Lou Vincent (born 11 November 1978) is a former New Zealand cricketer and opening batsman. He has represented New Zealand in Test match, One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket as well as playing for Auckland in New Zealand domestic cricket and Worcestershire and Lancashire in English domestic cricket.

In December 2013 it emerged that Vincent was being investigated by the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit (ACSU) in relation to allegations of his involvement in the spot-fixing of dozens of professional cricket matches, including matches in the Indian Cricket League, the ECB 40, the Bangladesh Premier League and the Champions League Twenty20.

In June 2014, the Bangladesh Cricket Board found him guilty for not alerting authorities that he had been approached and banned him for three years. On 1 July 2014, he accepted that he was involved in match fixing on many occasions. The England and Wales Cricket Board imposed a lifetime ban on Vincent playing in any form of cricket, applying to sanctioned matches by the ECB, the International Cricket Council or any other national cricket federation.

Early and personal life
Vincent was born in Warkworth, New Zealand and is the son of well known ABC NewsRadio sports announcer Mike Vincent. Vincent became interested in cricket at an early age as his father used to represent Eden Roskill Cricket Club of Auckland in first grade cricket and took Lou to all the international matches at Eden Park.

At the age of 15, his parents separated with Mike and Lou moving to Adelaide in Australia where Lou began playing in the age-tournaments. After Vincent was left out of several important age-group games by his coach, he decided to move back to New Zealand at the age of 18.

When Vincent returned to New Zealand he had the opportunity to play for New Zealand in the 1998 Under 19 Cricket World Cup.
He played for Esholt Cricket Club of the Bradford Cricket League in England during the off season while continuing to play for Auckland in New Zealand domestic cricket. He also considered jockeying as a career and has umpired Australian rules football.

In 2023, Vincent was living in the Southland town of Lumsden.

Domestic career

First-class cricket

Vincent played for Auckland from 1997 to 2008 competing in the Plunket Shield First Class competition, the Ford Trophy Domestic One Day competition and the HRV Cup Twenty20 competition. In 2006, Vincent signed for Worcestershire to play county cricket for part of the English season. He had a fine debut on 25 June, making 83 from 91 balls to help set up a 50-run win over Yorkshire in the C&G Trophy.

Lancashire League side Ramsbottom announced that they had signed Lou Vincent as a professional for the 2008 season despite strong interest from the Australian domestic side Southern Redbacks in signing him. Vincent replaced the previous club professional, Sunil Joshi. Vincent had also played for Central Lancashire Cricket League side Rochdale in 2005 where he had an impressive league tally for the season of 656 before having to miss the last 10 games of the league after being called up for New Zealand's training camp ahead of a series in Zimbabwe.

Whilst playing for Ramsbottom, Vincent signed for Lancashire as a replacement overseas player for the duration of the 2008 Twenty20 tournament. He replaced Mohammed Yousuf as the club's overseas player, who himself had replaced the Australian Brad Hodge – both were on International duty. Lancashire's cricket manager, Mike Watkinson, said that the club "have brought in a player with a great reputation in the format who will add firepower to our top order. He is an exciting player and excellent fielder, just what we need for Twenty20 cricket".

Vincent made his debut during the Championship game at Old Trafford between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire. He made 5 in the first innings and 19 in the second innings with the match finished in a draw. Vincent made his Lancashire Twenty20 debut against Leicestershire hitting 31 from 26 balls with Lancashire won the game by 52 runs.

During Lancashire's seventh Twenty20 group game against Derbyshire at Old Trafford Vincent hit 102 from 63 balls which included 11 fours and three sixes with a strike rate of 161.90. Lancashire won the game by 9 wickets and Vincent was named man of the match. Through this innings Vincent became the fourth Lancashire player to hit a Twenty20 century, the previous players being Mal Loye, Stuart Law and Brad Hodge. The innings came after Vincent was controversially dropped for the Yorkshire home game 72 hours earlier which Lancashire lost by 4 runs at Old Trafford.

Vincent followed this up by hitting 56 from 36 balls in Lancashire's eighth Twenty20 group game against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford. The innings included 9 fours and one six with a strike rate 155.56. Vincent won the man of the match award for the second time in three days and helped secure Lancashire's qualification to the Quarter Finals where they were drawn to play Middlesex. Lancashire succumbed to a narrow defeat by 12 runs and were eliminated from the tournament.

Lancashire announced that Vincent was to stay on at the club as their overseas player for the remainder of the 2008 season. Brad Hodge, Lancashire's Australian designated overseas player for the 2008 season, could not return to play for Lancashire due to the ill health of his wife. Hodge had been playing in the Indian Premier League and for Australia during their tour of the West Indies and was due to return to Lancashire.

In 2010 Vincent played for Northants in the T20 competition.

In the 2011 season Vincent represented Sussex for all forms of the game.

International career

A right-handed batsman, Vincent made his Test match debut in 2001–02 when he opened the batting against Australia at Perth. In a bizarre New Zealand first innings of 534/9 declared which saw four players make hundreds but no one else reach double figures, Vincent made 104. He followed this up with 54 in the second innings.

In 2005–06, Vincent hit 172 in a One Day International against Zimbabwe at Harare to set a new record for the highest individual innings for New Zealand in ODIs, beating Glenn Turner's 171 not out against East Africa in the 1975 World Cup. Vincent's innings came off just 120 balls, and included 16 fours and nine sixes.

Vincent was recalled into the New Zealand squad for the Commonwealth Bank Tri Series due to the sudden retirement of veteran Nathan Astle midway through the series. Once in Australia he became New Zealand's most prolific run scorer, with three consecutive half centuries, contributing to three consecutive totals of over 290.

Vincent played in the early stages of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean but after scoring a century and fielding well he caught a blow in the nets from Shane Bond and fractured his wrist. He was replaced in the squad by Hamish Marshall.

After being dropped from the national team due to the implementation of a rotation policy and despite his good form Vincent suffered from Major depressive disorder and his contract with New Zealand Cricket was then later terminated with his signing for the Chandigarh Lions of the Indian Cricket League cited as the reason. Some commentators have mentioned unfair treatment of Vincent by the then New Zealand coach John Bracewell as the main cause for his departure from the national team.

Awards

 Vincent has won five One Day International and one Test match Man of the Match awards.
 Vincent has won two Twenty20 Man of the Match awards while playing for Lancashire in English domestic cricket.
 Vincent won Lancashire's Player of the Month award for June 2008.

Achievements and records

 Vincent equalled the most runs scored in boundaries (118 runs in boundaries) by a batsman in an ODI innings, when he scored 172 against Zimbabwe on 24 August 2005.
 Vincent became only the sixth New Zealander to make a hundred on Test debut, and only the second to achieve the feat on foreign soil.
 Vincent was chosen to represent the ICL World XI team during the 2008 ICL season.

Life ban for match fixing
Lou Vincent was banned from cricket for life on 1 July 2014 by the England and Wales Cricket Board for match fixing, after he admitted 18 breaches of the regulations including fixing the outcome of Sussex's match against Kent in 2011, along with Naved Arif, who received a life ban one month before him. Vincent released a statement on the day he received the life ban, admitting his involvement in match fixing.

References

External links

1978 births
Living people
Auckland cricketers
Lancashire cricketers
Worcestershire cricketers
Suffolk cricketers
New Zealand One Day International cricketers
New Zealand Test cricketers
Cricketers who made a century on Test debut
New Zealand cricketers
New Zealand Twenty20 International cricketers
ICL World XI cricketers
Chandigarh Lions cricketers
People educated at Westlake Boys High School
Sussex cricketers
Khulna Tigers cricketers
People from Warkworth, New Zealand
Mid West Rhinos cricketers
Cricketers banned for corruption
North Island cricketers
Match fixers
Sportspeople banned for life

Lou Vincent


A scarecrow is a device to discourage birds from disturbing crops.

Scarecrow(s) may also refer to:

Films
 The Scarecrow (1920 film), 1920 short silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton
 The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh a 1963 Walt Disney film (also shown as three episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color), featuring a theme song titled "Scarecrow"
 Scarecrow (1973 film), film starring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman
 Dark Night of the Scarecrow 1981 made-for-TV film, starring Charles Durning, about a dim-witted man falsely accused and murdered by a posse who returns to haunt his murderers
 The Scarecrow (1982 film), New Zealand film about a killer in a small town, based on a 1963 novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson
 Scarecrow (1984 film), Russian drama film by Rolan Bykov
 Scarecrows (1988 film), horror film
 The Scarecrow (2000 film), a 2000 animated fantasy film
 Kakashi (translated as Scarecrow), 2001 Japanese horror film
 Scarecrow (2002 film), straight-to-video horror film that has spawned two sequels
 The Scarecrow (2013 film), a 2013 animated short film and advertisement
 Scarecrow (2013 film), a 2013 Syfy original horror movie directed by Sheldon Wilson

Television
 Scarecrow and Mrs. King, 1980s CBS show about a secret agent assisted by a housewife
 "Scarecrow" (Supernatural), an episode of the television series Supernatural

Music
 "The Scarecrow" (song), a 1967 song written by Syd Barrett
 Scarecrow (John Mellencamp album) (1985), rock music album
 "Scare Crow", song by Ministry, from the 1992 album Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs
 "Scarecrow" (Melissa Etheridge song), 1999
 Scarecrow (Garth Brooks album), 2001
 "Scarecrow" (The Pillows song), 2007
 The Scarecrow (album), a 2008 album by Tobias Sammet's rock opera project Avantasia
 "The Scarecrow" (story), a story composed of three music albums by Tobias Sammet's rock opera project Avantasia
 Scarecrow, early name of project by German musician André Schmechta, eventually the band X Marks the Pedwalk
 Scarecrow, alias of Lord Infamous
 "Scarecrow", a song by Beck from the 2005 album Guero
 The Scarecrow (opera), a 2006 opera
 Scarecrow (Decyfer Down album), an album released by Christian Rock band Decyfer Down in 2013.
 Scarecrow, Blues Hip Hop band from France, founded in 2010.

