Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, developed and released by Midway to arcades in 1995. It is a standalone update of 1995's earlier Mortal Kombat 3 with an altered gameplay system, additional characters like the returning favorites Reptile, Kitana and Scorpion who were missing from Mortal Kombat 3, and some new features.

Several home port versions of the game were soon released after the arcade original. Although none were completely identical to the arcade version, the Sega Saturn port came closest. Some later home versions followed the arcade original with more accuracy. Some versions were released under different titles: Mortal Kombat Advance for the Game Boy Advance in 2001 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat for the Nintendo DS in 2007. An iOS version recreating the game using a 3D graphics engine was released by Electronic Arts in 2010.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was mostly well-received and has been considered a high point for the Mortal Kombat series. However, the iOS remake and some other home versions were received poorly. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was updated to include more content from previous games in the series as Mortal Kombat Trilogy in 1996. The 2011 compilation Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection includes an emulation of UMK3 as well as the first Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II.

Gameplay

Two new gameplay modes have been introduced since the original Mortal Kombat 3: the 2-on-2 mode which was similar to an Endurance match but with as many as three human players in a given round on both sides (these had not been seen in the series since the first Mortal Kombat), and a new eight-player Tournament mode. An extra Master difficulty is present. Shao Kahn's Lost Treasures – selectable prizes, of which some are extra fights and others lead to various cutscenes or other things – are introduced after either the main game or the eight-player Tournament are completed.

To balance the gameplay, some characters were given new moves and some existing moves were altered. Some characters were given extra combos and some combos were made to cause less damage. Chain combos could be started by using a jump punch (vertical or angled) or a vertical jump kick, which creates more opportunities to use combos. Combos that knock opponents in the air no longer send one's opponent to the level above in multi-layered levels; only regular uppercuts do this.

The computer-controlled opponent AI was improved in the game. However, three new flaws were introduced along with the revisions: while backflipping away from an opponent, if the player performs a jump kick, the AI character will always throw a projectile; this leaves the computer character vulnerable to some attacks and can easily lead into a devastating combo. If the player walks back-and-forth within a certain range of the AI character, the opponent will mimic the player's walking movements for the whole round and never attack. If the computer opponent is cornered, the player can repeatedly perform punches without the AI character stumbling back, thus allowing the player to win easily.

UMK3 features several new backgrounds: Scorpion's Lair/Hell (this stage also contains a new Stage Fatality, where an uppercut can send the opponent into a river of lava); Jade's Desert (in a reference to his MK3 ending, Cyrax is seen stuck waist-deep in sand in the background); River Kombat/The Waterfront; Kahn's Kave/The Cavern; Blue Portal/Lost (a combination of the background from the UMK3 "Choose Your Destiny" screen, the Pit 3 bridge, and the mountains and bridge from the Pit II in Mortal Kombat II); Noob's Dorfen (based on the Balcony stage, which can now be played using a Kombat Kode without having to fight Noob Saibot to see it as in MK3). Before reaching any of the original MK3 backgrounds in 1- or 2-player mode, the game must cycle through all of the UMK3 exclusive backgrounds twice. Scorpion's Lair, Secret Cave and Abandoned River stages are selectable by using a password while on the missing Bank Stage cycle. In Scorpion's Lair, fighters can uppercut each other into Kahn's Kave. The original red portal background used for the "Choose Your Destiny" screen is now blue.

Some elements from MK3 are missing in UMK3. The only biographies featured are those of Kitana, Jade, Scorpion and Reptile (the ninja characters who were not included in MK3), which are the only four shown during attract mode, while all of the biographies and the full-body portraits of the MK3 characters are missing. The biographies that do appear in the game are presented differently from those in MK3, as are the endings. The storyline images and text do not appear. Finally, the Bank and Hidden Portal stages from MK3 were removed (Jade's Desert serves as a placeholder where The Bank stage used to appear once the player reaches the original MK3 level cycle).

The Sega Genesis and SNES versions were released the same month as Mortal Kombat Trilogy and incorporated that game's finishing move Brutalities, an 11-button combo which causes the character to rapidly beat on their opponent until they explode.

Characters

The arcade version features all playable characters from Mortal Kombat 3, who were portrayed by the same actors: Cyrax (Sal Divita), Liu Kang (Eddie Wong), Kabal (Richard Divizio), Kano (Richard Divizio), Kung Lao (Tony Marquez), Stryker (Michael O'Brien), Jax Briggs (John Parrish), Nightwolf (Sal Divita), Sektor (Sal Divita), Shang Tsung (John Turk), Sheeva (stop motion), Sindel (Lia Montelongo), Smoke (Sal Divita), Sonya Blade (Kerri Hoskins) and Sub-Zero (John Turk). The boss and sub-boss from MK3, Motaro (stop motion) and Shao Kahn (Brian Glynn, voiced by Steve Ritchie), also return. Shang Tsung's transformations are accompanied by announcements of the name of the character he is changing into.

There are four additional characters that are playable from the start: Several ninja characters from the first two games that have been absent from Mortal Kombat 3 return in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, including Kitana, Jade, Reptile and Scorpion on the prototype version; a new Ultimate Kombat Kode was added in revision 1.0 to enable Mileena, Ermac, and Classic Sub-Zero as secret characters.

Jade (Becky Gable) – After the renegade princess Kitana killed her evil twin Mileena and escaped from Outworld to Earth, her close friend Jade was appointed by the emperor Shao Kahn to find and bring her back alive.
Kitana (Becky Gable) – She is accused of treason after killing Mileena; she now attempts to reach queen Sindel to warn her of their true past.
Reptile (John Turk) – As one of Shao Kahn's most trusted servants, Reptile assists Jade in the hunt for Kitana, but with secret orders enabling him to kill her if necessary.
Scorpion (John Turk) – Scorpion escapes from Earth's hell after Shao Kahn's failed attempt at stealing the souls of Earthrealm. He eventually joins the struggle against Outworld.

More are unlockable via the Ultimate Kombat Kode:
Classic Sub-Zero (John Turk) – Having been seemingly killed in the first game, Sub-Zero mysteriously returns to again attempt the assassination of Shang Tsung.
Ermac (John Turk) – A mysterious warrior that exists as a life force of the souls of dead Outworld warriors in Shao Kahn's possession.
Mileena (Becky Gable) – After she was killed by Kitana, Mileena was brought back to life by Shao Kahn to help him defeat Earth's warriors with her combat skills and a mind-reading connection to her sister.

Finally, Smoke's human form can be unlocked via a code entered right before a match.

Returning characters were warmly welcomed by critics as an improvement to the "lackluster roster" of MK3 with "the greatly missed" Kitana, Mileena, Reptile, and especially Scorpion. The female ninja characters (Mileena, Kitana and Jade), returning from Mortal Kombat II, were portrayed by a different actress, Becky Gable, due to the lawsuit issued by Katalin Zamiar and some of the other MKII actors against Midway; they were also given a different set of outfits and hairstyles, which were again identical for all of them (in the game there are just three palette swapped character models for male, female and cyborg ninjas, not counting the MK3 Sub-Zero but including Classic Sub-Zero).

There are also two new hidden opponents and console exclusives: Noob Saibot (John Turk) and Rain (John Turk). Although Noob Saibot was featured in the original MK3, he is no longer a palette swap of Kano but instead of a ninja; as before, he is fought via a Kombat Kode. Rain is featured in the game's opening montage (except on the Sega Saturn), but he is actually a fake hidden character that is not found in the arcade game. Both Noob Saibot and Rain were made playable for the 16-bit console versions, although Sheeva was removed, and the two boss characters are playable via a cheat code.

Release

Like previous Mortal Kombat games, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 debuted in arcades. It first appeared in select arcades in early November 1995. Arcade owners who already owned Mortal Kombat 3 were provided with the option to upgrade to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 at no cost. In 2008, the Mortal Kombat series co-creator, designer and producer Ed Boon said that UMK3 is his favorite 2D Mortal Kombat title. It was also the last game he has programmed himself.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was ported to many home consoles with varying results, including home (Super NES, Genesis and Sega Saturn) and portable consoles (Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS), the Xbox Live Arcade, and iOS-based mobile devices and mobile phones. The game was also bundled with the premium version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the PlayStation 2 and included in compilation release Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The developers and publishers of the various releases included Acclaim Entertainment, Avalanche Software, Electronic Arts, Eurocom, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and Williams Entertainment. The later versions usually feature online play and other improvements over the arcade version, and in some cases even 3D graphics.

A port for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was being developed by New Level but was canceled in 1996. Cited reasons for the cancellation include development delays which pushed the release date too far beyond the peak of Mortal Kombat 3s popularity and the fact that the Mortal Kombat franchise had no established presence on the console.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wave Net
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wave Net (an abbreviation for Williams Action Video Entertainment Network) was a rare network version of the game that allowed for online multiplayer matches. It was tested only in the Chicago and San Francisco areas that used a dedicated T1 line, connected directly to Midway's Chicago headquarters. It is highly unlikely that any Wave Net test games were ever released to the public after the infrastructure was dismantled, and so there are no known ROM image dumps of this version. One of the reasons this version was not widely adopted was the cost of T1 lines at the time: the setup cost several thousand dollars per arcade installation, plus a few hundred dollars for each cabinet using the hardware. Williams' plan was to use WaveNet to upload new games and game updates, which they would provide to arcade owners for free in exchange for a cut of the games' revenues.

Super NES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) version was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Williams Entertainment in June, 1996 in North America, and by Acclaim Entertainment on November 28, 1996, in Europe. This version of the game uses the code from Sculptured Software's prior port of the original MK3 released a year earlier. The limitations of the system led to many cuts being made to fit everything in the SNES cartridge: the announcer no longer says the characters' names, Sheeva was removed, only the five new arcade backgrounds are featured, and Shao Kahn's Lost Treasures chest has only 10 boxes instead of 12. Also, many changes affect the game's finishing moves: Rain and Noob Saibot have no regular Fatalities or other finishing moves; Kitana's "Kiss of Death" only inflates the opponent's heads, reusing the effect from Kabal's "Air Pump" Fatality; Sonya Blade's Friendship from MK3 is used, as opposed to her Friendship from the arcade version of UMK3; Ermac's head punch Fatality is altered; Scorpion's "Hellraiser" Fatality is different (he takes the opponent back to the Hell stage, where the opponent simply burns to ash) and is no longer censored like the arcade one. Animality finishing moves were also removed, ironically keeping the Mercy move, which originally served as a requirement for Animalities in MK3. On the other hand, Brutalities were introduced; a finishing move in which the player attacks their opponent with a series of kicks and punches which result in the victim exploding. At the same time, some changes were actually improvements over the arcade version. Rain and Noob Saibot are made into playable characters for the first time. Mileena, Ermac, and Classic Sub-Zero are playable out of the box. Motaro and Shao Kahn are unlockable characters for two-player fights, although only one player can choose a boss at a given time. A cheat code allows access to three separate cheat menus, where the player can drastically alter gameplay, access hidden content or view the characters' endings, among many other things.

Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis version was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Williams Entertainment on October 11, 1996, in North America and by Acclaim Entertainment on November 28, 1996, in Europe (Mega Drive version). Much like the SNES port, this version of the game uses the code from Sculptured Software's prior port of the original MK3 released a year earlier. Due to the limitations of the system's hardware, the Sega Genesis port featured inferior graphics and sound to these of the SNES port. Like on the SNES, Sheeva was removed, Shao Kahn's treasure chest has only 10 boxes, the announcer no longer says the characters' names, Kitana's "Kiss of Death" only inflates heads, Scorpion's "Hellraiser" Fatality is different, Sonya's Friendship from Mortal Kombat 3 is used, and the game retains the Bank stage. There were, however, several differences. Unlike the SNES version, the Genesis version features more stages: with the addition of the five new ones, it also features six of the original ones from MK3, including the Subway, Bank, Rooftop, Soul Chamber, The Temple, and The Pit 3. There are several additional cuts regarding special and finishing moves: both Animalities and Mercy were removed; Rain and Noob were given a Brutality, but no other finishing moves; Human Smoke shares Scorpion's combos, rather than having unique ones; in Stryker's Friendship, the running characters are replaced by dogs. It did, however, have exclusive features in comparison to the arcade. Again, like the SNES port, Rain and Noob Saibot are made playable characters along with bosses Motaro and Shao Kahn, and Mileena, Ermac, and Classic Sub-Zero are playable without any need of codes; Brutalities are also included in this version. Shang Tsung can morph into Robot Smoke, Noob Saibot, and Rain, which is not possible in the arcades, while Nightwolf is given the Red Shadow shoulder move that was later used in MKT. This version also features a rendition of Pong entitled MK4, which is the same as the one that appeared in the Genesis/Mega Drive port of MK3.

Sega Saturn
The Sega Saturn version was developed by Eurocom and published in 1996 by Williams Entertainment in North America and by GT Interactive in Europe. It is based directly on the version of Mortal Kombat 3 that was released for the PlayStation and PC. It thus has the same graphical quality and menu system. Since the arcade intro sequence is missing, Rain does not appear in the game, yet the message Kombat Kode "Rain can be found in the Graveyard" is still displayed. It also contains several elements of MK3 that were removed for the arcade version of UMK3, such as "The Bank" level and Noob Saibot being a shadow Kano as in MK3 (not a black ninja as in the arcade version of UMK3). There are a few new Kombat Kodes, but several that were present in the arcade release do not work any longer. The secret characters can be unlocked via a secret options screen, eliminating the need to enter three separate Kombat Kodes to unlock them (this is much faster, especially since unlocked characters cannot be saved); the Kombat Kodes themselves were also shortened to have six slots instead of ten.

Mortal Kombat Advance

Mortal Kombat Advance is the title given to the Game Boy Advance port of the game, which was developed by Virtucraft and published by Midway Games in North America on December 12, 2001, and in Europe on March 1, 2002. This version is based on the SNES port, but each character (except for Noob Saibot and the bosses) has only one individual Fatality and one Friendship. Three hidden characters can be unlocked by completing any tower other than Novice: Human Smoke (Warrior), Motaro (Master), and Shao Kahn (Grand Master). The GBA control system features two fewer buttons than those used in UMK3, which results in many special moves' button sequences being consolidated or changed. The violence in this game was toned down due to a younger fanbase using the GBA (though the game is still rated "M for Mature") and there is less blood.

PlayStation 2
On all "Premium Edition" copies of the PlayStation 2 version of 2006's Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, a near arcade-perfect version of the game is included in the first disc. However, it is impossible to save unlocked characters in this version without accessing the EJB menu.

Xbox Live Arcade
The Xbox Live Arcade version has very few differences from the arcade original. There are some minor glitches in the network play on Xbox Live and there is no option to save the Kombat Kode unlocked characters. Online leaderboards were created to keep track of all time network stats and friends, the screen size was adjustable for anything between 4:3 and 16:9 televisions, and unlockable Achievements were also included. The game was accidentally released by Midway on the digital download service on the Friday evening of October 20, 2006, but was quickly pulled about 20 minutes later. According to Xbox Live director of programming, Major Nelson, an emergency meeting was called to discuss what to do about the game's release, knowing some keen users had already purchased the game. The decision was made to go on and release the game on the next morning, four days before its scheduled release date. As of 2010, it remained as the only post-launch XBLA game to be released on any day other than Wednesday. As of June 2010, the game cannot be downloaded as it was removed from XBLA due to "publisher evolving rights and permissions". Those who have purchased the game before this date can re-download and play online.

Nintendo DS
On June 27, 2007, MK co-creator Ed Boon officially confirmed a Nintendo DS port entitled Ultimate Mortal Kombat. The game, developed by Other Ocean Interactive and published by Midway games on November 12, 2007, in North America and on December 7, 2007, in Europe, is an arcade-perfect port of UMK3, and includes Wi-Fi play and brings back the  "Puzzle Kombat" minigame from Mortal Kombat: Deception. Additionally, when unlocking Ermac, Mileena and Classic Sub-Zero with Kombat Kodes on the VS screen, they will remain unlocked, thanks to the inclusion of player profiles.

Mobile (J2ME)
In December 2010, EA Mobile released a Java-based port of the game for mobile phones. The game features only six playable fighters (Cyrax, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, Kitana) and a single boss character (Shao Kahn).

iOS
In December 2010, Electronic Arts published their remake of the game for iOS. It features a wireless two-player mode that could function over either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections. Although the gameplay remains true to the 2D original, the digitized sprites of the arcade machine were replaced with 3D rendered graphics. Control was implemented via an on-screen joystick and buttons, utilizing the iOS-based devices' capacitive touchscreen. Network communication allowed for scores to be posted online, and a simplified control scheme was also included to improve accessibility. The character roster was incomplete, featuring only nine playable characters (Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Kitana, Nightwolf, Jax, Sheeva, Sonya, Liu Kang, and Stryker). Success at playing the game would unlock two additional fighters (Ermac and Jade). Both boss characters were included as CPU-only opponents. The game also features achievements. In June 2011, EA updated it to include the full roster and six new arenas.

Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection

The game is a part of the digital release package Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection, developed by Other Ocean Interactive and NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. Arcade Kollection also includes the first Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II.

Arcade1Up
In 2019, Arcade1Up released a home arcade cabinet that included Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, alongside Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II.

Reception

Critical response

Reviewing the arcade version, a Next Generation critic expressed concern that the Mortal Kombat series was headed for the same rut Street Fighter had fallen into, in which unnecessary updates of the same game replaced new installments. He remarked that even the biggest change the game made, the four new characters, was rendered uninteresting by their recycling of the graphic sets of previous characters. However, he added that "To be fair, there is none of the MK quality, detail, or gameplay missing, just about everything you want is there." According to a later IGN retrospective, "the revision helped to win over some frustrated fans, but followers of Johnny Cage, Raiden, and Baraka remained perturbed."

Critical reception of the game has varied depending on the version under review. The initial releases were generally well-received by critics, especially the 32-bit Sega Saturn version. EGM named it their "Game of the Month", commenting that it is a "near-perfect" translation of the arcade version, with the only problem being the long loading times. VideoGames rated this port a review score of 8/10, calling it "simply a great game" and stating that "if there was ever a definitive MK game, this is it." In GamePro, Major Mike summarized that "Saturn owners left out in the cold when MK 3 hit the PlayStation can now gloat: Ultimate has arrived, and it offers more fighters, moves, fatalities, and secrets than MK 3." While he criticized some elements of the game itself, such as the weak fatalities, he held that the Saturn conversion faithfully replicates the arcade game in every respect. A reviewer for Next Generation agreed that the Saturn version is an impeccable conversion apart from the "miserable necessity" of load times during Shang Tsung's morphs, but criticized Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for offering too little improvement over the original Mortal Kombat 3. While noting that since the original MK3 had never been released for the Saturn, the publishers could not be accused of trying to sell consumers the same game twice, he felt MK3 was a slapdash and unexciting entry in the Mortal Kombat series. Rich Leadbetter of Maximum commented that while Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 does not measure up to contemporary Capcom fighters in terms of gameplay, it is unsurpassed in its huge number of secrets and replayability. He also praised Eurocom's conversion, saying it is a superior effort to Williams' conversion of MK3 for the PlayStation. Rad Automatic of Sega Saturn Magazine, like EGM and GamePro, praised the game's retention of the full content and quality of the arcade version, but also added, "Capcom have just released three bona fide awesome 2D beat 'em ups onto the Saturn, and ... I couldn't honestly say that I rate MK3 above them." A review by Computer and Video Games called it an "excellent conversion of a great coin-op", as well as "[e]ssential for fans, and something well worth consideration from all Saturn owners."

Reviewing the Genesis version, GamePros Bruised Lee said the graphics and controls are solid by 16-bit standards, but the arcade version's voices and music are poorly reproduced, and the game offers too little beyond the previous installments of the series, all of which had already been released for Genesis. He summarized, "Mortal Kombat fans looking for a quick fix should enjoy UMK3, and players new to MK will find this game a treat. If you're looking for a new fighting game experience, however, you'll have to wait for MK4." He scored the Super NES version lower in fun factor but higher in graphics and sound, stating that this version duplicates the arcade game's voices and music very well. However, he repeated the central point that the game is essentially a slightly modified retread of Mortal Kombat 3. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly likewise praised the quality of the Super NES conversion while noting that it offered little new for fans of the series. Dan Hsu in particular remarked, "Does anyone else feel a little cheated? After all, Mortal Kombat 3 was released for the SNES just a year ago. Now, we're getting Ultimate MK3 (a decent improvement over MK3) while a couple of other systems are getting Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Perhaps SNES carts can't hold enough memory to handle Trilogy. Even so, I wouldn't want to buy UMK3 knowing that a better MK package exists." The SNES version was nominated for Nintendo Power Awards '96 in the category "Best Tournament Fighting Game". Years later, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was also named as the best retro Mortal Kombat game by Alex Langley of Arcade Sushi in 2013.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat for the Nintendo DS was given a review score of 7.8 out of 10 from IGN's Greg Miller, who wrote that "if all you want is a really solid, fun version of Mortal Kombat 3 that can go online, that's what you're going to get. It's good stuff all around." GameSpot's "Best and Worst of 2006" included the XBLA version among the five best fighting games of the year.

IGN rated the game 97th on its "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time". In 2018, Complex listed the game 68th in their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time" writing:  "Although not as jaw-dropping as MK2 was when it first came out on the SNES, this was still a great port of the arcade classic."

Ed Boon, one of the creators of the series, has stated Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 to be his favorite Mortal Kombat arcade title.

Legal controversy
U.S. Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner considered Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 to be "a feminist violent video game". Finding that Indianapolis' attempt to ban Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 violated the First Amendment, Judge Posner wrote "the game is feminist in depicting a woman as fully capable of holding her own in violent combat with heavily armed men. It thus has a message, even an 'ideology,' just as books and movies do." Judge Posner further marveled that "The woman wins all the duels. She is as strong as the men, she is more skillful, more determined, and she does not flinch at the sight of blood."

Sales
Due in part to the Genesis and Super NES versions being delayed until the 1996 Christmas season, spawning rumors that they would never be released, those versions met with disappointing sales.

Legacy

Mortal Kombat Trilogy was released by Midway in 1996 as a follow-up to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Unlike Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Trilogy was not released in arcades but was instead released for the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and PC, as well as for the Game.com and R-Zone. Mortal Kombat Trilogy features the same gameplay and story, but includes all of the characters from the first three games, adding several completely new ones. Also, it introduces features such as the "Aggressor" bar, a meter that fills during the course of the match to make a player character faster and stronger for a short time, and the Brutality finishing moves that were introduced in the 16-bit versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was also later remastered to be released as part of the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection in 2011.

Notes

References

External links
 (iOS remake)

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - The Mortal Kombat Wiki
UMK3 at Mortal Kombat Online

1995 video games
Arcade video games
Cancelled 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games
Game Boy Advance games
IOS games
IPod games
Mortal Kombat games
Nintendo DS games
Post-apocalyptic video games
PlayStation Network games
Sega Genesis games
Sega Saturn games
Super Nintendo Entertainment System games
Midway video games
Fighting games
Video games with digitized sprites
Xbox 360 Live Arcade games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games scored by Dan Forden
Williams video games
GT Interactive games
Eurocom games
Electronic Arts games
Avalanche Software games
Acclaim Entertainment games
J2ME games
Video games developed in the United States
Other Ocean Interactive games
Virtucraft games

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3


Pühtitsa Convent (Estonian: Kuremäe Jumalaema Uinumise nunnaklooster, Russian: Пюхтицкий Успенский женский монастырь) is a Russian Orthodox convent in Eastern Estonia (Ida-Viru County) between Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland. A small Orthodox Christian church was built in Pühtitsa in the 16th century. The convent was founded in 1891 and has grown into the largest Orthodox community in the Baltic states.

History
The convent is located on a site known as Pühitsetud ("blessed" in Estonian) since ancient times. According to a legend, a shepherd from the village of Kuremäe witnessed a divine revelation near a spring of water to this day venerated as holy. Later in the 16th century, locals found an ancient icon of Dormition of the Mother of God under a huge oak tree. The icon still belongs to the convent.

In 1888, the Russian Orthodox Church sent a nun from the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma to establish a convent in Pühtitsa. The katholikon was built to Mikhail Preobrazhensky's designs in the Russian Revival style. It was consecrated in 1910.

There are six churches in the convent dedicated to a number of Orthodox Christian Saints such as St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Simeon the Receiver of God, St. Nicholas, St. Anna the Prophetess and others. Prince , the Governor of Estland, was the convent's patron and protected it from local landowners, mostly German Lutherans, who opposed the spread of Orthodoxy in Estland. It was the first Orthodox monastery built in Estonia (to the delight of mostly Orthodox local peasants of Jõhvi county).

In 1919, after Estonia became independent from Russia, the new government confiscated most of the convent's land and transferred the convent to the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, independent of Moscow. During the Second World War the battlefront was at times only a few kilometres away from the convent and Germans organized a concentration camp for Russian prisoners of war inside the monastery compound.

Following the second invasion and occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1944, the convent managed to survive despite the uneasy co-existence with the Communist authorities. Patriarch Alexius II who was the bishop (later the archbishop) of Tallinn and Estonia in the 1960s was instrumental in the fight to keep the convent from closure.

The Pühtitsa Convent and the Pskov-Caves Monastery were the only monasteries in the Soviet Union that did not suspend their activities throughout the 20th century. By 1991, the Pühtitsa monastic community consisted of 161 nuns. In 1990 it was placed under the direct authority of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

See also
 List of Christian religious houses in Estonia
 Ioannovsky Convent

External links

  Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate - Pühtitsa (Pyhtitsa) Dormition Convent
  Le Couvent de Pühtitsa à Kuremäe
  Orthodox holy places - the Silver Ring of Russia
 Entrance to the Pühtitsa Convent QTVR fullscreen panorama (July 8, 2007)

Eastern Orthodox churches in Estonia
Russian Orthodox monasteries
Religious organizations established in 1891
Alutaguse Parish
Buildings and structures in Ida-Viru County
Christian monasteries in Estonia
1890s establishments in Estonia
Russian Revival architecture
1891 establishments in the Russian Empire
Russians in Estonia
Tourist attractions in Ida-Viru County

Pühtitsa Convent


Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008), generally known as Oliver Postgate, was an English animator, puppeteer and writer.

He made several series of children's programmes for British television.  They all became very popular.  They include  Pingwings, Pogles' Wood, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers and Bagpuss. They were all made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with Peter Firmin.   They were shown on the BBC between the 1950s and the 1980s, and on ITV from 1959 to the present day. In a 1999 poll, Bagpuss was voted the most popular children's television programme of all time.

His life

Early life
He was born in Hendon, Middlesex, England. He went to Woodstock School and Woodhouse County Secondary School in London.  When World War II started he was evacuated to Devon and he finished his studies at Dartington Hall School.  He refused to fight in the war, so he was sent to prison.  However, he was soon let out because he volunteered to be a stretcher bearer for the Red Cross.

In 1948 he trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but he never became a professional actor.  He was more interested in animation.  He created the character of a pig made out of cardboard that played the violin.  The BBC were not interested in his idea.  Seven years later he joined the ITV London company Associated-Rediffusion as a stage manager.  He worked on children's programmes and made props.

Television programmes

Postgate thought he could make better programmes than the ones he was working on, so he created Alexander the Mouse, a story about a mouse that was born to be king.  Postgate met an artist called Peter Firmin.  He was good at drawing animation characters.  The two men started to work together and for 30 years they created their well-known television series, running their own company called Smallfilms.   The characters in their stories were moved by magnets under a table.  They created The Saga of Noggin the Nog (1959-1965).  It was based on old Norse legends.  Then came The Seal of Neptune (1960), a story about horses that lived under the sea.  They created The Pogles which was about a witch, but after the first broadcast it was thought to be too frightening for children.  Then came The Clangers (1969-1974 which was their first colour production.  Their most famous creation was Bagpuss, the story of a toy cat made of rags that sat in a shop window.

In 1987 the University of Kent at Canterbury awarded an honorary degree to Postgate.  Postgate said that it should really be  Bagpuss who got the degree.  He later showed Bagpuss wearing academic dress

Personal life
Postgate married Prudence Myers in 1957, becoming stepfather to her three children The couple had twin boys in 1959 and another son in 1964. Prudence died in 1982. Naomi Linnell was his partner in the last years of his life.

He wrote an autobiography Seeing Things which was published in 2000. In his book he looked back at the programmes he made.  He explained why they were so popular by saying: "They are simple, and they are well-founded in a safe place.  They are full of fun and, like a good meal, they are rich and satisfying."

References
Obituary to Oliver Postgate, The Independent, 10 Dec 2008 p. 34

Other websites
 Oliver Postgate's personal web pages

Actors from Middlesex
British animators
British autobiographers
English children's writers
English television directors
English television producers
English television writers
English voice actors
Writers from Middlesex
1925 births
2008 deaths
Puppeteers

Oliver Postgate


The buttocks are two parts of the body. They are on the back of the pelvic area and give padding when people sit. They can also arouse human sexuality.

Buttocks are formed mainly from two large muscles on each side. These are the gluteus maximus and the glutius medius. They go from the hip to the top of the leg, so they are not there just for decoration. The role of the buttocks in sitting and in sexual arousal are secondary functions in our species.

In some African populations, the buttocks look bigger because of extra fat. This condition is known as steatopygia. It is an inherited condition first noticed in the Khoisan (San people) of southern Africa and the pygmies of central Africa. Now it has been recognised in the people of the Andamanese islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Slang words for the buttocks include "booty", "butt", "bum", "hiney", and "ass".

Gallery

References

Torso

Buttocks


Al Held (October 12, 1928 – July 27, 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist painter. He was particularly well known for his large scale Hard-edge paintings. As an artist, multiple stylistic changes occurred throughout his career, however, none of these occurred at the same time as any popular emerging style or acted against a particular art form. In the 1950s his style reflected the abstract expressionist tone and then transitioned to a geometric style in the 1960s.  During the 1980s, there was a shift into painting that emphasized bright geometric space that's deepness reflected infinity. From 1963 to 1980 he was a professor of art at Yale University.

Background and education
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928, he grew up in the East Bronx, the son of a poor Jewish family thrown onto welfare during the depression. Held showed no interest in art until leaving the Navy in 1947. Inspired by his friend Nicholas Krushenick, Held enrolled in the Art Students League of New York. He originally thought about studying in Mexico under the prominent muralist David Siqueiros, who created gigantic pieces that contained intense political material.  However, the G.I. accreditation that he planned on using to help with his travels was not accepted at the school he planned on attending. In 1951, using the support of the G.I. Bill, he went to Paris for two years, to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In Paris, he decided that realism was not for him and moved into abstraction. During the early 1950s Avant-garde painters in the United States were receiving fresh inspiration from abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. Together these artists brought a new way of thinking that influenced Held. He returned to New York in 1953.

Career
The Galerie Huit in Paris was where his first exhibition was set up in 1952. However, the art scene in New York was starting to gain new popularity and Held moved back there. During one of his solo Abstract expressionist exhibitions in 1959, Held's large-scale paintings of colourful, simple abstract geometric forms gained increasing recognition in America and Europe. In 1962, he was appointed to the Yale University Faculty Of Art (where he would teach until 1980). In 1965, the critic Irving Sandler curated the critically acclaimed Concrete Expressionism show at New York University featuring the work of painters Al Held and Knox Martin and the sculptors Ronald Bladen, George Sugarman and David Weinrib.

In 1964, Held was awarded the Logan Medal of the arts and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1966. Feeling that he'd reached the end of his style's potential, he shifted in 1967 to black and white images that dealt with challenging perspectives and "spatial conundrums". Some critics dismissed this work as simply disorienting; others declared it Held's finest achievement to date. By the late 1970s, he had re-introduced colour to his work. In 1988 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1994.

In his later years, Held earned commissions of up to one million dollars. In 2005, he completed a large, colourful mural in the New York City Subway system, at Lexington Avenue / 51st – 53rd Streets station.

Three of Held's murals were in the original WTC 7 building.

At age 76, Held was found dead in his villa swimming pool near Camerata, Italy, on July 27, 2005. It is believed he died of natural causes.

Work

Pigment paintings
The most distinguishing part of Held's pigment paintings were the thick brush strokes of paint in random directions that are reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. These strokes were short, gestural and are commonly referred to as action painting. The colors included earth tones that are muted and spread around chaotically. Typical for many of these paintings was no foreground or background and sections were splashed with drips.
As time went forward in the fifties, Held began to lengthen his gestures and combined strokes into triangles, circles, and rectangles.  This was alluding to the geometric abstractions that started at the end of 1959.

Hard edge paintings

During the late 1950s, gestural painting was something that Held had begun to lose interest in.  He and a few other artists such as Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland felt a growing problem emerge.  The style had brought a large number of mediocre artists and become overdone for them. By 1960 he had succeeded in finding an alternative method given the label hard edge.  In other ways it has been described as post-painterly abstraction, new abstraction, and cool art. The famous exhibition organizer Irving Sandler has been known to characterize it as concrete expressionism. The development of this style also led Held to change his medium from oil to a water-based acrylic.  These paintings had vivid colors geometric configurations around positioned throughout the canvas resembling a mural. All of the paintings were nonobjective meaning the artwork does not represent a person, place or thing.  Untitled from 1964, in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art is an example of the artist's hard-edge style.

Alphabet paintings
With these works Held takes concrete abstraction to its extreme.  Around 1961-1966 Held created large abstract letters of the English alphabet.  These paintings were given the titles The Big 'N''', The Big 'X', etc.   There is a delicate alteration of the letters as Held plays with  viewers perception's by changing the figure to the frame.  The letters themselves take over the canvas and colors within the works make them seem to lean forward and backward at the same time.  It leaves the viewer to think about the ideas of space and form and how dimension plays a key role.

Geometric abstraction
In 1967 Held felt that he was being limited by the flatness of previous hard edge abstractions.Berggruen, Tobias. (2021). "Abstraction and Artifice," in Shapes, New York: Alexander Berggruen, 9.  He wanted a way to create more picture space in some way, however painting shapes onto shapes would constantly hide beneath one another. Therefore, Held believed that adding depth and making the shapes appear three-dimensional on the canvas was his best option. The works Giza Gate II and Flemish IV are good examples of this style. A representative black-and-white mural of volumetric forms in space, Rothko's Canvas, was commissioned for The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection in Albany, NY.

All of these works are composed in acrylic black and white. The quasi-geometric structures zigzag in all directions making complex shapes usually cubical. Despite the same consistency of content throughout the works each maintain a unique design of their own. Grid like elements started becoming more apparent suggesting structure similar to that of the framework in buildings.  The paintings are in a way disorienting with their uncentered patterns and no place to gain perspective.  As his art's complexity grew the idea of his art to be deemed minimalistic became less of a dominant label.  Another remarkable characteristic of these works is the scale.  For example, in Philadelphia during 1976 he painted his two largest murals, Order/Disorder and Ascension/Descension. Each mural was 13 x 90 feet and stretches throughout an office building.

The Pérez Art Museum Miami, holds an example of Held's geometric abstraction series titled Solar Wind I, produced between 1973-74.

Watercolors
While Held was away from his studio in New York during the 1980s, he created a number of watercolor paintings in Rome. The perspective of the shapes created a sense of deep space by expanding into the canvas what seems like forever.  These works test imagination with intersecting planes and large to small forms jutting in the picture.  Held's visual concept of infinity creates a need for the viewer to look inward on themself.  Works such as Pachinko make viewers ask questions to understand how huge the structures actually are in relation to one another in the painting and this leads to more questions.  The understanding of the forms is dynamic as certain objects could be large and far away or small and near the foreground.  The perception of space challenges the audience to see the problem of observing the area around them.

Contemporary works
Many of Held's modern artwork includes large symmetric non-objective structures with vivid colors.  Using an acrylic medium, he created interlocking scaffolds that overlap with a deep consideration of architecture.  The ancient buildings of Rome and the idea of the renaissance inspired Held as he returned to New York.  Describing Held's images as "room" or "walls" makes sense, however, the art is non-objective and those may not be the best words to use.  On one hand the work has architectural qualities but at the same time the planes of color are nonrepresentational and in a way cannot be grasped.

In 1983, his 15' by 55' mural Mantegna's Edge'' was completed in Dallas, Texas. The work is less fragmented and a deeper sense of order compared to some of his other works.  Bright colored, grid-like structure exists harmonically in an infinite blue space.  Yet, existing within it also is a sense of paradox and complexity.

Art market
Held's estate has been represented by White Cube since 2018.

Personal life
Held married Giselle Wexler in 1953, with whom he had a daughter, Mara. After the break-up with his wife, he went to San Francisco where he met the soon-to-be postmodern dancer and choreographer Yvonne Rainer. They moved together to New York in 1956, got married in 1957 to split up in 1959. Then in 1969, he married the sculptor, Sylvia Stone.. He later married art historian and museum director, Kathleen Monaghan.

See also
 Abstract expressionism
 Art Students League of New York

References

External links
Al Held interviews, 1975 Nov. 19-1976 Jan. 8, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Biography by the Sheldon Gallery
Obituary in The Guardian, 2005
Al Held Foundation
Al Held in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler collection

1928 births
2005 deaths
Abstract painters
American contemporary painters
20th-century American painters
American male painters
Abstract expressionist artists
Art Students League of New York alumni
Artists from the Bronx
Painters from Brooklyn
Jewish painters
Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
20th-century American printmakers
20th-century American male artists
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Al Held


The Lone Ranger is a 30-minute American western television series. It stars Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as The Lone Ranger's Indian pal Tonto. The series was one of the highest-rated series in television's early years and ABC's first true "hit". Its first run lasted from September 15, 1949 to June 8, 1957. Its first five seasons were broadcast in black and white. Its last season aired in color. There was a total of 221 episodes.

George Trendle and Fran Striker were producers. John Hart briefly took the role of The Lone Ranger while Moore was tied-up in a salary dispute with producers. Oil millionaire Jack Wrather bought the show in 1954. Wrather's other television
properties included the hit series Lassie and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Two feature-length movies were produced after the show was canceled, The Lone Ranger (co-starring Wrather's wife Bonita Granville Wrather) and The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold.

Some episodes are available on video and DVD. The series is sometimes seen in reruns. The series was known for its use of classical music collected from many sources. Especially famous was the series's opening and closing music, a part of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture. Equally well known were the cries heard at the end of each episode of "Who was that masked man?" and The Lone Ranger's "Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!"  Much merchandise was manufactured during the series run such as toys, games, costumes, guns and holsters, and comic books.

1940s in entertainment
1950s television series
Western (genre) television series
American drama television series
Children's television series
Black and white television series
English-language television programs
ABC network series

The Lone Ranger (TV series)


The double-slit experiment in quantum mechanics is an experiment, which was first performed by physicist Thomas Young in 1801. It shows that light has both a wave nature or characteristic and a particle nature or characteristic, and that these natures are inseparable. So, light is said to have wave–particle duality rather than be only a wave or only a particle. The same is true for electrons and other quantum particles.

The experiment

The base version of this experiment is very simple. It requires only a double slit device like the one in the picture, something to hold the double slit device still, and a good laser such as the kind that is used by workmen to "draw" straight lines when they are building. The laser is supported so it can only be moved on purpose. It is aimed at the central point between the two slits from a point about one half meter away. Something like a movie screen or a smooth white wall is put up on the other side of the double slit device several meters away. When everything is fixed, a pattern of light and dark bands will show up.

Lasers can produce one or more photons when given a certain amount of electricity.  The photon or photons come out of a very small hole within a well known period of time. The speed of light is known, so the time the photons appear on the screen can be predicted. When photons are produced one at a time, what shows up on the screen are individual spots of light. If photons were waves then we would expect them to spread out as they travel and wash across a wide area of the screen, but that never happens. If photons were particles then we would expect them to appear at two points on the screen connected to the laser through the two slits in the middle. But that is not what happens either.

When Thomas Young did this experiment, he had no laser. He understood it by imagining light to be like waves of water. He thought that light waves moved out from the light source like waves spreading out from a pebble dropped into a pond, and that when the wave fronts hit the double slits, then the original wave gets through at the two slits and there are two different waves from then on. It was easy to figure out how two waves would interact to produce the bright bands and dark bands (often called "fringes") on the screen. He said he had proven the theory that light is waves.

But there were big problems. Light did not show up at the screen as waves that washed across it. Light came to be understood as swarms of photons that individually hit the detection screen. And, very surprisingly, a single photon could interfere with itself as though it were a single wave that fit the old wave description. It split into two waves at the double-slit device, and they then combined at the screen.

Importance to physics

The double-slit experiment became a classic thought experiment for its clear explanation of the central puzzles of quantum mechanics.

Importance to philosophy

The double-slit experiment has been of great interest to philosophers, because the quantum mechanical behavior it shows has forced them to rethink their ideas about classical concepts such as:
 "particles",
 "waves",
 "location",
 "movement from one place to another" and
 "observation".

Experience in the micro world of sub-atomic particles forces us to re-conceptualise some of our most ordinary ideas.

Other websites
  Quantum Physics explains the double slit experiment (cartoon from the movie "What the Bleep do we know?)
 Movie of double-slit experiment done with electrons. You can see single electrons hit the screen, and you can see the fringes build up over time.

References

Quantum_mechanics
Physics experiments

Young's double-slit experiment


Uranium-235 is a radioactive isotope of uranium. Uranium-235 has 143 neutrons, 92 protons, and an isotope mass of 235.0439299.  Uranium-235 has 235Pa, 235Np, and 239Pu as its parent isotopes.  As it decays, it produces 231Th. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million years. Uranium-235 makes up about 0.72% of natural uranium. When it is separated from the other uranium isotopes, it is called enriched uranium. The main use for enriched uranium is in Nuclear reactors.

Enriched uranium is best known for its use in the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  The bomb called Little Boy used Uranium-235. Uranium-235 can be used for nuclear fission.  This fission is about 504.81 barns for slow thermal neutrons and 1 barn for fast thermal neutrons.  Uranium-235 was discovered in 1935 by Arthur Jeffrey Dempster.

Isotopes
Uranium

Uranium-235


Yarn is a long, continuous length of fibers that have been spun or felted together. Yarn is used to make cloth or different wearable accessories including shoes, hats, scarfs, etc. by knitting, crocheting or weaving. Yarn is sold in a shape called a skein to prevent the yarn from becoming tangled or knotted.

Yarn can be made from any number of natural or synthetic fibers such as wool, cotton, silk, or acrylic. Some yarns are made from a blend of several kinds of fibers.

Yarns come in many thicknesses or weights from fine to thick: lace, fingering, sock, sport, double-knit (or DK), worsted, aran, bulky, and super-bulky. Very fine yarn is called thread and is used in sewing and embroidery.

Yarn can also be used to crochet.

Fibers
Weaving

Yarn


Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos (in full Francisco Gil de Taboada y de Lemos y Villa Marín) (September 24, 1733 in Santa María de Soto Longo, Galicia, Spain – 1809 in Madrid) was a Spanish naval officer and colonial administrator in South America. He was briefly viceroy of New Granada in 1789, and from March 25, 1790 to June 6, 1796 he was viceroy of Peru. After his viceregal service he returned to Spain, where he became a member of the governing junta after King Ferdinand VII was forced to abdicate by Napoleon. He was director general of the Spanish Royal Navy.

Background
Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos was born in 1733 (some sources say 1736 or 1737) in Galicia, Spain.

He became a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at age 16. He entered the navy as a cadet at Cádiz on October 27, 1752. He was promoted to lieutenant de navio September 3, 1767. During this period he sailed the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Pacific.

He was promoted to commander in 1770 and to captain in 1776. From January 5, 1774 to February 1, 1777 he was Spanish governor of the Malvinas Islands (Falklands). On February 17, 1779 he was named captain of the recently created Company of Naval Cadets of the Department of Ferrol. He remained in this position until he was appointed viceroy and captain general of New Granada and president of the Audiencia of Santa Fe de Bogotá by Antonio Valdez, minister of the Indies (1788). By this time he was commander of a squadron.

As viceroy of New Granada
He took up his new position in January 1789, and served there only until July, when he was named viceroy of Peru and president of the Audiencia of Lima. On March 4, 1789 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

As viceroy of Peru
In Peru he introduced administrative reforms, encouraged literature and the arts, and sent out exploring expeditions.

In addition to being a career naval officer who had fought in Algeria, Normandy, Gibraltar and Sicily, Gil de Taboada was also a man of letters. In Peru, he was distinguished by his support for the arts, as well as science and exploration. He supported the foundation of the newspaper El Mercurio Peruano in 1791 and founded the Academy of Fine Arts. He founded an anatomy center and a hospital, supported the navigation school and ordered the first census of the population. In 1796, he also reincorporated the region of Puno into the Viceroyalty of Peru.

At the end of his term as viceroy in 1796 he returned to Spain. There he was subject to a juicio de residencia (grievance tribunal) to investigate the state of the colonial finances during his administration. (This was very common at the end of viceregal administrations in the Spanish overseas colonies.) The verdict was in his favor.

Back in Spain

In 1799 he was named director general of the navy, a position he occupied simultaneously with other high positions until 1807.

On February 6, 1805, upon the appointment of General Domingo Grandallana as commander of the squadron at el Ferrol, Gil de Taboada was named interim secretary of state and of the navy. In November of that year he was promoted to captain general in the navy. On April 22, 1806 he was named minister of the navy (no longer on an interim basis).

These high positions were held under the authority of King Charles IV. On March 17, 1808 the Mutiny of Aranjuez forced Charles to abdicate and turn over the government to his son, Ferdinand VII. The rioters at Aranjuez also attacked the hated Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy. This and the events that followed directly on it changed everything in Spanish politics, and had enormous repercussions in the Spanish colonies in the Americas.

As a member of the governing junta
The governing ministers, including Gil de Taboada, were confirmed in their positions by Ferdinand.

On the invitation of Napoleon, both Charles and Ferdinand left Spain for France, crossing the border on April 21, 1808. They arrived in Bayonne, where Napoleon forced them to abdicate and claimed the Spanish crown, which he gave to his brother Joseph I of Naples. It was the beginning of a seven-year exile for the Spanish kings.

Before leaving for Bayonne, Ferdinand VII had formed a ruling junta (Junta Suprema de Gobierno) composed of his ministers and presided by Infante Antonio, uncle of Fernando VII. Gil de Taboada was still minister of the navy. When Joachim Murat demanded that Godoy (held in the Castle of Villaviciosa since his deposition) be turned over to the French, Gil strongly opposed the suggestion.

Fearing the French encroachment, Gil proposed moving the junta of ministers away from Madrid. Infante Antonio, the day after the popular explosion of the Second of May, was forced to join Charles and Ferdinand in Bayonne. Antonio wrote to Gil that the junta should continue as it had been, but Murat demanded to preside over it. Most of the members accepted this on May 4, but Gil did not. He turned in his resignation a few days later.

After the Battle of Bailén (July 18–22, 1808), in which the French were defeated and forced to withdraw from Madrid, Gil de Taboada was again sworn in as a member of a governing junta, this time the Junta Suprema Central. This occurred on September 29, 1808 in Aranjuez. When the French reoccupied the capital, they required an oath of allegiance to Joseph Bonaparte, as King Joseph I of Spain. Gil, now an octogenarian, refused. There were calls that he be prosecuted for his refusal, but Joseph rejected that, saying that such a valiant old man should not be molested.

When Gil de Taboada died the following year, the French garrison of Madrid accorded him the funeral honors of a man of high dignity.

References

 Artola, Miguel. La España de Fernando VII. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1999: 58-70.
 González de Canales, Fernando. Catálogo de Pinturas del Museo Naval. Ministerio de Defensa. Madrid, 2000.
 Martínez-Valverde y Martínez, Carlos. Enciclopedia General del Mar. Garriga. 1957.

External links
Brief biography

Viceroys of Peru
Viceroys of New Granada
Captain generals of the Navy
1730s births
1809 deaths
People from Lalín
1780s in the Viceroyalty of New Granada
1790s in the Viceroyalty of Peru
Date of death missing
Date of birth unknown
18th-century Peruvian people
18th-century Spanish people

Francisco Gil de Taboada


Banihal Pass is at an altitude of 9,200 feet above sea level, in the eastern region of Pir Panjal range, at 75.16 longitude and 33.31 latitude. The pass connects the Valley of Kashmir with Jammu. Banihal cart road enters Kashmir valley through this pass. In 16th century, Sheikh Yaqoob Serfi and two other religious leaders had travelled through this pass to invite India's (Hindustani) Mughal Emperor Akhbar to invade Kashmir.

Mountain passes of Pakistan

Banihal Pass


An effect pedal is an electronic device that can change the sound of an instrument or the voice of a person. Typical effects include echo, chorus, distortion, tremolo, reverb and flanger. A potentiometer is one of the electronic parts that effect pedals use to change the sound.

Effect pedals are commonly connected to electric guitars and bass guitars and to amplifiers using a cable, such as a phone connector. The pedal is then put on the floor and controlled using the player's foot. Depending on how the effect works, there are different ways to use the pedal:
 The player may have to push and release the pedal to turn on the effect, and do it again to turn it off.
 The player may have to push and hold the pedal down to turn the effect on, and release the pedal to turn it off.
 Some effects, such as volume or wah-wah, use a pedal where the player presses with the ball to increase the effect or with the heel to decrease the effect.

Many guitarists like to use different effect pedals with each other. They stick them to a flat surface to make a pedalboard that they can take with them.

Examples of effects

Sources

Other websites
 A page with photos that shows how to use a pedal

Music technology
Guitars

Effect pedal


Kiss Me, Kate is a musical. The libretto was written by Samuel and Bella Spewack. The lyrics and music were written by Cole Porter. It is based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. It opened on Broadway in 1948. It starred Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison. It won the first Tony Award for Best Musical in 1949. The musical opened in the West End in 1951.
The story of the musical is about the backstage conflicts, tensions, and troubles between the four stars of a musical version of Shrew.

A movie version of the musical was released in 1953. A television version was produced for the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1958 starring Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison. Another television version was made for BBC Two in 1964 with Howard Keel and Morison, and a third television production was made in 1968 with Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence. In 2003, a Great Performances television production starred Brent Barrett and Rachel York.

References

1940s musicals
Broadway musicals
Musicals based on plays
Tony Award winning musicals
West End musicals

Kiss Me, Kate


Julian Darley is a filmmaker, writer and speaker on policy responses to global environmental degradation. He is the author of the book High Noon for Natural Gas, and the founder of Global Public Media, Post Carbon Institute and Mysterious Movies Ltd. He lives in London, England.

Educational background
Darley has an eclectic educational background, with an MSc in Environment and Sociology from the University of Surrey, UK, where he published a thesis examining the coverage of complex environmental issues in the foremost radio current affairs programmes at the BBC. He also has an MA in Journalism and Communications from the University of Texas at Austin, where he wrote his thesis on the elimination of television.

Political works
In pursuit of better understanding of hydrocarbon, Julian wrote a book called High Noon for Natural Gas: the New Energy Crisis about a natural gas crisis in North America and other industrialized nations. He also co-authored Relocalize Now! Getting Ready for Climate Change and the End of Cheap Oil (2005, unreleased) in collaboration with Celine Rich, Dave Room and Richard Heinberg, a book tackling the subjects of "global relocalization" of economy, society and culture.

References

External links
 Mysterious Movies Ltd.
 End of Suburbia
 Running on Empty - The End of Suburbia and the future slums of Irvine (film review)

Alumni of the University of Surrey
Living people
1958 births

Julian Darley


A military alliance is an alliance that is made with the express purpose of military matters and promises the defense of all of its members.

Historic military alliances
Medic Wars
Hellenic League - Athens, Lacedemonia, Macedon, others
Peloponnesian War
League of Delos - Athens, Chios, Samos, Lesbos, others
Peloponnesian League - Lacedemonia, Corinth, Elis, others
Wars of Scottish Independence
Auld Alliance - Scotland, Norway, France
Italian Wars
League of Cambrai - The Papal States, France, Aragon, Holy Roman Empire
Catholic League (Italian) - The Papal States, Venice, England, Aragon, Holy Roman Empire
Schmalkaldic War
Schmalkaldic League - German Protestant States
Anglo-Portuguese Alliance -  England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal, since 1373
 Luso-Islamic War
Ethio-Portuguese Treaties - Portugal, Ethiopia
 Thirty Years' War
 Catholic League (German) - Bavaria, other Catholic German States
 Protestant Union - Protestant German States
War of the Grand Alliance (Nine Years War)
League of Augsburg - The Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Austria, other German states
War of the Spanish Succession
The Quadruple Alliance of 1718
Napoleonic Wars
 The Quadruple Alliance of 1814/15
 First through Seventh Coalitions
The Quadruple Alliance of 1834
Anglo-Japanese Alliance - United Kingdom and Japan
 World War I
the Entente and the Allies - United Kingdom, France, Serbia, New Zealand, Australia, Russia (to 1917), Romania (from 1916), United States (from 1917)
the Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria
 World War II
the Axis - Germany, Japan, Italy,and many others.
the Allies - United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, France, United States, Soviet Union, Republic of China, many others.
 Cold War
 Western European Union (WEU) - currently in process of merging into CFSP and ESDP (see below)
 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) -- United States, Canada, most of Western Europe (still an active alliance)
 Warsaw Pact - Soviet Union,  East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania
 Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) - United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Burma, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines
 Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) - United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan
 ANZUS - United States, Australia, New Zealand (still an active alliance)
 Five Powers Pact - Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom (still an active alliance)

Current military alliances and economic assistance

 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) - United States, United Kingdom, Canada, most of Western Europe and Central Europe, parts of Eastern Europe, and Turkey.
 Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
 Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) of the European Union.
 Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) - United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore.
 ANZUS Treaty (ANZUS) - United States, Australia, New Zealand.
 ECOMOG of Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group.
 Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa (COPAX) of Economic Community of Central African States.
 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Pact) - Most of the countries of the Americas.
 North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) - United States and Canada. NORAD and other defense agreements (such as the Permanent Joint Board on Defense) form the most extensive defense alliance in the world.
 Regional Security System (RSS) - several Eastern Caribbean countries.
 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), political, economic and military organisation - China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) - economic and military assistance.

References

Military alliances

Military alliance


Cesar Chavez (born César Estrada Chávez, ; Mairch 31, 1927Aprile 23, 1993) wis an American farmworker, labor leader an civil rights activist. Chávez startit the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) along wi Dolores Huerta. He wantit equal rights for Mexicans workin in the Unitit States.  This union became the Unitit Farm Workers. He led a boycott against grape companies to gain rights for workers. Chávez usit nonviolence to make these changes.  Chavez is thocht o as ane o the leaders in the movement for Chicanos tae gain mair richts in the late-20th century.

1927 births
1993 daiths
Activists for Hispanic an Latino American ceevil richts
American anti–illegal immigration activists
American labour leaders
American labour unionists
American fowk o Mexican strynd
American Roman Catholics
Buirials in Californie

Disease-relatit daiths in Arizona
Hunger strikes
Labour relations in Californie
Mexican-American history
Militar personnel frae Arizona
Nonveeolence advocates
Fowk frae Oxnard, Californie
Fowk frae Yuma, Arizona
Presidential Medal o Freedom recipients
Roman Catholic tred unionists
Cesar Chavez
Unitit States Navy sailors
Activists frae Californie

César Chávez


is a 2008 Japanese direct-to-video adult animated action science fiction film and the second installment of the film series. It was directed and written by Yasuomi Umetsu, who previously directed the first film in the series. The film was released on 21 March 2008 on DVD and on 25 November 2014 on Blu-ray. Unlike the first installment of the film series, Kite Liberator does not include an extended cut, and therefore, it is the only one in the franchise not to include sexual scenes.

Plot
Taking place ten years after the events of the original Kite film, this second installment opens with Kōichi Doi, a researcher for Defy Foods, boarding the International Space Station. Doi had been researching methods of preserving bone mass in zero gravity through diet. After widowed father Orudo Noguchi and another crew member are later found to have space radiation exposure and ordered to discontinue missions, Noguchi asks Doi to deliver a package to his daughter Monaka, whom he has not seen in four years, for her birthday.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, two police officers pursue a violent criminal named Tsuin through the streets and into a train station. After shooting two bystanders in the women's restroom, he takes a little girl hostage and hides in a stall with her. However, the lights go out in the restroom and he is attacked by the female assassin known as "the Angel of Death", who quickly disarms and shoots him, leaving a pile of white feathers on his corpse. Later that night, Monaka, the girl that currently assumes the same murderous tactics as Sawa, goes to work at Apollo 11, a maid café with a perverted regular patron. Monaka plays the part of a nerdy, clumsy high school girl while in public, making her a vulnerable target for harassment. Monaka's older co-worker Manatsu Mukai does not take kindly to that, however, and retaliates in several occasions, such as spiking his drink with habanero or kicking him in the groin. Monaka's manager later receives a phone call from "the real" Tsuin, who names Rin Gaga (one of the two police officers who pursued the pedophile that night) as the other Tsuin's (Tsuin's little brother) killer.

Monaka returns home to find the package from her father, a bracelet made from rocks from Mars. Back on the ISS, Orudo and the other crew member's condition has worsened, their bone volume rapidly increasing. The onboard doctor realizes the condition was caused by a combination of the space radiation and Doi's food, which is allowed to be shipped to the station without proper lab test. The next morning, Monaka makes plans for her next target, a real estate agent who is in fact a serial killer that uses an apartment under his brokerage to carry out murders. After school, she bumps into her manager and sees Mukai with a child. The manager explains that Mukai is a single mother though he does not know what happened to the father. Monaka goes to the apartment. Later, the Angel of Death then proceeds to assassinate her target during the night.

On the space station, Orudo and the other infected crew member have transformed into homicidal, bulletproof monsters who quickly kill most of the crew and ISS police units. They are able to stop one of the monsters by blowing up the space station, though they are unable to find the other. The doctor and Doi, along with the others, are able to escape the station, though the incident draws Defy Food Company to hire agents to get rid of evidence that may jeopardize their reputation. The same night, after working at Apollo 11, Monaka and Mukai converse while playing with fireworks, discussing Mukai's life and reminding her a little of the past. Mukai hints to Monaka the dangers of living a double life. On her way home, Monaka runs into Gaga, the police officer chasing the pedophile a few days before. She offers to buy him drinks and then to quit her waitress job in exchange for him not notifying the school about her working at the maid cafe as a minor, although he instead agrees to settle with a date. During Monaka's short conversation with him, Gaga warns Monaka against being too trusting of adults.

As one of the monsters from the space station emerges from the sea nearby, agents from Defy Foods demand the doctor's and Doi's silence concerning the space station incident. The next day, Monaka is told that her mission has been deferred as the new priority is to kill the surviving monster, now roaming the city. In preparing for her mission, Monaka's gun choice is noted by the manager of Apollo 11, who says that the same gun belonged to some assassin (Sawa) before she disappeared. The same night, Gaga returns home only to be attacked by Tsuin. After he turns on his TV, Gaga starts the gunfight before Tsuin flees the scene, starting a foot chase. Not so far away, the Angel of Death uses a sniper rifle to engage the monster, only to find it completely bulletproof like the other one. Upon discovering that none of her weapons, including the machine gun and explosive shells work on the monster, which eventually pins her to a wall, she loses one blue contact lens, and the monster recognizes her from her bracelet and eyes. It hesitates, giving her enough time to shoot it through the mouth, which proves to be a weak point, causing the monster to fall onto a passing car that happens to be part of a convoy that Doi is travelling with. He attempts to show affection towards her but she brushes his hand away just before the car explodes. Doi convinces her to join him and debriefs her as the rest of the convoy recovers the remains of the monster, and it is revealed that the monster that she defeated was her father.

After Doi learns that she is actually Monaka, the two agents at the scene attempt to pull their guns on her, but Monaka quickly kills them before executing Doi. While exiting the garage to find her father, Monaka is ambushed by Tsuin, who takes her hostage. Tsuin attempts to threaten Gaga with her life, but Monaka is able to overpower and murder Tsuin. Gaga approaches but finds only Tsuin's corpse and Monaka's hair ribbon. Resuming her attempt to find her father, Monaka runs into the convoy again, only for the truck that is carrying the now regenerated monster to explode. After the monster emerges from the truck, the two make eye contact.

Cast

Reception
"Umetsu's work has been a favorite of mine since I saw his designs in the Megazone 23 Part II OVA all those years ago as well as numerous things since then. Hopefully it will be another ten years before he can be pulled back to this franchise so he can focus on more interesting projects." — Chris Beveridge, Mania.

"The straight-forward nature of many scenes doesn't quite maintain the goals of the piece as a whole. But taken as a gentle, self-reflective Tarantino-style satire, it works." — Justin Sevakis, Anime News Network.

References

External links

2008 films
2008 direct-to-video films
2008 anime films
Action anime and manga
Anime Works
Science fiction anime and manga
Films set in 2008
Arms Corporation
Japanese sequel films
Girls with guns films
Films set in Japan
Direct-to-video sequel films
Animated action films
Animated thriller films
2008 action thriller films
Japanese action thriller films

ja:A KITE#KITE LIBERATOR
Adult animated films
Adult animated science fiction films
Japanese adult animated films

Kite Liberator


2010 (twenty ten) (MMX) was .

The United Nations designated 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and International Year of Youth.

Pronunciation

There are many debates over how the years are spoken.  The year 2010 can be spoken as "twenty-ten" or "two thousand (and) ten".

Events

January

 January 1 – Spain takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Sweden.
 January 1 – A suicide bombing occurs at a volleyball game in Lakki Marwat, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, killing at least 95, and injuring over 100.
 January 4 – The tallest-ever man-made structure, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is officially opened.
 January 8 – The Togo national football team is involved in an attack in Angola. As a result, it withdraws from the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
 January 12 – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince.
 January 15 – The longest annular solar eclipse of the 3rd millennium occurs.
 January 25 – An Ethiopian airplane crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after taking off from Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport, killing all of the 90 people on board.

February
 February 3 – The sculpture L'homme qui marche by Alberto Giacometti is sold for £65.7 million ($103 million), setting a new record for a work of art sold at auction.
 February 7 – Viktor Yanukovich is elected President of Ukraine.
 February 7 – Laura Chinchilla becomes the first woman to be elected President of Costa Rica.
 February 12–28 – The 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.
 February 18 – A military junta, called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, headed by Salou Djibo, takes power in Niger, replacing President Mamadou Tandja.
 February 20 – Widespread flooding occurs on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
 February 25 – Viktor Yanukovich is sworn in as President of Ukraine.
 February 27 – A magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurs off the coast of Chile. It has killed around 500 people, and is thought to have had an impact on the Earth's axis, slightly shortening its days.
 February 28 – With 14 gold medals, Canada becomes the most successful host nation of the Winter Olympics.

March
 March 16 – The Kasubi Tombs, which formed Uganda's only World Heritage Site, are destroyed by fire.
 March 21 – The 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre is marked in South Africa.
 March 23 – The ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship carrying 104 personnel, sinks off the country's west coast near Baengnyong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 people. A later report in May 2010 says that North Korea sank the ship, but denies the allegations.
 March 24 – South Talpatti Island, a disputed territory between India and Bangladesh disappears under the Bay of Bengal, due to rising sea levels.
 March 29 – Two female suicide bombers blow themselves up on the Moscow Metro, killing around 40 people.

April

 April 3 – South African far-right leader Eugene Terre'Blanche is beaten to death at his farm near Ventersdorp, South Africa.
 April 3 – The African Renaissance Monument opens in Dakar, to mark 50 years of Senegal's independence.
 April 7 – Amidst fierce rioting in Kyrgyzstan, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flees the capital city, Bishkek by plane to the southern city of Osh; the opposition seizes control of the government, and places former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva as head of an interim government. She later becomes President on July 3.
 April 10 – Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria are among 96 people killed when their plane crashes in thick fog near Smolensk in western Russia.
 April 14 – A 6.9 magnitude Earthquake strikes Qinghai province in China, killing more than 1000 people.
 April 14 – A volcanic eruption occurs near a glacier (Eyjafjallajokull) in southern Iceland, leading to flooding in the nearby area. The cloud of volcanic ash from the eruption causes air traffic all over Northern and Western Europe to be shut down.
 April 20 – General Reynaldo Bignone, former military ruler of Argentina is sentenced to 25 years in prison, for ordering torture during the military dictatorship.
 April 20 – Deepwater Horizon oil spill: An explosion occurs on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Platform in the Gulf of Mexico, near Louisiana. 11 oil workers are killed, and an oil spill is caused, leading to an environmental disaster.
 April 27 – Panama's former military leader Manuel Noriega is handed over to France by the United States.
 April 27 – Greece's sovereign credit rating is downgraded to junk, four days after its government asked for help in resolving its financial crisis. Stock markets around the world drop.

May

 May 1 – The 2010 World Expo in Shanghai opens. It lasts until October 31.
 May 2 – The Eurozone and Inernational Monetary Fund agree to a 110 billion Euro Bailout for Greece, which also involves sharp austerity measures (large reduction of government budget deficits).
 May 4 – Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso sets a new record for a work of art sold at auction, selling for $106.5 million in New York.
 May 7 – Scientists conducting the Neanderthal Genome Project announce that humans and neanderthals, who later died out, could have interbred.
 May 8 – Laura Chinchilla becomes Costa Rica's first female President.
 May 11 – David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, forming a coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
 May 12 – An Afriqiyah Airways plane crashes in Tripoli, Libya, killing 103 people. Only one person survives.
 May 19 – Violent clashes begin as government forces crush demonstrations by anti-government Red Shirt protestors in Thailand's capital city Bangkok.
 May 20 – Scientists announce that they have created a form of synthetic life.
 May 20 – Five artworks with a worth of 100 million Euros are stolen from the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris, France.
 May 22 – An Air India Express Flight 812 airplane overshoots the runway and bursts into flames in Mangalore, southern India, killing 158 people. 8 people survive.
 May 26 – Kamla Persad-Bissessar becomes Trinidad and Tobago's first female Prime Minister.
 May 28 – In terrorist attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, 98 people are killed.
 May 29 – Germany's Lena Meyer-Landrut wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
 May 30 – Central America is hit by Hurricane Agatha. More than 180 people are killed.
 May 31 – Israeli forces storm the Gaza-bound international flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea. This event leads to widespread International condemnation.
 May 31 – Germany's President Horst Koehler resigns from office.

June
 June 2 – Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama resigns from office. Naoto Kan succeeds him.
 June 2 – A gunman goes on a shooting rampage in Cumbria, North West England, killing 12 people and injuring 11, before killing himself.
 June 9 – Ethnic violence erupts in Kyrgyzstan, and thousands of people try to flee into neighbouring Uzbekistan, as hundreds are killed.
 June 11 – The 2010 FIFA World Cup begins in South Africa. It is the first time that the FIFA World Cup is staged in Africa.
 June 19 – Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden marries Daniel Westling, who receives a new royal title.
 June 24 – Julia Gillard becomes the first female Prime Minister of Australia, as Kevin Rudd announces his resignation, after a leadership contest is called within the Australian Labor Party.
 June 24 – The longest match in professional tennis history comes to an end at Wimbledon, as John Isner beats Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the deciding set.
 June 25 – June 27 – The 36th G8 Summit and the 4th G20 Summit are held in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada.
 June 30 – Benigno Aquino III becomes President of the Philippines.
 June 30 – Christian Wulff is chosen to succeed Horst Koehler as President of Germany. He takes office on July 2.

July
 July 1 – Belgium takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Spain.
 July 2 – More than 270 people are killed when a ffuel tanker overturns and explodes in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 July 8 – The first 24-hour flight by a solar powered plane is completed by Solar Impulse.
 July 11 – A total solar eclipse is witnessed over the South Pacific Ocean, including Easter Island.
 July 11 – The Spain national football team wins the FIFA World Cup, after a 1-0 win over the Netherlands national football team.
 July 11 – Bomb attacks by Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab kill 74 people in Uganda's capital city Kampala.
 July 15 – Argentina legalises same-sex marriage.
 July 22 – The International Court of Justice rules that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 was not illegal.
 July 24 – A stampede at a music festival in Duisburg, Germany kills 19 people. 2 later die in hospital.
 July 25 – Wikileaks, an organisation based in Sweden, leaks over 90,000 reports on the US military involvement in the war in Afghanistan, as public information.
 July 28 – An Airbus airplane carrying 152 people, travelling from Karachi, crashes in the Margalla Hills near Islamabad, Pakistan, killing all of the people on board.
 late July/early August – Widespread flooding, caused by heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, and spreading south to the Punjab and Sindh, kills at least 1,600 people, and makes more than a million people homeless. Millions of people are affected.

August
 August 6 – In an official capacity, US officials attend the commemoration of the Hiroshima atomic bomb for the first time.
 August 10 – The WHO declares that the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic is over.
 August 14 – August 26 – The first ever Summer Youth Olympic Games are held in Singapore, with 3,531 participating athletes aged 14 to 18 from 204 National Olympic Committees.
 August 19 – The United States ends combat operations in Iraq, as its last combat brigade departs for Kuwait. Additional support troops are required to leave Iraq by 31 December 2011 under an agreement between the US and Iraqi governments.
 August 23 – Nine people, including the hostage taker are killed in a hostage crisis on board a bus in Manila, Philippines.

September
 September 4 – 2010 Canterbury earthquake: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes the South Island of New Zealand, including the city of Christchurch, causing widespread damage and power outages. No deaths are reported.
 September 28 – A landslide kills at least 7 people in Oaxaca, Mexico.
 September 28 – Kim Jong-un, son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is named Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and the Central Commission of the Workers' Party, a possible step towards becoming his father's successor.

October
 October 4 – Europe wins the Ryder Cup golf tournament over the United States.
 October 4 – Toxic sludge escapes from an alumina plant in western Hungary.
 October 5 – Former Société Générale employee Jerome Kerviel is sentenced by a court in France to a five-year suspended sentence for losses of up to 4.9 million Euros, one of the largest-ever frauds.
 October 8 – Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
 October 10 – The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved and split up into a new constitutional status. Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius become special municipalities of the Netherlands, while Curaçao and Sint Maarten become constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
 October 13 – Thirty-three miners are rescued from the San Jose mine near Copiapo in Chile, after surviving 700 metres underground for a record 69 days, after a mining accident.
 October 23 – The International Space Station takes the record for the longest continuous occupation in space from Mir.
 October 23 – In preparation for the Seoul summit, G-20 finance ministers agree to reform the IMF and shift 6 per cent of the voting shares to developing nations and countries with emerging markets.
 October 25 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra, and the resulting tsunamis kill over 400 people, and leave hundreds missing.
 October 26 – Start of continuous eruptions of the volcano Mount Merapi on Java, killing hundreds of people, and leading to thousands being evacuated.
 October 31 – Dilma Rousseff is elected as the first female President of Brazil.

November
 November 4 – Aero Caribbean flight 883 crashes in central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.
 November 11 – The G-20 summit is held in Seoul. South Korea is the first non-G-8 country to host it.
 November 13 – Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.
 November 17 – Researchers at CERN trap 38 antihydrogen atoms for a sixth of a second, marking the first time in history that humans have trapped antimatter.
 November 19 – An explosion traps 29 miners at the Pike River Mine near Greymouth on New Zealand's South Island. They are confirmed dead after a second explosion five days later.
 November 21 – Eurozone countries agree to an economic rescue package for the Republic of Ireland from European Financial Stability Facility in response to its financial crisis.
 November 22 – A stampede at the Bon om Thook water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, kills 347 people.
 November 23 – In one of the most serious clashes since the Korean War, North Korea shells Yeonpyeong Island, prompting a military response from South Korea.
 November 28 – WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 that were marked as secret or confidential.
 November 29 – The Eropean Union agrees to an 85 billion Euro rescue deal for the Republic of Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility, the IMF, and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden.
 November 29 – December 10 – 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Mexico, also referred to as the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16) takes place; it serves too as the 6th meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 6)

December
 December 2 – NASA announces the discovery of arsenic-based life forms in California.
 December 2 – FIFA decides that Russia will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
 December 4 – A political crisis begins in the Ivory Coast. The international community recognises Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the election, but President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down. Many people are killed in post-election violence and the Civil War that lasts until April 2011.
 December 11 – Two bombs explode in central Stockholm, Sweden, killing the perpetrator.
 December 15 – A boat carrying asylum seekers crashes into cliffs on Christmas Island, killing at least 40 people.
 December 15 – The discovery of the head of King Henry IV of France, which was lost after the desecration of his grave in 1793, is announced.
 December 17 – Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire in an act of protest. He dies 18 days later. This leads to the overthrow of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and to uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East.
 December 21 – For the first time since 1638, a lunar eclipse occurs on the day of the December solstice.

Deaths

 January 22 - Jean Simmons, American actress (b. 1929)
 February 20 - Alexander Haig, American politician (b. 1924)
 March 14 - Peter Graves, American actor (b. 1926)
 April 1 - John Forsythe, American actor (b. 1918)
 April 14 - Peter Steele, American musician (b. 1942)
 April 21 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC president (b. 1920)
 May 2 - Lynn Redgrave, English actress (b. 1943)
 June 3 - Rue McClanahan, American actress (b. 1934)
 June 13 - Jimmy Dean, American singer (b. 1928)
 June 26 - Algirdas Brazauskas, Lithuanian politician (b. 1932)
 July 12 - Harvey Pekar, American comic book writer (b. 1939)
 August 8 - Patrica Neal, American stage and film actress (b. 1926)
 August 12 - Guido de Marco, Maltese politician (b. 1931)
 August 17 - Francesco Cossiga, 8th president of Italy (b. 1928)
 September 29 - Tony Curtis, American actor (b. 1925)
 October 10 - Tom Bosley, American actor (b. 1927)
 October 27 - Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina (b. 1950)
 November 28 - Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor (b. 1926)
 December 21 - Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (b. 1941)

Nobel Prizes
 Physiology or Medicine – Robert G. Edwards
 Physics – Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov
 Chemistry – Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki
 Literature – Mario Vargas Llosa
 Peace – Liu Xiaobo
 Economics – Dale Mortensen, Peter A. Diamond and Christopher Pissarides

Major holidays
 January 1 - New Year's Day
 January 7 - Orthodox Christmas
 February 1 – Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places)
 February 2 - Candlemas commemorating the Purification of the Virgin. It marks the liturgical end of the Christmas season.
 February 14 – Chinese New Year
 February 16 – Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras, end of Mardi Gras / Carnival season
 February 17 – Ash Wednesday (first day of Lent)
 March 1 – Holi, a religious festival in India
 March 20 (21 in the Far East) – Vernal Equinox, also known as Ostara
 April 4 – Easter
 May 1 – Beltane, a Cross-quarter day
 August 1 – Lammas, a Cross-quarter day
 August 11 – Ramadan begins
 September 8 – 10 – Rosh Hashanah, the "Jewish New Year"
 September 10 – Eid ul-Fitr
 September 17–18 – Yom Kippur
 September 23 – Autumnal Equinox, also known as Mabon
 November 5 – Diwali, a religious festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism.
 November 16 – Eid al-Adha, a religious festival in Islam
 December 25 – Christmas

In fiction

Movies

 2010 (1984)
 Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space (2002)
 Absolon (2003)
 Banlieue 13 (2004)
 District 9 (2009)

Literature

 Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner
 2010: Odyssey Two (1982) by Arthur C. Clarke.
 Tracy Hickman, The Immortals (1996)
 The Mayflower Project (2001) by K.A. Applegate.
 In the Presence of Mine Enemies (2003) by Harry Turtledove.

Music

 The Pearl Jam song "Do the Evolution" references the world in 2010: "I crawled the earth, but now I'm higher. 2010, watch it go to fire."
 The Bad Religion song "Ten in 2010" appears on their album The Gray Race.
 The Mint Chicks song "2010" is the b-side to the vinyl single "Walking Off a Cliff Again" and also appears on their album Screens.

Television

 Knight Rider 2010 (1994 TV movie)
 Maico 2010 (1998)
 The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Wedding", from the 6th season, takes place in 2010.
 A Stargate SG-1 episode called "2010" took place in that year. (2001)
 Code Geass The event of Britannia's invasion of Japan happens on August 10, 2010.

Video games

 In the SimCity franchise the Scenarios Vol. I: Great Disasters, in SimCity 2000, there is a nuclear meltdown in Boston and Silicon Valley which is set in 2010.
 Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight is a futuristic spinoff of the original Street Fighter released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990
 Dino Crisis 2, the sequel to the 1999 game, released in 2000.

Other websites

2010


Zhu Xi or Chu Hsi (, 18 October 1130 – 23 April 1200) was a Confucian scholar during the Song Dynasty. Zhu Xi was one of the three most important Confucian philosophers. He organized the classic works of Confucianism and contributed to the philosophy of Neo-Confucianism.He was from Fujian province in China.

Life
Zhu Xi was born Wu Yuan, North East Jiangxi province. His father died when he was at the age of thirteen. He continued his studies until he passed the test for a government job. He taught for many years in the Wuyi Mountains and he is also remembered for the time he spent teaching at the Yuelu Academy in Changsha and at his retreat near the White Deer Grotto in Lushan. In his life his ideas were not generally accepted and he was fired from quite a lot of official positions. After his death nearly 1000 people were at his funeral and his tablet was put in a Confucian temple.

The Four Books
During the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi's teachings were considered to be unorthodox. Rather than focusing on the Book of Changes like other Neo-Confucians, he chose to emphasize the Four Books: the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects of Confucius, and the Mencius as the core curriculum (thing to learn) for aspiring scholar officials. For all these classics he wrote extensive commentaries (big reviews) that were not widely recognized in his time; however, they later became accepted as their standard commentaries. The Four Books served as the basis of civil service examinations all the way down to 1905.

Knowledge and action
According to Zhu Xi, knowledge and action were indivisible components of truly intelligent activity. Although he did distinguish (tell apart) between the priority of knowing, since intelligent action requires forethought (thought before), and the importance of action, as it produces a discernible effect, Zhu Xi said "Knowledge and action always require each other. It is like a person who cannot walk without legs although he has eyes, and who cannot see without eyes although he has legs. With respect to order, knowledge comes first, and with respect to importance, action is more important."

References

Chinese scholars
Chinese philosophers
1130 births
1200 deaths

Zhu Xi