So Big is a 1924 novel written by Edna Ferber. The book was inspired by the life of Antje Paarlberg in the Dutch community of South Holland, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. It was a best-seller in the United States and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1925.

Plot summary
The story follows the life of a young woman, Selina Peake De Jong, who decides to be a school teacher in farming country. During her stay on the Pool family farm, she encourages the young Roelf Pool to follow his interests, which include art. Upon his mother's death, Roelf runs away to France. Meanwhile, Selina marries a Dutch farmer named Pervus. They have a child together, Dirk, whom she nicknames "So Big," from the common question and answer "How big is baby? " "So-o-o-o big!" (Ferber, 2). Pervus becomes ill and dies, and Selina is forced to take over working on the farm to give Dirk a future. As Dirk gets older, he works as an architect but is more interested in making money than creating buildings and becomes a stock broker, much to his mother's disappointment. His love interest, Dallas O'Mara, an acclaimed artist, echoes this sentiment by trying to convince Dirk that there is more to life than money. Much later in life, Selina is visited by Roelf Pool, who has since become a famous sculptor. Dirk grows very distressed when, after visiting his mother's farm, he realizes that Dallas and Roelf love each other and he cannot compete with the artistically minded sculptor. In the end, Dirk comes to appreciate the wisdom of his mother, who always valued aesthetics and beauty even as she scraped out a living in a stern Dutch community. Ultimately, Dirk is left alone in his sumptuous apartment, saddened by his abandonment of artistic values.

Publication

Edna Ferber was not confident about So Big. On page 32 of J. E. Smyth's biography of Ferber called Edna Ferber's Hollywood: American Fictions of Gender, Race, and History, Ferber states, "I wrote it against my judgment; I wanted to write it...Nothing ever really happened in the book. It had no plot at all, as book plots go. It had a theme, but you had to read that for yourself between the lines." She argued if anything, "it was a story of the triumph of failure."

She sent the book off to her publisher Doubleday apologizing, saying to Russell Doubleday, "I think its publication as a book would hurt you, as publishers, and me as an author." Additionally, she later wrote, "Who would be interested in a novel about a middle-aged woman in a calico dress with wispy hair and bad teeth, grubbing on a little truck farm south of Chicago?"

To Ferber's surprise, Doubleday loved the novel. It was a commercial success, sold hundreds of thousands of copies in its first year of publication, and became the best-selling work of fiction in America for the year 1924, according to Publishers Weekly.

Film, television or theatrical adaptations
A number of film adaptations of the novel have been made. The first adaptation, directed by Charles Brabin, was released the same year the novel was published, with Colleen Moore in her first significant dramatic role. The 1932 adaptation, directed by William A. Wellman, featured an ensemble cast led by Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent and Bette Davis. The most recent adaptation, directed by Robert Wise in 1953, starred Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden. This one softened the ending considerably by including a reconciliation between Dirk and his mother.

A satirical version of the novel appears in Bob Clampett's 1946 cartoon Book Revue. A fugitive wolf is running away from the authorities and runs past the book, which features Jimmy Durante on the cover. Durante sticks his famously large nose out and trips the wolf.

Radio adaptation
So Big was presented on Stories America Loves in 1942. Joan Blaine had the role of Selena Peake in the adaptation.

References

External links

1924 American novels
American novels adapted into films
Doubleday, Page & Company books
Novels set in Chicago
Novels set in the 1890s
Novels set in the 1900s
Novels set in the 1910s
Novels set in the 1920s
Novels about poverty
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel-winning works
Novels by Edna Ferber

So Big (novel)


Fill the Cup is a campaign of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian aid agency. In 2009, WFP plans to feed over 100 million people in 77 of the world's poorest countries. "Fill the Cup" aims to use the symbol of the Red Cup to raise awareness of global hunger, specifically involving hungry school children. About 59 million primary school age children attend school hungry across the developing world, with 23 million of them in 45 African countries.

Background

The symbol of the Red Cup originates from the many plastic, red cups, usually filled with porridge and other meals, used to feed school children in WFP School feeding programmes. When WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran began working at the World Food Programme, she was given one of these red cups with the name 'Lily' scratched onto the bottom (having been discarded by Lily upon receiving her new cup). Seeing that the cup was a powerful visual tool to help show the world how little food it takes to make a huge difference to a child's life, Sheeran never travels without it.

The Red Cup is a symbol that simultaneously defines the challenges facing WFP and the struggle for survival that is a daily concern for those living on the edge of poverty. An empty cup symbolizes hunger, malnutrition, and often disease, hungry families, children out of school, and weakened communities. A full cup represents health, education, hope, productive families, and strong communities.

Funding

The World Food Programme is entirely dependent on voluntary donations. Each year, WFP depends entirely on the generosity of governments, private companies and members of the public to fund its operations. In 2007, 80 percent of the money WFP spent on purchasing food was used to buy food in 69 developing countries. These purchases, in places like Ethiopia, Uganda and Pakistan, are a key investment in fragile agricultural economies. Unlike cash that is given to beneficiaries, the local purchasing policy is a cash transfer that carries an investment dimension in that farmers are being paid for the production of food.

AC Milan's Kaká and "Fill the Cup"

The "World Footballer of the Year", Kaka, was one of the first global celebrities to endorse the "Fill the Cup" campaign.  Kaka, is a world cup winning player with the Brazil national team and he combines his professional career as a player for AC Milan with a role as a WFP Hunger Ambassador.  In February 2008, he supported a launch event for "Fill the Cup" in the northern Italian city of Milan, participating in a news conference alongside WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, and President John Kufuor of Ghana.

As WFP's youngest "Ambassador Against Hunger", Kaka has used his international profile to focus the attention of world football's enormous fan base on the challenge WFP faces in addressing global hunger.  "I owe a lot to soccer," Kaka says, "Now I'd like to give something back and bring hope to hungry kids less fortunate than myself."

Drew Barrymore and the Campaign

In March 2008, WFP Ambassador against Hunger, American actress Drew Barrymore, donated US$1 million to the World Food Programme on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Part of her donation will go toward feeding thousands of children in Kenya. "I have seen with my own eyes what a difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a child's life," said Drew Barrymore. "It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets them on track for a bright future. I urge everyone -- everywhere -- to help WFP 'Fill the Cup' for hungry children, and make hunger history," she said.

On the television program, Executive Director Josette Sheeran explained that for 25 US cents a day, WFP can provide a school meal which feeds bodies, minds and transforms children's lives.
"Just US$50 fills a child's cup for a year, and we call on everyone to click on wfp.org and make a donation," said Sheeran.  Barrymore has travelled to Kenya twice in two years to see first-hand the impact hunger has on poor children. She is an ardent advocate for WFP school meals which boost children's chances for health, education and a more promising future.

School feeding programmes

School feeding programmes serve as a magnet to bring children to school, and to improve their ability to learn and concentrate. They are also among the most effective tools at increasing access to education and improving nutritional status of children. For a minimal investment, lives can be transformed in fundamental ways. Many developed nations, including Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Italy and France, have long histories of supporting national school feeding programmes – a testament to the vitality and effectiveness of these programmes.

WFP now provides meals to an average 20 million children in school - almost half of whom are girls. Within the past four decades, 28 countries have graduated from WFP school feeding programmes, and most are now providing school feeding on their own. WFP school meals are a major incentive for poor families to send their children to school. As a result, school enrolment and attendance rates are much higher in schools where meals are provided. Many children who lack food are unable to learn, meaning they lose an opportunity for personal development that ends up costing their family, community and economy.

References

External links
 School Feeding: Feed Minds & Change Lives
 World Food Program USA

Sources
 WFP Report: Food for Education Works; 2007.
 Schultz, T.P. 2001: Why governments should invest more to educate girls. Discussion paper 836. Yale University
 Economic Growth Center, New Haven, Conn; Schultz T.W. 1963: The Economic Value of Education. New York: Columbia University Press; reported in: UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education 2005.
 Psacharopoulos, G. and Patrinos, HA 2004: Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update. Education Economics, 2004, vol. 12, issue 2, pages 111-134.
 Essential Package of Health and Nutrition School-based Interventions; WFP School Feeding.

World Food Programme

Fill the Cup


Robert Roger McCrae (born April 28, 1949) is a personality psychologist. He earned his Ph.D. in 1976, and worked at the National Institute of Aging. He is associated with the Five Factor Theory of personality. He has spent his career studying the stability of personality across age and culture. Along with Paul Costa, he is a co-author of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory.  He has served on the editorial boards of many scholarly journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of Research in Personality, the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and the Journal of Individual Differences.

McCrae was born in Maryville, Missouri, on April 28, 1949. He is the youngest of three children of Andrew McCrae and Eloise Elaine McCrae.

The Five Factor Theory takes a biological view of personality. It states "Personality traits are construed as basic tendencies that are rooted in biology and that interact with external influences, including culture, in shaping the skills, habits, tastes, and values of the individual". McCrae believes that personality is a biological trait, first and foremost.