Literature
 Scarecrow (Oz), one of the main protagonists in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
 The Scarecrow (Connelly novel), a 2009 crime novel by Michael Connelly
 Scarecrow (novel), 2003 novel by Australian author Matthew Reilly
 Shane Schofield, known as Scarecrow, protagonist of the above, and four other novels by Matthew Reilly
 The Scarecrow (play), 1908 play by Percy MacKaye based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Feathertop"
 "The Scarecrow" (short story), a short story by R. L. Stine
 The Scarecrow (Williams novel), a 2009 novel by Sean Williams
 The Scarecrows, 1981 young-adult novel by Robert Westall
 Scarecrow, character in the Japanese story Boogiepop, in books, manga and anime
 "The Scarecrow", a short science fiction story by Poul Anderson
 Scarecrow Press, an American publisher owned by Rowman & Littlefield

Comics
 Scarecrow (DC Comics), comic book villain in the Batman series by DC Comics
 Scarecrow (Marvel Comics), villain from Marvel Comics who fought heroes such as Spider-Man and Ghost Rider
 Straw Man (comics), Marvel Comics supernatural hero originally named Scarecrow

Other
 Scarecrow (wine), California cult wine producer
 Scarecrow (Dungeons & Dragons), a type of fictional monster

Scarecrow (disambiguation)


Robert Riskin (March 30, 1897 – September 20, 1955) was an American screenwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Frank Capra.

Early life
Robert Riskin was born on New York City's Lower East side to Jewish parents, Bessie and Jakob, who had emigrated from Tsarist Russia to escape conscription. He and his two brothers and two sisters grew up speaking Yiddish. An enthusiast of the vaudeville stage, the teen-age Riskin took every opportunity to sneak into the theatre and catch the shows. He was a particular fan of the comedians who performed there, and he habitually transcribed their jokes into a notebook he carried with him. While still a teen-ager, Riskin took a job with a shirt-manufacturing firm, Heidenheim and Levy. The partners of this firm had a sideline business, investing in the new film industry. They sent the seventeen-year-old Riskin to Florida to run a production company for them. Riskin turned out one- and two-reel films until his enlistment in the Army during World War I.

Career

At the end of the war, Riskin returned to New York City, where, in partnership with a friend, he found some success in producing plays for Broadway. Riskin began his career as a playwright, writing for many local New York City playhouses. Two of his plays, Bless You, Sister and Many a Slip, had successful runs.  Riskin continued his Broadway career until the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression caused many theatres to close.

Motion pictures had just adopted sound, and writers were needed who could write dialogue and were experienced with stage work. Riskin recognized he had the credentials and seized the opportunity by relocating to Hollywood. He moved to Hollywood in 1931 after Columbia Pictures bought the screen rights to several of his plays. His first collaboration with director Frank Capra was the Barbara Stanwyck vehicle The Miracle Woman (1931).

Riskin wrote several films for Columbia, but it was his string of hits with Capra that brought him acclaim. Riskin received Academy Award nominations for his screenplays and stories for five Capra films: Lady for a Day (1933), which Riskin had adapted from a Damon Runyon short story; It Happened One Night (1934), for which he won the Oscar; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur; You Can't Take It with You (1938) with Lionel Barrymore and James Stewart; and Here Comes the Groom (1951) with Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman.

Riskin joined Capra in an independent production company in 1939, but they fell out in 1941.

Riskin then became an associate producer for Samuel Goldwyn. When the U.S. entered World War II, he joined the Office of War Information in 1942, where he organized the OWI's overseas division.

Riskin returned to Hollywood in 1945, with the screenplay for The Thin Man Goes Home He had an uncredited collaboration on the 1946 film noir classic The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.

Riskin and his brother Everett formed their own film company. Their first film, the minor James Stewart hit Magic Town (1946), was written and produced by Riskin, who also directed initially. The directing was finished by William A. Wellman. Magic Town has a similar flavor and tone to Riskin's Capra-directed films.

In 1950, Riskin suffered a debilitating stroke which left him unable to write. Riskin had completed the screenplay for Half Angel (1951) and the story for Here Comes the Groom (1951) before the stroke. Ironically,  Capra was assigned to direct Here Comes the Groom, and Riskin received a fifth Academy Award nomination for it.

He was an invalid until he died on September 20, 1955.

Riskin directed only one entire film, When You're in Love (1937), a minor musical starring Grace Moore and Cary Grant. Unsuccessful at the box office, When You're in Love is now remembered (if at all) for an unusual publicity stunt: silent film-star Louise Brooks was given a chance at a comeback by appearing as a chorus girl in this movie.

Relationship with Frank Capra
From 1931 to 1938, Riskin and Capra collaborated on eight films as screenwriter and director. Riskin contributed to at least six other screenplays directed by Capra. These films were nominated for 29 Academy Awards, including eight nominations for Riskin and Capra, and won ten, including three for Capra and one for Riskin.

During this period, Riskin and Capra had what appeared to be a harmonious working relationship. Their personal relationship, however, was strained. Riskin was politically liberal, while Capra was a committed, conservative Republican. The protagonists of the Capra-Riskin films were described as "Capra's Heroes", when in fact they were more a product of Riskin's ideology and social conscience.

In 1939, looking for creative autonomy unavailable in the studio system, Riskin and Capra formed an independent production company, Frank Capra Productions. The partnership was divided 65% for Capra, 35% for Riskin. In 1941, Capra directed Riskin's Meet John Doe.

However, Riskin felt that Capra was taking all the credit for their films, including Riskin's share. Riskin came to resent Capra for this. This led to several confrontations with Capra during the production of Meet John Doe. According to an account by Hollywood screenwriter David Rintels (which was denied by Capra), Riskin brandished 120 blank pages in Capra's face and challenged: "Put the famous Capra touch on that!"

After completion of just one film, Meet John Doe, the association was dissolved. Riskin never willingly collaborated with Capra again.

During the time of his declining health, home confinement, and final residence at the Motion Picture & Television Country Home and Hospital, Riskin was regularly visited by old friends such as Edward G. Robinson, Jack Benny, and Irving Berlin. Long time friend and screenwriting colleague Jo Swerling and his wife remained devoted visitors. Conspicuously absent was Frank Capra, who never visited Riskin during the five years of his illness. Swerling was pained by Capra's behavior, but Riskin refused to disparage Capra. He remained loyal to the man, calling him "his best friend". The Los Angeles Examiner covered Riskin's funeral in September 1955, describing the "notables" in attendance. The report also identified the "one man who wasn't there": Frank Capra.

In 1961, Capra directed A Pocketful of Miracles, a remake of Capra and Riskin's 1933 collaboration Lady for a Day, with a screenplay by Hal Kanter and Harry Tugend from the Riskin-Runyon material. It was Capra's last film.

Personal life and family
Riskin married actress Fay Wray in 1942. They had three children: Susan (born 1936), Robert (born 1943), and Victoria (born 1945). (Susan was the child of Wray's first marriage and was adopted by Riskin in 1942.) They remained married until his death on September 20, 1955.  George Jessel read the eulogy at Riskin's funeral. Interment was at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Riskin's older brother, Everett (born 1895), was a Hollywood film producer (1934–1952). He produced many noteworthy films, including The Thin Man Goes Home, written by Robert.

A biography by Ian Scott, In Capra's Shadow: The Life and Career of Screenwriter Robert Riskin, was published in 2006 by the University Press of Kentucky.

Selected filmography

 The Miracle Woman (1931)
 Men in Her Life (1931)
 Platinum Blonde (1931)
 Vanity Street (1932)
 American Madness (1933)
 Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
 Lady for a Day (1933)
 It Happened One Night (1934)
 Broadway Bill (1934)
 Carnival (1935)
 The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
 When You're in Love (1937) also director
 Lost Horizon (1937)
 You Can't Take It with You (1938)
 Meet John Doe (1941)
 The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
 Magic Town (1947) also producer
 Riding High (1950)
 Mister 880 (1950)
 Half Angel (1951)
 Here Comes the Groom (1951)
 Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

Awards

Academy Awards
Won:
 Best Writing, Adaptation (It Happened One Night, 1935)
Nominated:
 Best Writing, Adaptation (Lady for a Day, 1934)
 Best Writing, Screenplay (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, 1937)
 Best Writing, Screenplay (You Can't Take It with You, 1939)
 Best Writing, Motion Picture Story (Here Comes the Groom, 1952)

Lifetime Achievement Awards
Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement

References

External links

Six Screen Plays by Robert Riskin, Edited and Introduced by Pat McGilligan, Berkeley:  University of California Press,  c1997 1997 - Free Online - UC Press E-Books Collection

1897 births
1955 deaths
Screenwriters from New York City
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Jewish American screenwriters
American male screenwriters
Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
American male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery
20th-century American screenwriters
People of the United States Office of War Information
20th-century American Jews

Robert Riskin


Thomas Steven Molnar (; ; 26 July 1921, in Budapest, Hungary – 20 July 2010, in Richmond, Virginia) was a Catholic philosopher, historian and political theorist.

