Ziggy ( 1917 – October 27, 1975) was a male Indian elephant who lived at Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago from 1936 to 1975. He weighed about six tons and was over ten feet tall. After attacking and nearly killing his keeper in 1941, Ziggy was chained to the wall of an indoor enclosure, and remained there for nearly three decades. His confinement became a cause célèbre in the late 1960s, when school children and other animal enthusiasts began campaigning for his release. Ziggy was briefly allowed to go outside in 1970, and a year later, the zoo completed a new outdoor facility specifically designed for the elephant. However, Ziggy only enjoyed a few years of freedom before dying in 1975.

Early years
Born in Asia, Ziggy was named after Florenz Ziegfeld, who purchased the elephant from John Ringling in 1920.  Ziegfeld thought the elephant, then a 250-pound youngster, would be a good birthday present for his six-year-old daughter. However, the elephant was sold back to Ringling after the animal reportedly trampled through the Ziegfelds' greenhouse. Ringling, in turn, sold the elephant to Singer's Midget Circus. While touring with Singer's troupe, Ziggy bonded with a dwarf named Charles Becker, who taught the elephant how to dance, play a harmonica, and smoke cigarettes.

At the San Diego Exposition Children's Circus in February 1936, Becker fell ill, and Ziggy was paired with a new handler, Johnny Winters. However, the elephant did not respond well to Winters, and fled from the grounds. Ziggy was later found in Balboa Park, and Becker was called from his sickbed to coax the elephant out. Some reports claimed that Ziggy had killed a trombone player in the midst of his escape, but this was never verified. In any case, the circus decided it could no longer keep the elephant, and sold him to Brookfield Zoo. Ziggy arrived at Brookfield in July 1936 and became a popular attraction for visitors.

Attack on Slim Lewis
At Brookfield Zoo on April 26, 1941, Ziggy suddenly turned on his keeper, George "Slim" Lewis. The elephant first struck Lewis to the ground with his trunk and pulled him beneath his head. Ziggy then tried to gore Lewis, but the keeper dodged each attack by slipping between the elephant's tusks. Eventually, Ziggy lunged so hard that his tusks became lodged in the ground for several seconds. Sensing his chance to escape, Lewis pulled himself up by grabbing onto Ziggy's ear, then punched the elephant in the eye. With Ziggy momentarily stunned, Lewis jumped into the moat around the elephant's enclosure and climbed to the other side.

Despite his ordeal, Lewis was an animal lover, and he begged zoo director Robert Bean to spare Ziggy's life. Bean decided that the animal would not be killed, but would be kept inside the Pachyderm House at all times as a safety precaution. Later that day, Lewis returned to Ziggy's yard and, with the help of another elephant, led the animal indoors. For the next few decades, the animal would remain alone in a stall, attached to a wall with a chain of variable length.

Years later, Lewis explained that Ziggy was in the midst of his musth period on the day of the attack. Musth is a time of high testosterone levels in male elephants, leading to aggressive behavior, and Ziggy may have been agitated because keepers had been urging him to mate with a female elephant.

Campaign to free Ziggy
In March 1969, Michael Sneed of the Chicago Tribune called attention to Ziggy's confinement, writing, "Ziggy's six-foot tusks, which once grew so long they crossed each other, now are decayed and broken. The once frequent majestic blasts from his huge trunk wail very rarely.... Ziggy refuses to face his visitors and turns toward the back wall, swaying back and forth, occasionally picking up stray articles of food thrown at him." The article caused a sensation, and Brookfield Zoo was inundated with letters about Ziggy. Peter Crowcroft, who had recently become the zoo director, announced that he wanted to let Ziggy go outdoors again. However, he explained that the zoo would need to build a new $50,000 facility to accommodate the elephant, something they could not afford at the time.

In response, people throughout the Chicago area, particularly schoolchildren, began collecting money for the "Ziggy Fund". Many elementary schools and high schools organized fundraisers, and the Bellwood Boys' Club made a five-foot-tall papier-mâché statue of Ziggy, which they paraded through the streets while collecting quarters. A number of donations also arrived from overseas, including several from American soldiers who had been stationed in Vietnam. In August 1970, the zoo received a major boost when William Sitwell, president of the Chicagoland Buick-Opel Dealers Association, pledged to match the money raised from individual sources.

As the Brookfield Zoo came closer to its $50,000 target, zoo officials decided they should see how Ziggy would react to being outdoors before building a new facility for the elephant. On September 23, 1970, Ziggy saw the sun for the first time in nearly thirty years when he was allowed to walk through a barricaded portion of his old yard. Slim Lewis traveled from Seattle, Washington, to escort the elephant outside. Ziggy stood at the doorway for about thirty minutes, then slowly came out and starting eating a bale of hay. After exploring the yard for an hour and a half, Ziggy went back inside.

Ziggy's new outdoor facility was completed during the summer of 1971. Most of the $50,000 was spent on a remote control door, which would allow the elephant to go inside and outside without human intervention. Ziggy finally entered his new home on August 28, 1971, in front of more than one thousand cheering people. Over the next few months, the zoo added a wading pool to Ziggy's yard and refurbished his indoor stall.

Later years
The next few years were generally quiet for Ziggy. In March 1975, however, Ziggy fell into the  moat around his enclosure while trying to poke a zookeeper with his trunk. The elephant survived the fall, but broke a tusk and scraped his head. Workers poured 84,000 pounds (42 tons) of gravel into the moat to give Ziggy a ramp to climb.  The elephant would not move for 31 hours, but when a zookeeper (Leroy Woodruff) opened a nearby door to a female elephant's enclosure, Ziggy decided to pull himself out. Once free, however, he ignored the female elephant and simply went toward his food.

A few months later, Ziggy laid down to rest in his indoor stall, rolled onto his side, and died while being bathed by Lewis. Zoo spokespeople said Ziggy had mainly died of old age, explaining that the animal's health had been declining long before he fell into the moat.

Legacy
Ziggy's remains were given to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where his bones remain in storage. His skeleton was displayed for the "Specimens" exhibit in early 2017.

A children's book about Ziggy's life, Ziggy: The World's Greatest Elephant, was released in 1995. It was written by Tom Hollatz and illustrated by Ray Shlemon.

A Ziggy memorial made from obsidian with ivory made from Ziggy's tusks can be found at the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Oak Brook, Illinois, in a diorama in their permanent collection.

See also
 List of individual elephants

Notes

Further reading

External links
Elephants at Chicago Zoological Society website
Ziggy, An Elephant With Issues at Roadside America

Cruelty to animals
Individual elephants
Circus animals
Animal cruelty incidents
1975 animal deaths
Individual animals in the United States
Elephants in the United States

Ziggy (elephant)


Lock picking is the art of opening a lock without the key and without damaging or destroying the lock or its door. It is usually used by locksmiths to let people back in who have lost their keys or locked them inside a car or house. Lock picking is very rarely used by criminals, because picking a lock is difficult and other ways of entering such as breaking a window are much easier. Some people pick their own locks as a hobby. In most places picking locks that you own is legal, but it is illegal to pick locks that you do not own or do not have permission to pick.

History

History of keys and locks goes back for about 4,000 years. Ancient people also wanted to protect their possessions and keep them in places where other people cannot get access to them. The first locks and keys were made of wood and other easily accessible materials and they provided the small safeguard against theft or break-in. However, such locks at least let the owners know if someone tried to tamper with the lock.

The earliest known key and lock was discovered in the Nineveh ruins, which was the capital of ancient Assyria. They were dated to 704 BC. The first models of wooden locks and keys originate from Ancient Babylon and Egypt. These simple devices had small pins, controlling the movement of the security bolt. In order to unlock the bolt, it was necessary to lift the pins, by using bulky wooden keys.

Roman age introduced many improvements of the Egyptian wooden locks. Ancient Romans created stronger and smaller locks than Egyptians, by using bronze and iron. The keys of locks from Roman era were small and light enough to be carried everywhere. Such small keys were often viewed as one of the effective ways of showing your wealth to other people. Rich Romans often kept their valuable things in secure boxes and wore the keys as finger rings.

