A memristor, or memory resistor, is described as one of the basic elements (resistor, capacitor, inductor) of electronic circuits, because it can't be replaced by any combination of these elements. This element can change its resistivity according to the voltage, but even after disconnection it remembers resistivity for unlimited time. It can work like analog memory or a resistive switch, which can have an infinite number of states.

History
Professor Leon Chua mathematically described this element in 1971.
In 2008 scientists from HP labs described a material that appeared to be a good candidate to construct the hypothetical memristor.

How it works
The fourth element can change its conductivity by the voltage, and after power interruption the amount of the resistivity stays the same. No combination of the other three circuit elements can replace a memristor. Only the memristor allows reconfiguring properties so it allows changing a whole electronic circuit. Analogy behaviour is similar to synapses in the brain.

Future usage
Memristors have great potential for use in computers. For example, computers today have to boot from hard drives because the data is erased from operating memory immediately after shutting down the computer. The process of booting takes much time and energy. Memristors could be used for loading data quicker because it remembers data even after power interruption. Therefore, Memristors could be used to speed the booting process.

The first products using Memristor technology are expected to become available in 2013.

References

Further reading
 YAN Kun(2011). Nonlinstor-An electronic circuit element based on the form of the nonlinear differential equation (Brief annotation of the connection equation(R)), Xi'an: Xi'an Modern Nonlinear Science Applying Institute.

Electronic components

Memristor


Die Hard 2 (also called Die Hard 2: Die Harder) is an American action thriller movie starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, and William Sadler.  It was released on the Fourth of July weekend in 1990. It is the second movie in the Die Hard series.

Plot
This movie begins on Christmas Eve 1990. John McClane is at the Washington Dulles International Airport, waiting for his wife Holly's plane to land, and his car gets towed away. He argues with the airport security for a little bit before going inside.  There, he sees a couple of men handing off a package to each other and does not like it.  He goes to tell the airport police, but stops because the same man who towed his car is there. Instead, McClane enters the baggage area, where one of the men pulls a Glock gun and starts firing. During the gun fight, one man, named Oswald Cochrane, is killed when he goes through a baggage sorting machine. The other man manages to escape.

McClane tells the chief head of police, a man named Carmine Lorenzo, but Lorenzo thinks that these men are only "punks stealing luggage."  McClane goes out there and gets fingerprints from the dead man. He faxes them to his friend Al Powell in Los Angeles, telling Powell to run the fingerprints through police records to find out who this person is. Powell does so and then gives McClane the man's record. The record says that Cochrane died two years ago in 1988 but is somehow still alive today. McClane believes he is a professional mercenary.

McClane goes to up to the airport tower and tells them that someone is about to "fuck with the airport."  He says that he does not know what they will do. Lorenzo forces him out.

A man named Colonel Stuart then puts his plan into action. He cuts off all electronics inside the airport tower and takes control of all their items – the instrument that lands the planes and all radios. He then says that, in a couple of hours, a cargo plane will be landing. The plane has a man named Ramon Esperanza. Esperanza is the drug lord of the fictional country of Val Verde. The United States Justice Department is going to put him in jail. Stuart tells them that he wants a fully-fueled Boeing 747 to be put on the runway and says that nobody should touch the Esperanza's plane or try to restore the landing instruments.

McClane finds a janitor named Marvin.  McClane has Marvin tell him where to go. Just before McClane was forced out, he heard that the air traffic controllers wanted to head to the Annex Skywalk, a new branch of the airport, to restore their systems. Lorenzo sends his SWAT team and the communications director, Leslie Barnes, to head to the Skywalk. As McClane expected, Stuart's men attack the SWAT team. They kill all five members and are about to kill Barnes when McClane comes through a vent shaft and kills them all.

Moments later, the antenna outpost explodes. It was a trap. Stuart then calls in to tell them that it was stupid to try to restore their systems. He then picks a flight that is low on fuel. He resets the ground level of the landing system to be 200 feet below, so that when the plane is at 200 feet they think they are at 400 feet.  He then crashes the plane into the ground, killing all of the passengers on board.

Afterwards, a Special Forces unit from the United States Army comes in, led by Major Grant. They take a meeting in the pilot's briefing room. McClane gets Marvin to try to tell him where the room is. During the search, McClane finds a two-way radio that one of Stuart's men dropped.  He listens in and finds out that Esperanza has taken over the plane and shot the two pilots. The plane is out of control and he needs to land right away.  Stuart tells him to land on the nearest runway.

McClane gets out there first and punches him before Stuart's men show up. They trap him in the cockpit and throw grenades. McClane escapes by strapping up in the pilot's ejection seat and blasting off as the grenades explode.

Barnes listens to McClane's story. Because Stuart's men showed up so fast, Barnes thinks that they must be close by.  They find the church where they are basing their operations and send in the Army Special Forces out there to fight. During the gun battle, McClane sees that Stuart's men are escaping on snowmobiles.  He shoots one guy with a gun that he stole, takes his mobile, and chases after them. However his gun does not work and his mobile gets shot and he falls down. He opens his gun and finds that there were rubber bullets in there.  He realizes that Stuart and the special forces are working together.

McClane comes back to the airport. He says that they are working together. Lorezno does not believe him until McClane fires the gun to show that they are rubber bullets. Meanwhile, the people at the airport are panicked. A reporter named Richard Thornberg has broadcast that terrorists have taken over the airport.  As a result, Lorenzo and McClane cannot get out there fast enough.

Instead, McClane gets a ride with Samantha Coleman and her news helicopter. The 747 has already left the hanger. McClane gets the pilot to drop him over the wing of the 747. Esperanza, who is flying the plane, sees McClane. Grant goes out there fights but is sucked into the engine of the plane.  McClane finds the fuel hatch.  When Stuart kicks McClane off the plane, McClane manages to open it and the plane starts losing fuel.  McClane then takes his cigarette lighter and ignites the fuel and the plane blows up.

The fire trail of the plane allows the planes flying overhead to see the ground. Holly lands safely and the two of them come back together. The movie ends with Marvin driving them off.

Cast
Bruce Willis as John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero McClane
William Atherton as Richard "Dick" Thornburg
Reginald VelJohnson as Sergeant Al Powell
Franco Nero as General Ramon Esperanza
William Sadler as Colonel Stuart
John Amos as Major Grant
Dennis Franz as Captain Carmine Lorenzo
Art Evans as Leslie Barnes
Fred Dalton Thompson as Ed Trudeau
Tom Bower as Marvin
Sheila McCarthy as Samantha "Sam" Coleman
Don Harvey as Garber

Release dates

Related pages
Die Hard
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Live Free or Die Hard
A Good Day to Die Hard

References

Other websites

1990 action movies
1990s action thriller movies
1990 crime thriller movies
1990s sequel movies
20th Century Fox movies
American sequel movies
Die Hard movies
Movies about terrorism
Movies about murderers
Movies based on books
Movies set in Virginia
Movies directed by Renny Harlin

Die Hard 2


DataTreasury, located in Plano, Texas, United States, develops, acquires and licenses technology for secure check image capture and storage.  As of 2010 the company had 2 employees, about 1000 shareholders and had generated over $350 million in licensing revenue in the previous four years.

The company has a patent portfolio relating to these technologies, which it enforces. Several banks have settled, and in 2010 U.S. Bank, Viewpointe (a company set up by some major banks and I.B.M. to store and retrieve digital images of checks for large banks) Clearing House Payments Company and its subsidiary, SVPCo, were found guilty of infringing DataTreasury's patents.

There has been controversy concerning the company. In 2004, The New York Times characterized DataTreasury as "a company whose only business, other than one client, appears to be suing other companies." The banking industry has accused DataTreasury's lawyers of patent trolling and DataTreasury themselves of abusing the patent system by buying the patents they are enforcing. The US Senate version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (which was never enacted) contained an amendment, lobbied for by banks, tailored to protect banks from DataTreasury infringement litigation.  On the other hand, in 2010, just after DataTreasury won their first lawsuit, Claudio Ballard, who founded the company, was named inventor of the year.

Company foundation and early years
Claudio Ballard founded DataTreasury in 1998 in Melville, New York, to market technology that processes electronic checks and other documents and related payment-processing tools utilizing patents prosecuted and filed prior to DataTreasury's founding.  Patents were issued in 1999 and 2000.

According to Ballard, DataTreasury had as many as 100 employees, but almost went out of business in late 2001.

In 2002, DataTreasury licensed their first imaging system, eImageVault, to Bank Hapoalim of Israel.

According to a 2010 article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, DataTreasury said that in its early days, "DataTreasury discussed a joint venture with Chase Manhattan Bank, now known as JPMorgan Chase. But according to the company, JPMorgan Chase instead helped start up competitors, Small Value Payments Co. (SVPCO) and Viewpointe Archive Services, which now process most of the nation's checks."

Patent infringement suits

Ballard patents
In 2002, DataTreasury sued 56 banks and other companies, including JPMorgan Chase and First Data, for infringing the Ballard patents.

In 2003, the U.S. Congress passed the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, known as "Check 21". The act allows banks to take digital images of checks, exchange those images with other banks, and destroy the original paper copies.

By December 2004, two companies that DataTreasury had sued had settled.  Affiliated Computer Services, a large information technology supplier, paid $50,000, and the RDM Corporation, a small Canadian company that sells hardware and software for payment processing, agreed to "pay a fee for each check imaging terminal it deploys and 'a per-click royalty for storage of electronic documents and check information, calculated at around a 50 percent royalty rate,'" according to a DataTreasury press release reported by The New York Times.  In mid-2005, JPMorgan Chase settled their suit. The pending suits were put on hold pending the outcome of a reexamination of the patents (see below), but after the USPTO confirmed the validity of the patents, the cases moved forward.

The company relocated to Plano, Texas, in October 2005.

In November 2005, First Data filed a request for a reexamination of the DataTreasury Ballard patents, citing numerous earlier publications that it claimed either anticipated the DataTreasury inventions or made them obvious.  In 2007, the USPTO upheld both patents and further allowed DataTreasury to claim additional inventions that were disclosed but not claimed in the original applications.