Life
Molnar completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Brussels in Belgium and received his Ph.D. in philosophy and history from Columbia University in New York City.

He was visiting professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Budapest. As author of over forty books in French and English he published on a variety of subjects including religion, politics, and education. He emigrated to the United States, where he taught for many years at Brooklyn College. Molnar said he was inspired by Russell Kirk's work The Conservative Mind. Like Kirk, he wrote a good deal for the magazine National Review. In addition, Kirk and Molnar were founding board members of Una Voce America.

Molnar admired Charles Maurras and wrote that French failure to honor Maurras' conservative values was a component of the "agony of France".

Molnar was married to Ildiko and had one son, Eric. He died at the age of 89 on Tuesday 20 July 2010.

Among the awards Molnar received was the Széchenyi Prize, from the President of the Republic of Hungary.

Works
 (1960). Bernanos: His Political Thought and Prophecy.
 (1961). The Decline of the Intellectual.
 (1961). The Future of Education. Foreword by Russell Kirk.
 (1962). The Two Faces of American Foreign Policy.
 (1965). Africa; A Political Travelogue.
 (1966). L'Afrique du sud.
 (1966). South West Africa; the Last Pioneer Country.
 (1966). Spotlight on South West Africa.
 (1967). Utopia, the Perennial Heresy.
 (1968). Ecumenism or New Reformation?.
 (1968). Sartre: Ideologue of Our Time.
 (1969). The Counter-revolution.
 (1970). La Gauche vue d'en face.
 (1971). The American Dilemma: A Consideration of United States Leadership in World.
 (1971). Nationalism in the Space Age.
 (1973). God and the Knowledge of Reality.
 (1974). L'Animal politique: Essai.
 (1976). Authority and Its Enemies.
 (1976). Le Socialisme sans visage: l'avènement du tiers modèle.
 (1977). Dialogues and Ideologues.
 (1978). Christian Humanism: a Critique of the Secular City and Its Ideology.
 (1978). Le Modèle défiguré: l'Amèrique de Tocqueville á Carter.
 (1980). Politics and the State: the Catholic View.
 (1980). Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief.
 (1982). Le Dieu immanent: la grande tentation de la pensée allemande.
 (1982). Tiers-Monde: Idéologie, Réalité.
 (1986). L'Éclipse du sacré: discours et réponses [with Alain de Benoist].
 (1987). The Pagan Temptation.
 (1988). Twin Powers: Politics and the Sacred.
 (1990). The Church, Pilgrim of Centuries.
 (1990). L'Europe entre parenthèses.
 (1991). Philosophical Grounds.
 (1994). The Emerging Atlantic Culture.
 (1996). Archetypes of Thought.
 (1996). Filozófusok Istene.
 (1996). Return to Philosophy.
 (1999). A Magyar Szent Korona és a szentkorona-tan az ezredfordulón (edited by Tóth Zoltán József).
 (1999). Századvégi Mérleg: Válogatott írások.
 (2000). A Pogány Kísértés.
 (2000). Igazság és Történelem.
 (2002). Bennünk lakik-e az Isten?.
 (2002). Válogatás a Magyar Nemzet nek és az asztalfióknak írt publicisztikákból.
 (2003). A Beszélő Isten.
 (2004). A jobb és a bal: tanulmányok.

References

Further reading
 Allitt, Patrick (1993). Catholic Intellectuals And Conservative Politics In America 1950-1985, Cornell University Press.
 Levy, David J. (1982). "Thomas Molnar, 1973," Modern Age, Vol. XXXVI, No. 3-4.
 Mezei, Balazs M. (2013). "Thomas Molnar's Place in American Conservatism", Modern Age, pp. 37–48.
 Williamson, Chilton (2004). The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers, Citadel Press.

External links
 Works by Thomas Molnar, at Hathi Trust
 Works by Thomas Molnar, at JSTOR
 Works by Thomas Molnar, at PhilPapers
 Molnar, Thomas, by John Zmirak
 Thomas Molnar's articles, at Crisis Magazine
 South Africa Reconsidered
 Libéralisme et Socialisme, at Vimeo

1921 births
2010 deaths
Writers from Budapest
Brooklyn College faculty
Writers from New York City
Roman Catholic writers
Catholic philosophers
Hungarian Roman Catholics
Hungarian philosophers
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
20th-century Hungarian historians

Thomas Molnar


There is much variation in the music of Xinjiang, including unique regional differences in Ili, Kashgar, Hotan and  Aksu Prefecture. The southern area includes the simple songs of Hotan, the dance-oriented music of the Kuqa and the complexly rhythmic songs of the Kashgar. Ili has perhaps the most well-known musical tradition in Xinjiang, including a number of emotional tunes that are narrative in form.

Muqam

The best-known musical form of the Uyghur people is the , a complex suite of 12 sections related to Uzbek and Tajik forms. These complex symphonies vary wildly between suites in the same muqam, and are built on a 7-note scale. Instruments typically include dap (a frame drum), hammered dulcimers, fiddles and lutes; performers have some space for personal embellishments, especially in the percussion. However, there is much variation on the number and kind of instruments used in the performance of a muqam. In November 2005 the Art of Uyghur Muqam was named a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Sanam
The sanam tradition is a kind of dance music popular among the Uyghurs, while spoken songs like Maida, Eytishish and Qoshaq are popular love songs with simple tunes.

Pop music
The most popular performer of recent times is Turdi Akhun, who recorded most of the muqams in the 1950s. A regional popular music industry arose in the 1980s, alongside Deng Xiaoping's loosening of cultural restrictions.  The resulting pop industry produced bands like Shireli, whose 1995 Trance 2 was a reggaeish version of a local folk song. Later prominent musicians include Pasha Isha, Äskär and his band Grey Wolf, Abdulla Abdurehim and Alim Jan, who appeared in such international releases as the soundtrack to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where he plays the stringed rawap. Jan's father was also a renowned folk musician, known as Tursun Tanbur due to his skill with the tanbur, a stringed instrument like a lock-necked lute. Rock and heavy metal bands like Täklimakan and Riwäyat are also well known in Xinjiang, as is the flamenco guitar stylings of the Gipsy Kings.

Gallery

References

Central Asian music
Xinjiang

Music of Xinjiang


The Hellenistic period in Ancient Greece (323–146 BC) was the time period between the death of Alexander the Great when the generals of Alexander created their own empires and the Roman conquest of mainland Greece.

During this era: Greek culture, art and power expanded all over the Eastern Mediterranean (including Anatolia, Egypt, the Levant and the Balkans). Of all the Hellenistic empires that were established, the Seleucid Empire was the largest. The Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt is the most famous and the longest lasting due to its famous Library of Alexandria and members like Cleopatra VII.

Ancient Greece

Hellenistic period


Sassari is a city in the region of Sardinia in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Sassari. About 130,000 people live in Sassari. This makes it the second largest city in Sardinia.

History
The first time that the city appeared in a map was in 1131 with the name Jordi de Sassaro, in 1135 the name was Tathari. The city grown up very fast and in 1294, became a libero comune (independent municipality). In the early 14th century the island of Sardinia was occupied by the Aragonese, the municipality sent a delegation to the court of Aragon, but they did not achieve any agreement. So with the support of the Republic of Genoa and the Doria's family, the people of Sassari rose up against the invaders, until 1417 when the king Alfonso V granted an acceptable status to the town. In 1617 in town the Jesuits founded the University.  In 1713, after the Treaty of Utrecht, in the island of Sardinia started the brief period of the Austro-Hungarian administration.  In fact since 1720 the island was annexed by the House of Savoy and since then was born the Kingdom of Sardinia. But in 1793, after years of political struggle, in the island started an uprising, called "Sarda rivoluzione" (Sardinian revolution), led by the patriot Giovanni Maria Angioy, who entered triumphantly in the city of Sassari, followed by thousand of revolutionaries coming from all over the island. But the Savoy, stifled the rebellion with ferocity, reconquered the town. But the rebellion in town will continued until the middle of the 19th century.
In 1861 the Kingdom of Sardinia, after the campaign to unify Italy and the annexation of many small states, it became the founding state of the new Kingdom of Italy. Since then Sassari is an Italian city.

Museums
 Museo nazionale archeologico ed etnografico "G. A. Sanna"
(Via Roma 64) also called Museo Sanna - Sito
 Pinacoteca nazionale MUS'A, ex Collegio Gesuitico Canopoleno

Monuments and architectures
 City Walls and pisan-genoan towers, 13th century
 Fontana di Rosello,Rosello Fountain 1585-1606
 Teatro Civico, Civic theatre 1825-1829

Religious Architectures
 Cattedrale di San Nicola, the Cathedral 12th-18th century
 Chiesa di Santa Maria di Betlem, Church of Holy Mary of Bethlehem 12th-19th century
 Chiesa di San Pietro in Silki, Church of saint Peter in Silki 11th-17th century
 Santa Caterina, Church of saint Catharine 16th century architect Giovanni Maria Bernardoni
 San Donato, 13th-17th century
 San Michele di Plaiano,Church of saint Michael of Plaiano 12th century

Palaces
 Casa Aragonese, (Aragonese House) 15th century
 Palazzo Ducale,  (Ducal Palace) City Hall Building, 1775-1804
 Palazzo Barone d'Usini, piazza Tola, , (The Baron of Usini Palace) City Library, 16th century
 Palazzo Moros y Molinos, 17th century
 Palazzo Ferrale, 16th century
 Palazzo Sciuti, piazza d'Italia, (Sciuti's Palace) the Provincial Legislative Building Provincia di Sassari, 1873

Consulates
Consulates in Sassari:

References

Capital cities in Italy
Communes of the Province of Sassari

Sassari


In video games, first-person (also spelled first person) is any graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character, or from the inside of a device or vehicle controlled by the player character. It is one of two perspectives used in the vast majority of video games, with the other being third-person, the graphical perspective from outside of any character (but possibly focused on a character); some games such as interactive fiction do not belong to either format.