The warded lock also comes from antiquity and is still the most recognizable lock and key type. Nowadays, there is a wide range of different locks, keys and other security systems available on the market. Among them are also keyless entry systems, that allow people to operate their locks without using the keys.

Methods

Warded locks

Warded locks are the simplest locks to pick and are picked by inserting a warded lock pick (also called a skeleton key) into the keyhole and turning it as if it were the key. A pick for warded locks can be made by filing down all of the teeth on a regular key except the last one, or for some locks, the last two.

Pin-tumbler and wafer-tumbler locks
Pin-tumbler and wafer-tumbler locks normally open when the correct key pushes all of the pins or wafers to the shear line. An incorrect key will push the pins or wafers too little or too far. These locks are more difficult to pick than warded locks and are picked by putting tension on the keyhole and pushing the pins or wafers up individually until they reach the shear line. When all of the pins have reached the shear line, the lock will turn as if the key were inserted. Other methods of raising the pins or wafers involve moving an S-shaped pick called a rake through the keyhole to vibrate the pins or wafers to the shear line, or using the pick gun, which bounces the pins to the shear line. It is also possible to pick a pin-tumbler lock with a bump key, which, when struck with a hammer, will bump the pins to the shear line. The force on the hammer should be slightly less than that used for driving a nail, because too much force will break off the head of the key, leaving the rest of the key stuck in the lock. Many newer locks have special pins that make picking more difficult. The special pins are usually spool-shaped and work by wedging into the shear line when pushed up by the pick.

Other locks

Most padlocks can be opened by inserting a thin piece of metal called a shim between the shackle and the body of the lock. This will need to be done on both sides if there are locking levers on both sides. The shim pushes the locking latch aside and allows the lock to open. High-security padlocks often use a ball-bearing latch, which can not be pushed aside with a shim. Some door locks can be shimmed with a credit card or similar thin plastic object. The card is placed between the door and doorframe, which pushes the latch aside. Combination locks can not be picked, but it is often possible to find the combination by feeling for certain clicks inside the lock, except on certain high-security safe locks. Some combination locks have small cracks through which the parts inside the lock can be seen, allowing the combination to be determined. The Master Lock #175 brass combination lock has a very unique flaw allowing a small piece of metal to be inserted into the bottom of the lock, which pushes the locking bar aside, opening the lock. A special pick exists for disc-detainer locks, but it is only effective on inexpensive locks that do not have false gates. A well-made disc-detainer lock with false gates (such as the Abloy Protec) is considered almost impossible to pick. Lever locks are considered difficult, although possible, to pick and also require a special pick. Tubular locks can be picked with a special tubular pick. Some poorly-made tubular locks can be picked with an ordinary writing pen. Most car locks can be defeated by inserting a metal or plastic rod with a small hook on the end into the area between the rubber seal on the window and the car body, and using the hook to pull the lock lever that is normally pulled by hand from the inside of the car. On most cars, it is possible to electrically connect the switch contacts on the ignition lock to start the car without a key, completely bypassing the mechanical lock. This is called hotwiring the car. Most cars use a wafer-tumbler based lock, so it is also possible to pick the door or ignition locks the traditional way. Some cars, such as many Honda and BMW models, have electronic protection against both hotwiring and traditional picking.

References

Other websites
 What Is Lockpicking?

Crime
Locks

Lock picking


Buck is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Cindy Meehl. The film focuses on the life, career, and philosophy of the real-life "horse whisperer" Buck Brannaman.

Synopsis
Buck explores the life of Buck Brannaman from his childhood living with an abusive father to his successful approach to handling and training horses. Brannaman worked on the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer as the lead equine consultant. He teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment.

The documentary follows Brannaman to several stops on his normal, 40-week-per-year circuit of ranches where he gives clinics on "natural horsemanship". He spends most of the year on the road, apart from his wife and daughters. Along the way, viewers learn about his childhood including his celebrity as a child performer of rope tricks, the physical abuse that he and his brother endured at the hands of their father, how a football coach helped to free him from his father after seeing welts on Buck's back and legs, and life with the Shirleys, his foster parents.

Cast
Buck Brannaman as himself
Robert Redford as himself
Mary Brannaman as herself
Reata Brannaman as herself
Betsy Shirley as herself
Gary Myers as himself

Production
Buck was conceived, directed, and produced by Cindy Meehl. This is her first film. As Meehl watched Brannaman at one of his clinics in Pennsylvania, she thought, "Everyone should know this. Everyone should know the way he teaches".

Ultimately, she worked up the courage to ask Brannaman if he would be interested in making a film about his methods. During a clinic at the McGinnis Meadows Cattle & Guest Ranch in Montana, owned by Shayne Jackson, she spotted Brannaman sitting alone at lunch and approached him about doing a film. Two and a half minutes later, she had a "yes" and his phone number – and was off on a two year journey making her first film. Meehl formed Cedar Creek Productions, LLC in 2008 to produce the film.

Reception
Buck premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah where it won the U.S. Documentary Competition Audience Award.

The New York Times gives Buck its NYT Critics' Pick. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter calls the film "a quietly captivating portrait of an unlikely character" that is "as modest as its subject and wins viewers over just as easily." For The Washington Post, DeFore gives the documentary the Critic's Pick and writes Buck is "one of those rare documentaries whose subject is so inherently fascinating that a fictional character could hardly compete."

Marshall Fine, of Hollywood and Fine, wrote in The Huffington Post that Buck is "as engrossing as a documentary can be, a film that will touch you emotionally even as you watch the action in fascination." David Edelstein, of NPR, calls Buck a "shambling yet uncannily beautiful documentary."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gives the film three stars and writes "What I was left with was the goodness of Buck Brannaman as a man. He was dealt a hand that might have destroyed him. He overcame his start and is now a wise and influential role model. He does unto horses as he wishes his father had done onto him."

Awards
2011 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Documentary Competition Audience Award.
2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival's Audience Award, April 2011.

References

External links

2011 documentary films
2011 films
2010s American films
2010s English-language films
American documentary films
Biographical documentary films
Films about horses
Films scored by Mark Orton
Films shot in California
Films shot in Montana
Films shot in North Carolina
Films shot in Texas
Films shot in Washington (state)
Films shot in Wyoming
Sundance Film Festival award-winning films

Buck (film)


The Gaumont Film Company (, ), often shortened to Gaumont, is a French film studio headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946) in 1895, it is the oldest extant film company in the world, established before other studios such as Pathé (founded in 1896), Titanus (1904), Nordisk Film (1906), Universal, Paramount, and Nikkatsu (founded in 1912).

Gaumont predominantly produces, co-produces, and distributes films, and in 2011, 95% of Gaumont's consolidated revenues came from the film division. The company is increasingly becoming a TV series producer with its American subsidiary Gaumont International Television as well as its existing French production features.

Gaumont is run by Nicolas Seydoux (President), Sidonie Dumas (General Director), and Christophe Riandee (Deputy General Director).

History

Originally dealing in photographic apparatus, the company began producing short films in 1897 to promote its make of camera-projector. Léon Gaumont's secretary Alice Guy-Blaché became the motion picture industry's first female director, and she went on to become the Head of Production of the Gaumont film studio from 1897 to 1907. From 1905 to 1914, its Cité Elgé studios (from the normal French pronunciation of the founder's initials L-G) at La Villette, France, were the largest in the world. Gaumont began producing full-length feature films in 1908.

The company manufactured its own equipment and mass-produced films until 1907, when Louis Feuillade became the artistic director of Gaumont. When World War I broke out, he was replaced by Léonce Perret, who continued his career in the United States a few years later. In 1909 the company participated in the Paris Film Congress, a failed attempt by European producers to create a cartel similar to that of the MPPC in the United States.

Gaumont opened foreign offices and acquired the theatre chain Gaumont British, which later notably produced several films directed by Alfred Hitchcock such as The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). Along with its competitor Pathé Frères, Gaumont dominated the motion picture industry in Europe until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Following World War I, Gaumont suffered economic losses owing to increased competition from American Hollywood productions. In 1925, the studio's output decreased to only three films. In addition, Gaumont was unable to keep pace with the cost of technological changes (e.g., the advent of sound movies). Struck by mounting debts in the early 1930s and the effects of the Great Depression, Gaumont declared bankruptcy in 1935. In 1937, the studio ceased production and operated only as a theater and distribution company. The company was purchased by the French corporation Havas in 1938, was renamed Société Nouvelle des Etablissements Gaumont, and reopened its film production studio.

