offensive team, as they prevented Tampa Bay from scoring any touchdowns, allowed only two field goals, and intercepted Shaun King twice. Trailing 6–5 late in the 4th quarter, Warner engineered the game-winning drive culminating in the go-ahead touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl to send the Rams to the Super Bowl with an 11–6 victory.

Warner went on to throw for a then Super Bowl record 414 yards, with two touchdown passes, including a dramatic 73-yard game winner to Isaac Bruce, against the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, winning Super Bowl MVP honors. He continued to play for the Rams through 2003. After leaving the Rams, Warner played for the New York Giants in 2004 before signing with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005, playing with them until his retirement after the 2009 season. While with Arizona, he led the team to their first ever Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XLIII, losing 27–23 in the final seconds to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Warner was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2017.

Marshall Faulk
Running back, Indianapolis Colts (1994 to 1998), St. Louis Rams (1999 to 2005)

The second overall pick in the 1994 draft, Marshall Faulk was traded from the Indianapolis Colts to St. Louis in 1999. Faulk had been an elite player in Indianapolis, but in St. Louis he put up some of the best all-purpose numbers in the history of the NFL. Indianapolis finished 13–3 but were knocked off in the first round, while the Rams went on to win Super Bowl XXXIV.

It was a storybook season. Faulk's patience and diligence in learning the Rams offense paid off when he totaled 2,429 yards from scrimmage, eclipsing Barry Sanders’ 2,358 yards set in 1997. With 1,381 yards rushing (a superb 5.5 yards-per-carry average) and 1,048 receiving yards, Faulk joined Roger Craig as the only men to total 1,000+ yards in each category in a season (they were joined in 2019 by Christian McCaffrey). For all this effort and success, he was named Offensive Player of the Year and starter for the NFC squad in the 2000 Pro Bowl.

Faulk was the MVP in 2000, and again the Offensive Player of the Year. In just 14 games (he missed two), he had 1,359 yards rushing and scored 26 touchdowns, the latter a record (that would soon be broken by Priest Holmes, then by Shaun Alexander, and later LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006). Faulk had 18 scores on the ground, setting a new franchise record, and eight through the air. He also averaged more than five yards per carry again, this time with 5.4.

From 1999 to 2001, Marshall Faulk may have had the best consecutive seasons in league history. In that span, he scored 59 touchdowns, rang up 6,765 yards of offense (4,122 rushing and 2,643 receiving), and won the Most Valuable Player award and three Offensive Player of the Year awards. He was also named All-NFC, ALL-NFL, and selected for the Pro Bowl in each of those years. In 2011, Faulk was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Isaac Bruce
'''Wide receiver, Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams (1994 to 2007), San Francisco 49ers (2008 and 2009)'''

Bruce was selected in the 2nd round (33rd overall pick) of the NFL Draft in 1994, by the Los Angeles Rams.

One of the Rams most enduring players, Isaac Bruce was originally drafted as a Los Angeles Ram and played with the franchise from their years of futility in the middle 1990s through the years of the “Greatest Show on Turf”.

Over his Rams career, he had 14,209 yards receiving, 942 receptions, 8 1,000+ Seasons, 40 100+ yardage games and 84 receiving touchdowns, all of which remain team records. He is arguably one of the best pure route runners to play wide receiver in the NFL.

Bruce's most notable catch came in Super Bowl XXXIV. With under 2:00 minutes left in the game, he caught a 73-yard pass from quarterback Kurt Warner, which ultimately would clinch the Rams' first Super Bowl win.

In 1995, he had 1,781 receiving yards, second only to Jerry Rice (1,848) and was 5th ever for receptions (119). During the 1996 season, he led the league in yards (1,338). In 1999, Bruce totaled 1,165 yards receiving on only 77 receptions (15.2 yards per reception) and led the Rams with 12 touchdowns.

He was selected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.

Torry Holt
Wide receiver, St. Louis Rams (1999 to 2008), Jacksonville Jaguars (2009)

A rookie during the Rams' 1999 Super Bowl championship season, Torry Holt became one of the premier wide receivers in the league. In 9 years, he had 7 Pro Bowl invitations. Holt also averaged the most receiving yards per season, and he had two 1,600 yard seasons, giving him a feat matched only by Calvin Johnson and Marvin Harrison. He reached 10,000 (116 games) and 11,000 (130 games) career receiving yards faster than any other player in NFL history. He holds the record for most receptions in a single decade (868, 2000–2009) and also most receiving yards in a single decade (12,594, 2000–2009), and therefore made the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team. Holt led the league in receptions in 2003 and yards in 2000 and 2003, that year the Rams went 12–4 (missing out on homefield advantage due to an upset loss to the Detroit Lions), and lost in double overtime against the eventual NFC Champion Carolina Panthers.

Az-Zahir Hakim
Wide receiver, St. Louis Rams (1998 to 2001), Detroit Lions (2002 to 2004), New Orleans Saints (2005), Detroit Lions (2006), San Diego Chargers (2006)

Hakim was another player instrumental to the success of “The Greatest Show on Turf”. He was with the Rams for four seasons (1998 to 2001) before being signed as a free agent to the Detroit Lions. During the 1999 season, he caught 36 passes for 677 yards, which would bring in 8 touchdowns for the Rams. For his four-season run with the Rams, he accumulated a total of 2,032 yards with 16 touchdown receptions. Additionally, Hakim served as the team's punt returner and was among the league leaders in 1999 and 2000.

Ricky Proehl
Wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals (1990 to 1994), Seattle Seahawks (1995 to 1996), Chicago Bears (1997), St. Louis Rams (1998 to 2002), Carolina Panthers (2003 to 2005), Indianapolis Colts (2006)

Proehl (WR) played in the NFL for 17 seasons and spent five of these with the St. Louis Rams between 1998 and 2002. During this period he was able to accumulate a total of 207 receptions and 2,590 receiving yards. At the 2000 NFC Championship, he caught the winning touchdown that allowed the Rams to beat Tampa Bay 11–6. Again, he caught a touchdown pass late in the game during Super Bowl XXXVI which at the time tied the game at 17–17, but the Patriots kicked a last-second field goal to win 20–17. He would go on to be a valuable cog in the Carolina Panthers’ offense during their Super Bowl year, and he also had a stint with the Colts.

Orlando Pace
Offensive tackle, St. Louis Rams (1997 to 2008), Chicago Bears (2009)

Pace was selected by the Rams with the number one overall draft selection in the 1997 NFL Draft after the Rams traded their number six overall pick, as well as third, fourth, and seventh round selections to the New York Jets. As a star at Ohio State University, a two-time Lombardi Award winner and an Outland Trophy winner, Pace was projected to be the top pick after Peyton Manning chose to defer the 1997 Draft. Pace became the first offensive lineman to be drafted first overall since 1968. In his NFL career, Pace became a seven-time Pro-Bowler and was the anchor of the offensive line for the Rams during this period of offensive dominance and is considered one of the best left tackles of the 21st century. Pace was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2016.

Roland Williams
Drafted in the 4th round of the 1998 NFL draft, Roland Williams was the Rams' rookie of the year. As the starting tight end in 1999, he blocked for many of Faulk's runs, caught Kurt Warner’s first touchdown pass as starting quarterback, and caught five more during the regular season and Super Bowl.

Afterwards
Many Rams fans consider 1999, 2000, and 2001 as the "Greatest Show on Turf" years, though the nickname was used for several subsequent seasons. In 2002, the team went 7-9 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in three seasons; many referred to this as a "Super Bowl Hangover" for the Rams because they lost a Super Bowl they were favored so heavily to win to the New England Patriots. In 2003, the Rams had a winning season, but failed to meet expectations. In 2004, the Rams went 8-8 and made the playoffs. They did not do so again until 2017, when they were back in their old home in Los Angeles. The Rams lost 2018's Super Bowl LIII to the Patriots and beat the Bengals in 2021's Super Bowl LVI three years later.

Kurt Warner struggled with the team after Super Bowl XXXVI, and with the emergence of Marc Bulger, was made expendable and released following the 2003 season; he would later return to form and lead the Arizona Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Warner retired after the 2009 season. Bruce, the team's all-time leading receiver and the team's last remaining player that was with the team in Los Angeles, was released by the Rams after the 2007 season after 14 years with the team and spent the next two years with the archrival San Francisco 49ers before returning to retire as a Ram in 2010. Marshall Faulk retired in 2007 after missing the 2006 season with injuries, while Ricky Proehl retired the same offseason after stints in Carolina and Indianapolis. Az-Zahir Hakim retired as a free agent. Torry Holt was released in 2009 and signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Soon after, he was released by the Jaguars. On April 20, 2010, he signed a one-year deal with the New England Patriots, but was placed on injured reserve in August and released shortly after that, and has retired. The last active player from the 1999 team, London Fletcher, retired after the 2013 season.

On July 23, 2016, many of the star players from this era of the St. Louis Rams reunited for the "Legends of the Dome" game, a charity flag football game organized by Isaac Bruce. It gave fans the chance to see the Rams in St. Louis one last time, as the franchise had announced its return to Los Angeles a few months earlier.

Pro Football Hall of Fame
Four players and one coach that were a part of "The Greatest Show on Turf" have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
 * Marshall Faulk, RB (2011)
 * Orlando Pace, OT (2016)
 * Kurt Warner, QB (2017)
 * Isaac Bruce, WR (2020)
 * Dick Vermeil, Head Coach (2022)

title: The Greatest Show on Turf