In August 2006, Merrill Lynch and DataTreasury settled their suit.

In 2007, the United States Senate version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145) moved forward with an amendment to Section 14 of the Act, supported by a number of financial services companies, which would prevent DataTreasury from collecting damages on the patents.  However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that if such a provision were passed, owners of check-processing patents (such as DataTreasury) would sue the federal government, arguing that their property had been unlawfully seized.  The CBO estimated that the suit would have a high likelihood of success and that the government's liability from this lawsuit could reach $1 billion, to cover royalties of 5 cents per check, over the remaining life of the patents.

On March 26, 2010, a jury found that U.S. Bank, Viewpointe, and Clearing House Payments Company and its subsidiary, SVPCo, were guilty of infringing DataTreasury's patents.  The jury entered a decision $26.6 million in damages and found that the infringement was willful.  Because of the willful infringement finding, the trial judge doubled the damages.

WMR e-Pin patents
In February 2006, DataTreasury purchased four patents from WMR e-Pin, LLC.  These patents were , , , and .

On February 24, 2006, DataTreasury filed an infringement suit with respect to these patents against 30 banks and other companies in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Settlements
The following banks and corporations have settled their lawsuits with DataTreasury and/or taken a license.

Affiliated Computer Services
Bank of New York Mellon Corp
Bank One
Citibank
City National Corporation
Community Banking Systems
Compass Bancshares Inc.
Diebold
First Data
First Tennessee Bank
Groupe Ingenico
Groupe Ingenico
JP Morgan Chase
Mellon Bank
Merrill Lynch
NCR
NetDeposit
PNC Financial Services
RDM Corp

Other litigation
In April 2011, Ted Doukas sued DataTreasury claiming that he was a financial backer of Claudio Ballard when Ballard was working on the image capture technology and was therefore entitled to one half of the proceeds from the invention.  The total amount sought was $15 billion. Doukas' claim was dismissed against DataTreasury (and its officers and directors) in May 2013. The case is currently pending appeal.

Controversy
Former congressman Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, said that DataTreasury's lawsuits are "an example of what's wrong with patent law." Stephen Boyd, a spokesman for Senator Jeff Sessions who supported an amendment to shift the potential liability from the banks to taxpayers, characterized the company's lawyers as patent trolls. DataTreasury has stated that Ballard is the inventor of the system and built the company to sell it before the banks stole the idea and nearly destroyed his business.

References

Patent monetization companies of the United States
Financial services companies of the United States
Companies based in Plano, Texas
Technology companies of the United States
1998 establishments in New York (state)
Companies established in 1998
Financial technology

DataTreasury


The Bass Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. It is a part of the National Highway, named National Highway 1. It joins the major cities across the north of the state - Burnie, Devonport and Launceston. The Bass Highway is, like Bass Strait, named for explorer George Bass.

The highway connects the following towns:
 Launceston
 Prospect and other Launceston suburbs
 Hadspen
 Carrick
 Hagley
 Westbury
 Exton
 Deloraine
 Elizabeth Town
 Sassafras
 Latrobe
 Devonport
 Forth
 Ulverstone
 Penguin
 Burnie

From Burnie, the Bass Highway is no longer a National Highway, and connects the following towns:

 Somerset
 Wynyard
 Smithton
 Marrawah

As part of the National Highway, there have been many changes to the highway. In the 1980s it was made longer to join the southern exit at Launceston which connects to the Midland Highway. Almost the entire length of the highway has been re-aligned to allow for dual carriageway, overtaking lanes, and the bypass of small towns.

Between Launceston and Deloraine, this had included Carrick and Hadspen in the 1980s and Deloraine in the early 1990s. The longest stretch of highway, the Hagley-Westbury bypass, was completed in 2001. People living in the small towns have been concerned that they no longer get passing trade. The 'old' highway, now known as the Meander Valley Highway, is promoted as a tourist route.

The highway between Latrobe and Somerset has had a similar re-alignment. This section of the highway is more of a commuter highway than a tourist highway, and as such the local economy does not rely on passing tourists.

Highways in Australia
Tasmania

Bass Highway, Tasmania


A process driven messaging service (PDMS) is a service that is process oriented and exchanges messages/data calls.  A PDMS is a service where jobs and triggers can be put together to create a workflow for a message.

Messaging platforms are considered key Internet infrastructure elements. A concept that once mainly encompassed email and IM has evolved to embrace complex multi-media email, instant messaging, and related fixed and mobile messaging infrastructure. Arguably, everything transmitted on the Internet and wireless telecommunication links are messages.

PDMS exchanges messages for the purpose of all kind of messages/data calls between systems, applications and or human beings that is based upon event-driven process chains.

Structure
A process driven messaging service is a service where jobs and triggers can be put together to create a workflow for a message and the workflow can be seen as a process.

A workflow is executed when a trigger is prompted. The trigger causes the activation of one or more jobs which can, in turn, execute more jobs. The workflow will still be active even when all jobs have been executed, but nothing occurs until it is re-triggered.

Workflows
A workflow in PDMS is used to wrap triggers and/or jobs together to accomplish a flow of actions and events that can be invoked over and over again without repeating the configuration. A workflow is a container. A workflow process is a container for a group of workflow statuses and actions, such as moving a record from one status to another. Other than triggers and jobs, it can contain groups or artifacts. The items that can be contained in the workflow are then available to all triggers and jobs within the workflow.

The concept of a workflow can be seen as a template for either part of, or a whole, business process. Workflows can be triggered for a number of different reasons, an example of which could be if something were to happen in the domain or there were to be an explicit call to invoke.

The workflow will be in a state awaiting execution when the workflow, its triggers, and its jobs are active.

When created, workflows require the last job to be added first, meaning jobs are to be listed in reverse order of execution. Jobs and triggers also require the reverse sequential listing of orders when created.

Jobs
A job creates something such as a task (e. g., sending a message) or affects Standard Objects (e.g. way metadata in a unit). It is a task describing what the system should do and can be several things. A job, when activated, can lead to the execution of another job (for instance: message delivery). It represents what a system does with the data, an activity within the system domain.

Jobs provide a means to encapsulate a process. A Job is a configuration representing input options, the steps in the process, a filter expression that matches the nodes where those steps will execute, and execution control parameters that specify if steps are run in parallel. One might find certain command executions are done repeatedly, and perhaps, represent what has become a routine procedure. Routine processes need to be encapsulated and become the basis for other routine procedures.

Triggers
A trigger—what starts/executes a workflow—prompts the execution of actions. The object's components that define business logic and behavior are called triggers. You can create and configure any number of triggers to perform automated and programmatic validation, notification, data manipulation, and other activities upon record creation, updating, and deletion.

Processes
A process starts at some point in the system. For example, when a trigger executes an instance of a workflow.

A process driven messaging service is often used when managing a more or less complex business processes.

With a well developed process driven messaging platform, all triggers and jobs can be exposed in a public API (application programming interface), and it will then be possible to create the process in the API.

Technology/programming
PDMS is based upon Event-Driven Architecture whereas the architectural pattern may be applied by the design and implementation of applications and systems which transmit events among loosely coupled software components and services. Unlike traditional information systems which work by issuing requests and waiting for responses, event-driven systems are designed to process events as they occur, allowing the system to observe, react dynamically, and issue personalized data depending on the recipient and situation.

Applicable areas
Areas where PDMS can be used are System to System, A2P with the difference that other message types can be included in the PDMS, Application to Application, System to Person, M2M and all kinds of messages/data calls between systems, applications and/or people based upon event-driven processes.

See also
 Architectural pattern
 Application-to-person (A2P) SMS
 Critical Internet infrastructure
 Event-driven architecture
 Internet messaging platform
 Loose coupling
 Machine to machine (M2M)
 Process mining
 Service (systems architecture)
 Workflow

References

Message transfer agents
Enterprise application integration
Text messaging
Mobile telecommunications standards

Process driven messaging service


Gaius Julius Caesar woos a Roman military and political stiffler. He played a critical role in thur transformation f thur Roman Republic into thur Roman Empire.

He woos known for his gri' military victories. His conques' f Gaul extended thur Roman world to thur North Sea, and he also conducted thur firs' Roman invasion f Britain in 55 BC. Caesar took advantage f domestic troubles to fang-howld control f Rome. He qoocklie began extensive reforms f Roman society and governmen'. He woos proclaimed Dictator, and heavilie centralised thur booreaucracy f thur Republic. A group f senators, led by Caesar's former friend Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated thur dictator on thur Ides f March (March 15) in 44 BC, hopin' to restore thur Roman Republic. howsome-ever, thur resul' woos another Roman civil war, which ultimatelie led to thur establishmen' f a permanen' autocracy by Caesar's adopted heir, Octavian.

Julius Caesar


A gentleman is an historical term used in the British class system for an educated man who is wealthy. Its significance is that in a class system, people were educated, lived and worked in quite different ways according to the circumstances of their birth. This is behind the otherwise strange divide in sports like cricket between amateur and professionals (who often played in the same side), and between Rugby Union and Rugby League.

This distinction is needed to understand many of the novels, plays, and films of the pre-WWII era. Similar distinctions ran in most other countries before the modern era. Consider the characters in Tolstoy's War and Peace as an example.

Society
Men

Gentleman


A shelter is a place where someone or something is put in or goes to be kept safe or hidden. It can also be any place where people live that "shelters" (protects) them from any danger such as the weather.

There are different kinds of shelters and they are for used for different reasons.
Picnic Shelters
Women's Shelters
Men's Shelter
Animal Shelters
Homeless shelter
Political Shelters
Religious Shelters
Shelters from War.
Shelters from disasters or emergencies.
bomb shelters and fallout shelters.

Currently, Women's Shelters are found around the United States, United Kingdom, and many other First World countries.  In these places, women are there to hide or are running away from abusive or dangerous situations. In these shelters, they are given food and a place to stay for an amount of time (usually 1-3 months at a time).  They are put into a support group and given a temporary counselor.  There is a high success rate in this type of place.

Sociology
Buildings and structures

Shelter


Volker Braun (born 7 May 1939 in Dresden) is a German writer. His works include Provokation für mich (Provocation for me) – a collection of poems written between 1959 and 1964 and published in 1965, a play, Die Kipper (The Dumpers) (1972; written 1962–1965), and Das ungezwungene Leben Kasts (The Unrestrained Life of Kast) (1972).

Life
After completing his Abitur, Volker Braun worked for a time in construction before going on to study philosophy at Leipzig. There he occupied himself with the contradictions and hopes of a socialist state. He joined the SED in 1960. Nevertheless, he was regarded as critical of the GDR state, and often succeeded in getting his prose and poetry published only through the application of tactical skill.

His work included poetry, plays, novels and short stories.

At first his writings reflected a critical enthusiasm for the building of socialism. From 1965 to 1967, Braun worked as artistic director at the Berliner Ensemble at the invitation of Helene Weigel. After the events of the Prague Spring, he became increasingly critical of life and the possibility for reform under Socialism. After that, he came under more intense scrutiny of the Stasi. In 1972 Braun began work at the Deutsches Theater Berlin (German Theatre Berlin). In 1976 he was among those who signed the petition protesting the expatriation of Wolf Biermann. From 1979 he was active again in the Berliner Ensemble. He received the Lessing Prize of East Germany in 1981. and the National Prize of East Germany in 1988.

In 1982 Braun left the Writers' Union of the GDR. At that time his works described an increasingly depressing life in the GDR. The actors in his plays moved about with resignation in immovable settings. His Hinze-Kunze-Roman, based on Diderot's Jacques le fataliste et son maître, received approval for publication in 1985. When it appeared it was reviewed as "absurd" and "anarchistic" by the influential critic Annalise Loeffler. Klaus Hoepke, then deputy minister for culture, was disciplined for having granted permission for its publication.

In 1988, Braun received the National Prize of the GDR. During the "peaceful revolution" of 1989, he was a supporter of an independent "third way" for the GDR. He was among the first signatories of the appeal "Fuer unser Land." After reunification, he became critically engaged in analysing the reasons for the collapse of the GDR. In this connection, he undertook work with the west-Marxist journal, "Das Argument," edited by Wolfgang Fritz Haug.

In 1986, Braun was awarded the Bremer Literature Prize. In 1992 he received the Schiller Memorial Prize. He was awarded a stipend at the Villa Massimo and was a guest of the University of Wales in 1994. In 1996, he received the Deutschen Kritikerpreis (German Critic Prize), became a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, the Sächsische Akademie der Künste (Saxon Academy of the Arts) and held the post of Poet-lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. He received the Erwin Strittmatter Prize in 1998 and the Georg Büchner Prize in 2000. From 1999 to 2000, he was the Brothers Grimm-professor at the University of Kassel. He would be elected Director of the Literature Section of the Academy of Arts, Berlin in 2006. In 2008, he received the 2007 ver.di-Literature Prize 2007 for his story, "Das Mittagsmahl" (Lunch).

Volker Braun lives in Berlin.

Selected works
 Die Kipper (The Dumpers), Drama (1965)
 Provokation für mich (Provocation for Me), Poem (1965)
 Vorläufiges (Provisional), Poem (1966)
 Kriegs Erklärung (War's Declaration) (1967)
 Lenins Tod (Lenin's Death), Drama (1970)
 Wir und nicht sie (We and not They), Poem (1970)
 Die Kipper (The Dumpers), Drama (1972)
 Gedichte (Poems) (1972)
 Gegen die symmetrische Welt (Against the Symmetric World), Poem (1974)
 Es genügt nicht die einfache Wahrheit (The Simple Truth isn't Enough) (1975)
 Unvollendete Geschichte (Unfinished History) (1977)
 Training des aufrechten Gangs (Learning to Walk Upright), Poem (1979)
 Hinze-Kunze-Roman (The Hinze-Kunze-Novel), Novel (1985)
 Verheerende Folgen mangelnden Anscheins innerbetrieblicher Demokratie. Schriften (Disastrous Consequences of the Missing Semblance of Internal Democracy. Writings) (1988)
 Der große Frieden (The Great Peace)
 Der Wendehals (The Turncoat) (1995)
 Lustgarten Preußen (The Pleasure Garden of Prussia) (1996)
 Wir befinden uns soweit wohl. Wir sind erst einmal am Ende (So Far, So Good. We are Almost at the End.) (1998)
 Tumulus, Poetry Collection (1999)
 Das Wirklichgewollte (That Which is Really Wanted) (2000)
 Das unbesetzte Gebiet (The Unoccupied Area), Historical Story (2004)
 Das Mittagsmahl (Lunch), Story (2007)

Literature
 Edition Text and Criticism: Volker Braun, 1977
 Jay Rosellini, Volker Braun, 1983
 Christine Cosentino, Wolfgang Ertl: Zur Lyrik Volker Brauns (To the Poet Volker Braun), 1984
 Katrin Bothe: Die imaginierte Natur des Sozialismus. Eine Biographie des Schreibens und der Texte Volker Brauns 1959–1974 (The Imaginative Nature of the Socialist. A Biography of the Writings and Texts of Volker Braun 1959–1974), Würzburg 1997
 Fritz J. Raddatz: Broken Lives (German). Die Zeit, 44/2000
 Rolf Jucker (Hg.): Volker Braun in perspective, Amsterdam/New York, 2004
 Schepers, Hannah. Volker Braun: Leben und Schreiben in der DDR, Halle(Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2015.

Film
 "Zur Person: Volker Braun" (To the Person: Volker Braun), Reportage, 50 Min., Author: Günter Gaus (1991)

References

External links
 Literary Encyclopedia page on Volker Braun
 Works by and on Volker Braun in the Catalog of the German National Library

 Link list of the FU Berlin on Volker Braun

1939 births
Living people
Writers from Dresden
East German writers
Socialist Unity Party of Germany members
Leipzig University alumni
Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany
Heinrich Mann Prize winners
Schiller Memorial Prize winners
Georg Büchner Prize winners
Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
East German poets
Academic staff of the University of Kassel
German-language poets
German male poets
Members of the German Academy for Language and Literature

Volker Braun


The Great Lie is a 1941 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding, and starring Bette Davis, George Brent and Mary Astor. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee is based on the novel January Heights by Polan Banks.

Plot
When concert pianist Sandra Kovak (Mary Astor) and her aviator husband Peter Van Allen (George Brent) discover their impulsive marriage is invalid because her divorce had not been finalized before they wed, he leaves her and marries his old flame Maggie Patterson (Bette Davis). Peter travels to Brazil on business and, when his aircraft goes missing, it is presumed it crashed in the jungle and he was killed.

Sandra discovers she is pregnant by Peter, and Maggie proposes she be allowed to raise the child as her own in exchange for taking care of Sandra financially. The two women go to Arizona to await the birth, and Sandra delivers a boy, who is named after his father.

Sandra embarks upon a world tour, during which Peter, who survived the crash, returns home. He reunites with Maggie who introduces him to "their" son. Peter is overjoyed to find he has a child. However, Sandra, wanting both father and son for herself, taunts Maggie that Peter has remained with her only because of the boy and demands she confess she misled him. When Maggie explains the true situation, Peter is shocked and disgusted by Sandra's horrid behavior and announces she may take the baby but he will remain with Maggie. Sandra, accepting that Peter truly loves Maggie and knowing Maggie will be a far better mother to the child, sits down at the piano and announces she is leaving the child with his mother as she plays Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Cast
 Bette Davis as Maggie Patterson
 George Brent as Peter Van Allen
 Mary Astor as Sandra Kovak
 Lucile Watson as Aunt Ada Greenfield
 Hattie McDaniel as Violet
 Grant Mitchell as Joshua Mason
 Jerome Cowan as Jock Thompson
 Charles Trowbridge as Sen. Ted Greenfield
 Thurston Hall as Oscar Worthington James
 Russell Hicks as Colonel Harriston
 J. Farrell MacDonald as Dr. Ferguson
 Sam McDaniel as Jefferson

Production
After completing The Letter, Bette Davis vacationed in New Hampshire, and upon her return to Hollywood she was offered the role of Maggie Peterson in The Great Lie. "I wasn't very excited about it," she later recalled, but fan mail urging her to play a nice role for a change of pace prompted her to accept. "Maggie was one of the few times I played a character basically like myself off the screen," she said. The chance to play a sympathetic character was appealing as fan mail had been universally calling for her to be "nice."
The role of Sandra Kovak proved difficult to cast. Although she was ideal for the part, Miriam Hopkins was not considered because of the many problems she had created while co-starring with Davis in The Old Maid. Among those who tested for the part were Anna Sten, Sylvia Sidney, Muriel Angelus, Katherine Locke, and Mary Astor, who was, in fact, an accomplished pianist.

Davis, who enjoyed working with powerful actresses capable of challenging her to outmatch them in scenes in which they interacted, felt Astor was the best of the lot and insisted studio head Jack L. Warner test her again, this time playing the piano, when producer Hal B. Wallis seemed disinclined to offer her the role.

Filming began with the role of Sandra still uncast, much to Davis' distress. She and director Edmund Goulding engaged in so many heated discussions the actress developed laryngitis, and filming was suspended for two days. When Davis returned to the set on November 8, 1940, she learned Wallis and Warner had acquiesced to her demand Astor be cast.

Davis and Astor bonded immediately. "This picture is going to stink! It's too incredible for words... so it's up to us to rewrite this piece of junk to make it more interesting," Davis told her co-star, and the two women set about to eliminate many of the soap opera elements from their dialogue and create a great deal of business for their characters.

Still, there were some problems the two could neither anticipate nor avoid. The baby hired to play the infant Peter was sick during much of the filming, causing delays in the schedule, and when a nurse dropped him, he was injured so seriously he needed to be replaced. (His parents consequently filed a lawsuit against the studio.) Davis, Astor and George Brent, cast as Peter Van Allen, also were ill at various times, creating problems with the schedule. Additionally, Astor was distracted by marital problems with Manuel del Campo, who refused to join her on location in Victorville, California after she was given permission for him to do so. Davis was determined filming be completed by Christmas so the cast and crew could enjoy the holidays and she could plan her New Year's Eve wedding with Arthur Farnsworth.

