Champagne is a 1928 British silent comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker and Jean Bradin. The screenplay was based on an original story by writer and critic Walter C. Mycroft. The film is about a young woman forced to get a job after her father tells her he has lost all his money.

Cast
 Betty Balfour – Betty
 Jean Bradin – The Boy
 Gordon Harker – Mark, Betty's Father
 Ferdinand von Alten – The Man (as Theo von Alten)
Supporting cast, all uncredited:
 Jack Trevor – The Officer
 Claude Hulbert – Club Guest
 Marcel Vibert – Maitre d'Hotel
 Hannah Jones – Club Servant
 Clifford Heatherley – The Manager
 Vivian Gibson
 Sunday Wilshin
 Phyllis Konstam
 Alexander D'Arcy
 Fanny Wright
 Gwen Mannering
 Balliol and Merton

Plot
Betty (Betty Balfour), an heiress, draws the ire of her father after using his aeroplane to fly to her boyfriend (Jean Bradin) who is on an ocean liner headed to France. Once reunited, they arrange to meet for dinner but Betty's boyfriend is unable to dine with her due to seasickness. When seated, Betty notices a man watching her, who then comes over to talk to her. Betty receives a telegram from her disapproving father who warns that her boyfriend is not going to be admired by her friends. To prove her father wrong she asks her boyfriend to marry her, but her boyfriend has grown to resent how controlling she is of their relationship. A quarrel ensues between them and the two part company when it's over.

The boyfriend regrets the fight and goes to Betty to apologise. He is surprised to find her adeptly playing a game of chess with the mysterious man. Another quarrel between the two is interrupted by the arrival of Betty's father (Gordon Harker). He tells Betty the family fortune, earned in the Champagne business, has been wiped out by a falling stock market. The boyfriend leaves after hearing the news of their fortune and the father sees this as proof the boyfriend is only after money.

In France, Betty decides to sell her jewellery but is robbed en route to the jewellers. Now penniless, Betty and her father move into a small, rundown apartment. Unbeknown to Betty, her father sneaks out to eat at an expensive restaurant after her cooking proves to be terrible. Once again Betty's boyfriend tries for a reconciliation but she rebukes him as she now thinks her father is right about him, and vows to get a job.

Betty finds work at an upmarket restaurant. The mysterious man shows up again and invites Betty to his table. She becomes uncomfortable with the stranger and is relieved when her boyfriend arrives on the scene. The mysterious man leaves after handing her a note that advises her to call him if she ever needs any help. The boyfriend openly disapproves of Betty's job. He leaves after a still-angry Betty dances wildly to provoke him.

The boyfriend soon returns with Betty's father. He is outraged at Betty's lowly job and confesses he lied about the loss of their fortune to teach her a lesson. Rather than being pleased, Betty is further angered by both her father and boyfriend. She turns to the mysterious man who offers to take her back to America. Betty gladly accepts but is later horrified to find she has been locked in her cabin. She imagines the worst about the mysterious man's intentions and is both relieved and delighted when her boyfriend arrives and releases her from the cabin. They soon reconcile.

The boyfriend hides in the bathroom when they hear the mysterious man approaching. He enters with her father who confesses he hired the man to follow and protect her. The boyfriend is furious and misunderstanding the situation, bursts from his hiding place to attack the man. Betty's father pacifies the boyfriend's anger by telling him he no longer disapproves of their wedding. The reunited couple start discussing the wedding, but soon start bickering over the arrangements.

Reception
Hitchcock's second comedy was this time poorly received, following the critical and commercial success of his first film in the genre, The Farmer's Wife. Although his expanding visual technique continued to draw recognition and praise, they were not enough to distract from the film's lack of an engaging plot. The "mysterious man" at the beginning of the film proved to be misleading, which aroused further displeasure from critics. Variety, although impressed with the technical aspects, was dismissive of the film. The reviewer felt "The story is of the weakest, an excuse for covering 7,000 feet of harmless celluloid with legs and close-ups". Hitchcock would later voice his unhappiness with the film in François Truffaut's book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut, when he said the film had no story to tell.

Preservation and home video status
A restoration of Champagne was completed in 2012 as part of the BFI's £2 million "Save the Hitchcock 9" project to restore all of the director's surviving silent films.

Like Hitchcock's other British films, all of which are copyrighted worldwide, Champagne has been heavily bootlegged on home video. Despite this, various licensed, restored releases have appeared on DVD, Blu-ray and video on demand from Optimum in the UK, Lionsgate and Kino Lorber in the US, and many others.

At the end of 2023, Champagne will enter the public domain in the United States but only in its non-restored, scoreless form. It will remain copyrighted in the rest of the world until the end of 2050.

References

External links

 Champagne at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
 Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: Champagne at Brenton Film

1928 films
1928 comedy films
British comedy films
Films shot at British International Pictures Studios
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock
British black-and-white films
British silent feature films
Seafaring films
1920s British films
Silent comedy films
Silent adventure films

Champagne (1928 film)


Borophryne apogon, the netdevil, or greedy seadevil, is a species of leftvent anglerfish known today from the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean off the Central American coast.  It is found at depths down to around .  This species grows to a length of  TL. A fossil specimen of this species has been found in the Los Angeles Basin dating back to the Late Miocene, some eight million years ago.

Description
A metamorphosed female Borophryne apogon is globose, and grows to a maximum length of about . The depth of the head is between 50% and 65% of the fish's standard length and the length of the head is between 50% and 60% of the standard length, with the lower jaw being four fifths of the length of the head. Three rows of long, sharp teeth line the jaws and there are up to four teeth on the roof of the mouth. The illicium on the snout is short and the esca on its tip is large with a branching terminal appendage and filaments on the side. There is a rounded protuberance on the forehead, the sphenotic spines (above the eyes) are large in young specimens but become overgrown with skin in older ones, and there is a symphysial spine at the tip of the jaw. The caudal peduncle is particularly short. The head and body are dark reddish-brown, or completely black, and the fins are usually colorless. The dorsal fin and the anal fin both have three soft rays, while the pectoral fins have fifteen to eighteen rays each, and the caudal fin has nine.  This anglerfish is similar in appearance to Linophryne, but lacks the barbel on the chin.

A free-living metamorphosed male grows to a length of about . It differs from other leftvent anglerfish in having no premaxillae and having large sphenotic spines. The jaws bear no teeth, but there are up to six or seven strong, short placoid scales above and below the mouth which meet when the jaws are closed. The olfactory organs are large and unpigmented, but the rest of the head and body is lightly pigmented and pale brown.

Distribution
This species is found only in the tropical eastern Pacific. Its range extends from the lower Gulf of California to the Gulf of Panama, in an area delineated by 29°N to 7°N and 113°W to 78°W. It is a deep water fish and has been found in the bathypelagic zone at depths down to about .

Evolution
A fossil of Borophryne apogon and one of the closely related headlight angler (Linophryne indica) were found in Late Miocene laminated deposits in the eastern sector of the Los Angeles Basin, California, during construction of a metro line subway station in Los Angeles. The assemblage of anglerfish included several other extant species of anglerfish.

Biology
When a free-living male B. apogon encounters a female he latches onto her belly with his mouth and their tissues gradually fuse, with the male becoming parasitic. Free-living males and unparasitised females never have fully developed gonads, but after fusion, the male's gonads enlarge and he continues to grow, the largest known parasitic male being about  long.

References

Linophrynidae
Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan
Fish described in 1925
Monotypic ray-finned fish genera

Borophryne


In the United States, a private right is one that a private citizen can vindicate in court. Compared to public rights, a citizen must be able to show that they have "sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury" and not that they "suffer in some indefinite way in common with people generally." (see Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 488 (1923)).

A distinction can be made between criminal rights and private rights, arguing that restrictions against ex post facto laws were not designed to protect citizens' contract rights.

References
Black's Law Dictionary
Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447
Hart & Weschler's Federal Courts and the Federal Court System, 5th ed. (2003)

Law of the United States

Private rights


Galileo (30 March 1998 – 10 July 2021) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from October 2000 until October 2001, he ran eight times and won six races. He is best known for having won the Derby, Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2001. He was named the European Champion Three-Year-Old Colt of 2001.

After his retirement, Galileo was one of the most sought-after sires in the world. He first became the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 2008, then consecutively earned the title from 2010–2020. In 2020, he set the record for the number of Epsom Derby winners sired at five: New Approach, Ruler Of The World, Australia, Anthony Van Dyck and Serpentine. In June 2020, Galileo sired his 85th Group 1 winner, breaking Danehill's world record and becoming the most successful source of Group 1 winners in thoroughbred history. In addition to his Derby winners, his notable offspring include Frankel, Nathaniel, Found, Churchill and Minding. He was also a leading broodmare sire.

Galileo was euthanized on 10 July 2021, after a debilitating injury to his near foreleg which failed to heal after surgery earlier that year.

Background
Galileo was a  bay horse with a narrow white blaze and a white sock on his near hind leg. He was sired by Sadler's Wells out of the mare Urban Sea. His breeders were David Tsui, the owner of Urban Sea, and "Orpendale", a name used by the Coolmore Stud organisation for some of their breeding interests. He was described as a three-year-old as being "one of the most impeccably bred horses in training".

Sadler's Wells won three Group One races in 1984 and went on to sire the winners of over 2,000 races, including more than 130 at Group One/Grade I level. He was the most successful sire in the history of British racing, being the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland a record 14 times. Urban Sea won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1993 and went on to become an outstanding broodmare. Apart from Galileo, she was the dam of the Derby winner Sea the Stars and the Grade I winners Black Sam Bellamy (Tattersalls Gold Cup) and My Typhoon (Diana Stakes), as well as All Too Beautiful (Group race winner, Group One placed) and Melikah (Listed race winner, Group One placed).

Owned by Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor, Galileo was sent into training with Aidan O'Brien, then just starting his tenure at Ballydoyle. Galileo was ridden in all but one of his races by Michael Kinane.

Galileo was known for his relaxed behaviour and even temperament. Noel Stapleton, his long-time handler at Coolmore Stud, called him a creature of habit: "He is a true gentleman, and I think he knows how important he is." O'Brien noted that Galileo "prowled" when asked to walk: "Most horses when you ask them to go forward, up goes the head and they walk up, but he used to walk forward and walk out. His walking stride was so long and there was so much power from his front and back."

He was one of several horses to have borne the name of Galileo. The most notable "other" Galileo was a Polish-bred gelding which won the Grade I RSA Novices' Hurdle at the 2002 Cheltenham Festival.

Racing career

2000: two-year-old career
Galileo's two-year-old debut was delayed by a cough that he developed over the summer of 2000. He did not appear on the racecourse until 28 October, in a sixteen-runner maiden race at Leopardstown. He was made the even-money favourite, despite the field containing two runners each from the stables of the leading Irish trainers John Oxx and Jim Bolger. Kinane tracked the leaders before sending the colt into the lead in the straight and extending his lead to fourteen lengths by the finish.

2001: three-year-old career

Spring
Galileo was conditioned for a middle-distance campaign and aimed at Derby trial races in late spring. On his debut, he was 1/3 favourite for the Listed Ballysax Stakes over a mile and a quarter at Leopardstown,  which he won "easily" by three and a half lengths. Runner-up Milan went on to win the St Leger and finish second in the Breeders' Cup Turf, while the third-placed Vinnie Roe won four consecutive Irish St. Legers. O'Brien was satisfied with the performance, especially as he believed the colt was some way from peak fitness: ("[my horses]... are as big as bulls") and likely to improve.

Galileo was stepped up in class for the Group Three Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown in May. The odds-on favourite, he was ridden for the first and only time by Seamie Heffernan, as Kinane was riding Milan in the Group One Prix Lupin on the same day. Galileo beat the John Oxx-trained Exaltation by one and a half lengths. Although Heffernan put Galileo under pressure before going clear, the colt's Derby odds were cut from 8–1 to 5–1.

Summer
At Epsom, Galileo started 11/4 joint-favourite with 2,000 Guineas winner Golan. The 2001 Epsom Derby field was strong, with Tobougg, the previous year's champion two-year-old, and the winners of most of the major Derby trials, including Mr Combustible (Chester Vase), Dilshaan (Dante Stakes) and Perfect Sunday (Lingfield Derby Trial), all taking part. Two furlongs from the finish, Galileo moved past Mr Combustible and quickly went clear to record an "impressive" three and a half length victory over Golan, Tobougg and Mr Combustible. Following the race, Timeform assigned a figure of 130 to Galileo, making him, in their opinion, the best Derby winner for ten years. Kinane was reported to have called Galileo the best horse he had ridden: "There is no weakness to him... He is a dream to ride." It was the first Derby winner for O'Brien and the first Derby winner Sadler's Wells had sired.

In the Irish Derby at The Curragh, three weeks later, Galileo was 4/11 favourite, with Golan and Exaltation the only other horses starting at less than 20/1. Although eased down in the closing stages, the colt won by four lengths from the Derby Italiano winner Morshdi, with Golan another four lengths back in third. Kinane, who was winning his first Irish Derby in seventeen attempts, said that he was always in "complete control", while Morshdi's jockey, Philip Robinson, described the winner as "a freak".

Galileo was then tested against older horses in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot in July. The betting suggested a match between Galileo (1/2 favourite) and the Godolphin five-year-old Fantastic Light (7-2), who had won Group One races in four different countries. Such were the reputations of these two horses that the third choice in the betting, the French Derby winner Anabaa Blue, started at 18/1. Kinane took Galileo to the lead two furlongs out, but Frankie Dettori challenged hard on Fantastic Light as Galileo won by two lengths.

Autumn

Galileo returned to Leopardstown in September for a much-anticipated Irish Champion Stakes against Fantastic Light again, this time over the shorter distance of one and a quarter miles. O'Brien's Ice Dancer was to act as pacemaker and ensure a stamina test. The plan failed, as the rest of the riders ignored Ice Dancer, who went ten lengths clear before stopping abruptly in the straight. Fantastic Light and Galileo raced side by side, with the former winning by a head. The race has been described as one of the most exciting and memorable in the modern history of the sport. O'Brien praised the winner but felt that he himself had "messed up" tactically.

For his final race, Galileo was sent to Belmont Park for the Breeders' Cup Classic. He would be racing on dirt for the first time, although he was prepared by exercising on the artificial surface at Southwell. In the Classic, Galileo finished sixth of the fourteen runners behind Tiznow.

"With the benefit of hindsight", O'Brien later recalled, "it was an unrealistic target to ask him to do that after having such a tough season and racing against the older horses, but it was the belief that was in him, the belief that everyone had in him, that we thought it could be possible that it could happen. I remember when he came in, he was after trying so hard he was almost crying. He was so genuine."

Galileo's retirement was announced immediately after the race.

Race record

Assessment
Galileo was named European Champion Three-Year-Old at the Cartier Racing Awards.

In the 2001 International Classification (the forerunner of the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings), Galileo was assessed at 129 (equal with Fantastic Light), making him the third highest rated horse behind Sakhee and Point Given.

Galileo was given a final Timeform rating of 134.

Stud career

Galileo was retired to stand as a stallion for the Coolmore Stud. He originally operated as a "shuttle" stallion, standing at Coolmore's main farm at Fethard, County Tipperary Ireland during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season and moving to its Australian branch in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season. However, since 2006, he stood exclusively in Ireland.

Galileo earned his first title as the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 2008 thanks to his first Derby winner New Approach. He regained the title in 2010 when Frankel made his debut, and repeated in 2011 through 2020 inclusive. Since 2008, his stud fee was privately negotiated, but in 2018 he was reputed to be the most expensive stallion in the world. For breeders who were not associates of Coolmore Stud, the fee had "long been north of €400,000" and was suggested to be as high as €600,000. At the height of his stud career, Galileo generated an estimated €40 million per year in stud fees for Coolmore.

At the time of his death on 10 July 2021, he had sired 338 stakes winners, 228 of which were group winners. In August 2018, Sizzling gave Galileo his 328th European group race win as a sire, taking him past the record previously held by his own sire Sadler's Wells.

On 9 November 2019, Magic Wand became his 84th individual Group/Grade One winner, putting him level with Danehill for the most such winners sired. He broke this record when Peaceful won the Irish 1000 Guineas in June 2020. On the same day he died, Bolshoi Ballet became his 92nd G1 winner. In 2022, Magical Lagoon became his 95th G1 winner by taking the Irish Oaks.
Proud and Regal is 97th G1 winner of it

In 2019, Anthony Van Dyck became his fourth Epsom Derby winner (with New Approach, Ruler of the World, and Australia). This tied him with Cyllene, Waxy, Sir Peter Teazle, Blandford and Montjeu for the number of Derby winners sired. He broke this record when Serpentine won the Derby in 2020. After Minding's victory in the 2016 1000 Guineas, Galileo had become the sire of winners of all five British Classics. In the 2016 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he sired the top three finishers (Found, Highland Reel and Order of St George). In the 2019 Derby, he was the sire, grandsire or great-grandsire of all runners but Sir Dragonet, who was related to Urban Sea through his full sister All Too Beautiful. In 2020, he was the sire of the Love, winner of the 1000 Guineas, Epsom Oaks and the Darley Yorkshire Oaks.

In September 2008, Galileo underwent surgery for colic.

In early 2021, Galileo injured his near-fore foot and underwent another surgery. He failed to respond to treatment and was euthanized on 10 July. When announcing the death, John Magnier of Coolmore commented, ""The effect he is having on the breed through his sons and daughters will be a lasting legacy, and his phenomenal success really is unprecedented."

O'Brien noted that as a sire Galileo was notable for passing his own determination down to his offspring. "You would train a lot of horses," he said, "different types of horses who all have different traits, but very few of them, in fact none of them, put that mental trait into their horses the way Galileo did. What he put into their minds, that genuineness, was out of this world."

Notable progeny

c = colt, f = filly, g = gelding† Noble Mission was awarded the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, after another Galileo son called Spiritjim was demoted from first after it was found that he tested positive for banned substances.

‡ Gleneagles was demoted from first to third in the 2014 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, after stewards deemed him to have interfered with the horse that finished second (Full Mast) and third (Territories).

Sire of sires
At the time of his death in 2021, Galileo had sired 20 sons who themselves became sires of Group/Grade 1 winners. Of these sons, Teofilio had sired the most G1 winners with 20, while Frankel was leading the sire list after having sired his first Derby winner. Both Australia and Gleneagles were in the top 20 of leading sires despite having just a few foal crops to represent them. In 2018, Frankel had finished fourth on the leading sire list, while Nathaniel finished fifth. New Approach was the sire of 2018 Derby winner Masar, while Teofilo sired Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter.

Teofilo
Entered stud in 2008.

 New Approach
Entered stud in 2009.

 Frankel
Entered stud in 2013.

Nathaniel
Entered stud in 2013.

Broodmare Sire

Like his sire Galileo has become a sire of excellent broodmares whose offspring have achieved Group 1 success. He was the leading broodmare sire in Great Britain and Ireland of 2020 after finishing closely behind Pivotal in the previous years.

Pedigree

See also
 List of racehorses

References

External links
 Career 1-2-3 Colour Chart – Galileo''

1998 racehorse births
2021 racehorse deaths
Racehorses bred in Ireland
Racehorses trained in Ireland
Cartier Award winners
British Champion Thoroughbred Sires
Epsom Derby winners
Thoroughbred family 9-h
Chefs-de-Race
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winners

Galileo (horse)


Tim Watson-Munro (born 1952/1953) is an Australian forensic psychologist. His expertise has been used in some of Australia's biggest criminal trials. He has analysed some of Australia's most prolific and violent criminals, including underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano and mass murderer Julian Knight. His work involves determining whether those charged with acts of extreme violence are legally insane. Watson-Munro is regularly called upon to provide expert evidence in court and in the media.

Early life
Born 1952/1953, Watson-Munro has described being raised in a "privileged academic environment". His father was a professor of physics, and his mother was a scientist. He was initially educated at Sydney Grammar School, where he left to work in a lumber yard. Watson-Munro later returned to a different school to complete his secondary education. He then went on to study psychology at the University of Sydney.

Career
Watson-Munro is described by The Herald Sun as one of Australia's leading and distinguished criminal psychologists. In 1978, he began his career at Paramatta Jail. He then went into private practice. He has assessed over 30,000 people in his career, including 200 murderers. Watson-Munro's primary role when assessing criminals is to determine whether they are legally insane. Three notable individuals Watson-Munro has worked with included Julian Knight, Alphonse Gangitano, and Mr Cruel.

Watson-Munro was the psychologist responsible for assessing and working with Julian Knight after he carried out the 1987 Hoddle Street massacre, killing seven people and leaving 19 injured. Watson-Munro states that the marksmanship during the massacre suggested clear thinking on the part of Knight.

Watson-Munro was assigned to treat deceased Melbourne underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano shortly after his arrest for allegedly murdering petty criminal Gregory Workman.  Gangitano was released after the prosecution dropped all charges relating to the arrest after a key witness left the country. Watson-Munro expected Gangitano not to pursue treatment. However, shortly after his release, Gangitano contacted him for an appointment, and treatment continued. Watson-Munro has written that Gangitano had a degree of "intellectual prowess", and that his time with Gangitano demonstrated to him that even career criminals can have "other lives that are seemingly quite normal".

"Mr Cruel" is a pseudonym for the never-identified suspect of several child rapes and the murder of Karmein Chan in Melbourne during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Watson-Munro was contracted by Victoria Police during their investigation to profile the potential offender.

Views
Watson-Munro is an advocate of educating and informing victims of crime about their rights to compensation and treatment.

Watson-Munro in 1996 voiced concerns that the child welfare system in Victoria was in "chaos and on the brink of collapse". He noted truancy and crime being committed by children in the care of the state and called for a royal commission into the government department responsible. Watson-Munro was involved in assessing a 14-year-old boy who, while wandering around at night, murdered a taxi driver.

Watson-Munro has criticised a proposal to ban songs with suicidal themes as "censorship gone mad". He considers such proposals well intentioned, but that real issues of youth suicide in Australia need addressing, such as socio-economic circumstances.

Watson-Munro has stated that individuals who consume true crime media and are socially isolated, mentally ill, or young can become desensitised to violence and gore. He stated "I think there is a nexus between that and people viewing this material and becoming desensitised to it or wanting to see what it is like".