During the later years of World War II, Gaumont was affected by the financial ruin of France's economy as well as the physical destruction of its facilities. The company ceased production until 1947. However, the global interest in French New Wave films in the 1950s, as well as the permissiveness within French films (e.g., nudity), allowed French productions to successfully compete against an American cinema that was still burdened by conservative moral codes. The period was to see the return to prominence of Gaumont Studios.

In 1975, media tycoon and French old money heir multimillionaire Nicolas Seydoux started managing Gaumont; he personally owned 60% of the shares and 70% of the votes.

On 2 February 2000, Philippe Binant, technical manager of Digital Cinema Project at Gaumont, realized the first digital cinema projection in Europe with the Texas Instruments prototype projector.

From 1993 to early 2004, Gaumount and Disney made a partnership for producing films for theater distribution.
In 2001, Gaumont spun off the cinema division into a joint venture with Pathé since known as Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé. Gaumont owned a 34% stake in the entity, which controls a large cinema network in France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. As of 2011, this stake was worth €214 million. In 2004, Gaumont continued its development with Pathé to set up another joint venture, Gaumont-Pathé Archives. Gaumont owns 57.5% of this entity, which contains newsreels, documentaries, and silent movies from the 20th and 21st centuries.

From early 2004 to 2007, the company had a partnership with Sony for producing films and for theater and DVD distribution worldwide. And for many years, Gaumont's home video division was a joint venture with Sony Pictures. Currently, Gaumont distributes its films through Paramount Home Media Distribution on video in France.

At the end of 2007, Gaumont took over the French animation studio Alphanim for €25 million and renamed it Gaumont Alphanim. As of 2013, it is known as Gaumont Animation.

On 16 December 2010, Gaumont acquired a 37.48% stake in the share capital of the Légende company and its subsidiaries for €6.6 million. Légende is a full-length film and television series production and distribution company managed by Alain Goldman. As of 2011, the Légende stake is worth €6.3 million.

2011 was also the year that Gaumont opened its Gaumont International Television division in Los Angeles, USA.

In 2011, Gaumont co-produced and co-distributed The Intouchables, which became France's highest-grossing movie of all time. The international release of The Intouchables was equally successful, trumping previous international blockbusters such as Harry Potter and Transporters in Germany. Intouchables is the highest-grossing foreign-language movie (any language other than English) beating the previous record of $275 million by the Japanese Spirited Away. The film was a major catalyst for Gaumont's boosting fourth-quarter 2011 cinema sales to €47.9 million, up 651% year on year. The film's success turned a half-year 2011 loss to a record annual €26 million profit. The Intouchables currently has a box office of $361 million.

In 2012, Gaumont acquired the production company Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF) for €3.1 million. The company was previously run and created by cinema legend Louis Malle. As part of the acquisition, Gaumont now owns the entire Malle collection, including Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Atlantic City, and Au Revoir les Enfants.

In February 2012, Gaumount restarted its television division, which had been defunct for about ten years.

On 2 May 2016 according to Deadline Hollywood, Gaumont teamed up with Lionsgate and seven other international companies to launch the Globalgate Entertainment consortium. Globalgate will produce and distribute local-language films in markets around the world. Lionsgate said Monday it had partnered with international entertainment executives Paul Presburger, William Pfeiffer and Clifford Werber to launch Globalgate. Three years later, Gaumont was replaced by TF1 Studio as Globalgate's new French member.

On 1 March 2017, Gaumont sold its 34% stake in Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé to Pathé for $400 million in order to focus on production.

In January 2018, it was announced that the company's first office, in Cologne, is scheduled for opening in July 2018. The office is set to focus on development and production of premiere drama programming, according to film producer and new manager Sabine de Mardt.

Production
Gaumont currently has 938 films in its catalogue, most of which are in French; there are, however, some exceptions, such as Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997). Among the most notable films produced by Gaumont are the serials Judex (1916) and Fantômas (1913); the comic Onésime series, starring Ernest Bourbon; and the comic Bébé series, starring five-year-old René Dary. The two biggest films that Gaumont owns the rights of are Jean-Marie Poiré's Les Visiteurs, with a box-office of $98 million, and the 2011 blockbuster Intouchables by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, with a box office of $427 million.

Directors such as Abel Gance and the early animator Emile Cohl worked for the studio at one time or another.

The company has also produced television shows, including seven animated series: Highlander: The Animated Series, Space Goofs, The Magician, Dragon Flyz, F Is for Family, and Sky Dancers (the second and third are based on their respective toy lines), and the very popular Oggy and the Cockroaches. The company also began production in its American unit Gaumont International Television on two series: Hannibal and Hemlock Grove.

The studio has been described as a mini-major studio.

Corporate structure
Ciné Par is a majority shareholder with 69.92% of the voting rights: this entity is controlled by CEO Nicolas Seydoux. The other private shareholders are First Eagle Investment Management, Bolloré, and Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault. The company has a free float of 416,784 shares, which represents 9.75% of the capital and 5.99% of the voting rights.

Financial information
In the first half of 2012, Gaumont recorded a profit of €7.7 million, which reversed the €0.6 million loss from the first half of 2011. The profit was driven by a 49% increase in revenue, which reached €50.1 million. The company cited the continued effects of Intouchables, which increased International revenues by 153%.

Gaumont's current market capitalization is €164 million.

Logo
Léon Gaumont selected the ox-eye daisy as the company logo to pay homage to his mother, whose first name was Marguerite (Daisy). Through the decades the logo has been redesigned several times, but the daisy has always remained present, even though its significance has been largely forgotten.

References

Sources
 Philippe Binant, Au cœur de la projection numérique, Actions, 29, 12–13, Kodak, Paris, 2007
 Marie-Sophie Corcy, Jacques Malthete, Laurent Mannoni, Jean-Jacques Meusy, Les Premières Années de la société L. Gaumont et Cie, Afrhc, Bibliothèque du Film, Gaumont, Paris, 1999
 François Garçon, Gaumont. Un siècle de cinéma, Gallimard, coll. "Découvertes Gallimard" (nº 224), Paris, 1992
 Philippe d'Hugues et Dominique Muller, Gaumont, 90 ans de cinéma, Éditions Ramsay, Cinémathèque Française, Paris, 1986
 Yoana Pavlova, « Gaumont », in Jean-Michel Frodon & Dina Iordanova (editors), Cinemas of Paris, 145–150, University of St Andrews, St Andrews Film Studies, Scotland, 2016.
 Nicolas Seydoux, Cent ans de réflexions, Cent ans de cinéma, 6–15, Gaumont, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1995

External links

French film studios
Film production companies of France
Film production companies of the United States
Film distributors of France
Film distributors of the United States
Cinema chains in France
Companies listed on Euronext Paris
Mass media in Paris
Entertainment companies established in 1895
Mass media companies established in 1895
1895 establishments in France
Companies based in Paris
Film production companies established in the 1890s
International sales agents

Gaumont Film Company


Phixx were an English-Irish boy band formed in 2003 from the five runners up on British TV show Popstars: The Rivals. The original members were Andrew Kinlochan, Chris Park, Mikey Green, Peter Smith, and Nikk Mager. Between 2003 and 2005, they achieved four top 20 singles in the UK. They broke up in 2006.

Band history
In February 2003, they signed to Hyperactive Management, who had previously been successful with Liberty X.  In October 2003, they released their first single, "Hold on Me", on the Concept Records label, which charted at number 10 in the UK, selling over 60,000 copies. March 2004 saw the release of their second single, "Love Revolution". This sold over 50,000 copies and charted at number 13.

The videos and dance routines for their first two singles aroused media attention for their content, as they often featured the band topless or naked, often in sexually suggestive and aggressive situations with other men.