Through his research he found that around the age of 30, neuroticism and extraversion begin to decline, while agreeableness and conscientiousness increase with age. Openness to experience, however, seems to follow a curved shape, peaking around the age of 19. These results, however, apply to people as a whole, this does not apply specifically to each individual. The group as a whole tends to change in these ways throughout the lifetime.

As he studied personality trends and stability in cultures, McCrae found that countries high in neuroticism and low in agreeableness form dimensions of uncertainty avoidance. Countries that are low in extraversion and high in conscientiousness tend to be high in power distance. Cultures high in extraversion predict a high rate of individualism. And, high levels of neuroticism and openness to experience indicate dimensions of masculinity within the culture.

References

Living people
1949 births
National Institutes of Health faculty
21st-century American psychologists
Personality psychologists
People from Maryville, Missouri
20th-century American psychologists

Robert R. McCrae


The Kiss on the Cruise (Swedish: Kyssen på kryssen) is a 1950 Swedish comedy film directed by Arne Mattsson and starring Annalisa Ericson, Gunnar Björnstrand and  Karl-Arne Holmsten. The film's sets were designed by the art director Nils Svenwall. It was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm with location shooting in London, Lisbon, Madeira and Morocco.

Synopsis
Lasse Brenner, a celebrated film director known for his realist dramas is offered a contract to take over a film backed by a wealthy manufacturer. Set on a cruise ship, he sees this as a chance of a holiday in which he can bring his wife Sonja, a famous star along. The only stipulation is that the manufacturer's daughter Lisa Yhlén, an aspiring actress, must appear in the film. Sonja takes a dislike to Lisa, who is almost identical to her. The protagonists all head to London where they join the ship heading out to the Mediterranean. A series of mistaken identities ensues.

Cast
 Annalisa Ericson as Sonja Brenner / Lisa Yhlén
 Gunnar Björnstrand as Film Director Lasse Brenner
 Karl-Arne Holmsten as 	James Deckert
 Åke Grönberg as Knutte Glans
 Jan Molander as 	Josef
 Olof Winnerstrand as 	Deckert
 Bengt Eklund as 	Actor
 Julia Cæsar as 	Cleaning Lady
 Håkan Westergren as 	Felix
 Marianne Löfgren as 	Actress
 Lasse Krantz as Yhlén
 Wiktor Andersson as 	Pettersson
 Ingegerd Ehn as	Judit Karlsson
 Anita Rosén as	Vera
 Harriet Andersson as 	Girl in Brenner's Movie
 Stig Johanson as Painter at the Studio
 David Erikson as 	Laboratory Manager
 Ludde Juberg as Passenger on 'Saga'
 Olav Riégo as Ship's Doctor
 Sven Lindberg as 	Academic in Uppsala
 Åke Lindström as Man
 Fylgia Zadig as 	Miss Larsson
 Birger Åsander as 	Pirate
 Georg Skarstedt as 	Pirate
 John Melin as 	Pirate
 Alf Östlund as 	Autograph Hunter
 Alexander von Baumgarten as Proprietor of Bella Vista
 Magnus Kesster as 	Man in the White Suit

References

Bibliography
 Gustafsson, Fredrik. The Man from the Third Row: Hasse Ekman, Swedish Cinema and the Long Shadow of Ingmar Bergman. Berghahn Books, 2016.
 Qvist, Per Olov & von Bagh, Peter. Guide to the Cinema of Sweden and Finland. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000.

External links

1950 films
Swedish comedy films
1950 comedy films
1950s Swedish-language films
Films directed by Arne Mattsson
Swedish black-and-white films
Films about filmmaking
Seafaring films
Films set in Stockholm
Films shot in Stockholm
Films set in London
Films shot in London
Films set in Lisbon
Films shot in Lisbon
Films set in Tangier
Films set in Casablanca
Films shot in Morocco
1950s Swedish films

The Kiss on the Cruise


Aristotle's Theory of Universals is Aristotle's classical solution to the Problem of Universals, sometimes known as the hylomorphic theory of immanent realism.   Universals are the characteristics or qualities that ordinary objects or things have in common. They can be identified in the types, properties, or relations observed in the world. For example, imagine there is a bowl of red apples resting on a table. Each apple in that bowl will have many similar qualities, such as their red coloring or "redness". They will share some degree of the quality of "ripeness" depending on their age. They may also be at varying degrees of age, which will affect their color, but they will all share a universal "appleness". These qualities are the universals that the apples hold in common.

The Problem of Universals asks three questions. Do universals exist? If they exist, where do they exist? Also, if they exist, how do we obtain knowledge of them? In Aristotle's view, universals are incorporeal and universal, but only exist only where they are instantiated; they exist only in things. Aristotle said that a universal is identical in each of its instances. All red things are similar in that there is the same universal, redness, in each thing. There is no Platonic Form of redness, standing apart from all red things; instead, each red thing has a copy of the same property, redness. For the Aristotelian, knowledge of the universals is not obtained from a supernatural source. It is obtained from experience by means of active intellect.

Overview

In Aristotle's view, universals can be instantiated multiple times. He states that one and the same universal, such as applehood, appears in every real apple. A common sense challenge would be to inquire what remains exactly the same in all these different things, since the theory is claiming that something remains the same. Stating that different beautiful things, such as the Pacific Ocean, The Eiffel Tower, or the nighttime sky is beautiful is just to say that each thing is the same (qualitatively) in terms of beauty. Aristotle is talking about a category of being here that is not a thing but a quality. A common defense of Aristotle's realism is therefore that we should not expect universals to behave like ordinary physical objects. To say the same universal, beautiful, occurs simultaneously in all these things is no more strange than saying that each thing is beautiful.

A second issue is whether Aristotelian universals are abstract: if they are, then the theory must deal with how to abstract the concept of redness from one or more red things. Aristotle argued that people form concepts and make generalizations in the manner of a young child, who is just on the verge of grasping a generic concept such as human being.  In his view, the child is gathering his or her memories of various encounters with individual humans, searching for the essential similarity that stands out, on reflection, in every instance. Today, it might be said that one mentally extracts from each thing the quality that they all have in common.  When the child grasps the concept of a human being, he or she has learnt to ignore the accidental details of each person's past experiences and individual differences, and has paid attention to the relevant quality that they all have in common, namely, humanity. In Aristotle's view, the universal humanity is a natural kind defined by the essential properties that all humans have in common.

See also
 Hylomorphism
 Aristotelian realist philosophy of mathematics
Metaphysics (Aristotle)

References

External links
 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Aristotle's Metaphysics. 10. Substances and Universals
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: The Medieval Problem of Universals. 4. Boethius' Aristotelian Solution
 Meaning and the Problem of Universals, A Kant-Friesian Approach
 M. J. Cresswell: What is Aristotle's theory of universals? (subscription required)

Epistemology
Ontology
Philosophy of Aristotle

Aristotle's theory of universals


Advancing Physics is an A-level physics course examined by OCR which was developed in association with the Institute of Physics (IOP) with assessment through written examinations and teacher-assessed coursework. It may also be referred to Physics 'B' to distinguish it from OCR's other A-Level Physics course.

Assessment

Legacy AS/A2
The legacy course consists of six modules. The first three make up the AS Level, and the last three represent the A2 section of the course. All six are required in order to obtain the full A-level qualification. The modules are, in the order they are studied:

Physics In Action (AS, assessed via. 1h examination)
Understanding Processes (AS, assessed via. 2h examination)
Physics In Practice (AS, teacher-assessed coursework module)
Rise and Fall of the Clockwork Universe (A2, assessed via a 1h 15m examination)
Field and Particle Physics (A2, assessed via. 2h examination)
Advances In Physics (A2, teacher-assessed coursework module)

Current AS Level
The current AS Level course is linear and consists of two examination papers. All content is assessed across both papers, as opposed to being split into individual modules. The assessments are as follows:

Foundations of Physics (assessed via a 1h 30m examination)
Physics in Depth (assessed via a 1h 30m examination)

Current A Level
The current A Level course is linear and consists of three examination papers, in addition to a practical endorsement. All content is assessed across the three papers and practical endorsement, as opposed to being split into individual modules. The assessments are as follows:

Fundamentals of Physics (assessed via a 2h 15m examination)
Scientific Literacy in Physics (assessed via a 2h 15m examination)
Practical Skills in Physics (assessed via a 1h 30m examination)
Practical Endorsement in Physics (teacher assessed)

Course support materials

The IOP have produced and published two books and two CD-ROMs to support the course. There is one book and CD-ROM for both the AS section of the course and A2 section. The two books supposedly contain all theory and methods that will be required in the exam whilst the CD-ROM offers a more in depth look at every topic as well other resources such as diagrams for show on an interactive whiteboard. The main method of browsing the text and other data on the CD is via the Folio Views software. Also included on the CD are a number of software packages such as Modellus, a package to demonstrate the effects of mathematical models and Worldmaker, a package that can help students model situations and run simulations based on events occurring. The IOP have also created examples using these programmes linked to the course and these are included on the CD and also accessible through the main browser. In addition support materials are provided via. the IoP Advancing Physics website.