Although Astor was capable enough to play the piano during the concert sequences, her instrument was a dummy while Max Rabinovitch was playing a real one behind the scenes. Taking her cues from the conductor, the actress matched notes with the pianist until perfect synchronization was achieved. Jose Iturbi later asked Astor, "How could you not be playing? I have played the concerto many times, and you were right in there!" Davis stated, "These concert scenes of Mary's were the most believable ever seen on screen - because she really was a pianist par excellence."

At Davis' request, the film premiered in Littleton, New Hampshire on April 5, 1941, her 33rd birthday, as a benefit for the local hospital. It opened nationwide the following week.  On March 2, 1942, Brent and Astor reprised their roles for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast, with Loretta Young assuming the Davis role.

Reception
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times observed, "There is precious little substance to this elaborately surcharged dilemma in which Miss Davis has been caught up... So the only excuse to be found for this thoroughly synthetic tale is that it gives Miss Davis an opportunity to display her fine talent for distress, to be maternal and noble... And in that role there is no question that she conducts herself handsomely... Mary Astor... provides a beautiful contrast of cold and poisonous conceit... In short, the acting is impressive, the direction of Edmund Goulding makes for class, but the story is such a trifle that it hardly seems worth the while. However, the women will probably love it, since fibs are so provocative of fun."

Variety called the film "a well-rounded package of dramatic entertainment" due to "excellent performances by the players, deft direction by Edmund Goulding, and a compact script by Lenore Coffee."

Awards and nominations
Astor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Home media
On April 1, 2008, Warner Home Video released the film in DVD format as part of the box set The Bette Davis Collection, Volume 3, which also includes All This, and Heaven Too, In This Our Life, Watch on the Rhine and Deception.

References
Notes

Bibliography

External links

1941 films
1941 drama films
American drama films
American black-and-white films
Films based on American novels
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-winning performance
Warner Bros. films
Films directed by Edmund Goulding
Films produced by Hal B. Wallis
Films scored by Max Steiner
1940s American films

The Great Lie


A sulfite is an ion that is made of one sulfur atom and three oxygen atoms; it has a charge of two minus. Sulfite is made when sulfurous acid (a solution of sulfur dioxide in water) is deprotonated. Salts containing the sulfite ion are called sulfites. Sodium sulfite is an example. Sulfites are weak reducing agents; they can be oxidized to sulfates. They are used to preserve dried food. Some people have allergies to sulfite in food, and it makes them sick. It contains sulfur in the +4 oxidation state. Its chemical formula is SO32-.

Related pages
Sulfate
Sulfur

Ions

Sulfite


In mathematics, algebraic varieties (also called varieties) are one of the central objects of study in algebraic geometry. The first definitions of algebraic variety defined it as the set of solutions of a system of polynomial equations, over the real or complex numbers. Modern definitions of an algebraic variety generalize this notion while they try to preserve the geometric intuition behind the original definition.

Conventions regarding the definition of an algebraic variety differ: Some authors require that an "algebraic variety" is, by definition, irreducible (which means that it is not the union of two smaller sets that are closed in the Zariski topology), while others do not. When the former convention is used, non-irreducible algebraic varieties are called algebraic sets.

The notion of variety is similar to that of manifold. One difference between a variety and a manifold is that a variety may have singular points, while a manifold will not.
Proven around the year 1800, the fundamental theorem of algebra establishes a link between algebra and geometry by showing that a monic polynomial in one variable with complex coefficients (an algebraic object) is determined by the set of its roots (a geometric object). Generalizing this result, Hilbert's Nullstellensatz provides a fundamental correspondence between ideals of polynomial rings and algebraic sets. Using the Nullstellensatz and related results, mathematicians have established a strong correspondence between questions on algebraic sets and questions of ring theory. This correspondence is the specifity of algebraic geometry among the other subareas of geometry.

References

Algebraic geometry

Algebraic variety


Jacques Offenbach (20 Juin 1819 – 5 October 1880) wis a German-born French componer, cellist an impresario o the romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas o the 1850s–1870s an his uncompletit opera The Tales o Hoffmann. He wis a pouerfu influence on later componers o the operetta genre, parteecularly Johann Strauss, Jr. an Arthur Sullivan. His baist-kent wirks wur continually revived during the 20t century, an mony o his operettas continue tae be staged in the 21st.  The Tales o Hoffman remains pairt o the staundart opera repertory.

1819 births
1880 daiths
19t-century clessical componers
19t-century German fowk
Ballet componers
Ballets bi Jacques Offenbach
Offenbach, Jacques, Ballets tae the muisic o
Buirials at Montmartre Seemetry
Converts tae Roman Catholicism frae Judaism
French clessical cellists
French male clessical componers
French fowk o German-Jewish strynd
German clessical cellists
German male clessical componers
German emigrants tae Fraunce
German Jews
German Roman Catholics
Impresarios
Jewish clessical muisickers
Jewish componers an sangwriters
Opera componers
Fowk frae Cologne
Fowk frae the Rhine Province
Romantic componers

Jacques Offenbach


The Digital Visual Interface (or DVI) is a video interface standard. It is used to send video between a source (such as a personal computer) and a display (such as a monitor). This interface cannot be used to transmit audio unless it is connected to a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) converter. HDMI and DVI use the same protocol for signalling, named Transition-minimized differential signaling.

The DVI standard has is widely used in the personal computer industry. Many desktop personal computers and monitors can use it. Most desktop personal computers and liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors sold in stores today have more than one video interface, including DVI. Many other devices (such as projectors and televisions) can use DVI as part of HDMI.

HDMI is a newer video interface standard. Many laptops still have an old-fashioned VGA connector. Many models in the 2010s have HDMI ports. Fewer laptops have DVI.

DVI was created by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). It was created to replace the "legacy analog technology" VGA connector standard.  DVI is designed to carry uncompressed digital video data to a display. It works very well with the HDMI standard in digital mode (DVI-D), and VGA in analog mode (DVI-A). It is also found in some television sets even though it has been widely replaced by HDMI.

References

Computer hardware
Computer graphics
Electrical connectors

Digital Visual Interface


Zhou Dunyi (; 1017–1073) was a Chinese cosmologist, philosopher, and writer during the Song dynasty. He conceptualized the Neo-Confucian cosmology of the day, explaining the relationship between human conduct and universal forces. In this way, he emphasizes that humans can master their qi ("spirit") in order to accord with nature. He was a major influence to Zhu Xi, who was the architect of Neo-Confucianism.  Zhou Dunyi was mainly concerned with Taiji (supreme polarity) and Wuji (limitless potential), the yin and yang, and the wu xing (the five phases).

Life
Born in 1017 in Yingdao County, Daozhou prefecture, in present-day Yongzhou, southern Hunan, Zhou was originally named Zhou Dunshi. Raised by a scholar-official family, he changed his name in 1063 to avoid a character in the personal name of the new Emperor Yingzong.

His father died when he was fourteen and he was taken in by his uncle Zheng Xiang. He received his first posting in government through his uncle. Although very active in his civil service career, he never did achieve a high position or get the "Presented Scholar" degree (jinshi). Some of the positions that he held were district record keeper (1040), magistrate in various districts (1046–1054), prefectural staff supervisor, and professor of the directorate of education and assistant prefect (1061–1064). He resigned from his last post one year before he died. He died near Mount Lu in Jiangxi province in 1073. After his death, Zhou was commonly called Zhou Lianxi for a name he adopted in his retirement that honored the Lian stream near his home. He was nicknamed the "Poor Zen Fellow" by Cheng Yi and posthumously honored as the "Duke of Yuan" (Yuangong) in 1200.

Descendants
Zhou Dunyi's offspring held the title of Wujing Boshi (; ; ).

In 1452 the title of 'Wujing Boshi' was bestowed upon Meng Xiwen , the 56th generation offspring of Mengzi and upon Yan Xihui , the 59th generation offspring of Yan Hui; in 1456-1457 the same was bestowed on Zhou Mian , the 12th generation offspring of Zhou Dunyi, on Chen Keren , the 17th generation offspring of the Cheng brothers (Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi), in 1539 the same was awarded to Zeng Zhicui , the 60th generation offspring of Zeng Can; in 1622 an offspring of Zhang Zai received the title and in 1630 an offspring of Shao Yong.

Writings

Taiji Tu Shuo

The Taiji Tu Shuo (, Explanations of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate or Diagram Explaining the Supreme Ultimate) was placed at the head of the neo-Confucian anthology Jinsilu (Reflections on Things at Hand) by Zhu Xi and Lü  Zuqian in 1175. He fused Confucian ethics and concepts from the Book of Changes (I Ching) with Daoist naturalism. He developed a metaphysics based on the idea that "the many are ultimately one and the one is ultimate." This was the first 11th-century Chinese text to argue for the inseparability of metaphysics or cosmology and ethics, as well as the first major Chinese text to explore the concept of the taijitu or "yin-yang symbol".

It contained his theory of creation, which can be summarized in the following paraphrase of its first section:

Zhou Dunyi postulated that human beings receive all these qualities and forces in their higher excellence and, hence, are the most intelligent of all creatures. He also believed that the five agents corresponded directly to the five moral principles of ren (humanity), yi (righteousness), li (propriety), zhi (wisdom), and xin (faithfulness).

Tong Shu
The Tong Shu (The All-Embracing Book or Penetrating the 'Book of Changes) was a reinterpretation of the Confucian doctrines. It was the basis for ethics in neo-Confucianism. It stated that the sage is a superior man who acts in accordance with the principles of propriety, humanity, righteousness, wisdom, faithfulness, tranquility and sincerity. Sincerity being the basis for moral nature, it can be used to distinguish between good and evil and to perfect oneself.