Controversy
In 1999, Watson-Munro pleaded guilty to using and possessing cocaine. He was fined  and placed on a 12 month good behaviour bond, a non-custodial sentence of good behaviour. He was later that year reprimanded by the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria on two counts of unprofessional misconduct after being found to have formed a personal relationship with a female client. In June 2000, the Board refused his re-registration as a psychologist. In 2002, the Board again found it not in the public interest to allow Watson-Munro to practice. Watson-Munro has described the years preventing him from running a clinical practice as "the greatest challenge [he] ever faced". In 2003, Watson-Munro regained registration as a psychologist, on the basis he undertook supervision for a period of two years.

Personal life
Watson-Munro's first wife Susan, died of cancer. He is now married to his second, Carla. He is the father of five children.

Works

References

1950s births
Living people
Australian psychologists
Australian non-fiction writers

Tim Watson-Munro


Connect First Credit Union Ltd is a member-owned financial institution based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

On May 3, 2021, connectFirst Credit Union was born from the collective legacies of four credit unions which previously operated as a division of Connect First Credit Union Ltd: First Calgary Financial, Chinook Financial, Mountain View Financial and Legacy Financial. The organization was established in 1987 through the merger of seven open-bond credit unions, as well as two additional credit union purchases. The first member-owned credit union that would eventually become First Calgary Financial was founded in 1938. On October 26, 2014, it was announced that First Calgary Financial will merge with Chinook Credit Union to form Alberta's second largest credit union under the name Connect First Credit Union.

connectFirst Credit Union is one of the largest and most successful credit unions in Canada - full-service financial institution with over $6 billion in assets under administration - and serves more 128 000 members across 41 branches in communities across Central and Southern Alberta. In addition to its 41 retail banking branches, it includes a Business Solutions Centre, a Commercial Banking group, Independent Business and Agriculture Group, a Dealer Services team and a locally based Contact Centre.

References

Credit unions of Canada
Financial services companies based in Alberta
Banks established in 1987
Companies based in Calgary
1987 establishments in Alberta

ConnectFirst Credit Union


Caprovesposus parvus is an extinct, prehistoric surgeonfish from what is now the Caucasus Mountains.  Its very small fossils (up to 3 centimeters in length) are thought to represent a pelagic larval or juvenile stage.   The adult form is, as yet, unknown.

See also

 Prehistoric fish
 List of prehistoric bony fish

References

External links
 Bony fish in the online Sepkoski Database

Prehistoric ray-finned fish genera
Acanthuridae
Oligocene fish
Extinct animals of Russia
Fossil taxa described in 1960

Caprovesposus


The artificial sweetener aspartame has been the subject of several controversies since its initial approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974. The FDA approval of aspartame was highly contested, beginning with suspicions of its involvement in brain cancer, alleging that the quality of the initial research supporting its safety was inadequate and flawed, and that conflicts of interest marred the 1981 approval of aspartame, previously evaluated by two FDA panels that concluded to keep the approval on hold before further investigation. In 1987, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the food additive approval process had been followed properly for aspartame. The irregularities fueled a conspiracy theory, which the "Nancy Markle" email hoax circulated, along with claims—counter to the weight of medical evidence—that numerous health conditions (such as multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, methanol toxicity, blindness, spasms, shooting pains, seizures, headaches, depression, anxiety, memory loss, birth defects, and death) are caused by the consumption of aspartame in normal doses.

Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide.  Potential health risks have been examined and dismissed by numerous scientific research projects. With the exception of the risk to those with phenylketonuria, aspartame is considered to be a safe food additive by governments worldwide and major health and food safety organizations. FDA officials describe aspartame as "one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives the agency has ever approved" and its safety as "clear cut." The weight of existing scientific evidence indicates that aspartame is safe as a non-nutritive sweetener.

Origins
The controversy over aspartame safety originated in perceived irregularities in the aspartame approval process during the 1970s and early 1980s, including allegations of a revolving door relationship between regulators and industry and claims that aspartame producer G.D. Searle had withheld and falsified safety data. In 1996, the controversy reached a wider audience with a 60 Minutes report that discussed criticisms of the FDA approval process and concerns that aspartame could cause brain tumors in humans. The 60 Minutes special stated that "aspartame's approval was one of the most contested in FDA history."

Around the same time, a Usenet post was widely circulated under the pen name "Nancy Markle", creating the basis for a misleading and unverifiable hoax chain letter that was spread through the Internet. Numerous websites have spread the email's claims, which were not supported by scientific evidence, about safety issues purportedly linked to aspartame, including Gulf War Syndrome and lupus.

U.S. FDA approval
Aspartame was originally approved for use in dry foods in 1974 by then FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt after review by the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Searle had submitted 168 studies on aspartame, including seven animal studies that were considered crucial by the FDA. Soon afterwards, John Olney, a professor of psychiatry and prominent critic of MSG, along with James Turner, a public-interest lawyer and author of an anti-food-additive book, filed a petition for a public hearing, citing safety concerns. Other criticisms presented in the 1996 60 Minutes special of the Searle studies included assertions of unreported medical treatments that may have affected the study outcomes and discrepancies in the reported data. Schmidt agreed, pending an investigation into alleged improprieties in safety studies for aspartame and several drugs.

In December 1975, the FDA placed a stay on the aspartame approval, preventing Searle from marketing aspartame. The Searle studies were criticized by the FDA commissioner as "... at best ... sloppy and suffering from ... a pattern of conduct which compromises the scientific integrity of the studies."

U.S. Attorney Samuel Skinner was requested to "open a grand jury investigation into whether two of Searle's aspartame studies had been falsified or were incomplete." Skinner withdrew from the case when he was considering a job offer from the law firm Sidley & Austin, Searle's Chicago-based law firm, a job he later took. The investigation was delayed and eventually the statute of limitations on the charges against Searle expired and a grand jury was never convened.

In 1977 and 1978, an FDA task force and a panel of academic pathologists reviewed 15 aspartame studies by Searle, and concluded that, although there were major lapses in quality control, the resulting inconsistencies would not have affected the studies' conclusions. In 1980, a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) heard testimony from Olney and disagreed with his claims that aspartame could cause brain damage, including in the developing fetus. The board decided that further study was needed on a postulated connection between aspartame and brain tumors, and revoked approval of aspartame.

In 1981, FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes sought advice on the issue from a panel of FDA scientists and a lawyer. The panel identified errors underlying the PBOI conclusion that aspartame might cause brain tumors, and presented arguments both for and against approval. Hayes approved the use of aspartame in dry foods. Hayes further justified his approval by citing the results of a Japanese brain tumor study, the results of which, the PBOI chairman later said, would have resulted in an "unqualified approval" from the PBOI panel. Several objections followed, but all were denied. In November 1983, about a year after approving aspartame, Hayes left the FDA and joined the public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller, Searle's public relations agency at the time, as a senior medical adviser.

The actions of Samuel Skinner, in taking a job with a law firm retained by Searle during an investigation into Searle, and Arthur Hull Hayes, in taking a job with Searle's public relations agency following aspartame's approval, fueled conspiracy theories.

Because of the approval controversy, Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum requested an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) of aspartame's approval. In 1987, the GAO reported that protocol had been followed and provided a time-line of events in the approval process. The GAO review included a survey of scientists who had conducted safety reviews; of the 67 scientists who responded to a questionnaire, 12 had major concerns about aspartame's safety, 26 were somewhat concerned but generally confident in aspartame safety, and 29 were very confident in aspartame safety.

Food additive safety evaluations by many countries have led to approval of aspartame, citing the general lack of adverse effects following consumption in reasonable quantities. Based on government research reviews and recommendations from advisory bodies such as those listed above, aspartame has been found to be safe for human consumption by more than ninety countries worldwide.

Alleged conflict of interest prior to 1996
In 1976, the FDA notified then-U.S. attorney for Chicago, Sam Skinner, of the ongoing investigation of Searle, and in January 1977, formally requested that a grand jury be convened. In February, 1977, Searle's law firm, Sidley & Austin offered Skinner a job and Skinner recused himself from the case. Mr. Skinner's successor was in place several months later, and the statute of limitations for the alleged offenses expired in October 1977. Despite complaints and urging from DOJ in Washington, neither the interim U.S. attorney for Chicago, William Conlon, nor Skinner's successor, Thomas Sullivan, convened a grand jury. In December 1977, Sullivan ordered the case dropped for lack of evidence. A year and a half later, Conlon also was hired by Sidley & Austin. Concern about conflict of interest in this case inflamed the controversy, and Senator Metzenbaum investigated in 1981 Senate Hearings. In 1989, the U.S. Senate approved the nomination of Sam Skinner to be Secretary of Transportation, noting that both Sullivan and Senator Metzenbaum had concluded that Skinner had not acted improperly.

Ralph G. Walton, a psychiatrist at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, stated in a self-published 1996 analysis of aspartame research that industry-funded studies found no safety concerns while 84 of 92 independent studies did identify safety concerns. This analysis by Walton was submitted to the television show 60 Minutes and has been extensively discussed on the Internet. An analysis of Walton's claims showed that Walton left out at least 50 peer-reviewed safety studies from his review of the literature and that most of the research he cites as non-industry funded were actually letters to the editors, case reports, review articles or book chapters rather than published studies. In a rebuttal to Walton's statements, the Aspartame Information Service (a service provided by Ajinomoto, a primary producer and supplier of aspartame), reviewed the publications Walton cites as critical of aspartame, arguing that most of them do not involve aspartame or do not draw negative conclusions, are not peer-reviewed, are anecdotal, or are duplicates.

Internet hoax conspiracy theory
An elaborate health scare, involving a hoax conspiracy theory disseminated on many websites in 1999, attributes a host of deleterious medical effects to aspartame. This theory claims that the FDA approval process of aspartame was tainted and cites as its source an email based upon a supposed talk by a "Nancy Markle" (thought to be Betty Martini, who first circulated the email) at a "World Environmental Conference." Specifically, the hoax websites allege that aspartame is responsible for multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, and methanol toxicity, causing "blindness, spasms, shooting pains, seizures, headaches, depression, anxiety, memory loss, birth defects" and death. A proliferation of websites, many with sensationalist URLs, are filled with anecdotal claims and medical misinformation. The Markle hoax and its extended argument on "aspartamekills.com" have not been supported by medical studies. The email has been described as an "Internet smear campaign ... Its contents were entirely false, misleading, and defamatory to various popular products and their manufacturers, with no basis whatever in fact."

The "Markle" email says that there is a conspiracy between the FDA and the producers of aspartame, and the conspiracy theory has become a canonical example discussed on several Internet conspiracy theory and urban legend websites. Although most of the allegations of this theory contradict the bulk of medical evidence, the misinformation has spread around the world as chain emails since mid-December 1998, influencing many websites as an urban legend that continues to scare consumers. The Media Awareness Network featured one version of it in a tutorial on how to determine the credibility of a web page. The tutorial implied that the "Markle" letter was not credible and stated that it should not be used as an authoritative source of information.

Dean Edell warned very strongly against the "Markle" letter:

 Beware The E-Mail Hoax: The Evils Of Nutrasweet (Aspartame)

 A highly inaccurate "chain letter" is being circulated via e-mail warning the reader of the health dangers of aspartame (Nutrasweet) diet drinks. There is so much scientific untruth in it, it's scary. Be careful, because others know how to manipulate you by this. Just because something is beyond your comprehension doesn't mean it is scientific. The e-mail is outrageous enough to state that the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation is suing the FDA for collusion with Monsanto ... Bogus, totally bogus. You've got to be careful of these Internet hoaxes. When you read health information online, be sure to know the source of the information you are reading, okay?

Government action and voluntary withdrawals
In 1997, due to public concerns, the U.K. government introduced a new regulation obliging food makers who use sweeteners to state clearly next to the name of their product the phrase "with sweeteners."

In 2007, the Indonesian government considered banning aspartame. In the Philippines, the small political party Alliance for Rural Concerns introduced House Bill 4747 in 2008 with the aim of having aspartame banned from the food supply.
In the U.S. state of New Mexico a bill to ban aspartame was introduced in 2007, and subsequently rejected. A similar 2008 Hawaii bill stalled in committee for lack of evidence. In March 2009, the California OEHHA identified aspartame as a chemical for consultation by its Carcinogen Identification Committee, in accordance with California state Proposition 65, and it was reviewed at the November 15, 2016 meeting.

In 2007, the U.K. supermarket chains Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, and Wal-Mart subsidiary Asda, announced that they would no longer use aspartame in their own label products. In April 2009, Ajinomoto Sweeteners Europe, one of the makers of aspartame in Europe, responded to Asda's "no nasties" campaign by filing a complaint of malicious falsehood against Asda in the English courts. In July 2009, Asda initially won the legal case after the trial judge construed the "no nasties" labelling to "not mean that aspartame was potentially harmful or unhealthy." The decision was reversed in June 2010, upon appeal, and was settled in 2011 with ASDA removing references to aspartame from its packaging.

In 2009, the South African retailer Woolworths announced it was removing aspartame-containing foods from its own-brand range.

In 2010, the British Food Standards Agency funded a clinical study of people who claimed to experience side-effects after consuming aspartame. The double blind controlled study has been concluded and found no evidence of safety issues or side effects even amongst those volunteers who had previously claimed sensitivity. The FSA's Committee on Toxicity evaluated the results at its meeting in October 2013, and determined that "the results presented did not indicate any need for action to protect the health of the public."

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) commenced a re-evaluation of aspartame as part of the systematic re-evaluation of all food additives authorized in the EU prior to 20 January 2009. In May 2011, EFSA was asked by the European Commission to bring forward the full re-evaluation of the safety of aspartame (E 951), which was previously planned for completion by 2020. In September 2011, the EFSA made all 600 datasets it is using in its full re-evaluation available publicly. This includes previously unpublished scientific data, "including the 112 original studies on aspartame which were submitted to support the request for authorization of aspartame in Europe in the early 1980s." On January 8, 2013, the EFSA released its draft report, which found that aspartame and its metabolites "pose no toxicity concern for consumers at current levels of exposure. The current Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) is considered to be safe for the general population and consumer exposure to aspartame is below this ADI."

Ramazzini cancer studies
The Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences (ERF) published studies claiming aspartame increases several malignancies in rodents, concluding it a potential carcinogen at normal dietary doses. An open letter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) to the FDA endorsed by thirteen occupational safety and health experts expressed the ERF studies merited reevaluation of aspartame's safety in humans.

After reviewing the foundation's claims, the EFSA and the FDA discounted the study results finding significant methodological issues as reason to retain their previously established acceptable daily intake levels for aspartame. Incomplete release of all data, including  pathology slides, by the ERF restricted FDA and EFSA review. Based upon the data provided, the ERF's published conclusions were not supportable. The regulatory agencies Health Canada and the British Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment likewise found the methodological problems in the research justified rejecting the claims and retaining established policy.

Contemporaneous with the FDA and ESFA reviews, the Ajinomoto Company, Inc.—a developer of aspartame—commissioned a review through the safety and regulatory consulting firm, Burdock Group. A blind safety review by a ten-member, international panel of experts (Magnuson) of the scientific literature concurred with the regulatory agency evaluations finding many flaws in the study's design, implementation, and conclusions.  These included unspecified composition of the "Corticella" diet and method of adding aspartame, leading to possible nutritional deficiencies; a contamination issue from unspecified aspartame storage conditions and handling; ignoring several industry standards—lack of animal randomization, use of the institute's randomly bred lines that remained pathogen carriers as opposed to readily available pathogen-free animals, use of full-life animals resulting in age variation at death and comparing those animals to younger controls, and both high-density housing and housing of different animal groups in different conditions; an unusually high incidence of confounding infections known to cause lymphoid neoplasmas and other lesions earlier and at greater rates in the test species; pooling of tumors (lymphomas and leukemias) from different tissue types despite standing research that induced tumors "can and should be differentiated from naturally occurring tumors"; insufficient/incomplete/conflicting methodology and data collection/reporting in multiple areas; and the U.S. National Toxicology Program's finding that the ERF had misdiagnosed hyperplasias as malignancies. Finding comprehensive contradiction in the research literature of any reasonable danger, in combination with the ERF's design and implementation issues, Magnuson concluded the research did not constitute credible evidence for the carcinogenicity of aspartame. Another review criticized the ERF for relying on "science by press conference" with its release of results through the media before being published in a proper peer-reviewed journal, thus helping fuel the controversy and publicity about the study in the media.

The EFSA evaluated other studies published by the ERF in 2010, finding continued multiple, significant design flaws prohibiting interpretation and being insufficient to influence reconsideration of the aspartame controversy.

2023 classification as possibly carcinogenic
In July 2023, scientists for the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that there was "limited evidence" for aspartame causing cancer in humans, classifying the sweetener as possibly carcinogenic.
The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
stated that the limited cancer assessment confirmed there was no reason to change the recommended acceptable daily intake level of 40 mg per kg of body weight per day, reaffirming the safety of consuming aspartame within this limit.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded to the report by stating that "Aspartame being labeled by IARC as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" does not mean that aspartame is actually linked to cancer. The FDA disagrees with IARC's conclusion that these studies support classifying aspartame as a possible carcinogen to humans. FDA scientists reviewed the scientific information included in IARC's review in 2021 when it was first made available and identified significant shortcomings in the studies on which IARC relied."

See also
 Canderel
 Equal (sweetener)
 NutraSweet

References

External links

 Centers for Disease Control: Evaluation of Consumer Complaints Related to Aspartame Use
 International Programme on Chemical Safety: Aspartame toxicology evaluation and further evaluation
 Sample anti-aspartame website: http://aspartamekills.com

Medical controversies
Fringe theories
Food safety

es:Aspartamo#Controversias

Aspartame controversy


The Priest-King, in Pakistan often King-Priest, is a small male figure sculpted in steatite found during the excavation of the ruined Bronze Age city of Mohenjo-daro in Sindh, Pakistan, in 1925–26. It is dated to around 2000–1900 BCE, in Mohenjo-daro's Late Period, and is "the most famous stone sculpture" of the Indus Valley civilization ("IVC").  It is now in the collection of the National Museum of Pakistan as NMP 50-852.  It is widely admired, as "the sculptor combined naturalistic detail with stylized forms to create a powerful image that appears much bigger than it actually is," and excepting possibly the Pashupati Seal, "nothing has come to symbolize the Indus Civilization better."

The sculpture shows a neatly bearded man with a fillet around his head, possibly all that is left of a once-elaborate hairstyle or headdress; his hair is combed back. He wears an armband, and a cloak with drilled trefoil, single circle and double circle motifs, which show traces of red. His eyes might have originally been inlaid.  The sculpture is incomplete, broken off at the bottom, and possibly unfinished.  Originally it was presumably larger and probably was a full-length seated or kneeling figure.  As it is now, it is  high.

Though the name Priest-King is now generally used, it is highly speculative, and "without foundation".  Ernest J. H. Mackay, the archaeologist leading the excavations at the site when the piece was found, thought it might represent a "priest".  Sir John Marshall, head of the pre-Partition Archaeological Survey of India ("ASI") at the time, regarded it as possibly a "king-priest", but it appears to have been his successor, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who was the first to use Priest-King.  An alternative designation for this and a few other IVC male figure sculptures is that they "are commemorative figures of clan leaders or ancestral figures".

A replica is normally displayed at the National Museum of Pakistan, while the original is kept secure. Mr Bukhari, the director of the museum explained in 2015 "It's a national symbol. We can't take risks with it".  The Urdu language title used by the museum (with the English "King-Priest") is not an exact translation, but  حاکم اعلی (hakim aala), a well-known expression in Urdu-Persian-Arabic meaning a sovereign or bishop (who is entitled to sit in a chair of state on ceremonial occasions).

Description

The statuette is carved in the soft mineral of steatite, and (despite being apparently unfinished) has been fired or baked at over 1000 °C to harden it.  The long crack running down the right hand side of the face, already present when it was excavated, may have been caused by this, or by a later shock.  There is an uneven break at the bottom of the piece, with the patterned robe continuing further down at the back than the front.  The nose is also damaged at the tip, but many other areas are in good condition.  It has been compared to other IVC male figures, more fully complete, which show a seated position, with in some cases one raised knee and the other leg tucked beneath the body.  The Priest-King may have originally had this shape.  Some archaeologists, including Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, believe that this and other statues were "broken and defaced" deliberately, as their subjects lost their prestige.

The eyes are wide but narrow, apparently half-closed; there were probably inlaid pieces of shell or stone representing the pupils.  The ears are very simply shaped, as on some other stone heads from the site. The back of the top of the head is flat, probably so that something now missing could be attached, and there are various theories as whether it was a carved "bun" or a more elaborate headdress, perhaps in other materials and only worn at times.  Two holes below the ears may have been for attaching this, or perhaps a necklace.  Mackay suggested the flattening was because the head was damaged, which few later writers agree with.  Another possibility is that it was designed to fit into a niche with a sloping top.

The figure wears a toga-like outer garment that only covers one shoulder, with a pattern of trefoils; Pakistani sources like to suggest this is in the local ajrak technique of block-printing.  The interiors of the raised trefoil and other shapes on this were originally filled with a red material, probably some type of paste.  The interiors of the shapes were left rough, to help this adhere.  The space around the shapes showed traces, at the time of the original excavation, of a material which by then was "blackish" but may originally have given a green or blue background to the relief shapes.

Marshall's first thoughts on the IVC had been that the links with Mesopotamia had been very close, and his preliminary reports, up to 1926, called it the "Indo-Sumerian Civilization".  He then realized this was wrong, and started to use "Indus Civilization".  There has been much discussion of the possible relationship between the Priest-King and somewhat similar Mesopotamian figures.  The art historian Benjamin Rowland concluded that "the plastic conception of the head in hard, mask-like planes and certain other technical details are fairly close, and yet not close enough to prove a real relationship".

According to Gregory Possehl, it is the treatment of the facial hair in particular that suggests the figure was not fully finished.  While the main beard is carefully worked with parallel lines, the upper lip is also raised above the level of the surrounding flesh, but no lines have been added to show moustache hair; it is simply smooth.  On the cheeks the lines for the beard continue more faintly onto the cheek, which in a finished piece would probably have been smoothed away.

Possible support for interpreting the figure as a religious person are the apparent representation of the eyes as fixed on the tip of his nose, a practice in yoga, and the similarity of the robe worn over one shoulder to later garments, including the Buddhist saṃghāti.  The focus on the tip of the nose was noticed by one of Marshall's Indian assistants, and Marshall saw the same feature in the Pashupati seal.

Excavation and recent history

The sculpture was found at a depth of 1.37 metres by the archaeologist Kashinath Narayan Dikshit (later head of the ASI) in the "D-K B" area of the city, and given the find number DK-1909.  The precise findspot was "a small enclosure with some curious parallel walls", possibly the hypocaust for a hammam or sauna.  The sculpture was found in a small passage between two of these walls, but this seems unlikely as its normal position, and it is thought that it fell or rolled into this space as the city fell into ruin.

The finds from Mohenjo-daro were first sent to the Lahore Museum, but later transferred to New Delhi, the new capital of British India, and the headquarters of the ASI, with a view to displaying them in the "Central Imperial Museum" that was planned.  Eventually, after the partition of India in 1947, this was established as the National Museum of India.  The new Pakistani authorities requested the return of the IVC artefacts, as almost all of those found by the time of independence had come from sites, like Mohenjo-daro, that were now in Pakistan.

The statue was only returned to Pakistan after the 1972 Simla Agreement between Pakistan and India, represented by their heads of government, respectively Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the President of Pakistan, and Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India.  According to a Pakistani archaeologist, Gandhi refused to return both the Priest-King and the other most iconic Indus sculpture, the Dancing Girl, a smaller bronze sculpture also found at Mohenjo-daro, and told Bhutto he could only choose one of them.

The statue was exhibited in London at the exhibition of "The Art of India" at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1931 (Cat. 114), as was the Dancing Girl (Cat. 136).  This first display of IVC finds outside India attracted considerable notice in the press.  Other exhibitions include "Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus" in 2003, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Cat. 272a).

Replicas of the statue are popular in Pakistan and beyond, and a replica that is much larger than the original has been erected at the entrance to the Mohenjo-daro site.

Context

Art

The statue is one of the "seven principal pieces of human sculpture from Mohenjo-daro".  The others include two small full-length nude bronze female figures, both called "dancer"s by some, but alternative activities have been suggested, such as carrying offerings.  There are also three male heads in limestone or alabaster, apparently broken-off, and the headless figure of a Seated Man. Various points of contrast and comparison between these pieces and the Priest-King have been proposed; there is a considerable variety in the depiction of details among them.  The headless seated man may show the pose of the missing lower part of  the Priest-King.  Very likely sculpture existed in wood, but none has survived.

There are also very numerous small and simple terracotta figures from all over the IVC, most female, generally similar to those produced over much of India later, indeed up to the present day.  Elaborate headdresses are a notable feature of these.

Steatite was widely used in the IVC; in one technique it was ground into to a paste, and then fired to make decorated beads, many of which were exported.  It was also the main material used for carving Indus seals, sometimes fired and sometimes not; many were carved then given a coating which was lightly fired.

Because of some similarities with art from there, some scholars have suggested that the Priest-King and the handful of similar pieces found in IVC contexts may draw on traditions from further north, especially the contemporary culture known as the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex ("BMAC").  Possibly the pieces were made for people from further north living in IVC cities.  Unlike the IVC, the BMAC left some rich graves suggesting a considerable degree of social differentiation, and the large settlements excavated so far each centre on a large fortified complex. These were previously described as "temples", but were perhaps more likely the residence of a local ruler.

IVC politics
The absence of evidence of a powerful ruling class, despite abundant evidence of highly complex social organization, was one of the most striking aspects of the IVC cities for early excavators, and clear evidence in the usual forms of grand tombs and palaces remains lacking.  Whether a ruling class was necessary in Bronze Age conditions to achieve large-scale urbanization remains an unsettled question, also related to the question of whether the IVC was a state, and if so, one state or several.  Given the lack of evidence for a military-based monarch or ruling class, the model of some sort of theocracy was widely adopted by the early archaeologists.

This had support from Mesopotamian archaeology, where indeed the earliest cities of Sumer are still thought to have had rulers combining political and religious roles.   The British archaeologist Stuart Piggott, who was in India in the 1940s, thought the IVC was "a state ruled by priest-kings, wielding autocratic and absolute power from two main seats of government".  Wheeler agreed, and asserted:
It can no longer be doubted that, whatever the source of their authority—and a dominant religious element can fairly be assumed—the lords of Harappa administered their city in a fashion not remote from that of the Priest-Kings or governors of Sumer and Akkad.

Wheeler saw the damage inflicted on the large male figures as deliberate, done during the violent overthrow of the IVC by Aryan invaders that he postulated, an explanation for the end of the IVC that is now generally discredited.  In the 21st-century, power in the IVC tends to be seen as more widely spread, perhaps between families or clans, and possibly involving councils, and the decline of the cities as more gradual.

Priest-King figures had also been postulated for the Minoan civilization, which was roughly contemporary with the IVC, rising and falling a few centuries later, but whose discovery and excavation had been a couple of decades earlier.  Like the IVC, this had no readable texts, so archaeologists had only the physical evidence to go on.  In contrast to the IVC, a number of large and lavishly decorated "palaces" were extremely evident, but there was an absence of indications as to who, if anyone, had lived in them.  The head of the excavations, Sir Arthur Evans, had favoured the idea of a Priest-King, and had so titled a fragmentary relief fresco found at Knossos in 1901.  This was even more speculative than Wheeler's doing so for the Mohenjo-daro figure; most scholars now doubt the fragments all come from a single figure at all, and Prince of the Lilies is now the usual title given to Evans's reconstruction.  Like Marshall (who had trained under Evans), he used his "priest-king" as the image on the cover of his main book on his excavations.

Notes

References
Aruz, Joan (ed), Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, 2003, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), google books, (relevant IVC catalogue entries by Kenoyer, J.M.)
Beard, Mary, "Builder of Ruins", in Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures, and Innovations, 2013, Liveright, , 0871407167, google books
Craven, Roy C., Indian Art: A Concise History, 1987, Thames & Hudson (Praeger in USA),
During Caspers, E. C. L., "The 'Priest King' from Moenjo-daro: An Iconographic Assessment", 1985, Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale, vol. 45, issue=1, pp. 19–24, PDF
Green, A.S. "Killing the Priest-King: Addressing Egalitarianism in the Indus Civilization", Journal of Archaeological Research, volume 29, 153–202, 2021, online
"Harappa": ""Priest King," Mohenjo-daro" (by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer), Harappa.com. retrieved 6 June 2021
Humes, Cynthia Ann, "Hindutva, Mythistory, and Pseudoarchaeology", Numen, 59(2/3), 178–201, JSTOR
Kenoyer, J.M., Heuston, Kimberley Burton, The Ancient South Asian World, 2005, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195222432, 0195222431, google books
Kumar, Brinda, ""Exciting a Wider Interest in the Art of India": The 1931 Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition",  British Art Studies, Issue 13
Possehl, Gregory A., The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective, 2002, AltaMira Press, ISBN 9780759101722, 0759101728, google books
Rowland, Benjamin, The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, 1967 (3rd edn.), Pelican History of Art, Penguin,
Shamsie, Kamila, "The birth of a nation", The Economist 1843 online magazine, 19 January 2015 (log-in required)
 Singh, Kavita, "The Museum Is National", Chapter 4 in: Mathur, Saloni and Singh, Kavita (eds), No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: The Museum in South Asia, 2015, Routledge, PDF on academia.edu
Singh, Upinder, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, 2008, Pearson Longman, ISBN 9788131716779, google books
Tunio, Hafeez, "With King Priest 'in hiding', Dancing Girl yet to take the road back home", 16 July 2012, The Express Tribune
Vidale, Massimo, Treasures from the Oxus: The Art and Civilization of Central Asia, 2017, I.B. Tauris, ISBN 9781838609764, google books

Further reading

Ardeleanu-Jansen, A., "The Sculptural Art of the Harappa Culture", pp. 167–178 in Michael Jansen; Máire Mulloy; Günter Urban (eds.), Forgotten Cities on the Indus: Early Civilization in Pakistan from the 8th to the 2nd Millennium BC, 1991, Oxford University Press/Verlag Philipp von Zabern, ISBN 978-3-8053-1171-7.
 Vidale, Massimo, "A "Priest King" at Shahr-i Sokhta?", December 2017, Archaeological Research in Asia 15, DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2017.12.001

Indus Valley civilisation
Pakistani sculpture
Bronze Age art
20th-century BC works
Collection of the National Museum of Pakistan

Priest-King (sculpture)


Doctor is an academic degree, awarded by a university or similar institution. "Doctor" may be used to refer to a person with a doctorate.

To get the degree, people need to pass a doctorate exam, or write a thesis or dissertation. The requirements vary according to the subject-matter.

There are three levels of university qualification:
 A bachelor's degree, which usually takes two or three years of study.
 A master's degree.
 The doctorate.

Depending on the country, there are cases where people get what is called a professional doctorate. This is mostly the case in law, and in medicine. A professional doctorate is comparable to a master's degree.

People who have a doctor's degree may use the title "doctor", though in practice it is often used only by medical doctors. Medical doctors examine, diagnose and treat patients. They can specialize in a number of medical areas, such as pediatrics, anesthesiology or cardiology, or they can work as general practice physicians. Becoming a medical doctor requires a doctoral degree in medicine and participating in clinical training. Medical doctors need a licence, and certification may also be required for many specialists.

 Medical doctor or Doctor of Medicine, a person who practices medicine. Degrees vary: M.D. is common in the United States; MRCP is common in the UK, and they are addressed as "doctor" whatever the degree.
 Surgeon, a doctor who performs surgery, is in the UK not called "doctor", because the legal qualification is MRCS: Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, because the profession had a different origin.
Physiotherapist, a physiotherapist having Doctor of Physiotherapy is also called Doctor in USA and in countries like India "traditional and conventional use of Doctor" can be used by using "PT" as suffix for B.P.T.(Bachelor of Physiotherapy) degree holders.
 Juris Doctor or Doctor of Law
 Doctor of Philosophy a general degree for any subject which offers a doctorate for research and presentation of a thesis.

 Universities may award doctorates to people who have done a lot in their fields of study: these are called honorary doctorates. There is no set rule for this. These may be abbreviated "Doctor h.c." (for "honoris causa").

Titles

Doctor (title)


The Standing Patrol for Emergency Assessment & Response (SPEAR) for emergency management, is an advisory unit activated for the purpose of rapidly providing relief authorities an estimate of the situation in disaster-affected areas. The Project was launched as a concept proposal by the Conceptium Group in 2004, an initiative taken by its founder, Stefan Templeton.

Teams that are trained and equipped for deep-field relief operations in conflict and/or disaster-affected areas are inserted to conduct rapid assessment and administer emergency aid. SPEAR teams support command and control with an information clearing house in three areas: hazard assessment, situational mapping, and communications from the field. SPEAR officers are assessment professionals who are trained in the sectoral needs of disaster-affected populations and maintain a state of readiness for immediate deployment to disaster-affected areas world-wide.

The goal of the SPEAR Project is the reduction of deaths and human suffering and the object is the improvement of the coordination of humanitarian actions and to allocate resources and labor in the most efficient way to relieve disaster situations as quickly as possible.

See also
 Disaster Assistance Response Team
 Stefan Templeton
 ELISA (Équipe Légere d'Intervention de Secours Aéroportée)

References

External links
ELISA - Equipe Légere d'Intervention de Secours Aéroportée
Sudan Arc Seminar - SPEAR field report on Abyei Survey
SPEAR Project - Standing Patrol for Emergency Assessment and Response
Man with a Mission - Washington Post article
Abandoning Abyei - Human Rights Watch

Emergency management
Disaster management tools
Disaster preparedness
Humanitarian aid
Emergency organizations

SPEAR Project


The United States embargo against Cuba is a trade embargo.

Targets
The embargo applies to American businesses, and also it applies to businesses owed by other countries who have business in the USA. The effect is that the embargo stops trading with Cuban interests.

History
It is the longest enduring trade embargo in modern history. The United States first imposed an embargo on the sale of arms to Cuba on March 14, 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. Again on October 19, 1960 (almost two years after the Cuban Revolution had led to the deposition of the Batista regime) the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine. This was because Cuba nationalized American-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962 the embargo was extended to include almost all exports. Since the year 2000, the embargo no longer prohibits the trade of food and humanitarian supplies.

Purpose
The stated purpose of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 is to keep sanctions on Cuba as long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward "democratization and greater respect for human rights".

References

Cuba
United States federal legislation
foreign relations of the United States

United States embargo against Cuba


Pentacon is the company name of a camera manufacturer in Dresden, Germany.

The name Pentacon is derived from the brand Contax of Zeiss Ikon Kamerawerke in Dresden and Pentagon, as a Pentaprism for Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras was for the first time developed in Dresden. The cross section of this prism has a pentagonal shape.
Pentacon is best known for producing the SLR cameras of the Praktica-series as well as the medium format camera Pentacon Six, the Pentacon Super and various cameras of the Exa series.

Pentacon also produced slide projectors.

History
In 1959 several Dresden camera manufacturers, among them VEB Kamerawerke Freital, were joined to create Volkseigener Betrieb Kamera- und Kinowerke Dresden, which was renamed in 1964 to VEB Pentacon Dresden. In 1968, VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz was integrated into VEB Pentacon. Accordingly, the former Meyer-Optik Görlitz lenses were now renamed to "Pentacon" .

After German reunification in 1990 Pentacon, as with most East German companies, came to be possessed by the Treuhandanstalt (the federal board concerned with the privatisation of East German companies) and was selected for closure instead of sale. It was deemed that company was grossly inefficient, employing six thousand staff when it could have sufficed with one thousand, and selling its cameras at a loss. Liquidation began on October 2, 1990 (one day before official reunification), and production ceased on June 30, 1991. By then it had shed nearly three thousand employees to retain a total of 3331 - the next day all but 232 were laid off.

Investor Heinrich Manderman, who had previously been involved in resurrecting lensmaker Schneider Kreuznach, purchased the rights to the Pentacon brands and several portions of its assets, including the former military production building in Dresden. The company was re-established as Pentacon GmbH, a member of the Jos. Schneider group.

Production of cameras and lenses continues, but is now outsourced to South Korea.

Other parts of the former Pentacon company was sold to Noble and today belong to Kamera Werk Dresden, which, among other products, manufacture panoramic cameras under the Noblex brand, and cameras for industrial use under the Loglux brand.

Pentacon also produces scanner cameras. The latest model, the Scan 7000, was introduced at the photokina 2010 in Cologne, Germany. The Scan 7000 is operated with SilverFast and has a resolution of 20.000 × 20.000 pixels.

External links

 Pentacon GmbH
 Jos. Schneider Optische Werke
 Bildtonmaschine "Dresden" des VEB aus dem Staatsratsgebäude

Photography companies of Germany
Lens manufacturers
Photography in East Germany
Manufacturing companies based in Dresden
Manufacturing companies established in 1959
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1991
1959 establishments in East Germany
1991 disestablishments in Germany
Re-established companies
Manufacturing companies established in 1997
1997 establishments in Germany
German brands
Companies of East Germany

Pentacon