External links

The Institute of Physics
IOP Advancing Physics website
OCR website
GHS Advancing Physics

Educational qualifications in the United Kingdom
School qualifications
Science and technology in the United Kingdom

Advancing Physics


Year 302 BC was an extended period of the pre-Julian Roman schedule. At that point, it was known as the Extended period of the Consulship of Denter and Paullus (or, less regularly, year 452 Stomach muscle urbe condita). The category 302 BC during the current year has been utilized since the early middle age time frame, when the In the year of the Lord schedule period turned into the common strategy in Europe for naming years.

Events
 Following their agreement to work together to defeat Antigonus, Seleucus invades Asia Minor from Babylonia, while Ptolemy attacks Syria and Lysimachus moves into the western part of Asia Minor.
 Docimus, the regent of Phrygia, and Phoenix, the strategos of Lycia, desert Antigonus.
 The Macedonian general, Philetaerus, moves his allegiance from Antigonus to Antigonus' rival, Lysimachus. In return, Lysimachus makes Philetaerus guardian of the fortress of Pergamum with its treasure of some 9,000 talents.

302 BC


The Hand of Destiny is a short story C.S. Forester wrote about his most popular character, Horatio Hornblower, written in 1940, and published in Collier's magazine.  Sanford Sternlicht, author of C. S. Forester and the Hornblower Saga, notes the story has multiple inconsistencies with later stories.  He also notes elements of the story that Forester re-used in later stories.

In the story Hornblower is 20 years old, and has just been promoted to Lieutenant.
Sternlicht places the story in late 1796.  Forester has Hornblower recently transferred from serving under Edward Pellew, the genuine naval hero who is Hornblower's first mentor.  But Sternlicht notes that in Mr Midshipman Hornblower Hornblower serves under Pellew until 1797.

Plot summary

"The Hand of Destiny" has Hornblower serving on board the fictional HMS Marguerite, under the despotic Captain Courtney. Hornblower is shocked by Courtney's cruelty.  Courtney has goaded some of his men to revolt and Hornblower is sent to negotiate.  Courtney is careless in the instructions he gives Hornblower, and is very angry with him when Hornblower promises them Courtney will not retaliate against them.

Courtney plans to brutally punish the men without regard to Hornblower's assurances to them.  A battle forces a delay in Courtney's plans.  Hornblower leads the rebellious sailors in boarding the hostile Spanish warship, the Castilla.

Courtney is pleased with Hornblower, and assigns him the task of sailing the captured vessel to port.  Hornblower seizes the opportunity that, instead of punishing the alleged mutineers he assign them to serve as his prize crew.

Place in the Hornblower stories

Sternlicht notes that Forester re-used the premise of Hornblower angering a senior officer whose instructions gave him the leeway to be lenient with mutineers.

Forester wrote the Hornblower stories out of order.  Beat to Quarters, set in 1808 and the first Hornblower novel written, takes place relatively late in his career.  In Chapter IX Hornblower dons his dress uniform, when preparing to meet an important person.  His preparation includes strapping on his dress sword, "(a sword of the value of fifty guineas, the gift of the Patriotic Fund for Lieutenant Hornblower's part in the capture of the Castilla six years ago)".  In Chapter XIII Hornblower is embarrassed when Lady Barbara admires his hands, which he thinks are ugly.  In particular he is embarrassed by an "ingrained powder stain" on his left hand, dating to his leading the boarding party that captured the Castilla.

Forester's second and third novels, A Ship of the Line, and Flying Colours also refer to the sword he was awarded for his role in the capture of the Castilla.  In the fifth novel, Lord Hornblower, an older Hornblower reminds himself that he remains the brave officer who lead the boarding of the Castilla.

Sternlicht notes that the eighth novel Forester wrote, HMS Atropos, set in 1805–06, contains a completely different account of the capture of the Castilla.   In that novel Hornblower is a junior post-captain, and the capture occurs off the coast of Cartagena, Spain.

References

1940 short stories
Fiction set in 1796
Fiction set in 1797
Short stories by C. S. Forester
Horatio Hornblower

The Hand of Destiny


American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) are salt water fish that live in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Like most flatfish, they live on the bottom of the continental shelf, up to 700 metres deep, but spend most of the time at 90 to 200 meters. Their geographical range is from the coast of Labrador, south to the coast of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The most are found off the eastern tip of Newfoundland. American plaice feed on sand dollars, brittle stars, crustaceans, polychaetes, and fish such as capelin and launce.

Like many flatfish, American plaice are sometimes said to be a flounder or dab, even though both are names for other fish species.

The U.K.-based Marine Conservation Society rates American plaice as 5, the most threatened category of over-harvested animals.

Related pages
Alaska plaice
European Plaice

References
American plaice information (Northeast Fisheries Science Center (U.S.))
American plaice information (National Marine Fisheries Service (Canada))
FishBase article
Ecological status of American plaice (Marine Conservation Society)

Flatfish

American plaice


Patrick Joseph Reid (17 March 1923 – 8 January 2016) was an Irish dual-code rugby centre. Reid played club rugby under the rugby union code for Garryowen, and played international rugby for Ireland, and was part of the Grand Slam winning team of 1948. The following season, he switched codes, joining professional rugby league club Huddersfield, before ending his league career with Halifax (Heritage № 601).

Rugby union
Reid came to note as a rugby player when he represented Garryowen in the 1940s; playing his first game against University College, Galway. In 1947 he won his first international cap, when he was selected to face Australia on their 1947–48 tour. The Irish team started the match with eight new caps, and Reid was partnered with Kevin Joseph Quinn at centre, the only player with any past international experience in the three-quarter positions. Australia were far too strong for Ireland, beating them 16–3.

Despite the loss, the Irish selectors kept faith with Reid and he returned into the Ireland team for the opening game of the 1948 Five Nations Championship. After the defeat by Australia there was little to suggest the Irish would have a successful season, though the campaign started well with a victory over France in Paris. It was a good game for Reid, as he also scored his first and only international points, running the ball under the posts after a tactical line-out. The following game saw Karl Mullen appointed Ireland team captain, and the tactical changes he brought to the team turned the squad into a far superior unit. Although Ireland did not possess the talent of other teams, as a unit they began to play a more defensive and tight game, taking their chances wisely. The new tactical play gave Ireland victory over England in a close game at Twickenham. The last two games of the Championship were both played at home, the first a victory over Scotland at Lansdowne Road, for which Reid was omitted. The Scottish victory gave Ireland the Championship title, but the team had not won a Triple Crown title since 1899. A victory over Wales would give Ireland the Triple Crown. Reid was reinstated back into the team for the Wales encounter, this time played at Ravenhill. The Irish pressured Wales in the first half, and a late try by prop John "Jack" Daly gave Ireland a famous Triple Crown and Grand Slam win; a feat the national team would not repeat until 2009.

The Irish team were carried from the ground by their supporters, and after a celebration dinner the team members went their own way. Reid, Daly and Des O'Brien went to a dance after the game, and spent the night in police custody after some "high jinks" with an Orange flute band.

Rugby league
At the end of the 1947/48 season, Reid made an economic decision to switch codes to professional rugby league. He originally joined English team Huddersfield, along with Triple Crown winning team mate John "Jack" Daly, but after a few months, Reid switched clubs to Halifax. In 1949 he was part of the Halifax team that reached the Challenge Cup final, losing at Wembley to Bradford.
Although Reid returned to Ireland just three years after leaving, any switch to league ended in lifetime bans from the union game. Despite this Reid continued to coach in Ireland behind the scenes.

Honoured by Rugby League Ireland
On 25 March 2004 six footballers were inducted into Rugby League Ireland's inaugural Hall of Fame at the Rugby League Heritage Centre in Huddersfield, they were; John "Jack" Daly (Huddersfield/Featherstone Rovers), Robert "Bob" Kelly (Keighley/Wakefield Trinity/Batley), Seamus McCallion (Halifax/Leeds/Bramley), Thomas "Tom" McKinney, (Salford/Warrington/St. Helens), Terry O'Connor (Salford/Wigan Warriors/Widnes Vikings), Patrick "Paddy" Reid (Huddersfield/Halifax). He died on 8 January 2016 in Limerick.

Notes

References

1924 births
2016 deaths
Expatriate rugby league players in England
Garryowen Football Club players
Halifax R.L.F.C. players
Huddersfield Giants players
Ireland international rugby union players
Irish expatriate rugby league players
Irish expatriate sportspeople in England
Irish rugby league players
Irish rugby union players
Munster Rugby players
Rugby league players from County Limerick
Rugby union centres
Rugby union players from Limerick (city)

Paddy Reid


Herbert J. Gans (born May 7, 1927) is a German-born American sociologist who taught at Columbia University from 1971 to 2007.

One of the most prolific and influential sociologists of his generation, Gans came to America in 1940 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and has sometimes described his scholarly work as an immigrant's attempt to understand America.  He trained in sociology at the University of Chicago, where he studied with David Riesman and Everett Hughes, among others, and in social planning at the University of Pennsylvania, where his dissertation was supervised by Martin Meyerson.

Herbert J. Gans served as the 79th President of the American Sociological Association.

Biography
Herbert J. Gans was born in Cologne, Germany on May 7, 1927. Gans arrived in the United States in 1940, becoming a citizen in 1945. Gans studied at the University of Chicago, receiving a M.A. in 1950. He went on to receive a PhD in Sociology and Planning from the University of Pennsylvania in 1957. Gans moved to Columbia University in 1971, serving as the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology in 1985.

Gans married Louise Gruner in 1967. Their son is David Herman Gans.

Sociological research
Although Gans views his career as spanning six fields of research, he initially made his reputation as a critic of urban renewal in the early 1960s.  His first book, The Urban Villagers (1962), described Boston's diverse West End neighborhood, where he mainly studied its Italian-American working class community.  The book is also well known for its critical analysis of the area's clearance as an alleged "slum" and the West Enders' displacement from their neighborhood.

One of the hallmarks of Gans's work is his willingness to challenge conventional wisdom. His 1967 book The Levittowners was based on several years of participant-observation in New Jersey's Levitt-built suburb in Willingboro, observing how a set of new homeowners came together to establish the community's formal and informal organizations.  Demonstrating the inaccuracy of the popular depiction of the post-war suburbs as homogeneous, conformist and anomic, Gans showed that Levittown was in many ways a typical lower middle class suburb, the residents' class and other differences structuring the social and political life of the community.

Studies in news media
Gans's third major participant-observation study, of the national news media, was conducted in the newsrooms of NBC and CBS and the editorial offices of Time and Newsweek.  The major theme of the work is reflected in its title, Deciding What's News.

He has published several other studies of the news media and the entertainment media, the best known being Popular Culture and High Culture (1974, 1999).  In it, he challenged the conventional wisdom that high culture aesthetic standards were universal, arguing instead that cultural tastes reflect educational levels and other aspects of class.

His work on the media, like his community studies, has a populist theme, aiming to look at American society from the perspective of the country's working and lower middle class majority.

Public policy
Like some other sociologists who began their careers in the mid-twentieth century, Gans has been active both as a scholar and advocate, advising urban planning, antipoverty and other public policy agencies.  He served as a consultant to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) and drafted Chapter Nine of the Kerner Report.  In his writings on poverty, Gans offered rigorous, often scathing criticism of the weaknesses of such concepts as "the culture of poverty," and the "underclass," most notably in The War Against the Poor (1995).  However, "The Positive Functions of Poverty" (1972), his most widely reprinted article, catalogued the benefits the more affluent classes derived from the existence of poverty and the poor. George Ritzer reports "It has been said that he wrote this article, at least in part, as a parody of [Merton's] structural-functional analysis, [... but] whatever his motivations, Gans produced an excellent illustration of how structural-functional analysis can be used." Gans also continued to write critically about what he called the fallacy of "architectural determinism," namely the belief that urban planning and architecture could solve the problems of poverty and low civic engagement.

His two collections of planning and social policy essays, People and Plans (1968) and People, Plans and Policies (1992) offered his most sustained criticism of spatial planning as a vehicle for significant social reform.

In his address as the 1988 president of the American Sociological Association, Gans urged the discipline to become more useful to and relevant for the general public.  In it, he used the term "public sociology," which twenty years later became the centerpiece of a reform movement within the discipline.  He also published a trio of articles on the sociology of sociology, later reprinted in his Making Sense of America (1999).

Still active as an emeritus professor, an adjunct professor, and a writer, in 2008 Gans published a new book on public policy and politics, Imagining America in 2033.  "The book describes the policies and political processes by which America overcame the economic, military and other disasters of the century's first decade and began to turn into a more democratic, egalitarian, peaceful and human society."

He has publicly opposed ROTC as being "in part a leadership training program for the killing of other people and the destruction of their societies."

Publications
The Balanced community (1961)

 People and Plans (1968)More Equality (1973)Popular Culture and High Culture (1974)Deciding What's News: A study of CBS evening news, NBC nightly news, Newsweek, and Time (1979)Middle American Individualism (1988)People, Plans, and Policies (1991)The War Against The Poor (1992)Making Sense of America (1999)Democracy and the News (2003)Imagining America in 2033: How the Country Put Itself Together After Bush'' University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2009.

Terms coined
Symbolic ethnicity
Symbolic religiosity

References

External links
 Herbert Gans' biography at Columbia University
 Herbert J. Gans Award Statement
Herbert Gans Biography from American Sociological Association
Herbert J. Gans Online

1927 births
Living people
American sociologists
Presidents of the American Sociological Association
Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Columbia University faculty
University of Chicago alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni

Herbert J. Gans


The Iron Petticoat (also known as Not for Money) is a 1956 British Cold War comedy film starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn, and directed by Ralph Thomas. The screenplay by Ben Hecht became the focus of a contentious history behind the production, and led to the film's eventual suppression by Hope. Hecht had been part of the screenwriting team on the similarly themed Comrade X (1940).

Hepburn plays a Soviet military pilot who lands in West Germany and, after sampling life in the West in the company of Hope's Major Chuck Lockwood, is converted to capitalism. Subplots involve Lockwood trying to marry a member of the British upper class and communist agents trying to coerce Hepburn's character to return to the Soviet Union.

The main story borrows heavily from Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo, and very closely resembles Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot with Janet Leigh as the Russian pilot and John Wayne as the US Air Force officer. Jet Pilot, inspired by real-life Cold War pilot defections, completed principal photography in 1950 but was not released until 1957, after The Iron Petticoat.

Plot
Captain Vinka Kovalenko (Katharine Hepburn) lands a Soviet Air Force jet in West German territory, to the surprise of the United States Armed Forces, who take her prisoner. However, she is neither on a mission nor defecting, just upset about a personal matter back home.

Capt. Chuck Lockwood (Bob Hope) is eager to leave for London and visit his wealthy fiancée Connie (Noelle Middleton). A superior officer named Tarbell (Alan Gifford) cancels his furlough, ordering Chuck to sell the Soviet aviatrix on everything good about America and convince her to permanently come over to their side. The colonel even dangles a $100,000 bonus check made out to Vinka to be given if Lockwood succeeds.

Vinka is pursued by her former lover, engineer Ivan (Robert Helpmann). She shows no interest in Chuck, and is just as determined to sell him on Russian virtues as he is on influencing her. He describes her as cold and unappealing, but when Connie makes a surprise visit, Vinka strolls into Chuck's room wearing little else but a pajama top and her military medals. Connie becomes increasingly angry, more so when she finds out that Chuck is not as well-off financially as he has pretended to be.

Vinka begins to dress in an increasingly enticing manner. One night, at a Russian restaurant, comrades come to kidnap her. A sleeping potion meant for Chuck ends up in Tarbell's drink instead. Connie is also mistaken for Vinka in a cloakroom and taken captive.

The Russians misunderstand Vinka's intentions and charge her with treason. Chuck leads a daring aerial escape, and they end up falling in love. Money does not matter as much to Vinka as it does to Connie. As she and Lockwood are leaving for America, a Russian agent runs up, offering her the $100,000 check. She declines, but Lockwood grabs it.

Cast

 Bob Hope as Capt. Chuck Lockwood
 Katharine Hepburn as Capt. Vinka Kovalenko
 Noelle Middleton as Connie
 James Robertson Justice as Col. Sklarnoff
 Robert Helpmann as Ivan Kropotkin
 David Kossoff as Dubratz
 Alan Gifford as Col. Newt Tarbell
 Olaf Pooley as Maj, Osip Feodor Ganovich
 Nicholas Phipps as Tony Mallard
 Paul Carpenter as Maj. Lewis
 Tutte Lemkow as Sutsiyawa
 Sid James as Paul
 Alexander Gauge as Senator Howley
 Sandra Dorne as Tityana
 Richard Wattis as	Lingerie Clerk
 Doris Goddard as Maria

Production

Development
The original screenplay, Not for Money, was written by Ben Hecht from a story by producer Harry Saltzman. The two men formed a company called Benhar to produce the film. Hecht wrote the film specifically as a vehicle for Katharine Hepburn.

Hepburn was pleased with the original script and personally selected Ralph Thomas as the director because she liked his film Doctor in the House (1954). She contacted Thomas and Doctor in the House producer Betty E. Box while they were making Doctor at Sea, and they agreed to take part. "I had no idea what dramas were to descend on us as a result of that call," Box later wrote.

"We accepted the job because Miss Hepburn agreed to do it, and because we liked the Ben Hecht script," said Thomas. Box and Thomas were under contract to the Rank film organization, but were allowed to make outside films. "They [Rank] turned very sour," wrote Box. "But we stuck to our guns – we wanted to work with Hepburn, on top of which we were to be paid much larger fees than those guaranteed under our Rank deal."

The film was an American-British co-production, with finance provided by MGM and Romulus Films. MGM provided $500,000 to cover the costs of Slatzman, Hecht and the two American stars while Remus invested £215,000 to pay for production costs and the British crew. (Other accounts say British investment was £189,803 with $500,000 to cover Hope and Hepburn, Independent Film Distributors providing the full sterling budget and $100,000 of the dollar budget.
)

Bob Hope
According to Box, Hepburn originally envisioned the male lead being played by Cary Grant, William Holden or James Stewart. However, casting the role proved difficult. "There was difficulty in finding a top star to play opposite Hepburn," wrote Box, "an example of the male chauvinistic attitude which baulks at the leading lady's part being better than the man's."

Bob Hope read the script and wanted to play the role. It was unlike anything that Hope had done in the past, but he said that he wanted to work with Hepburn, and would play the character as written.

"We all thought the idea quite mad at first," said Box of Hope's casting. "Then we all had second thoughts and said, 'Why not?' And I must say the first of us to see that it made sense was Katie."

According to his biographer, Hope also saw the opportunity to get away from the United States at a time when a scandal was tarnishing his reputation as a family man. Hope had been embarrassed by the publication of a tell-all book by former lover Barbara Payton, and advised by close confidants to leave the United States until the bad press had subsided.

The film project marked the first time that Hope had worked outside the United States, and in the country of his birth. It had also been more than 50 films since he last worked outside Paramount. At one stage, Kay Kendall was meant to support Hope and Hepburn.

Rewriting the script
Filming was to begin in November, but Hope was not available. He did not arrive in London until 7 December 1955. He then told Box and Thomas that he wanted to pull out of the film, saying that he was unhappy with the script. Hepburn and Hecht agreed to make changes to keep Hope on the film. Hope also turned the script over to his own gag writers to tailor it to his style, as was his usual practice. Many of Hepburn's best scenes were cut, and the title was changed from Not for Money. Hope had intended to change his role from that of a debonair leading man to that of his usual wise-cracking comic. Hepburn considered her pairing with a co-star steeped in comedy routines as a "challenge."

Shooting

Hope and Hepburn had a wary relationship during the production; with the film being remade into a typical Hope comedy, Hepburn was forced to abandon her aspirations to deliver a Garbo-like role. Privately, Hepburn characterized Hope as "the biggest egomaniac with whom I have ever worked in my entire life." She also considered the film as "a cheap vaudeville act" in which she appeared as the "stooge."

"It ended up as a Hope comedy," recalled Thomas. "He had seven writers, she had none. I can't really say I directed the picture. I refereed it. Each star would come on the set each day with a different piece of script. Each was happy with the scene he had – until they compared notes!"

Donald Sinden, then a contract star for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios, had a permanent dressing room in the same block as Hepburn's. He said, "Katharine Hepburn was delightful and most professional, but what was deemed by some to be 'professional' can also be called 'temperamental' by others. I happened to be on the set of The Iron Petticoat while Miss Hepburn was blowing off steam about something in a professional/temperamental manner. Bob Hope came to the rescue and with his superb sense of humour said to her, 'If you don't behave yourself. I'll tell everyone that you are Audrey Hepburn's father!'"

A difficult time in the UK was compounded by Hepburn's worrisome eye infection, and she completed her obligations, although for years she would not talk about the film. She would later recall The Iron Petticoat as an unlikely pairing of lead actors trapped in the wrong roles. She recalled that Hope thought her sense of humour was basically "zilch."

Production took place primarily at Pinewood Studios, but also utilized unique background locations, such as Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus, as well as air bases in the UK. Although the plot involved a defecting military pilot, only a minimal number of aircraft appeared in the production, with the use of a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak as a stand-in for the ubiquitous MiG-15 jet fighter, the staple of 1950s Soviet air forces. Red-star markings appear on both the F-84F and C-47 to convert them to their Soviet lookalikes. When Kovelenko's MiG is escorted into West German airspace, two USAF North American F-86D Sabres intercept it. A Douglas C-47 Skytrain (as its counterpart, the Soviet Lisunov Li-2) is used for the return to Russia, while a Boeing Washington B.1 bomber and Avro Anson transport aircraft also appear, albeit mainly as backdrops.

Release

Clash between Hecht and Hope
The Iron Petticoat was released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the American market.

Hope, whose company controlled US rights as one of the film's producers, cut 12 minutes from the version that was released in the UK. Hope's cutting prompted Hecht to take a full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter that stated:
My dear partner Bob Hope: This is to notify you that I have removed my name as author from our mutilated venture, The Iron Petticoat. Unfortunately, your other partner, Katharine Hepburn, can't shy out of the fractured picture with me. Although her magnificent comic performance has been blowtorched out of the film, there is enough left of the Hepburn footage to identify her for her sharpshooters. I am assured by my hopeful predators that The Iron Petticoat will go over big with people 'who can't get enough of Bob Hope'. Let us hope this swooning contingent is not confined to yourself and your euphoric agent, Louis Shurr.
As Hecht told journalist Mike Wallace in a 1958 interview, "The movie was written for a lady, Miss Katharine Hepburn, and ended up instead as a role for the hero, Mr. Bob Hope. Miss Hepburn was removed from it by fifty percent. I got irritated and took my name off it – it had nothing to do with the movie I wrote."

Hope replied with an open letter that stated:
My dear Ex-Partner Ben: You once wrote The Front Page, and now you've followed it up with the back page … I am most understanding. The way things are going, you simply can't afford to be associated with a hit. As for Kate Hepburn, I don't think she was depressed with the preview audience rave about her performance.... Bob 'Blowtorch' Hope.
For the US release, the film's credits read "Based on an Original Story by Harry Saltzman." Saltzman often joked that his first motion-picture production was the only Bob Hope film that failed at the box office. However, the latest version released by TCM features a large screen credit: "Screenplay by Ben Hecht."

Critical reception
The Iron Petticoat was a critical failure when it was released in December 1956 in the United States. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, noting that Hecht had disavowed his work on the film, summed up many of the critical appraisals: "'The Iron Petticoat', which encloses Katharine Hepburn and Bob Hope, is about as inflexible and ponderous as the garment its title describes. And everybody connected with it might be forgiven for trying to claim an out." He also wrote: "Miss Hepburn's Russian affectations and accent are simply horrible, and Mr. Hope's wistful efforts with feeble gags to hold his franchise as a funny man are downright sad. The notion of these two characters falling rapturously, romantically in love is virtually revolting. If this was meant to be a travesty, it is."

In a 1972 interview, Italian actress Rossella Falk said that Garbo was "unhappy with Hepburn because she made a movie called 'The Iron Petticoat'. The film was a parody on 'Ninotchka', and Garbo thought the Hepburn film was the worst film that she had ever seen."

Box office
According to MGM records, the film was a modest box-office success, earning $1,260,000 in the US and Canada and $125,000 elsewhere. Low production costs resulted in a profit of $109,000.

Subsequent history
The film's distribution rights were divided between Hope's company, which controlled the Western Hemisphere, and the UK company Romulus Films, which held the Eastern Hemisphere, including the UK. MGM received a 10-year licence for the Western Hemisphere in 1955.

After its initial theatrical release, The Iron Petticoat had only two public screenings in the US, at the Museum of Modern Art and the American Film Institute, both sanctioned by Hope Enterprises after MGM's rights expired in 1970. Apparently withheld because of Hope's unhappiness over the public controversy with Hecht, the film was not shown on US television nor had been released on home video there for many years, though it is readily available in the UK, where rights are currently controlled by ITV.

Turner Classic Movies indicated in April 2012 that it had entered into an agreement with Hope Enterprises for a 10-year licence for US and Canadian TV rights and negotiated to release The Iron Petticoat on Blu-ray and DVD in North America as part of its TCM Vault Collection video line. TCM aired the film on 29 November 2012, almost a decade after the deaths of both leads.

Proposed follow-up
After filming ended, it was announced that Saltzman, Hecht and Thomas would make an adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid starring Robert Helpmann, but this film was never made.

See also
List of American films of 1956

References

Bibliography

 Berg, A. Scott. Kate Remembered: Katharine Hepburn, a Personal Biography. London: Pocket, 2004, First edition 2003. .
Box, Betty E Lifting the Lid, 2001
 Chandler, Charlotte. I Know Where I'm Going: Katharine Hepburn, a Personal Biography. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Applause, 2011 edition, First edition 2010. .
 Faith, William Robert. Bob Hope: A Life in Comedy. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. .
 Higham, Charles. Kate: The Life of Katharine Hepburn. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004, First edition 1975. .
 Leaming, Barbara. Katharine Hepburn. New York: Limelight Editions, 2004. .
 Quirk, Lawrence J. Bob Hope: The Road Well-Traveled. New York: Applause, 1998. .
 Sinden, Donald. A Touch of the Memoirs. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1982. .

External links

1956 films
1956 comedy films
American comedy films
British comedy films
Cold War aviation films
Defection in fiction
1950s English-language films
Films directed by Ralph Thomas
London Films films
Military humor in film
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films with screenplays by Ben Hecht
Films produced by Betty Box
Films produced by Harry Saltzman
Films scored by Benjamin Frankel
Films set in West Germany
1950s American films
1950s British films
English-language comedy films

The Iron Petticoat


Terri Witek (born Therese Ann Damm in Sandusky, Ohio, United States) is a U.S. poet.

Biography
Witek holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and, in addition to teaching Poetry in the Expanded Field in the graduate program, directs the undergraduate Sullivan Creative Writing Program at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, where she holds the Art & Melissa Sullivan Chair in Creative Writing.

Her collections include The Rape Kit (2018–winner of the Slope Editions Prize), "Body Switch" (2016) "Exit Island" (2012), The Shipwreck Dress (2008),  Carnal World (2006); Fools and Crows (2003); and Courting Couples (2000), a Center for Book Arts Prize winner, She is also the author of Robert Lowell and Life Studies: Revising the Self.  She has published poems in many journals, including the American Poetry Review, Poetry, The New Republic, and Slate, and created both site-specific and ephemeral work for social media and performance.

Witek teaches poetry and poetics, especially at the place where these  cross over into other media. Throughout her career she has worked with visual artists, and the reverberations between mediums is explored in much of her work. Her collaborations with Brazilian visual artist Cyriaco Lopes (cyriacolopes.com) include solo shows at Oi, Futuro (Flamengo) in Rio de Janeiro (2017), the Crisp Ellert Museum (2014), The Blue Gallery in Chania, Greece (2014), the Hand Art Center (2012), the Markland House Museum (2010), and the Faulconer Gallery (2010), and they also participated in group shows at the Chosunilbo Museum, Korea (2014), Art in Odd Places, New York City (2012), and Contemporary Flanerie: Reconfiguring Cities, Oakland University Gallery, Michigan (2009). Their performances have been seen at the Academia das Sciencias and Centro Nacional de Cultura, Lisbon, Portugal (2016, 2015, 2014), the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (2016) The Salford Museum, Greater Manchester, England (2013), and Recession Art, NYC, (2012). Witek and Lopes team-teach Poetry in the Expanded Field in Stetson University's low residency MFA of the Americas and run "The Fernando Pessoa Game" at Disquiet International. New media artist Matt Roberts (mattroberts.com) and Witek have collaborated on interactive smart phone projects that have likewise been featured both nationally and internationally.

She is married to the comic book scholar Joseph Witek.

Awards
 2018, Slope Editions Prize
 2000, Center for Book Arts Prize
 In 2000, she received the McInery Award for Teaching, and in 2008, she received the John Hague Teaching Award for outstanding teaching in the liberal arts and sciences.

References

External links
Official website

1952 births
Living people
Vanderbilt University alumni
21st-century American poets
American women poets

Terri Witek


Judgment notwithstanding the verdict, also called judgment non obstante veredicto, or JNOV, is a type of judgment as a matter of law that is sometimes rendered at the conclusion of a jury trial.

In American state courts, JNOV is the practice whereby the presiding judge in a civil jury trial may overrule the decision of a jury and reverse or amend their verdict. In literal terms, the judge enters a judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict. The rarely granted intervention permits the judge to exercise discretion to avoid extreme and unreasonable jury decisions. In civil cases in U.S. federal court, the term was replaced in 1991 by the renewed judgment as a matter of law, which emphasizes its relationship to the judgment as a matter of law, formerly called a directed verdict.

A judge may not enter a JNOV of "guilty" following a jury acquittal in United States criminal cases. Such an action would violate a defendant's Fifth Amendment right not to be placed in double jeopardy and Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. If the judge grants a motion to set aside judgment after the jury convicts, however, the action may be reversed on appeal by the prosecution. This can only be appealed after a guilty verdict; a judgment cannot be appealed if made after the prosecution rests, but before the defense begins, rather than after a verdict. In U.S. federal criminal cases, the term is "judgment of acquittal".

A JNOV is appropriate only if the judge determines that no reasonable jury could have reached the given verdict as a matter of law. For example, if a party enters no evidence on an essential element of their case but the jury, the finder of fact, still finds in their favor, the court may rule that no reasonable jury would have disregarded the lack of evidence on that key point and reform the judgment. Even if a judge erroneously excludes evidence and acquits on the basis of insufficient evidence, a judgement of acquittal cannot be appealed, as ruled by the Supreme Court in Sanabria v. United States (1978).

The reversal of a jury's verdict by a judge occurs when the judge believes that there were insufficient facts on which to base the jury's verdict or that the verdict did not correctly apply the law. That procedure is similar to a situation in which a judge orders a jury to arrive at a particular verdict, called a directed verdict. A judgment notwithstanding the verdict is occasionally made when a jury refuses to follow a judge's instruction to arrive at a certain verdict.

See also

 Jury nullification
 Judicial override

References

Law of the United States

Judgment notwithstanding verdict


The mallard () or wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males have green heads, while the females (hens or ducks) have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent purple or blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is  long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is  and the bill is  long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing . Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes.

The female lays 8 to 13 creamy white to greenish-buff spotless eggs, on alternate days. Incubation takes 27 to 28 days and fledging takes 50 to 60 days. The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch.

The mallard is considered to be a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Unlike many waterfowl, mallards are considered an invasive species in some regions. It is a very adaptable species, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localised, sensitive species of waterfowl before development. The non-migratory mallard interbreeds with indigenous wild ducks of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring. Complete hybridisation of various species of wild duck gene pools could result in the extinction of many indigenous waterfowl. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domestic duck, and its naturally evolved wild gene pool has been genetically polluted by the domestic and feral mallard populations.

Taxonomy and evolutionary history

The mallard was one of the many bird species originally described in the 1758 10thedition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus. He gave it two binomial names: Anas platyrhynchos and Anas boschas. The latter was generally preferred until 1906 when Einar Lönnberg established that A.platyrhynchos had priority, as it appeared on an earlier page in the text. The scientific name comes from Latin Anas, "duck" and Ancient Greek πλατυρυγχος, platyrhynchus, "broad-billed" (from πλατύς, platys, "broad" and ρυγχός, rhunkhos, "bill"). The genome of Anas platyrhynchos was sequenced in 2013.

The name mallard originally referred to any wild drake, and it is sometimes still used this way. It was derived from the Old French  or  for "wild drake" although its true derivation is unclear. It may be related to, or at least influenced by, an Old High German masculine proper name , clues lying in the alternative English forms "maudelard" and "mawdelard". Masle (male) has also been proposed as an influence.

Mallards frequently interbreed with their closest relatives in the genus Anas, such as the American black duck, and also with species more distantly related, such as the northern pintail, leading to various hybrids that may be fully fertile. The mallard has hybridized with more than 40 species in the wild, and an additional 20 species in captivity, though fertile hybrids typically have two Anas parents. Mallards and their domestic conspecifics are fully interfertile; many wild mallard populations in North America contain significant amounts of domestic mallard DNA.

Genetic analysis has shown that certain mallards appear to be closer to their Indo-Pacific relatives, while others are related to their American relatives. Mitochondrial DNA data for the D-loop sequence suggest that mallards may have evolved in the general area of Siberia. Mallard bones rather abruptly appear in food remains of ancient humans and other deposits of fossil bones in Europe, without a good candidate for a local predecessor species. The large Ice Age palaeosubspecies that made up at least the European and West Asian populations during the Pleistocene has been named Anas platyrhynchos palaeoboschas.

Mallards are differentiated in their mitochondrial DNA between North American and Eurasian populations, but the nuclear genome displays a notable lack of genetic structure. Haplotypes typical of American mallard relatives and eastern spot-billed ducks can be found in mallards around the Bering Sea. The Aleutian Islands hold a population of mallards that appear to be evolving towards becoming a subspecies, as gene flow with other populations is very limited.

Also, the paucity of morphological differences between the Old World mallards and the New World mallard demonstrates the extent to which the genome is shared among them such that birds like the Chinese spot-billed duck are highly similar to the Old World mallard, and birds such as the Hawaiian duck are highly similar to the New World mallard.

The size of the mallard varies clinally; for example, birds from Greenland, though larger, have smaller bills, paler plumage, and stockier bodies than birds further south and are sometimes classified as a separate subspecies, the Greenland mallard (A.p.conboschas).

Description

The mallard is a medium-sized waterfowl species that is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks. It is  longof which the body makes up around two-thirdshas a wingspan of , and weighs . Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the bill is , and the tarsus is .
The breeding male mallard is unmistakable, with a glossy bottle-green head and a white collar that demarcates the head from the purple-tinged brown breast, grey-brown wings, and a pale grey belly. The rear of the male is black, with white-bordered dark tail feathers. The bill of the male is a yellowish-orange tipped with black, with that of the female generally darker and ranging from black to mottled orange and brown. The female mallard is predominantly mottled, with each individual feather showing sharp contrast from buff to very dark brown, a coloration shared by most female dabbling ducks, and has buff cheeks, eyebrow, throat, and neck, with a darker crown and eye-stripe. Mallards, like other sexually-dimorphic birds, can sometimes go though spontaneous sex reversal, often caused by damaged or nonfunctioning sex organs, such as the ovaries in mallard hens. This phenomenon can cause female mallards to exhibit male plumage, and vice versa (phenotypic feminisation or masculinisation).

Both male and female mallards have distinct iridescent purple-blue speculum feathers edged with white, which are prominent in flight or at rest but temporarily shed during the annual summer moult. Upon hatching, the plumage of the duckling is yellow on the underside and face (with streaks by the eyes) and black on the back (with some yellow spots) all the way to the top and back of the head. Its legs and bill are also black. As it nears a month in age, the duckling's plumage starts becoming drab, looking more like the female, though more streaked, and its legs lose their dark grey colouring. Two months after hatching, the fledgling period has ended, and the duckling is now a juvenile. The duckling is able to fly 50–60 days after hatching. Its bill soon loses its dark grey colouring, and its sex can finally be distinguished visually by three factors: 1)the bill is yellow in males, but black and orange in females; 2)the breast feathers are reddish-brown in males, but brown in females; and 3)in males, the centre tail feather (drake feather) is curled, but in females, the centre tail feather is straight. During the final period of maturity leading up to adulthood (6–10 months of age), the plumage of female juveniles remains the same while the plumage of male juveniles gradually changes to its characteristic colours. This change in plumage also applies to adult mallard males when they transition in and out of their non-breeding eclipse plumage at the beginning and the end of the summer moulting period. The adulthood age for mallards is fourteen months, and the average life expectancy is three years, but they can live to twenty.

Several species of duck have brown-plumaged females that can be confused with the female mallard. The female gadwall (Mareca strepera) has an orange-lined bill, white belly, black and white speculum that is seen as a white square on the wings in flight, and is a smaller bird. More similar to the female mallard in North America are the American black duck (A.rubripes), which is notably darker-hued in both sexes than the mallard, and the mottled duck (A.fulvigula), which is somewhat darker than the female mallard, and with slightly different bare-part colouration and no white edge on the speculum.

In captivity, domestic ducks come in wild-type plumages, white, and other colours. Most of these colour variants are also known in domestic mallards not bred as livestock, but kept as pets, aviary birds, etc., where they are rare but increasing in availability.

A noisy species, the female has the deep quack stereotypically associated with ducks. Male mallards make a sound phonetically similar to that of the female, a typical quack, but it is deeper and quieter compared to that of the female. Research conducted by Middlesex University on two English mallard populations found that the vocalisations of the mallard varies depending on their environment and have something akin to a regional accent, with urban mallards in London being much louder and more vociferous compared to rural mallards in Cornwall, serving as an adaptation to persistent levels of anthropogenic noise.

When incubating a nest, or when offspring are present, females vocalise differently, making a call that sounds like a truncated version of the usual quack. This maternal vocalisation is highly attractive to their young. The repetition and frequency modulation of these quacks form the auditory basis for species identification in offspring, a process known as acoustic conspecific identification. In addition, females hiss if the nest or offspring are threatened or interfered with. When taking off, the wings of a mallard produce a characteristic faint whistling noise.

The mallard is a rare example of both Allen's Rule and Bergmann's Rule in birds. Bergmann's Rule, which states that polar forms tend to be larger than related ones from warmer climates, has numerous examples in birds, as in case of the Greenland mallard which is larger than the mallards further south. Allen's Rule says that appendages like ears tend to be smaller in polar forms to minimise heat loss, and larger in tropical and desert equivalents to facilitate heat diffusion, and that the polar taxa are stockier overall. Examples of this rule in birds are rare as they lack external ears, but the bill of ducks is supplied with a few blood vessels to prevent heat loss, and, as in the Greenland mallard, the bill is smaller than that of birds farther south, illustrating the rule.

Due to the variability of the mallard's genetic code, which gives it its vast interbreeding capability, mutations in the genes that decide plumage colour are very common and have resulted in a wide variety of hybrids, such as Brewer's duck (mallard × gadwall, Mareca strepera).

Distribution and habitat

The mallard is widely distributed across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; in North America its range extends from southern and central Alaska to Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands, across the Palearctic, from Iceland and southern Greenland and parts of Morocco (North Africa) in the west, Scandinavia and Britain to the north, and to Siberia, Japan, and South Korea. Also in the east, it ranges to south-eastern and south-western Australia and New Zealand in the Southern hemisphere. It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. For example, in North America, it winters south to the southern United States and northern Mexico, but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May. A drake later named "Trevor" attracted media attention in 2018 when it turned up on the island of Niue, an atypical location for mallards.

The mallard inhabits a wide range of habitats and climates, from the Arctic tundra to subtropical regions. It is found in both fresh- and salt-water wetlands, including parks, small ponds, rivers, lakes and estuaries, as well as shallow inlets and open sea within sight of the coastline. Water depths of less than  are preferred, with birds avoiding areas more than a few metres deep. They are attracted to bodies of water with aquatic vegetation.

Behaviour

Feeding
The mallard is omnivorous and very flexible in its choice of food. Its diet may vary based on several factors, including the stage of the breeding cycle, short-term variations in available food, nutrient availability, and interspecific and intraspecific competition. The majority of the mallard's diet seems to be made up of gastropods, insects (including beetles, flies, lepidopterans, dragonflies, and caddisflies), crustaceans, other arthropods, worms, many varieties of seeds and plant matter, and roots and tubers. During the breeding season, male birds were recorded to have eaten 37.6% animal matter and 62.4% plant matter, most notably the grass Echinochloa crus-galli, and nonlaying females ate 37.0% animal matter and 63.0% plant matter, while laying females ate 71.9% animal matter and only 28.1% plant matter. Plants generally make up the larger part of a bird's diet, especially during autumn migration and in the winter.

The mallard usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing; there are reports of it eating frogs. However, in 2017 a flock of mallards in Romania were observed hunting small migratory birds, including grey wagtails and black redstarts, the first documented occasion they had been seen attacking and consuming large vertebrates. It usually nests on a river bank, but not always near water. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and forms large flocks, which are known as "sordes".

Breeding

Mallards usually form pairs (in October and November in the Northern Hemisphere) until the female lays eggs at the start of the nesting season, which is around the beginning of spring. At this time she is left by the male who joins up with other males to await the moulting period, which begins in June (in the Northern Hemisphere). During the brief time before this, however, the males are still sexually potent and some of them either remain on standby to sire replacement clutches (for female mallards that have lost or abandoned their previous clutch) or forcibly mate with females that appear to be isolated or unattached regardless of their species and whether or not they have a brood of ducklings.

Nesting sites are typically on the ground, hidden in vegetation where the female's speckled plumage serves as effective camouflage, but female mallards have also been known to nest in hollows in trees, boathouses, roof gardens and on balconies, sometimes resulting in hatched offspring having difficulty following their parent to water.

Egg clutches number 8–13 creamy white to greenish-buff eggs free of speckles. They measure about  in length and  in width. The eggs are laid on alternate days, and incubation begins when the clutch is almost complete. Incubation takes 27–28days and fledging takes 50–60days. The ducklings are precocial and fully capable of swimming as soon as they hatch. However, filial imprinting compels them to instinctively stay near the mother, not only for warmth and protection but also to learn about and remember their habitat as well as how and where to forage for food. Though adoptions are known to occur, female mallards typically do not tolerate stray ducklings near their broods, and will violently attack and drive away any unfamiliar young, sometimes going as far as to kill them.

When ducklings mature into flight-capable juveniles, they learn about and remember their traditional migratory routes (unless they are born and raised in captivity). In New Zealand, where mallards are naturalised, the nesting season has been found to be longer, eggs and clutches are larger and nest survival is generally greater compared with mallards in their native range.

In cases where a nest or brood fails, some mallards may mate for a second time in an attempt to raise a second clutch, typically around early-to-mid summer. In addition, mallards may occasionally breed during the autumn in cases of unseasonably warm weather; one such instance of a 'late' clutch occurred in November 2011, in which a female successfully hatched and raised a clutch of eleven ducklings at the London Wetland Centre.

During the breeding season, both male and female mallards can become aggressive, driving off competitors to themselves or their mate by charging at them. Males tend to fight more than females and attack each other by repeatedly pecking at their rival's chest, ripping out feathers and even skin on rare occasions. Female mallards are also known to carry out 'inciting displays', which encourage other ducks in the flock to begin fighting. It is possible that this behaviour allows the female to evaluate the strength of potential partners.

The drakes that end up being left out after the others have paired off with mating partners sometimes target an isolated female duck, even one of a different species, and proceed to chase and peck at her until she weakens, at which point the males take turns copulating with the female. Lebret (1961) calls this behaviour "Attempted Rape Flight", and Stanley Cramp and K.E.L. Simmons (1977) speak of "rape-intent flights". Male mallards also occasionally chase other male ducks of a different species, and even each other, in the same way. In one documented case of "homosexual necrophilia", a male mallard copulated with another male he was chasing after the chased male died upon flying into a glass window. This paper was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2003.