It spoke of principle, nature, and destiny together, which became three cardinal concepts of Confucian thought. He had a Daoist perspective toward nature. There are stories of Zhou Dunyi loving his grass so much that he would not cut it, reinforcing the concept that humans should appreciate life in nature and the importance of non-action. Zhou Dunyi is known to have said that the best quality of life is that of a pure lotus growing out of dirty waters, where the lotus is the natural equivalent of the noble person. He is known for pulling many ideas from Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

School

Zhou Dunyi had two students who made major contributions to Confucianism: his nephews Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao. The Cheng brothers studied under Zhou Dunyi only for a short time when they were younger. The brothers moved on to establish the Cheng-Zhu School, which dominated Chinese philosophy for over 700 years. Zhou Dunyi is considered the founding father of that school although there are no references in the Cheng brothers' writings to his contributions.

Zhou Dunyi was a major influence on Zhu Xi, who was considered one of the greatest Confucian thinkers since Confucius himself. Zhu Xi was known to have said that Zhou Dunyi was the first great sage of the Song dynasty, particularly for his emphasis on the concept of Wuji.

Though he never had much influence during his lifetime, he was remembered as warm, humane, and kin with the natural world. Many Confucians believed that he embodied the virtue of "authenticity". He had great insight into the Way of Heaven. The first major popularization of the taijitu symbol is also credited to Zhou Dunyi; this symbol (in an altered form) is now known worldwide as the commonly accepted symbol for the Chinese concepts of yin and yang.

See also
Vase with Poet Zhou Dunyi

References

Sources

 Adler, Joseph A. "Zhou Dunyi: The Metaphysics and Practice of Sagehood". In Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (NY: Columbia University Press, 1999), ch. 20.
 Arrington, R. (1999).  A Companion to the Philosophers.  Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
 Berthrong, J (1998).  Transformations of the Confucian Way.  Boulder, Westview Press.
 Chan, Wing-tsit (1986).  Neo-Confucian Terms Explained.  New York, Columbia University Press.
 Chen, Keming and Weng, Jindun "Zhou Dunyi". Encyclopedia of China (Philosophy Edition), 1st ed.
 Gedalecia, D (1974). "Excursion Into Substance and Function." Philosophy East and West. vol. 4, 443–451.
 Yao Xinzhong (2003).  Encyclopedia of Confucianism, 1st ed.  London, RoutledgeCurzon.
 "Zhou Dunyi." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 17 Oct. 2008  Britannica Academic

External links
 Zhou Dunyi article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

1017 births
1073 deaths
11th-century Chinese philosophers
Chinese Confucianists
Neo-Confucian scholars
People from Yongzhou
Philosophers from Hunan
Song dynasty essayists
Song dynasty philosophers
Writers from Hunan

Zhou Dunyi


My Kid Could Paint That is a 2007 documentary film by director Amir Bar-Lev.  The movie follows the early artistic career of Marla Olmstead, a young girl from Binghamton, New York who gains fame first as a child prodigy painter of abstract art, and then becomes the subject of controversy concerning whether she truly completed the paintings herself or did so with her parents' assistance and/or direction. The film was bought by Sony Pictures Classics in 2007 after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

Taglines
 "Inspiration or Manipulation? You Decide."
 "American dream or art world scheme?"

Summary
Marla's father, an amateur painter, describes how Marla watches him paint, wants to help, and is given her own canvas and supplies. A friend asks to hang Marla's pictures in his coffee shop and is surprised when people ask to buy them. A local newspaper reporter, Elizabeth Cohen, writes a piece about Marla, after first asking her parents if they really want her to do so. Cohen's story is picked up by The New York Times, and Marla becomes a media celebrity, with appearances on television and shows at galleries in New York and Los Angeles. Sales of her work earn over $300,000.

The tone of the documentary turns with a scene of Marla's parents watching a February 2005 report by CBS News' 60 Minutes II that questions whether Marla painted the works attributed to her. 60 Minutes enlisted the help of Ellen Winner, a child psychologist who studies cognition in the arts and gifted children. Seeing video images of some of the paintings attributed to Marla, Winner initially reacts positively, stating: "It's absolutely beautiful. You could slip it into the Museum of Modern Art and absolutely get away with it." The 60 Minutes reporter, Charlie Rose, then shows Winner what he describes as "50 minutes of videotape shot by us and by Marla's parents." After seeing this footage, Winner states: "This is eye-opening to me, to see her actually painting." Rose asks her how this is "eye-opening." Winner responds: "Because she's not doing anything that a normal child wouldn't do. She's just kind of slowly pushing the paint around."

Rose then states that after "our interview," the Olmsteads agreed to permit CBS crews to set up a hidden camera in their home to tape their daughter painting a single piece in five hours over the course of a month.  When Winner reviewed the tapes, the psychologist said, "I saw no evidence that she was a child prodigy in painting. I saw a normal, charming, adorable child painting the way preschool children paint, except that she had a coach that kept her going." Winner also indicated that the painting created before CBS's hidden camera looked "less polished than some of Marla's previous works." Asked to explain the difference, Winner states: "I can only speculate. I don't see Marla as having made, or at least completed, the more polished looking paintings, because they look like a different painter. Either somebody else painted them start to finish, or somebody else doctored them up. Or, Marla just miraculously paints in a completely different way than we see on her home video."

Marla's parents film her creating a second work, Ocean, but Bar-Lev is not fully convinced.  A couple are shown considering the purchase of Ocean. The woman complains that Ocean does not look like the other works by Marla. They buy it anyway.  In a slide show, Bar-Lev compares Ocean with the 60 Minutes piece and then with several other works attributed to Marla. Viewers are left to make their own judgments.

The film also raises questions about the nature of art, especially abstract expressionism, the nature of the documentary process, and the perception that the media imparts fame to subjects only to later subject them to intense scrutiny and criticism.

Reception
In his October 2007 review of Bar-Lev's film, Roger Ebert stated: "My own verdict as an outsider is, no, Marla didn't paint those works, although she may have applied some of the paint. In the last analysis, I guess it all reduces to taste and instinct. Some paintings are good, says me, or says you, and some are bad. Some paintings could be painted by a child, some couldn't be."

In his review of Bar-Lev's film, LA Weekly'''s art critic Doug Harvey reveals a different viewpoint. "The works created by Marla on camera are different from some of her canvasses, similar to others and better than many. Bar-Lev's big reveal is a bust, and turns what could have been a compelling inquiry into the machinations of the art market and media into a tawdry embarrassment. Apart from the questionable ethics, it's lousy art. In the final analysis, the filmmaker's crisis of faith is unconvincing, except as one of a series of blatantly manipulative decisions that, despite the lack of any kind of empirical evidence, bolsters the most commercially viable story that can be milked from the situation — the one where Marla's parents are supernaturally cunning con artists out to exploit the gullibility of the deluded collectors of essentially fraudulent modern art."

As of May 2021, the film holds a 94% "Fresh" rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 83 reviews.

Post-release events
As of October 2007, the Olmstead's website displays videos of Marla working on three more canvases, Fairy Map, Rabbit, and Colorful Rain. The videos employ the jump-cut technique, meaning that the scene (a shot of the canvas on which Marla paints) is generally continuous, but that the action stops and then starts again with the subject (Marla) having shifted position relative to the video frame. As of August 2008, the website depicts 49 canvases it says have been sold and 16 more available for sale, including two of the three works featured in the videos, Rabbit, and Colorful Rain. In a 2015 interview, Marla, then a high school sophomore, said she hasn't seen the movie and doesn't remember the events. She  still paints but has other interests as well.

See alsoF for Fake'', a 1974 Orson Welles documentary which also raised questions about who gets to decide what is and is not art.

References

External links
Movie official website

interview with My Kid Could Paint That director Amir Bar-Lev at Filmmaker Magazine
IONCINEMA.com interview with Amir Bar-Lev
Marla Olmstead's website
Videos of Marla Olmstead painting
Academic review of My Kid Could Paint That

2007 films
American documentary films
British documentary films
Documentary films about children
Documentary films about the media
Documentary films about painters
Sony Pictures Classics films
2007 documentary films
Films directed by Amir Bar-Lev
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
2000s British films

My Kid Could Paint That


A hand is the part of the body at the end of an arm. Most humans have two hands. Each hand usually has four fingers and a thumb. On the inside of the hand is the palm. The five bones inside this part of the hand are called metacarpals. The wrist connects the hand to the arm. The hand has 27 bones including the wrist bones.

When the fingers are all bent tightly, the hand forms a fist. The joints that are the hardest part of the fist are called knuckles. Many other animals, especially other primates, have hands that can hold things. Human hands can do things other hands cannot.

Related pages
 Foot

Other websites

Hand anatomy (eMedicine)

Basic English 850 words
Limbs and extremities

Hand


The Studio Tour (also known as The Backlot Tour) is a ride attraction at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Universal City, California near Los Angeles. Studio Tour is the theme park's signature attraction. It travels through a working film studio, with various film sets on the Universal Studios Lot. Guests sit on multi-car trams for the duration of the ride. The tour lasts about 45–60 minutes and is led by an in-person "tram guide" (who sits in the first car of the tram, facing the guests), with the aid of pre-recorded videos of Jimmy Fallon. It travels through the Front Lot, Backlot, and various attractions, passing sets and properties from movies along the way. The tour inspired a smaller but similar version at Universal Studios Florida, which was removed in 1995.

History
The Studio Tour attraction opened in 1915 and originally consisted of bleacher seating for an admission cost of 25 cents. In 1964, pink and white Glamor Trams were introduced, and the tram tour was the main way of seeing all the attractions at Universal. The Front Lot Commissary was the original departure point for the tram. In 1965, the Upper Lot Studio Tour Center opened. The studio tour has since evolved to incorporate advanced technology.

As the movie studio has evolved, the tour has evolved with it. In late 1989, CD players replaced some of the speaking roles of live tour guides. In 1999, DVD players and LCD screens were introduced, allowing tour guides to show scenes from movies filmed at the locations the trams pass. In 2009, the screens were upgraded to high definition. In 2011, Jimmy Fallon joined the tour as a video host to supplement the live-action narration and perform an original song "Tram-Tastic" at the end of the tour.

Like its parent theme park, its closure in mid-March 2020 from the COVID-19 pandemic caused tours to be indefinitely shut down but was reopened in April 2021.

Film sets

Sets from the Universal movies Psycho, Back to the Future, The Sting, The Great Outdoors, and the Paramount/DreamWorks film War of the Worlds are visited in the tour. Walt Disney Studios has also used the backlot for movies such as the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, 101 Dalmatians, 102 Dalmatians, and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, specifically for town scenes. There are also 'general purpose' sets visited, such as the neighborhood Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives, and a neighborhood that is made to look like an old west town. This neighborhood has six streets, each with the essentials of a saloon and sheriff's station. Before the advent of sound, up to six westerns could be shot at once. The tour also winds through sound stages, and the tour guide explains what movies, television shows, music videos, commercials, and/or still camera photo shoots are currently shooting on the lot. Stage One, where The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was filmed from June 2009 to January 2010, was added to the tour. O'Brien and announcer Andy Richter staged events outside the studio on occasion as part of [[List of The Tonight Show with Conan_O'Brien sketches#Tonight Show Tour-iffic Tram-tacular|The Tonight Shows Tour-ific Tramtacular]] sketch.

Until June 1, 2008, the tour also passed through a group of facades resembling city streets of New York (used in the filming of Bruce Almighty and some elements in Transformers), Bring It On: In It to Win It, and New England, as well as the Courthouse Square set famously seen in the Back to the Future trilogy. However, these sets were constructed mainly of wood and therefore were highly flammable and burned to the ground in an early morning fire. All the sets have been rebuilt and a new attraction at the Studio features King Kong: 360 3-D, which opened July 1, 2010.

The area beside the Psycho house (known as Psycho Flats) used to be the site of Falls Lake — a large water-tank and waterfall used in numerous productions. Falls Lake was moved over the summer of 2008, and the area is currently occupied by the huge outdoor airplane-crash set built for War Of The Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg and crew were on the Universal backlot for three days shooting on the massive outdoor set. A commercial Boeing 747-100SR aircraft formerly owned by All Nippon Airways was chopped into pieces and transported to Universal, where the full set has been left fully dressed as it was during filming. The only change made to the set following filming was to move the houses on the right of the tram off the road (so the tram can pass safely). As in the movie, there are no bodies in the plane wreckage, but during Halloween Horror Nights, a combination of cast members and dummies have been put in place as crash victims. This set has also been used for two music videos, The Fray's "Never Say Never" and "Fly" by Nicki Minaj.

Before returning to the tour's boarding area, the tram passes by an overlook of the San Fernando Valley, which includes views of neighboring Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

Staged events
The Studio Tour includes some special demonstrations, as well as some small segments. For example, an encounter with King Kong (King Kong: 360 3-D), a simulated flash flood, an 8.3 earthquake, a short encounter with Jaws, and a high-speed car chase featuring the cast from the Fast & Furious movie franchise (Fast & Furious: Supercharged).Psycho: Bates Mansion (1964)
The Psycho House was one of the big draws of the Universal Tram Tour, back in 1964, and has continued to be instantly recognizable in recent years. During production of the film Man on the Moon, a biopic about Andy Kaufman's life story, in 1999 at an area near the house, Jim Carrey, who portrayed Kaufman in the film, became bored during break hours and tried to channel Kaufman's creative energy by playing Norman Bates. Dressing up as "mother" and wielding a rubber knife, Carrey emerged from behind the Psycho house and jumped on the tram, scaring the passengers, including the guides. The tour guides and tram operators reported the incident to the film crew, who told them that the person in the costume was none other than a bored Jim Carrey himself. Carrey wanted to repeat the stunt one year later while filming How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which was being filmed behind the house, but this time in full Grinch costume. The park, however, kept Carrey's idea and have cast actors dressed as Norman Bates slowly approach the tram with a rubber knife.Flash Flood (1968)The downhill flood effect has appeared in many films, including Big Fat Liar and Fletch Lives.Jaws (1976)The Jaws event opened a year after the release of Steven Spielberg's 1975 film. It is an attraction that features the moving shark anamatronic from the film and other sets. The actual hero prop boat 'Orca' was placed in the lagoon as a center piece, but was removed between 1991 and 1992 and chopped up for timber (Jaws director Steven Spielberg learned of the fate of the 'Orca', much to his anger, after noticing it gone while he was on the ride). The shark as seen in the attraction has had cameos in multiple television shows and films including The Nude Bomb in 1980, the made-for-TV film The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island in 1981, the episode "Hooray for Hollywood" from Diff'rent Strokes in 1984, and the episode "Fright Knight" from Knight Rider in 1986. The Amity Harbor/Village area that is associated with the Jaws attraction (minus the moving shark) was the set used in two Airwolf episodes "The American Dream" (Season 2) and "Where Have All the Children Gone" (Season 3).Earthquake (1989)The Earthquake event is an 8.3 earthquake inside a soundstage, designed to make it look like a San Francisco subway station. They have a hot set; a hot set is a stage in which various props stay in use and cannot be moved. The attraction features a gimbal which allows it to shake the tram, a burning gasoline truck that collapses through the roof, fire and spark effects, a derailing subway train, and a flood of water. The attraction resets itself within just 15 seconds to prepare itself for the next tramload of guests.Jurassic Park (1996)When the tram passes through the Isla Nublar set, guests are sprayed by animatronic Dilophosaurus. It is very similar to the end of the Jurassic Park: The Ride. Prior to the event, the tram also passes props and vehicles from the original Jurassic Park films.Psycho'': Bates Motel (2008)As the tram passes the Bates Motel, the guests witness Norman Bates carrying a corpse to a car. After placing the body in the trunk, he notices the tram and walks towards it with a kitchen knife as the tram leaves just in time to escape. Bates is portrayed by an Anthony Perkins lookalike and on some occasions, a Vince Vaughn lookalike. If the actors are not available, a cardboard cutout of Anthony Perkins as Bates is used in the Cabin 1 window.King Kong: 360 3-D (2010)

Studio Tour guests wear 3-D glasses as the tram enters a sound stage dressed as a recreation of Skull Island. Two Venatosaurus creatures attack and begin to chase the tram, which disturbs King Kong, who begins to fight them. The fight continues from one side of the tram to the other, as air and water effects are blown onto guests to further the illusion. Near the end of the experience, a V-Rex gets a hold of what is supposed to be the last tram car and pulls it from the train, throwing it down a pit. Kong defeats the V-Rex and roars in triumph.Fast & Furious: Supercharged (2015)

Fast & Furious: Supercharged is located at the former site of the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb tunnel. This ride opened on June 25, 2015.Nighttime Studio Tours (2015)Introduced in celebration of Universal Studios Hollywood's 50th anniversary, the Nighttime Studio Tour complements the popular daytime experience by offering a nighttime tour of the famous studio backlot.Jupiter's Claim (2022)A set themed to the western theme park of the same name from the 2022 film, Nope, which is located as the penultimate stop on the tour starting on July 22, 2022, the same day as the film's theatrical release, marking it as the first time that an attraction on the tour has opened day and date with a movie release. The set, which was disassembled during post-production and transported to, and reconstructed on site in, the park, with props and details from the film, was originally created by the film's production designer, Ruth DeJong.

 Former events Avalanche Tunnel (1974–2001)The tour guide leads the tram into a revolving tunnel, simulating an avalanche, including fake snow spinning around the tram, and damaged signs, along with special sound effects. It was replaced by Curse of the Mummy's Tomb.Rockslide (1974–1979)The tram stops inside a rock cliff which begins to collapse. The tram gets past the cliff safely, but not before having a collision with the rocks. The attraction was replaced by Battle of Galactica in 1979.Runaway Train (1974–1985)The tour guide leads the tram across a train track, thinking it is safe to cross. However, a train suddenly rushes from the tracks and stops just in time before colliding with the tram. The guide leads the tram away from the tracks to safety. The train is now a stationary train in the backlot.Battle of Galactica (1979–1992)This high-technology attraction featuring animatronics and live actors in a spectacular laser battle based on the television series Battlestar Galactica with a 200-foot-long spaceship that "swallowed" the passengers, opened June 9, 1979. This was the first themed attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics characters outside Disney Parks, and was the first dark ride to combine sophisticated animatronics and lasers with live actors. At a cost of $1 million, it was the most expensive special effects attraction ever built at the park at the time. It was replaced in 1992 by the foundations of Back to the Future: The Ride.King Kong Encounter (1986–2008)
The tram enters 1976 New York City where King Kong is on the loose and grabs and shakes the tram, which eventually escapes his grasp and gets out of the city safely. The 7-ton,  Kong figure was the largest and most complex animatronic figure in existence for many years. The sophistication of the attraction broke new ground and paved the way for today's themed attractions, including a Universal Studios Florida version. The Kong sequence was also featured in the film The Wizard starring Fred Savage and Indie singer Jenny Lewis.  This attraction opened on June 14, 1986, and was completely destroyed by a fire in the early morning of June 1, 2008. As of June 3, 2008, Universal Studios officials stated that the experience would not be rebuilt, and instead was replaced by the new King Kong: 360 3-D attraction, based on the 2005 film.Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (2001–2013)The tram guide tells guests that they are going to take a look at some props from the film The Mummy, but instead the tram is led into Imhotep's cursed tomb, where he sucks them into a powerful revolving sandstorm. The guide eventually leads the tram out of the sandstorm, and Imhotep is defeated.

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb closed on September 3, 2013, and was later demolished in the same month. It was confirmed on April 8, 2014, that the site would become home to the new Fast and Furious attraction, replaced by Fast & Furious: Supercharged, which opened on June 25, 2015.
 The Fast & The Furious: Extreme Close-Up (2006–2013)

Extreme Close-up demonstrates some of the special effects used in The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift. The attraction started construction in March 2006 and opened on June 15, 2006. The area was formerly occupied by a model used in Dante's Peak.

The section was closed in late July 2013. The studio had become increasingly frustrated with the portrayal of its Fast and Furious franchise at Universal Studios Hollywood after the blockbuster success of the sixth film. This frustration eventually led to the unplanned closure of Fast and Furious on the Studio Tour after producers from the film witnessed the attraction first-hand.The Collapsing Bridge (1974–2006, 2008–2010, 2013, 2014)The tour guide tries to take the tram around a bridge rather than going over it, but suddenly the tram driver takes the tram towards the bridge. Just as the tram reaches the midpoint of the bridge, it creaks and massive timbers fall away, causing the bridge to "drop" the tram a short distance. The tram drives on and guests can see the bridge rebuild itself for the next tram.

The bridge was used less-frequently starting in 2005, and by March 2006 was no longer part of the regular tram tour due to mechanical problems.  However, the bridge has since undergone renovations, and was added back to the tour schedules in August 2008. The Collapsing Bridge was repaired and returned as part of the Studio Tour in August 2008, after the June fire had closed much of the normal tram route. As of July 2010, King Kong: 360 3-D is located in front of the Collapsing Bridge. The bridge itself is still there, but King Kong: 360 3-D has replaced it. The current route is blocked by a crushed tram, used as set dressing for King Kong. Later, the bridge entrance is blocked by a stationary train from the Runaway Train event.Parting of the Red Sea (1973–2016)The guide leads the tram to a body of water. Suddenly, the waves part, and the tram travels between them. Prior to addition of miniature models of Skull Island and the S.S. Venture boat from the King Kong remake in 2006, guides informed guests that the waterfall effect was originally installed for the "parting of the Red Sea" scene from The Ten Commandments. The surrounding pond was also featured as part of the film set from Creature from the Black Lagoon. For many years a mock-up of The Creature stood in the pond.Whoville Comes To Life''' (2008–2016)During the holiday season, at the Whoville set all of the Whos, even Max the dog, perform a musical spectacular for the guests' enjoyment. The songs are remixes of songs from the movie. This is part of Universal's Grinchmas celebration.

In 2017, with the addition of "The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle" projection mapping and fireworks show in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Whoville Comes To Life was closed to appease nearby neighbors who would frequently complain about noise caused by the Whoville show and the extended Studio Tour hours.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 closure of Universal Studios Hollywood, the Whoville Sets were demolished and replaced with picture cars seen in Universal films and in the theme park.

Photo gallery

See also

 Universal Studios Studio Tour (Florida)
 Studio Backlot Tour, a similar attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios that eventually got demolished

References

External links
 Official site

1964 establishments in California
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Parks & Resorts attractions by name
Amusement rides introduced in 1964
Amusement rides based on film franchises
Animatronic attractions
Backlot sets

Studio Tour


Milko Kos (12 December 1892 – 24 March 1972) was a Slovenian historian, considered the father of the Ljubljana school of historiography.

Early life and education
He was born in the town of Gorizia (then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, now in Italy), where his father, the renowned medievalist Franc Kos, taught at the state high school. His mother was a Friulian from Gorizia and Gradisca. His younger brother Anton Gojmir Kos later became a prominent painter.

He studied history at the University of Vienna, specializing in the social history of the middle ages. He was an expert on medieval settlement patterns in the Slovene Lands. He also wrote about the social history of medieval towns and issues related to early Slovenian history, including the Slavic principality of Carantania and the Freising manuscripts.

Career
In 1928, he started teaching at the University of Ljubljana, where he replaced Ljudmil Hauptmann as the head of the chair for Slovene history. In this position, he influenced almost all Slovenian historians of the post–World War II period; most of them graduated under his direct supervision, including Fran Zwitter and Bogo Grafenauer.

Between 1941 and 1945, Kos served as the chancellor of the University of Ljubljana. During the difficult period of Italian and Nazi German annexation of Slovenia, Kos maintained an underground connection with the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People.

After the war, he became a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1955, he received the Prešeren Award, the highest recognition for cultural achievements in Slovenia, for his work on the land registers in the Slovenian Littoral.

Death and legacy
He died in Ljubljana.

The Milko Kos Historical Institute of Ljubljana is named after him.

20th-century Slovenian historians
Social historians
Slovenian medievalists
University of Vienna alumni
Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana
Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Prešeren Award laureates
People from Gorizia
Slovenian people of Friulian descent
1892 births
1972 deaths
Heads of universities in Slovenia

Milko Kos


Clash of the Titans is a 1981 movie. It is about the Greek hero Perseus. He is played by Harry Hamlin. The movie features the final work of stop motion artist, Ray Harryhausen. It made $41 million in the United States. It was the 11th highest money-making movie of the year.  Warner Bros. released a remake in 3D on April 2, 2010. Many big stars were in the movie including Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, and Ursula Andress.

Plot
King Acrisius of Argos (Donald Houston) has his daughter Danaë (Vida Taylor) imprisoned in a tower, out of jealousy for her beauty. However, Zeus (Laurence Olivier), king of the Greek gods, impregnates her and the product of this affair is Perseus. Fearing that his grandson will one day grow up to kill him, Acrisius has both mother and child set out to sea in a wooden chest, in the hopes of killing them. However, out of revenge, Zeus has Acrisius killed and orders the sea god Poseidon (Jack Gwillim) to release the last of the Titans, a giant humanoid sea monster called the Kraken, to destroy Argos. Meanwhile, Danaë and Perseus miraculously survive and land on the island of Seriphos, where Perseus grows into a young man.

Calibos (Neil McCarthy) is a young man who is the son of the sea goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith) and due to be married to Andromeda (Judi Bowker), daughter of Queen Cassiopeia (Siân Phillips) and heiress to the throne of Joppa; however, he has killed off every living thing in the Wells of the Moon (which he was entrusted to guard), among them Zeus' sacred herd of winged horses (except for Pegasus). To punish him, Zeus transforms Calibos into a monstrous satyr and has him exiled by his people. In retribution, Thetis transports the adult Perseus (Harry Hamlin) to an abandoned amphitheatre in Joppa where he encounters the aged poet Ammon (Burgess Meredith) from whom he learns that Andromeda is under a curse and is unable to marry unless her suitors can correctly answer a riddle; those who fail are burned at the stake. To aid his son, Zeus sends Perseus an invisibility helmet from Athena (Susan Fleetwood), a magic sword from Aphrodite (Ursula Andress) and a shield from Hera (Claire Bloom). Wearing the helmet, Perseus manages to capture Pegasus and follows Andromeda to learn the next riddle. Calibos nearly kills Perseus, but he escapes, losing his helmet in the process and also managing to sever Calibos' hand.

With the help of Thallo (Tim Pigott-Smith), Perseus presents himself as a suitor and correctly answers the riddle, presenting Calibos' severed hand and winning the hand of Andromeda in marriage. When Calibos finds his mother cannot act against Perseus, he commands her to take vengeance on Joppa. When Cassiopeia compares her daughter's beauty to that of Thetis', the enraged goddess demands that Andromeda must be sacrificed to the Kraken or Joppa will be destroyed.

While Perseus tries to find a way to conquer the Kraken, Pegasus is captured by Calibos' henchmen. Zeus commands Athena to give her owl Bubo to Perseus, but she convinces the gods' blacksmith Hephaestus (Pat Roach) to create a golden replica instead, who leads Perseus to a trio of hags called the Stygian Witches (Flora Robson, Anna Manahan and Freda Jackson), who have one tooth and eye between them. By taking their magic eye, Perseus forces them to reveal that the only way for the Kraken to be killed is by killing the gorgon, Medusa, who lives on an island at the edge of the Underworld. The group continues on their journey, minus Andromeda and Ammon, who return to Joppa.

While on the Gorgon's island, Perseus and his companions are attacked by Dioskilos, Medusa's two-headed hellhound. During the fight, one of the party is killed by the beast, before he is eventually slain by Perseus. He leads his two remaining allies into the gorgon's lair, where Medusa herself kills the two men, shooting one of them with an arrow and petrifying the other. Perseus uses his shield's reflective side to deceive Medusa and decapitates her. He collects her head, but his shield is dissolved by the gorgon's caustic blood.

As Perseus and his party set to return they are attacked by Calibos, who punctures the bag containing Medusa's severed head, and three giant scorpions called Scorpiochs rise out of the blood. They attack Thallo, who managed to kill one of the scorpions, who Calibos later kills. Perseus slays the two remaining scorpions and Calibos, and later grieves for Thallo. Weakened from his fight, Perseus sends Bubo to rescue the captive Pegasus. Bubo succeeds in freeing the horse and he also manages to destroy Calibos' camp. Perseus manages to reach the Joppa amphitheater, but collapses from exhaustion. Andromeda is chained to the cliffs near Joppa and the Kraken is summoned. Bubo arrives and diverts the monster's attention until Perseus (whose strength was secretly restored by Zeus) arrives, mounted on Pegasus. In the battle, he uses Medusa's head to turn the Kraken to stone, causing to crumble into pieces. Perseus then throws Medusa's head into the ocean, frees Andromeda and subsequently marries her.

The gods predict that Perseus and Andromeda will live happily for the rest of the lives and have children. Zeus also forbids the gods from pursuing vengeance against them. The constellations of Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia  and Pegasus are created in their honor.

References

Epic movies
1980s fantasy movies
Movies based on Greek and Roman mythology
1981 movies

Clash of the Titans


The gastrovascular cavity is the primary organ of digestion and circulation in two major animal phyla: the Coelenterates or cnidarians (including jellyfish and corals) and Platyhelminthes (flatworms). The cavity may be extensively branched into a system of canals. In cnidarians, the gastrovascular system is also known as the coelenteron, and is commonly known as a "blind gut" or "blind sac", since food enters and waste exits through the same orifice.

The radially symmetrical cnidarians have a sac-like body in two distinct layers, the epidermis and gastrodermis, with a jellylike layer called the mesoglea between. Extracellular digestion takes place within the central cavity of the sac-like body.  This cavity has only one opening to the outside which, in most cnidarians, is surrounded by tentacles for capturing prey.

References

Cnidarian biology
Digestive system

Gastrovascular cavity


Bethsaida is a town in ancient Israel, near the sea of Galilee.  According to the first chapter of the Gospel of John the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip came from there. The Gospel of Mark Chapter 8 says that Jesus healed a blind man there. In the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke we are told that Jesus fed 5000 people using only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

Modern archeologists have not been able to prove for sure exactly where Bethsaida was.

Archaeological sites in Israel
Ancient Israeli settlements

Bethsaida


Choline-phosphate cytidylyltransferase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction

CTP + choline phosphate  diphosphate + CDP-choline

where the two substrates of this enzyme are CTP and choline phosphate, and the two products are diphosphate and CDP-choline.  It is responsible for regulating phosphatidylcholine content in membranes.

This enzyme belongs to the family of transferases, specifically those transferring phosphorus-containing nucleotide groups (nucleotidyltransferases).  The systematic name of this enzyme class is CTP:choline-phosphate cytidylyltransferase. Other names in common use include phosphorylcholine transferase, CDP-choline pyrophosphorylase, CDP-choline synthetase, choline phosphate cytidylyltransferase, CTP-phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase, CTP:phosphorylcholine cytidylyltransferase, cytidine diphosphocholine pyrophosphorylase, phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase, phosphorylcholine cytidylyltransferase, and phosphorylcholine:CTP cytidylyltransferase.  This enzyme participates in aminophosphonate metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism.

Structural studies

As of late 2007, two structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes  and .

References

EC 2.7.7
Enzymes of known structure

Choline-phosphate cytidylyltransferase


Otto Fabricius (6 March 174420  May 1822) was a Danish missionary, naturalist, ethnographer, and explorer of Greenland.

Biography

Otto Fabricius was born in Rudkøbing on the island of Langeland, Denmark, where his father was a rector. In his youth, he was educated largely at home by tutors. In 1762, he was matriculated at the University of Copenhagen. In 1765, he was admitted to the Greenland Mission Seminary (Seminarium Groenlandicum), where he attended classes taught by Poul Egede. In 1768 he graduated with a degree in divinity.

He was sent as a missionary to the southwestern coast of Greenland from 1768 to 1773. During this period, he made enormous amounts of observations and collections. His laboratory was an Inuit house made of turf. His only artificial light was an oil lamp. He had a few magnifying glasses and only one book was in his library, Linnaei Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus. Nevertheless, he made enough zoological observation to be able to publish Fauna Groenlandica (1780), which was  written in Latin,  after his return to Denmark. Here, he described 473 animal species, primarily marine, 130 of which were proposed as new to science. Detailed descriptions are given, including information on habitat and behaviour, the vernacular Inuit name, what use the Inuit make of the animal and not least how they caught or trapped it.

In 1774, he was appointed rector at Drangedal in Telemark, Norway where he stayed until 1779 while he completed work for a Greenlandic language dictionary which was published in 1804. In 1789, he succeeded Poul Egede to become a lecturer in the Greenland Mission Seminary. In 1818, he was appointed an Honorary Bishop of the Church of Denmark and awarded a Doctorate of Divinity.

Fauna Groenlandica
Fauna Groenlandica by Othonis Fabricii (1780) was published in Latin by Göttingen Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hafniae; Lipsiae Rothe. Scan
Sections on mammals and birds translated from Latin into Danish by O. Helms (1929): Otto Fabricius, Fauna Groenlandica, Pattedyr og Fugle, Det Grønlandske Selskabs Skrifter
The life of Bishop Otto Fabricius is reviewed and the section on seals translated and commented on by Finn O. Kapel (2005): Otto Fabricius and the seals of Greenland. MoG Bioscience.

References

Other sources
Jensen, A.S. (1932) Otto Fabricius, pp. 72–75 in: Meisen, V. Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages  (Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard)
Kapel, Finn O. (2005) Otto Fabricius and the seals of Greenland  (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press)

1744 births
1822 deaths
18th-century Danish people
Danish zoologists
Danish biologists
Danish Lutheran missionaries
Greenlandic Lutheran clergy
Lutheran missionaries in Greenland
Linguists of Eskaleut languages
People from Langeland Municipality
Missionary linguists
18th-century Danish scientists

Otto Fabricius


Prenatal testing or Prenatal diagnosis are tests done on pregnant women. They are used to test fetuses for birth defects and some genetic disorders.

Prenatal tests can be non-invasive or invasive.  Non-invasive tests include things like utrasounds. In invasive tests, a needle is inserted - for example, to get a sample of fluid from the placenta).

Prenatal tests can check for many conditions, like:
 Down syndrome
 Spina bifida
 Cleft palate
 Tay-Sachs disease
 Sickle-cell disease
 Thalassaemia
 Cystic fibrosis
 Fragile X syndrome

In some cases, the tests are administered to determine if the parents want to abort the fetus.

In some cases, fetal screening has been done to identify things that are not birth defects. For example, in some parts of the world, if an ultrasound shows that a fetus is female, it is sometimes aborted.  The rise of designer babies raises a number of ethical and legal issues.

Obstetrics and gynecology

Prenatal diagnosis


Electronic engineering is an engineering discipline that investigates the use of electricity and magnetism.  Electronic engineers are concerned with such processes as: the use of radio waves, the design of electronic circuits, the design of computer systems, and the development of control systems such as aircraft autopilots and other embedded systems.

The term 'electronic engineering' started to emerge increasingly in the late 1950s.  Before World War II, electronic engineering was most commonly known as a 'radio engineering'.  At that time, studying radio engineering at a university was part of a physics degree.  Later, as other electronic devices were developed, the field broadened to include radar, television, audio systems, Hi-Fi and later computers and microprocessors.  In the mid to late 1950s, the term 'radio engineering' gradually gave way to the name 'electronic engineering', which then became a stand-alone university degree subject.

Engineers must study the sciences of physics and mathematics as these help to understand systems and make them better.  Today most engineering work involves the use of computers and it is commonplace to use computer-aided technologies when designing electronics systems.  Some electronic engineers work in robotics.

Electronics

Electronic engineering


DreamWorks Pictures, officially called DW II Distribution Co., LLC, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American movie studio. It has made or sold more than ten movies which made more than $100 million each at the box-office.

History
DreamWorks began in 1994. It was founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen (making the SKG at the bottom of the DreamWorks logo). They own 72% of the company. In December 2005, the founders agreed to sell the studio to Viacom. The sale was done in February 2006. In 2008, DreamWorks announced that it would split from Paramount. It signed a $1.5 billion deal to make movies with India's Reliance ADA Group. Reliance gave $325M to help recreate DreamWorks studio as its own company. Clark Hallren led the Reliance team in making plans for the company. The movie studio is 50% owned by Reliance. Reliance is led by Anil Ambani.

The part of DreamWorks which makes animations was made into DreamWorks Animation SKG in 2004.

References

Other websites
 Official site

1994 establishments in the United States
American movie studios

DreamWorks Pictures


My Computer is seen on the Microsoft Windows computers. My Computer allows the user to access the local drives, such as the local disk, also known as the C: Drive. The user can also access external drives. Examples of an external drive are a floppy disk drive (A: Drive) and the CD Drive (D:). My computer also lets the user access My Documents and other files.
Whenever any external drive is attached to the computer, the user can directly access that drive from My Computer menu. "My Computer" gives us an overview about different types of drives present in the computer. The My Computer folder is a gateway to all the data stored on the computer, attached devices, and the network -- as well as a shortcut to most of your system information.

Software

My Computer


A sainete (farce or titbit) was a popular Spanish comic opera piece, a one-act dramatic vignette, with music. It was often placed at the end of entertainments, or between other types of performance. It was vernacular in style, and used scenes of low life. Active from the 18th to 20th centuries, it superseded the entremés. Among its most prolific composers were Ramón de la Cruz and Antonio Soler.

The genre, known as the  was also found in Catalonia, with composers such as Josep Ribas contributing Catalan-language .

Sainetes began to be developed into zarzuelas in Cuba around 1850.

See also
 Cuban musical theatre

References

Musical theatre
Theatrical genres
History of theatre

Sainete


Mariano Andreu (1888–1976) was a Spanish painter, drawer, enamelling master, sculptor, and stage designer.

He was born in Mataró in 1888 and lived his early childhood above the Teatro Circo Barcelonés in the Calle Montserrat. Early on  he was affiliated to the "Noucentistes" movement, named by his friend Eugenio d'Ors. He  studied in London under Alexander Fisher an enamaller of the Central Arts & Crafts School in London. Returning to Barcelona Andreu made one of the world's largest enamels, the triptych "L'Orb" using contemporary enamelling techniques of the day.

He left Spain for Paris, with his wife Philomene ("Filo") Stes, he became involved in stage design; he carried out works such as  Voleur d'Images, Sonatina for the Opéra-Comique in 1929, La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu for Louis Jouvet's Théâtre de l'Athénée (1935). For the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo he designed costumes and sets for Capriccio Espagnol, which premiered in Monte Carlo in 1939. He designed costumes for the 20th Century Fox film That Lady (1955, starring Olivia de Havilland and Paul Scofield) and the short ballet film Spanish Fiesta (1942).

He was invited to London by John Gielgud to design the sets and costumes for Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, in 1949.  He also designed the sets and costumes for Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens, directed by Gielgud at Covent Garden in 1957. In 1951 he designed Sir Alec Guinness's Hamlet and in 1955 All's Well That Ends Well, for Noel Willman.

Early exhibitions in London were seen at the Claridge Gallery and the Leicester Galleries.

Throughout his life Andreu produced some 30 Livres de Luxe, for which he early on gained an enviable reputation as one of the finest lithographers and illustrators of his day.

His work is held in many public and private collections in France, the United States, Great Britain and Spain.

External links
 Spanish Painters, biographies

1888 births
1976 deaths
Painters from Catalonia
Spanish enamellers
20th-century enamellers
20th-century Spanish painters
20th-century Spanish male artists
Spanish male painters
20th-century ceramists

Mariano Andreu