First-person can be used as sole perspective in games belonging of almost any genre; first-person shooters (FPS) are a popular genre in which the graphical perspective is an integral component of the gameplay, although, like third-person shooters, the term has come to define a specific subgenre of shooter games rather than any using the perspective, and several shooter games, while belonging to other subgenres, use a first person perspective, such as, traditionally, light gun shooters, rail shooters, and shooting gallery games. Other genres that typically feature a first person perspective include amateur flight simulations, combat flight simulators, dating sims, driving simulators, visual novels, and walking sims, although it has virtually been used in all genres, either as main perspective or for specific actions or sections.

Game mechanics

Games with a first-person perspective are usually avatar-based, wherein the game displays what the player's avatar would see with the avatar's own eyes. Thus, players typically cannot see the avatar's body, though they may be able to see the avatar's weapons or hands. This viewpoint is also frequently used to represent the perspective of a driver within a vehicle, as in flight and racing simulators; and it is common to make use of positional audio, where the volume of ambient sounds varies depending on their position with respect to the player's avatar.

Games with a first-person perspective do not require sophisticated animations for the player's avatar, nor do they need to implement a manual or automated camera-control scheme as in third-person perspective. A first-person perspective allows for easier aiming, since there is no representation of the avatar to block the player's view. However, the absence of an avatar can make it difficult to master the timing and distances required to jump between platforms, and may cause motion sickness in some players.

Players have come to expect first-person games to accurately scale objects to appropriate sizes, although the key objects such as dropped items or levers may be exaggerated in order to improve their visibility.

History

Origins
First-person perspectives are used in various different genres, including several distinct sub-genres of shooter games. Shooting gallery games, which evolved from mid-20th-century electro-mechanical games and in turn late-19th-century carnival games, typically employ a first-person perspective where players aim at moving targets on a stationary screen. They in turn evolved into rail shooters, which also typically employ a first-person perspective but move the player through levels on a fixed path. Rail shooter and shooting gallery games that use light guns are called light gun shooters. The most popular type of game to employ a first-person perspective today is the first-person shooter (FPS), which allows player-guided navigation through a three-dimensional space.

Electro-mechanical racing games had been using first-person perspectives since the late 1960s, dating back to Kasco's Indy 500 (1968) and Chicago Coin's version Speedway (1969). The use of first-person perspectives in driving video games date back to Nürburgring 1 and Atari's Night Driver in 1976.

It is not clear exactly when the earliest FPS video game was created. There are two claimants, Spasim and Maze War. The uncertainty about which was first stems from the lack of any accurate dates for the development of Maze War—even its developer cannot remember exactly. In contrast, the development of Spasim is much better documented and the dates are more certain.

The initial development of Maze War probably occurred in the summer of 1973. A single player traverses a maze of corridors rendered using fixed perspective. Multiplayer capabilities, with players attempting to shoot each other, were probably added later in 1973 (two machines linked via a serial connection) and in the summer of 1974 (fully networked). Spasim was originally developed in the spring of 1974 with a documented debut at the University of Illinois the same year. The game is a rudimentary space flight simulation game with a first-person 3D wireframe view. It allowed online multiplayer over the worldwide university-based PLATO network.

Futurewar (1976) by high-school student Erik K. Witz and Nick Boland, also based on PLATO, is sometimes claimed to be the first true FPS. The game includes a bitmap image of a gun and other armaments that point at the monsters and other players, with the walls rendered as vector lines. Set in A.D. 2020, Futurewar anticipated Doom, although as to Castle Wolfensteins transition to a futuristic theme, the common PLATO genesis is coincidental. A further PLATO FPS was the tank game Panther, introduced in 1975, generally acknowledged as a precursor to Battlezone.

1979 saw the release of two first-person space combat games: the Exidy arcade game Star Fire and Doug Neubauer's seminal Star Raiders for the Atari 8-bit family. The popularity of Star Raiders resulted in similarly styled games from other developers and for other systems, including Starmaster for the Atari 2600, Space Spartans for Intellivision, and Shadow Hawk One for the Apple II. It went on to influence two major first-person games of the 1990s: Wing Commander and X-Wing.

1980s
Atari's 1983 Star Wars arcade game leaned entirely on action rather than tactics, but offered 3D color vector renderings of TIE Fighters and the surface of the Death Star.

Other shooters with a first-person view from the early 1980s include Taito's Space Seeker in 1981, Horizon V for the Apple II the same year, Sega's stereoscopic arcade game SubRoc-3D in 1982, Novagen's Encounter in 1983, and EA's Skyfox for the Apple II in 1984.

Flight simulators were a first-person staple for home computers beginning in 1979 with FS1 Flight Simulator from Sublogic and followed up with Flight Simulator II in 1983. MicroProse found a niche with first-person aerial combat games: Hellcat Ace (1982), Spitfire Ace (1982), and F-15 Strike Eagle (1985).

Amidst a flurry of faux-3D first-person maze games where the player is locked into one of four orientations, like Spectre, 3D Monster Maze, Phantom Slayer, and Dungeons of Daggorath, came the 1982 release of Paul Edelstein's Wayout from Sirius Software. Not a shooter, it has smooth, arbitrary movement using what was later labeled a raycasting engine, giving it a visual fluidity seen in future games MIDI Maze and Wolfenstein 3D. It was followed in 1983 by the split-screen Capture the Flag, allowing two players at once, and foreshadowing a common gameplay mode for 3D games of the 1990s.

The arrival of the Atari ST and Amiga in 1985, and the Apple IIGS a year later, increased the computing power and graphical capabilities available in consumer-level machines, leading to a new wave of innovation. 1987 saw the release of MIDI Maze, an important transitional game for the genre. Unlike its contemporaries, MIDI Maze used raycasting to speedily draw square corridors. It also offered a networked multiplayer deathmatch (communicating via the computer's MIDI ports). Sublogic's Jet was a major release for the new platforms, as were Starglider and the tank simulator Arcticfox.

In 1987, Taito's Operation Wolf arcade game started the trend of realistic military-themed action shooters, and featured side-scrolling environments and high-quality graphics for the time. It was followed the subsequent year by a sequel, titled Operation Thunderbolt, that introduced a pseudo-3D perspective and the illusion of depth. The success and popularity of these two games led to Sega releasing Line of Fire in 1989, another military combat arcade machine that achieved a further level of realism by implementing a rotating point of view, thus creating the effect of turning corners left and right, in addition to just walking forward.

In 1988, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode featured first-person shooter levels and included a sniper rifle for assassinating an enemy agent at long range using an unsteady sniper scope. The same year saw the release of Arsys Software's Star Cruiser.

In the late 1980s, interest in 3D first-person driving simulations resulted in games like Test Drive (1987) and Vette! (1989). 1989's Hard Drivin' arcade game from Atari Games was particularly influential, with fast filled-polygon graphics, a mathematical model of how the vehicle components interact, force feedback, and instant replay after crashes. In the following years, two Hard Drivin'''-esque MS-DOS games appeared, each including a track editor: Stunt Driver from Spectrum Holobyte (1990) and Stunts from Broderbund (1991).

1990s
In 1990, SNK released beat 'em ups with a first-person perspective: the hack & slash game Crossed Swords, and the fighting & shooting game Super Spy. In 1991, Dactyl Nightmare appeared for the Virtuality arcade VR platform, which featured first person deathmatch style games with polygon player avatars. In late 1991, the fledgling id Software released Catacomb 3D, which introduced the concept of showing the player's hand on-screen, strengthening the illusion that the player is viewing the world through the character's eyes.

Taito's Gun Buster was released in arcades in 1992. It features on-foot gameplay and a control scheme where the player moves using an eight-direction joystick and aims using a mounted positional light gun. It allows two-player cooperative gameplay for the mission mode and features a deathmatch mode where two players compete against each other or up to four players compete in two teams.

In 1992, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss was among the first to feature texture mapped environments, polygonal objects, and basic lighting. The engine was later enhanced for usage in the games Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds and System Shock. Later in 1992, id improved the technology used in Catacomb 3D by adding support for VGA graphics in Wolfenstein 3D. It would be widely imitated in the years to follow, and marked the beginning of many conventions in the genre, including collecting different weapons that can be switched between using the keyboard's number keys, and ammo conservation. 1996 saw the release of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall for MS-DOS by Bethesda Softworks, featuring similar graphics and polygonal structures to other games at the time and furthering the first-person element included in 1994's The Elder Scrolls: Arena, to which it was a sequel.Doom (1993) refined Wolfenstein 3D's template by adding support for higher resolution, improved textures, variations in height (e.g., stairs and platforms the player's character could climb upon), more intricate level design (Wolfenstein 3D was limited to a grid based system where walls had to be orthogonal to each other, whereas Doom allowed for any inclination) and rudimentary illumination effects such as flickering lights and areas of darkness, creating a far more believable 3D environment than Wolfenstein 3D's levels, all of which had a flat-floor space and corridors. Doom allowed competitive matches between multiple players, termed deathmatches, and the game was responsible for the word's subsequent entry into the video gaming lexicon. Doom has been considered the most important first-person shooter ever made.

The 1995 game Descent'' used a fully 3D polygonal graphics engine to render opponents, departing from the sprites used by most previous games in the FPS genre. It also escaped the "pure vertical walls" graphical restrictions of earlier games in the genre, and allowed the player six degrees of freedom of movement (up/down, left/right, forward/backward, pitch, roll, and yaw).

See also
 3D graphics
 First-person shooter engine
 Simulator sickness
 Virtual reality

References

Video game graphics

First-person (video games)


Rocky Road to Dublin on 1800-luvulla tehty irlantilainen kansanlaulu miehen kokemuksista matkallaan kotikaupungistaan Tuamista Liverpooliin.

Sanat kirjoitti D. K. Gavan muusikko Harry Cliftonille (1824–1872), joka popularisoi kappaleen.

Sanat

In the merry month of May from me home I started,
Left the girls of Tuam so nearly broken hearted,
Saluted Father dear, kissed me darling mother,
Drank a pint of beer, me grief and tears to smother,
Then off to reap the corn, leave where I was born,
Cut a stout blackthorn to banish ghosts and goblins;
In a brand new pair of brogues to rattle o'er the bogs
And frighten all the dogs on the rocky road to Dublin,

(Kertosäe):
One two three four five,
Hunt the Hare and turn her down the rocky road
And all the way to Dublin, Whack fol la de rah!

In Mullingar that night I rested limbs so weary
Started by daylight next morning bright and early
Took a drop of the pure to keep me heart from sinking;
That's a Paddy's cure whenever he's on drinking
See the lassies smile, laughing all the while
At me darlin' style, 'twould set your heart a bubblin'
Asked me was I hired, wages I required
Till I was almost tired of the rocky road to Dublin,

(Kertosäe)

In Dublin next arrived, I thought it be a pity
To be soon deprived a view of that fine city.
Decided to take a stroll, all among the quality;
Me bundle it was stole, all in a neat locality.
Something crossed me mind, when I looked behind,
No bundle could I find upon me stick a wobblin'
Enquiring for the rogue, they said me Connaught brogue
Wasn't much in vogue on the rocky road to Dublin,

(Kertosäe)

From there I got away, me spirits never falling,
Landed on the quay, just as the ship was sailing.
The Captain at me roared, said that no room had he;
When I jumped aboard, a cabin found for Paddy.
Down among the pigs, played some funny rigs,
Danced some hearty jigs, the water round me bubbling;
When off to Holyhead wished meself was dead,
Or better far instead on the rocky road to Dublin,

(Kertosäe)

The boys of Liverpool, when we were safely landed,
Called meself a fool, I could no longer stand it.
Blood began to boil, temper I was losing;
Poor old Erin's Isle they began abusing.
"Hurrah me soul!" says I, let the shillelagh fly.
Some Galway boys were nigh and saw I was a hobble in,
With a loud "hurray!" joined in the fray.
Quickly cleared the way on the rocky road to Dublin,

(Kertosäe)

Levytykset
Kappaleen ovat levyttäneet monet yhtyeet ja artistit.

 Bert Jansch
 Blaggards, 2005.
 Brobdingnagian Bards, 2002.
 Brian Roebuck
 Christy Moore, 2000.
 The Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem kanssa, 1964.
 Clandestine, 1996.
 Cruachan, 2002.
 Damien Dempsey, 2008.
 Dropkick Murphys, 2001 ja 2002.
 Fiddler's Green, 1992.
 Orthodox Celts, 1999
 The Dubliners, 1964.
 Luke Kelly, 1973
 Gaelic Storm, 1998.
 Paddy Reilly, 1985.
 The Rolling Stones, The Chieftains kanssa, 1995.
 Ryan's Fancy, 1973.
 The Young Dubliners, albumillaan With All Due Respect - The Irish Sessions, 2007.
 The High Kings, 2008.
 The Tossers, 2008.
 The Permanent Cure, 1996

Irlantilaiset kansanlaulut

Rocky Road to Dublin


The 190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident was a friendly fire incident involving two United States Air Force (USAF) Air National Guard 190th Fighter Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft, and vehicles from the British D Squadron, The Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry, and took place on 28 March 2003 during the invasion of Iraq by armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom.  In the incident, the two USAF A-10s fired on and destroyed two Blues and Royals armored vehicles, killing one British soldier, and wounding five others.

Although not the only fratricide incident during the invasion, the circumstances of the inquest into the death of British lance-corporal of horse Matty Hull – and the subsequent verdict of unlawful killing – led to much media scrutiny in the UK. This was related to the release of video evidence from the attacking aircraft, and perceived levels of cooperation by government agencies of both the United States and United Kingdom with the British inquest.

Operation Telic – 28 March 2003

The Blues and Royals were serving as an armoured reconnaissance element for 16th Air Assault Brigade.  Four vehicles from D Squadron, two FV107 Scimitars and two FV103 Spartans, were moving north of the main force, patrolling the Forward Edge of Battle Area.  The area of the patrol had been declared as a no engagement zone to the allied forces and the vehicles were marked with the agreed coalition Combat Identification markings including orange overhead canvas panels, thermal reflectors and Union Flags.

Two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft of the Idaho Air National Guard, 190th Fighter Squadron were completing a two-hour mission; engaging artillery and rocket launchers of Iraq's 6th Armoured Division, dug in  north of Basra.  The aircraft were guided to their targets by US Marine Corps forward air controllers, embedded with British ground units, and flown by a major and an lieutenant colonel on their first operational flight of the invasion.  According to media reporting of the subsequent investigation, the flight was commanded by the major.

From an altitude of , the aircraft spotted Iraqi vehicles 800 yards north, and the British patrol less than three miles (5 km) west. Following dialogue with the Forward Air Controller (FAC) and between the aircrew, the British convoy was engaged by the A-10s in a gun and rocket attack which left the vehicles disabled.  The British soldiers exited the vehicles, taking cover underneath the hulls.  The aircraft conducted a second attack, resulting in the death of L/CoH Hull, still within his Scimitar.

Trooper Christopher Finney, 18, driver of the lead Scimitar, re-entered his burning vehicle calling a Mayday report on his still-functional radio.  Trooper Finney then dragged a badly wounded L/Cpl Tudball from the burning vehicle before attempting to recover Hull in the second Scimitar, but being beaten back by exploding munitions and heat.  For his actions, Trooper Finney was later awarded the George Cross, the highest award for gallantry "not in the face of the enemy."

As well as the death of Hull, a further five soldiers were injured.

Boards of inquiry

The US Air Force conducted an investigation into the incident in 2003, but the results of that investigation were not publicly released, and did not result in a court-martial. Subsequent reporting of the US Air Force investigation states that the investigation found fault with both pilots' actions in the incident, including, "findings of cognitive and physical task overload, ineffective communication and failure to recognise identification panels by the two pilots."  The investigation report recommended administrative or disciplinary action against both pilots.  Higher United States Department of Defense officials, however, cleared both pilots of any wrongdoing.

A British Army Board of Inquiry (BoI) was held in 2004, the findings of which, among others, stated that the major authorised the lieutenant colonel to attack, but no authorisation was given by controllers on the ground. The report was released to the family of Lance Corporal Hull and later to the public. It has been alleged that certain classified material available to the BoI was withheld from the family.

Inquest into the death of L/CoH Hull

At the time, the bodies of those service personnel dying overseas were repatriated to the UK via RAF Brize Norton, leading to the responsibility for inquests being under the civilian jurisdiction of the Oxfordshire coroner.  An inquest into the death of L/CoH Hull was convened in 2006, presided over by Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker.

Discussion prior to the inquest

The stated position of the United States government is that US servicemen do not attend non-US courts, with written statements normally being provided.

British media reported that the UK government had pressured the US government, via the US embassy in London, to release all evidence related to the incident.  A meeting between Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman and Deputy Head of Mission, David Johnson, was reported on 20 November 2006 where assurances were given that concerns of the UK government over the US policy on attendance were to be relayed to Washington.

Harman reiterated this position on 1 February 2007, highlighting the request for evidence and indicating that the US personnel could not be compelled to attend the inquest.

Conduct of the inquest

The inquest took oral testimony from the various British personnel associated with the incident, including those in the convoy, and a FAC who expressed the opinion that the aircrew were acting independently. Walker commented on the actions of L/Cpl Finney GC, stating: "You are a brave man. You are to be commended for what you did."

It was publicly acknowledged during the inquest that a cockpit video of the head-up display from one of the aircraft existed, which media reports indicated had been shown to the BoI, but not released to Hull's family with the findings.

The video was shown to the coroner in private, although permission to use it in public was refused by the Ministry of Defence, citing international agreements related to the release of classified information, and the US classification of the tape as secret.  This adherence to international protocols led to significant criticism in the British media, leading to a public statement by Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram which reiterated the requirement for US de-classification of the video and highlighting ongoing engagement to achieve that.

Media reporting indicated that the MOD had previously denied the existence of the video.

On 2 February 2007 Walker opted to adjourn the inquest until the video could be displayed in open court.