Mallards are opportunistically targeted by brood parasites, occasionally having eggs laid in their nests by redheads, ruddy ducks, lesser scaup, gadwalls, northern shovelers, northern pintails, cinnamon teal, common goldeneyes, and other mallards. These eggs are generally accepted when they resemble the eggs of the host mallard, but the hen may attempt to eject them or even abandon the nest if parasitism occurs during egg laying.

Predators and threats

In addition to human hunting, mallards of all ages (but especially young ones) and in all locations must contend with a wide diversity of predators including raptors and owls, mustelids, corvids, snakes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, turtles, large fish, felids, and canids, the last two including domestic cats and dogs. The most prolific natural predators of adult mallards are red foxes (Vulpes vulpes; which most often pick off brooding females) and the faster or larger birds of prey, (e.g. peregrine falcons, Aquila or Haliaeetus eagles). In North America, adult mallards face no fewer than 15 species of birds of prey, from northern harriers (Circus hudsonius) and short-eared owls (Asio flammeus) (both smaller than a mallard) to huge bald (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), and about a dozen species of mammalian predators, not counting several more avian and mammalian predators who threaten eggs and nestlings.

Mallards are also preyed upon by other waterside apex predators, such as grey herons (Ardea cinerea), great blue herons (Ardea herodias) and black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), the European herring gull (Larus argentatus), the wels catfish (Silurus glanis), and the northern pike (Esox lucius). Crows (Corvus) are also known to kill ducklings and adults on occasion. Also, mallards may be attacked by larger anseriformes such as swans (Cygnus) and geese during the breeding season, and are frequently driven off by these birds over territorial disputes. Mute swans (Cygnus olor) have been known to attack or even kill mallards if they feel that the ducks pose a threat to their offspring. Common loons (Gavia inmer) are similarly territorial and aggressive towards other birds in such disputes, and will frequently drive mallards away from their territory. However, in 2019, a pair of common loons in Wisconsin were observed raising a mallard duckling for several weeks, having seemingly adopted the bird after it had been abandoned by its parents.

The predation-avoidance behaviour of sleeping with one eye open, allowing one brain hemisphere to remain aware while the other half sleeps, was first demonstrated in mallards, although it is believed to be widespread among birds in general.

Status and conservation

Since 1998, the mallard has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. This is because it has a large range–more than 20,000,000 km2 (7,700,000 mi2) and because its population is increasing, rather than declining by 30% over ten years or three generations and thus is not warranted a vulnerable rating. Also, the population size of the mallard is very large.

Unlike many waterfowl, mallards have benefited from human alterations to the worldso much so that they are now considered an invasive species in some regions. They are a common sight in urban parks, lakes, ponds, and other human-made water features in the regions they inhabit, and are often tolerated or encouraged in human habitat due to their placid nature towards humans and their beautiful and iridescent colours. While most are not domesticated, mallards are so successful at coexisting in human regions that the main conservation risk they pose comes from the loss of genetic diversity among a region's traditional ducks once humans and mallards colonise an area. Mallards are very adaptable, being able to live and even thrive in urban areas which may have supported more localised, sensitive species of waterfowl before development. The release of feral mallards in areas where they are not native sometimes creates problems through interbreeding with indigenous waterfowl. These non-migratory mallards interbreed with indigenous wild ducks from local populations of closely related species through genetic pollution by producing fertile offspring. Complete hybridisation of various species of wild duck gene pools could result in the extinction of many indigenous waterfowl. The mallard itself is the ancestor of most domestic ducks, and its naturally evolved wild gene pool gets genetically polluted in turn by the domestic and feral populations.

Over time, a continuum of hybrids ranging between almost typical examples of either species develop; the speciation process is beginning to reverse itself. This has created conservation concerns for relatives of the mallard, such as the Hawaiian duck, the New Zealand grey duck (A.s. superciliosa) subspecies of the Pacific black duck, the American black duck, the mottled duck, Meller's duck, the yellow-billed duck, and the Mexican duck, in the latter case even leading to a dispute as to whether these birds should be considered a species (and thus entitled to more conservation research and funding) or included in the mallard species. Ecological changes and hunting have also led to a decline of local species; for example, the New Zealand grey duck population declined drastically due to overhunting in the mid-20th century. Hybrid offspring of Hawaiian ducks seem to be less well adapted to native habitat, and using them in re-introduction projects apparently reduces success. In summary, the problems of mallards "hybridising away" relatives is more a consequence of local ducks declining than of mallards spreading; allopatric speciation and isolating behaviour have produced today's diversity of mallard-like ducks despite the fact that, in most, if not all, of these populations, hybridisation must have occurred to some extent.

Invasiveness
 Mallards are causing severe "genetic pollution" to South Africa's biodiversity by breeding with endemic ducks even though the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds – an agreement to protect the local waterfowl populations – applies to the mallard as well as other ducks. The hybrids of mallards and the yellow-billed duck are fertile, capable of producing hybrid offspring. If this continues, only hybrids occur and in the long term result in the extinction of various indigenous waterfowl. The mallard can crossbreed with 63 other species, posing a severe threat to indigenous waterfowl's genetic integrity. Mallards and their hybrids compete with indigenous birds for resources, including nest sites, roosting sites, and food.

Availability of mallards, mallard ducklings, and fertilised mallard eggs for public sale and private ownership, either as poultry or as pets, is currently legal in the United States, except for the state of Florida, which has currently banned domestic ownership of mallards. This is to prevent hybridisation with the native mottled duck.

The mallard is considered an invasive species in Australia and New Zealand, where it competes with the Pacific black duck (known as the grey duck locally in New Zealand) which was over-hunted in the past. There, and elsewhere, mallards are spreading with increasing urbanisation and hybridising with local relatives.

The eastern or Chinese spot-billed duck is currently introgressing into the mallard populations of the Primorsky Krai, possibly due to habitat changes from global warming. The Mariana mallard was a resident allopatric population – in most respects a good species – apparently initially derived from mallard-Pacific black duck hybrids; it became extinct in the late 20th century.

The Laysan duck is an insular relative of the mallard, with a very small and fluctuating population. Mallards sometimes arrive on its island home during migration, and can be expected to occasionally have remained and hybridised with Laysan ducks as long as these species have existed. However, these hybrids are less well adapted to the peculiar ecological conditions of Laysan Island than the local ducks, and thus have lower fitness. Laysan ducks were found throughout the Hawaiian archipelago before 400AD, after which they suffered a rapid decline during the Polynesian colonisation. Now, their range includes only Laysan Island. It is one of the successfully translocated birds, after having become nearly extinct in the early 20th century.

Relationship with humans

Domestication
Mallards have often been ubiquitous in their regions among the ponds, rivers, and streams of human parks, farms, and other human-made waterwayseven to the point of visiting water features in human courtyards.

Mallards have had a long relationship with humans. Almost all domestic duck breeds derive from the mallard, with the exception of a few Muscovy breeds, and are listed under the trinomial name A. p. domesticus. Mallards are generally monogamous while domestic ducks are mostly polygamous. Domestic ducks have no territorial behaviour and are less aggressive than mallards. Domestic ducks are mostly kept for meat; their eggs are also eaten, and have a strong flavour. They were first domesticated in Southeast Asia at least 4,000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age, and were also farmed by the Romans in Europe, and the Malays in Asia. As the domestic duck and the mallard are the same species as each other, it is common for mallards to mate with domestic ducks and produce hybrid offspring that are fully fertile. Because of this, mallards have been found to be contaminated with the genes of the domestic duck.

While the keeping of domestic breeds is more popular, pure-bred mallards are sometimes kept for eggs and meat, although they may require wing clipping to restrict flying.

Hunting
Mallards are one of the most common varieties of ducks hunted as a sport due to the large population size. The ideal location for hunting mallards is considered to be where the water level is somewhat shallow where the birds can be found foraging for food. Hunting mallards might cause the population to decline in some places, at some times, and with some populations. In certain countries, the mallard may be legally shot but is protected under national acts and policies. For example, in the United Kingdom, the mallard is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which restricts certain hunting methods or taking or killing mallards.

As food

Since ancient times, the mallard has been eaten as food. The wild mallard was eaten in Neolithic Greece. Usually, only the breast and thigh meat is eaten. It does not need to be hung before preparation, and is often braised or roasted, sometimes flavoured with bitter orange or with port.

References

External links

Anas
Birds described in 1758
Ducks
Migratory birds (Eastern Hemisphere)
Migratory birds (Western Hemisphere)
Holarctic birds
Game birds
Articles containing video clips
Native birds of the Eastern United States
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Extant Pleistocene first appearances

Mallard


Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising is a 2016 American comedy movie directed by Nicholas Stoller and written by Stoller, Andrew J. Cohen, Brendan O'Brien, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It is a sequel to Neighbors (2014).

It stars, Rogen, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jerrod Carmichael, Ike Barinholtz, Carla Gallo, Hannibal Buress, and Lisa Kudrow.

It was released on May 20, 2016, in the United States, receiving mostly positive reviews.

References

2016 comedy movies
American comedy movies

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising