Major-General Sir John Edward Capper  (7 December 1861 − 24 May 1955) was a senior officer of the British Army during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who served on the North-West Frontier of British India, in South Africa and during the First World War, where he was instrumental in the development of the tank. He was the older brother of Major-General Thompson Capper, who was killed in action at the Battle of Loos in late 1915.

An experienced engineer, Capper was involved in numerous building projects during his years in India and pioneered the development of airships in Britain. He helped establish and command several military training establishments in Britain, was involved in large-scale military planning during 1918 and 1919 and was pivotal in establishing the tank as an important feature of the British Army. Although Capper was sometimes described as pompous and possessing poor communication skills, earning the nickname "Stone Age" for his attitude towards the ideas of junior officers in the Royal Tank Corps (later the Royal Tank Regiment), he nevertheless played a vital role in the development and deployment of armoured vehicles in the British Army.

India, Burma and South Africa
John Capper was born in Lucknow, India to civil servant William Copeland Capper and his wife Sarah in December 1861. Returning to England at an early age for education, Capper attended Wellington College and upon leaving in 1880 enrolled in the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from where he went on to study at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, before subsequently being commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a lieutenant. A capable engineering officer, Capper served in India and Burma for most of the first 17 years of his career, principally employed on military and public construction projects. He performed well in this position, being promoted to captain in 1889.

In 1897, Capper was attached to the force dispatched to the Tirah Campaign on the North-West Frontier of British India. One of his tasks there was to supervise the construction of the first road for wheeled vehicles across the Khyber pass. At the campaign's successful conclusion, he was promoted to major and transferred to South Africa while his wife Edith Mary (née Beausire) and their son John Beausire Copeland Capper returned to England. Arriving in South Africa at the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Capper became deputy assistant director of railways, a vital job given the lengthy and dangerous supply routes along which the war was fought. In 1900, he received the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded several locally raised units, eventually becoming the commandant at Johannesburg. He returned to England in June 1902, following the end of hostilities the previous month, and on 22 August 1902 was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list.

Aeronautics
In 1903 he settled with his family at Bramdean House in Alresford, and was appointed Commander of the Balloon Sections, based at Aldershot under the command of Col James Templer. In 1906, having briefly become the Balloon Companies, the organisation became the School of Ballooning with Capper as its Commandant. At about the same time the Balloon Factory was split off and moved to a new site nearby at Farnborough and, on Templer's retirement, Capper also became its Superintendent and was given the brevet rank of full colonel. Templer was retained at the factory under Capper to complete the development of Britain's first military airship, the Nulli Secundus ("second to none") in a purpose-built airship shed.

Capper not only supervised the British Army's ballooning and airship activities, but took a wider interest in aeronautics. In anticipation of the new airship, he took up the civilian sport of ballooning, flying in competitions initially as assistant to the Hon. C.S. Rolls and later with his own balloon "Pegasus" and his wife as assistant. These included the man-lifting "war kites" developed by Samuel Franklin Cody and the early work on aeroplanes by both Cody and J. W. Dunne. He also conducted fact-finding visits to the US, where he and his wife befriended the Wright brothers and became involved in protracted but ultimately futile negotiations for the War Office to buy a Wright machine.

Capper and Cody undertook the first successful flight of a British airship, the Nulli Secundus, over London in 1907.

Capper went on to modify the airship as Nulli Secundus II, parodied by Punch as "second to none the second", and a smaller experimental airship called Baby. Neither was an immediate success, although Baby would later be modified and have a long and successful career.

Capper oversaw the first Army aeroplanes. He briefly flew Dunne's first glider, the D.1, during secret trials at Blair Atholl in Scotland in 1907. The flight had lasted only a few seconds when the glider crashed into a wall, with Capper sustaining a cut to the head. The next year, Cody flew the first British-built aeroplane at Farnborough, which earned it the title British Army Aeroplane No.1. This was an ironic achievement for Capper's command, as he had pinned his personal hopes on Dunne, whose D.4 achieved no more than a few hops.

That Autumn the government conducted a formal inquiry into military aviation. Capper had to return early from Blair Atholl in order to present his evidence. He argued strongly for a promising future of all forms of aeronautics and especially the aeroplane. However his Army superiors on the committee were against aeronautics in any form. It was decided that only small-scale airship experiments should continue and that aeroplane work should be stopped. It formally ceased when Dunne and Cody's contracts ran out at the end of March 1909.

Soon afterwards the Balloon Factory was removed from the command of the Army and a new civilian superintendent, Mervyn O'Gorman, appointed. Capper remained in command of the Army Balloon School.

When Dunne left Farnborough, Capper was one of several friends who offered support for his efforts. In 1911, one of Dunne's new aeroplanes was exhibited at the Olympia Aero Show, with a placard stating it was "Built to the order of Col. J. E. Capper, R.E."

In 1910 Capper was transferred to command of the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham, marking the end of his aeronautical career.

First World War

Capper remained at Chatham until September 1914 when the lack of experienced officers forced his transfer to France in the early months of the First World War.

As a brigadier-general, Capper was first made deputy inspector of the lines of communication before being given the post of Chief Engineer to the Third Corps. In July 1915 he was promoted to major-general and made chief engineer of the British Third Army. In October, following the deaths of several senior officers at the Battle of Loos, including Capper's younger brother Major-General Sir Thompson Capper, he was promoted to overall command of the 24th Division. Capper remained in command of the division for the next 18 months, including periods of heavy fighting at the Battle of the Somme, in which his son John was killed in action serving with the Royal Artillery. The division also spent extensive periods of time in other sections of the line and gained extensive battle experience at the cost of high casualties. As a reward for his service in command of the division, he was presented with the Commander's Cross of the Légion d'honneur by the French government.

In May 1917, he was recalled to England, initially to run the Machine-Gun Corps training centre and from 28 July hold the position of Director-General of the newly formed Tank Corps at the War Office. Operational command of tanks at the frontlines was in the hands of Hugh Elles, the first commander of the Heavy Branch. Although tanks had first been introduced on the Somme the year before, their design and manufacture were both inadequate and the tactics of their deployment almost non-existent. Capper's job at the Tank Corps was to shape the organisation of the unit into an efficient battlefield force, improve mechanical reliability and develop effective tactics. It was in this role that Capper was given the nickname Stone Age, as his subordinates considered him to be unwilling to accept new innovations in tank tactics. In fact, Capper was an able tactician who worked with General J. F. C. Fuller to develop a plan for a large scale armoured assault on German lines in 1919 (known as Plan 1919): his subordinates' prejudices were based on Capper's rigid adherence to the military hierarchy and his consequent failure to communicate his ideas to those below his rank. For his services as Director General of the Tank Corps, Capper was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

Retirement
In July 1918, Capper left the War Office and commanded the 64th Division in England until May 1919, when he took over command of Number 1 Area in France and Flanders. In September 1919, Capper became Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey and took over command of the island's military installations. He held the post for five years and during that time was made Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Tank Corps. On 11 July 1921, he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. Retiring in 1925, Capper remained associated with the Tank Corps and also became a governor of Wellington College, associations he retained until 1946.

During the Second World War, Capper joined the Hampshire Home Guard and remained on duty with the unit until 1943. Post-War he retired fully to Bramdean House and remained there until shortly before his death. He was widowed in 1953 and died at Esperance Nursing Home in Eastbourne in May 1955, leaving a daughter. In 1971, his collected papers, and those of his brother Thompson, who had been an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, were donated to the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London where they are still available to researchers.

Notes

References

Walker, P.; Early Aviation at Farnborough, two volumes, Macdonald (Vol. I 1971, Vol. 2 1974).

External links

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1861 births
1955 deaths
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
British Army generals of World War I
British aviators
British Home Guard officers
British military personnel of the Tirah campaign
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Commanders of the Legion of Honour
People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Royal Engineers officers
Military personnel of British India
British Army major generals

John Capper


Tellurate is an ion. Its chemical formula is TeO42- or TeO66-. Chemical compounds having the tellurate ion in them are called tellurates. Tellurates are strong oxidizing agents. They are similar to selenates. Tellurates react with acids to make telluric acid.

An example is sodium tellurate (Na2TeO4). It is made by reacting telluric acid with sodium hydroxide. It can also be made by oxidizing sodium tellurite. It is similar to sodium selenate.

Related pages
Tellurite
Telluride
Tellurium

Tellurium compounds
Ions

Tellurate


For the ceety, see Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires.

Valentín Alsina (1802 – September 6, 1869) wis a Argentine lawyer an politeecian.

Biografie

Early life
Alsina wis born in Buenos Aires an studiet law at the Varsity o Córdoba. He occupee'd diverse posts in govrenment, an haed a successfu ceevil career as a advocate an professor o law at the Varsity o Buenos Aires.

Poleetical views
Unner the govrenment o Juan Manuel de Rosas, he haed tae leave the kintra, as his leeberal ideas did no please the dictator at aw. Frae his refuge in Montevideo, he supportit the opposition against de Rosas, baith financially an throu publications.

When Rosas wis deposed bi Justo José de Urquiza, Alsina returned tae Buenos Aires, an he wis electit provincial govrenor in 1852. Housomeivver, he resigned efter a few months, shortly afore a militar coup teuk place. In 1853, Buenos Aires left the Argentine Confederation an declared itsel an unthirlt state. Alsina, a fervent supporter o Buenos Aires Province unthirldom, became govrenor again in 1857. In 1859, open hostilities breuk oot atween Buenos Aires an the Argentine Confederation, led bi Urquiza. Efter the defeat o the Buenos Aires airmy at the Battle o Cepeda on 23 October 1859, Alsina haed tae resign his post, an shortly efter Buenos Aires rejoined the Confederation. Alsina became a member o the Argentine Senate in 1862.

When Bartolomé Mitre (Preses o Argentinae atween 1862 an 1868) affered him a poseetion as member o the Argentine Supreme Court he refused an remained servin as a Senator till his daith, which occurred juist a few months efter he teuk the oath o his son Adolfo Alsina, who became Vice Preses o Argentinae in 1868.

References
Historical Dictionary of Argentina. Lunnon: Scarecrow Press, 1978.

1802 births
1869 daiths
Fowk frae Buenos Aires
Argentine fowk o Catalan strynd
Naitional Varsity o Córdoba alumni
Argentine lawyers
Argentine academics
Govrenors o Buenos Aires Province
Members o the Argentine Senate
Buirials at La Recoleta Seemetry
Unitarianists (Argentinae)

Valentín Alsina


1578 (MDLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events
 January 31 – Battle of Gemblours – Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese defeat the Dutch. Don John begins to recover control of the French-speaking Southern Netherlands
 August 4 – Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir – The Moroccans defeat the Portuguese. King Sebastian I of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
 October 1 – Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, succeeds Don John as Spanish Governor-General of the Netherlands.
 Martin Frobisher held the first celebration of Thanksgiving by Europeans in North American at Newfoundland by the Frobisher Expedition.
 Tibet – Sonam Gyrso receives from prince Atlan Khan the title of "Talaï" and becomes the third Dalai Lama.
 Battle of Wenden – The Russians are defeated by the Swedes, who proceed to take Polotsk.
 The Ottoman Empire conquers Abkhazia.
 Sixth and so far the last outbreak of the sweating sickness in England

1578


The flag of Saudi Arabia is the flag used by the government of Saudi Arabia since March 15, 1973. It is a green flag featuring in white an Arabic inscription and a sword.

The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the shahadah or Islamic declaration of faith:

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله
la ilaha ill allah muhammadun rasul allah
"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his Messenger"

The sword, symbolizes the importance of the inscription by underlining it.

Green flags with this or other Arabic scripts are commonly seen in Islam. They should not be confused with the Saudi national flag. These other flags normally do not have the sword symbol.

The flag is made so that the shahada reads correctly, from right to left, from either side. The sword points from hoist to fly on both sides. The flag is sinister hoisted. This means that the obverse side (front) has the hoist side (flagpole side) to the right.

Saudi Arabia
National symbols of Saudi Arabia

Flag of Saudi Arabia


The Irish Parliamentary Party was a nationalist political party in Ireland. The Party wanted Ireland to be able to govern itself, instead of being governed by the United Kingdom. The Party was created in the nineteenth century by Isaac Butt. Its most famous leader was Charles Stewart Parnell.

In 1886, the Party helped convince British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, to announce a Home Rule bill. The bill would make Ireland leave the United Kingdom. Ireland would become a British colony which could govern itself. Ireland would have its own parliament, instead of having representatives in the British Parliament.  The bill did not get passed.

Other Home rule bills were presented later on. They were different from the original because they would have kept Ireland's representation in the British Parliament (instead of giving Ireland its own parliament). None of these bills succeeded. One was passed in 1914, but it was canceled because of the First World War. Another was enacted in 1920, but it failed because of Irish rebellion. It was replaced by an independent Irish Free State, which included most of the island. A Home Ruled Northern Ireland was also created in six counties of Ulster that stayed in the United Kingdom.

References

Irish nationalist organisations
Political parties in Ireland
Political parties in the United Kingdom

Irish Parliamentary Party


The Illawarra Coke Company (ICC) is located in Coalcliff and Corrimal, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia where historically coal was mined on the slopes of the Illawarra escarpment. After the mines were closed, coke making still occurs on these sites. The company was the only independent producer of metallurgical and foundry coke in Australia and has been privately owned since 1996. It produced premium grade coke for metallurgical processing and foundry to Australian and overseas base metals producers for lead and zinc smelting and iron production for steelmaking. The company's two cokeworks are adjacent to all major transport links.

In April 2014, Illawarra Coke Company closed.

External links
 "Illawarra Coal" – An unofficial history of coal mining in the Illawarra
 "Coalcliff Cokeworks Closes" - Closure of Illawarra coke Company

Coal companies of Australia
Illawarra escarpment
Coal mining in New South Wales
Companies based in New South Wales
Energy companies established in 1996
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1996

Illawarra Coke Company


Rowland Tappan Berthoff (September 20, 1921 – March 25, 2001) was an American historian, working in the fields of immigration and social life in the USA. He is best known for his 1971 book An Unsettled People: Order and Disorder in American Life.

He was born in Toledo, Ohio, attended Oberlin College, did graduate work at Harvard University where he received a doctorate in 1952, as a student of Oscar Handlin. Berthoff was an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University from 1953, and then a professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, from 1962. He was made chairman of Washington University's history department and named William Elliott Smith Professor of History in 1971.

He promoted social history and ethnic history. His 1960 article on "The American Social Order: A Conservative Hypothesis," called for a conservative interpretation of American history.

References

Further reading
 Berthoff, Rowland. "The American Social Order: A Conservative Hypothesis," American Historical Review, April 1960, Vol. 65 Issue 3, pp 495–514 in JSTOR

1921 births
2001 deaths
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
Oberlin College alumni
Harvard University alumni
Princeton University faculty
Washington University in St. Louis faculty
20th-century American male writers

Rowland Berthoff


Against can mean:
 in an opposite direction - walking against the wind
 in front, touching, or resting  - The man was standing against the tree.
 in opposition - against all odds
 in competition - The boy played chess against his father.
 touching with strong force - Ocean waves crash against the swimmer.
 as a protection from - She used an umbrella against the strong rain."

Other meanings
 Against'' was the seventh album by Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura. It came out in 1998 from Roadrunner Records.

Basic English 850 words
VOA Special English words

Against


The Black Eye Galaxy (or Sleeping Beauty Galaxy; Messier 64, M64, Evil Eye Galaxy or NGC 4826) was discovered in 1779. It is a fairly close galaxy, just over 24 million light years away.

It has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of its bright nucleus. This is why it is called the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because it can be seen in small telescopes. It is a spiral galaxy in the Coma Berenices constellation.

Galactic collision
The gas in the outer areas of M64 rotates in the opposite direction to the gas and stars in the inner areas. The inner area has a radius of only about 3,000 light-years, while the outer area extends another 40,000 light-years  Many new stars are near the edges between the two areas.

Astronomers think the oppositely rotating gas happened when M64 took in a galaxy that collided with it. This happened over a billion years ago. New stars are forming in the shear region. The shear region is where the oppositely rotating gases collide, are pushed together, and get smaller.

The image shows hot, blue young stars that have just been made. There are pink clouds of glowing hydrogen gas that fluoresces when exposed to ultraviolet light from newly made stars. The small galaxy that collided with M64 has now been almost completely destroyed. Its stars are either in the main galaxy or scattered into intergalactic space. The motion of gas at the outer edge of M64 is a sign of the ancient collision.

Reference

Spiral galaxies

Black Eye galaxy


Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (1644, Montargis – 8 May 1712, Paris) was a French novelist, journalist, pamphleteer and memorialist.

His abundant output includes short stories, gallant letters, tales of historical love affairs (Les Intrigues amoureuses de la Cour de France, 1684), historical and political works, biographies and semi-fictional "memoirs" (in the first person; his prefaces often indicate that the works were composed of papers found after the subject's death) of historical figures from the recent past (such as the Marquis de Montbrun and M. de Rochefort).  His memoir-novels (Mémoires de M.L.C.D.R., 1687;  Mémoires de M. d'Artagnan, 1700;  Mémoires de M. de B.; 1711) describe the social and political world of Richelieu and Mazarin with a picaresque realism (spies, kidnappings, and political machinations predominate) and they were important precursors to both French picaresque novels and literary realism in the 18th century.

Courtilz de Sandras is best known today for his semi-fictionalized memoirs of the famous musketeer d'Artagnan which were published in 1700 (27 years after the death of d'Artagnan) and which served as the model for Alexandre Dumas, père's portrayal of d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (Fr: Les trois mousquetaires), Twenty Years After (Fr: Vingt ans après) and The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Fr: Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard).

Courtilz de Sandras served in the army before becoming a writer.  He was imprisoned several times in the Bastille where Besmaux, the former companion of d'Artagnan, was warden, and it was most likely from this source that he learned the details of d'Artagnan's life.

References

Portions of this article are based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted in February 2006.
  Dandrey, Patrick, ed.  Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIIe siècle.  Paris: Fayard, 1996, pp. 344–346.

External links

1644 births
1712 deaths
People from Montargis
18th-century French journalists
17th-century French male writers
18th-century French male writers
17th-century French novelists
18th-century French novelists
French male novelists
French male non-fiction writers
18th-century French memoirists

Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras


OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates (previously known as the Organization of Chinese Americans) is a non-profit organization founded in 1973, whose stated mission is to advance the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the United States.

Organization

OCA National Center is located in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., and serves as the headquarters for OCA. The national office and staff monitor legislation and policy issues affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In addition, OCA is able to build national support and to work in coalition with other national groups around issues affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

OCA takes no collective position on the politics of any foreign country, but instead focuses on the welfare and civil rights of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

Goals
The goals of OCA are to:

 Advocate for social justice, equal opportunity and fair treatment
 Promote civic participation, education, and leadership
 Advance coalitions and community building
 Foster cultural heritage

To achieve these goals, OCA is engaged in organizing 100+ chapters and affiliates across the nation to develop both leadership and community involvement.

History
OCA was founded in 1973 to give voice and representation to Chinese Americans across the United States. Interest in civil rights advocacy had been growing in Chinese American communities since the late 1960s. OCA founders, among them Kung-Lee (K.L.) Wang, recognized a need for an organization to advocate for Chinese Americans on the national level in the same way as the NAACP and the JACL advocated for their respective ethnic groups.

In September 1971, K.L. Wang and others established the Chinese American Leadership Council, the precursor to OCA, in Washington, DC. K.L. Wang then traveled to many cities in the U.S. to promote a national advocacy organization for Chinese Americans. In November 1971, at the urging of K.L. Wang, Alex Mark chaired a steering committee to establish a national organization for Chinese Americans in Detroit, Michigan. By February 1972, the Association of Chinese Americans was established and incorporated in Detroit, with Alex Mark as its first president. In late 1971, K.L. Wang also met with a group of about 20 Chinese Americans in the St. Louis community. This meeting lead to the formation of the League of Chinese Americans in early 1972. William Chang was elected its first president.

On May 3, 1973, Alex Mark and K.L. Wang sent invitation letters for OCA membership to Chinese American communities in Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Washington, DC. These pioneering groups came together at the first National Convention on June 9, 1973. One hundred twelve delegates from across the nation attended the convention, in which the constitution, bylaws and the name of the organization were adopted. Pauline Tsui of Washington, DC, served as the convention committee chair. Anna Chennault was instrumental in recruiting support from Congress and the Administration.  K.L. Wang was elected as its first national president. The Association of Chinese Americans in Detroit, while retaining its name, became a chapter. The original OCA in Washington, DC, evolved as a distinct chapter with Harry Woo as its first president. The League of Chinese Americans in St. Louis also joined, becoming the third founding chapter of OCA.

In 2013, OCA's National Board of Directors passed a resolution to change its name to "OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates" to reflect a more expansive mission to represent the pan-ethnic interests of the community.

Chapters

OCA has more than 50 chapters across the United States. Each chapter develops its own outreach programs, ranging from educational seminars and Chinese language schools to voter registration drives. OCA chapters address a number of issues including inaccurate media portrayals of AAPIs, failed employment practices, hate crimes, and educational access. They also implement programs that aim to foster youth development, leadership development, and professional development in the AAPI community.

Controversies

2009: Miley Cyrus Incident
In early 2009, a photograph of Miley Cyrus circulated online in which she had the corners of her eyes pulled back, displaying a slant-eyed expression, while friends, including an Asian male, surrounding her posed in other manners. OCA was one of the first groups to respond to the photograph, by offering criticism and disapproval, hoping that "...Miley Cyrus will apologize to her fans and the AAPI community for this lapse in judgment and takes the opportunity to better understand why the gesture is offensive." A few days later Cyrus responded on her website defending her actions, saying that "in NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity!"  OCA Executive Director George Wu responded to Cyrus's response, by adding that, "It's not a real apology. We're not backing down without a fuller apology."

National Convention
Since its founding in 1973, OCA has held the largest annual conference dedicated to AAPI issues. Each year, the National Convention draws over 1,000 AAPI attendants from across the nation. The convention is a platform for the recognition of unsung heroes of the AAPI community, exemplary local chapters, sponsors, summer interns, and current individuals making a difference in the AAPI community. Recognized individuals and speakers include former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, and Congressman Mike Honda.

Programs

APIA U: Leadership 101

Sponsored by State Farm, OCA visits colleges and universities every Fall and Spring semester to conduct a college leadership training program for Asian American and Pacific Islander student leaders and activists. The program focuses on the development of leadership and organizational skills that are relevant to AAPI campuses and communities.

The interactive college leadership training program involves hands-on exercises, small group discussions, and presentations led by two qualified AAPI facilitators. The one-day training assembles 60 students from each region and focuses on self-awareness, team-building, and direct action organizing. Participants are asked to challenge themselves, share their experiences, and develop leadership tools in order to serve effectively as catalysts for change.

APA-Y

OCA Internship Program

The OCA internship program was first established in 1989 and has been a flagship component of OCA's involvement with college youth. The internship program enables college interns to learn firsthand about national issues and policies that affect Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Washington, DC. In particular, the competitive summer program is known for attracting the best and brightest college students, as it is a 10-week-long program that places interns on Capitol Hill, at federal agencies, or at non-profit organizations (particularly AAPI affiliated organizations).

In the past, the summer program has offered interns the opportunity to participate in brown bag lunches on key issues affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders such as immigration reform and health care, and has included visits to congressional office buildings, where interns meet with representatives, AAPI staffers, and members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Interns have also met with members of various government agencies such as the United States Department of Justice, the United States Department of Defense, and even White House staff members and directors to discuss issues concerning civil rights and voting rights, especially as it pertains to the AAPI community. In addition, summer interns have also assisted the OCA National staff and the host OCA chapter staff at the annual OCA National Convention.

The main internship placements are:
 The OCA National Office (Summer, Fall, Winter & Spring)
 Capitol Hill (Summer only)
 Federal Agencies (Summer only)
 Non-Profits (Summer only)

Scholarships
For over 10 years, OCA has provided assistance to deserving AAPI students achieve a college education. OCA partners with United Parcel Service, Verizon Wireless, and the AXA Foundation to offer a diverse group of scholarships based on the criteria of achievement and financial need.

B3: Aspiring AAPI Professionals Program
This program aims to provide relevant professional development, peer networking and mentoring to aspiring AAPI professionals;
expand BAC engagement, best practices and mentoring; and leverage venue for corporate employee resource group.

It was recently launched in the Fall of 2009.

Mentoring Asian American Professionals (MAAP)

Womxn's Initiative

Research

A Portrait of Chinese Americans
In 2009, OCA and the Asian American Studies Program of the University of Maryland at College Park (UMD) cooperated in creating a demographic study of Chinese Americans. Entitled A Portrait of Chinese Americans, the study analyzed the latest population statistics and maps and found extraordinary socioeconomic diversity within the Chinese American population at odds with prevailing stereotypes. The study also found evidence of career limitations and unequal pay even for highly educated Chinese Americans, many of whom earned substantially less than their equally educated white counterparts.

Current projects

APIA Scholarship, Internship, and Fellowship Directory
In July 2009, OCA, in collaboration with the JACL, State Farm, and the Asian American Studies Program of University of Maryland, College Park, produced the 2009-2011 National Directory of Scholarships, Internships, and Fellowships for Asian American and Pacific Islander Students. The Directory provided a 140-page, full-color description of the mission, criteria, award amount, period, application deadline, and contact information of each scholarship, internship, and fellowship for Asian American and Pacific Islander students.

Notable members
 Helen Zia, Asian American scholar and civil rights activist
 Judy Chu, Congresswoman of California's 32nd congressional district
 Mike Honda, Congressman of California's 15th congressional district
 Christina Hsu, The Amazing Race Season 12 and Season 18 contestant, 2000 OCA Summer Intern
Pauline Woo Tsui, founder of the Organization of Chinese American Women

References

External links
 OCA National Website

Asian-American organizations
Chinese-American organizations
Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Organizations established in 1973
1973 establishments in Washington, D.C.

OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates


Ralph William Downes CBE KSG (born Derby, 16 August 1904; died London, 24 December 1993) was an English organist and organ designer.

He was assistant organist at Southwark Cathedral from 1923 until 1925. Then he continued his education at Keble College, Oxford. He was music director and organist of the new chapel at Princeton University between 1928 and 1935. During his time in America he learned a lot about organ building and listened to musicians playing baroque music.

He soon became famous for his recitals and radio broadcasts in which he played music using historical performance styles.  He gave first performances of pieces by composers such as Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith and Arnold Schoenberg. Benjamin Britten invited him every year to perform at the Aldeburgh Festival.

In 1948, he was asked to design an organ for the new Royal Festival Hall.  When the organ was first played in 1954 not everyone agreed that it was good, but soon it was realised that it was an excellent instrument for playing music from the Baroque and Classical music periods and it had a big influence on the way that other organs were built.

Downes was Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music from 1954 to 1975 and was the best known British organ teacher of his day.  His students included Gillian Weir and Trevor Pinnock.  He made many recordings and wrote a book about organ design.

He was given the honour of CBE in 1969.  He died in London in 1993. There was no organ music at his funeral.  Instead, he had asked for Gregorian chant to be sung.

References

1904 births
1993 deaths
English organists
People from Derby
Academics of the Royal College of Music

Ralph Downes


Thrashing is when the OS (Operating System) of a computer spends most of its time switching pages between memory and the disk. This seriously hurts the computer's performance. It prevents the computer from performing any useful work. Thrashing can also happen when the hard disk is attempting to retrieve files scattered all over the disk.

References

Computer science

Thrashing (computer science)


In cryptography, a key distribution center (KDC) is part of a cryptosystem intended to minimize the risks of exchanging keys and shared secrets.

KDCs often operate in systems when some users may have permission to use certain resources at some times but not at any times.

Benefits: Easier key distribution and scalability.
Drawbacks: A KDC can become a single point of failure and every user must trust the KDC administrators

Other websites
 Kerberos 5 KDC operation

Computer networking
Cryptography

Key distribution center


Data integrity is a term used in computer science and telecommunications that can mean:
 Making sure that data is "whole" or complete.
 The conditions by which data are maintained during any operation (such as transfer, storage or retrieval).
 The correct storage of data for further use.
 The rules for measuring data quality.

Simply, data integrity is to make sure that data is "consistent" and "correct".

Computer science
Communication

Data integrity


Fantasia 2000 is a 1999 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Produced by Roy E. Disney and Donald W. Ernst, it is the 38th Disney animated feature film and the sequel to Disney's 1940 animated feature film Fantasia. Like its predecessor, Fantasia 2000 consists of animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Celebrities including Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Penn & Teller, James Levine, and Angela Lansbury introduce a segment in live action scenes directed by Don Hahn.

After numerous unsuccessful attempts to develop a Fantasia sequel, The Walt Disney Company revived the idea shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer in 1984. Development paused until the commercial success of the 1991 home video release of Fantasia convinced Eisner that there was enough public interest and funds for a sequel, to which he assigned Disney as executive producer. The music for six of the film's eight segments is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. The film includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice from the 1940 original. Each new segment was produced by combining traditional animation with computer-generated imagery.

Fantasia 2000 premiered on December 17, 1999, at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of a concert tour that also visited London, Paris, Tokyo, and Pasadena, California. The film was then released in 75 IMAX theaters worldwide from January 1 to April 30, 2000, marking the first major Hollywood motion picture to be released in IMAX and also the first feature-length animated film to be released in the format. Its general release in regular theaters followed on June 16, 2000. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised several of its sequences, while also deeming its overall quality uneven in comparison to its predecessor. Budgeted at about $80–$85 million, the film grossed $90.9 million worldwide.

Program

 Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The film begins with the sound of an orchestra tuning and Deems Taylor's introduction from Fantasia. Panels showing various segments from Fantasia fly in outer space and form the set and stage for an orchestra. Musicians take their seats and tune up as animators and artists draw at their desks before James Levine approaches the conductor's podium and signals the beginning of the piece. In the segment proper, abstract patterns and shapes that resemble hundreds of colorful triangle-shaped butterflies in dozens of magentas, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, cyans, turquoises, blues, indigos, violets, purples, pinks, grays, whites, and browns in various shades, tints, tones, and hues explore a world of light and darkness whilst being pursued by a swarm of dark black pentagon or hexagon-shaped bats. The world is ultimately conquered by light and color. Introduced by surviving archival recordings by Deems Taylor.
 Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi. A family of humpback whales are able to fly. The calf is separated from his parents, and becomes trapped in an iceberg. Eventually, he finds his way out with his mother's help. The family join a larger pod of whales, who fly and frolic through the clouds to emerge into outer space. Introduced by Steve Martin, who gives a brief history on Fantasias original purpose, after which Itzhak Perlman introduces the segment proper.
 Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. Set in New York City in the 1930s, and designed in the style of Al Hirschfeld's known caricatures of the time, the story follows four individuals who wish for a better life. Duke is a construction worker who dreams of becoming a jazz drummer; Joe is a down-on-his-luck unemployed man who wishes he could get a job; Rachel is a little girl who wants to spend time with her busy parents instead of being shuttled around by her governess; and John is a harried rich husband who longs for a simpler, more fun life. The segment ends with all four getting their wish, though their stories interact with each other's without any of them knowing. Introduced by Quincy Jones with pianist Ralph Grierson.
 Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Based on the fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" by Hans Christian Andersen, a broken toy soldier with one leg falls in love with a toy ballerina and protects her from an evil jack-in-the-box. Unlike the original story, this version has a happy ending. Introduced by Bette Midler featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman.
 The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnival des Animaux), Finale by Camille Saint-Saëns. A flock of flamingoes tries to force a slapstick member, who enjoys playing with a yo-yo, to engage in the flock's "dull" routines. Introduced by James Earl Jones with animator Eric Goldberg.
 The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas. Based on the 1797 poem "Der Zauberlehrling" by Goethe, the segment is the only one featured in both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. It tells the story of Mickey Mouse, an apprentice of sorcerer Yen Sid who attempts some of his master's magic tricks before knowing how to control them. Introduced by Penn & Teller rather than using an archived recording of Deems Taylor introducing the segment as in the original film. The scene where Mickey shakes hands with Levine's predecessor Leopold Stokowski is like that in the original film but Mickey is now voiced by Wayne Allwine instead of Walt Disney. This outro leads directly to the intro for Pomp and Circumstance, with Donald Duck and Daisy Duck voiced by Tony Anselmo and Russi Taylor, respectively.
 Pomp and Circumstance – Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Edward Elgar. Based on the story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis, Donald Duck is Noah's assistant and Daisy Duck is Donald's girlfriend. Donald is given the task of gathering the animals to the Ark, and misses, loses, and reunites with Daisy in the process. Introduced by James Levine.
 Firebird Suite—1919 Version by Igor Stravinsky. A Sprite is awoken by her companion, an elk, and accidentally wakes a fiery spirit of destruction in a nearby volcano who destroys the forest and seemingly the Sprite. The Sprite survives and the elk encourages her to restore the forest to its normal state. Introduced by Angela Lansbury.

Production

Development

In 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, his third animated feature film, consisting of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music. Initially he planned to have the film on continual release with new segments replacing older ones so audiences would never see the same film twice. The idea was dropped following the film's initial low box office receipts and a mixed response from critics. Following preliminary work on new segments, the idea was shelved by 1942 and was not revisited for the remainder of Disney's life. In 1980, animators Wolfgang Reitherman and Mel Shaw started preliminary work on Musicana, a feature film "mixing jazz, classical music, myths, modern art ... following the old Fantasia format" that was to present "ethnic tales from around the world with the music of the various countries". The project was cancelled in favor of Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983).

The idea of a Fantasia sequel was revived shortly after Michael Eisner became chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company in 1984, when Walt's nephew, vice chairman Roy E. Disney, suggested it to him at a lunch. The idea had first entered Disney's mind ten years earlier, and he recalled Eisner's reaction: "It was as if a big light bulb went on over his head. The idea was enticing, but we didn't have the resources to carry it out". However, Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg showed a lack of interest in the film. He had once asked André Previn to work on a Fantasia film but Previn declined after he learned it was to feature songs by the Beatles rather than classical music. Eisner approached Leonard Bernstein with the same idea, but while he seemed enthusiastic, Bernstein died before production began. It took a further seven years before the film was reconsidered, after the 1990 reissue of Fantasia grossed $25 million domestically and the announcement of its limited availability on home video in 1991 prompted 9.25 million pre-orders. Disney saw its commercial success as a sign that there was enough public interest in the Fantasia franchise to make a sequel. Eisner finally gave the green-light to the film in 1991, and had Disney serve as executive producer on the basis that its production was funded by the proceeds from the video sales. Disney assigned Donald W. Ernst as producer and Hendel Butoy as supervisory director, having liked his work on The Rescuers Down Under (1990).

During the search for a suitable conductor, Disney and Walt Disney Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher invited Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine and manager Peter Gelb to a meeting in September 1991. Disney recalled: "I asked James what his thought was on a three minute version of Beethoven's fifth symphony. He paused and went 'I think the right three minutes would be beautiful'". In November 1992, Disney, Schumacher, Levine, Gelb, and Butoy met in Vienna to discuss a collection of story reels developed, one of them being Pines of Rome, which Levine took an immediate liking to. Butoy described Levine's enthusiasm toward the film as "like a kid in a candy store". Because Katzenberg continued to express some hostility towards the film, Disney held development meetings without him and reported directly to Eisner instead, something that author James B. Stewart wrote "would have been unthinkable on any other future animation project."

Production began under the working title of Fantasia Continued with a release in 1997. The title was changed to Fantasia 1999, followed by Fantasia 2000 to coincide with its theatrical release in 2000. Disney formed its initial running order with half of the Fantasia program and only "three or four new numbers" with the aim of releasing a "semi-new movie". Realizing the idea would not work, he kept three Fantasia segments—The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Nutcracker Suite, and Dance of the Hours—in the program for "quite a while". Night on Bald Mountain was the most difficult segment for him to remove from his original running order because it was one of his favorites. He had placed it in the middle of the film without Ave Maria, but felt it did not work and scrapped the idea. Later on, Dance of the Hours was dropped and The Nutcracker Suite was replaced by Rhapsody in Blue during the last few months of production following the response from numerous test screenings. Disney kept The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the final program as a homage to Fantasia. The segment underwent digital restoration by Cinesite in Los Angeles. Disney considered using Clair de Lune, a piece originally made for Fantasia that followed two Great white herons flying through the Everglades at night, but thought it was "pretty boring". An idea to have "a nightmare and a dream struggling for a sleeping child's soul" to Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff was fully storyboarded, but fell through.

Segments

Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 5 is an abstract segment created by Pixote Hunt with story development by Kelvin Yasuda. In December 1997, after rejecting pitches from four other animators, Disney and Ernst asked Hunt for his ideas. Hunt first thought of the story on a morning walk in Pasadena, California, one depicting a battle of "good" against "evil" and how the conflict resolves itself. It took Hunt approximately two years, from start to finish, to complete the segment. Disney and Ernst decided to go with Hunt's idea; Hunt avoided producing an entirely abstract work because "you can get something abstract on every computer screen" with ease. Hunt divided the segment into 31 mini-scenes, noting down points in which he would employ vivid color when the music was bright and fluid, and then switch to darker hues when the music felt darker and denser. To gain inspiration in how the shapes would move, Hunt and his associates visited San Diego Zoo, a butterfly farm, and observed slow motion footage of bats. The segment combines hand drawn backgrounds using pastels and paint that were scanned into the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), and computer-generated imagery (CGI) of abstract shapes and effects, which were layered on top. Hunt explained that scanning each drawing "was a one-shot deal" as the platen that pressed onto it would alter the pastel once it had been scanned. At one point during production, Hunt and Yasuda completed 68 pastel drawings in eight days. The segment was produced using Houdini animation software.

Pines of Rome
Pines of Rome was the first piece Disney suggested for the film, as well as the first to be animated; designs appeared in the studio's dailies as early as October 1993. Butoy served as director with James Fujii handling the story. The opening to the piece gave Disney the idea of "something flying". Butoy sketched the sequence on yellow Post-it notes. The story originally involved the whales flying around from the perspective of a group of penguins, but the idea was scrapped to make the baby whale a central character. The whales were also set to return to Earth but Butoy said it "never felt quite right", leading to the decision to have them break through a cloud ceiling and enter a different world by the supernova. Butoy created a "musical intensity chart" for the animators to follow which "tracked the ups and downs of the music ... as the music brightens so does the color", and vice versa. He explained that because CGI was in its infancy during development, the first third of the segment was hand drawn using pencil to get a feel of how the whales would move. When the drawings were scanned into the CAPS system, Butoy found the whales were either moving too fast or had less weight to them. The drawings were altered to make the whales slow down and "more believable". The eyes of the whales were drawn by hand, as the desired looks and glances were not fully achievable using CGI. Butoy recalled the challenge of having the water appear and move as naturally as possible; the team decided to write computer code from scratch as traditional animation would have been too time-consuming and would have produced undesired results. The code handling the pod of whales was written so the whales would move away if they were to collide and not bump into, overlap, or go through each other. The same technique was used for the stampede scene in The Lion King (1994), which was produced at the same time.

Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue is the first Fantasia segment with music from the American composer. It originated in 1995 when director and animator Eric Goldberg approached Al Hirschfeld about the idea of an animated short set to Gershwin's composition in the style of Hirschfeld's illustrations. In 1998, the Goldbergs pitched Rhapsody in Blue to Thomas Schumacher and received the green-light to produce it, and Hirschfeld agreed to serve as artistic consultant and allowed the animators to adapt his works. Duke is named after jazz musician Duke Ellington. The bottom of his toothpaste tube reads "NINA", an Easter egg referencing Hirschfeld's daughter Nina. Rachel was designed after the Goldbergs' daughter and John is based on animation historian and author John Culhane and Hirschfeld's caricature of Alexander Woollcott. Goldberg took Hirschfeld's original illustration of Gershwin and animated it to make him play the piano. Featured in the crowd emerging from the hotel are depictions of Brooks Atkinson and Hirschfeld, along with his wife Dolly Haas. The sequence was so chromatically complex that the rendering process using the CAPS system delayed work on Tarzan.

Piano Concerto No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 2 was directed by Butoy with art director Michael Humphries. It originated in the 1930s when Walt Disney wished to adapt a collection of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales into an animated film. The artists completed a series of preliminary designs based on the stories, including ones for The Steadfast Tin Soldier from 1938 by Bianca Majolie that were stored in the studio's animation research library and used for a 1991 Disney book that retold the story accompanied with the storyboard sketches. When Disney suggested using the Shostakovich piece, Butoy flipped through the book and found the story's structure fit to the music. When Humphries saw the sketches he designed the segment with works by Caravaggio and Rembrandt in mind to give the segment a "timeless" feel, while keeping the colors "as romantic as possible" during the scenes when the soldier and ballerina are first getting acquainted. Live action footage of a real ballerina was used as a guide for the toy ballerina's movements. Butoy found the Jack-in-a-box a difficult character to design and animate with its spring base and how he moved with the box. His appearance went through numerous changes, partly due to the lack of reference material available to the team.

The segment marked the first time the Disney studio created a film's main characters entirely from CGI; only backgrounds, secondary, or tertiary characters had been produced using CGI beforehand. Initially Butoy asked Pixar Animation Studios to handle the computer graphics, but CGI artist Steve Goldberg convinced him to let Disney's own team produce it. The backgrounds were completed by hand. Originally the drain sequence included friendly rats who performed comical gags, but the team found it did not fit the mood of the rest of the segment. The drains became a more scary environment, something that Butoy said was "what the music was telling us to do". Rain animation from Bambi (1942) was scanned into the CAPS system and digitally altered to fit into the segment. The ending was to feature the original ending with the soldier and ballerina melting in the fire, but the music was too upbeat to animate it and was changed. An excerpt of the segment was shown at the 1998 SIGGRAPH conference.

The Carnival of the Animals, Finale
The Carnival of the Animals, Finale was directed by Goldberg; his wife Susan was its art director. The idea originated from animator Joe Grant, one of the two story directors on Fantasia who loved the ostriches in Dance of the Hours. When development for Fantasia 2000 began, Grant suggested the idea of having one of the ostriches play with a yo-yo to the last movement of The Carnival of the Animals. The ostriches were later changed to flamingos as Disney wished to avoid reintroducing characters from the original film and thought flamingos would look more colorful on the screen. Goldberg was partly inspired by co-director Mike Gabriel, who would play with a yo-yo as he took a break from working on Pocahontas (1995). The segment was produced with CGI and 6,000 watercolor paintings on heavy bond paper. Susan chose a distinct colour palette for the segment which she compared to the style of a Hawaiian shirt. The Goldbergs and their team visited the zoo in Los Angeles and San Diego to study the anatomy and movement of flamingos.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Pomp and Circumstance
Eisner suggested Pomp and Circumstance as a piece after he attended a graduation and thought its familiarity would be suitable for a Fantasia segment. His idea involved a selection of Disney princesses and heroes in a wedding procession carrying their future children who would then be presented in a ceremony. The animators' preliminary designs depicted a Greco-Roman setting; one of the staff members described the artwork as "an appalling abuse" of the characters. Eisner agreed to drop the story, but insisted that the music be used. After numerous ideas were scrapped due to the difficulty in writing a clear plot, animator and director Francis Glebas came up with the Noah's Ark idea that he titled Donald's Last Roundup!, later retitled as Noah's Duck, and pitched it thinking it was "laden with comic possibilities".

The Firebird

To close the film, Disney wanted a piece that was "emotionally equivalent" to the Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria segments that closed Fantasia. Disney chose The Firebird as the piece to use after "half a dozen" others were scrapped, including Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah by Handel. Disney thought of the idea of the Earth's destruction and renewal after passing Mount St. Helens following its eruption in 1980. French twins Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi from Disney's Paris studio were hired to direct the segment. The Sprite is a Dryad-like creature from Greek mythology. Her form changes six times; she is introduced as a Water Sprite who plants flowers as a Flower Sprite. She becomes a Neutral Sprite where her growth trail stops and an Ash Sprite when the forest has been destroyed. The segment ends with her as a Rain-Wave Sprite, followed by the Grass Sprite. The segment originally ended with the Sprite in the form of a flowing river that rises up into the sky and transforms into a Sun Sprite, but this was abandoned. The elk's antlers were produced by CGI and placed on top of its body that was drawn traditionally. The segment was produced using Houdini animation software.

Music
The music to The Sorcerer's Apprentice was already recorded on January 9, 1938 for the first film at Culver Studios, California with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of session musicians. The recording of Rhapsody in Blue used in the film is an edited version of Ferde Grofé's orchestration of the piece performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra with conductor Bruce Broughton. The shortened version was made by cutting 125 bars of piano solo in three different places. A recording of James Levine conducting both pieces with the Philharmonia appears on the film's soundtrack.

The remaining six pieces were recorded at the Medinah Temple in Chicago, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Levine. Pines of Rome was re-arranged in 1993 by Bruce Coughlin, who reduced the four-movement piece by cutting the second movement and trimming sections of the third and fourth movements. The piece was recorded on March 28, 1994. The second recording involved Symphony No. 5, Carnival of the Animals, and Pomp and Circumstance, on April 25, 1994. Carnival of the Animals, Finale uses two pianos played by Gail Niwa and Philip Sabransky. Pomp and Circumstance was arranged by Peter Schickele and features the Chicago Symphony Chorus and soprano soloist Kathleen Battle. The next recording took place on April 24, 1995 for Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Yefim Bronfman. On September 28, 1996, The Firebird was the final piece to be recorded; its session lasted for three hours. The piece was arranged using four sections from Stravinsky's 1919 revision of the score.

Interstitials
Disney felt the need to keep interstitials (bridges) as used in Fantasia in order to give audiences a chance to "cleanse their emotional palate" from the previous segment while also providing some information about the next one. Don Hahn directed the live action scenes which were designed by Pixote Hunt. Hahn came up with the set and backgrounds while eating lunch; he proceeded to sketch a rough idea of what he imagined on a napkin. He "wanted to show images on shapes like big sails of a clipper ship. They fly in on the wind and form a sort of Stonehenge concert hall in the middle of a vast, empty, imaginary plain".

Hahn recalled some difficulty in finding someone to host the film, so the studio decided to use a group of artists and musicians from various fields of entertainment. The interstitials were filmed in various locations; the orchestra, Jones, Lansbury, and Bronfman were shot in Los Angeles, Perlman and Midler in New York City, and others in Boston, Massachusetts. Each scene was filmed in front of a green screen to allow shots of the orchestra or the set to be placed behind them. The shots of Levine, the artists, and the orchestra were filmed on October 31, 1998. The piano Grierson plays in his scene with Jones is the same one on which he played Rhapsody in Blue for the soundtrack.

Release

Fantasia 2000 was officially announced on February 9, 1999 during a Disney presentation at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City which featured a screening of The Carnival of the Animals. The film premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City on December 16, 1999 for three nights as part of a five-city concert tour. The animation was presented on a screen above the stage while Levine conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra with a video auto-cue to time the music to the images. Performances followed at the Royal Albert Hall in London on December 21; the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on December 22; the Orchard Hall in Tokyo on December 27; and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on December 31, where Derrick Inouye conducted as part of a black tie $2,000-per-head New Year's Eve event. Each of the seven performances cost over $1 million.

Home media
Fantasia 2000 was first released on VHS and DVD on November 14, 2000, with both featuring a specially made introduction in which Roy gives a history of key innovations brought by various Disney productions (specifically Steamboat Willie, Flowers and Trees, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story 2 and Dinosaur). While it was available as a single-disc DVD, a three-disc set titled The Fantasia Anthology was released, including a digital copy of the film, a restored print of Fantasia to commemorate its 60th anniversary, and a third disc containing bonus features.

On November 30, 2010, the film was issued for DVD and Blu-ray in a single and two-disc set with Fantasia and a four-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo pack. The Blu-ray transfer presents the film in 1080p high-definition video with DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround sound. The film was withdrawn from release after its return to the "Disney Vault" moratorium on April 30, 2011.

The film, along with Fantasia and the 2018 compilation Celebrating Mickey (containing 13 Mickey Mouse shorts from Steamboat Willie to Get a Horse!), was reissued in 2021 as part of the U.S. Disney Movie Club exclusive The Best of Mickey Collection (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital). Both films were also broadly released for the first time in 2021 on multiple U.S. purchased streaming platforms, including Movies Anywhere and its retailers.

Soundtrack
Walt Disney Records released 60,000 copies of a limited edition of the film's soundtrack on November 30, 1999 in the United States and internationally under the Sony Classical label. With a running time of 60 minutes, the album features Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra on Rhapsody in Blue and The Sorcerer's Apprentice at AIR Studios in London, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the remaining six tracks using the recordings from the Medinah Temple. The soundtrack went on to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart in July 2000. A Fantasia 2000 Deluxe Read-Along cassette and CD followed which contains two tracks telling the stories of Pomp and Circumstance and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, with narration by Pat Carroll. Included in the set is a 44-page book containing some of the film's artwork.

Reception

Box office
Fantasia 2000 first opened in IMAX theatres for a four-month run from January 1 to April 30, 2000, becoming the first animated feature-length film shown in the format. The idea to release it in IMAX first originated from Dick Cook during meetings the studio had about the best way to create "a sense of event" for the film. Roy Disney believed its uniqueness from typical feature films gave it a psychological advantage. A temporary 622-seat theatre costing almost  was built in four weeks for its Los Angeles run as Disney was unable to reach an agreement to only have the film shown during the four months at the city's sole IMAX theater at the time at the California Science Center. Disney enforced the exclusive screening rule on the other IMAX cinemas that showed the film which limited its release. Each theater was decorated with a museum-like exhibit with educational material and large displays.

After opening at 75 theaters worldwide, the film grossed over  in 54 cinemas in North America in its opening weekend, averaging $41,481 per theater, and $842,000 from 21 screens in 14 markets. It set new records for the highest gross for any IMAX engagement and surpassed the highest weekly total for any previously released IMAX film. Its three-day worldwide gross surpassed , setting further records at 18 venues worldwide. Fantasia 2000 grossed a worldwide total of  in 30 days, and  at the end of its IMAX run.

Following its release in 1,313 regular theatres in the United States on June 16, 2000, the film grossed an additional  in its opening weekend that ranked eleventh at the box office. This followed nearly half a year of release in the IMAX format, possibly blunting the amount earned in the weekends of wide release. Fantasia 2000 has earned a total worldwide gross of over  since its release, with $60.7 million of that total from the U.S. market, and the rest through foreign box office sales. The film had cost around $90 million and was viewed by Eisner as Roy Disney's "folly".

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Fantasia 2000 holds an approval rating of  based on  reviews, with an average rating of . Its consensus reads: "It provides an entertaining experience for adults and children alike." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Entertainment Weekly gave a "B−" rating; its reviewer, Bruce Fretts, called Symphony No. 5 "maddeningly abstract", Piano Concerto No. 2 "charmingly traditional" and thought Rhapsody in Blue fit well to the music, but Pomp and Circumstance "inexplicably inspires biblical kitsch". The review ends with a criticism of the inadequate quality of The Sorcerer's Apprentice on the IMAX screen. Todd McCarthy of Variety pointed out that while the original Fantasia felt too long and formal, its "enjoyable follow-up is, at 75 minutes, simply too breezy and lightweight". He summarized the film "like a light buffet of tasty morsels rather than a full and satisfying meal".

In his December 1999 review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of three stars out of four. He described some of the animation (such as Firebird Suite, his favorite segment) as "powerful", though he thought others, like the dance of the abstract triangles in Symphony No. 5, to be "a little pedestrian". He admired Rhapsody in Blue and its interlocking stories, pointing out its style was reminiscent of the Madeline picture books by Ludwig Bemelmans. He thought Pines of Rome presented itself well in the IMAX format and found the Piano Concerto No. 2 played "wonderfully as a self-contained film", while he found The Sorcerer's Apprentice to be "not as visually sharp as the rest of the film". He nonetheless described the film overall as "splendid entertainment". Film critic Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film "often has the feel of a giant corporate promotion whose stars are there simply to hawk the company's wares" while noting the film "is not especially innovative in its look or subject matter." Firebird Suite was his favorite segment which left "a lasting impression of the beauty, terror, and unpredictability of the natural world". He found The Sorcerer's Apprentice fit well with the rest of the film and the battle in Symphony No. 5 too abbreviated to amount to much. He found the segment with the whales failed in that the images "quickly become redundant". He found Rhapsody in Blue to be the second-best in the film with its witty, hyper-kinetic evocation of the melting pot with sharply defined characters. He found the segment with the flamingos cute and the one with the tin soldier to be romantic. James Berardinelli found the film to be of uneven quality. He felt Symphony No. 5 was "dull and uninspired", the yo-yoing flamingos "wasteful", and the New York City-based story of Rhapsody in Blue interesting but out of place in this particular movie. He found the story of the tin soldier to successfully mix its music with "top-notch animation" and "an emotionally rewarding story". He felt the Firebird section was "visually ingenious", and Pomp and Circumstance the most light-hearted episode and the one with the most appeal to children, in an otherwise adult-oriented film. To him The Sorcerer's Apprentice was an enduring classic.

David Parkinson of British film magazine Empire rates the film three stars out of five, calling it a "curate's egg, with moments of hilarity and beauty alternating with the pompous and the banal". Moments of Symphony No. 5 and The Firebird he thought lacked the "abstract grace" from Toccata and Fugue from the original, and Pines of Rome was "even less successful" due to the computer imagery which affected its quality. He claims Rhapsody in Blue is "guilty of some dubious racial and sexual caricaturing", but hailed the film's IMAX presentation as "a breathtaking spectacle". He summarized the film as "slightly more successful" than the original Fantasia, more child-friendly and a "mixed bag of delights". Richard Corliss of Time magazine wrote a positive review of the film, citing Pines of Rome as "a superb, uplifting flight of the spirit" and Piano Concerto No. 2 "a gorgeous blend of traditional and computer animation". He drew a comparison to The Firebird with the 1997 Japanese animated film Princess Mononoke. Brian Sibley wrote a mostly negative review in Sight & Sound, a monthly magazine published by the British Film Institute, in June 2000. He pointed out that though the film includes moments of comedy and pastoral, "the themes running through the old 'Fantasia' – the struggle between light and dark, the war between chaos and order, the ultimate triumph of goodness – find only a pale equivalent in this new version". He compared the film's orchestra set to scenes from A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and thought the CGI in Symphony No. 5 lacked the technical qualities of Toy Story. Sibley argued the film lacked an even quality, highlighting Pines of Rome with its "breathtaking" opening before "its magic has been overtaken by chronic boredom" when the baby whale reunites with his parents. Pomp and Circumstance, he thought, contained "shamefully sloppy animation" but is saved by Donald's comical gags, but pointed out Rhapsody in Blue, with its "strong lines and vivid, flat colours that are fashionably retro", and the "classic Disneyesque ... exquisite beauty and raw natural violence" in Firebird Suite, as the film's most successful segments as they "ironically, hark back to older times".

Accolades

Credits
Note: All segments performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with conductor James Levine, except where noted.

Short films and cancelled sequel
Development on a third film began in 2002 under the working title Fantasia 2006. Plans were made to include One by One by Pixote Hunt and The Little Matchgirl by Roger Allers in the film before the project was cancelled in 2004 for unknown reasons, with the proposed segments instead being released as standalone short films.

Destino is an animated short film released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion. The project was originally a collaboration between Walt Disney and Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, and features music written by Mexican songwriter Armando Domínguez and performed by Dora Luz. In 1999, Walt Disney's nephew, Roy E. Disney, while working on Fantasia 2000, unearthed the dormant project and decided to bring it back to life. It was later released as a bonus short on the special edition DVD and Blu-ray of Fantasia 2000.

Lorenzo is a 2004 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation about a cat named Lorenzo who is "dismayed to discover that his tail has developed a personality of its own". The short was directed by Mike Gabriel and produced by Baker Bloodworth. It premiered at the Florida Film Festival on March 6, 2004 and later appeared as a feature before the film Raising Helen; however, it did not appear on the DVD release of the film. Work on the film began in 1943, but was shelved. It was later found along with Destino.

One by One is a traditionally animated short film directed by Pixote Hunt and released by Walt Disney Pictures on August 31, 2004, as an extra feature on the DVD release of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride Special Edition.

The Little Matchgirl is a 2006 animated short film directed by Roger Allers and produced by Don Hahn. It is based on an original story by Hans Christian Andersen entitled The Little Girl with the Matches or The Little Match Girl, published in 1845.

References

Bibliography

DVD media

External links

1999 films
1999 animated films
1990s American animated films
1990s musical fantasy films
1990s English-language films
1999 directorial debut films
American films with live action and animation
American anthology films
American animated fantasy films
American dance films
American musical fantasy films
American sequel films
Dance animation
Donald Duck films
Mickey Mouse films
Fantasia (franchise)
Films about classical music and musicians
Films about fairies and sprites
Animated films based on works by Hans Christian Andersen
Films based on works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Films directed by James Algar
Films directed by Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi
Films directed by Hendel Butoy
Films directed by Francis Glebas
Films directed by Eric Goldberg (animator)
Films directed by Don Hahn
Films directed by Pixote Hunt
Animated films set in the 1930s
Animated films set in forests
Animated films set in New York City
IMAX films
Animated films about dragons
Films about unicorns
Noah's Ark in film
Animated anthology films
Rotoscoped films
Films about sentient toys
Visual music
Walt Disney Animation Studios films
Walt Disney Pictures animated films
George Gershwin in film
Animated films based on Slavic mythology
Animated films about rats
Animated films about birds
Annie Award-winning films
Turn of the third millennium
Films with screenplays by Irene Mecchi
Works based on The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Films produced by Roy E. Disney
Films produced by Donald W. Ernst
Works based on The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Animated films about whales
Animated films without speech

Fantasia 2000


Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein (born Moscow, 2 June 1835; died Paris, 23 March 1881) was a Russian pianist and composer. He was the younger brother of Anton Rubinstein and a close friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The Rubinstein family were middle-class Jewish people. Like his brother Anton, Nikolai soon showed great talent as a pianist. The family spent some time in Europe including three years in Berlin where they made friends with Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer.

Anton founded (started) the famous Conservatoire in St Petersburg where students could study music. Nikolai co-founded the Conservatoire in Moscow with Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy. Both brothers were directors of the Conservatoires they had founded.

During his lifetime Nikolai Rubinstein was thought of as one of the greatest pianists of his time. As pianists the two brothers were very different. Anton was very fiery like Franz Liszt. Nikolai was quieter and more thoughtful, preferring lyrical Romantic music.

Anton liked to compose in the same way as composers from Western Europe. He was critical of Russian composers like Mily Balakirev and others from the group called The Mighty Handful who tried to make their music very Russian. Nikolai was much more broad-minded. He supported Balakirev and his group. He was a great friend of Tchaikovsky and encouraged him much more than his brother Anton had done. Nevertheless, he still criticised Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. He said he would not play it until Tchaikovsky had changed it. Tchaikovsky refused to change it. Years later Nikolai decided he liked it after all.

Although Nikolai wanted to be a successful composer he was aware that he was not a great one. When asked why he did not compose more he once replied that his brother "composed enough music for three".

Nikolai died in Paris while on his way to Nice where he had wanted to improve his health. He always liked his food and on his deathbed he ate twelve oysters. Tchaikovsky wrote his Piano Trio in A minor in Rubinstein's memory.

Among his most popular works are his Tarantella in G minor and the Fantasia on a Theme by Schumann, both for piano solo.

Russian composers
Romantic composers
Russian pianists
1835 births
1881 deaths

Nikolai Rubinstein


DHP1, meaning Diesel Hydraulic Prototype number 1, was a prototype Type 3 mainline diesel locomotive built in 1965 by Clayton to demonstrate their wares to British Railways. It was designed for mixed traffic work, having steam heating facilities for working passenger trains. It was painted red, with the cab area above bonnet-level height painted cream.

DHP1
Bo-Bo locomotives

British Rail DHP1


Gerhard Emmanuel "Gerry" Lenski, Jr. (August 13, 1924 – December 7, 2015) was an American sociologist known for contributions to the sociology of religion, social inequality, and introducing the ecological-evolutionary theory.  He spent much of his career as a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as chair of the Department of Sociology, 1969–72, and as chair of the Division of Social Sciences, 1976-78.

Life and career

Lenski was born and raised in Washington, DC, the son of a Lutheran pastor, the grandson of German-born theologian Richard Charles Henry Lenski, and the nephew of children's author Lois Lenski. He attended Yale University where he received a BA degree in 1947, after serving as a cryptographer with the 8th Air Force in England in World War II, and then earned his PhD from Yale in 1950.

Lenski was awarded a Pre-doctoral Fellowship by the Social Science Research Council, 1949–50, and later a Senior Faculty Fellowship, 1961–62; a Guggenheim Fellowship, 1972–73; and IREX Senior Faculty Exchange Fellowships, for Poland, 1978, and Hungary, 1988.  He served as Vice President of the American Sociological Association, 1969–70, and was nominee for President in 1972.  He was also President of the Southern Sociological Society, 1977–78 and elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1976.  In 2002, he was awarded  the Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award by the American Sociological Association.

His writings have been translated into German, Swedish, Spanish, Polish, and Chinese (both mainland and Taiwanese translations).

Lenski married poet Jean Cappelmann  in 1948. He and Jean Lenski were active in the Civil Rights Movement and opponents of the Vietnam War. They had four children, including evolutionary biologist Richard Lenski.  Following Jean's death in 1994, he married Ann Bonar, widow of sociologist Hubert "Tad" Blalock.  Lenski died in Edmonds, Washington at the age of 91.

Scholarly work

Sociology of religion

Much of Lenski's earliest work dealt with the sociology of religion and culminated in the publication of The Religious Factor. He defines religion as "a system of beliefs about the nature of force(s) ultimately shaping man's destiny and the practices associated therewith, shared by the members of a group. A reviewer in Commentary described the book as a "major achievement" in an often-neglected subfield, and Robert Wuthnow has referred to this volume as "arguably one of a handful of 'classics' among contributions by American sociologists to the social scientific study of religion."

In 1958, Lenski's empirical inquiry into "religion's impact on politics, economics, and family life" in the Detroit area revealed, among other insights, that there were significant differences between Catholics on the one hand and (white) Protestants and Jews on the other hand with regard to economics and the sciences. Lenski's findings supported basic hypotheses of Max Weber's work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. According to Lenski, "the contributions of Protestantism to material progress have been largely unintended by-products of certain distinctive Protestant traits. This was a central point in Weber's theory." Lenski noted that more than a hundred years prior to Weber, John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church, had observed that "diligence and frugality" made Methodists wealthy. "In an early era, Protestant asceticism and dedication to work, as noted by both Wesley and Weber, seem to have been important patterns of action contributing to economic progress. Both facilitated the accumulation of capital, so critically important to the economic growth and development of nations." However, Lenski said, asceticism was rare among modern Protestants, and the distinctive Protestant doctrine of "the calling" was largely forgotten. Instead, modern (white) Protestants and Jews had a high degree of "intellectual autonomy" that facilitated scientific and technical advance. By contrast, Lenski pointed out, Catholics developed an intellectual orientation which valued "obedience" to the teachings of their church above intellectual autonomy, which made them less inclined to enter scientific careers. Catholic sociologists had come to the same conclusions.

Lenski traced these differences back to the Reformation and the Catholic church's reaction to it. In Lenski's view, the Reformation encouraged intellectual autonomy among Protestants, in particular Anabaptists, Puritans, Pietists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. In the Middle Ages, there had been tendencies toward intellectual autonomy, as exemplified in men like Erasmus. But after the Reformation, the Catholic church leaders increasingly identified these tendencies with Protestantism and heresy and demanded that Catholics be obedient and faithful to ecclesiastical discipline. In Lenski's opinion, his study showed that these differences between Protestants and Catholics survived to the present day. As a consequence, "none of the predominantly and devoutly Catholic nations in the modern world can be classified as a leading industrial nation. Some Catholic nations - such as France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile - are quite highly industrialized, but none of them are leaders in the technological and scientific fields, nor do they seem likely to become so. Recently [1963] some Brazilian Catholic social scientists compared their country's progress with that of the United States and concluded that the chief factor responsible for the differential rates of development is the religious heritage of the two nations."

Ecological-evolutionary theory

In subsequent publications (Power and Privilege, 1966; Human Societies, 1970; and Ecological-Evolutionary Theory, 2006), Lenski built on the foundations of evolutionary theory laid in the 18th century by A.R.J. Turgot, Adam Ferguson, John Millar, and Thomas Malthus, and in the 19th and 20th centuries by Charles Darwin, Lewis Henry Morgan, and Leslie White and the many biological evolutionists following him, to propose a more contemporary ecological and evolutionary theory  of societal development from the Stone Age to the present.  He has viewed the cumulation of information, especially technological information, as the most basic and most powerful factor in the evolution of human societies (though not the only one, as some of his critics have claimed).  Lenski has argued that the evolution of cultural information is an extension of the evolution of genetic information with the characteristics of human societies being the product of the interaction of both genetic and cultural influences.

Members of any given society are united by a shared and partially distinctive culture and networks of social relationships with one another.  These ties vary in intensity and distinctiveness depending on the magnitude of the society's store of information and the extent of contacts with other societies.  With the acquisition of signals, and later, symbols, the ancestors of modern humans gained the critically important ability to share information acquired through individual experience.  These and other later advances in the technologies of communication and transportation laid the foundations for major developments in political and economic systems, social inequality, science, ideology, and other spheres of life.

Lenski's theory has been well received. A former president of the American Political Science Association, Heinz Eulau, described Power and Privilege as a "masterpiece of comparative social analysis" and Ralf Dahrendorf referred to it as "an imaginative and substantial work [and] an indispensable guide." Sociological Theory devoted an issue of the journal to commentaries on, and appreciations of, his work (vol. 22, no. 2, June, 2004).

One feature of Lenski's work that has won fairly wide acceptance among sociologists, as reflected in its incorporation into leading introductory textbooks in the discipline, is his ecological and evolutionary typology of human societies first proposed in Power and Privilege and enhanced later in Human Societies and other publications  This typology is based on a combination of two elements: (1) the kind of environment to which the society must adapt, and (2) its level of technological development.  In its most basic form, Lenski identifies seven types of societies:
 Societies of hunters and gatherers
 Horticultural societies
 Agricultural or agrarian societies
 Industrial societies
 Fishing societies
 Herding societies
 Maritime societies.
These types are often combined in various ways (for example, industrializing horticultural and agrarian societies, such as Ghana and Brazil in the late 20th century) and can be usefully subdivided into more or less advanced (e.g., simple and advanced horticultural societies).

An important feature of Lenski's theory has been his emphasis on the need for a broadly inclusive approach in theory building.  In a 1988 article, he argued that macrosociological theory should be based on our knowledge of the entire universe of human societies, past as well as present, and should seek to explain the major features of that universe, both its uniformities and its variations.  This is undoubtedly a feature of the theory that many sociologists find troubling and unattractive because of the tradition developed in American sociology in the twentieth century of focusing theory and research on one's own society during a limited time period (i.e., American society in the 20th century) or a handful of societies (e.g., modern industrial societies) during an equally limited span of time.

Critique of Marxism

Another notable feature of Lenski's work has been his interest in Marxist societies.  This grew out of his concern for the forces shaping societal development.  Karl Marx, who had a major influence on sociological thought in the mid-twentieth century, had a very optimistic view of human nature that is reflected in his belief in the inevitability of communism in the future when the governing principle in human societies would be "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need."  Lenski viewed the Marxist societies of the 20th century as important, but too often neglected, social experiments that put Marx's view of human nature to the test and found it wanting. His earlier work in the 1950s on status inconsistency (i.e. social class divisions and ethnic tension and discrimination) had received a positive reception among a number of influential Eastern European sociologists who found it a much more effective tool than the communist party's official model for analyzing and understanding the realities of social inequality in their societies, while at the same time providing a useful tool for challenging an increasingly unacceptable Communist social order.

References

External links
Gerhard Lenski's Ecological-Evolutionary Social Theory

People from Washington, D.C.
1924 births
2015 deaths
American military personnel of World War II
American people of German descent
American sociologists
Neoevolutionists
Theoretical historians
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Yale University alumni

Gerhard Lenski


A tall bike is an unusually tall bicycle often constructed by hobbyists from spare parts. Typically, two conventional bicycle frames are connected, by welding, brazing, or other means, one atop the other. The drive train is reconfigured to connect to the upper set of pedals, and the controls are moved to the upper handlebar area.

Alternatively, a bicycle can be built by inverting the frame, and inserting the fork from the 'wrong side', flipping the rear wheel, and adding a long gooseneck and tall handlebars, then welding a long seatpost tube to the 'bottom' (now the top) of the frame.  This type of tall bike is made with only one bike frame, and is often called an upside-down bike rather than a tall bike, though the seat can be quite high, depending on the frame shape used.  This type can be somewhat safer, as there is less tubing between the rider's legs and dismounting in a hurry can be easily accomplished.

Finally, a tall bike frame can be made from scratch.

Practical uses

Tall bikes are usually used for recreation and entertainment, but can be used for general transportation also.  Regular tall-bike commuters note that both their increased visibility and the simple 'wow factor' give them a safety advantage in automobile traffic over 'short bikes.' However, there are issues with mounting and dismounting similar to those presented by penny-farthings.

History

Historically, one of the first practical uses of the tall bike was as a late 19th-century lamp lighting system, by which a worker would mount a specialized tall bicycle while equipped with a torch for lighting gas lamps. As the worker rode to each lamp, they would lean against the lamp post, light the lamp, and then ride to the next. Upon completing the circuit of lamps, an assistant would help the rider dismount. The term 'lamplighter' is still sometimes used to refer to a very tall bicycle, for this reason.

Sporting

Tall bike jousting is a popular sport among tall bike owners, and is commonly considered to have been introduced by Jake Houle and Lil' Bob of the Hard Times/Black Label Bike Club. Combatants arm themselves with lances and attempt to score points by dislodging the other rider. Rules vary by area and with the mood of the combatants. Like all jousting games, participants consider it a sport in which honor plays a role and dishonorable wins are frowned upon.

Jousters create lances that vary from simple PVC pipe and foam devices that are flexible, soft, and relatively safe, up to wooden or metal lances that may be quite dangerous. Regional rules vary, some specifying flaming lances for effect, or glass containers attached to the end, the goal being to break the glass container to score points.

Design considerations

Tall bikes present some interesting design considerations, and different localities tend to have different methods of dealing with them.

One consistent issue is that the seat tends to end up in line with, or behind, the rear axle, which creates a powerful tendency to lift the front wheel of the bicycle on acceleration. Some bicycle builders simply accept this tendency, but others solve the problem by moving the seat post forward, lowering the handlebars, moving the rear wheel backward, or by using a smaller wheel in front, typically a 24" instead of a 26".

Stability can also be negatively affected, and enhancements such as extended wheelbase by welding extensions on the front and rear dropouts can benefit stability.  Contest holders often place restrictions on such modification to prevent unfair advantages.

See the bicycle and motorcycle geometry and bicycle and motorcycle dynamics articles for more on these issues.

Clubs

Tall bikes are a popular mode of transportation for such notable modern 'bicycle clubs' as Midnight Ridazz, Angelopes, SCUL, Zoobomb, Rat Patrol, Black Label Bicycle Club, The Winking Circle, C.h.u.n.k. 666, Cyclecide, and activist groups.

They are also a mainstay among builders of clown bikes, art bikes, clown alleys and parade groups.

Gallery

See also
 Lowrider bicycle
 Outline of cycling
 Velocipede

References

External links
 A history of the tallbike 1890-1990
 Tall Bike Tour Britain website

Art vehicles
Cycle types
Modified vehicles

Tall bike