The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe is a collection of the personal journals of John Rabe, a German businessman who lived in Nanjing at the time of the Nanjing Massacre in 1937–1938.  The book contains the diaries that Rabe kept during the Nanjing Massacre, writing from his personal experience and observation of the events that took place.  It also excerpts Rabe's experience in immediate post-war Berlin, then occupied by Soviet troops.  Rabe's diaries were made known and quoted by author Iris Chang during the research for her book, The Rape of Nanking; they were subsequently translated from German to English by John E. Woods and published in the United States in 1998. The diaries of Rabe could only provide witnesses of a small corner of the Nanjing Massacre, because of the limitation of his activity in the safe zone.

Diary entries

In his diary kept during the aggression to the city and its occupation by the Imperial Japanese Army, John Rabe wrote many comments about Japanese atrocities. For example, on 13 December 1937, he wrote:

"It is not until we tour the city that we learn the extent of destruction. We come across corpses every 100 to 200 yards. The bodies of civilians that I examined had bullet holes in their backs. These people had presumably been fleeing and were shot from behind. The Japanese march through the city in groups of ten to twenty soldiers and loot the shops ... I watched with my own eyes as they looted the café of our German baker Herr Kiessling. Hempel's hotel was broken into as well, as almost every shop on Chung Shang and Taiping Road."

For 17 December:
"Two Japanese soldiers have climbed over the garden wall and are about to break into our house. When I appear they give the excuse that they saw two Chinese soldiers climb over the wall. When I show them my party badge, they return the same way. In one of the houses in the narrow street behind my garden wall, a woman was raped, and then wounded in the neck with a bayonet. I managed to get an ambulance so we can take her to Kulou Hospital.  ... Last night up to 1,000 women and girls are said to have been raped, about 100 girls at Ginling Girls' College alone. You hear nothing but rape. If husbands or brothers intervene, they're shot. What you hear and see on all sides is the brutality and bestiality of the Japanese soldiers."

While, on the next day of the fall of Nanjing, Rabe handed a letter of thanks to the Japanese army commander concerning that the people in the Safety Zone could stay without one fire and were all safe. The following is a part of his letter of thanks.

"Dec. 14, 1937,
Dear commander of the Japanese army in Nanking,
We appreciate that the artillerymen of your army didn't attack the Safety Zone. And we hope to contact with you to make a plan to protect Chinese citizens who are staying in the Safety Zone... We will be pleased to cooperate with you in anyway to protect citizens in this city.
--Chairman of the Nanking International Committee, John H. D. Rabe--"

On 17 December, Rabe however wrote a letter as chairman to Kiyoshi Fukui, second secretary of the Japanese Embassy, in a very different tone. The following is an excerpt:

 "In other words, on the 13th when your troops entered the city, we had nearly all the civilian population gathered in a Zone in which there had been very little destruction by stray shells and no looting by soldiers even in full retreat. ... All 27 Occidentals in the city at that time and our Chinese population were totally surprised by the reign of robbery, raping and killing initiated by your soldiers on the 14th. All we are asking in our protest is that you restore order among your troops and get the city living normally as soon as possible. In the latter process we are glad to cooperate in any way we can. But even last night between 8 and 9 p.m. when five Occidental members of our staff and Committee toured the Zone to observe conditions, we did not find a single Japanese patrol either in the Zone or at the entrances!"

Having received no answer to his request, Rabe wrote again to Fukui the following day, this time in an even more desperate tone:
 "We are sorry to trouble you again but the sufferings and needs of the 200 000 civilians for whom we are trying to care make it urgent that we try to secure action from your military authorities to stop the present disorder among Japanese soldiers wandering through the Safety Zone. [...] The second man in our Housing Commission had to see two women in his family at 23 Hankow Road raped last night at supper time by Japanese soldiers. Our associate food commissioner, Mr. Sone, has to convey trucks with rice and leave 2,500 people in families at his Nanking Theological Seminary to look for themselves. Yesterday, in broad daylight, several women at the Seminary were raped right in the middle of a large room filled with men, women, and children! We 22 Occidentals cannot feed 200,000 Chinese civilians and protect them night and day. That is the duty of the Japanese authorities..."

For 10 February, Rabe wrote in his diary :
"Fukui, whom I tried to find at the Japanese embassy to no avail all day yesterday, paid a call on me last night. He actually managed to threaten me: 'If the newspapers in Shanghai report bad things, you will have the Japanese army against you,' he said. ... In reply to my question as to what I then could say in Shanghai, Fukui said 'We leave that to your discretion.' My response: 'It looks as if you expect me to say something like this to the reporters: The situation in Nanking is improving everyday. Please don't print any more atrocities about the vile behavior of Japanese soldiers, because then you'll only be pouring oil on fire of disagreement that already exists between the Japanese and Europeans.' 'Yes,' he said simply beaming, that would be splendid!'"

John Rabe gave a series of lectures in Germany after he came back to Berlin on April 15, 1938, in which he said, "We Europeans put the number [of civilian casualties] at about 50,000 to 60,000." However, this estimate was just from his personal observation. His witnesses of the Nanjing Massacre only represented a small corner of the Japanese mass killings there.

See also

 American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking
 Finding Iris Chang
 John Rabe (film)

References

External links
The Good Nazi, The New York Times
The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe, IDEA

1998 non-fiction books
Nanjing Massacre books
History books about the Second Sino-Japanese War
American non-fiction books
Political autobiographies

The Good Man of Nanking


A gargoyle is a grotesque statue that is attached to a building. It is carved out of stone, usually granite. It is used to get water away from the building when it rains. Gargoyles are often made to look like animals or people. The collected water comes out of their mouths. Most gargoyles were made a long time ago. People used to believe that they scared away evil spirits. Many cathedrals have gargoyles.

New buildings use rain gutters instead of gargoyles to move water. There are not many gargoyles in America.

Gargoyles are often confused with grotesques. They are similar, but only gargoyles get rid of rainwater through their mouths.

Statues
Architectural elements

Gargoyle


Small shelly fossils (SSF), or small shelly fauna, are tiny fossils, many only a few millimetres long. They have a record from the latest stages of the Ediacaran to the early Cambrian period. Almost all are from earlier rocks than more familiar fossils such as trilobites. Most SSFs were preserved by being covered quickly with phosphate. This method of preservation is mainly limited to the later Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods, so the animals that made them may have arisen earlier and continued after this time.

Some of the fossils represent the entire skeletons of small organisms, including the mysterious Cloudina and some snail-like molluscs. However, the bulk of the fossils are fragments or parts of larger organisms, including sponges, molluscs, slug-like halkieriids, brachiopods, echinoderms, and onychophoran-like organisms that may have been close to the ancestors of arthropods.

One of the early explanations for the appearance of the SSFs – and the evolution of mineralized skeletons – is a sudden increase in the ocean's concentration of calcium. However, many SSFs are made of other minerals, such as silica. The first SSFs appear around the same time as organisms first started burrowing to avoid predation, so it is likely that they represent early steps in an evolutionary arms race between predators and increasingly well-defended prey. Nevertheless, it is still true that the animals used minerals that were most easily accessible.

The small size and (usually) broken nature of SSFs makes them difficult to identify and classify. However, they provide evidence for how the main groups of marine invertebrates evolved, and for the pace and pattern of evolution in the Cambrian explosion. They include the earliest known representatives of some modern phyla, and they have the great advantage of presenting a nearly continuous record of early Cambrian organisms whose bodies include hard parts.

Fossils
Ediacaran
Cambrian

Small shelly fossils


Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine is a shoot 'em up developed and published in 1988 by Hewson Consultants for the ZX Spectrum. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Nintendo Entertainment System. It was programmed by Raffaele Cecco. The ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, and Atari ST versions have a main theme by Dave Rogers, while the Commodore C64 version has a different theme by Jeroen Tel.

Gameplay
In Cybernoid, pirates have raided the storage depots of the Federation and stolen minerals, jewels, ammunition and the latest battle weaponry. The Cybernoid ship has been dispatched with instructions to retrieve the stolen booty and to return it to storage within a specified time limit. The Cybernoid needs to battle the pirates and their planetary defense systems in order to retrieve the stolen booty.

Cybernoid is split into three levels, with each level consisting of several screens that are traversed via a flip-screen system of play rather than scrolling. The hazards in each screen can be different - some will have just enemy pirate ships, some homing missiles, some gun turrets, some indestructible enemies on fixed-paths that have to be traversed and some a mixture of these. The Cybernoid ship can collect power-ups for assistance (including a rear-gun and a giant spiked ball that flies around the ship) and also use a variety of built-in special weapons such as shields and homing missiles.

Shooting pirate ships often leaves power-ups or jewels that Cybernoid can then collect.

The NES version was made by Studio 12 productions, consisting of Chris Harvey as the programmer and Adrian Carless for the graphics. They put a few in-jokes into the title page, the main one being that the Cybernoid ship was designed by "M.Sugden", referencing the British Actress Mollie Sugden, who played Mrs Slocombe on the TV series Are You Being Served?.

Reception
Cybernoid achieved great critical success. CRASH magazine awarded an overall score of 96%, with one reviewer exclaiming: "Fantastic! Who needs 16-bit machines when Hewson and Raffaele Cecco can produce games like this on the 8-bit Spectrum?", referring to the smooth animation and addictive gameplay.

Your Sinclair also awarded the game 9 out of 10, the reviewer also highlighting the excellent graphics, fast gameplay and the fact that tactics are required to pass each screen. The game was voted number 36 in the Your Sinclair Official Top 100 Games of All Time.

Legacy
A sequel, titled Cybernoid II: The Revenge, was published the following year on the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. In 2004 it was one of the games featured on the C64 Direct-to-TV. The plot of the sequel revolved around the return of the pirates in a new Battlestar, again plundering Federation storage depots.

In October 2018, the game's rights were acquired by Canadian production company Liquid Media Group along with other titles originally owned by Acclaim Entertainment.

References

External links

1988 video games
Acclaim Entertainment games
Amiga games
Amstrad CPC games
Atari ST games
Commodore 64 games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Shoot 'em ups
Single-player video games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games scored by Jeroen Tel
Video games scored by Jochen Hippel
Virtual Console games
ZX Spectrum games
Hewson Consultants games

Cybernoid


The Khasi are an indigenous or tribal people, the majority of whom live in the State of Meghalaya in North-east India, with small populations in neighbouring Assam, and in parts of Bangladesh. They call themselves Ki Hynñiew trep, which means "the seven huts" in the Khasi language. Their language Khasi is the northernmost Austro-Asiatic language.

Ethnic groups in Bangladesh
Ethnic groups in India
People from Meghalaya

Khasi people


Auburn Gresham, most commonly referred to simply as '"Gresham'", is one of the 77 official community areas of the city of Chicago, Illinois. It is located on the far south side of the city and was the original location of the South Side Irish Parade before it was relocated to the Beverly neighborhood farther southwest in the city.

CTA red line stops at 79th St. and 87th St. are also available along the Dan Ryan Expressway in nearby Chatham.

Other websites
Official City of Chicago Auburn Gresham Community Map

Community areas of Chicago

Auburn Gresham, Chicago


Richard W. Lariviere was President of the University of Oregon (OU) from 2009 to 2011. He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He became president of OU in 2009. Lariviere's contract was not renewed in 2011 amid a racketeering scandal in the OU Dean of Students office.

Lariviere has stated that he will remain at OU as a tenured faculty member.

Biography
Lariviere was Visiting Lecturer in the South Asia Regional Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania from 1978-79. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa from 1980-1982. Lariviere was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin from 1999 to 2006. He was executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of Kansas from 2006 to 2009.

As OU president, Lariviere answered to a number of different groups.  He ran into two problems: OU salaries and OU governance. Before Lariviere arrived at OU, salaries were frozen for several years. OU could not compete with other colleges. In February 2011, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber asked all the public universities in Oregon to limit payroll increases to six percent. But Lariviere found OU money that did not come from Oregon to give bigger pay increases to faculty and staff. This caused the unions to demand a pay increase from OU for their members.

All seven public colleges in Oregon are run by a single Oregon state board of higher education. Lariviere agreed to work with other public colleges to seek more independence in a plan that resulted in Senate Bill 242. Governor Kitzhaber signed that law on July 20, 2011 to give public college more control over how they spend money. At the same time, OU developed a separate legislative proposal (the "New Partnership") to start a separate 15-person board of trustees for OU and a $800 million state bond issue to match private donations to a new OU endowment fund. The governor and state board asked Lariviere to delay pushing for the OU legislation while Senate Bill 242 went through the legislature first.  Because Lariviere and OU seemed to be working separately from the Governor and state board, the board voted to fire him on November 28, 2011. He was given 30 days to leave his office. The board hired Robert M. Berdahl as interim president.

Education
Ph.D. Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1978
B.A. History of Religion, University of Iowa, 1972

References

Other websites
Presidential website
vitae  (PDF)
OU biography

1950 births
Living people
Asian studies
Educators from Chicago

Richard W. Lariviere


The provinces of Greece were divisions of some the country's prefectures. In 1887 the provinces were endeed as administrative units.  They were still used for some state services, especially finance services and education, as well as for electoral purposes. Before the Second World War, there were 139 provinces. After the war, with the addition of the Dodecanese Islands, their number grew to 147. The largest province is Dodoni.

Subdivisions of Greece
1887 disestablishments

Provinces of Greece


The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is the Kolkata-based flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, born from the erstwhile RPG Group, under the chairmanship of businessman Sanjiv Goenka. It is an Indian electricity generation and the sole distribution company serving  of area administered by the Kolkata municipal corporation, in the city of Kolkata, as well as parts of Howrah, Hooghly, 24 Parganas (North) and 24 Parganas (South) districts in the state of West Bengal. It also serves power distribution in Kota, Bikaner and Bharatpur in Rajasthan under the name CESC RAJASTHAN. It serves 3.0 million consumers approximately, which includes domestic, industrial and commercial users.

History
The first demonstration of electric light in Calcutta was conducted on 24 July 1879 by P W Fleury & Co. In 1881, 36 electric lights lit up a Cotton Mill of Mackinnon & Mackenzie. The Government of Bengal passed the Calcutta Electric Lighting Act in 1895. The first license covered an area of . On 7 January 1897 Kilburn & Co. secured the Calcutta electric lighting license as agents of The Indian Electric Company Limited. The company soon changed its name to the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited and in 1897, The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited was registered in London.

On 17 April 1899, the first thermal power plant of The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited was commissioned at Emambagh Lane near Prinsep Ghat, heralding the beginning of thermal power generation in India. The Calcutta Tramways Company switched to electricity from horse-drawn carriages in 1902. Three new power generating stations were started by 1906. In 1931, CESC Tunnel was made under Hooghly River for electric power transmission from Kolkata to Howrah. The company was shifted to the Victoria House in Dharmatala, Kolkata in 1933, and still operates from this address.

In 1970, the control of the Company was transferred from London to Calcutta. In 1978 it was named "The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Ltd." The RPG Group was associated with The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Limited from 1989, and the name was changed from The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Limited to CESC Limited. In 2011, CESC became a part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which was formed on 13 July 2011 by Sanjiv Goenka, the youngest son of Dr RP Goenka, the late founder of RPG Enterprises.

Operations
Load-shedding (interruption of power supply due to shortage of electricity) was common in Kolkata during the 1970s and 1980s. But from 1990's the situation had improved and  the Calcutta power grid has progressively given better performance and fewer outages.

CESC owns and operates 4 thermal power plants generating a total of 1,225 MW of power. It also operates two 20 MW gas turbine units as a Peak Load Power Plant to compensate the need for additional power demand during the peak hours. The company has also established its footprint in unconventional energy with a 9 MW solar project in Gujarat and a 50 MW wind project in Rajasthan. It is also developing three hydro power projects, with a combined capacity of 236 MW, in Arunachal Pradesh. In addition, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group has four captive power plants, with a combined capacity of 76 MW, which are fuelled by the process waste gas produced at its four carbon black manufacturing units in India. There is a 40 MW power plant running on coal washery rejects and carbonaceous shale at the coal mining operations in Asansol. More than 80% CESC customers' electricity requirement is met from its own generating plants, balance electricity is purchased from third parties. Its captive coal mines provide about 50% of the coal requirement. The remainder is mostly provided by Coal India Limited. For a long-term solution, CESC is looking to acquire coal mines in Indonesia.

CESC also has its own Transmission & Distribution system through which it supplies electricity to its consumers. This system comprises a  circuit of transmission lines linking the company's generating and receiving stations with 85 distribution stations; a  circuit of HT lines further linking distribution stations with LT substations, large industrial consumers and a  circuit of LT lines connecting its LT substations to LT consumers.

Existing power plants

CESC's vintage Mulajore power station, which was located in north Kolkata, was shut down on 15 May 2004. It was inaugurated by the then Bengal Governor Sir John Arthur Herbert in January 1940 and was one of the oldest plants in the system of CESC. The plant employed around 500 employees but hardly generated more than 25 MW, even though it had a derated capacity of 60 MW. With a high auxiliary consumption (the energy required to generate power), it used to feed just about 18 MW to the system. The New Cossipore and the Mulajore plants together used to generate only 10% of CESC's power generation but accounted for 59% of the company's workforce. Following the sale of Mulajore plant and machinery, the  of land was used to set up an industrial-cum-residential township venture  executed by CESC Properties, a wholly owned CESC subsidiary. CESC's New Cossipore unit, in turn, was hamstrung by a serious pollution constraint and was hauled up by West Bengal Pollution Control Board last year.

Power Plants outside Kolkata

In September 2013, the first unit of CESC's 2x300 MW thermal power project, and the first one outside West Bengal, was successfully synchronised at Chandrapur, Maharashtra. A 400 kV transmission line will feed the generated power from the power station to the grid. The company had entered into power purchase agreement with the Tamil Nadu State electricity distribution utility for 100 MW daily supplies at INR 4.91 a unit from its Chandrapur power plant.

References

External links

Electric power companies of India
Companies based in Kolkata
RPG Group
Energy companies established in 1897
Indian companies established in 1897
1897 establishments in British India
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange
RPSG Group

CESC Limited


Ali Douagi or Ali el-Du'aji (; January 4, 1909 – May 27, 1949) was a Tunisian literary and cultural icon who is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern Tunisian literature. He is best remembered as "the father of the modern Tunisian short story". Douagi was also known for his versatility as a sketch artist, songwriter, playwright, and journalist.

Biography
Douagi was born to a wealthy family of Turkish origin in the city of Tunis in 1909. His father, al-Hajj Muhammad al-Du'aji who was a wealthy merchant and landowner, died when Douagi was four years old; he bequeathed to his wife and children a sizeable trust fund from which the family was able to live comfortably. His mother, Nuzhat Bint Shaqshuq, gave birth to three daughters and two sons, Douagi being the only survivor of the two sons. Thus, growing up without his father and being the only son, in part, explains why his works had come to be heavily populated by women characters. Douagi received his primary education in a neighbourhood school where he learned both French and Arabic. Upon completing his primary education, Douagi enrolled in a local Quran school (kuttab) but soon discovered that this did not fulfill his interests. His mother encouraged him to pursue a career in business, and for a brief period he worked as an apprentice for a local successful merchant.  However, Douagi decided to embark upon a project to educate himself by reading French literature and culture. When he made the acquaintance of Ali al-Jandubi, a prominent literary scholar, he discovered the medieval and modern Arabic history, literature and cultural studies.

When the colonial governments eased upon censorship in journalism in 1936, Douagi started up his own periodical, "al-Surur", though it only lasted a mere six weeks due to his lack of discipline. Nonetheless, Douagi came to be associated with a group of artists and intellectuals, known as the "Jama'at taht al-sur" ("The Beneath-the-Wall Group"), who congregated nightly in the cafes of the Bab Souika neighbourhood of the old madina in Tunisia to exchange ideas and argue politics. The group were committed to creating a modern Tunisian literature and culture that would denounce European colonialism and the cause of social justice and economic and social equality. Douagi was also experimental and especially known for his versatility as a sketch artist, songwriter, playwright, and short story writer.

His Turkish roots and his mastery of the French language, as well as his bourgeois background and financial security, all played a part in crafting a vision of himself and his work. Douagi often depicted and fantasised romanticised strokes of eastern-western encounters. Hence, his stories depicted a peaceful coexistence in which differing cultures and religions coexist; this philosophical stance regarding east–west encounters dominated from his earliest writings. A prominent figure that strongly influenced Douagi was Mahmud al-Bayram al-Tunisi (1893–1961);. the personal and professional relationship between them was one that embraced a vast spectrum of contemporary politics, arts, and ideological currents that electrified the cultural scene in Tunisia during the 1930s. They shared a passion for journalism, for the freedom of the press to lash out at social injustices, religious hypocrisy, and economic inequalities.

Douagi's most lasting contribution to Tunisian literature, as well as pan-Arabic literature, are his short stories that were collated and published in 1969, twenty years after his death, into a single anthology entitled "Sahirtu minhu al-layali" ("Sleepless Nights, 2000"). On May 27, 1949, Douagi died of tuberculosis. According to many accounts, he was abandoned by many of his friends and harboured bitter disappointment for not being recognised for his work.  However, on the tenth anniversary of his death, Zin al-Abidin al-Sanusi published an article entitle "al'Du'aji's Legacy" which resurrected critical inquiry and public interest in his work. Al-Sanusi reported that Douagi had written in his 163 radio sketches, and that his heirs discovered 60 more among his affects. He also wrote 15 plays and composed nearly 500 songs and poems.

The Ali Douagi Prize (Prix Ali Douagi) for a novel is awarded at the Tunis International Book Festival (Foire internationale du Livre de Tunis). The Derja Association also awards an Ali Douagi Prize for the best work written in Tunisian Arabic ("derja"), in reference to Ali Douagi's use of vernacular in his plays and the dialogues of his short stories. This has caused confusion and some have criticized the Derja Association for choosing the same name as the more prominent prize.

Selected works
 Sahirtu minhu al-layali (Sleepless Nights)
 Jarati (My neighbor)
 Maotou Al Am Békhir (The death of the Uncle Bekhir)
 Nozha Raïka (Luxurious walk)
 Omm Hawwa (Eve's Mother)

References

Bibliography

.
Giuliano Mion, Notti in bianco سهرت منه الليالي, Ulrico Hoepli, Milan, 2012,

1909 births
1949 deaths
Tunisian people of Turkish descent
Tunisian writers
Tunisian journalists
Tunisian artists
Tunisian male short story writers
20th-century Tunisian writers
20th-century journalists

Ali Douagi


Stem cell research policy varies significantly throughout the world. There are overlapping jurisdictions of international organizations, nations, and states or provinces. Some government policies determine what is allowed versus prohibited, whereas others outline what research can be publicly financed. Of course, all practices not prohibited are implicitly permitted. Some organizations have issued recommended guidelines for how stem cell research is to be conducted.

International bodies
The United Nations adopted a declaration on human cloning that can be interpreted as calling on member states to prohibit somatic cell nuclear transfer, or therapeutic cloning. In 2005, in a divided vote, "Member States were called on to adopt all measures necessary to prohibit all forms of human cloning in as much as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life."

The World Health Organization has opposed a ban on cloning techniques in stem cell research.

The Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine seems to ban the creation of embryos solely for research purposes. It has been signed by 31 countries and ratified by 19: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey.

The Hinxton Group

Researchers, ethicists and assorted spokespersons from 14 different countries have published a set of legal and ethical guidelines relating to stem cell research, in an effort to address conflicting international laws in this area. The 'Hinxton Group' met recently for the first time, in Cambridge, and published a consensus statement calling for a 'flexible' regulatory framework, which can simultaneously accommodate rapid scientific advance and at the same time accommodate the diversity of international approaches towards stem cell science. It also recommends that, in countries which oppose embryonic stem cell research, scientists should be free to pursue their research elsewhere.

In light of the controversy surrounding Hwang Woo-Suk, the Hinxton Group has additionally recommended a number of measures intended to prevent fraud in stem cell research. The group has requested that all authors of embryonic stem cell papers submit a statement of authenticity of any new cell-lines and that the source of stem cells be clearly specified.

On the ethical issues surrounding embryonic stem cell research, the group has additionally recommended that an international database be created, containing guidelines for ethical practice, research protocols, consent forms, and the information provided to donors.

However, the potential for an international consensus on these matters seems remote given the complexity and diversity of regulatory frameworks in this controversial area of science, both within nations and between nations.

ISSCR
The International Society for Stem Cell Research is developing guidelines for the conduct of stem cell research.

Nations

Embryonic stem cell research has divided the international community. In the European Union, stem cell research using the human embryo is permitted in Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Greece, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands; however it is illegal in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Portugal. The issue has similarly divided the United States, with several states enforcing a complete ban and others giving financial support. Elsewhere, Japan, India, Iran, Israel, South Korea, and China are supportive, Australia is partially supportive (exempting reproductive cloning yet allowing research on embryonic stem cells that are derived from the process of IVF); however New Zealand, most of Africa (excepting South Africa) and most of South America (excepting Brazil) are restrictive.

References

External links
The Hinxton Group
European Molecular Biology Organization publication
United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning
Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
World Stem Cell Policy Map
World map of stem cell research centers
World Stem Cell Report
  Stem Cell Research Reveals Clues to Disease's Origins
International Cellular Medicine Society
International Society for Stem Cell Research
Stem Cell Information from the United States National Academies
Federal Policy Verbatim on the Use of Stem Cells in the U.S.
The Hinxton Group: An International Consortium on Stem Cells, Ethics & Law
World Stem Cell Policies
Johns Hopkins Stem Cell Policy

Policy
Science policy

Stem cell research policy


Oosterschelde is a three-masted schooner from the Netherlands, built in 1918. She is the largest restored Dutch freightship and the only remaining Dutch three-masted topsail schooner. Her home port is Rotterdam.

As a freighter with a deadweight of 400 tons, she transported mainly clay, stone and wood, but also herring, bran, potatoes, straw and bananas. In the 1930s, a heavier diesel engine was installed and some sail-rigging was removed (including the aft mast). In 1939, she was sold to a Danish shipping company and, rebaptised Fuglen II, became one of the most modern ships in the Danish fleet. In 1954, she was sold to a Swede, renamed Sylvan and thoroughly rebuilt to a modern motorised coaster.

In 1988, she was brought back to the Netherlands. She had always been maintained well, but restoration to the original state turned out too expensive for private funding. So a foundation collected money from various sources, partly by selling shares in the ship. Restoration lasted from 1990 to 1992, with the help of her last Dutch captain, Jan Kramer, and three maritime museums to ensure authenticity.

From 1996 through 1998 she made a trip around the world (route: Red Sea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New-Zealand, Cape Horn, Antarctic, Açores). Maintenance is paid for through paying passengers and company presentations. A new voyage around the world started on November 3, 2012 and ended in May 2014. This brought the ship to Cabo Verde, Brazil, Cape Of Good Hope, Mauritius, Cape Leeuwin, New Zealand, Cape Horn and Antarctica.

In October 2013 Oosterschelde participated in the International Fleet Review 2013 in Sydney, Australia.

See also
 List of schooners

External links

Official site in English

Schooners
Three-masted ships
1918 ships
Ships built in the Netherlands

Oosterschelde (ship)


Suicidal ideation is the medical terminology for thoughts of or preoccupation with killing yourself. It varies between fleeting thoughts and self-harm or making suicidal attempts. Most people who undergo suicidal ideation never really kill themselves, though some do. This condition is often triggered through being hopeless, depressed, anxiety, having panic attacks or strong remorse. It can also happen because of being abused, as a result of certain medications, due to bullying or feeling rejected.

Mental illnesses
Suicide

Suicidal ideation


The Wii Zapper is a light gun add-on for the Wii Remote made for the Wii game console. It was first released in Japan on October 25, 2007 with Ghost Squad. It was later released in a package with Link's Crossbow Training, a shooter video game based on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It was released in North America on November 19, 2007, in Europe on December 7, 2007, and in Australia on December 13, 2007. It allows players to aim at the screen and hit targets. To hit targets, players have to point the device at the television and pull the trigger. It is mainly used for shooter games, including first-person shooters and third-person shooters. The name is a reference to the NES Zapper, a light gun accessory released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Wii hardware

Wii Zapper


Igoumenitsa is a small Greek city. It has a population of about 9,644 people. It is found in the north-western part of Greece in the Ipiros periphery. It is a city built along the coast of the Ionian Sea. It has a big port which links Igoumenitsa with the Italian cities of Bari, Ancona and Brintezi. It is the second important port of Greece along the Ionian Sea, after the port in the city of Patras.

Cities in Greece

Igoumenitsa


A cheque (or check) is a paper used to give money from one person or business to another person or business. To the person getting the cheque, it is a paper that allows them to go to a bank and get money. To the person writing the cheque, it is a promise to pay the bank that is giving the money to the person who turned the cheque in.

Cheques must be written to a person or business. A cheque that is not written to anyone can be very bad because if it is lost, anyone who finds it can get the money. A cheque that is written to a person but does not have the amount of money written is a blank cheque.

Cheques have been used since over a thousand years ago. However, they became popular in the 20th century for paying money without using cash.

Parts of a cheque
The four main parts of a cheque are:
 Drawer, the person who makes the cheque
 Payee, the person who gets the money
 Drawee, the bank that pays the money for the cheque
 Amount, the amount that has to be paid
When more people started to use cheques, more things were added to make them more secure and easy to track. They started to require the drawer's signature to be confirmed. The signature on a cheque is the main way to tell if a cheque is real. Cheques also started to need the amount written in words and numbers. This made it harder to make mistakes and harder to change the cheque after it was already written.

Issue dates have also been added to cheques. A cheque is invalid if a long time has passed since the issue date. A cheque with an issue date in the past is called an antedated cheque. A cheque with an issue date in the future is called a post-dated cheque. Usually, a person cannot get money from a post-dated cheque until after the issue date has passed.

Cheque numbers are also used often. Every cheque has a different cheque number. This is to make sure people can't get money twice from one cheque.

Accounting
Banks
Commerce

Cheque


Hugo Riesenfeld (January 26, 1879 – September 10, 1939) was an Austrian-American composer. As a film director, he began to write his own orchestral compositions for silent films in 1917, and co-created modern production techniques where film scoring serves an integral part of the action. Riesenfeld composed about 100 film scores in his career.

His most successful compositions were for Cecil B. DeMille's Joan the Woman (1917), The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927); D. W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930); and the original scores to F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Tabu (1931).

Life and work
Born in Vienna, Riesenfeld's musical career began at the age of seven with a violin study at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in his city of birth, where he graduated at the age of 17 in piano, violin and composition degrees. He briefly played in the Vienna Philharmonic. By the end of the 19th century, he was playing with Arnold Schönberg, Arthur Bodanzky, and Edward Falck in a local string quartet.

In 1907, Riesenfeld emigrated to New York City, where he worked until 1911 as concert-master for Oscar Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera Company. He served three seasons as conductor of musical comedy companies for Klaw & Erlanger, followed by a stint as concertmaster and conductor at the Century Opera. He did his first work in film when he conducted the accompaniment for Jesse L. Lasky's production of Carmen (1915).

Samuel Lionel Rothafel—later known as "Roxy" Rothafel—hired Riesenfeld in 1916 as conductor of, successively, the Rialto, the Rivoli, and the Criterion theatres until 1925, introducing the practice of long-run resident film musicians. These cinemas were among the first where runs of longer than a week became commonplace. In 1923, an article about Riesenfeld stated, "occasionally ten weeks the same piece with undiminished force – so knows he his audience" in a New York City article wrote the Viennese magazines about Riesenfeld. "He says, know the audience and know what you must show him, ever the secret of success at the theater and cinema." [...] "just customize and know what's there and what 'draws'."

Phonofilm and Red Seal Pictures
On 15 April 1923, with inventor Lee de Forest, Riesenfeld co-presented a show at the Rivoli Theater in New York City of 18 short films made in the Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

In 1923, Riesenfeld formed The Red Seal Pictures Corporation, partnered with Edwin Miles Fadiman, Dr. Lee deForest, and Max Fleischer to distribute American and foreign films through their chain of 36 theaters that extended as far as Cleveland, Ohio. In May 1926, Max Fleischer began producing a series of sound versions of their popular "Bouncing Ball" Song Car-Tunes, using the Lee de Forest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Red Seal Pictures Corporation filed for bankruptcy in late 1926; shortly afterward, the DeForest Phonofilm Corporation filed for bankruptcy in September 1927.

Movie theaters and live orchestras
Most large movie theaters in the U.S. had their own orchestras for silent film accompaniment, with smaller theaters having just a theatre organ, photoplayer or piano. The musicians often relied on an already existing repertoire of opera and excerpts from other compositions. Riesenfeld began as one of the first to write original compositions for films. As an example, the "Brother's Theme" was a mainstay of the 1926 release of Beau Geste (published by Robbins-Engel Inc.).

Next to Albert William Ketèlbey and Ernö Rapée, Riesenfeld was a pioneer of modern, high-quality production of music. He also co-founded the cinema library music—topical collections of music for silent film orchestra and musicians also. "Mr. Riesenfeld puts much emphasis on the music in the movies", in an article about Riesenfeld and film music. "Orchestra with organ varies in its two large theatres. His organist gets $250 a week, 70 orchestra musicians are well-paid because the lowest wage is 70 dollars a week. [...] Of course, the business costs in America are quite different than ours. Mr. Riesenfeld explains that he must have a dose of 50,000 dollars per week to reach its expenses and to this purpose otherwise it zahle weekly 120,000 spectators as he. [...] News always appear in the first week in its theatres. [...] "Mr. Riesenfeld paid up to 6000 dollars a week for the presentation rights for a good movie."

When he wrote the music for the Western movie The Covered Wagon (1923), Riesenfeld was one of the most frequently employed film composers in Hollywood. From 1928 to 1930, he was General Music Director of United Artists. After that time, Riesenfeld worked mostly for independent productions.

Away from the film industry, he was orchestra conductor of the Los Angeles Symphony and as a composer in the classical sector. He composed the ballet Chopin's Dances (1905), the comic opera Merry Martyr (1913), the musical Betty Be Good (1921), Children's Suite (1928) and overtures, orchestral music, and songs.

Illness and death
Riesenfeld died in 1939 in Los Angeles after a severe illness. His daughter Janet starred in some Mexican movies as a dancer and actress under the pseudonym Raquel Rojas and Janet Alcorzia and later became a screenwriter.

Filmography

A selection of film compositions, unless otherwise noted:

 1915: Carmen (as conductor) directed by Raoul Walsh
 1917: Joan the Woman directed by Cecil B. DeMille
 1918: A Christmas Fantasy (producer, director) short film
 1919: Sahara directed by Arthur Rosson
 1920: Humoresque directed by Frank Borzage
 1921: La Tosca (new composition) directed by Edward José
 1921: Reputation directed by Stuart Paton
 1923: The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. DeMille
 1923: The Covered Wagon directed by James Cruze
 1923: The Hunchback of Notre Dame directed by Wallace Worsley
 1925: Beggar on Horseback directed by James Cruze
 1925: The Wanderer directed by Raoul Walsh
 1926: The Volga Boatman directed by Cecil B. DeMille
 1926: Old Ironsides directed by James Cruze
 1926: Beau Geste directed by Herbert Brenon
 1926: The Sorrows of Satan directed by D. W. Griffith
 1927: Chang directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack
 1927: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans directed by F. W. Murnau
 1927: The Cat and the Canary directed by Paul Leni
 1927: The King of Kings directed by Cecil B. DeMille
 1927: Uncle Tom's Cabin directed Harry A. Polard
 1927: Old San Francisco directed by Alan Crosland
 1928: The Battle of the Sexes directed by D. W. Griffith)
 1928: The Cavalier directed by Irvin Willat
 1928: The Awakening directed by Victor Fleming
 1928: Two Lovers directed by Fred Niblo
 1928: Looping the Loop directed by Arthur Robison
 1929: Lucky Boy directed by Norman Taurog and Charles C. Wilson
 1929: Condemned directed by Wesley Ruggles
 1929: Bulldog Drummond directed by F. Richard Jones
 1929: The Iron Mask directed by Allan Dwan
 1929: Eternal Love directed by Ernst Lubitsch
 1929: Coquette directed by Sam Taylor
 1930: Abraham Lincoln directed by D. W. Griffith
 1930: Hell's Angels (Höllenflieger) directed by Howard Hughes
 1931: Tabu directed by F. W. Murnau
 1932: White Zombie directed by Victor Halperin
 1933: The Wandering Jew directed by Maurice Elvey
 1934: The President Vanishes directed by William Wellman
 1934: Little Men directed by Phil Rosen
 1935: The Phantom Empire (serial) directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason
 1935: Hard Rock Harrigan (music arranger) directed by David Howard
 1936: Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (serial) directed by Ray Taylor and Mack V. Wright
 1936: Daniel Boone (stock music) directed by David Howard
 1937: The Painted Stallion (serial) directed by Alan James, Ray Taylor, and William Witney
 1937: Make a Wish (music department) directed by Kurt Neumann
 1938: Tarzan's Revenge directed by D. Ross Lederman
 1938: Wide Open Faces directed by Kurt Neumann

Posthumous works:
 1940: The Return of Frank James (stock music) directed by Fritz Lang
 2003: The Making of 'The Last Man''' (short documentary) directed by Luciano Berriatúa

Awards:
 1938: Oscar nomination for best score for Make a Wish''

Notes

External links

1879 births
1939 deaths
19th-century Austrian people
20th-century Austrian people
19th-century classical violinists
American male violinists
20th-century classical violinists
19th-century conductors (music)
20th-century American conductors (music)
19th-century classical composers
20th-century classical composers
American classical violinists
Male classical violinists
Concertmasters
Male conductors (music)
American male conductors (music)
American film score composers
American male film score composers
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States
American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
Austrian Jews
Musicians from Vienna
19th-century American composers
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American violinists

Hugo Riesenfeld


The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music.

Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky.  In 1988 they announced plans to create the International Bluegrass Music Museum as a joint venture with RiverPark Center in Owensboro.  In 1990 IBMA established the World of Bluegrass, a combination trade show, concert, and awards presentation.  This was originally set in Owensboro, before moving to Louisville, Kentucky in 1997.  Nashville, Tennessee hosted this event in 2005 and 2006, and will continue as the host location in the future.  In 1991 IBMA established the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor at the International Bluegrass Music Museum to recognize lifetime contributions to bluegrass, both by performers and non-performers.  In 2003 IBMA relocated its offices to Nashville, Tennessee.

Other websites
 IBMA: http://www.ibma.org

Music industry organizations
Organizations based in Kentucky


Lichens are a symbiosis of at least two quite different organisms. The partnership always involves a fungus, which lives with one or more partners which can do photosynthesis. The photobiont partner may be a green alga and/or a cyanobacterium.p5,6,13

The algae or bacteria live inside the fungus, and exchange nutrients with it. The lichen is different in shape and mode of life from any of the partners. It is a distinct form of life. Botanists did not know this until about 1875.

There are more than 2,000 species in Britain and Ireland alone, many of which are found in temperate rainforests.

Classification
Lichens pose a problem for biological classification, because the three types of organism concerned come from three different kingdoms. After long debate, lichen are now classified as fungi, under the genus and species of the host fungus.p47–48 This allows specimens to be put into boxes and labelled. By having specific names, researchers know what they are working on: that is one of the basic functions of taxonomy. The system still has its problems. In those fungi which may associate either with an alga, or with a cyanobacterium, the resulting forms (called photomorphs) may look quite different, yet are now referred to by the same name.p13

20% (one in five) of fungal species live in lichens. Lichen fungi belong to several different groups of fungi. Most common (over 40%) are Ascomycetes, which produce spores in a sac-shaped container, the ascus. Only a few types of alga occur within lichens; these algae also have their own names. Algae may be sometimes the dominant partner in so-called 'jelly lichens', Collema and Leptogium, but this is rare. More usually, the algae are the green alga Trebouxia. Other species are the orange Trentepohli, and the cyanobacterium Nostoc.p9–10

Their life habit
The life habit of lichens is to stick closely onto surfaces.

Lichens can occur anywhere on land, and some can live in aquatic environments. The nearest rock, wall or roof probably has lichen on it. Often the lichen is mat-like, and clings to the surface. Some are like little bushes: see the photos. Lichens are famous for not needing a regular supply of water; their metabolism can go into suspension, and later revive. When growing on mineral surfaces, some lichens slowly break down the substrate, and extract tiny amounts of mineral nutrient. Fungi form the main part of the thallus (body), with the photobiont contributing 20% or less.p17 The photobiont is usually on the inside of the thallus.

Lichen thalli may grow together and fuse, and this may happen between different species and genera.p23 These are called 'mechanical hybrids'. They get noticed when the two forms are differently colored.

Survival
Lichen do survive extreme conditions. They are found in some of the most extreme places on Earth – the frozen north, hot deserts, rocky coasts. They are common as epiphytes on leaves and branches in rain forests and temperate woods. They can live on bare rock, walls and gravestones, and on exposed soil surfaces.p19 There are about 200 different kinds of lichens in Antarctica. In the Horlick Mountains, at 86 degrees south, there are six different kinds of lichen. In the Himalayas, they grow at altitudes up to 18,000 feet (~5500m).p216

The European Space Agency discovered that lichen can survive unprotected in space. Two species of lichen were sealed in a capsule and launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket. Once in orbit the capsules were opened. Two species of lichen were exposed to the vacuum of space, to cosmic radiation and huge swings of temperature. After 15 days the lichens were retrieved and were found to be in full health: no damage was found.

Rain forests
There are a huge number of lichen species in rainforests, far outnumbering flowering plants. The lichen are mostly epiphytes, living on trees. A single site in Costa Rica yielded about 300 species of lichen on leaves, in the understory of the rain forest; a single fallen Elaeocarpus tree in New Guinea held 173 species; the evergreen laurel Ocotea atirrensis was found with 50–80 lichen species on a single leaf.p60–61

Mutual benefits
When partnerships are very close, it is difficult to assign benefits to either partner. Their success is as a pair (or trio). Sometimes the partners can exist as separate organisms: certainly their close relatives can. Probably most of the algae and all of the cyanobacteria can survive on their own, though in more restricted habitats. The details vary according to the specific species or strains involved. The man who first realised the nature of lichen, Simon Schwedener, thought of the partnership as one of controlled parasitism. Obviously, the photobiont provides photosynthetic products: carbohydrates as sugar alcohols (green algae) or glucose (cyanobacteria). The bacteria also convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonium ions (NH4+) which the fungus can use in amino acids for proteins.p26

The alga certainly benefits from a supply of water (which the fungus is good at storing). There is also general mechanical protection. Algae get protection from ultraviolet light, which in some environments is quite significant. Probably, algae get access to the minute amounts of minerals, which the fungus gets from the substrate or from dust settling on the thallus. Algal cells are sometimes destroyed in the course of nutrient exchange, though the algal cells divide and replace them. Above all, the partnership is a resounding success, and gets to places where few plants can survive.

Reproduction
Many lichens reproduce without sex (asexual reproduction). They make small groups of algal cells surrounded by fungal filaments. These soridia can be blown by wind. Some lichens just break up into fragments when they dry. Wind carries the pieces, which grow when moisture returns. Also, lichen fungi can reproduce sexually by forming fruiting bodies containing spores. These fruiting bodies are usually perennial, and may be long-lasting: some in the Swiss Alps have lived for over 50 years. After dispersal by wind, such fungal spores must meet with an algal partner to form a lichen.p19–22

History on Earth

The fossil record for lichen dates back 400 million years for certain, and the signs are that earlier forms existed 600 million years ago. They must have been one of the earliest life-forms on land. It is thought, from the number of fungal and algal species involved, that the symbiosis must have taken place many times between different species.p46

It has been suggested that some or all of the Ediacaran biota might be lichen. The proposal has been received with some skepticism.

Lichenometry
Lichenometry is a method of dating exposed rock by using the growth of lichen. It uses an estimate of how long the lichen's radius or width grows over time.

Other uses

Many lichen are sensitive to changes around them. For this reason, they are used by scientists to show changes in the environment, such as air pollution, ozone depletion, and metal contamination. Lichens have also been used to make dyes, perfumes, and herbal medicines.

Some lichen produce natural antibiotics that kill bacteria. Humans have used these compounds as natural antibiotics. Extracts from many Usnea species were used to treat wounds in Russia in the mid-twentieth century.

The map lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum grows extremely slowly, and can reach an age of over 1000 years. It may be used for dating: the diameter of the largest lichen of a species on a rock surface shows the time that the rock has been exposed.

Lichen are the main winter food for reindeer. The deer can get at shrubby lichen under the snow. In summer they have much more choice of food. Some lichen are eaten by humans. A kind of lichen, which is called Iwatake in Japanese and Seogi in Korean language, is collected from cliffs, and used in various Korean and Japanese foods. Lichen have a high level of acid. Care must be taken, as there are at least two kinds of lichen that are toxic.

The bacterial or algal partners produce pigments that absorb sunlight in photosynthesis. There are reports dating back almost 2000 years of purple and red colours being extracted from lichens. Lichens of the family Roccellaceae are commonly called 'orchella weed' . They have been important in history, because they could supply orcein, a dye.  Rocella tinctoria is the source of the pH indicator litmus. Orcein is got by boiling the lichen, and litmus is produced by adding ammonia and air. Orcein is also used as a food dye, with the E number E121.

Today, dyes based on lichens have largely been replaced by synthetic ones.

References

More reading
Ahmadjian V. 1993. The lichen symbiosis. Wiley, New York. .
Gilbert, Oliver 2000. Lichens. New Naturalist series #86, HarperCollins, London.

Fungi
Botany
Bacteria
Algae
Extremophiles
Non-vascular plants
Symbiosis

Lichen


A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), or Residual Current Device (RCD) is a type of circuit breaker. This type shuts off electric power (or breaks the electrical circuit),   to protect people from an electric shock caused when some of the current travels through a person's body due to an electrical fault such as a short circuit, insulation failure, or equipment that is not working right.

Standard  circuit breakers shut off power when the current is too high, like 10, 15, or 20 amps. This protects machinery, and is often good enough to prevent hurting people.

The GFCI / RCD, however, breaks the circuit when it detects an imbalance of only 0.005 amps (0.030 amps in Australia and some European and Asian countries).  Even this small amount of current, 0.030 amps, going through one human body might possibly kill, by causing paralysis of skeletal muscles and stopping the human heart.

A standard circuit breaker protects the house electrical wires, receptacles and switches, and appliances and fixtures from dangerous conditions, which could contribute to overheating and possible fire.  A GFCI / RCD on the other hand, protects people from shock and electrocution and is often found in bathrooms or kitchens, but more specifically where electrical devices may be used near sources of water. While using electrical devices in these locations, someone's bare skin may be in contact with water or a wet floor or metal fixtures.  Any of these can provide an alternate path for current to travel in the case of an electrical fault.

A GFCI / RCD can also prevent dangers from short circuits and other electrical faults that don't involve humans such as a low current short where the current never reaches the trigger point for a circuit breaker, e.g. a live wire falls in a tub of water or moist soil and only 1 or 2 amps of current flow.

Types
GFCIs are available in two types: the circuit breaker that installs in an electrical panel, and the receptacle type that installs into an electrical box.

Regulations
GFCIs are a suitable replacement for two prong outlets without a grounded wire. The National Electric Code requires GFCI protection in dwelling on kitchen counter tops, bathrooms, unfinished basements not intended as habitable rooms, crawl spaces, garages, sinks where the receptacles are installed within 6 feet from the top edge of the bowl of the sink, boathouses, bathtubs or shower stalls where receptacles are installed within 6 feet from the edge of the bathtub or shower, laundry areas, outdoors except for receptacles that are not readily accessible and are supplied by a branch circuit dedicated to electric snow-melting, deicing, or pipeline and vessel heating equipment shall be installed in accordance with NEC 426.28 or 427.22 as applicable. (NEC 210.8 (A))

GFCI protection is required on construction sites.

References

Electrical wiring
Safety
Hardware (mechanical)

Residual-current device


We the Living was a United States alternative rock group composed of singer, songwriter and guitarist John Paul Roney (aka Boom Forest), electric guitarist Matthew Holmen, and drummer Benjamin Schaefer. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, indie rock, melodic rock, and alternative to which the band refers to as melody-driven, British influenced pop-rock. Since forming in Baraboo, Wisconsin, We the Living was last based in Nashville.

History

End of The Profits, Beginning of We the Living
We the Living began in April 2007 in Madison, Wisconsin as a project of singer John Paul Roney and drummer Benjamin Schaefer after their band, The Profits, which was renowned within the Wisconsin college music scene, disbanded. Soon after recruiting guitarist Matthew Holmen and bassist Stefan Benkowski, We the Living began to play the same venue circuits that The Profits had formerly commanded.

However, the music had a very different, more grown-up sound and pulled from new influences such as Coldplay, Mutemath, Radiohead, The Fray, John Mayer, and others of similar genres.

Heights of the Heavens (2007-2008)
The band was first signed to Authentik Artists, a label with a focus on digital marketing and distribution, founded by former Warner/Capitol/Maverick A&R Scott Austin and Legendary Pictures founder Scott Mednick. Under Austin's management the band began work on their debut full-length CD.

We the Living's first album Heights of the Heavens was originally released on April 17, 2007. The record was mixed by Mark Needham (Fleetwood Mac, The Killers, Metro Station)and engineered by Shaun Lopez of Far. It received much acclaim for its lyrically deft yet soulful sound and allowed the band to headline 180 acts during the 2007 year. These performances also included performing with Angels and Airwaves, Gym Class Heroes, Dashboard Confessional, Katy Perry, Anberlin, Ludo, We The Kings, Relient K, Jack's Mannequin, Say Anything, Hellogoodbye, Circa Survive, The Academy Is…, The Roots, Blessid Union of Souls, Sherwood, Motion City Soundtrack, and The Color Fred. During this time the band also headlined major musical festivals around the Midwest.

In 2008 the band re-released a remastered copy of Heights of the Heavens. The new copy also came in different packaging, which they used to launch the concept of Philo, or each person's own life philosophy, and which reflected the significance this subject has had on the band's success, fans, as well as personal lives.

Depths of the Earth (2008)
After touring in support of Heights of the Heavens and fulfilling its contract with Authentik Artists, the band returned to the studio to independently record five songs that weren't ready in time for the wrapping of the first record. Taking the name from the second half of a Sun Tzu quote that Heights of the Heavens was obtained from, the band completed and mixed Depths of the Earth at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin with Beau Sorensen (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara).

Reviews, airplay, and new projects
On March 25, 2008 We the Living's song "Best Laid Plans" was featured on celebrity blog run by Perez Hilton featured as a band to love. In the blog Perez stated that with the quality of the melody and piano it should be the theme song to the new Beverly Hills, 90210 spin-off. After this posting, the band's music began to reach the ears of many who were not in their touring circuit, which allowed the band to become a featured artist on tastemaker sites such as Purevolume, Myspace, AOL Music, Clear Channel, iMeem, and BeBo. Receiving constant positive reviews from newspapers and other publications such as the arts section of the national satirical syndicate, The Onion and AP Magazine the band's airplay soared. In the fall of 2008, We the Living's "Best Laid Plans" was selected by Levi's brand clothing to be a part of their nationwide Unbuttoned ad campaign. The band has earned spins on over 200 A/C and college radio station as well as prominent placement on MTV, VH1, E!, G4, Oxygen, Discovery, and MTV2. Most recently, the band was featured as a Buzz Band by Seventeen Magazine

We the Living has performed at the South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, Texas, Cornerstone Musical Festival, CMJ, as well as the "World's Largest Music Festival" Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which included a headline spot on the Chipotle Rhythm Kitchen Stage. They also spent summer 2008 on the Van's Warped Tour on the Kevin Says Stage.

Disbanding
In late 2010, We The Living announced on their blog  that they were disbanding citing a loss of passion. No future plans to make music together were mentioned.

Discography

Albums
 Heights of the Heavens (Deus ex Machina edition) (2007)
 Heights of the Heavens (Machina ex Deus edition) Remastered and Rereleased (2008)
 Depths of the Earth (2008)

References

External links
Official Band website
Interview with We the Living at HEAVEmedia

Alternative rock groups from Wisconsin
Musical groups from Wisconsin

We the Living (band)


Proposition 8 is an initiative passed in California on November 4, 2008 that banned same-sex marriage.  The measure passed by 52% to 48%. It changed California's Constitution by adding a section that says, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."  The law was in response to a judge's ruling that gay marriage was legal under the California state Constitution.  The campaign to pass Proposition 8 was mostly paid for by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Proposition 8 is controversial and is being debated in court. On August 4, 2010, Judge Vaughn Walker in the United States District Court made a ruling that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional and should be overturned. This would make same-sex marriage legal again in California, however, Judge Walker issued a stay of execution, so that those in favor of Proposition 8 could legal appeal.

The appeal of the case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On February 7, 2012, the judges in this court agreed with Judge Walker that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. However they also issued a stay of execution, so that their ruling could be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

Those in favor of Proposition 8 appealed to the Supreme Court on July 30, 2012. On December 7, 2012, the Supreme Court agreed to judge the case. The Supreme Court will issue a final ruling on the case in 2013.

There are several possible outcomes:
 The Supreme Court could agree with the lower courts, which would force Proposition 8 to be cancelled and would allow same-sex marriage to resume in California.
 The Court could also disagree with the lower courts, in which case Proposition 8 would remain law.
 The Court could rule that the supporters of Proposition 8 didn't have the right to bring the case to the Supreme Court, in which case the lower court ruling would stand, and Proposition 8 would also be overturned.

Depending on exactly how the Supreme Court rules, Proposition 8 could be overturned in California only, or all other laws against same-sex marriage in the United States could be overturned as well.

References

United States law
Proposition 8
Same-sex marriage

California Proposition 8


John Brinckerhoff "Brinck" Jackson (September 25, 1909 – August 29, 1996) was a writer, publisher, instructor, and sketch artist in landscape design. Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic of the New York Times, stated that J. B. Jackson was "America's greatest living writer on the forces that have shaped the land this nation occupies."  He was influential in broadening the perspective on the "vernacular" landscape.

Early life
Brinck was born on September 25, 1909, in Dinard, France to American parents.  Jackson spent his early school years with them in Washington, D.C., and in Europe.  In 1923, at age 14, he was enrolled at the elite Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland, where he became fluent in both French and German. He savored an environment of mountains, meadows, and forests, but also absorbed the human face of the Swiss cities and cantons. He would later draw upon his travels abroad in writings, sketches, and watercolors. He attended Eaglebrook School, Choate, and Deerfield Academy in New England and spent summers on his uncle's farm in New Mexico.

Jackson's experiences in college were influential in his approach to the shaping of the landscape. He attended the Experimental College of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Jackson gained an insight into architecture and planning from the social criticism of Lewis Mumford and Oswald Spengler's revelation in Decline of the West that "landscapes reflected the culture of the people that were living there."

In 1929, Jackson entered Harvard.  His instructor Irving Babbitt was influential in Jackson's opposition to modernism. Jackson's taste for Baroque style and history began to blossom at this time. He believed that the zest of the Baroque style was the essence of the connection between humankind and nature. While attending Harvard, Jackson wrote articles for the Harvard Advocate. His career of writing about the landscape began here.

Career
Following graduation from Harvard in 1932, Jackson took courses in architecture, writing, and drawing. Each would later serve as the bases for essays, lectures, and articles for his magazine, Landscape. He wandered through Europe in 1934 to 1935 studying Baroque style. While in Europe, Jackson began to write articles critical of Nazism and published them in The American Review and Harper's. His interest in politics began to be expressed in his works. During the mid-1930s, Jackson published essays in American literary magazines and a novel, with his photograph that appeared on the cover of a 1938 'Saturday Review'.  In 1938, his novel, titled Saints in Summertime, was published. The book revealed the infiltration of Nazism and the soldiers' attraction to energy emanating from power.

Military service

After briefly trying his hand at ranching in New Mexico, Jackson enlisted in the army, in 1940.  As an officer during war, he studied books to gain insight on the geography of the location. He deciphered code, studied maps, and learned the terrain. He read books by French geographers—Pierre Deffontaines, Paul Vidal de la Blache, and Albert Demangeon. He was a part of the Ritchie Boys and his language skills were used to serve the United States Army in understanding issues on the European front. It was at this time that he developed his interpretation that the shaping and devastation of the landscape came from the necessities for human existence. Jackson believed that human history brought about human geography. The landscape was the product of humankind's effort to "recreate heaven on earth". As the war ended, Jackson began to contemplate publishing a magazine of geography.

Landscape magazine
In the spring of 1951, he published the first issue of Landscape, with the subtitle "Human Geography of the Southwest;" this was later dropped. Jackson served as the magazine's publisher and editor until 1968. At first, Jackson argued, quite literally, for a lofty – an airborne – view of the world, reveling in the perspective of aerial photographs. But Jackson's work, which dominated the first five issues of the magazine, was grounded in what he would later call the vernacular: an interest in the commonplace or everyday landscape. Jackson expressed an innate confidence in the ability of people of small means to make significant changes in their surroundings. In an opening essay, The Need of Being Versed in Country Things, Jackson states that "It is from the air that the true relationship between the natural and the human landscape is first clearly revealed. The peaks and canyons lose much of their impressiveness when seen from above. What catches our eye and arouses our interest is not the sandy washes and the naked rocks, but the evidences of man." His writings allowed him to raise questions and present controversial statements especially in reference to humans and their role in shaping the landscape.

Jackson's collected essays have been published in seven books, in addition to A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time, which won the 1995 PEN prize for essays.

Teaching
Jackson was influential in the lives of many students, colleagues, admirers, and friends. He taught landscape history courses as adjunct professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design beginning in 1969 and at the College of Environmental Design and the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. He ended teaching classes in the late 1970s. Since then he has given lectures, especially on themes pertaining to urban issues. Jackson states that "We are not spectators; all human landscape is not a work of art." He felt strongly that the purpose of landscape is to provide a place for living and working and leisure.

The Association of American Geographers established a Jackson Prize, to "reward American geographers who write books about the United States which convey the insights of professional geography in language that is interesting and attractive to a lay audience."

Cultural Landscapes Studies
As a scholar, historian and writer, John B. Jackson greatly influenced the development and trajectory of contemporary cultural landscape studies in America. In the introduction to Everyday America: Cultural Landscape Studies after J.B. Jackson (2003), editors Chris Wilson and Paul Groth note that the term 'cultural landscape' rarely appeared in print prior to the 1950s. But between 1959 and 1990, they note, writers across disciplines have come to realize the importance of the built environment.

"More surprising," they claim, "was the discovery of everyday built spaces as significant evidence of social groups, power relations and culture by historians, American studies scholars, literary critics, and a growing number of anthropologists, sociologists and social theorists."  It is a "way of thinking," they continue, with "inherent contradictions and multiple approaches."

The history of landscape study and, more broadly, place and regional studies, illustrates the convergences with some of the histories here, both across discipline and nation.

In the United States a popular fascination with vibrant architecture, communities, and landscapes of everyday America has been expressed by writers ranging from Walt Whitman to Mark Twain, and by painter Winslow Homer through early-twentieth artists of common landscapes. The New Deal writers and painters explored a strong regionalist theme, which was also connected to the architectural and urban criticism of Lewis Mumford. The concern for environmental degradation caused by human activities was another American theme, spurred particularly by the Vermont writer George Perkins Marsh.

Comparison of American trends to cultural landscape studies in other places is illuminating. Wilson and Groth write that German cultural landscape studies were primarily based on scientific categorizations of regions and settlements, with strong cross-disciplinary ties to geology and economic analysis. Historical accounts of landscape influenced British cultural studies, but the study of cultural landscapes also was strongly based on field observation and map interpretations. In France, the emphasis on unique culture and geography shaped the field, especially in ideas of genre de vie (ways of life) and pays (social regions), ideas that have had particular resonance in American landscape studies. "By World War II," the editors remark, "each French region had its own well-written guidebooks to local physical and social landscapes" (4).

Geographer Carl Sauer, who had studied in Germany and had long tenure as the chair of the Geography department at Berkeley, in 1925 wrote the now classic definition of a cultural landscape: "The cultural landscape is fashioned from the natural landscape by a cultural group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, and cultural landscape is the result."

Personal life
During the height of his career, Jackson lived just southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, near an historic property known as El Rancho de las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows).

Jackson died on August 29, 1996, at St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe.  He was 86 and lived in La Cienega, New Mexico.

Awards and honors
John Brinckerhoff Jackson received the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay for A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time in 1995.

J.B. Jackson received the Silver Star for exemplary service in WWII.

Published works
Jackson's published works include:

 Landscapes: Selected Writings of J. B. Jackson (1970)
 American Space: The Centennial Years, 1865–1876 (1972)
 The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays edited with D. W. Meinig (1979)
 The Necessity for Ruins and Other Topics (1980)
 Discovering the Vernacular Landscape (1984)
 A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time (1994)
 Landscape in Sight: Looking at America (1997)

Quotes
"The older I grow and the longer I look at landscapes and seek to understand them, the more convinced I am that their beauty is not simply an aspect but their very essence and that that beauty derives from the human presence."
"Let us hope that the merits and charm of the highway strip are not so obscure but they will be accepted by a wider public."
"The bicycle had, and still has, a humane, almost classical moderation in the kind of pleasure it offers. It is the kind of machine that a Hellenistic Greek might have invented and ridden. It does no violence to our normal reactions: It does not pretend to free us from our normal environment."
"The way a city grows, the direction in which it spreads, is a factor not so much of zoning or real estate activity or land values but of highways."
"Ruins provide the incentive for restoration, and for a return to origins. There has to be an interim of death or rejection before there can be renewal and reform."

References

External links
 Inventory of the J.B. Jackson Papers, 1909-1996

1909 births
1996 deaths
People from Dinard
American architecture writers
20th-century American educators
American garden writers
American landscape and garden designers
American landscape architects
Writers from Santa Fe, New Mexico
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
American nature writers
American male non-fiction writers
Ritchie Boys
American expatriates in France
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Alumni of Institut Le Rosey
Deerfield Academy alumni
Choate Rosemary Hall alumni
Harvard Advocate alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty
PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award winners

J. B. Jackson


A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is a type of legal conservation given to an area in the United Kingdom. They are sites of biological or geological interest, or both.

Any activity which might affect an SSSI is illegal unless the appropriate planning body gives permission. Owners of land must do what needs to be done to protect an SSSI which sits on their land. There may be grants available to help owners look after the site.

Geography of the United Kingdom
Protected areas

Site of Special Scientific Interest


Comic Jumper (full title: Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley) is an action video game developed by Twisted Pixel Games published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released for the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace on October 6, 2010. It is the third original game created by Twisted Pixel following The Maw and 'Splosion Man, all three of which are exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade.

In Comic Jumper players control Captain Smiley, a comic book hero whose comics are poorly received. Seeking help from Twisted Pixel themselves he "jumps" in other comics, hoping to glean from each genre's popularity. As he enters each comic genre his design and weaponry changes to suit the comic style. In its first month Comic Jumper sold over 40,000 copies and as of year-end 2011 had sold over 103,000 copies. Critics praised the game's humor, saying the game had several laugh out loud moments and excellent comedic delivery. The difficulty of the game was compared to games from the 16-bit console era.

Synopsis

Comic Jumper follows the story of superhero protagonist Captain Smiley and his biologically attached abrasive sidekick, Star. The duo must travel through different comic books, each with unique drawing styles, and complete missions to earn popularity. Four distinct comic styles exist in the game; Modern, which features bold colors, Fantasy, which features subdued colors and watercolor backgrounds, Silver Age, which is presented with cel-shaded graphics, and Manga, which is presented in black and white. When in a respective comic style Captain Smiley and Star's character designs and weaponry adapt to fit the look of the comic.

Following an issue involving a showdown with his nemesis, Brad, Captain Smiley's comic series, The Adventures of Captain Smiley, is canceled due to poor sales. In order to get his own series back up and running again, Captain Smiley and Star, with endorsement from Twisted Pixel, must raise the funds necessary by making guest appearances in other comic books.

In the fantasy comic, Nanoc the Obliviator, the duo help the mighty warrior, Nanoc, defeat Captain Smiley's enemy, Puttmaster, who has turned the land into a giant mini-golf course. In the silver-age comic Improbable Paper Pals, Captain Smiley and Star must assist Paper Lad to find his sidekick Origami Kid and defeat the feminist Mistress Ropes, as well as the various censors constantly trying to fine them. In the shōjo manga, Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids, Captain Smiley must battle his way through a world of hearts and rainbows in order to rescue Brad, who is being forced to be a heartthrob gym teacher. After completing these jobs, Captain Smiley is able to relaunch his comic which becomes a hit. However, his ego causes tension between his coworkers due to learning nothing from his adventures, resulting all of them to quit, meanwhile Twisted Pixel takes all the profits from the comic's sales, leaving Smiley with nothing.

Gameplay
Comic Jumper is a 2.5D action game in which the player must defeat enemies to progress. The main gameplay revolves around using Captain Smiley's dual pistols and platforming across levels broken up by various segments which include melee combat, on-rails shooting and quick time events. In keeping with the game's abstract humor, Captain Smiley can call on the game's developers to perform a special attack, in which live action footage of Twisted Pixel employees is shown over the gameplay, with the developers destroying nearby enemies.

By performing well in each issue players can earn extra cash on top of their base fee. Additional bonuses can be earned by fulfilling reader expectations, which involves things such as completing a certain section without getting hit. Cash can also be earned by completing special challenge levels or exploring the main base and conversing with characters. Money earned from the levels can be spent on upgrades to Captain Smiley's abilities or to unlock various content, including concept art, interviews, gamerpics and two additional levels for 'Splosion Man. Purchased items and abilities also increase the amount of money Captain Smiley earns from missions.

Development
Comic Jumper was revealed on September 4, 2009 at PAX. Joystiq interviewed Twisted Pixel's Mike Wilford who cited Final Fight as an inspiration for melee combat, while Contra and Gunstar Heroes served as inspirations for gun sequences, and said the humor as akin to Earthworm Jim. Wilford further told: "Back in the day, there seemed to be a whole lot of mascot-type characters in games, like Mario, Sonic, all those things, and not many devs seem to be doing that anymore. We're trying to bring that back a little bit with our games". Comic Jumper is the brainchild of Josh Bear, co-founder and director at Twisted Pixel. Wilford stated that Bear had the idea for the game beginning in seventh grade. It was released for the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace on October 6, 2010 as part of Microsoft's Game Feast promotion.

When Twisted Pixel was formed the developers decided that due to the desired scale they would need to release a few games in order to be able to realize the scope of Comic Jumper. In January 2009 The Maw was released, followed by Splosion Man in July of the same year. The technologies implemented those games were developed with Comic Jumper in mind. For example, the cinematic camera angles in Splosion Man were all implemented into the engine in preparation for the game. The game is powered by Twisted Pixel's BEARD engine, which was upgraded to implement RAD Game Tools' Granny 3D technologies. Twisted Pixel CTO Frank Wilson stated: "Granny's highly optimized runtime and suite of tools for both art and engineering provide our development team and our engine licensees the ability to create a highly optimized pipeline for the unique requirements of their games".

Twisted Pixel wanted Captain Smiley and Star to be unique in each different comic iteration. To do so the developers created four unique sets of models for Captain Smiley and Star, and also created unique animations and weaponry for each iteration. When the game was compared to Comix Zone, Whitford responded that inspiration was drawn from it, but that transitions between comic panels and turning of pages were to "savor the moment", adding that the premise of transitions was to create a cinematic transition. Twisted Pixel combined live action video along with the existing gameplay to further the feel of the game being read as a comic book. As with previous Twisted Pixel games avatar awards and premium themes can be unlocked through gameplay. As part of promoting the game Twisted Pixel released Comic Jumper T-shirts and posters as well as a Captain Smiley maquette for purchase. When asked about the possibility of a Comic Jumper comic book series, Whitford responded "we've thought about that", adding "it's definitely a cool idea, and something we might do later [...] but we'll have to see". In an interview given during an Evil Avatar podcast, Josh Bear revealed that there would not be any downloadable content for Comic Jumper. Bear later explained that this was due to the complexity of the game's levels. Twisted Pixel released the game's soundtrack to the public via their website on November 3, 2010.

Reception

Comic Jumper received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Critics had been generally favorable of the game's humor.

The Official Xbox Magazine UK (OXMUK) staff called the game "bloody funny". GameSpots Carolyn Petit concurred, stating that "Twisted Pixel delivers big fun and big laughs in this varied, comic-book-themed side-scrolling shooter". Nick Chester of Destructoid said the game had "laugh out loud" moments and "spot-on comedic delivery". Game Informers Meagan Marie also appreciated the humor and commented that "Twisted Pixel didn't break the fourth wall; they completely decimated it". Joystiqs Ludwig Kietzmann added that "Twisted Pixel regularly drives a bulldozer through the fourth wall". GameSpot also praised the character design, calling the lead characters "memorable". OXMUK also praised the number of unlockables in the game, as did GameSpot. Official Xbox Magazines Mikel Reparaz noted that the constant change of gameplay mechanics kept the game feeling fresh and enjoyable. He also lauded Comic Jumpers visuals, calling them "striking". Levi Buchanan of IGN shared similar comments, stating the game had "sharp art direction" which kept the game feeling "fresh and vibrant from start to end".

Game Informer criticized the checkpoint system, noting that on occasion when the player dies they are at an earlier point in the level than was expected. Further criticism pointed to the penalty for death, with Marie calling it "nonexistent". Joystiq noted the game was difficult, citing a difficulty level from the 16-bit era, a sentiment which OXMUK shared. GameSpot also shared feelings of occasional frustration due to the game's difficulty, adding that there were also a few moments where the game's momentum slowed. GamesRadar+s Matthew Keast criticized the game's sense of humor and repetitive gameplay. The reviewer said that it "just feels like a first-time attempt at a twin-stick shooter, however the devs didn't look at what makes these games function smoothly or provide an interesting and fair challenge". Kotakus Luke Plunkett said Comic Jumper was "what happens when a developer sets out to make a funny game, then forgets all about the game part".

Todd Vote of 411Mania gave the game nine out of ten: "With plenty of unlockables, good fast paced gameplay, and plenty of hilarious jokes, Captain Smiley delivers in a big way. From start to finish, Captain Smiley delivers a fun and engaging experience with a great story behind it". Later, John de Large of the same website gave it 9.8 out of 10 and called it "the best XBLA game available, period. Not one of the best, not contender for best, THE BEST". However, Samantha Nelson of The A.V. Club gave it a B: "The game's humor goes a long way toward making up for the weaknesses in gameplay". Roger Hargreaves of Metro gave it six out of ten: "The comedy is an acquired taste but the presentation is an unqualified success. However, it's the gameplay that's the real problem in this tedious 2D actioner".

In its first month Comic Jumper sold over 40,000 copies, with a total of over 58,000 sold in 2010. Sales nearly doubled in 2011, with 103,000 units moved.

Legacy
In Twisted Pixal's VR game Wilson's Heart, Wilson comes across a comic book of Captain Smiley during his time in Improbable Paper Pals, however the comic cannot be finished as Wilson cannot flip the pages due to losing his arm to a animated mannequin.

References

External links

Comic Jumper at Xbox.com

2010 video games
Beat 'em ups
Microsoft games
Parody video games
Side-scrolling video games
Superhero video games
Twisted Pixel games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with 2.5D graphics
Video games with cel-shaded animation
Video games with commentaries
Works about comics
Xbox 360 games
Xbox 360 Live Arcade games
Xbox 360-only games


Pierre Lévy (; born 1956) is a Tunisian-born French philosopher, cultural theorist and media scholar who specializes in the understanding of the cultural and cognitive implications of digital technologies and the phenomenon of human collective intelligence.

He introduced the collective intelligence concept in his 1994 book L'intelligence collective: Pour une anthropologie du cyberspace (Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace). Lévy's 1995 book, Qu'est-ce que le virtuel? (translated as Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Age) develops philosopher Gilles Deleuze's conception of "the virtual" as a dimension of reality that subsists with the actual but is irreducible to it. In 2001, he wrote the  book Cyberculture.

He was a professor at the communication department of the University of Ottawa, where he hold a Canada Research Chair in Collective Intelligence. Lévy is fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and received several awards and academic distinctions. Pierre Lévy is currently retired and works on developing the Information Economy MetaLanguage (IEML).

Life and work
Lévy was born in Tunisia, to a Sephardic Jewish family, before moving to France. He is one of the major philosophers working on the implications of cyberspace and digital communications. Lévy has written a dozen of books that have been translated in more than 12 languages and are studied in many universities all over the world. His principal work, published in French in 1994 and translated into English, is entitled Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace.

As early as 1990 Lévy published a book about the merging of digital networks and hypertextual communication. Lévy's theory of knowledge spaces and the cosmopedia foreshadowed the emergence of Wikipedia and anticipates wikinomics, and the efficacy of shared distributed knowledge systems.

From 1993 to 1998 Lévy was Professor at the University of Paris VIII, where he studied the concept of collective intelligence and knowledge-based societies. He has contributed to many scholarly discourses about cyberculture.

He was a member of the editorial board of the Revue virtuelle project of the Pompidou Center in Paris from 1995 to 1997 and was the author of a report on cyberculture for the Council of Europe in 1996.

In the chapter Interactivity from his book Cyberculture (2001), Lévy argues that analogue communication (telephone, mail) differs from digital communication (email, chat) in terms of temporal organization and material involvement of their communication systems. He claims that interactivity is a vague term that "has more to do with finding the solution to a problem, the need to develop new ways to observe, design, and evaluate methods of communication, than it does with identifying a simple, unique characteristic that can be assigned to a given system". Henry Jenkins, among others, cites him as an important influence on theories of online collective intelligence.

In Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Age Lévy explores the way we virtualise every aspect of our lives, from real time (media) interaction through language, to our actions through technology, and our social relations through institutions. And in each case the mechanism is the same: we create some artifact, more or less material, which allows us to shift what's at stake away from the immediate here-and-now and towards a problematic where new possibilities open up.

Current project
Lévy's current project focuses on the development of an Information Economy MetaLanguage (IEML) for the purposes of improving knowledge management as part of his works on the design of a universal system for semantic addressing of digital documents.

Main publications

 Lévy P., L'Œuvre de Warren McCulloch, in «Cahiers du CREA», 7, Paris 1986, pp. 211–255
 Id., Analyse de contenu des travaux du Biological Computer Laboratory (BCL), in «Cahiers du CREA», 8, Paris 1986, pp. 155–191.
 Id., La Machine Univers. Création, cognition et culture informatique, La Découverte, Paris 1987.
 Id., Les Technologies de l'intelligence. L'avenir de la pensée à l'ère informatique, La Découverte, Paris 1990.
 Id., L'idéographie dynamique. Vers une imagination artificielle?, La Découverte, Paris 1991.
 Id., Authier M., Les Arbres de connaissances, La Découverte, Paris 1992.
 Id., Le cosmos pense en nous, in «Chimères», XIV, 1992, poi in Id., Chambat P. (a cura di), Les Nouveaux Outils de la pensée, Éditions Descartes, Paris 1992.
 Id., De la programmation considérée comme un des beaux-arts, La Découverte, Paris 1992.
 Id., L'Intelligence collective. Pour une anthropologie du cyberespace, La Découverte, Paris, 1994.
 Id., Qu'est-ce que le virtuel?, La Découverte, Paris 1995.
 Id., Cyberculture. Rapport au Conseil de l'Europe dans le cadre du projet "Nouvelles technologie: coopération culturelle et communication", Odile Jacob, Paris 1997.
 Id., Labrosse D., Le Feu libérateur, Arléa, Paris 1999.
 Id., World Philosophie: le marché, le cyberespace, la conscience, Odile Jacob, Paris 2000.
 Id., Cyberdémocratie. Essai de philosophie politique, Odile Jacob, Paris 2002.
 Id., The Semantic Sphere 1. Computation, Cognition and the Information Economy, ISTE / Wiley, London and NY, 2011.
 Id., Société du savoir et développement humain, in P. Imbert (a cura di), Le Canada et la société des savoirs, CR Université d'Ottawa, Ottawa 2007, pp. 115–175.
 Id., Toward a Self-referential Collective Intelligence: Some Philosophical Background of the IEML Research Program, First International Conference, ICCCI 2009, Wroclaw (Poland) 10.2009, in N.N. Than, K. Ryszard, C. Shyi-Ming (a cura di), Computational Collective Intelligence, Semantic Web, Social Networks and Multi-agent Systems, Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg-NY 2009, pp. 22–35.
 Id., Algebraic Structure of IEML Semantic Space, CI Lab Technical Report, 2009.

References

Further reading
 Berardi F., Mutazioni e cyberpunk, Costa & Nolan, Genova 1994.
 Id., (a cura di), Cibernauti. Tecnologia, comunicazione, democrazia, Castelvecchi, Roma 1996.
 Corchia L., "La teoria degli spazi antropologici di Pierre Lévy", in The Lab's Quarterly, 3, 2007.
 Id., La democrazia nell'era di Internet. Per una politica dell'intelligenza collettiva, Le Lettere, Firenze 2011.
 de Kerckhove D., La pelle della cultura. Un'indagine sulla nuova realtà elettronica, Costa & Nolan, Genova 1996.
 Id. [1997], L'intelligenza connettiva. L'avvento della Web society, Aurelio De Laurentiis multimedia, Milano 1999.
 Magrassi P., Digitalmente confusi, Franco Angeli, Milano 2011, pp. 171–182
 Rizza G., L'intelligenza collettiva di Pierre Lévy, Zerobook, Roma 2007.
 Rodotà S., Tecnopolitica. La democrazia e le nuove tecnologie della comunicazione, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1997, 20042.

External links
 Official blog
 Blog about the Information Economy Meta Language project
 Grammar and dictionary of the Information Economy Meta Language

1956 births
Living people
Writers from Tunis
Canadian non-fiction writers
Academic staff of the University of Ottawa
Academic staff of Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis
French mass media scholars
Tunisian Jews
Tunisian philosophers
Jewish philosophers
Tunisian emigrants to France
20th-century French Sephardi Jews
Postmodern theory
21st-century French philosophers
Philosophers of art
20th-century French philosophers
Social philosophers
Mass media theorists
Postmodernists
French male writers
Male non-fiction writers
Philosophers of technology

Pierre Lévy