Unauthorised leak and subsequent de-classification of video evidence
The video was leaked to The Sun tabloid newspaper, and reported on 6 February 2007, as well as published on the newspaper's website. The newspaper indicated that the leak had come from a US military source.  The US government subsequently announced that the video would be declassified, but noted that the leak was likely to be a criminal offence.

The video released was 19 minutes long, and was accompanied with recordings of cockpit audio and radio communications.

British media allege six errors on the part of the aircrew:

 The pilots asked the Forward Air Controller ("Manila Hotel") if friendly forces were around the Iraqi vehicles – not to the west.
 Neither pilot gave the precise grid references for the Household Cavalry patrol to double check its identity.
 The pilots convinced themselves that the orange identification panels were in fact orange rocket launchers.
 POPOV36 decided to attack, saying he is "rolling in" without permission from the Forward Air Controller.
 POPOV35 asked for artillery to fire a marker round into the target area to clear up confusion, but POPOV36 attacked without waiting for it.
 POPOV36 strafed the column for a second time, but still doubted its identity.

The audio track includes debate over the identity of the targets and the order, from the FAC, to disengage identifying a likely "blue-on-blue" incident. The audio track also includes notification of one death and several injuries with the order to return to base. Subsequent audio indicates the pilots crying and their frustration.

A statement released by the Oxfordshire coroner's office later confirmed that Walker was of the view that, being in the public domain, the video could now be presented as evidence without the approval of the US government, and that the inquest would resume on 12 March 2007.

On 6 February 2007 the Sun named POPOV36 as Colonel Gus Kohntopp, a commercial pilot for Southwest Airlines and member of the Idaho Air National Guard. However, POPOV35, the one who gave the order: "Get him, get him," has never been publicly identified. The British inquest was set to resume on 12 March 2007.

Inquest reconvened

The Oxfordshire inquest resumed as scheduled on 12 March with testimony from a British FAC involved in the incident, who stated that the incident would not have happened if the two U.S. pilots involved had followed the same procedures that UK pilots must follow in the same type of situation. On 13 March, the same British FAC testified that POPOV36 committed a "catalogue of serious failures" when he shot at the British vehicles in the incident, including "ignoring crucial warning signs, attacking without permission, and failing to wait for an artillery shell marker on a proposed target." After the inquest revealed that portions of relevant evidence from the U.S. investigation into the incident were blacked out in the copy of the report given to the inquest, Matty Hull's widow made a personal appeal to U.S. president George W. Bush for the information to be released to the inquest.

Inquest verdict

On 16 March, coroner Andrew Walker returned a narrative verdict, stating that the killing of Hull was "unlawful". Walker said: "The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault. It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it and in that respect it was criminal."  Neither of the two U.S. pilots involved nor any other representative from the U.S. government appeared at the inquest, despite numerous requests from Walker, Harman, and Hull's family to do so.

Research focused on the incident

As a rare case where video of an incident of fratricide or 'friendly fire' has become publicly available, the case has attracted a great deal of interest among researchers interested in exploring the question of why such incidents occur and what might be done about them. Drawing on the sociological research traditions of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the work of Nevile and the work of Elsey, Mair, Smith and Watson, among these, has offered detailed accounts of how the incident unfolded in real-time as well as how it was subsequently investigated by the various military and non-military inquiries after-the-fact. In the course of their research, Elsey, Mair, Smith and Watson developed an alternative version of the transcript, based in part on the detailed information released in the USAF Friendly Fire Investigation Board Report, to make it easier to follow the incident's interactional dynamics. The transcript is available open access.

See also
 List of post-1945 U.S. friendly-fire incidents with British victims
 East Knoyle War Memorial

References

Notes

Web

21st-century history of the British Army
21st-century military history of the United States
Accidents and incidents involving United States Air Force aircraft
Conflicts in 2003
Friendly fire incidents
Household Cavalry
Iraq War legal issues
Articles containing video clips
March 2003 events in Iraq
United Kingdom–United States military relations
2003 in Iraq


Visioneers is a 2008 satirical science fiction dark comedy directed by Jared Drake, written by Brandon Drake, and starring Zach Galifianakis and Judy Greer. The film premiered on June 12, 2008, and was shot in Snoqualmie, Washington and surrounding areas.

Plot
In a dystopian near-future, the Jeffers Corporation is the "largest, friendliest and most profitable business in the history of Mankind," and is driving out a culture of independent thought and intimacy. The corporation and its leader, Mr. Jeffers, claim success is achieved by its strict philosophy of mindless productivity. Jeffers teaches that productivity equals happiness, and the business logo (a middle finger) is the standard greeting in society.

George Washington Winsterhammerman (Zach Galifianakis), a descendant of George Washington, is a Level-3 "tunt" employee at the Jeffers Corporation, and is suffering from overeating and impotence as a result of alienation common in this society. George then begins to "suffer from dreams" wherein he is the first president of the United States, beset by the prospect of losing the American Revolutionary War, and contemplating surrender to the British. Winsterhammerman is told by authority figures that dreams are a symptom of stress that leads to spontaneous bodily explosion, an escalating problem across the world.

Despite the government's increasingly intrusive attempts to combat explosions, culminating in mandatory neck-worn "inhibitors" created by the Jeffers Corporation, people including George's co-worker, Todd, continue to explode. After George's friend and superior, Charisma, is fired, George discovers she now works in a café, and meets with her in an attempt to avoid unhappiness. After a brief talk, Charisma confides that she has dreams too, and that they involve George and her running away together.

After his wife and son leave due to their own unhappiness, George is visited by Mr. Jeffers, who says he wants to know why George drew a sunset to encapsulate his vision of the future. Mr. Jeffers is impressed with George, believing him to be a nearly perfect Jeffers Corporation drone, and an ally against an anticipated revolt over the Jeffers way of life. Hoping to help George purge himself of all dreams, thereby ending his anger, pain and desire, he recommends George to kill the thing he loves. George returns to Charisma, who has joined many others in being brainwashed through an inhibitor device. After taking her on a yacht with the intent of killing her, George makes a final attempt to rekindle the intimacy they shared at the café by removing her inhibitor. She initially cannot remember him, but later she recalls him and begins to cry. They embrace. After spending the night with Charisma, George imagines he sees George Washington crossing in a canoe, salutes him, and turns to bask in the sun.

Cast
 Zach Galifianakis as George Washington Winsterhammerman
 Judy Greer as Michelle
 Mia Maestro as Charisma
 Missi Pyle as Sahra
 James LeGros as Julieen
 D. W. Moffett as Jeffers
 Aubrey Morris as Old Jeffers
 Matthew Glave as Rodger
 Chris Coppola as Todd
 Fay Masterson as Cindy
 John Keister as Dr. Knob
 Pat Cashman as Bern Goodman
 Ryan McCann as Mack Luster
 Anthony L. Fuller Jr. as Missionary #2
 Joe Rosati as Jeffers Agent #1
 Mycol Comolli as Jeffers Agent #2

Release

After being screened extensively at various festivals, Visioneers secured a release. Subscribers to the Zach Galifianakis Newsletter were provided an opportunity to screen the movie from a streaming website. The film was released on DVD July 21, 2009, the cover art containing the statement "Starring Zach Galifianakis from America's #1 comedy THE HANGOVER". This lent credence to speculation that distributors only chose to release Visioneers after the immense success of The Hangover, which exposed a wider audience to Galifianakis in a co-starring role than in any previous film.

Reception
Visioneers holds a 67% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

External links

2008 films
2008 black comedy films
2000s satirical films
American satirical films
2008 comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films

Visioneers


Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 16 April 1978) (,  Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama), better known by his stage name K'naan (), is a Somali-Canadian rapper. He rose to prominence with the success of his single "Wavin' Flag", which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Besides hip hop, K'naan's sound is influenced by elements of Somali music and world music. He is also involved in various philanthropic initiatives.

Personal life
K'naan was born 16 April 1978 in Mogadishu, situated in the southeastern Banaadir province of Somalia. K'naan's family was from an artistic background. His grandfather was a famous poet, and his aunt Magool was a renowned singer. His name, Keynaan (), means "traveller" in the Somali language.

K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu. His father, Abdi, left earlier when he was still a boy to work as a taxi driver in New York City. K'naan's early years were idyllic and enveloped in poetry and song, with his aunt Magool often singing to him. This changed following the start of the civil war, when at the age of 12, three of his friends were shot by an older adolescent gunman. K'naan also narrowly escaped death one day at his school, when he mistook a grenade that he found in the dirt for a potato and threw it away just before it detonated. These incidents and the general escalation in violence prompted his mother to seek a visa so that the family could join his father in New York. When he was 13, K'naan and his mother and two siblings, older brother Liban and younger sister Sagal, moved to the United States. They stayed in New York for half a year, before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, his family still resides there.

In his new environment, K'naan began learning English, partly by listening to hip hop albums by artists like Nas and Rakim. Despite the fact that he could not yet speak the language, he taught himself hip-hop and rap diction, copying the lyrics and style phonetically. He then also began rapping. While growing up in Toronto's Rexdale neighbourhood, K'naan lost many friends to murder, suicide, prison, and deportation.

In 2006, K'naan moved back to New York City, where his father still resided. K'naan was married to Deka, a pharmacy technician, with whom he has two sons, born in 2005 and 2007. The couple divorced before K'naan started touring for the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Coca-Cola.

Career

K'naan became a friend and associate of Canadian promoter Sol Guy, who helped him secure a speaking engagement before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999, where K'naan performed a spoken word piece criticizing the UN for its failed peacekeeping missions to Somalia. One of the audience members, Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, was so impressed by the young MC's performance and courage that he invited him to contribute to his 2001 album Building Bridges, a project through which K'naan was able to tour the world.

This project led to his work at other UN events, as well as the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Halifax Pop Explosion. It also helped him meet Canadian producer Brian West and Jarvis Church and his Track & Field team in 2002, who produced his debut album The Dusty Foot Philosopher, which was released in 2005 to critical acclaim. In 2006, it won the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year, and was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize. It also won the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music in the newcomer category for 2007.  The Dusty Foot Philosopher was re-released and repackaged as a "Deluxe Edition" featuring new mixes and a bonus DVD in the United States (and various international territories) by the emerging media company and record label iM (Interdependent Media, Inc.) in 2008.

K'naan toured and collaborated with artists like Nelly Furtado, Mos Def, will.i.am, The Roots, Dead Prez, and Pharoahe Monch on tours such as Live 8 and Breedlove Odyssey. He also collaborated with Damian Marley on the "Welcome to Jamrock" touring session.

K'naan released The Dusty Foot on the Road, a collection of recordings made during his world tour on Wrasse Records.

K'naan rose to mainstream popularity by participating in the 2008 BET Awards Cypher. This was his first appearance on American television. His second studio album, Troubadour, was released on 24 February 2009, on A&M/Octone Records, and distributed through Universal Music Group worldwide. The album's first single, "ABC's", was released in late 2008. K'naan's music has featured in several video games such as Madden NFL 09 (with his song "ABC's") and FIFA 06 (with his song "Soobax"). The song "If Rap Gets Jealous", a re-recording of a track of the same name – with different verses – from The Dusty Foot Philosopher, features Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. K'naan was also the first featured artist on X3, a collaborative project between CBC Radio 3, Exclaim! magazine and aux.tv to promote new Canadian music. In July 2010, he performed a cover of U2's "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" for iHeartRadio. On 24 January 2012, K'naan released a 5-song EP under the title More Beautiful Than Silence including songs such as "Nothing to Lose", "Better", "Is Anybody Out There?". The songs also include collaborations with Nas and Nelly Furtado.

K'naan's 2012 album, Country, God or the Girl, was met with little of the critical acclaim and success that Troubadour received. Unlike Troubadour, which was produced almost entirely by production team Track and Field, Country, God or the Girl featured a wide range of different producers, many of whom work on more mainstream projects. After the release of the album, K'naan published an article in the New York Times explaining and apologizing for the change in his sound. "My lyrics should change, my label's executives said; radio programmers avoid subjects too far from fun and self-absorption," recounts K'naan. "So I began to say yes. Yes to trying out songs with A-list producers. Yes to moving production from Kingston to Los Angeles." In the end, K'naan states "I had not made my Marley or my Dylan, or even my K'naan; I had made an album in which a few genuine songs are all but drowned out by the loud siren of ambition. Fatima had become Mary, and Mohamed, Adam."

In 2012, K'naan published a children's book, When I Get Older: The Story Behind Wavin' Flag.

He is featured along with Howard Shore in the Cosmopolis (2012) soundtrack.

Political involvement
K'Naan has remained committed to his Somali roots and continues to be outspoken in the geopolitics of his home country. He is often regarded as a spokesperson for the Toronto Somali community. In 2007, he was invited by Canadian Broadcast Corporation to reflect on changes in the Somali courts, including the removal of the Islamic Courts Union. K'Naan renounced this act by Somalia and indicated his support for the Islamic Courts Union, pushing back on the Western critiques of Muslim governing systems. Furthermore, he has spoken out against the clan system used in Somalia and particularly its use in immigrant communities in Canada.

K'Naan's engagement with his Somali roots dates back to his first hit "Soobax," which in his native Somali language means "come out." The song critiques the warlords that held power in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. The song gained popularity in Somalia, Canada and the United States. Additionally, K'Naan goes beyond reflecting on his Somali roots in his lyrics as he often raps in both English and Somali rather than one language. His choice to blend both languages has made him a standout among hip hop artists.

K'Naan's involvement in rap and hip hop in North America has expanded the discussion on both Somali and the Black Diaspora in the West. Both his music and appearances on television and radio shows have grown the conversation on what it means to be Black in Canada. In addition to Black communities that have been residing in the country for over a century there are large Black immigrant communities from the Caribbean and Africa.

Rather than speaking for a larger Black diaspora, K'Naan speaks on his own personal experience including being Somali in Canada. K'Naan continues to be a voice of the Toronto Somali communities.

K'naan's cover of the Bob Dylan song "With God on Our Side" is the closing song on Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 11/9.

Style and influences

Jim Welte has said K'naan has "a sound that fuses Bob Marley, conscious American hip-hop, and brilliant protest poetry." His voice and style has been compared to Eminem, but his subject matter is very different; according to K'naan, he makes "urgent music with a message", talking about the situation in his homeland of Somalia and calling for an end to violence and bloodshed. He specifically tries to avoid gangsta rap clichés and posturing, saying:

This statement was made to explain his position on the world of difference which exists between where he grew up, and the ghettos of the first world. Nonetheless, K'naan denies that he is overtly political, instead explaining that he "[shows] the state of the world [and] if you call it like it is you're being political." His own opinion of his music is that it's a "mix of tradition and [a] kind of articulation of my own life and [..] my past experiences."

K'naan has said that he is influenced by Somali music and the traditional instruments of Somalia. His 2009 album, Troubadour, also draws heavily from Ethiopian sources, particularly Ethio-Jazz by Alemayehu Eshete and Tilahun Gessesse.

K'naan's single "Fatima" is about his childhood friend who was killed in the Somali civil war.

Notable live performances
With a small acoustic band, consisting of Rayzak (back-up vocals), Kierscey Rand (acoustic guitar) and UDOGG-The Funky Drummer (djembe and drums). This style was an essential element of what set K'naan apart from most hip-hop acts. More than that, it reflected K'naan's value of meaningful lyrics over shallow theatrics. One of the last performances of this band was on 16 March 2009, when K'naan rendered four songs from the newly launched album for CBC's program Q with Jian Ghomeshi, although Rayzak continued to join his subsequent shows and Kierscey Rand made occasional appearances, such as his World Cup Trophy Tour.

Since Troubadour, K'naan has toured almost exclusively with a larger electric ensemble – consisting of drums, bass, electric guitar, and keyboards – and his performances now also feature elaborate lighting. This change in showmanship, along with his collaborations with such high-profile artists as Adam Levine and Mos Def, has helped to shift K'naan more into the mainstream flow of the music industry and has helped him gain exposure to a wider audience.

2010 FIFA World Cup tour

A remixed version of K'naan's single, "Wavin' Flag", was chosen as Coca-Cola's anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It was also used in the commercials for the pre-game, which was held in South Africa. Additionally, the track is in the soundtrack for the official EA Sports 2010 FIFA World Cup video game. In December 2009, K'naan performed the song live during the sponsor's FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, which took him to 86 countries around the world. His performance of "Wavin' Flag" was featured in the Top 10 hits in 11 countries across the world. This also included number one hits in Mexico, Austria, China, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. In order to appeal to different people around the world, K'naan also recorded the song with various local artists such as David Bisbal, Jacky Cheung, Jane Zhang, Nancy Ajram, and Tattoo Colour.

No Show at Simon Fraser University
On 21 September 2010, K'naan was scheduled as the headlining act of a student organised concert for World Peace Day which was to benefit girls' education in rural Ghana. At 11pm, K'naan cancelled for reasons that have been reported as relating to finances. His manager stated that, "this is the first time in K'naan's seven-year career that he has pulled out of a performance for such a reason". K'naan announced on his Twitter following the concert "amazing how human beings need a bogeyman. It's even better when they can turn their heroes to foes. SFU, check your own back yard for faults."

Coke's 125th Anniversary
On 8 May 2011, K'naan performed live at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park for Coca-Cola's employees in light of Coke's 125th anniversary.

"Decade of Difference" Clinton Concert
On 15 October 2011, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, K'naan was one of eight performers at the "Decade of Difference" concert. The concert celebrated former US President Bill Clinton's 65th birthday and the 10-year anniversary of the Clinton Foundation. K'naan was the third performer of the evening, following sets by Stevie Wonder and Kenny Chesney and preceding sets by Juanes, Usher, Lady Gaga, and The Edge, and Bono of U2. K'naan performed three songs – "Bulletproof Pride," "America," and "Wavin' Flag." Toward the end of "Bulletproof Pride," K'naan surprised the audience by bringing Bono onstage for a duet. K'naan also spoke about his childhood in Somalia and how President Clinton's efforts overseas positively impacted his youth.

Musical feud
In 2005, the Canadian music scene featured a low-key feud between K'naan and k-os, one of the most prominent Canadian hip-hop artists. Following the release of the music video for the song "Soobax", which was shot by K'naan and a film crew in Kenya, k-os released a track "B-Boy Stance" attacking K'naan: "They took cameras to Africa for pictures to rhyme / Over; Oh, yes, the great pretenders [...] Religious entertainers who want to be life savers."  Though the feud never became high-profile, with K'naan expressing confusion at the attack and respect for k-os, he nonetheless responded with the mixtape track "Revolutionary Avocado" which argued "You the all-knowing with a beer bottle / Wishing you was Plato and me Aristotle? / ...Suburban negro turned hip-hop hero / Is there a reason he really hates me, though?" – a rebuttal CBC's Matthew McKinnon called "cold-cocking the champ".

Collaborations

In 2006, he collaborated with Dead Prez's M-1 on the song "'Till We Get There" from the album Confidential.
In 2008, K'naan collaborated with the Malian duo Amadou & Mariam on the song "Africa" from their album Welcome to Mali.
In 2009, he collaborated with British rock band Keane on two songs from their EP Night Train including the single "Stop for a Minute", and "Looking Back".
In 2009, he also collaborated with American rapper Wale on the song "Um'Ricka" from the mixtape Back to the Feature, and on the song "TV in the Radio" from Wale's debut album Attention Deficit.
In September 2009, K'naan teamed up with J.Period, an L.A.-born DJ/producer, and released The Messengers, a three volume remix project. Each volume pays tribute to one music icon: Fela Kuti, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. It was released and is hosted online for free at Jperiod.com/knaan.
K'naan also toured with Jason Mraz during the summer of 2009 for Mraz's Gratitude Cafe Tour. He also toured with Lenny Kravitz on the LLR tour in 2009.
In 2010, during the Vancouver Olympics, 50 other Canadian musicians and artists came together with K'naan under the collaboration name of Young Artists for Haiti at the Bryan Adams Vancouver studios to produce a charity version of his song "Wavin' Flag". The music video was released 1 March 2010. String students from Lord Byng Secondary and Magee Secondary joined together momentarily and formed an orchestra which accompanied the song. It was released for digital download on 12 March 2010.
In 2010, K'naan featured on the first unofficial single, "Mask on My Face", from Chin Injeti's album, D'tach.
In 2010, a remixed bilingual English/Spanish version of  "Wavin' Flag" was made under the title "Wavin' Flag (Coca Cola Spanish Celebration Mix)" with Spanish pop artist David Bisbal after the song was chosen as the Coca-Cola anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, to be held in South Africa. K'naan sings the English lyrics and Bisbal the Spanish lyrics. He also featured Banky W. and M.I in the Nigerian version of the song "Wavin' Flag", Nancy Ajram for the Arabic version of the song, féfé for the French version, Skank for the Brazilian version, and will.i.am and David Guetta for the English version of the song.  He also featured Ai (singer) in the Japanese version of the song under the title "Wavin' Flag (Coca Cola Japanese Celebration Mix)". He also featured Jacky Cheung and Jane Zhang in the Chinese version of the song, entitled "旗開得勝".
In 2010, he collaborated with Damian Marley and Nas on the album Distant Relatives, appearing on the songs "Tribes at War" and "Africa Must Wake Up". He also helped come up with the "sound" of certain songs such as "As We Enter". The album was released on 18 May 2010.
In 2010, K'naan's song "Wavin' Flag" is featured in the documentary Bouncing Cats by the filmmaker Nabil Elderkin, starring Crazy Legs. The singer also appears in an interview.
In 2011, K'naan is featured as a guest singer on Simple Plan album Get Your Heart On! on a track called "Summer Paradise".
In 2011, he is featured with KRS-One on the soundtrack to the film Beat the World on a track called "Hip Hop Nation", produced by Frank Fitzpatrick.
In 2012, K'naan released a single titled "Nothing to Lose" featuring Nas.
In 2012, he collaborated with Howard Shore and Don DeLillo in the Cosmopolis soundtrack.
K'naan also released "Bang, Bang" featuring Adam Levine from Maroon 5 on his album Troubadour.
In 2017, K'naan performed in a music video titled "Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)" with Residente, Riz MC and Snow Tha Product. The song is part of Lin-Manuel Miranda's The Hamilton Mixtape.
On 19 September 2021, K'naan was featured on Sharma Boy's song "Waayo Waayo."
On 20 December 2021, K'naan was featured on Sharma Boy's song "Somalia Somali Baa Leh."

Philanthropy
In addition to his artistic career, K'naan has been involved with various philanthropic initiatives. In 2011, he became a co-spokesman with Bono to raise awareness of that year's drought in Eastern Africa. Also teaming up with close associate Sol Guy, K'naan performed various concerts for the cause.

Additionally, K'naan was also active in promoting the Canadian Bill C-393 to help increase medical assistance to countries in Africa. He teamed up with Stephen Lewis, James Orbinski, and Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, but the bill was not passed by the Senate.

Awards and nominations
2006 Juno Awards
Rap Recording of the Year for The Dusty Foot Philosopher (Won)
2010 Juno Awards
Rap Recording of the Year for Troubadour (Nominated)
Artist of the Year (Won)
Songwriter of the Year (Won)
2010 Mobo Awards
African Artist of the Year (Won)
2011 Juno Awards
Single of the Year (Won)
 2011 SOCAN International Achievement Award
2012 MTV Music Video Awards
Best Video With a Message (Nominated)
2012 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award Winner
African Muzik Magazine Awards
Best Male Diaspora (Pending)

Discography

Studio albums
 My Life Is a Movie (2004)
 The Dusty Foot Philosopher (2005)
 Troubadour (2009)
 Country, God or the Girl (2012)

See also

Canadian hip hop
Music of Canada
Music of Somalia

References

External links

1978 births
Living people
21st-century Black Canadian male singers
21st-century Canadian poets
21st-century Canadian rappers
21st-century Somalian male singers
A&M Records artists
Alternative hip hop musicians
Applicants for refugee status in Canada
Bertelsmann Music Group artists
Canadian children's writers
Canadian Film Centre alumni
Canadian hip hop singers
Canadian male poets
Canadian male rappers
Canadian male singers
Canadian people of Somali descent
21st-century Canadian philanthropists
Hip hop activists
Juno Award for Artist of the Year winners
Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year winners
Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year winners
Naturalized citizens of Canada
People from Etobicoke
People from Mogadishu
Rappers from Toronto
Somalian emigrants to Canada
Somalian refugees
Universal Music Group artists
Wrasse Records artists
Writers from Toronto
York University alumni
Underground rappers

K'naan


A pendulum is a mass (any object usually metal) on an arm. The arm is attached to a pivot, which is a point to swing from. The mass will naturally hang down because of gravity, but if it is pushed to one side it will oscillate, which means that it will swing from side to side.  The frequency of the swinging pendulum stays the same.

We can work out the time taken for one full oscillation (for example, swinging from left to right and back to left). We shall call this time  the period. If the pendulum length is , and the acceleration due to gravity is , then:

where π (a Greek letter pronounced 'pi') is a mathematical constant. This equation gives a good approximation for the period when the mass does not swing far from the middle. The period of a pendulum does not depend on the mass of the object.

The mechanical energy of a pendulum is constant and is the sum of the kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy.

The regular motion of the pendulum can be used for timekeeping, and pendulums are used to regulate pendulum clocks.

Related pages
Foucault pendulum
Pendulum clock

Hardware (mechanical)

Pendulum


The Hawaiian language () is the language of native Hawaiians. Aloha and mahalo are probably its most recognized words. The word lanai is also used in English. (That is different from Lanai, the name of one of Hawaii's islands.)

Related languages
There are related languages in the Marquesas, Raratonga, Samoa, some islands of what is now Fiji and New Zealand. Their languages have changed a lot over the last two thousand years or so. However, native speakers of all these languages can still understand each other.

Letters
The language has only 12 letters (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, U, W). There are 13 if you count the okina. The okina is a real letter and came from some "K" sounds in old Polynesian languages. The okina is pronounced as a glottal stop, like the break in the middle of the word "Uh-oh". The okina is written as a backward apostrophe (small numeral 6 above and before a vowel).

Dialects
The Niihau dialect still uses some T, S, R and "hints" of B sounds. People who live on that island are the only people who still speak Hawaiian only and their dialect is the truest to its roots.

Syllables
Every Hawaiian syllable ends with a vowel. There are some who think that makes the language sound "musical". Some think that final vowels helped the speakers remember chanted traditional stories and genealogies. Most linguists, however, think it is because of internal phonological processes.

There are two forms of each of the five vowels. One is regular, where the vowel is pronounced as a Spaniard would say it. The other is extended, in written form, where a horizontal bar called a kahako is over the vowel. The meanings (and pronunciations) of words spelled the same but with or without the appropriate kahakos or okinas can be very different, sometimes even embarrassing.

Learning
One might think that learning the language would be relatively easy, but that only applies to na keiki (children) who have never learned the 26 letters that English speakers use. There is a children's rhyme that goes on for a couple of minutes (and written, probably a couple dozen lines) that consists of nothing but both versions of the letters a, i and the okina. It talks of him (ia) eating (ai) his (iaia) fish (ia).

When the missionaries made a written form of Hawaiian Language, they did not write the kahakos or okinas; leaving it to the context to make the meanings evident.

Since the intent was to translate the Bible ("Paipala"), natives forgave some of the confusion created. They still learned how unintended "double entendres" could be funny in written form. When Hawaiian language newspapers started, native-speaking writers and editors were careful to avoid these (the type that was available to "set" did not include such "specialty" characters).

References

Polynesian languages
Hawaii

Hawaiian language


The federation of Australia was the way that the six separate British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia joined together to become one country. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.

People had been trying to get the colonies to join together in a federation of Australia during the 1850s and 1860s. In the 1890s, a number of big meetings, called conventions, were held to write a constitution for Australia. Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, was the main person supporting this idea. Fiji and New Zealand were going to be part of the federation but decided not to join the federation.

As soon as the Federation happened, Sir Edmund Barton was put in charge as Prime Minister of Australia until the first Australian elections were held. Barton won the election and continued to be the Prime Minister.

Government of Australia

Federation of Australia