The third single, released in June 2004, was a cover of Duran Duran's "Wild Boys". During the release week, one version of the single was disqualified from the chart for being a few seconds too long, so the single dropped from the midweek chart position of 9, to number 23; however, an appeal was made to the chart regulators and both versions were eventually counted, giving a final position of number 12. The single sold over 65,000 copies.

Just after the release of "Wild Boys", Peter Smith announced he was leaving to pursue a solo career and to give him more time to write music.

In autumn 2004, Phixx toured South Africa, where they were already popular. They released their debut album, Electrophonic Revolution, there and it became the best-selling album for their South African record company Sheer Music. The band co-wrote some of the songs for the album with Lee Ryan from Blue, Brian McFadden (formerly of Westlife), Alistair Griffin, Ultra, and Theo from Liberty X. All the tracks were produced by John McLaughlin, who had previously worked with Busted.

In December 2004, the band recorded a Christmas song written by Matt Baker for the children's show Blue Peter. This song was available as a free download from the Blue Peter website in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but was never released for sale.

In January 2005, they released their fourth UK single, "Strange Love" (written by Judie Tzuke), which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 19.

In May 2005, Nikk Mager also left the band. They continued to perform around England and Ireland as a three piece, and spent six months in the recording studio, writing and recording new material. In November 2005, Chris Park announced that the remaining members of Phixx would be breaking up for good in 2006, in order to work on their own solo projects.

Band members made appearances on the music panel game, Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Green appeared on the show in 2004, followed by Park a year later. Both appeared as panellists on Phill Jupitus' team. In 2006, fellow band member Mager appeared in the Identity Parade line-up, where the panellists were asked to pick out a forgotten star from a group of five.

In 2008, Mager also appeared in the audition stage of The X Factor, but he was eliminated after his performance of "The Rose". Phixx appeared at number 35 in Chantelle's Top 50 Reality TV Stars.

Like Liberty X, who were formed from the runners up on the first series of Popstars, Phixx had a much longer career than the male winners of Popstars: The Rivals, One True Voice, who split up in 2003 after releasing just two singles. Phixx by contrast were active until 2006, and released several singles and an LP during their time together.

In 2013, Peter Smith appeared on The Voice of Ireland, but none of the coaches turned their chairs for him.

Discography

Albums
 Electrophonic Revolution (2004)

Singles
"Hold on Me" (2003) - UK #10
"Love Revolution" (2004) - UK #13
"Wild Boys" (2004) - UK #12
"Strange Love" (2005) - UK #19

See also
 One True Voice
 Clea
 Javine Hylton
 Girls Aloud
 Hear'Say
 Liberty X
 The Cheeky Girls

References

External links
 Phixx's official Myspace
 Phixx at Sheer Music SA

English pop music groups
English boy bands
2002 establishments in England
Musical groups established in 2002
2006 disestablishments in England
Musical groups disestablished in 2006

Phixx


Marc-Antoine Charpentier (born near Paris, 1643; died  Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, 24 February 1704) was a French composer. He lived in the period known as the Baroque period.  His most famous music is his Te Deum.  This work begins with a prelude which today is extremely popular. It was the signature tune for the European Broadcasting Union where it was used to introduce programmes such as the Vienna New Year's Concert and the Eurovision Song Contest.  It is often used as a voluntary for weddings.

Life
We do not know much for certain about his early life.  He went to Italy where he learned a lot by studying the music of Italian composers.  He studied with the composer Giacomo Carissimi for several years.

When he returned to France he got a job as musician to the Duchess of Guise who was a rich lady who employed several musicians.  He worked for her for many years, both as a singer  (he had a high tenor voice known in French as an "haute-contre"), and as a composer.  When the great playwright Molière stopped working with Lully he asked Charpentier to work with him.  He wrote music for several plays by Molière including Le malade imaginaire. After Molière's died in 1673, Charpentier continued to write for other playwrights such as Thomas Corneille and Jean Donneau de Visé.  He often used more musicians than he was allowed (only Lully, the king's composer, was allowed to use lots of musicians for his performances).  In the end Charpentier stopped writing music for plays.

In 1679, Charpentier was invited to compose for the king's son, the Dauphin.  The Dauphin had a private chapel and Charpentier wrote religious music for him.  In 1683 he was given a royal pension.  In April of that year he became very ill and could not work for a time.

From late 1687 to early 1698, Charpentier was maître de musique to the Jesuits, Soon he stopped composing big works such as oratorios and concentrated on smaller works for church worship which were sometimes played by a large number of players.  He also was music teacher to the Duke of Chartres.

In 1698 he was made maître de musique at the  Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.  This was one of the top musical jobs in France (the only better job in sacred music in France was director of the royal chapel at Versailles).  He kept this job until his death in 1704.  After his death nearly all the works he wrote for the Chapel were destroyed.  This was the usual procedure when a maître de musique died.   His famous Mass Assumpta Est Maria has survived.  Perhaps that is because it was not composed for the Chapel.

His music
Charpentier's compositions include oratorios, masses, operas, and many smaller works.  He also wrote a lot of music for plays.   Many of his smaller works for one or two voices and instruments he called air sérieux or air à boire if they are in French, but cantata if they are in Italian.

Bibliography
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie; 1980;

1643 births
1704 deaths
17th-century French composers
Baroque composers

Marc-Antoine Charpentier


Olivia Reynolds is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. She has a latent superpower (the U-Mind), and has been abducted by various races who wanted to harness the power, and temporarily became a villainess. All memories of her experiences with the U-Mind have now been blocked after she was mindwiped.

She is bisexual and has been romantically linked to both Green Lantern and Icemaiden.

Fictional character biography
A toy saleswoman and rival of Hal Jordan's, Olivia later became his girlfriend. For a long time, she was unaware of her latent power, her U-Mind that sustained an entire race (the Lenglyns of Lengyl). When the alien Mogrians sought to retrieve the U-mind, Hal (as Green Lantern) and Flash battled them to save Olivia as well as the Lenglyns.

The Weaponers of Qward later kidnapped her, seeking to use her U-Mind to tap into a power called the Ergono and open the obelisk, a monument left behind by the ancient Qward. Hal and Dr. Eli Bently (Olivia's physician) saved her, but not before the obelisk was shattered.

Years later, Olivia returned into Hal's life as a representative for the new Green Lantern toyline and they renewed their romance. During this time, the Lenglyns and the Weaponers of Qward attempted to control the Ergono power by abducting Olivia and Aleea Strange (daughter of Adam Strange) (whom they realized had the U-Mind power). A band of Qward soldiers captured Olivia again, hoping that her presence would help them oppose the Weaponers. This time, the power of the Ergono usurped her. Driven mad with power, she sought to become queen of Qward.

Green Lantern came into direct contact with Ergono and was subsequently captured by Olivia, who has been possessed by it. While subdued, he comes to the following realization: "The first time I was blasted by Ergono I was hammered by an awareness of my own mortality. It shook me. It nearly finished me. I rallied back on pure emotion -- but after the incident was over I never felt quite the same. Just a few days later I had that confrontation in Star City with Green Arrow. I stopped a young ghetto dweller from attacking a slumlord -- and Arrow ridiculed me, accused me of playing super-cop to feed my ego. Normally, I'd've told him to let me do my job. But instead -- it shook me to the core of my being. For years after that my will was shaky. I lacerated myself with doubt and indecision. Dear Lord. Were all those years of confusion caused by that one blast of Ergono?"  This later raised the question about whether his exposure to Ergono caused his eventual transformation into Parallax.

Hal and Adam Strange rescued Olivia from the Ergono's control, and then Hal wiped clean Olivia's memories of her U-Mind and any events on Qward.

Slowly, the relationship between Olivia and Hal faded away until being abruptly ended by Hal's insanity and becoming Parallax. Green Lantern, (vol. 3) #47's conclusion seemed to indicate another plot by Olivia, yet this would never be because DC Comics decided to go another direction (Emerald Twilight) and ignored this hint.

Still later, Olivia became her toy company's liaison with Guy Gardner and the Justice League, responsible for developing Guy Gardner: Warrior and Justice League America toylines. During this time, she had a flirtation with Icemaiden. It is unknown if their relationship developed further.

Powers
Known as the "U-Mind", Reynold's mind sustained an entire alien race, the Lenglyns of Lengyl. The U-Mind is used to control the Ergono power (a power similar to the Anti-Life Equation sought by Darkseid). It has been theorized the Ergono power and the Anti-Life Equation may be one and the same, and Olivia could be the human that Darkseid needs to abduct in order to tap into the power.

Both the Lenglyns and the Weaponers of Qward have battled over the power, but it is believed only Reynolds and Aleea Strange (daughter of Adam Strange) have access to it.

See also
 Anti-Life Equation

References

External links
 Olivia Reynolds at the JLA Appendix
 The Many Loves of Hal Jordan
 Olivia Reynolds - Green Lantern Review Website Profile
 Understanding the History of Qward
 Unofficial Olivia Reynolds Biography

DC Comics LGBT supervillains
Fictional bisexual women
Fictional female businesspeople

Olivia Reynolds


Peter von Zahn (29 January 1913 – 26 July 2001) was a German author, film maker, and journalist.

Born in Chemnitz as a son of an officer, he grew up in Dresden and studied law, history, and philosophy. He was drafted at the beginning of World War II. After the war, he was one of the founders of the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR). For three years, he managed the NWDR Studio in Düsseldorf where he introduced Anglo-Saxon style journalism with self-critical irony.

In 1951, he went to the United States as a foreign correspondent. He worked until a very advanced age and produced over 3000 radio shows and 1000 television films.

He received many awards such as the Adolf-Grimme-Preis (3), the DAG-Fernsehpreis in Silver and Gold, the Goldene Kamera and the Bavarian TV Award, and is considered the standard for subsequent radio and television journalism. The State of Hamburg promoted him in 1995 to a Professor honoris causa.

He died in Hamburg aged 88.

External links

1913 births
2001 deaths
German journalists
German male journalists
German television directors
People from Chemnitz
German non-fiction writers
German male writers
ZDF people

Peter von Zahn


Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (sometimes also called G6PD deficiency, or favism) is a hereditary disease. This means it is passed on through the genes from a parent to the child. It leads to a form of anaemia. There are some means to treat it, though the focus of the doctors now lies on prevention (avoiding parents passing it on to their child). As it is linked to the X chromosome, most people who suffer from it are male.

Sufferers can not make the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. This will mean the circulation of sugar in their body is different. More red blood cells will be destroyed because of it. About 400 million people suffer from this condition. Very often, it can be found in regions where there is also malaria. This is because the red blood cells found in people with favism are not targeted by malaria.

This condition may result from an allergy to alkaloids in Vicia faba (Faba Bean, Broad bean, Windsor bean).

Blood disorders
Genetic disorders

Favism


Jean-François Le Sueur (or Lesueur) (15 February 1760 — 6 October 1837) was a French composer, best known for his oratorios and operas.

Life
Jean-François Le Sueur was born in a tiny village called Plessiel, near Abbeville. His great-uncle was the painter Eustache Le Sueur. He started his musical training by singing in the choir at the church of Abbeville, then at the cathedral of Amiens. Le Sueur became chorus master at the cathedral of Sées. He went to Paris to study harmony. His teacher was Abbé Nicolas Roze, chorus master at the church Saints-Innocents. Le Sueur got jobs at Dijon (1779), Le Mans (1782), Tours (1783) and then took over Roze's job at the Saints-Innocents at Paris. In 1786 he was made music director at the famous church Notre-Dame de Paris.

At Notre Dame he started to use orchestras to play the music for some of the special services. The priests did not like this. Le Sueur replied by writing a little book about music for big religious celebrations. It was a bad time in France financially and the church had to make savings, so Le Sueur could not have his orchestra any more, so he resigned from his job.

Le Sueur spent some time in London, 1788–92, then returned to Paris where the revolution was going on. Three of his operas were performed, and he became professor at the École de la Garde Nationale, and then at the Conservatoire which was very new at the time. There he taught basic music theory. He was unable to get any more operas of his performed. He wrote a book saying how music should be taught in France, and criticizing the Conservatoire and its director. Because of that he lost his job at the Conservatoire.

Le Sueur now had no job and so he was very poor. Then, in 1804, Napoleon made him maître de la chapelle at the Tuileries in the place of Giovanni Paisiello. He was then able to have his most famous work performed at the Opéra. It was called Ossian ou Les bardes. Napoleon liked it very much and gave Le Sueur the cross of the Légion d'honneur. Le Sueur composed the Triumphal March for the coronation of Napoleon. In 1813, he was given a position at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, replacing André Grétry.

At the Bourbon Restoration, he was named composer of the royal chapel and conductor of the orchestra of the Opéra. From the beginning of 1818, he taught composition at the Conservatoire. He stayed there many years. His most famous pupils were Hector Berlioz, Ambroise Thomas and Charles Gounod.

He died in Paris.

1760 births
1837 deaths
18th-century French composers
People from Somme
19th-century French composers

Jean-François Le Sueur


Roeliff Brinkerhoff (June 28, 1828 – June 4, 1911)  was a lawyer, editor and owner of the Mansfield Herald, and later a bank president. He was a quartermaster and supply officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of colonel. In recognition of his service, he was nominated in 1866 and confirmed in 1867 for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers. His work, "The Volunteer Quartermaster" was considered the definitive text on military logistics and transportation from the Civil War until World War I. He also founded the Ohio Historical Society and succeeded former President Rutherford B. Hayes as president of the American National Prison Congress.

Early life and career
Roeliff (often mistakenly known as 'Ruloff') was born in Owasco, Cayuga County, New York. His parents were Joris R. "George" (1785-1849) and Jacomyntje Bevier Brinkerhoff (1794-1830), of Dutch descent. He was also of French Huguenot descent and was a direct descendant of Louis DuBois. At the age of sixteen, he became a teacher in his native town, while at eighteen he was in charge of a school near Hendersonville, Tennessee. The following year he was the tutor in the family of Andrew Jackson Jr. before moving to Mansfield, Ohio, to study law with his relative Jacob Brinkerhoff. He was admitted to the bar in 1852, and remained in active practice from that time until after the outbreak of hostilities during the American Civil War. He also served as editor the Mansfield Herald newspaper. Brinkerhoff was married on February 3, 1852, to Mary Lake Bentley, of Mansfield, a granddaughter of General Robert Bentley, a general in the Ohio militia in the War of 1812, later a lawyer, judge and state senator. They had two sons and two daughters.

A firm believer in prison and asylum reform, he was at first a free-soil Democrat, then a Republican, and then, following the unsuccessful Liberal Republican Party movement of 1872, a Democrat once more; he was described as a "Jeffersonian democrat, a believer in free trade, hard money, home rule, and the non-interference principles of government generally."

Civil War
He joined the army in September 1861 as a first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the 64th Ohio Infantry. He was known by some accounts as the first officer to join the "Sherman Brigade" under Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman. In December 1861, he was assigned to the depot at Bardstown, Kentucky. Following the capture of Nashville, he was placed in charge of the land and river transportation in that city and after the Battle of Shiloh, he was ordered to the front and placed in charge of the field transportation of the Army of the Ohio.

It was following the capture of Corinth that he returned home on sick leave and when he had sufficiently recovered he was ordered to Maine as Chief Quartermaster of the state, where he quickly became friends with Congressman James G. Blaine. He was then transferred to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and placed in charge of transportation and army stores for the Department of the Susquehanna, and then to Washington D.C. as post quartermaster until June, 1865, when he was made a Colonel and inspector of the quartermaster's department. He was retained on duty at the war office with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton until November, when he was ordered to Cincinnati as Chief Quartermaster of the Department of the Ohio.

At his own request, Brinkerhoff was mustered out of the volunteers on September 30, 1866. In recognition of Brinkerhoff's service, on December 11, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Brinkerhoff for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general to rank from September 20, 1866, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on February 6, 1867. He was the author of a volume entitled, "The Volunteer Quartermaster," a treatise which was considered the standard guide for the officers and employees of the quartermaster's department up until the First World War.

Postbellum career
Brinkerhoff was the intimate friend of many nationally prominent figures including Salmon P. Chase, James G. Blaine, James A. Garfield and Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1873, he became President of the Mansfield Savings Bank, and in 1878 was appointed a member of the board of state charities and continued in that position under different administrations serving eleven terms over a period of thirty years.

Blaine had initially promised Brinkerhoff an appointment as U.S. Minister to Holland, but schemed to have the sitting Ambassador Hugh Ewing replaced with his brother Charles Ewing, and there is no evidence that Blaine ever actually presented Brinkerhoff's name to the President, although both Senator John Sherman and General and Congressman John Beatty claim that Blaine had promised them to do so.

He showcased his compassion and liberal idealism when he traded on his political connections to abolish the use of mechanical restraints in treatments of the insane. Although his work was initially deemed "Brinkerhoff's Folly" by the press, his work led to the Toledo hospital system becoming the model asylum in the United States. He was selected as a member of the commission which selected the plans for its construction. He was one of the earliest American advocates of the cottage system, and understood that public opinion demanded reform and advancement.

In 1875, Brinkerhoff founded the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society at his home, whose first president was Senator Allen G. Thurman, followed by Rutherford B. Hayes, and later himself Brinkerhoff upon Hayes' death. He was soon named President Emeritus of the organization which exists to this day.

Through the society he was able to secure legislation and funding for the Ohio Monument at Jefferson Park, in Chicago. In a speech delivered before the legislature, he stated that:

When the Ohio monument was dedicated at Jefferson Park, in Chicago, September 14, 1893, General Brinkerhoff delivered one of the principal addresses.

See also

List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union)

Notes

References

 Brinkerhoff, Roeliff. Recollections of a lifetime. Ohio: The Robert Clarke Company. 1900.

Bibliography
 Randall, Emilius Oviatt (1850-1919): General Roeliff Brinkerhoff and General Brinkerhoff, Ohio Archæological and Historical Society Publications: Volume 20 [1911], pp. 353–367, 466–467.

1828 births
1911 deaths
Union Army generals
Quartermasters
People of Ohio in the American Civil War
Historians of the United States
19th-century American historians
19th-century American male writers
Logistics personnel of the United States military
People from Mansfield, Ohio
Ohio Free Soilers
Ohio Democrats
Ohio Republicans
Ohio Liberal Republicans
Activists from Ohio
American male non-fiction writers
Historians from Ohio
Jeffersonian democracy

Roeliff Brinkerhoff


MTV K was an English-language online media hub under the MTV brand that focused on Korean pop music for a global audience. Owned and operated by parent company Viacom Media Networks, MTV K was based out of New York City and provided original media content including music video playlists, live performances, editorial, and other exclusive content in multiple languages.

MTV K first launched in 2006 as a television channel on DirecTV and was reformatted to online content in 2010. MTV K went silent around 2015.

Television channel
MTV K launched as a DirectTV premium channel that launched on June 27, 2006 as the newest brand under the MTV World banner after MTV Chi and MTV Desi (for Chinese and South Asian/Desi-Americans, respectively). It showcased the best of Korean pop culture while also providing a platform for Korean-American talent. The target audience primarily consisted of Korean-Americans, Asian-Americans and K-pop lovers. Viewer-voted music video "My Name" by K-pop sensation BoA was the first video content to air on the channel.

After going off the air on April 30, 2007, MTV K made the shift to exclusively online content in 2010, focusing on original K-pop programming, music videos and editorial targeted for international fans of Korean pop music.

MTV K Presents... Live in NYC
MTV K hosted several major K-pop artists in the iconic MTV Times Square studio, including Rain, Se7en and YG Family, Wonder Girls, 2PM, 4Minute, Beast, and B.A.P. The shows were formatted in the TRL-style with live performances, MV clips, and audience interaction.

MTV K Presents B.A.P Live in New York City started the next generation of K-pop consumption in the United States by providing a live stream of the three performances on MTVK.com during the event.

2013 relaunch
In April 2013, MTV K announced that the site was planning a major revamp to bring more exclusive content than ever. A "brand new MTV K" is expected to available in late 2013.

See also
 Korean Wave

References

External links
Official Website
TV Installation

MTV
Music video networks in the United States
Asian-American television
Korean-American mass media
Television channels and stations established in 2005
Defunct television networks in the United States
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007
Music organizations based in South Korea

MTV K


Sverigetopplistan, also known as Topplistan and Hitlistan, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association.  Since late 2006 the chart has included legal downloads.

The following charts are included:
Singles Top 60
Albums Top 60
DVDs Top 20
Ringtones Top 20

1976-2006 the sales chart was broadcast on Sveriges Radio P3. From 2007, P3 only presents sales data for digital downloads (DigiListan), tracked by Nielsen SoundScan.

Other websites
Sverigetopplistan
The archive

Swedish music
Record charts

Sverigetopplistan


"The Destructors" is a 1954 short story written by Graham Greene, first published in Picture Post and subsequently collected in Twenty-One Stories later that year.

Plot

Set in the mid-1950s, the story is about the "Wormsley Common Gang", a boys' gang named after the place where they live. The protagonist Trevor, or "T.", devises a plan to destroy a beautiful two-hundred-year-old house that survived The Blitz. The gang accepts the plan by T., their new leader, and executes it when the owner of the house, Mr. Thomas (whom the gang call "Old Misery"), is away during a bank holiday weekend. Their plan is to destroy the house from inside, then tear down the remaining outer structure. Mr. Thomas returns home early, however, and the gang locks him in the outhouse. T. refuses to stop until the destruction job is complete, because even the facade is valuable and could be reused. Inside, they find a mattress filled with money—which they burn. The final destruction of the house occurs when a lorry pulls away a support pole from the side of the house. Mr. Thomas is released from the outhouse by the lorry driver to see the rubble of what once was his home. When the driver finds the situation funny, Mr. Thomas is incensed, but the driver is still unable to stop laughing.

Television adaptation

"The Destructors" was adapted for television as part of the 1970s British drama series Shades of Greene. It starred Michael Byrne, Phil Daniels and Nicholas Drake, directed by Michael Apted with a TV debut for actor Andrew Paul.

Allusions and references in other works
In the film Donnie Darko (2001), the title character contributes to discussion of "The Destructors" in his English class, stating that the story is ironic—showing how destruction is a form of creation. A parent of a pupil protests the use of this book in the curriculum during a PTA meeting, implying that it inspired an incident of vandalism to the school—a broken water main (which flooded the building) and an axe in the head of the mascot statue—in a manner similar to the protagonists of Greene's story.

References

External links
Full text of The Destructors

Short stories by Graham Greene
1954 short stories

The Destructors


The Visigoths (Western Goths) were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe (the Ostrogoths were the other). Both were among the loosely-defined Germanic tribes that fought the Roman Empire during the Migration Period.

Most famously, a Visigothic force, led by King Alaric I, succeeded in storming Rome in 410 AD. Later Visigothic kings ruled southern Gaul, and Hispania after they had taken it from the Alans and the Vandals.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Visigoths played a major role in southwestern Europe for another 250 years and adopted Roman culture and clothing.

Other websites
 Visigothic Law Code: text. The preface was written in 1908 and should be read with reservations.

Visigoths


Stewart Kwoh (born September 16, 1948) is an American attorney, educator, and civil rights leader. Kwoh is the founding President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, formerly known as the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC).

Early life and education
Stewart Kwoh was born to American parents teaching in China in Nanjing on September 16, 1948.  When Kwoh was two months old, his family moved to Shanghai, then back to America, settling in Los Angeles

Kwoh's mother, Beulah Kwoh (stage name Beulah Quo), was a film and television actress whose trailblazing career spanned almost 50 years and included co-founding the Asian American theatre organization East West Players in 1965 as well as becoming the first Asian American woman to win a local Emmy.  Kwoh's father, Edwin Kwoh, was a businessman who was involved in a number of non-profits, including the Los Angeles chapter of Volunteers of America. Edwin Kwoh served as a local board member and helped develop the organization's China Project, which led to a number of U.S. volunteers training individuals in China on topics ranging from policing to accounting. Beulah died in 2002, and Edwin died in 2011.

