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Anomalocaris

Anomalocaris ("unlike other shrimp", or "abnormal shrimp") is an extinct genus of radiodont, an order of early-diverging stem-group arthropods.

It is best known from the type species A. canadensis, found in the Stephen Formation (particularly the Burgess Shale) of British Columbia, Canada. The other named species A. daleyae is known from the somewhat older Emu Bay Shale of Australia. Other unnamed Anomalocaris species are known from China and the United States.

Like other radiodonts, Anomalocaris had swimming flaps running along its body, large compound eyes, and a single pair of segmented, frontal appendages, which in Anomalocaris were used to grasp prey. Estimated to reach 34.2 - 37.8 cm long excluding the frontal appendages and tail fan, Anomalocaris is one of the largest animals of the Cambrian, and thought to be one of the earliest examples of an apex predator, though others have been found in older Cambrian lagerstätten deposits.

Since the original description in late 19th century, the frontal appendages were the only known fossilized parts and misidentified as the body parts of other animals. Its radiodont affinity was revealed in 1980s, specifically in a 1985 journal article by Harry B. Whittington and Derek Briggs. The trunk and mouth were reconstructed after another radiodont genus until the corrections done in 1996 and 2012. It is the type genus of Anomalocarididae, a family which previously included all radiodonts but recently only Anomalocaris and a few closely-related taxa.

Discovery and identification
From the start, Anomalocaris fossil was misidentified, followed by a series of misidentifications and taxonomic revisions. As Stephen Jay Gould, who popularised the Cambrian explosion in his 1989 book Wonderful Life, appropriately described:"[The story of Anomalocaris is] a tale of humor, error, struggle, frustration, and more error, culminating in an extraordinary resolution that brought together bits and pieces of three 'phyla' in a single reconstructed creature, the largest and fiercest of Cambrian organisms."Anomalocaris fossils were first collected in 1886 by Richard G. McConnell of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Having been informed of rich fossils at the Stephen Formation in British Columbia, McConnell climbed Mount Stephen on 13 September 1886. He found abundant trilobites, along with two unknown specimens. In August 1891, Henri-Marc Ami, Assistant Palaeontologist at GSC, collected many trilobites and brachiopod fossils, along with 48 more of the unknown specimens. The fifty specimens were examined and described in 1892 by GSC paleontologist Joseph Frederick Whiteaves. Whiteaves interpreted them as the abdomens of phyllocarid crustaceans, and gave the full scientific name Anomalocaris canadensis. He describes the crustacean characters:"Body or abdominal segments, which, in all the specimens collected, are abnormally flattened laterally, a little higher or deeper than long, broader above than below, the pair of ventral appendages proceeding from each, nearly equal in height or depth to the segment itself... The generic name Anomalocaris (from ανώμαλος, unlike,—καρίς, a shrimp, i.e., unlike other other shrimps) [the species name referring to Canada] is suggested by the unusual shape of the uropods or ventral appendages of the body segments and the relative position of the caudal spine."In 1928, Danish paleontologist Kai Henriksen proposed that Tuzoia, a Burgess Shale arthropod which was known only from the carapace, represented the missing front half of Anomalocaris. The artists Elie Cheverlange and Charles R. Knight followed this interpretation in their depictions of Anomalocaris.

Not known to scientists at the time, the body parts of relatives of Anomalocaris had already been described but not recognized as such. The first fossilized mouth of such a kind of animal was discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott, who mistook it for a jellyfish and placed it in the genus Peytoia. Walcott also discovered a frontal appendage but failed to realize the similarities to Whiteaves' discovery and instead identified it as feeding appendage or tail of the coexisted Sidneyia. In the same publication in which he named Peytoia, Walcott named Laggania, a taxon that he interpreted as a holothurian.

In 1966, the Geological Survey of Canada began a comprehensive revision of the Burgess Shale fossil record, led by Cambridge University paleontologist Harry B. Whittington. In the process of this revision, Whittington and his students Simon Conway Morris and Derek Briggs would discover the true nature of Anomalocaris and its relatives, but not without contributing to the history of misinterpretations first. In 1978, Conway Morris recognized that the mouthparts of Laggania were identical to Peytoia, but concluded that Laggania was a composite fossil made up of Peytoia and the sponge Corralio undulata. In 1979, Briggs recognized that the fossils of Anomalocaris were appendages, not abdomens, and proposed that they were the walking legs of a giant arthropod, and that the feeding appendage Walcott had assigned to Sidneyia was the feeding appendage of similar animal, referred to as "appendage F". Later, while clearing what he thought was an unrelated specimen, Harry B. Whittington removed a layer of covering stone to discover the unequivocally connected frontal appendage identical to Anomalocaris and mouthpart similar to Peytoia. Whittington linked the two species, but it took several more years for researchers to realize that the continuously juxtaposed Peytoia, Laggania and frontal appendages (Anomalocaris and "appendage F") actually represented a single group of enormous creatures. The two genera have now been placed into the order Radiodonta and are commonly known as radiodonts or anomalocaridids. Since Peytoia was named first, it is the accepted correct name for the entire animal. However, the original frontal appendage was from a larger species distinct from Peytoia and "Laggania" and therefore retains the name Anomalocaris.

In 2011, compound eyes of Anomalocaris were recovered from a paleontological dig at Emu Bay Shale on Kangaroo Island, Australia, proving that Anomalocaris was indeed an arthropod as had been suspected. The find also indicated that advanced arthropod eyes had evolved very early, before the evolution of jointed legs or hardened exoskeletons. This specimen was later identified as that of a new species of Anomalocaris, A. daleyae.

Numerous species have been previously referred to Anomalocaris, but subsequent analyses have doubted this generic assignment, and reclassified them within different genera. In 2021, "A." saron and "A." magnabasis were reassigned to the new genus Houcaris in the family Tamisiocarididae, but subsequent analysis suggests that H. saron is a member of the family Amplectobeluidae instead and that H? magnabasis (recovered as a sister taxon of Amplectobeluidae) does not form a monophyletic clade with other species of Houcaris. In the same year, "A." pennsylvanica was reassigned to the genus Lenisicaris. In 2022, specimen ELRC 20001 that was treated as an unnamed species of Anomalocaris or whole-body specimen of A. saron got a new genus, Innovatiocaris. In 2023, ''"A". kunmingensis was reassigned to the new genus Guanshancaris'' in the family Amplectobeluidae. Multiple phylogenetic analyses also suggested that ''"A". briggsi (tamisiocaridid) was not a species of Anomalocaris either, and it was reassigned to the genus Echidnacaris'' in the family Tamisiocarididae in 2023.

Description
For the time in which it lived, Anomalocaris was gigantic. A complete specimen of A. canadensis, ROMIP 51211, is measured up to 20.5 cm long (17.4 cm long when excluding the frontal appendages and tail fan ). The largest frontal appendage is measured up to 18 cm long when extended, and this specimen of A. canadensis would have reached up to 34.2 - 37.8 cm in body length excluding the frontal appendages and tail fan. Previous body length estimation up to 1 m is unlikely based on the ratio of body parts (body length measured only about 2 times the length of frontal appendage in A. canadensis ) and the size of largest frontal appendage. A. daleyae (formerly A. cf. canadensis or A. aff. canadensis) from the Emu Bay Shale of Australia is larger than A. canadensis, with the largest known appendage measuring up to 18.3 cm long, which would have belonged to an individual between 34.8 - 51.2 cm long.

Anomalocaris propelled itself through the water by undulating the flexible flaps on the sides of its body. Each flap sloped below the one more posterior to it, and this overlapping allowed the lobes on each side of the body to act as a single "fin", maximizing the swimming efficiency. The construction of a remote-controlled model showed this mode of swimming to be intrinsically stable, implying that Anomalocaris would not have needed a complex brain to manage balance while swimming. The body was widest between the third and fifth lobe and narrowed towards the tail, with additional 3 pairs of small flaps on the constricted neck region. It is difficult to distinguish lobes near the tail, making an accurate count difficult. For the main trunk flaps, the type species A. canadensis had 13 pairs.

Anomalocaris had an unusual disk-like mouth known as oral cone. The oral cone was composed of several plates organized triradially. Three of the plates were quite large. Three to four medium sized plates could be found between each of the large plates, and several small plates between them. Most of the plates wrinkled and have scale-like tubercles near the mouth opening. Such an oral cone is very different from those of a typical hurdiid radiodont like Peytoia and Hurdia, which is smooth and tetraradial. As a shared character across radiodonts, Anomalocaris also had three sclerites on the top and side of its head. The top one, known as a head shield, dorsal carapace or H-element, was shaped like an laterally-elongated oval, with a distinct rim on the outer edge. The remaining two lateral sclerites, known as P-elements, were also ovoid, but connected by a bar-like outgrowth. The P-elements were previously misinterpreted as two huge compound eyes.

Two large frontal appendage were positioned in front of the mouth, at the front of the head. Each frontal appendage of Anomalocaris usually had 14 podomeres (segmental units, at least 1 for shaft and 13 for distal articulated region), with each appendage being laterally-flattened (taller than wide). Most podomeres were tipped with a pair of endites (ventral spines). The endites themselves were both equipped with multiple auxiliary spines, which branches off from the anterior and posterior margin of the endites.

The tail was a large tail fan, composed of three pairs of large, lateral fin-shaped lobes and one terminal lobe-like tailpiece. Previous studies suggest the tail fan was used to propel it through Cambrian waters, while further hydrodynamic study rather suggest it was more adapted to provide steering function. The gills of the animal, in the form of long, thin, hair-like structures known as lanceolate blades, were arranged in rows forming setal blades. The setal blades were attached by their margin to the top side of the animal, two setal blades per body segment. A divide ran down the middle, separating the gills.

Based on fossilized eyes from the Emu Bay Shale, which belong to the species Anomalocaris daleyae,  the stalked eyes of Anomalocaris were 30 times more powerful than those of trilobites, long thought to have had the most advanced eyes of any contemporary species. With one specimen having over 24,000 lenses in one eye, the resolution of the 3 cm eyes would have been rivalled only by that of the modern dragonfly, which has 28,000 lenses in each eye. Additionally, estimation of ecdysozoan opsins suggest that Anomalocaris may have had dichromatic color vision.

Diet
The interpretation of Anomalocaris as an active predator is widely accepted throughout the history of research,  as its raptorial frontal appendages and mid-gut glands strongly suggest a predatory lifestyle. In the case of A. canadensis, its outstanding size amongst Burgess Shale fauna also make it one of the first apex predators known to exist.

However, the long-standing idea that Anomalocaris fed on hard-bodied animals, especially its ability to penetrate mineralized exoskeleton of trilobites, has been questioned, with many recent studies considering it more likely that Anomalocaris exclusively hunted soft-bodied prey. Some Cambrian trilobites have been found with round or W-shaped "bite" marks, which were identified as being the same shape as the mouthparts of Peytoia (previously misidentified as those of Anomalocaris ). Stronger evidence that Anomalocaris ate trilobites comes from coprolite, which contain trilobite parts and are so large that the radiodonts are the only known organism from that period large enough to have produced them. However, since Anomalocaris lacks any mineralized tissue, it seemed unlikely that it would be able to penetrate the hard, calcified exoskeleton of trilobites. Rather, the coprolites may have been produced by different organisms, such as the trilobites of the genus Redlichia. Another suggested possibility was that Anomalocaris fed by grabbing one end of their prey in its oral cone while using its frontal appendages to quickly rock the other end of the animal back and forth. This produced stresses that exploited the weaknesses of arthropod cuticles, causing the prey's exoskeleton to rupture and allowing the predator to access its innards. This behaviour was originally thought to have provided an evolutionary pressure for trilobites to roll up, to avoid being flexed until they snapped. The lack of wear on radiodont mouthparts suggests they did not come into regular contact with mineralized trilobite shells, and were possibly better suited to feeding on smaller, soft-bodied organisms by suction, since they would have experienced structural failure if they were used against the armour of trilobites. A. canadensis was suggested to have been capable of feeding on organisms with hard exoskeletons due to the short, robust spines on its frontal appendages. However, this conclusion is solely based on the comparison with the fragile frontal appendages of suspension feeding radiodonts (e.g. Echidnacaris and Houcaris spp.). The typical lack of damage to the endites on the frontal appendages of A. canadensis (with damage only present on a single specimen) suggests that they were not used to grasp hard-shelled prey. As opposed to Peytoia whose oral cone is more rectangular with short protruding spines, the oral cone of A. canadensis has a smaller and more irregular opening, not permitting strong biting motions, and indicating a suction-feeding behavior to suck in softer organisms. Three-dimensional modelling of various radiodont frontal appendages also suggest that A. canadensis is more capable to prey on smaller (2–5 cm in diameter), active, soft-bodied animals (e.g. vetulicolian; free-swimming arthropods like isoxyids and hymenocarines; Nectocaris).

Bicknell et al. (2023) examined the frontal appendages of Anomalocaris, suggesting it was an active nektonic apex predator. Postured with the frontal appendages outstretched, Anomalocaris would have been able to swim with maximized speed, similar to modern predatory water bugs. Its eyes would be suitable to hunt prey in well-lit waters. Anomalocaris would have hunted various free-swimming animals since there are a large diversity of nektonic and pelagic soft-bodied animals. It probably would have not hunted benthic animals like trilobites, considering the possibility of damaging the frontal appendages on the substrate while trying to grab prey from seafloor at speed. Instead, other animals such as other radiodonts (e.g. Hurdia, Cambroraster, Titanokorys, Stanleycaris) and artiopods (e.g. Sidneyia) would have been benthic predators in the Burgess Shale.

Paleoecology
Specimens of Anomalocaris have been found worldwide spanning from Cambrian Stage 3 to the Guzhangian. Aside from the Burgess Shale and Emu Bay Shale, fossils have been found in the Chengjiang Biota, Hongjingshao Formation, Balang Formation and the Kaili Formation of China, as well as the Eagar Formation and Weeks Formation in the United States.

Anomalocaris canadensis lived in the Burgess Shale in relatively great numbers. In the Burgess Shale, Anomalocaris is more common in the older sections, notably the Mount Stephen trilobite beds. However, in the younger sections, such as the Phyllopod bed, Anomalocaris could reach much greater sizes; roughly twice the size of its older, trilobite bed relatives. These rare giant specimens have previously been referred to a separate species, Anomalocaris gigantea; however, the validity of this species has been called into question, and is currently synonymized to A. canadensis.

Other unnamed species of Anomalocaris live in vastly different environments. For example, Anomalocaris cf. canadensis (JS-1880) lived in the Maotianshan Shales, a shallow tropical sea or even being delta in what is now modern China. Anomalocaris daleyae (Emu Bay Shale) lived in a comparable environment; the shallow, tropical waters of Cambrian Australia. The Maotianshan Shale and the Emu Bay Shale are very close in proximity, being separated by a small landmass, far from the Burgess Shale. These two locations also included "Anomalocaris" kunmingensis and "Anomalocaris" briggsi respectively, species that previously attributed but taxonomically unlikely to be a member of Anomalocaris nor even Anomalocarididae.

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Wikipedia talk:Project Gutenberg author list

Header
I have copied part of the header to each of the pages. Rich Farmbrough 11:26, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Editors
Just encountered a situation where someone is listed as an editor of a book, not the author. Should we have a link to the PG work? Does this require a new template? The case is: Ernest Rhys,. - snoyes 08:47, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Similarly for translators: Johann Paul Friedrich Richter . - snoyes 09:06, 29 October 2005 (UTC)

I've just been linking everyone. I think it'll be easier to sort things out at the end -- I think illustrators, editors, translators, etc.. will make up less than 10% of the total. Womble 21:08, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

 * In the long run, as more and more illustrators and editors are noted, I think they will make up much more than 10% of the total. While editing is not usually a notable job, I think illustrators and translators is as notable as authors.--Prosfilaes 07:04, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Ambiguous link
The link at James Richardson (explorer of the Sahara) leads to a PG disambiguation link. Is this somehow avoidable? (The other James Richardson can be directly linked.) - snoyes 09:00, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Yup -- just link the whole name and date like this: . That'll give you this:""(choose your own witty nickname for him... ;-) Womble 21:15, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

forward linking
I wrote an article on a Gutenberg author. How can I make sure they put in a link to the Wikipedia ariticle? — Dunc|☺ 12:47, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, two basic possibilities. See http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact for the PG catalog email and send a message there. Also, if you use a gutenberg author template in the article, it will eventually be linked to from the PG catalog. (I am a PG catalog editor, and I do a review of articles that have had that template added occasionally.) Andrew Sly 04:11, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Frustratin about "Linkless"
I have modified two Wikipedia articles about Project Gutenberg Authors to cross-reference the PG works: Bruce Bairnsfather amd Frederick Upham Adams. In each case I have had problems with the "linkless" robot. This robot eventually decides to mark the artile as not having enough links to be "notable."

Which it it? We need an article for each PG author, or we need to remove "Linkless" articles?

Pseudonyms on Gutenberg
the Authors "Jenny Wren" and "Punch" are not real names. How should we deal with these? -Arch dude 01:23, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Proposal: PG authors category.
I think we need a Wikipedia category for "Project Gutenberg authors." I am a somewhat reluctant to do this without discussion, as it will be a big deal. The idea is to add the categorization into the gutenberg authors template. I think that this will cause all pages with the template to be added to the category. I have never made a change with such a far-reaching effect before.

any thoughts? - Arch dude 18:13, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Project
This worthy project seems to have died about 7 years ago. At the moment there are 9632 20,859 authors in the Gutenberg database, compared to the 6,000 when this project started in 2005. -- Green  C  18:13, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

Project Gutenberg mapped to Wikipedia
I've mapped the 20,000+ Gutenberg authors, illustrators etc.. (as of the April 2014 Gutenberg catalog) to the equivalent Wikipedia article. The stats:

 * Total unique names in the Gutenberg database: 20,859
 * Gutenberg names with a verified Wikipedia article: 9,104
 * Wikipedia pages with a Gutenberg author template: 4,194
 * Wikipedia pages needing a Gutenberg author template: 4,910

I'm currently in process of adding Gutenberg author templates to the 4,910 using AWB and external scripts to add LibriVox and Internet Archive at the same time.

-- Green  C  17:33, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

New Project to update Project Gutenberg templates
There is a new project to replace what this project originally set out to accomplish. Information at "Works By" Project. -- Green  C  15:15, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

 * This projected is complete. There are now 9,187 articles with the Gutenberg author template. If there are more than a few hundred missing I would be surprised. Of course new missing will accrue over time as articles are added to Wikipedia, and new authors to Gutenberg, but the software can be re-run again at a future date. --  Green  C  00:13, 28 June 2015 (UTC)


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Talk:Morrie Schwartz

Picture
Perhaps this article should have a picture. --Shanedidona 01:59, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Uh, shouldn't there be more catagories? And like INTERNAL CONFLICT where many people have to do their essays on! Such as me!(yes there should be..) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.57.213 (talk) 00:19, 1 April 2009 (UTC) UR SPAM!what are you talking about? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.57.213 (talk) 00:24, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

+1 for the picture idea. Thelukeeffect (talk) 04:21, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

added a picture Glenzo999 (talk) 15:46, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Notable?
Is the topic of this article really notable enough to have its own Wikipedia article? Also, this article needs more sources. --1990'sguy (talk) 21:17, 19 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes it's definitely notable, but the article itself needs work. Semmendinger (talk) 01:39, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

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Road Crew (band)

Road Crew was an American garage band from Los Angeles, formed in late 1983. The band consisted of future Guns N' Roses members Slash, Steven Adler and Duff McKagan. They auditioned a number of singers while writing material. However they disbanded the same year with no releases.

Following his firing from Guns N' Roses in 1990, Adler joined Vain in 1991, with the band renaming themselves Road Crew the same year. The new lineup consisted of former members of California glam rockers Vain: Davy Vain, Ashley Mitchell, Jamie Scott, and Shawn Rorie. They recorded an album and gained some label attention. However, due to Adler's drug abuse, Road Crew disbanded once more without releasing the album.

Early years, formation and disbanding (1984)
Following the breakup of his previous group Tidus Sloan, Slash found himself without a band. His childhood friend Steven Adler, who had learned to play drums suggested that they form a band together. After trying out for London they decided to form their own band, taking out an ad in The Recycler for a bass player before auditioning for singers. Though they received a few calls, only Duff McKagan wanted to meet with them.

McKagan had moved from Seattle to Los Angeles at this point having already been a member of the bands The Fartz, Fastbacks and 10 Minute Warning while he also played one show drumming for Johnny Thunders. Shortly after his move, he answered the ad and met with Slash and Adler at Canter's Deli. Describing McKagan's appearance upon meeting him at Canter's, Slash said that he was "this bone-skinny six-foot-plus guy, with short spiked blonde hair [who] rolled in wearing a Sid Vicious-style chain and padlock around his neck, combat boots, and a red-and-black leather trench coat in spite of the seventy-five-degree weather. No one had predicted that." Soon after meeting, the trio formed a group together, named Road Crew (after the Motörhead song "(We Are) The Road Crew" ) and began auditioning singers.

They auditioned a number of singers, including Ron Reyes who was briefly the singer for Black Flag, while working on material which included the main riff to what would become "Rocket Queen" (though Adler stated in a later interview stated that no Road Crew material was used until the recording of the Use Your Illusion albums ). Despite there being a good chemistry between the trio, Slash disbanded the group citing not being able to find a singer as well as Adler's constant partying and lack of work ethic compared to himself and McKagan.

Slash would go on to play with Black Sheep and audition for Poison, while both Slash and Adler became members of Hollywood Rose. Hollywood Rose would break-up and reform (without Slash and Adler) eventually becoming Guns N' Roses. Slash, McKagan and Adler would replace Guns N' Roses members Tracii Guns, Ole Beich and Rob Gardner respectively. Along with Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin, the lineup would be known as the "classic lineup" of Guns N' Roses.

Second incarnation (1991)
After being fired from Guns N' Roses in 1990, Adler would join the heavy metal group Vain. The band, who had by then recorded two albums, and whose lineup consisted at that time of singer Davy Vain, guitarists Jamie Scott and bassist Ashley Mitchell, as well as guitarist Shawn Rorie who had joined after the second album was completed, renamed themselves Road Crew and proceeded to record an album. However, despite gaining attention from a record label, the group disbanded due to Adler's drug problems at the time. 6 of the songs were later released on three of Vain's albums: "Move On It", "Fade" and "Enough Rope". Adler is credited as drummer on the songs "Cindy" and "Worship You" on 2011's "Enough Rope".

Following the breakup, Adler briefly joined BulletBoys, before forming the group Suki Jones, which eventually became Adler's Appetite, performing on and off with the band since 2003. Following the breakup of Adler's Appetite, he formed the eponymous group Adler in 2011. On April 14, 2012, Slash, McKagan and Adler were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as members of the classic lineup of Guns N' Roses. They headlined the induction ceremony with fellow inductee Matt Sorum, as well as former member Gilby Clarke and Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy.

Members

 * First incarnation
 * Steven Adler – drums (1984)
 * Slash – guitar (1984)
 * Duff McKagan – bass (1984)

 * Second incarnation
 * Steven Adler – drums (1991)
 * Davy Vain – vocals (1991)
 * Ashley Mitchell – bass (1991)
 * Jamie Scott – guitar (1991)
 * Shawn Rorie – guitar (1991)

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John C. Morgan

John Cary "Red" Morgan (August 24, 1914 – January 17, 1991) was a United States Army Air Forces pilot in World War II who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during a 1943 bombing run over Germany, which also inspired the character of 2nd Lieutenant Jesse Bishop in the novel and film Twelve O'Clock High.

Background
Born August 24, 1914, in Vernon, Texas, son of attorney Samuel A. Morgan Sr. and Verna Johnson Morgan, Morgan graduated from a military school in 1931 then attended several colleges, including Amarillo College, New Mexico Military Institute, West Texas State Teachers College, and the University of Texas at Austin. While at Texas he learned to fly aircraft, and in 1934 dropped out of college. He worked in the Fiji Islands as a foreman on a pineapple plantation until 1938, when he returned to enlist as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps. However, because of his poor education record, he was refused enlistment. Working at an oil-drilling site for Texaco, Morgan suffered a broken neck in an industrial accident, and as a result was later classified 4-F by the Selective Service System.

Military service
In August, 1941, Morgan joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, and after completion of flight training in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and RAF Church Lawford, England, was posted as a Sergeant Pilot with RAF Bomber Command. On March 23, 1943, he was transferred to the U.S. Army Air Forces as a Flight Officer and assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group's 326th Bomb Squadron, RAF Alconbury, England.

Morgan, on his fifth U.S. mission, was co-pilot of a crew flying a B-17F, ser. no. 42-29802, to a target in Hanover, Germany, on July 26, 1943 (not July 28 as reported by his award citation below). It was for his participation in this mission that he received the Medal of Honor (citation shown below in full), which was awarded on December 18, 1943.

Medal of Honor action
Morgan's experience began as his group formation neared the German coast. The B-17, nicknamed Ruthie II, was attacked by a large number of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters and had part of its oxygen system to the gunners' positions in the rear of the aircraft knocked out. The first burst of fire also smashed the cockpit's windshield, damaged the interphone, and split open the skull of pilot Lt. Robert Campbell. The pilot's upper body slumped over his control wheel, causing it to start out of control. F/O Morgan seized the controls on his side and by sheer strength pulled the plane back into formation.

The disabled pilot continued to try to wrest the controls away from Morgan and smashed at the co-pilot with his fists, knocking some teeth loose and blackening both his eyes. Meanwhile, the top turret gunner was also seriously injured when a 20 mm shell tore off his left arm at the shoulder. He fell out of the turret position, and was found by the navigator bleeding to death. The navigator bailed the gunner out of the aircraft in a successful effort to save his life.

Unknown to Morgan, the waist, tail and radio gunners became unconscious from lack of oxygen and were threatened with death by anoxia. Morgan, unable to call for assistance because of the damaged interphone, had to decide whether to turn back immediately or try to fly all the way to the target and back within the protection of the formation. He also had to decide whether or not to subject Campbell to anoxia by cutting off his oxygen to disable him. In spite of wild efforts by the fatally wounded pilot to seize the controls, Morgan chose to complete the mission and not cut off his pilot's oxygen supply.

For two hours he held position in the formation – flying with one hand, fighting off the pilot with the other. At length the navigator entered the flight deck and relieved the situation. The navigator and bombardier secured the dying pilot in the nose compartment of the airplane. F/O Morgan's B-17 reached the target at Hanover and successfully dropped its bombs. With all his fuel gauges reading empty, Morgan landed the bomber at RAF Foulsham. Lt. Campbell died an hour and half later, and the five surviving gunners recovered from various degrees of frostbite. The B-17 was declared damaged beyond economical repair and never flew again.

Capture
F/O Morgan transferred to the 482nd Bomb Group in October 1943 to fly B-17 H2X radar aircraft and was promoted to second lieutenant in November. He remained on combat duty, flying in 25½ missions.

On March 6, 1944, Morgan, now a first lieutenant, was the co-pilot on a B-17, ser. no. 42-3491, flown by Major Fred Rabo leading the first major USAAF attack against Berlin. The aircraft was shot down and six of the crew were killed. In his haste to escape the falling aircraft, Morgan bailed out without pausing to attach his chest-pack-type parachute. Free falling roughly 20,000 feet, he managed to attach the parachute pack and then successfully deploy it only about 500 feet above the ground. Morgan, Rabo and two others were captured. Morgan was held in Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany, for the remainder of the war, the only person to become a POW after being awarded the Medal of Honor.

Post-war career
In 1948 Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr. published their novel Twelve O'Clock High and used Morgan as a model for a primary character, Lt. Jesse Bishop. The wording of his actions appearing in his citation was used as dialogue in the script to describe the actions of Bishop under similar circumstances, and like Morgan, Bishop's character was awarded the Medal of Honor and later became a POW. The circumstances also became a featured part of the 1949 film adaptation.

After the war, Morgan returned to work for Texaco in California selling aviation fuel. Called back to active duty when the Korean War broke out, he took a leave of absence from Texaco (1950–53) and applied for combat duty. The Air Force denied his request but allowed him to fly cargo planes in the United States for two years. He completed his final year on active duty in the office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. In 1957, he retired from the Air Force Reserves as a lieutenant colonel. Morgan is survived by his only child Sam Morgan, who himself retired from the US Air Force after 20 plus years of service. Morgan has four grandchildren and three step grandchildren of which two are currently serving in the Army and two others have served. Mark Morgan, the oldest, is a Colonel in the Army and has served several deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. Mark began his Military career in the Marine Corps serving in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as well as Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. Wade Ziegler is a Chief Warrant Officer Five, flying helicopters in the Army serving several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other conflict zones around the world. Rachel Morgan retired a Captain in the Army serving in Iraq and John Morgan retired a Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps after having served several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Chris Morgan, Kristen and Rachel Ziegler all serve the Country in their own way telling the story of their grandfather to whoever will listen.

Morgan died on January 17, 1991, from complications associated with Alzheimer's and a stroke. He is buried in section 59 at Arlington National Cemetery.

When questioned of his valor and heroism, Morgan replied, "There's no such thing as a hero. …I was pushed into circumstances where I was forced to act. You can never say how you're going to react to something until it happens, but I think most people would have done the same."

Medal of Honor citation
Citation:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, while participating on a bombing mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe, 28 July 1943. Prior to reaching the German coast on the way to the target, the B17 aircraft in which 2d Lt. (sic) Morgan was serving as co-pilot was attacked by a large force of enemy fighters, during which the oxygen system to the tail, waist, and radio gun positions was knocked out. A frontal attack placed a cannon shell through the windshield, totally shattering it, and the pilot's skull was split open by a .303 caliber shell, leaving him in a crazed condition. The pilot fell over the steering wheel, tightly clamping his arms around it. 2d Lt. Morgan at once grasped the controls from his side and, by sheer strength, pulled the aircraft back into formation despite the frantic struggles of the semiconscious pilot. The interphone had been destroyed, rendering it impossible to call for help. At this time the top turret gunner fell to the floor and down through the hatch with his arm shot off at the shoulder and a gaping wound in his side. The waist, tail, and radio gunners had lost consciousness from lack of oxygen and, hearing no fire from their guns, the copilot believed they had bailed out. The wounded pilot still offered desperate resistance in his crazed attempts to fly the aircraft. There remained the prospect of flying to and over the target and back to a friendly base wholly unassisted. In the face of this desperate situation, 2d Lt. Officer Morgan made his decision to continue the flight and protect any members of the crew who might still be in the ship and for 2 hours he flew in formation with one hand at the controls and the other holding off the struggling pilot before the navigator entered the steering compartment and relieved the situation. The miraculous and heroic performance of 2d Lt. Morgan on this occasion resulted in the successful completion of a vital bombing mission and the safe return of his aircraft and crew."

title: John C. Morgan


text:
Gustavia

Gustavia may refer to

People with the name include:
 * Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy, the largest town on (and capital of) the Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy
 * Gustavia, Rügen, an unfinished town project in Swedish Pomerania
 * Gustavia (plant), a genus of plants in the family Lecythidaceae
 * Gustavia (arachnid), a genus of arachnids in the family Gustaviidae
 * Gustavia Lui, New Zealand businesswoman

title: Gustavia


text:
The Ego Has Landed

The Ego Has Landed is a compilation album by English singer Robbie Williams. After his success around the world, especially in Europe, Williams was signed to Capitol Records in the United States, which was a part of EMI at the time. The album was released in May 1999 in the United States and Canada, and later issued worldwide. All tracks were previously released on Williams' first two albums, Life thru a Lens (1997) and I've Been Expecting You (1998).

Commercial performance
Williams embarked on a US Promotional Tour and when his first American single, "Millennium" was released, it peaked at No. 72 in the Billboard Hot 100. The album The Ego Has Landed was released in May 1999 in the United States and peaked at No. 63 in the Billboard albums chart, not having the success that he enjoyed in Europe. Despite this, Williams enjoyed good video airplay and received a nomination for the MTV Video Music Awards for "Best Male Video"; he did not win, but the exposure helped the sales of the album.

Capitol Records, trying to make Williams a bigger star, released a second single from the album, the ballad "Angels", for which Williams shot a new video. When it was released in the autumn of that year, the song became a somewhat bigger hit than "Millennium", charting at No. 53. However, this was not enough for Williams, so he concentrated on the rest of the world where he was already an established act. The album went on to sell 598,000 copies in the United States being certified Gold by the RIAA in November of that year.

The compilation was released worldwide (as a limited edition in Europe, pressings for the album are still going strong in Latin America, Asia and New Zealand to this day) and was a huge success in New Zealand, reaching No. 1 on the Official Albums Chart. It went on to sell 140,000 copies being certified 9× Platinum. In Australia, the album ensured platinum sales over 70,000 copies. The album was promoted in Latin America as well. Williams recorded a Spanish version of his hit "Angels" and it was included as a bonus track on the album and then released as a single (almost two years after its original release in English). The Spanish version was a substantial hit in most Latin American countries, but as the single had already been big in 1997, most video and radio outlets focused on the tracks from his album I've Been Expecting You. Despite this, the compilation proved to be a medium success giving him Gold sales in Argentina.

title: The Ego Has Landed


text:
Empress Xiaoxianchun

Empress Xiaoxianchun (28 March 1712 – 8 April 1748), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Fuca clan, was the first wife of the Qianlong Emperor. She was empress consort from 1738 until her death in 1748.

Family background
Empress Xiaoxianchun's personal name was not recorded in history.

 * Father: Lirongbao (李榮保; 1674–1723), served as a third rank military official (總管) of Chahar, and held the title of a first class duke (一等公)
 * Grandfather: Mishan (米思翰; 1633–1675), served as the minister of revenue
 * Uncle: Maci (马齐; 1652–1739)
 * Mother: Lady Gioro (覺羅氏)
 * Seven elder brothers and two younger brothers
 * Ninth younger brother: Fuheng (傅恒; 1720–1770)
 * One younger sister: wife of Salashan

Kangxi era
The future Empress Xiaoxianchun was born on the 22nd day of the second lunar month in the 51st year of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, which translates to 28 March 1712 in the Gregorian calendar.

Yongzheng era
On 3 September 1727, Lady Fuca married Hongli, the fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, and became his primary consort. She then moved into the Palace of Eternal Spring in the western part of the Forbidden City. She gave birth on 3 November 1728 to Hongli's first daughter, who would die prematurely on 14 February 1730, on 9 August 1730 to his second son, Yonglian, who would die due to smallpox on 23 November 1738, and on 31 July 1731 to his third daughter, Princess Hejing of the First Rank.

Qianlong era
The Yongzheng Emperor died on 8 October 1735 and was succeeded by Hongli, who was enthroned as the Qianlong Emperor. On 23 January 1738, Lady Fuca, as the new emperor's primary consort, was instated as empress.

In the Draft History of Qing, Lady Fuca is described as a respected and virtuous person. She looked after the Qianlong Emperor and the people in the palace, serving her role as empress well. She was praised and favoured by the Emperor. It is also said that Lady Fuca did not like spending money for her own aggrandizement. Instead of expensive jewelry, she would wear artificial flowers in her hair. The Emperor once told her that their Manchu ancestors were too poor to make their own pouches from cloth and had to settle for simple deer hide instead. She immediately made one for him. He was touched by the gift.

Lady Fuca took her duties seriously when it came to Confucian rituals. As head of the inner palace, she supervised the imperial consorts when performing rituals. One of these was a rite concerning sericulture that was presided over by the empress. This rite, which had been practised since the Zhou dynasty, was gradually restored during the reign of Qianlong. For the purpose of the rite, a sericulture altar was completed in 1744, largely at Lady Fuca's urging. That year, she became the first empress of the Qing dynasty to personally lead the women in the palace in these rites, making offerings of mulberry. In 1751, the whole rite was painted on four scrolls in memory of Lady Fuca.

On 27 May 1746, Lady Fuca gave birth to the Emperor's seventh son, Yongcong. The Qianlong Emperor had high hopes for Yongcong and named him the crown prince shortly after his birth. However, Yongcong too would die prematurely on 29 January 1748 due to smallpox, similar to Yonglian.

Death
In 1748, during one of Qianlong's southern tours, Lady Fuca became seriously ill with a malarial fever and eventually died on 8 April, three months after the death of Yongcong. The Empress's funeral was lavishly done. The Emperor was deeply affected and did not take her death well. When he found out that two of his sons, Yonghuang and Yongzhang, had not mourned for the Empress as much as was expected, he issued a decree removing both of them from his list of potential successors to the throne. In addition, those court officials who shaved their hair, which was considered disrespectful as it was forbidden to do so throughout the mourning period, were either heavily punished or executed.

The bereaved Emperor wrote the poem Expressing My Grief after her death:

"When entering her bedroom,

I inhale sadness.

I climb behind her phoenix bed-curtains,

Yet they hang to no avail.

The romance of the spring breeze and autumn moon all ends here.

Summer days and winter nights spent with her will never come again."

Titles

 * During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722):
 * Lady Fuca (富察氏; from 28 March 1712)
 * During the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722–1735):
 * Primary consort (嫡福晉; from 3 September 1727)
 * During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796):
 * Empress (皇后; from 23 January 1738 )
 * Empress Xiaoxian (孝賢皇后; from 16 June 1748 )
 * During the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor (r. 1796–1802):
 * Empress Xiaoxianchun (孝賢純皇后; from 1799)

Issue

 * As primary consort:
 * Unnamed daughter (3 November 1728 – 14 February 1730), the Qianlong Emperor's first daughter
 * Yonglian (永璉), Crown Prince Duanhui (端慧皇太子; 9 August 1730 – 23 November 1738), the Qianlong Emperor's second son
 * Princess Hejing of the First Rank (固倫和敬公主; 31 July 1731 – 30 September 1792), the Qianlong Emperor's third daughter
 * Married Septeng Baljur (色布騰巴爾珠爾; ? – 1775) of the Mongol Khorchin Borjigin clan in April/May 1747
 * As empress:
 * Yongcong (永琮), Prince Zhe of First Rank (哲親王; 27 May 1746 – 29 January 1748), the Qianlong Emperor's seventh son

In fiction and popular culture

 * Portrayed by Shally Tsang in Take Care, Your Highness! (1985)
 * Portrayed by Chan Fuk-sang in The Rise and Fall of Qing Dynasty (1988)
 * Portrayed by Chen Yi in Jiangshan Weizhong (2002)
 * Portrayed by Joyce Tang in The Prince's Shadow (2005)
 * Portrayed by Yuan Yi in Empresses in the Palace (2011)
 * Portrayed by Qin Lan in Story of Yanxi Palace (2018)
 * Portrayed by Dong Jie in Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (2018)

title: Empress Xiaoxianchun


text:
Zeno's Conscience

Zeno's Conscience (La coscienza di Zeno ) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Svevo. The main character is Zeno Cosini, and the book is the fictional character's memoirs that he keeps because his psychoanalyst recommended to do so in order to overcome his illness. He writes about his father, his business, his wife, and his tobacco habit. The original English translation was published under the title Confessions of Zeno.

After two novels, Una vita and Senilità, were ignored by critics and public, and after a long period of literary silence, entirely devoted to work, in 1923 Svevo self-published this novel, quite different in style. It was appreciated by a close friend of Svevo's, James Joyce, who presented the book to two French critics, Valéry Larbaud and Benjamin Crémieux. The success of the novel expanded to Italy, thanks to the poet Eugenio Montale.

The previous novels follow a naturalistic model; Zeno's Conscience, instead, is narrated in the first person, and is focused entirely on the character's thoughts and feelings. Moreover, Zeno is an unreliable narrator, since in the very first page his doctor, publishing the diary, says that it is made of truths and lies. However, there are important similarities among Svevo's three novels. Even in the third-person narrative of Una vita and Senilità, the reader knows only the point of view of the main characters; and these are, or feel, unfit to live. The titles are revealing: Una vita had previously the title Un inetto (An unfit); Senilità (literally Senility) is a state of mind, a feeling of weakness in front of everyday life events and encounters. As to La coscienza di Zeno, the title's ambiguity causes the different ways it is translated not only into English, but also into German (Zenos Gewissen, Zenos Bewusstsein). Zeno talks of his various failures, of his feeling ill and looking for a cure he'll never find. In the end, however, he recognizes that life itself is an illness, and it always brings to death.

Plot summary
The novel is presented as a diary written by Zeno, published by his doctor (who claims that it is full of lies). The doctor has left a little note in the beginning, saying he had Zeno write an autobiography to help him in his psychoanalysis. The doctor has published the work as revenge for Zeno discontinuing his visits.

The diary, however, does not follow chronological order; instead, it is structured in large chapters, each developing a particular theme (tobacco addiction, his father's death, the story of his marriage, and so on). Only the last chapter is a real diary, with pages referring to specific dates at the time of the First World War.

Zeno first writes about his cigarette addiction and cites the first times he smoked. In his first few paragraphs, he remembers his life as a child. One of his friends bought cigarettes for his brother and him. Soon, he steals money from his father to buy tobacco, but finally decides not to do this out of shame. Eventually, he starts to smoke his father's half-smoked cigars instead.

The problem with his "last cigarette" starts when he is twenty. He contracts a fever and his doctor tells him that to heal he must abstain from smoking. He decides smoking is bad for him and smokes his "last cigarette" so he can quit. However, this is not his last and he soon becomes plagued with "last cigarettes." He attempts to quit on days of important events in his life and soon obsessively attempts to quit on the basis of the harmony in the numbers of dates. Each time, the cigarette fails to truly be the last. He goes to doctors and asks friends to help him give up the habit, but to no avail. He even commits himself into a clinic, but escapes. The whole theme, while objectively serious, is often treated in a humorous way.

When Zeno reaches his thirties, his father's health begins to deteriorate. He starts to live closer to his father in case he passes away. Zeno is very different from his father, who is a serious man, while Zeno likes to joke. For instance, when his father states that Zeno is crazy, Zeno goes to the doctor and gets an official certification that he is sane. He shows this to his father who is hurt by this joke and becomes even more convinced that Zeno must be crazy. His father is also afraid of death, being very uncomfortable with the drafting of his will. One night, his father falls gravely ill and loses consciousness. The doctor comes and works on the patient, who is brought out of the clutches of death momentarily. Over the next few days, his father is able to get up and regains a bit of his self. He is restless and shifts positions for comfort often, even though the doctor says that staying in bed would be good for his circulation. One night, as his father tries to roll out of bed, Zeno blocks him from moving, to do as the doctor wished. His angry father then stands up and accidentally slaps Zeno in the face before dying. His last action will haunt Zeno until he reaches his sixties, as he is not able to tell if it was a final punishment or just his illness taking over his body.

His memoirs then trace how he meets his wife. When he is starting to learn about the business world, he meets his future father-in-law Giovanni Malfenti, an intelligent and successful businessman, whom Zeno admires. Malfenti has four daughters, Ada, Augusta, Alberta, and Anna, and when Zeno meets them, he decides that he wants to court Ada because of her beauty and since Alberta is quite young, while he regards Augusta as too plain, and Anna is only a little girl. He is unsuccessful and the Malfentis think that he is actually trying to court Augusta, who had fallen in love with him. He soon meets his rival for Ada's love, who is Guido Speier. Guido speaks perfect Tuscan (while Zeno speaks the dialect of Trieste), is handsome, and has a full head of hair (compared with Zeno's bald head). That evening, while Guido and Zeno both visit the Malfentis, Zeno proposes to Ada and she rejects him for Guido. Zeno then proposes to Alberta, who is not interested in marrying, and he is rejected by her also. Finally, he proposes to Augusta (who knows that Zeno first proposed to the other two) and she accepts, because she loves him.

Very soon, the couples get married and Zeno starts to realize that he can love Augusta. This surprises him as his love for her does not diminish. However, he meets Carla, a poor aspiring singer, and they start an affair, with Carla thinking that Zeno does not love his wife. Meanwhile, Ada and Guido marry and Mr. Malfenti gets sick. Zeno's affection for both Augusta and Carla increases and he has a daughter named Antonia around the time Giovanni passes away. Finally, one day, Carla expresses a sudden whim to see Augusta. Zeno deceives Carla and causes her to meet Ada instead. Carla misrepresents Ada as Zeno's wife, and moved by her beauty and sadness, breaks off the affair.

Zeno goes on to relate the business partnership between him and Guido. The two men set up a merchant business together in Trieste. They hire two workers named Luciano and Carmen (who becomes Guido's mistress) and they attempt to make as much profit as possible. However, due to Guido's obsession with debts and credit as well as with the notion of profit, the company does poorly. Guido and Ada's marriage begins to crumble as does Ada's health and beauty, due to Morbus Basedowii (Basedow's disease). Guido fakes a suicide attempt to gain Ada's compassion and she asks Zeno to help Guido's failing company. Guido starts playing on the Bourse (stock exchange) and loses even more money. On a fishing trip, he asks Zeno about the differences in effects between sodium veronal and veronal and Zeno answers that sodium veronal is fatal while veronal is not. Guido's gambling on the Bourse becomes very destructive and he finally tries to fake another suicide to gain Ada's compassion. However, he is not believed by his doctor and his wife and dies. Soon thereafter, Zeno misses Guido's funeral because he himself gambles Guido's money on the Bourse and recovers three quarters of the losses.

Zeno describes his current life during the Great War. His daughter Antonia (who greatly resembles Ada) and son Alfio have grown up. He spends his time visiting doctors, looking for a cure to his imagined sickness. One of the doctors claims he is suffering from the Oedipus complex, but Zeno does not believe it to be true. Not a single doctor is able to treat him.

In May 1915, while Italy is still neutral, as Zeno wants it to be, he and his family spend a vacation on the green banks of the Isonzo. Zeno does not yet guess that area will soon become a major battlefield. Renting a house in the village of Lucinico, he sets out on a casual morning stroll without his hat and jacket – when the outbreak of the war between Italy and Austro-Hungary turns the area into a war zone and Zeno is separated from his wife and children by the frontline. Forced to go back to Trieste alone, only much later does he find out that Augusta and the children reached Turin safely.

The final entry is from March 1916, after Zeno, alone in wartorn Trieste, has become wealthy by speculating and hoarding, though money has not made him happy or pleased with life. He comes to a realization that life itself resembles sickness because it has advancements and setbacks and always ends in death. Human advancement has given mankind not more able bodies, but weapons that can be sold, bought, stolen to prolong life. This deviation from natural selection causes more sickness and weakness in humans. Zeno imagines a time when a person will invent a new, powerful weapon of mass destruction, just like the modern atomic bomb, that wasn't invented yet at the time, and another will steal it and destroy the world, setting it free of sickness.

title: Zeno's Conscience


text:
False Cape Horn

False Cape Horn or Falso Cabo de Hornos is a headland at the south end of Hoste Island, 35 statute miles (56 km) northwest of Cape Horn, located at -55.72694°N, -68.05444°W. False Cape Horn is the southernmost point of the large islands of the Tierra del Fuego group, located close to the mainland of South America.

At least 100 ships were lost in the Cape Horn area between 1850 and 1900. There were three sailing routes through or around the Tierra del Fuego region: Drake Passage (the one going around Cape Horn), Magellan Strait, and Beagle Channel. All three were perilous, but only Drake Passage offered unlimited maneuvering room. It became the preferred route. Since the winds in the area are prevailing westerlies, False Cape Horn is a lee shore which from the west superficially resembles the real Cape Horn to the south. If the officers and crew of a ship saw land off the starboard bow (to the south), there was virtually no chance of stopping or turning, or even slowing, a ship in time to avoid wrecking on the Wollaston Islands. This mistake caused several shipwrecks.

Administratively, False Cape Horn, which belongs to the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, is part of the Antártica Chilena Province of the Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region, Chile.

title: False Cape Horn


text:
The Pirate (1948 film)

The Pirate is a 1948 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. With songs by Cole Porter, it stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly with costars Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, The Nicholas Brothers, and George Zucco.

Plot
Manuela Alva, who lives in the small Caribbean village of Calvados, dreams of being swept away by the legendary Pirate, Mack "the Black" Macoco. However, her aunt and uncle (who have raised her) insist that she marry the town mayor, the rotund and bullying Don Pedro.

Shortly before her wedding, Manuela visits a nearby town, Port Sebastian. A traveling circus has arrived, and Serafin, its handsome leader, flirts with all the girls in the song "Niña". When he encounters Manuela, however, he falls in love with her at first sight. He compliments her beauty and begs her not to marry Don Pedro, but, angered, she hurries away. That night, however, she can't sleep, and sneaks out to go see Serafin's show.

At the show, Serafin hypnotizes Manuela, thinking that she will admit that she loves him. Instead, she wildly sings and dances about her love for "Mack the Black." Serafin awakens her with a kiss, and she flees in horror.

On Manuela's wedding day, the traveling players arrive in Calvados. Serafin begs her to join his troupe, and asks her to admit that she loves him. Don Pedro, hearing noise in her room, arrives at her door, and asks her to go away so that he can teach Serafin a lesson.

Serafin recognizes Don Pedro as Macoco, retired and obese. He blackmails Macoco with this information, swearing to tell it to Manuela if Don Pedro forbids the performers from putting on a show. Serafin then decides to pretend to be Macoco in order to win over Manuela. He reveals himself before the whole town as Macoco, then asks Manuela if she will come with him; she again refuses. Still, watching from her window as he dances, she begins to daydream about him. The next day, he threatens to burn down the town if he cannot have her. Finally, she happily agrees to go with him.

One of Serafin's troupe accidentally reveals his plan to Manuela. To get her revenge, she first pretends to seduce him, then attacks him with words and throws objects. She accidentally knocks him out, then she realizes that she loves him, and sings "You Can Do No Wrong." Meanwhile, Don Pedro convinces the viceroy that Serafin is the real Macoco and should hang for it. He plants treasure in Serafin's prop trunk to make him look like a pirate. The army arrests him, and Manuela's protests cannot free him. On the night of his hanging, Manuela finally gets to look at the false evidence, and recognizes a bracelet with the same design as the wedding ring that Don Pedro gave her, and realizes that he is the pirate.

Serafin asks to do one last show before he is hanged, and sings and dances "Be a Clown". As a finale, he plans to hypnotize Don Pedro into admitting he is Macoco, but Manuela's aunt uses her parasol to break the mirror that Serafin uses to hypnotize people. Panicked, Manuela pretends to be hypnotized and sings "Love of My Life," vowing everlasting devotion to Macoco. Don Pedro, jealous, reveals himself as the true Macoco and seizes her. Serafin's troupe attacks him with all the items and juggling balls, and the lovers embrace. Manuela joins Serafin's act and the film ends with them singing a reprise of "Be a Clown."

Cast

 * Judy Garland as Manuela
 * Gene Kelly as Serafin
 * Walter Slezak as Don Pedro Vargas
 * Gladys Cooper as Aunt Inez
 * Reginald Owen as The Advocate
 * George Zucco as The Viceroy
 * Specialty Dance sequence by the Nicholas Brothers
 * Lester Allen as Uncle Capucho
 * Lola Deem as Isabella
 * Ellen Ross as Mercedes
 * Mary Jo Ellis as Lizarda
 * Jean Dean as Casilda
 * Marion Murray as Eloise
 * Ben Lessy as Gumbo
 * Jerry Bergen as Bolo
 * Val Setz as Juggler
 * Gaudsmith Brothers as Themselves
 * Cully Richards as Trillo
 * Dorothy Tuttle as Dancer

Production
Vincente Minnelli directed the film, from a screenplay based on the 1942 Broadway play by S. N. Behrman, which had starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Opening at the Martin Beck Theatre on November 25, 1942, The Pirate played for 176 performances before the screen rights were purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $225,000. While the Lunts themselves expressed interest in bringing the story to the screen, MGM envisioned the project as a comedy for William Powell and either Myrna Loy or Hedy Lamarr. Over the next two years, more than a half-dozen scenarists, producers, and directors worked on ideas for developing the script.

It was the play's original scenic designer, Lemuel Ayers, who suggested to MGM's preeminent musical producer Arthur Freed that The Pirate would make an effective musical. Freed presented the idea to Judy Garland, his top musical star, and her husband, director Vincente Minnelli. Garland was then at the top of her box-office stature in Hollywood, and Minnelli was the logical choice as director, as he had successfully helmed most of her recent movies (Meet Me in St. Louis, Ziegfeld Follies, and The Clock). Garland was eager to demonstrate her talents as a sophisticated leading comedienne in the same class as Katharine Hepburn, and MGM saw a perfect opportunity to reunite her with Gene Kelly, her co-star in the hit 1942 musical For Me and My Gal. Kelly was newly returned from his navy service in World War II and an Academy Award nominee for Best Actor for Anchors Aweigh. Freed engaged legendary composer Cole Porter to write the score for a $100,000 fee, and entrusted Anita Loos and Joseph Than with the film's scenario. They fashioned a role for Lena Horne, that of Conchita, a local dressmaker, and Garland's confidante.

After five months of work, Loos and Than offered a reading of their script to Freed, Minnelli, Garland, Kelly, and Porter. To the horror of the listeners, the team had produced an awkward, unusable reversal of Behrman's original premise. Although the female lead remained an impressionable Caribbean girl besotted by dreams of a legendary pirate, the leading man was no longer a touring actor impersonating her daring seaman, but a dancing pirate who pretended to be an entertainer. Producer Freed immediately replaced Loos and Than with the great husband and wife writing team of Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. In two months, they turned in a witty and workable adaptation of the Behrman original, geared to Porter's songs. The role for Horne was dropped from their script.

By October 1946, Cole Porter had turned in eight songs and departed for New York. One of these, "[It's Chic In] Martinique" was dropped when Horne's role was eliminated, but seven other Porter numbers were slotted in the new script. The creative personnel assigned to the film comprised a solid crew from the Freed Unit at MGM: choreographer Robert Alton, conductor Lennie Hayton, orchestrator Conrad Salinger, and vocal arranger Kay Thompson. Garland began prerecording the score at the studio on December 27, 1946.

Barbara Karinska, the famous costumier, was engaged to execute the costume designs of Tom Keogh. "One of Judy's eight costume designs," said Keogh, "was a replica of an 1830 Worth gown." It cost $3,462.23 to make. Another was a white satin wedding dress, with handmade antique lace from France and embroidered with a thousand pearls; it cost $3,313.12. Each of the women's costumes had five petticoats and all the embroidery was done by hand. The total wardrobe cost was $141,595.30.

Leading man Gene Kelly approached his role with enthusiasm. His inspirations for the character of Serafin were his boyhood cinema heroes: the swashbuckling athleticism of Douglas Fairbanks and the hammy flamboyance of John Barrymore. He was also eager to express his characterization in the film through dance, using ballet more than he had previously. "I wanted the opportunity to do a different kind of dancing," said Kelly, "a popular style with a lot of classic forms, acrobatics, and athletics." An aspiring film director, Kelly also worked closely with Minnelli during the shoot to learn the technical end of filmmaking behind the camera. Minnelli and Kelly established a collaborative working relationship at this time, which reached its zenith a few years later with their most successful film as director/star, An American in Paris.

Everyone involved in the film's production possessed exemplary credentials: Walter Slezak and Gladys Cooper were cast, respectively, as Don Pedro and Manuela's Aunt Inez; supporting roles were filled with veteran players Reginald Owen, George Zucco, Ben Lessy, and the Nicholas Brothers. Behind the scenes were cameraman Harry Stradling and art director Jack Martin Smith.

Principal photography on The Pirate began on February 17, 1947. Almost immediately, the film was beset by problems. Unhappy with Kay Thompson's cacophonous arrangement of the opening number, "Mack the Black", Freed ordered the song re-recorded. Garland termed Thompson's treatment of the song "insanity", and Cole Porter diplomatically offered that the number "has me in a dither." Minnelli wanted to expand Kelly's role, and new scenes had to be written and existing scenes re-shuffled. Elaborate sets were built to Minnelli's exacting instructions. For Kelly's number Nina, a plaza in the town of Calvados was built on a soundstage at MGM, with a pavilion in the middle and the streets unevenly paved with cobblestones for realistic effect. The cost was $86,660.00.

Paramount among the problems plaguing the shooting schedule was Judy Garland's increasing inability to perform. Years of overwork at MGM, postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Liza Minnelli nine months earlier, and a heavy reliance on prescription medication finally caught up with the twenty-five-year-old star, and she often failed to show up on time for work, if at all. According to her biographer John Fricke, Garland was also unhappy with the way The Pirate was shaping up. Despite her initial enthusiasm to play a character outside her usual winsome all-American roles, Garland "began to feel adrift in the imaginative self-indulgence that suddenly surrounded her on the set of The Pirate. Her instincts told her that Minnelli, Kelly, and [Kay] Thompson were unwittingly producing a motion picture for themselves- and for an audience that might not exist." Her marriage to Minnelli began to unravel during the shoot, and her consumption of prescription stimulants and sedatives increased. After suffering a panicked breakdown on the set during the filming of the "Voodoo" musical number, Garland was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. The crew and her co-workers were sympathetic to Garland's travails, testifying that she was not a temperamental star but an overworked young woman struggling with health and addiction issues. Out of 135 days of rehearsals and shooting, Garland was absent for 99. But on her last full day of filming, Garland did retakes and pickups on the "Be a Clown" finale and five other scenes, changing wardrobe, hairstyle, and makeup at least three times for more than twenty-five takes.

Several songs were cut, and others moved around. Garland and Kelly were to perform a tempestuous dance to "Voodoo". The sequence was filmed, but MGM executives felt the choreography was too openly sexual for audiences of the day, and they ordered the number removed. When MGM chieftain Louis B. Mayer saw the footage he was so outraged he ordered the negatives burned. "If that exhibition gets on the screen", he shouted, "we'll be raided by the police!" No footage of the number is known to exist today. Mayer also disliked the erotic style of Kelly's "The Pirate Ballet". Garland's rendition of "Love of My Life" was excised, leaving only her reprise of the number near the end of the film. Her show-stopping performance of "Mack the Black" was restaged in a more straightforward musical comedy style. The dancing Nicholas Brothers joined Kelly for the first rendition of "Be a Clown", but theater owners in the South removed the number from their prints, fearing white audiences would not accept two Black dancers performing with a White dancer as equals.

The score was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score, losing out to another MGM musical, Easter Parade, also starring Garland and produced by Arthur Freed.

The film was shot in Technicolor.

"Be a Clown"
It has been suggested that Cole Porter's "Be a Clown" was plagiarized by producer/songwriter Arthur Freed four years later for his “Make 'em Laugh”, a spectacular number written for Donald O'Connor in Freed's iconic 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain. In a winter 2002 article in the Michigan Quarterly Review, “Singin' in the Rain, an interview with Betty Comden and Adolph Green”, the film's screenwriter Betty Comden recalled, "How [Arthur Freed] could have written it in the first place — and not realized — is still a mystery. We have no idea, and we never brought it up with Arthur, either before or after that day ... It's fabulous, but the song's exactly like 'Be a Clown."

Reception
The film had its world premiere on May 15, 1948, in Montreal, Quebec, billed as the "Pre Radio City Showing.” It premiered in the U.S. at the Radio City Music Hall in New York on May 20, 1948, and went into general release on June 10, 1948, having cost $3,768,496 ($553,888 over budget).

Audiences failed to respond to the film's high-brow ambitions, and while many critics hailed its sophistication, box office results failed to follow suit. The British author David Shipman, in his book The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years, described it as being overall "a neat moneymaker, but otherwise probably the least successful of Garland's MGM films."

The New York Times offered, "The Pirate, which came yesterday to the Radio City Music Hall, is a dazzling, spectacular extravaganza, shot through with all the colors of the rainbow and then some that Technicolor patented. It takes this mammoth show some time to generate a full head of steam, but when it gets rolling it's thoroughly delightful."

The New York Herald Tribune wrote, "At the Music Hall there is more dancing than script; more production pomp than sensible staging. But with Gene Kelly hoofing like a dervish, Judy Garland changing character at the drop of a hat, and resplendent trappings, the show is bouncing and beautiful."

The Chicago Tribune thought, "Certainly no effort was spared; the cast is star-studded, and the settings and costumes are strikingly handsome. Yet The Pirate is disappointing, especially in regards to its music.  The film has its moments, especially those in which Kelly dominates the screen.  Judy Garland handles a song as well as ever and has several excellent comedy scenes."

Time advised, "As an all-out try at artful movie making, this is among the most interesting pictures of the year. Unluckily, much of the considerable artistry that has gone into this production collides head-on with artiness or is spoiled by simpler kinds of miscalculations.  Miss Garland's tense, ardent straightforwardness is sometimes very striking.  The total effect of the picture is entertainment troubled by delusions of art and vice-versa."

Two years later, director Vincente Minnelli said in an interview to the French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, "I was very pleased with the way the film turned out. Judy gave one of her best performances and the Cole Porter songs were excellent.  Unfortunately, the merchandising on the film was bad, and it failed to go over when it was released."

Star Gene Kelly told Tony Thomas in 1974, "I had decided on this Fairbanks-Barrymore approach to the role at the very start and Minnelli entirely agreed with it. It didn't occur to us until the picture hit the public that what we had done was indulge in a huge inside joke.  It was done tongue-in-cheek but it didn't really come off, and that's my fault.  But I thought Judy was superb- and what Minnelli did with color and design in that film is as fine as anything that has ever been done."

Producer Arthur Freed said in 1969, "When we did The Pirate Judy wasn't feeling well. I think it's one of the best pictures she's done.  It didn't lose money, but it wasn't the success I hoped it would be.  I think one of the reasons was the public didn't want to see Judy as a sophisticate.  I think today The Pirate would be a hit.  It was twenty years ahead of its time."

Composer Cole Porter said later that he felt The Pirate was "a $5,000,000 Hollywood picture that was unspeakably wretched, the worst that money could buy."

According to MGM accounts, the film earned $1,874,000 in the US and Canada and $782,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss to the studio of $2,290,000.

Garland and Kelly were slated to begin a new musical, Easter Parade, after wrapping work on The Pirate. With a score by Irving Berlin, and with Freed producing and Minnelli directing, rehearsals began. But Garland's therapist felt it was unwise to have her husband direct her in another film so soon after The Pirate, so Minnelli was removed as director by Arthur Freed and replaced by Charles Walters. Soon thereafter, Gene Kelly broke his ankle playing softball at home. Freed called Fred Astaire, who had recently retired from films, and asked if he would replace Kelly. After obtaining Kelly's blessing, Astaire jumped at the chance of working with Judy Garland for the first time. The shooting of the film went smoothly, coming in ahead of schedule and under budget. When released in July 1948, Easter Parade was a smash-hit, breaking box-office records and putting Garland, Astaire, and everyone involved on a new level of success.

Soundtrack for extended CD version
In 2002, Rhino Handmade/Turner Classic Movies Music released the complete Oscar-nominated score on compact disc, remastered and restored with rare outtakes and rehearsal demos.

 * 1) "Main Title (Mack the Black)"
 * 2) "Niña"
 * 3) "Mack the Black"
 * 4) "Love of My Life" (Outtake)
 * 5) "Pirate Ballet"
 * 6) "You Can Do No Wrong"
 * 7) "Be a Clown"
 * 8) "Love of My Life" (Reprise)
 * 9) "Be a Clown" (Finale)
 * 10) "Mack the Black" (Unused Version)
 * 11) "Papayas / Seraphin's March" (Partial Demo)
 * 12) "Voodoo (Outtake)"
 * 13) "Manuela (Demo)"
 * 14) "Voodoo (Demo)"
 * 15) "Niña (Demo)"
 * 16) "You Can Do No Wrong" (Demo)
 * 17) "Be a Clown" (Demo)
 * 18) Judy Garland Interview with Dick Simmons
 * 19) Gene Kelly Interview with Dick Simmons

Restored 4K Blu-ray
On November 24, 2020 Warner Archive released a restored 4K transfer of the film on Blu-ray. High-Def Digest wrote in their review, "A brand new 4K restoration from Warner Archive yields an absolutely glorious 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that's distinguished by crystal clarity, superior contrast, perfectly balanced color, and beautifully resolved grain that lends the picture a lovely film-like feel."

title: The Pirate (1948 film)


text:
Gary Alexander (footballer)

Gary George Alexander (born 15 August 1979 in Lambeth) is an English former professional footballer. He was recently interim manager of Cray Wanderers.

Alexander previously played for West Ham United, Exeter City, Swindon Town, Hull City, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Brentford, Crawley Town, AFC Wimbledon and Burton Albion. He was also caretaker manager of Crawley Town alongside Martin Hinshelwood.

West Ham United and Exeter City
He began his career with West Ham United, but his first taste of first team football came with a loan spell at Exeter City in the 1999–2000 season. Alexander scored 16 goals in 37 league games for the Grecians and although he was only on-loan to Exeter, became their Player of the Season. His form with Exeter convinced Swindon Town to sign him from West Ham for £300,000 in July 2000.

Swindon Town
Alexander's time at Swindon was short. He played only one season, scoring seven goals in 43 appearances in all competitions.

Hull City
With Swindon Town in financial difficulties they accepted a bid from Hull City in June 2001. His first season saw him score 20 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions and in the 2001–02 season he was awarded the Hull City Player of the Season award.

Leyton Orient
In January 2003 he moved to Leyton Orient where he soon became a first team regular. Alexander rejected a new deal in May 2007.

Millwall

On 24 May 2009 Alexander scored twice for Millwall in the 2008–09 League One play-off final. However, he was unable to prevent Millwall losing 3–2 to Scunthorpe United, despite Alexander's two goals giving Millwall a 2–1 half-time lead. He missed a chance to put Millwall 3–1 up and claim his hat-trick.

Brentford
In August 2010 Alexander signed for Brentford for an undisclosed fee and made his debut on 7 August against Carlisle United. He scored his first Brentford goal a week later in a 2–1 home defeat to Walsall. On 28 January 2012 Alexander scored a hat-trick in a 5–2 win over Wycombe Wanderers.

Crawley Town
In March 2012 Alexander signed on loan for Crawley Town until the end of the 2011–12 season. Alexander scored seven goals in fourteen appearances for Crawley as they finished 3rd in League Two and were promoted to League One. Following the sacking of manager Ritchie Barker, Alexander became caretaker manager on 28 November 2013, alongside chief scout Martin Hinshelwood.

AFC Wimbledon
On 31 January 2013 Alexander joined AFC Wimbledon, on loan until the end of the season. He scored three goals in 18 appearances, the last of which was the first in a 2–1 win over Fleetwood Town on 27 April 2013, the final day of the season, that preserved the Dons' Football League status.

Burton Albion
On 31 January 2014, Alexander signed for Burton Albion. He was released by the club at the end of the season.

Coaching career
Alexander joined Greenwich Borough in July 2014. On 22 December 2015, Alexander became player-manager. He guided them to promotion from the Southern Counties East in 2015–16 and the following season they reached the Isthmian League South Division play-offs. He left the club in January 2018.

After turning out for Chatham Town for a couple of matches, Alexander joined Ashford United in mid-January 2018, initially as assistant manager team but with a view to becoming manager for the following season. He was sacked in November 2018. After a spell scouting for Millwall, he was appointed manager of Glebe in September 2019. Alexander resigned from this role in June 2021.

In December 2021, Alexander was appointed assistant to Interim Manager Grant Basey at Isthmian League Premier Division side Cray Wanderers.

Career statistics

As a player
Leyton Orient
 * Football League Two third-place promotion: 2005–06

Millwall
 * Football League One play-offs: 2010

Brentford
 * Football League Trophy runner-up: 2010–11

Crawley Town
 * Football League Two third-place promotion: 2011–12

Greenwich Borough
 * Southern Counties East League: 2015–16

Individual
 * Exeter City Player of the Year: 1999–2000
 * Hull City Player of the Year: 2001–02

As a manager
Greenwich Borough
 * Southern Counties East League: 2015–16

title: Gary Alexander (footballer)


text:
Abdul Halim Haron

Abdul Halim bin Haron is bodybuilder from Singapore who was inducted into the Singapore Sports Council's Hall of Fame for his impressive performance over the years. Starting his professional career in the welterweight category in the late 1990s, he won a bronze medal in the Asian Championship in 2000, and came out tops in the Singaporean national competitions a year later.

As there is a higher chance of winning medals in the lighter categories, he was asked to switch to the lower weight categories, a request which involved having to shed over 10 kilogrammes over just two years. His efforts allowed him to compete in the Busan 2002 Asian Games in the bantamweight category, and earned him a gold medal.

title: Abdul Halim Haron


text: User talk:81.179.80.48

title: User talk:81.179.80.48


text:
List of early Lithuanian dukes

Early dukes of Lithuania (including Samogitia) reigned before Lithuanians were unified by Mindaugas into a state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. While the Palemonids legend provides genealogy from the 10th century, only few dukes were mentioned by contemporary historical sources. All of them were mentioned in written sources the 13th century. Data about them is extremely scarce and is usually limited to few brief sentences. The primary sources are the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia and Hypatian Codex.

Rulers recorded in historical sources

Of the dukes who signed the peace treaty, only four are mentioned in other written sources: Mindaugas, who went on to become the Grand Duke of Lithuania and was crowned as King of Lithuania in 1253, Vykintas, leader of anti-Mindaugas coalition during the civil war in 1248–1251, Bikšys and Ligeikis, both identified as Mindaugas relatives and nobles, mentioned in a document, dated 1260 and sometimes considered a forgery.
 * Žvelgaitis (Svelgates) – earliest known duke. In 1205, he attacked Riga and was killed in the battle, led by ruler of Semigallia, Vester.
 * Daugirutis (Dangerutis, Dangeruthe) – Livonians imprisoned this Lithuanian duke in 1213, where he killed himself.
 * Stekšys (Stakys, Steksė) – another powerful duke, killed in 1214 near Lielvārde.
 * Father of Mindaugas – several sources mention that he was a powerful duke, but do not give his name. 16th century genealogies gave him the name of Ryngold or Ringaudas.
 * The following Lithuanian dukes signed a peace treaty with the rulers of Galicia–Volhynia in 1219:
 * Duke elders
 * Živinbudas (presumably the eldest duke)
 * Daujotas
 * Dausprungas
 * Mindaugas (brother of Dausprungas)
 * Vilikaila or Viligaila (brother of Daujotas)
 * Rulers of Samogitia
 * Erdvilas
 * Vykintas
 * Ruškaičiai family
 * Kintibutas
 * Vembutas
 * Butautas
 * Vyžeitis
 * Velžys (son of Vyžeitis)
 * Kitenis
 * Plikienė (wife of Plikys, probably a widow)
 * Bulionys family (three brothers, all of them killed by Mindaugas)
 * Vismantas (his wife was taken by Mindaugas for himself)
 * Gedvilas
 * Sprudeikis
 * Rulers of the duchy of Deltuva
 * Juodikis
 * Buteikis
 * Bikšys
 * Ligeikis
 * Netimeras – referred to as a king in the 1009 Annals of Quedlinburg and baptized by Bruno of Querfurt.

title: List of early Lithuanian dukes


text:
New Brighton railway station

New Brighton railway station serves the suburb of New Brighton in Wallasey, Merseyside, England. It is situated at the end of the New Brighton branch of the Wirral Line 8.25 mi west of Liverpool Lime Street on the Merseyrail network.

History
The station was built as the terminus of the Wirral Railway's route from Birkenhead Park station, opening in 1888. Through services via the Mersey Railway Tunnel to Liverpool commenced in 1938, when the London Midland and Scottish Railway electrified the line. The station had a goods yard, which closed on 30 October 1965.

Between 1960 and 1971, diesel services on the Borderlands Wrexham to Bidston line ran through to New Brighton. This arrangement started when the service was converted to diesel trains and the branch to Seacombe station which was used as the terminus in North Wirral was closed. The service on the last leg from Bidston to New Brighton was very little used, apart from on peak summer days, as most passengers from the west of the Wirral and North Wales were heading for Liverpool or Birkenhead. From 4 January 1971, the service was terminated at Birkenhead North and, from 2 October 1978, the terminus was cut back one more station to Bidston.

From 1960, there was a direct diesel service from Chester Northgate station to New Brighton using mainly the Borderlands Line. The service ceased on 9 September 1968, before the closure of Northgate station. The diesel trains normally used the northern face of the island platform at New Brighton, with the electric services using the southern face.

In 1983, work started on converting the old station master's house into a music recording studio. The studio opened for business in 1985 and was called Station House Studios.

Accidents and incidents
In 1986, Gary Kelly, a 16-year-old boy, died from electrocution at the station after fleeing from Akinwale Arobieke, known locally as Purple Aki, who was believed to have been intimidating him. Arobieke was convicted of manslaughter, but the conviction was quashed on appeal after it was ruled that Arobieke had committed no crime in "standing and looking into trains".

Facilities
The station is staffed, during all opening hours, and has platform CCTV. There is a payphone, a station cafe and a vending machine, as well as a waiting room and toilets. There is, also, a booking office, live departure and arrival screens, for passenger information, and the terminus island platform also has a further sheltered waiting area. The station has a drop-off point, and a cycle rack with four spaces and secure cycle storage for 10 cycles. The station has car parking for three vehicles. Both platforms and the ticket office are fully accessible to wheelchair users.

Services
Current service levels are every 15 minutes to Liverpool during Monday to Saturday daytime, and every 30 minutes at other times. These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of Class 507 and Class 777 EMUs.

title: New Brighton railway station


text:
Beijing University of Technology

The Beijing University of Technology (lit. 'Beijing Industrial University') is a municipal public university in Chaoyang, Beijing, China, with more than 20,000 students. It is affiliated with the City of Beijing and funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction.

History
Beijing University of Technology was founded in 1960 with five engineering departments. The first group of students was transferred from the Beijing Institute of Technology and Beijing Normal University.

In 1981, the Beijing University of Technology formed the graduate school; in 1985, the school started granting the Doctoral degrees with international standard (the first batch of university in China to award doctoral degrees).

In 1990, Beijing Tech acquired the College of Economics and Management from Beijing Union University, and later, in 1993, the Beijing Computer Institute became part of the university as the College of Computer Science. In 1993, Beijing Tech formed the Experimental College by cooperating with local business, which later became an independent college. Over the decades, the social sciences also grew to play a significant role in the university. The achievements of faculties in facets of Economics, Law and other social sciences further indicate that this university has been changed into a de facto comprehensive university with wide variety of schools and colleges. As of today, its primary achievements are mainly focused on engineering research and education.

Organization
Beijing Tech is a key university under the jurisdiction of the Beijing Municipal Government. It has the following colleges (faculties):

 * College of Applied Mathematical and Physical Science
 * College of Architecture and Urban Planning
 * College of Architecture Engineering
 * College of Arts
 * College of Economics and Management (including: Faculty of Law)
 * College of Computer Science
 * College of Continuing Education
 * College of Electronic Information and Control Engineering
 * College of Energy and Environmental Engineering
 * College of Foreign Languages
 * College of Humanities and Social Science
 * College of Life Science and Bioengineering
 * College of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Electronics Technology
 * College of Materials Science and Engineering
 * College of Metropolitan Transportation
 * College of Microelectronics
 * College of Software Engineering
 * Institute of Laser Engineering (National Center of Laser Technology)
 * Gengdan College (Independent College)
 * Experimental College (Independent College)
 * Division of Physical Education
 * Fan Gongxiu Honors College of Beijing University of Technology
 * Beijing Dublin International College

Campus
Beijing University of Technology is located in southeastern Beijing. The campus covers an area of about 800,000 square metres, with 4,940,000 square meters of floor space.

Beijing Tech's main library is a modern complex occupying a floor area of more than 20,000 square meters. The library houses about 700,000 printed materials, 60,000 e-books, and more than 40 kinds of database resources, forming a documentation resource system which meets the demands of teaching and research. The library also cooperates with the Capital Library of Beijing and the Information Centre of the Chinese Academy of Science, providing professional services to the student and faculty.

Beijing Tech was selected to host the Badminton competitions of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. A new athletic gymnasium was formed as a response to this, with it completed in September 2007 after meeting the requirements of the International Olympic Committee.

Undergraduate programs
The university upholds the principle that its purpose is to provide a stable and smooth process of undergraduate education. The premise for such education is that the supply of educated and trained personnel is fundamental to the success of China's future development and growth. As a result, it has developed an undergraduate education system with three main categories: science, engineering and management. At present, there are 6,811 undergraduate students studying 26 disciplines in 16 departments of the university.

Graduate and Professional Programs
The graduate education or studies programs of the university are matched to the needs of the economic construction and social development programs of Beijing and China as a whole. It aims to improve educational quality, and consistently optimize and develop the scale, quality, efficiency and structure of graduate education. The graduate studies school is the department in which both the graduate studies and scientific research programs are undertaken.

The School of Higher Professional Education, founded in July 1996, has a staff of more than 120 persons. Of the staff, five are professors and 29 are associate professors. The four departments are: Basic Course, Information Technology, Engineering Technology, Economics and Management. The disciplines include: e-business, computer science and application, internet and office automation, information and telecommunication engineering, telecom and network engineering, information and applied software, financial accounting, environmental engineering, architectural technology, and concise chemistry. The school has established laboratories and an intern training base for higher professional education, and built cooperative education programs with Japan, Russia, etc. There are presently more than 1300 students enrolled in the School.

Rankings
As of 2023, Beijing University of Technology has been ranked among top 301-400 global universities by the Academic Ranking of World Universities and 643rd globally and 145th in Asia as of 2022 by the US News & World Report Best Global University Ranking. It was ranked 608th by the Center for World University Rankings and 519th in the world by the CWTS Leiden Ranking.

Student life
There are more than 21,000 students enrolled in Beijing Tech, of whom around 13,000 are undergraduate students, more than 8,000 are master's degree students, around 1,000 are doctoral degree students, and 500 are international students. In addition to these students, there are over 10,000 continuing education students.

Notable alumni

 * Zhang Rongming - vice chairwoman, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

title: Beijing University of Technology


text:
Neuraminidase inhibitor

Neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) are a class of drugs which block the neuraminidase enzyme. They are a commonly used antiviral drug type against influenza. Viral neuraminidases are essential for influenza reproduction, facilitating viral budding from the host cell. Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza), laninamivir (Inavir), and peramivir belong to this class. Unlike the M2 inhibitors, which work only against the influenza A virus, NAIs act against both influenza A and influenza B.

The NAIs oseltamivir and zanamivir were approved in the US and Europe for treatment and prevention of influenza A and B. Peramivir acts by strongly binding to the neuraminidase of the influenza viruses and inhibits activation of neuraminidase much longer than oseltamivir or zanamivir. However, laninamivir in the cells is slowly released into the respiratory tract, resulting in long-lasting anti-influenza virus activity. Thus the mechanism of the long-lasting activity of laninamivir is basically different from that of peramivir.

The efficacy was highly debated in recent years. However, after the pandemic caused by H1N1 in 2009, the effectiveness of early treatment with neuraminidase inhibitors in reducing serious cases and deaths was reported in various countries.

In countries where influenza-like illness is treated using NAIs on a national level, statistical reports show a low fatality record for symptomatic illness because of the universal implementation of early treatment using this class of drugs. Although oseltamivir is widely used in these countries, there have been no outbreaks caused by oseltamivir-resistant viruses and also no serious illness caused by oseltamivir-resistant viruses has ever been reported. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend the use of oseltamavir treatment for people at high risk for complications and the elderly and those at lower risk who present within 48 hours of first symptoms of infection.

Common side effects include nausea and vomiting. The abnormal behaviors of children after taking oseltamivir that have been reported may be an extension of delirium or hallucinations caused by influenza. It occurs in the early stages of the illness, such as within 48 hours after onset of the illness. Therefore, children with influenza are advised to be observed by their parents until 48 hours after the onset of the influenza illness, regardless of whether the child is treated with NAIs.

Specific neuraminidase inhibitors

 * Laninamivir
 * Oseltamivir (Tamiflu)
 * Peramivir (Rapivab)
 * Zanamivir (Relenza)

Natural products

 * Cyanidin-3-sambubioside (extracted from black elderberry)
 * Coptisine
 * Berberine

title: Neuraminidase inhibitor