Kwoh earned his Bachelor of Arts  from University of California, Los Angeles, and his Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law.

Kwoh continues to have close ties with UCLA; he teaches at the university's Asian American Studies Department and has been an instructor at UCLA School of Law.  He is a past expert in residence at UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, and has two honorary doctorates from Williams College and Suffolk School of Law.

Personal life
Kwoh is married to Pat Lee and has two sons, Steven and Nathan.

Asian Pacific American Legal Center
In 1983, Kwoh co-founded the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, now the largest legal aid and civil rights organization serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in the United States.

Under Kwoh's leadership, APALC has also opened a nonprofit center as a community resource, acts as a fiscal sponsor for several smaller nonprofit groups and has established a series of educational workshops aimed at nonprofit capacity building.

Organizations

Kwoh is active with foundations and other philanthropic organizations. He has been Chair of the Board of Directors of The California Endowment, which is the largest health foundation in California. He is one of the first Asian Americans to chair the board of a large foundation in the U.S. Kwoh has also been chair of the Methodist Urban Foundation, vice-chair of the California Wellness Foundation, and a trustee of the California Consumer Protection Foundation, The Tang Family Foundation, the Fannie Mae Foundation, and a former Leadership Council member of California Forward.

He serves on the boards of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, KCET, and SCPR.

Publications
Kwoh has co-authored two publications: Uncommon Common Group: Race and America's Future and Untold Civil Rights Stories. Untold Civil Rights Stories has been described by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as: "a social milestone that recognizes the unsung contributions of Asian Americans to America's Civil Rights Movement."

Awards
Kwoh has been a recipient of numerous awards recognizing his efforts to build coalitions consisting of all communities of color. Associations that have honored Kwoh include: the L.A. City and County Human Relations Commissions, California Association of Human Relations Organizations, ACLU, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Urban League, the Martin Luther King Legacy Association and many other Asian American, civil rights, academic and legal organizations.

1998 MacArthur Fellows Program
2001 UCLA Law School Top Alumni of the Year for Public and Community Service"
2007 California State Bar Loren Miller Legal Services Award
2010 Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Civic Medal of Honor

References

1948 births
American lawyers
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
UCLA School of Law alumni
MacArthur Fellows
Living people
Members of Committee of 100
People from Los Angeles
Writers from Nanjing
Educators from Nanjing
UCLA School of Law faculty
UC Berkeley School of Law faculty

Stewart Kwoh


Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, or S.M.A.R.T. is a system to watch computer hard disks to help stop the risk of failures. It does this by watching reliability of the hard disks to try and see when a failure might happen and where.

Background
Hard drive failures fall into two categories:
Predictable failures''' happen over a longer time period. Examples for this is mechanical wear, or degradation of the surface of the storage device.Unpredictable failures happen suddenly, in an unforeseen manner. Examples for this is the failure of an electronic component, or sudden mechanical failure, perhaps because of bad handling.

Predictable failures can be detected by certain monitoring devices. This is like a thermometer in a vehicle that can alert the driver to do something before serious damage occurs, for example because the engine is too hot.

About 60% of all drive failures are caused by failing mechanics. Most mechanical failures result from gradual wear. An eventual failure may be catastrophic. Before complete failure occurs, there are usually certain signs that failure is imminent. These may include increased heat output, a more noisy drive, problems with reading or writing data and a big increase in the number of damaged disk sectors.

The purpose of S.M.A.R.T. is to warn a user or system administrator that a drive is about to fail. At the time of the warning, there is usually still time to do certain things to prevent data loss, for example copying the data to a different drive. Approximately 30% of failures can be predicted by S.M.A.R.T. Work at Google on over 100,000 drives has shown little overall predictive value of S.M.A.R.T. status as a whole. The study suggests that certain sub-categories of information which some S.M.A.R.T. implementations track do correlate with actual failure rates.  In the 60 days after the first scan error on a drive, the drive is 39 times more likely to fail on average than it would have been had no such error occurred. Also, first errors in reallocations, offline reallocations and probational counts are strongly correlated to higher probabilities of failure.

PCTechGuide's page on S.M.A.R.T. commented in 2003 that the technology had gone through three phases:

 History and predecessors
The industry's first hard disk monitoring technology was introduced by IBM in 1992 in their IBM 9337 Disk Arrays for AS/400 servers using IBM 0662 SCSI-2 disk drives. Later it was named Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) technology. It was measuring several key device health parameters and evaluating them within the drive firmware. Communications between the physical unit and the monitoring software were limited to a binary result – namely, either "device is OK" or "drive is likely to fail soon".

Later, another variant, which was named IntelliSafe, was created by computer manufacturer Compaq and disk drive manufacturers Seagate, Quantum, and Conner. The disk drives would measure the disk's "health parameters", and the values would be transferred to the operating system and user-space monitoring software. Each disk drive vendor was free to decide which parameters were to be included for monitoring, and what their thresholds should be. The unification was at the protocol level with the host.

Compaq submitted their implementation to Small Form Committee for standardization in early 1995. It was supported by IBM, by Compaq's development partners Seagate, Quantum, and Conner, and by Western Digital, who did not have a failure prediction system at the time. The Committee chose IntelliSafe's approach, as it provided more flexibility. The resulting jointly developed standard was named S.M.A.R.T.

 SMART Information
The technical documentation for SMART is in the AT Attachment (ATA) standard.

The most basic information that SMART provides is the SMART status. It provides only two values: "threshold not exceeded" and "threshold exceeded". Often these are represented as "drive OK" or "drive fail" respectively. A "threshold exceeded" value is intended to indicate that there is a relatively high probability that the drive will not be able to honour its specification in the future – that is, the drive is "about to fail". The predicted failure may be catastrophic or may be something as subtle as the inability to write to certain sectors, or perhaps slower performance than the manufacturer's declared minimum.

The SMART status does not necessarily indicate the drive's past or present reliability. If a drive has already failed catastrophically, the SMART status may be inaccessible. Alternatively, if a drive has experienced problems in the past, but the sensors no longer detect such problems, the SMART status may, depending on the manufacturer's programming, suggest that the drive is now sound.

The inability to read some sectors is not always an indication that a drive is about to fail. One way that unreadable sectors may be created, even when the drive is functioning within specification, is through a sudden power failure while the drive is writing. In order to prevent this problem, modern hard drives will always finish writing at least the current sector immediately after the power fails (typically using rotational energy from the disk). Also, even if the physical disk is damaged at one location, such that a certain sector is unreadable, the disk may be able to use spare space to replace the bad area, so that the sector can be overwritten.

More detail on the health of the drive may be obtained by examining the SMART Attributes. SMART Attributes were included in some drafts of the ATA standard, but were removed before the standard became final. The meaning and interpretation of the attributes varies between manufacturers, and are sometimes considered a trade secret for one manufacturer or another. Attributes are further discussed below.

Drives with SMART may optionally support a number of 'logs'. The error log records information about the most recent errors that the drive has reported back to the host computer. Examining this log may help one to determine whether computer problems are disk-related or caused by something else.

A drive supporting SMART may optionally support a number of self-test or maintenance routines, and the results of the tests are kept in the self-test log. The self-test routines may be used to detect any unreadable sectors on the disk, so that they may be restored from back-up sources (for example, from other disks in a RAID). This helps to reduce the risk of incurring permanent loss of data.

 Standards and implementation
Many motherboards will display a warning message when a disk drive is approaching failure. Although an industry standard among most major hard drive manufacturers, there are some remaining issues and much proprietary "secret knowledge" held by individual manufacturers as to their specific approach.

From a legal perspective, the term "S.M.A.R.T." refers only to a signalling method between internal disk drive electromechanical sensors and the host computer. Hence, a drive may be claimed by its manufacturers to include S.M.A.R.T. support even if it does not include, say, a temperature sensor, which the customer might reasonably expect to be present. Moreover, in the most extreme case, a disk manufacturer could, in theory, produce a drive which includes a sensor for just one physical attribute, and then legally advertise the product as "S.M.A.R.T. compatible".

Depending on the type of interface being used, some S.M.A.R.T.-enabled motherboards and related software may not communicate with certain S.M.A.R.T.-capable drives. For example, few external drives connected via USB and Firewire correctly send S.M.A.R.T. data over those interfaces. With so many ways to connect a hard drive (SCSI, Fibre Channel, ATA, SATA, SAS, SSA, and so on), it is difficult to predict whether S.M.A.R.T. reports will function correctly in a given system.

Even on hard drives and interfaces that support it, S.M.A.R.T. information may not be reported correctly to the computer's operating system. Some disk controllers can duplicate all write operations on a secondary "back-up" drive in real time. This feature is known as "RAID mirroring". However, many programs which are designed to analyze changes in drive behaviour and relay S.M.A.R.T. alerts to the operator do not function properly when a computer system is configured for RAID support. Generally this is because, under normal RAID operational conditions, the computer is not permitted by the RAID subsystem to 'see' (or directly access) individual physical drives, but may access only logical volumes instead.

On the Windows platform, many programs designed to monitor and report S.M.A.R.T. information will function only under an administrator account. At present, S.M.A.R.T. is implemented individually by manufacturers, and while some aspects are standardized for compatibility, others are not.

 ATA S.M.A.R.T. Attributes

Each drive manufacturer defines a set of attributes, and sets threshold values beyond which attributes should not pass under normal operation. Each attribute has a raw value'', whose meaning is entirely up to the drive manufacturer (but often corresponds to counts or a physical unit, such degrees Celsius or seconds), and a normalized value, which ranges from 1 to 253 (with 1 representing the worst case and 253 representing the best). Depending on the manufacturer, a value of 100 or 200 will often be chosen as the "normal" value.

Manufacturers that have supported at least one S.M.A.R.T. attribute in various products include:  Samsung, Seagate, IBM (Hitachi), Fujitsu, Maxtor, Toshiba, Western Digital and ExcelStor Technology.

Threshold Exceeds Condition
Threshold Exceeds Condition (TEC) is a supposed date when a critical drive statistic attribute will reach its threshold value. When Drive Health software reports a "Nearest T.E.C.", it should be regarded as a "Failure date".

Prognosis of this date is based on the factor "Speed of attribute change"; how many points each month the value is decreasing/increasing. This factor is calculated automatically at any change of S.M.A.R.T. attributes for each attribute individually. Note that TEC dates are not guarantees; hard drives can and will either last much longer or fail much sooner than the date given by a TEC.

References

Other websites
Out SMART Your Hard Drive
How S.M.A.R.T. is your hard drive?

Storage devices

S.M.A.R.T.


Tellurium(IV) chloride, also known as tellurium tetrachloride, is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is TeCl4. It contains tellurium in its +4 oxidation state. It also contains chloride ions.

Properties
Tellurium(IV) chloride is a pale yellow solid. It melts easily to a red liquid. It evaporates easily. It reacts with water to make tellurium dioxide and hydrochloric acid. It is toxic and corrosive.

Preparation
Tellurium(IV) chloride is made by reacting tellurium powder and chlorine.

Uses
It is used in making organic compounds.

Related pages
Selenium(IV) chloride
Tellurium(II) chloride

Tellurium compounds
Chlorine compounds

Tellurium(IV) chloride


Khalil Sultan  ()  wis the Timurid ruler o Transoxiana frae 1405 tae 1409. He wis a son o Miran Shah an a grandson o Timur.

Biography

Durin Timur's lifetime, Khalil Sultan gained the conqueror's parteecular favor. He distinguisht hissel durin the campaign in Indie an in 1402 wis gien rule o Ferghana. Upon Timur's daith in 1405 Khalil viewed himsel as his successor. Timur's appointit successor Pir Muhammad wis quickly cast aside, an Khalil gained control o Samarkand. Khalil gained Timur's treasury an bestoued the puppet title o Chagatai Khan (which afore haed ayeweys been grantit bi Timur tae a descendant o Genghis Khan tae legitimize his rule) tae a Timurid prince. Khalil an aa gained an ally, Sultan Husain, who haed previously an aa made claims tae the throne as a grandson o Timur.

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh, who wis ruling in Herat, an aa decidit tae press his claims. He advanced tae the Oxus River against Khalil but turned back when Khalil's faither Miran Shah, as well as his brither Aba Bakr, maricht frae Azerbaijan in support. Nivertheless, Khalil's poseetion began tae weaken. He wis unpopular in Samarkand, whaur the nobility despised his wife Shad Mulk. The latter haed considerable influence ower Khalil, convincin him tae appynt fowk o law birth tae heich poseetions at the expense o the nobility. A faimin caused him tae be even mair despised. He decidit tae return tae Ferghana wi his umwhile mentor, Khudaidid Husain, who went tae Moghulistan (the realm o the eastren Chagatai Khans) in an attempt tae win thair support.

Khalil's rule in Samarkand finally endit when Shah Rukh entered the ceety unopposed on Mey 13, 1409. Transoxiana wis then gien tae Shah Rukh's son Ulugh Beg. Khalil decidit tae surrender tae Shah Rukh, who haed captured Shad Mulk. He received his wife back, an wis appointit governor o Ray. He dee'd thare in 1411. His wife committit suicide shortly efter his daith.
He is an aa the ancestor o Babur, the foonder o the Mughal Empire.

Notes

References
 Roemer, H. R. "The Successors of Timur." The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 6: The Timurid and Safavid Periods. Edited bi Peter Jackson. New York: Cambridge Varsity Press, 1986. ISBN 0521200946

1384 births
1411 daiths
Timurid monarchs

Khalil Sultan


Whitewash, also called calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint, is a type of paint.

Whitewash is made of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and chalk (calcium carbonate). It is used to make surfaces white. It protects and presents a clean surface. Whitewash may be used to paint the outsides and the insides of homes and other buildings.

Other things may be added to whitewash, such as water glass (sodium silicate), glue, egg white, Portland cement, salt, soap, milk, flour, and soil. To change the colour of whitewash, people used different materials. For example, pig's blood was used to make whitewash pink, and blue laundry dye was used to make whitewash blue.

Paints

Whitewash


FashionTelevision, also known as FT, is a Canadian-produced special interest show focusing on fashion. The show, created by Jay Levine in 1985, was last hosted by Jeanne Beker. Production of the broadcast ended on April 11, 2012.

The program was originally a local production of CITY-TV Toronto, the original Citytv station. Its popularity there led it to eventually be carried across Canada on various channels owned by CHUM Limited, the station's owner, later spawning its own specialty cable channel, Fashion Television. The show was also broadcast in syndication for many years on VH1, E! and sister network style in the United States, and it continues to air in many parts of Europe, making Beker a very recognizable person in the fashion world.

The show's theme song was "Obsession" by the group Animotion.

CTV's parent company, CTVglobemedia, bought out CHUM in June 2007. CityTV, which remained the nominal producer of the show throughout its history, was sold to Rogers Communications; however, because CTVglobemedia kept the spin-off channel, it was also entitled to the rights to the show itself. FT'''s terrestrial broadcasts moved from Citytv to the CTV network in January 2008.

On April 11, 2012, host Jeanne Beker broke the news on Twitter by saying "This dream is over: After 27 glorious years, FT'' production ceased today."

External links
 Official website
 Online Video Content
 FT Podcasts

Citytv original programming
CTV Television Network original programming
CTV 2 original programming
E! original programming
Entertainment news shows in Canada
Fashion-themed television series
Fashion journalism
1985 Canadian television series debuts
2012 Canadian television series endings
English-language television shows
1980s Canadian television news shows
1990s Canadian television news shows
2000s Canadian television news shows
2010s Canadian television news shows
Television series by Bell Media

FashionTelevision


The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (German: Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda or Propagandaministerium) was a ministry in Weimar Germany and  Nazi Germany that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany. It regulated its culture and society. The ministry was founded on 13 March 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government. The head of this ministry was Dr. Joseph Goebbels. He was responsible for controlling the press and culture of  Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.

This ministry existed until 1945, when the Second World War ended.

Related pages
 Nazi propaganda
 Joseph Goebbels
 Hans Fritzsche

Nazi Germany
Ministries
1933 establishments in Europe
1930s establishments in Germany
1945 disestablishments in Germany

Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda