The pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus) is the smallest species of armadillo (mammals of the families Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae, recognized by a bony armor shell), first described by Richard Harlan in 1825. This solitary, desert-adapted animal is endemic to central Argentina and can be found inhabiting sandy plains, dunes, and scrubby grasslands.

Pink fairy armadillos have small eyes, silky yellowish white fur, and a flexible dorsal shell that is attached to its body solely by a thin dorsal membrane. In addition, its spatula-shaped tail protrudes from a vertical plate at the blunt rear of its shell. This creature exhibits nocturnal and solitary habits and has a diet that is mainly composed of insects, worms, snails, and various plant parts.

The conservation status for pink fairy armadillo is still uncertain, and it is listed as Data Deficient by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The decline in population for this species has generally been attributed to farming activities and predators including domestic dogs and cats. Pink fairy armadillos are found less commonly than they were a few decades ago, and the field sightings have been rare and incidental.

Individuals caught in the wild had a tendency to die during or a couple days after  transport from their natural habitat to captive facilities. There is a sole record for the longevity of a pink fairy armadillo that was held in captivity more than four years; however, that particular case lacks scientific description.
Armadillos' evolutionary distinctiveness, combined with their restricted geographic range, ongoing threats, and rarity, make  conservation extremely urgent for these species.

Evolutionary origins
At present, fairy armadillos have the least molecular data available within the armadillo family. This genus includes only two living species of fairy armadillo: Chlamyphorus truncatus (pink fairy armadillo) and Chlamyphorus retusus (chacoan or greater fairy armadillo). These two species are morphologically similar: both have notably reduced eyes and reinforced forearms that support enlarged digging claws.They are also one of few mammals that do not have external ears visible. Both species are specialized to subterranean lifestyle which was developed in their ancestral lineage sometime between 32 and 17 Mya.

Both species have allopatric distributions; both are strictly nocturnal but the details of their ecology and population biology remain unknown. The similarities can be explained either by the presence of a shared common ancestry, which would prove the monophyly of both species, or by the result of adaptive convergence due to extreme selective pressures induced by their lifestyle (which would suggest the diphyletic origin). In 2012 the first theory was proven. The split between these two species was estimated to have occurred around 17 ± 3 Mya, around the transition between Early and Middle Miocene.

Both species are rare in the field and are fairly elusive, thus phylogenetic affinities of fairy armadillos have been tested only once. As a result of the research conducted in 2009, the idea of respective monophyly of the three previously identified subfamilies Dasypodinae, Euphractinae, and Tolypeutinae (which separated from each other shortly after the Eocene-Oligocene transition) was supported. The Chlamyphorinae subfamily was found to show phylogenetic affinities with the clade Tolypeutinae, which became a significant step to define the previously completely unknown phylogenetic position of this armadillo subfamily within Cingulata. Later, the separation of the fairy armadillo subfamily from their tolypeutine sister-group was estimated to have occurred 32 ± 3 Mya.

Fairy armadillos are currently classified within the subfamily Euphractinae according to the reference taxonomy by A.L. Gardner (2005). However, there is an opinion that the antiquity and uniqueness of pink fairy armadillos would be best accounted for by retaining the subfamily Chlamyphorinae.

Range and habitat
Pink fairy armadillos are nocturnal burrowing mammals endemic to the xeric environment in central Argentina. They have been found south of Mendoza province as well as north of Rio Negro and south of Buenos Aires. This narrow range contains a unique and crucial habitat for the pink fairy armadillo. It lives in scrubby grasslands that display a variety of thin Larrea and Portulaca shrubs during spring and summer periods. It also resides in sandy plains and dunes.

The Mendoza region has both warm and cold seasons, and likewise, a wet and dry season. These varying average temperatures are the subject for the armadillo to adapt to. An average high during the warm season is approximately 26.6 °C (80 °F) and the cold season might only have a high of 15.5 °C (60 °F) with an average low of 2.2 °C (36 °F).

The pink fairy armadillo is classified as a subterranean armadillo that is extremely sensitive to environmental changes and stress. As an example, sudden environmental changes that could affect pink fairy armadillos include temperature and soil quality. In order for them to survive and maintain stability, they must occupy undisturbed places that contain sufficient amounts of compact sand and hiding places. This also refers to possible captivity conditions for this animal due to its desert-adapted characteristics.

Dietary habits
The pink fairy armadillo is classified as a fossorial generalist insectivore. Ants and larvae are its main food source while underground. While those are its primary sources of food, the armadillos are known to also eat worms, snails, and various insects. If these insects and invertebrates cannot be found, plant leaves and roots make a good secondary dietary option for their underground lifestyle. In captivity, this animal was observed to willingly accept such foods as watermelon, avocado shells with avocado flesh, and Mazuri Insectivore Diet.

Description

The pink fairy armadillo is  long, and typically weighs about . This species is the smallest living armadillo and is among the least known.

Thermoregulation and external shell
Its fine hair has been found to be beneficial for thermoregulation in an environment with highly variable temperatures. Night temperatures in Argentinian plains can get very low, and since the armadillo is nocturnal it needs the fur to conserve heat while it is being active outside its burrow.
Armadillos are well known for leathery shells covering the majority of the dorsal side. The pink fairy armadillo has this characteristic as well, but its shell is much softer and more flexible. Though the shell is close enough to the body for blood vessels to be seen through the armor, this protective part of the animal is only attached via a thin membrane along the spinal column of the animal.

The pink fairy armadillo can curl up to protect the vulnerable soft underside, covered with dense white hair. The armored shell consists of 24 bands that allow the animal to curl up in a ball, and the armor is flattened in the posterior portion of the animal so that it can compress dirt behind it as it is digging. This compression strategy is thought to help prevent tunnel collapses. Lastly, the shell itself is also thought to help with thermoregulation. Since the underlying blood vessels are so close to the surface, the animal can control the amount of functional surface area exposed to the environment in order to retain or lose heat. Like most armadillos, they rely mostly on a sense of smell to find each other and their prey.

Burrowing lifestyle
The armadillo has two massive sets of claws on its front and hind limbs which help it to dig the burrows in compacted soil very quickly. The pink fairy armadillo is nicknamed the "sand-swimmer" because it is said that it can "burrow through the ground as fast as a fish can swim in the sea." The claws are large relatively to the size of the animal, hindering its ability to walk on a hard surface.

Along with these unique traits, the pink fairy armadillo has greatly reduced eyes and relies highly on touch and hearing to navigate. It also has a torpedo-shaped body in order to reduce the amount of drag it may encounter while working in tunnels and a thick, hairless tail that it uses for balance and stability while using its other limbs to dig.

Threats

As a subterranean dweller, the armadillo is forced to leave its burrows when heavy storms roll in due to the threat of drowning and the risk of wetting its fur. If its fur is wet the armadillo cannot properly thermoregulate and could experience hypothermia during night hours. Once above ground during a rainstorm the armadillo is vulnerable to an array of predators. Domestic dogs have  greatly preyed on these armadillos. Even their underground homes are not completely safe: Fairy armadillos are preyed upon in their burrows by domestic dogs and cats as well as wild boars.

These armadillos do not do well in captivity. The survival rate is so low that many will die in transport from where they were captured to their new area of captivity. Armadillos that are put into captivity typically do not last longer than a few hours or at most eight days. Not a single specimen has survived more than four years. In spite of the high mortality rate associated with captivity, many are sold illegally on the black market, often as pets.

These armadillos are very susceptible to climate changes as well; since they inhabit temperate and warm regions, cold temperatures could wipe out their population due to their low metabolism rate and their inability to store fat.

Habitat loss is also a large issue for these species. As the number of acres converted to farmland increases, the armadillos' burrows not only get plowed over, but the land is no longer habitable for them.

The use of pesticides on farmlands is highly concerning because these pesticides adhere to ants, the armadillos' primary source of food. Ingestion of enough of these pesticide-infested ants can be detrimental to their health.

The overhunting of these animals has contributed to their endangerment.
Many people in the Americas continue to hunt armadillos for consumption, which is said to be similar to pork in texture and taste.

Conservation efforts
In 2006, the armadillo was placed in the near-threatened category on the IUCN Red List. In 2008 it was moved to the data deficient category due to the lack of scientific information on its population dynamics and natural history. Field sightings were confirmed to be rare and less common than before, even though the pink fairy armadillo is already difficult to observe due to its nocturnal fossorial lifestyle.

Researchers have found that the pink fairy armadillo is highly subject to stress, making the attempts to apply any conservation policies, including taking it out of its natural environment, extremely difficult and largely unsuccessful. Any modifications in its environment, external temperature, or diet are known to trigger stress response, which is considered to be a possible reason for the failure of captivity attempts.

Many of the armadillos have died during the transportation process from their wild habitat, and many more have only survived several days in captivity. Overall, there are only three reports of captive maintenance of pink fairy armadillo that are considered successful – in 1970, 1985, and 2009, reporting individuals that lived in captivity for at least 30 months, 22 months, and 8 months respectively.

This armadillo species is found in several protected areas, including the Lihué Calel National Park. Both national and provincial legislation is in place specifically protecting the species.

References

Further reading
 Average Weather For Mendoza, Argentina
 Absurd Creature of the Week: Pink Fairy Armadillo Crawls Out of the Desert and Into Your Heart

External links

 Species profile from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
 Genus Chlamyphorus – Armadillo Online
 Chlamyphorus truncatus page of the Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas
 Pink Fairy Armadillo – Little, Pink, Armored Fairies
 Pink armadillos ain't your Texas critters

Armadillos
Endemic fauna of Brazil
Mammals of Argentina
Myrmecophagous mammals
Least concern biota of South America
Mammals described in 1825
Taxa named by Richard Harlan

Pink fairy armadillo


Necanicum is an unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. It is located approximately 13 miles southeast of Seaside on U.S. Route 26 in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, next to the Necanicum River. Necanicum Junction is about a mile east of the site of the former post office, at the intersection of U.S. 26 and Oregon Route 53. It is served by the Seaside post office.

The post office at this locale was originally named "Ahlers" after Herman Ahlers, a local resident and the first postmaster. Ahlers changed the name of the office to "Push" in 1899, because he expected the place to become an enterprising community. The name was changed to Necanicum in 1907, after the Necanicum River, and the office closed in 1916, with Ahlers still postmaster. "Necanicum" is one of many names in northwest Oregon beginning with ne, which is a Native American prefix indicating a place. Necanicum is derived from Ne-hay-ne-hum, the name of a Native American lodge upstream. The journal of the Oregon Pioneer Association gave the name as "Nekonikon" in 1887. Herman Ahlers said the name meant "a gap in the mountains". The current spelling was adopted by a decision of the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1915, as the most common local usage over "Necanacum" and "Nekanakum".

In 1915, Necanicum had a population of 50. As of 1990, there was a store and a café at Necanicum Junction.

References

Unincorporated communities in Clatsop County, Oregon
Ghost towns in Oregon
1887 establishments in Oregon
Populated places established in 1887
Unincorporated communities in Oregon
Oregon placenames of Native American origin

Necanicum, Oregon


"Now" is a 2002 song by English hard rock band Def Leppard, released as the lead single for their X album. It peaked at number 23 on the UK Singles Chart.

Music video
The music video (directed by The Malloys) focuses on a Def Leppard Union Jack T-shirt that finds its way through different owners for nearly two decades. It starts in the year 1983, when a teenage girl purchases the shirt from a music store. One day, as she is sleeping, her younger brother steals the shirt and rides off with his friend to sneak into a neighbour's backyard and use the swimming pool. They quickly run away when the homeowner spots them, leaving the shirt behind.

In 1985, a man buys the shirt at a garage sale. At a parking lot prior to a Def Leppard concert, he surrenders it to a female fan after she flashes him. When the band's tour bus arrives, the female fan has bassist Rick Savage autograph the shirt. Shortly after the concert, she meets a roadie and makes out with him in the bus, where he takes possession of the shirt.

In 1987, the roadie enters a coin-op laundromat to have the shirt and his laundry cleaned. As he sleeps while waiting for his laundry, a woman steals the shirt and slips it between her laundry in a cart.

The video ends in the year 2002, where a woman (presumably an older version of the teenager from the 1983 scene), buys the shirt from an online auction and then receives it in the mail.

Track listing

CD: Bludgeon Riffola - Mercury / 0639822 / Part 1
 "Now"
 "Love Don't Lie (Demo)"
 "Rebel Rebel"
 "Rock Brigade"

CD: Bludgeon Riffola - Mercury / 0639812 / Part 2
 "Now"
 "Let Me Be the One - Demo"
 "Stay With Me"
 "Me and My Wine (Remix)"

CD: Bludgeon Riffola - Mercury / 0639682 (UK) / Part 2
 "Now"
 "Stay With Me"
 "Rebel Rebel"

Charts

References

2002 singles
Def Leppard songs
Songs written by Marti Frederiksen
Music videos directed by The Malloys

Now (Def Leppard song)


Marc Morris  (born 1973) is a British historian, who has also presented a television series, Castle, on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, and wrote the book that accompanied the series. His 2005 book on the earls of the Bigod family was praised for its "impeccable research and fluent sense of narration".

He was educated at Oakwood Park Grammar School, King's College London (History, 1996) and the University of Oxford.

Bibliography
 Castle: A History of the Buildings that Shaped Medieval Britain (2003)
 The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century (2005)
 A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain (2008)
 The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England (2012)
 Kings and Castles (2012)
 King John: Treachery, Tyranny and the Road to Magna Carta (2015)
 William I: England's Conqueror (2016)
 The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England (2021)

References

External links
 Official website

1973 births
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Alumni of King's College London
Alumni of the University of Oxford
English historians
21st-century American politicians

Marc Morris (historian)


The Adams-Pickering Block is a historic commercial building at Main and Middle Streets in Bangor, Maine. Built in 1873, it is one of the major surviving works of local architect George W. Orff in the city, and one of the few of the period to survive Bangor's Great Fire of 1911.

Description and history
The Adams-Pickering Block is located in central Bangor, just south of West Market Square, at the northwest corner of Main and Middle Streets. It is a four-story, Second Empire-style building, which is distinctive for its granite facade, cast iron trim, and mansard roof. The Pickering Block, at the corner with Middle Street, is six bays wide, while the Adams Block, to its right, is seven. Windows on the second and third floors are set in segmented-arch openings, with decorative key-stoned hoods. When built in 1871, its ground floor had mostly cast iron elements, but the storefronts have been modernized, and only fragments of the original trim remain.

The twin blocks were built in 1871 to a design by Bangor native architect George W. Orff, and was built on the site of "The Main Street Fire" of 1872, which killed one and injured 8. It was one of a number of high-profile commissions Orff executed in downtown Bangor in those years, of which this is a rare survivor of both the Great Fire of 1911 and urban renewal of the 1960s. The building was one of the largest local commissions for Orff, who subsequently migrated to Minnesota.

George W. Pickering (1799-1876) was a prominent local merchant and President of the Kenduskeag Bank (incorporated 1847). His maternal grandfather Jacob Dennett was one of the original settlers of Bangor, part of a group which arrived in 1771. Pickering was also the 12th Mayor of Bangor (1853–54), and Vice President of the Bangor Theological Seminary. Pickering Square in Downtown Bangor is named for him. According to historian James Vickery he "was called the best businessman in Bangor by his contemporaries"

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1974.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Penobscot County, Maine

References

External links
 Adams-Pickering Block Archiplanet, Accessed June 15, 2008

Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Commercial buildings completed in 1873
Buildings and structures in Bangor, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Bangor, Maine
Victorian architecture in Maine

Adams-Pickering Block


David Copperfield is a novel by Charles Dickens. Like his other novels, it first came out as a series in a magazine under the title The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery.

The story is told in the first person.  Some of the greatest Dickens characters appear in the novel, such as the evil clerk Uriah Heep. Other villains in David's life are his brutal stepfather, Edward Murdstone, and Mr. Creakle, the headmaster of the boarding school that Murdstone sends him to.

The evil characters are balanced by the good characters, such as Peggotty – the faithful servant of the Copperfield family and a lifelong companion to David. Others include David's aunt Betsy Trotwood and her friend Mr. Dick. Agnes Wickfield is a close friend of David since childhood, and later becomes David's second wife and mother of their children. Mr. Micawber is a gentle and friendly man who goes to debtors' prison, but in the end makes a success as a sheep farmer in Australia. He is based on Dickens's own father.

References

Books by Charles Dickens
English novels
1840s books

David Copperfield


Douglas Lloyd Betters (born June 11, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1978 to 1987.

After graduating from Arlington Heights High School in Illinois, Betters played college Division I football for the University of Montana Grizzlies from 1974 to 1976, then transferred to the University of Nevada, Reno in 1977. The next year, he was a 6th round draft pick for the Dolphins.

Betters was a part of Miami's "Killer B's" defense, and went to Super Bowl XVII and XIX. In 1983, Betters recorded 16 sacks in 16 games and won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, and was named to the AFC Pro Bowl team. In '83 and '84, Betters was named the Miami Dolphins "Outstanding Defensive Lineman." Betters played 146 NFL games and made  career sacks ( official, post–1981). He was named by the fans to the Dolphins' Silver Anniversary Team in 1991 and the Golden Anniversary Team in 2016. Betters was an assistant coach for the University of Montana Grizzlies in 1995 and 1996.

Doug guided fly fishing on the Flathead River in Montana for Glacier Wilderness Guides and class 4 whitewater on the Lochsa River in Idaho for Lewis and Clark Trail Adventures after his retirement from the NFL.

In 1998, Betters suffered a spinal cord injury while skiing at Big Mountain in Whitefish, Montana.

Betters founded the Doug Betters Winter Classic Organization in 1985, which provides money for children in need of medical care. Betters is involved with numerous other charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics and United Way. In 2002, he received the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Montana Award. As of 2014 he resides in Whitefish.

On December 14, 2008, Betters was inducted into the Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor during a ceremony at Dolphin Stadium.

References

External links

 Doug Betters fund

1956 births
Living people
American football defensive ends
Miami Dolphins players
American Conference Pro Bowl players
Nevada Wolf Pack football players
Montana Grizzlies football players
Players of American football from Lincoln, Nebraska
People from Whitefish, Montana
National Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award winners

Doug Betters


Carr House is a 17th-century house within the Bank Hall Estate, half-way between the villages of Tarleton and Much Hoole at the extreme north-west of the village of Bretherton, Lancashire, England. The building faces south to the Bretherton road, from which it stands back some distance, and has a foreyard inclosed on the west side by farm buildings.

The Stone family
Carr House is the ancestral home of the Stone Family. The house was built in 1613 by Thomas Stone, a haberdasher from London, and his brother Andrew, a merchant from Amsterdam.

The local church of St. Michael was built in 1628 and was a gift to the people of the local villages of Croston, Much Hoole and Bretherton by Thomas and Andrew, who also built a manor house for the rector of St Michael's. John gave the church its font and his wife donated the silver goblets and plate that are still used in the church today for communion.

Andrew shipped goods to England via Hoole and Richard Stone imported Irish panel boards and timber in 1604 for the Shuttleworth family, who were then building Gawthorpe Hall, with 1,000 pieces, storing them till needed in Hoole's tithe barn.

Architecture

The house was built in 1613 and has two wings to each side of a central porch. The building is built of red bricks which have weathered over the centuries to give a pleasant warm colour, with a blue-brick diaper pattern similar to work of the same period at Bank Hall, Hoole Church and Rufford Old Hall, with stone quoins of irregular length. Externally the building has not been altered very much since construction as all the old stone mullioned windows remain as they are, therefore the brick work is unaltered. Blue slates cover the roof instead of the usual stone slabs which can be found on most of the old brick houses in Lancashire from this time period. The porch is the main feature of the front, being centrally situated, and rising to the third-story attic space.

There are ten windows on the front facade, four on the ground floor, five on the first, and one in the attic, with hood moulds; all have four panes of leaded glass, except those over the porch, which have five. Between the upper and lower windows are four vertical cuts in the brickwork which are now filled in with plaster/cement; the history behind them is said to have been a partial evasion of the window tax, the argument being that the upper and lower windows are connected, therefore counting as one. An inscription in raised letters on the stone head of the doorway reads: Thomas Stones of London haberdasher and Andrewe Stones of Amsterdam merchant hath builded this howse of their owne charges and giveth the same unto their brother John Stones: Ano domni 1613. Laus.

The inscription is curiously divided towards the end by the head of the doorway breaking into it. The walls of the upper rooms are stated to have been formerly panelled in oak, but the panelling is said to have been removed to Bank Hall in 1832 when that building was renovated.

An important feature of the house is a rare cage newel staircase; four inner newel posts rise to the full height of the stairwell without interruption.

Jeremiah Horrocks
It is commonly said that Jeremiah Horrocks made his observation of the transit of Venus, 24 Nov. 1639, from the room above the porch while living at Carr House as the guest and lodger of Mr. Stone. It is also believed that Jeremiah Horrocks was the tutor to the Stone family's children.

Dolls Museum
Carr House was once home to a Dolls Museum that housed the Barry Elder Collection. The collection is now in the Judges' Lodgings Museum in Lancaster. The building is a private residence again.

See also
Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
Listed buildings in Bretherton

References

External links

Buildings and structures in the Borough of Chorley
Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
Country houses in Lancashire
Houses completed in 1613
1613 establishments in England

Carr House, Bretherton


To the Ends of the Earth is a 1948 American film noir thriller film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Dick Powell, Signe Hasso and Ludwig Donath. It was released by Columbia Pictures.

Plot
In 1935, United States Narcotics Agent Michael Barrows (Powell) is assigned to find an unidentified freighter suspected of smuggling drugs. When he and the Coast Guard spot it along the California coast, they give chase. Barrows watches helplessly through binoculars as the freighter captain has about a hundred chained slave laborers thrown overboard to drown. The ship escapes by passing beyond the 12-mile limit and entering international waters. Horrified by what he has seen, Barrows determines to smash the narcotics ring – traveling "to the ends of the Earth" if need be – without first clearing it with his boss, Commissioner H. J. Anslinger (played by the real Harry J. Anslinger).

The trail leads him to Shanghai, where his Chinese counterpart, Commissioner Lum Chi Chow (Vladimir Sokoloff), has obtained information from a dying man. The man had escaped from a slave labor gang growing poppies somewhere in Egypt. Lum Chi Chow believes that once the poppies are harvested within the next few days, they will be smuggled into Shanghai for final processing. Suspicion falls on Nicholas Sokim (Ludwig Donath), as he has a criminal record, but he claims to have been out of the drug business for many years. During his investigation, Barrows meets recent widow Ann Grant (Signe Hasso), who is preparing to send orphan Chinese teenager Shu Pan Wu (Maylia) to the safety of the United States. When a drug processing lab is discovered beneath Sokim's business, Sokim commits suicide.

With time running out, and the trail going cold, Barrows travels to Egypt to search for the hidden poppy fields. There, he teams up with British Commissioner Lionel Hadley (an uncredited Vernon Steele) and French Commissioner Lariesier (Marcel Journet). They managed to locate the poppy fields on land belonging to Binda Sha (Fritz Leiber). Barrows is disturbed to learn that the irrigation system for the fields was set up by Ann Grant's late engineer husband. When Binda Sha realizes he has been caught, he throws himself off a cliff to his death.

Meanwhile, the unprocessed drugs are smuggled to Beirut in the stomachs of camels. The camels are slaughtered and the drugs retrieved. An alert agent spots them being transferred to innocent-looking butter containers sent aboard a ship bound for New York via Havana under the watchful eye of Naftalie Vrandstadter (an uncredited Ivan Triesault).

Barrows boards the ship and once again encounters Ann Grant and Shu Pan Wu; the latter seems to have developed a schoolgirl crush for him. As they near New York, the drugs disappear under cover of a fire, despite the vigilance of Barrows' planted agents. Barrows figures out that they were thrown overboard attached to weights. The ropes are treated so that they will part after a certain time, allowing the drugs to resurface and be picked up. Barrows summons the Coast Guard, who capture the drug ring's boat and the drugs. He takes the recovered packages and heads to shore with Ann and Shu Pan Wu. Shu Pan Wu steals a revolver and orders the crew to sail to a different location. When Barrows advances on her, she shoots him without hesitation, however, the gun is loaded with blanks, as the treasury agent had grown suspicious of her. Shu Pan Wu turns out to be the adult leader of the ring.

Cast
 Dick Powell as Commissioner Michael Barrows
 Signe Hasso as Ann Grant
 Maylia as Shu Pan Wu
 Ludwig Donath as Nicholas Sokim
 Vladimir Sokoloff as Commissioner Lum Chi Chow
 Edgar Barrier as Grieg
 John Hoyt as Bennett
 Marcel Journet as Commissioner Lariesier
 Luis Van Rooten as Alberto Berado
 Fritz Leiber as Binda Sha
 Michael Raffetto – Professor Salim (uncredited)

Reception
When first released Thomas M. Pyror of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "To the Ends of the Earth, for all the journalistic austerity of its introductory sequences inside the narcotics division of the Treasury Department and at the United Nations council table in Lake Success, is predominantly a cops-and-robbers tale that relies too heavily on physical violence to make its impress. Unfortunately, this heightens the synthetic flavor of the picture and accounts in large measure for the attitudinized nature of the story's development that lessens its over-all dramatic impact...The author of all this, Mr. Kennedy, has concocted a highly involved and complicated screen play that sparkles and sputters as far as dramatic effectiveness goes, and thereby imposes an average look upon a picture which, with a little more resourcefulness, might easily have been distinctive."

The staff at TV Guide liked the film and wrote, "An engrossing, globetrotting semi-documentary on the evils of narcotics pushers, specifically those who try smuggling opium onto U.S. shores...The chief factor in the film's success as an adventure picture is the realistic documentary approach."

References

External links

1948 films
1948 adventure films
American crime thriller films
American black-and-white films
Columbia Pictures films
1940s English-language films
Film noir
Films scored by George Duning
Films about illegal immigration to the United States
Films about the illegal drug trade
Films directed by Robert Stevenson
Films set in Egypt
Films set in Lebanon
Films set in Shanghai
Seafaring films
Films with screenplays by Sidney Buchman
1940s crime thriller films
1940s American films

To the Ends of the Earth (1948 film)


Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a young adult novel by Dyan Sheldon.  Originally released in 1999 through Candlewick Press, it was later turned into a Disney motion picture of the same name in 2004 starring Lindsay Lohan and was made one of the ALA book picks for 2006.  A sequel, My (Not So) Perfect Life, was released in 2002.

Plot summary
The story starts with Mary Elizabeth "Lola" Cep as she moves to New Jersey with her family and attempts to become the Queen Bee at Dellwood High (which she prefers to call Deadwood High). In order to become Queen Bee she must contend with Carla Santini, the school's most popular girl, who has no intention of vacating her place in school society. Both end up vying for the role of Eliza Doolittle in the school play, Pygmalion. To sound more interesting to her people Lola lies to her new friend Ella Gerard about her father being killed by a vehicle while taking flowers to his wife. One morning Lola's favorite band, Sidartha, break up and are doing their last ever concert together in New York City. When Carla boasts that she gets VIP passes to the band's last concert and the after party, Lola says she and Ella are also going so they attempt to buy tickets but without success. Lola asks her mother if she can go who says unless she goes with her dad she can't.

Lola goes on a hunger strike to try make her mother let her go which leads to disaster with weakness. Lola, unable to buy a decent dress at any second hand shop, gets Sam Creek to help her sneak the Eliza Doolittle dress for her to wear at the Sidartha concert. Lola and Ella sneak away to New York City and try to get the last two tickets but Lola remembered she left her money in her make up kit which she left on the train. Unable to get into the concert Lola and Ella later see the singer of the Sidartha band, Stu Wolff, getting drunk as he leaves the party. Lola and Ella lead him into a restaurant to buy him coffee but Stu sneaks out by climbing out the bathroom window. Lola and Ella then get taken to the police station where Lola tells Ella the truth about her parents and her father comes to take them and Stu back to enjoy the after party and back home afterwards.

Lola and Ella return to school the next day and Lola confesses to the class that she borrowed Eliza Doolittle's dress for the concert which surprises Mrs Baggoli then Lola is eager to boast to Carla about their antics at the afterparty, but she and Ella become humiliated when Carla succeeds in convincing everyone else they never attended by showing the photos. Carla then convinces Mrs Baggoli to have the Pygmalion show at her mansion much to the disappointment of Lola. Devastated about the humiliation, Lola goes home, upset, and decides not to perform in the show. But she changes her mind the night of the play after Ella calls her out on this, and Lola rushes to school to take on her role as the lead. The book ends with the play as a success and with Lola and Carla in the bathroom fixing up their make up for the after party while they acknowledge each other.

Characters
Mary Elizabeth "Lola" Cep
The main character of the story who was born in New York City, has a passion for being an actor and is competing with Carla Santini.
Ella Gerard
Lola's best friend who lives in New Jersey and becomes more assertive as the story proceeds.
Carla Santini
The most popular girl in Dellwood High and Lola's enemy who has a passion for making Lola's life miserable.
Mrs Baggoli
Lola's teacher in Dellwood High who directs the class into making the Pygmalion show.
Stuart "Stu" Wolff
The lead singer of Lola's favorite band Sidhartha who gets drunk and is helped by Lola and Ella.
Pam Cep and Paula Cep
The Twins: Lola's younger siblings.
Mr and Mrs Gerard
Ella Gerard's parents who don't approve of Lola at first.
Karen Kapok Cep
Lola's mother whose idea it was to move from New York City to New Jersey for a quieter life.
Sam Creek
A kid from Dellwood High who helps Lola sneak out Eliza Doolittle's Dress.

Reception
Critical reception for Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen was positive, with Booklist calling it "hilarious" and "truly funny". Publishers Weekly positively reviewed the book, praising Lola's "wit and charm". Kirkus Reviews also positively reviewed the book, citing the supporting cast as one of the highlights of the book.

Film adaptation

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen was adapted into a theatrical film starring Lindsay Lohan. The film received negative reviews from critics receiving a rating of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Resources

1999 American novels
American young adult novels
American novels adapted into films
Candlewick Press books
Novels set in New Jersey

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (novel)


I-Chen Wu () is a professor at Department of Computer Science, National Chiao Tung University. He received his B.S. in Electronic Engineering from National Taiwan University (NTU), M.S. in computer science from NTU, and Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University, in 1982, 1984 and 1993, respectively.

Wu invented a new game, named Connect6, a variation of the five-in-a-row game, and presented this game in the 11th Advances in Computer Games Conference (ACG'11) in 2005. The game-tree complexity of this game is quite high, close to Chinese Chess. Since presented in 2005, Connect6 has been a tournament item in Computer Olympiad. He wrote a program, named NCTU6, and won the gold in the tournament in 2006. Up to date, there have been at least four game websites supporting this game, at least 10 web forums for this game (in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, English, Spanish and multi-lingual), hundreds of thousands games played over the Internet, several Josekis (opening moves) and Tsumegos (like puzzles) developed, and one human Connect6 open tournament held in Summer 2006.

Wu also developed a game platform over Internet and actively participated in software development leading a team to major software components and framework in both clients and servers. In the client side, the team led by him developed a portable AWT/Swing architecture for Java game development, which has been used in some game companies including Sina Inc., Hinet, and ThinkNewIdea Inc., in Taiwan.

References

External links
Homepage of I-Chen Wu
Homepage of Connect6
Chess Programming Kiwi -- I-Chen Wu

Academic staff of the National Chiao Tung University
Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University alumni
Artificial intelligence researchers
Carnegie Mellon University alumni
Living people
National Taiwan University alumni
Taiwanese computer scientists
Year of birth missing (living people)

I-Chen Wu


The Fifer or Young Flautist (1866) is an oil painting by French painter Édouard Manet. It hangs in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.

History
Manet painted The Fifer after a trip to Spain he made in 1865. There he discovered the work of Diego Velázquez. Manet reflected the influence of Spanish painting in The Fifer. The painting was rejected by the jury of the Paris Salon in 1866. The painting was exhibited in 1867. Manet died in 1883. In 1884, The Fifer was seen at the major retrospective exhibition of Manet's work organized as a tribute.

The rejection by the Salon jury caused the writer Émile Zola to publish a series of articles in defense of Manet in the newspaper L'Événement.

Between 1873 and 1893, the painting was held by Jean-Baptiste Faure, a French composer and baritone, friend of Manet. In 1893, it was returned to the collection of art dealer Durand-Ruel. The painting was acquired in 1894 by Count Isaac de Camondo. It remained in his collection until 1911. That year it was donated to the French state. The painting was intended for the Musée du Louvre. It was not exhibited to the general public until 1914.

In 1947, the painting was moved to the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. This museum is a showroom located in the Jardin des Tuileries and belonging to the Louvre. It remained there until 1986. It then was brought to the Musée d'Orsay with the rest of the Impressionist paintings in the Louvre. It can currently be seen in the Musée d'Orsay.

Analysis
Manet portrayed an anonymous character: a teenage musician of the band of the Imperial Guard. The lad was sent to Manet by commander Lejosne. He was "treated like a grandee of Spain." Additional models may have also posed for the figure. The likenesses of both Léon Leenhoff (Manet's stepson) and Victorine Meurent (Manet's preferred model) have been seen in the boy's face and figure.

Sandra Orienti declares, "The Fifer is one of Manet's  most famous paintings, and it is also one of his most daring works: here ... can be found a synthesis of all that is most complex in his vocabulary." She points out that the band boy's uniform is painted in red, black, and white with decorations in dull gold. The figure and its dress contrasts with the vague, undefined background. The lad has no support for himself except himself. "[h]is form ... seems to create a double dimension, the first being the small figure of the boy, the second his eyes and the spectator's eyes meeting between the rather crudely painted eyelids."

References

Paintings by Édouard Manet
1860s paintings
Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The Fifer


A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a turnstile can restrict passage only to people who insert a coin, ticket, pass, or other method of payment or verification.  Modern turnstiles can incorporate biometrics, including retina scanning, fingerprints, and other individual human characteristics which can be scanned. Thus a turnstile can be used in the case of paid access (sometimes called a faregate or ticket barrier when used for this purpose), for example to access public transport, a pay toilet, or to restrict access to authorized people, for example in the lobby of an office building.

History

Turnstiles were originally used, like other forms of stile, to allow human beings to pass while keeping sheep or other livestock penned in. The use of turnstiles in most modern applications has been credited to Clarence Saunders, who used them in his first Piggly Wiggly store.

Applications

Turnstiles are used at a wide variety of settings, including stadiums, amusement parks, mass transit stations, office lobbies, airports, ski resorts, factories, power plants and casinos.

From a business/revenue standpoint, turnstiles give an accurate, verifiable count of attendance. From a security standpoint, they lead patrons to enter single-file, so security personnel have a clear view of each patron. This enables security to efficiently isolate potential trouble or to confiscate any prohibited materials. On the other hand, physical barriers become a serious safety issue when a speedy evacuation is needed, requiring emergency exits that bypass any turnstiles.

Persons with disabilities may have difficulties using turnstiles. In these cases, generally a wide aisle gate or a manual gate may be provided. At some locations where luggage is expected, a line of turnstiles may be entirely formed of wide aisle gates, for example at Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 Underground station.

Turnstiles often use ratchet mechanisms to allow the rotation of the stile in one direction allowing ingress but preventing rotation in the other direction. They are often designed to operate only after a payment has been made, usually by inserting a coin or token in a slot; or by swiping, tapping, or inserting a paper ticket or electronically-encoded card.

Turnstiles are often used for counting the numbers of people passing through a gate, even when payment is not involved. They are used extensively in this manner in amusement parks, in order to keep track of how many people enter and exit the park and ride each ride. The first major use of turnstiles at a sporting venue was at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland.

Types

Waist-high
Waist-high turnstiles are often used in fairs, attractions, and arenas. The user inserts a ticket or pass into the slot, from which a barcode is read; if access is to be granted, a sensor determines the speed with which the user passes through, and sets the electric motor to turn the turnstile at the corresponding speed.
Sometimes also referred to as "half-height" turnstiles, this fixed arm style has traditionally been the most popular type of turnstile. There are many variations of this style available, including one which is designed to be accompanied by a matching ticket box, and one with a ticket box built in. Some styles are designed to allow entry only after a payment (actual coins and tokens) are inserted, while others allow access after a valid barcode is electronically read.
A disadvantage to this type is people can "jump the turnstile" as happens commonly on the Moscow Metro and other mass transport systems in Russia.

Wall mount tripod turnstile
The wall mount tripod turnstiles are suitable for places where installation on ground becomes impossible. The turnstile is directly fixed to the wall and all functions are achieved. Such turnstiles are usually used in narrow lanes and where wall installation is more feasible.

Optical

Optical turnstiles are an alternative to the traditional "arm"-style turnstile and are increasingly used in locations where a physical barrier is deemed unnecessary or unaesthetic. Optical turnstiles generally use an infrared beam to count patrons and recognize anyone attempting to enter a site without a valid entry pass.

Drop-arm optical

The drop-arm optical turnstile is a combination of the security of a tripod or barrier turnstile and a fully optical turnstile. The lanes can have either single or double arms. When access is granted the arms drop into recesses in the cabinet. Once the arms drop out of the way, the turnstile functions as a fully optical turnstile.

Full-height turnstiles
The full-height turnstilea larger version of the waist-high turnstile, commonly  high is something like a revolving door. Beyond this, full-height turnstiles often offer better security because they cannot be climbed over or ducked under, and can be designed to lock after each person enters so that the following person must pay a fee or present credentials. They may be designed to allow traffic in both directions, or in a single direction. It is sometimes called a "rotogate", especially in Chicago, where it is used at unstaffed exits of Chicago "L" stations, and is also used increasingly in New York City Subway stations since the turn of the 21st century.

See also
 Optical turnstile
 Stile
 Revolving door
 Toll road
 Turnstile (symbol)

Notes

References

External links

Page showing various designs of turnstiles in the history of the New York subway system.

Fare collection systems
Types of gates
Access control

Turnstile


Diane Cluck is an American singer-songwriter. She describes her music as "intuitive folk". She currently resides in Virginia.

Early life
Cluck was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 7, and was classically trained on scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music. She is of Irish descent on her father's side.

Music
Cluck began performing her songs publicly in New York City in 2000. She self-released her first solo album, Diane Cluck, that same year. By 2001, she was appearing regularly at the SideWalk Cafe in New York's Lower East Side, a venue that has featured such artists as Jeffrey Lewis, Regina Spektor, and Kimya Dawson.  Massachusetts-based record label Important Records distributed Cluck's second and third albums, Macy's Day Bird in 2001 and Black With Green Leaves in 2002. Also in 2002, her song "Monte Carlo" was included in a compilation of New York City anti-folk music, Anti-folk Vol. 1, released by British label Rough Trade Records.

She wrote most of her fourth album, Oh Vanille / ova nil, while staying at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula, California, in 2003. The album was distributed in 2004 by Important Records, and subsequently reissued on 180g audiophile vinyl pressed by 3 Syllables Records in 2010.  Her fifth album, Countless Times, was distributed by Voodoo-Eros in 2005, and her sixth album, Monarcana, 2001–2004, was distributed in 2006 by Very Friendly.

Although known as a solo performer, she has often collaborated with others, including Jeffrey Lewis, CocoRosie, Toby Goodshank, Herman Düne, and, recently, drummer Anders Griffen and cellist Isabel Castellvi on tours in the US, UK, and Europe.

In December 2011, she announced a fan-funded "Song-of-the-Week" project, in which she has been writing and distributing a series of 24 new songs directly to subscribers.

In March 2014, Cluck released her seventh album, Boneset, her first in eight years, on 10" vinyl, CD, and digitally, laid out "Dark to light to dark, the album overends as a mobius strip, its songs seeded with connection and release, overcoming fear with heart...birds, bones, surrender," which NPR Music described as "as thrilling a showcase of Cluck's clawed, counterintuitive fingerpicking and elastic voice as anything she's ever released."

In early 2014, Cluck embarked on a tour of the US, Ireland, the UK, and Europe. She released and co-directed her first official music video for Bonesets first single, "Sara".

Style
Shawn Bosler of The Village Voice wrote that "she is likely one of the most refined and elegant songwriters in all of neo-folkdom. A brilliant idiosyncratic guitarist, a witty and wise lyricist, an imaginative melody writer with a powerful voice; her dark and introspective tunes are utterly captivating, sorta like an earthier Kate Bush. Watch her spellbind the room."

David Garland of NPR Music described her sound as "an unlikely mix of Aaron Neville, the Baka people, and Joni Mitchell." Praising Cluck's singing for being "unaffected yet unusual", he notes that she "handles her guitar in a distinctive way, often plucking the strings where the neck meets the body of the guitar, producing a harp-like tone."

Discography
Albums
Diane Cluck – 2000 (self-released)
Macy's Day Bird – 2001 (distributed by Important Records)
Black With Green Leaves – 2002 (distributed by Important Record)
Oh Vanille/Ova Nil – 2003 (distributed by Important Records)
Countless Times – 2005 (distributed by Voodoo-Eros)
Monarcana, 2001–2004 – 2006 (distributed by Very Friendly)
Oh Vanille/Ova Nil 180g audiophile vinyl – 2010 (reissue with previously unreleased tracks, pressed and printed by 3 Syllables Records, mastered by Ray Staff)
Boneset – 2014 (distributed by Bone & Bloom Publishing)
Common Wealth – 2020
Collaborations (incomplete list)
Travel Light, The River, Finish Line – 2001 – With Jeffrey Lewis
So Not What I Wanted – With Herman Düne
To Live Like the Boys – With Herman Düne
Palam & Porom – 2005 – With Toby Goodshank
tremenda – 2005 – With Sierra Casady (on Les Disque Du Crespuscule (The Black and White Skins))
Noah's Ark – 2005 – Contributed to CocoRosie album
Tell Me to Stay (vocals) – 2009 – by Stanley Brinks
Compilation appearance
AFNY Collaborations Volume 1 (Olive Juice Music) – 2001 – With Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson
Antifolk Vol. 1 (Rough Trade) – 2002 – Monte Carlo
The Golden Apples of the Sun – 2004 – Heat From Every Corner
The Enlightened Family: A Collection Of Lost Songs – 2005 – Real Good Time and Nothing But God
Rough Trade Shops: Singer Songwriter 1 – 2006 – Easy to be Around
So Much Fire to Roast Human Flesh – 2006 – A Phoenix and Doves
From Colette With Love – 2006 – Real Good Time
Anticomp Folkilation – 2007 – The River – With Jeffrey Lewis
Margot at the Wedding OST – 2007 – Easy to be Around
Skins – 2011 – Petite Roses
Audio Antihero presents: REGAL VS STEAMBOAT for Rape Crisis – 2013 – Content to Reform (Montreal Studio Version)

References

American people of Irish descent
American women guitarists
American women singers
Freak folk
Musicians from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Guitarists from Pennsylvania
21st-century American women
People from Charlottesville, Virginia

Diane Cluck


Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural is a non-profit cultural center and bookstore in Sylmar, California.  It was founded in 2003 by noted Chicano author Luis J. Rodriguez, his wife Trini Rodriguez, Angelica Loa, and Victor Mendoza (Victor E) of El Vuh. Tia Chucha's provides arts and music workshops and events to the culturally underserved Northeastern San Fernando Valley.

History
Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural was founded in 2003 next door to Tia Chucha's Cafe Cultural, a coffee shop and bookstore owned by Chicano writer Luis Rodriguez, his wife Trini, and their brother-in-law Enrique Sanchez in Sylmar, CA since 2001. The Centro's founders were Luis Rodriguez, Angelica Loa Perez and Victor Mendoza. They began offering workshops in writing, painting, music, dance, film, theater, reiki healing, and indigenous studies. A resident Danza Azteca group, Temachtia Quetzalcoatl, was formed, as well as natural healing circles for both men and women.

In 2004 the Centro received its 501 (c) 3 tax exempt status.

In 2005, the Centro took over operations of Tia Chucha Press and continues to produce poetry books, distributed by Northwestern University Press. Tia Chucha Press was started in 1989 by Luis Rodriguez in Chicago and since 1991 was run by the nonprofit literary arts organization, the Guild Complex, until the Centro made Tia Chucha Press its publishing wing. This complements the CD production project, Dos Manos Records, that the Centro began in 2003.

The Centro also sponsors weekly Open Mic nights as well as regular film nights, musical events, original theater, author readings, and art exhibits. Since 2006, it also created the only annual literacy & performing arts festival in the San Fernando Valley called "Celebrating Words: Written, Performed & Sung." And we sponsor an arts-based youth empowerment project called "Young Warriors,"
started by teen leaders Mayra Zaragoza and Brian Dessaint.

In January 2007, both the Centro and Tia Chucha's Cafe were forced out of their facility to make way for a high-end laundromat. Given the state of the real estate market at the time, the Centro had to move into a much smaller facility in nearby Lake View Terrace, and the Cafe was closed. In March of that year, the Centro took over the bookstore operation from the Cafe.

That summer the Centro established an annual benefit event called "Celebrating Community & Culture: Si Se Puede/Yes We Can!" at Hollywood's Ford Amphitheatre with such notables as Cheech Marin, John Densmore of the Doors, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, El Vuh, Xela, Tierra, Upground, Olmeca, Nobuko Miyamoto, and more.

The board also expanded to include leaders in the Chicano, African American, Asian, and European American communities.

By February 2009, Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore leased another space back in Sylmar at the Sylmar Plaza on Hubbard Boulevard and Gladstone Avenue, down the street from Mission Community College. The Centro is now the only multi-arts cultural space and bookstore in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, with some 450,000 people, mostly Mexican/Central American—the second largest Latino community in the United States after East LA (with a sizable African American and growing Asian communities).

The Centro has so far been funded by the LA City Department of Cultural Affairs, the LA County Arts Commission, the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of San Fernando, the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Panta Rhea Foundation, the Attias Family Foundation, the Middleton Foundation, the Center for Cultural Innovation, Toyota Sales, among others.

Individual donors have included Bruce Springsteen, John Densmore of the Doors, Lou Adler, Richard Foos, Adrienne Rich, Tom Hayden, Jack Kornfield, David Sandoval, Jesus Trevino, Denise Chavez and the Border Book Festival, Dave Marsh, and the Luis & Trini Rodriguez Family.

Projects

Tia Chucha Press
Founded in Chicago in 1989 by Luis Rodriguez, Tia Chucha Press has published around 50 poetry collections, anthologies, chapbooks and a CD by a wide range of poets including President Obama Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, Patricia Smith, Ricardo Sanchez, Terrance Hayes, Tony Fitzpatrick, Lisa Buscani, Diane Glancy, Nick Carbo, Denise Duhamel & Maureen Seaton, Ariel Robello, Virgil Suarez, Kyoko Mori, Patricia Spears Jones, Linda Susan Jackson, Alfred Arteaga, and Richard Vargas. Tia Chucha Poets include Pulitzer and National Book Award nominees, National Poetry Slam Champions, and winners of Whiting, Lannan, National Endowment for the Arts, and Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest fellowships and awards, among others. In 1991, the Press became a project of the Guild Complex, a nonprofit literary arts center in Chicago. Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural took over operations of the Press in 2005. Tia Chucha Press books are distributed by Northwestern University Press and sold at all major independent and chain bookstores as well as online outlets like Amazon.com.

Dos Manos Records
Founded by Luis Rodriguez in 2002, Dos Manos Records became a project of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural the following year. Dos Manos has released two CDs: From Earth To Sky: A Collection of Word & Song, a showcase of musicians and spoken word artists from the greater Los Angeles area, and My Name's Not Rodriguez, featuring Rodriguez reading his poetry accompanied by the music of Ernie Perez with the band, Seven Rabbit. Both are available at CD Baby online store.

Young Warriors
Founded in 2007, Young Warriors is the Centro's ongoing youth empowerment group. Founded by Mayra Zaragoza, Young Warriors utilizes the arts, dialogue, and indigenous healing practices to help troubled young people. Members have taken part in Mosaic Multicultural Foundation's Men's Conferences, Sisters of the Earth Women's Conferences, and the Koures Youth Symposium, among other events. Issues of gangs, drugs, social issues, the arts, and how to live healthy, whole and dignified lives are discussed. A large mural in collaboration with the LA Mural Project, and several young graffiti artists, was painted in 2008 at an elementary school in Sylmar, CA, among other initiatives.

Major Events

Celebrating Words: Written, Spoken and Sung
Begun in 2006, "Celebrating Words: Written, Performed & Sung" is Tia Chucha's Centro's annual outdoor community festival, held each summer in Sylmar. The only literacy & performing arts festival in Los Angeles' City Council District 7, it features musicians, bands, spoken word artists, theater performers, and dance troupes, as well as an array of local vendors, including Tia Chucha's bookstore. Sponsors have included the LA City Department of Cultural Affairs, Center for Cultural Innovation, Youth Policy Institute, the Mayor's Office, LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavksy, Councilpersons Richard Alarcon and Tony Cardenas, California State Senator Alex Padilla, State Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, among others.

Tia Chucha's Celebration of Community and Culture
Starting in 2007, Tia Chucha's has produced an annual benefit concert at the John Anson Ford AmphiTheatre in Hollywood. The 2007 concert featured John Densmore (of The Doors), Culture Clash, Tierra, Upground, El Vuh, Xela, Luis Rodriguez, Ollin, among others. The 2008 show included Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Cheech Marin, Nobuko Miyamoto, Opening People's Minds, Olmeca, and Upground. Tia Chucha's resident Azteca Danza group, Temachtia Quetzacoatl, opened for both events. And Latino Comedian Ernie G. served as host.

References

External links
Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural website
Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural site at myspace
articles about Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural by the Los Angeles Times
 Tia Chucha Press Records at Newberry Library

Bookstores in California
Independent bookstores of the United States
Non-profit organizations based in California
Culture of Los Angeles
2003 establishments in California
Retail buildings in California
Buildings and structures in Los Angeles
Sylmar, Los Angeles

Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural


Sir Charles Alexander Cameron, CB (16 July 1830 – 27 February 1921) was an Irish physician, chemist and writer prominent in the adoption of medical hygiene. For over fifty years he had charge of the Public Health Department of Dublin Corporation. He was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 1885.

Early life and education

Cameron was born 1830 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Captain Ewen Cameron of Scotland and Belinda Smith of County Cavan. He was descended from Clan Cameron of Lochiel.

He received his early education in chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry in Dublin. In 1852 he was elected professor to the newly founded Dublin Chemical Society, while continuing to study medicine at several schools and hospitals in Dublin. In 1854 he went to Germany where he graduated in philosophy and medicine. While there he published his translations of German poems and songs.

In 1862, he married Lucie Macnamara of Dublin.

Medical career

Upon his return to Ireland he became scientific advisor to the British government in Ireland in criminal cases and over the years took part in many notable trials, including those relating to the Phoenix Park Murders. In 1862, he became public analyst for the City of Dublin, which position was later extended to 23 counties in Ireland. In 1867, he was elected Professor of Hygiene in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). He was also lecturer in chemistry in Dr Steevens' Hospital and the Ledwich School of Medicine, succeeding Dr. Maxwell Simpson, and retained these positions until 1874. In 1875 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

From 1858 to 1863, he was editor and part proprietor of the Agricultural Review, in which he wrote hundreds of articles on various subjects. In 1860–62, he was also editor of the Dublin Hospital Gazette and afterwards published many reports upon public health to the Dublin Journal of Medical Science. At this time he was in contact with many agricultural associations both in Ireland and abroad and received a number of awards and tributes.

In 1874, he became Co-Medical Officer of Health for Dublin Corporation and two years later became Chief Medical Officer. Being in charge of the Public Health Department of Dublin City meant that he was always in the public eye, and due to the level of poverty and disease in the city at the time his work was cut out for him. He made many recommendations for improving the sanitation of dwellings and saw to it that unsanitary housing was either improved or closed down. He published numerous sanitary reports, papers on hygiene, the social life of the very poor and proper eating habits, those of the very poor in particular. On the other hand, he was in a position to meet the major figures of the day, from the monarchy and the government downwards. He was a member of several clubs in the city and dined with local and visiting celebrities alike, which he described in his reminiscences.

In 1884 he became vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and the following year became president. He was knighted in 1885 in consideration of "his scientific researches, and his services in the cause of public health". In 1886, he published his History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and of the Irish Schools of Medicine. This work contains nearly 300 biographies of the most eminent medical men Ireland.

Personal life

Cameron married Lucie Macnamara of Dublin in 1862, who died in the early 1880s.  They had eight children.

His eldest son, Captain Charles J. Cameron, died in a boating accident in Athlone in 1913, while another son, Lieutenant Ewen Henry Cameron, shot himself in a train in Newcastle in 1915 while on the way to the Western Front. Two sons, Edwin and Mervyn, died of pulmonary tuberculosis in their 20s.

Cameron was a leading Freemason in Dublin, serving as Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland (1911–20), Deputy Grand Master of the Great Priory of Ireland, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree (Ancient and Accepted Rite for Ireland). He was first initiated as a member of Fidelity Lodge No. 125 in 1858, and he was also a member of the Duke of York Lodge No. 25, serving as its secretary for over 50 years.

Later life

In 1911 Cameron was made a Freeman of the city and honoured by many from the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor, Alderman Kelly, to the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Aberdeen.

He died at his home on Raglan Road in Dublin on 27 February 1921 and was interred in Mount Jerome Cemetery.  At his death he left a son, Ernest Stuart Cameron, and two daughters, Lucie Gerrard and Helena Stanley;

Arms

Works

Reminiscences of Sir Charles A. Cameron, CB, 1913
History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and of the Irish Schools of Medicine 1886

See also
Hygiene

References

External links

Irish knights
Irish writers
Irish public health doctors
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Knights Bachelor
Medical doctors from Dublin (city)
Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium
19th-century Irish people
1830 births
1921 deaths
Presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Irish people of Scottish descent

Charles Cameron (physician)


Martin Hall (born in Guildford, England) is a British-South African academic and educationalist who has written extensively on South African history, culture and higher education policy. He is a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Salford and is currently serving as the acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC): Transformation at the University of Cape Town.

Early life
Hall studied at Chichester High School For Boys, one of the two state schools in the United Kingdom at the time that prepared students for Oxbridge admission. He was the first in his family to complete university. He completed his bachelor's degree in archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University in 1974.

Early career
He worked firstly in Lesotho in the area of archaeological excavation and then in London for the Southwark Archaeological Rescue Unit. He moved to South Africa in 1975 where he worked for five years as an ethnoarchaeologist in the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg. He completed his doctoral studies at Cambridge in 1980 and moved to Cape Town in the same year. He then became Chief Professional Officer for the Department of Archaeology at the South African Museum.

University of Cape Town
He joined the University of Cape Town Department of Archaeology in 1983 and was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor of Historical Archaeology, becoming in due course the head of department. In 1983 he became Director of the Centre for African Studies

He was Director of the Multimedia Education Group from 1997–2001 at UCT.

In 1998, he was appointed as a Fellow of the University of Cape Town, and the following year became the inaugural Dean of the Higher Education Development Unit, charged with coordinating support for students from underprivileged backgrounds.

In 1999 he was appointed as President of the World Archaeological Congress and also served as General Secretary of the South African Archaeological Society.

In 2002 he was promoted to deputy vice-chancellor and held this position for six years with responsibilities for strategic, academic and budget planning. He stepped down from this position at the end of August 2008 to take up a position at the Graduate School of Business.

He is a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa.

He is part of Flooved advisory board.

He was appointed as the acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC): Transformation at the University of Cape Town after Loretta Ferris decided not to stand for another term.

University of Salford
Short-listed for the position of Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Ahmherst, Hall was however unsuccessful. He was to be appointed a few months later, in October 2008, as the next vice-chancellor. He arrived at Salford in April 2009 as vice-chancellor designate and officially took up the post on 1 August 2009. Hall stated in June 2013 that Salford had had "too aggressive an industrial-relations stance in previous years."

Personal life
Hall holds joint British and South African citizenship. His wife, Professor Brenda Cooper, is an academic specialising in post-colonial and African literature. They have three children.

References

Publications
Hall, Martin 2000. "Archaeology and the Modern World: Colonial Transcripts in South Africa and the Chesapeake" London: Routledge
Hall, Martin 2009. "Nothing is different but everything's changed". In The Next Twenty Five Years? Affirmative Action and Higher Education in the United States and South Africa.
Edited by Martin Hall, Marvin Krislov and David L. Featherman. University of Michigan Press.
Hall, Martin 2009. "New knowledge and the university". Anthropology Southern Africa, 32 (1 and 2): 69–86.
Hall, Martin. 1987. Farmers, Kings, and Traders: The People of Southern Africa, 200-1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

External links

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Academics of the University of Salford
British expatriates in South Africa
South African archaeologists
South African educational theorists
Academic staff of the University of Cape Town
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Salford
Fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Writers from Guildford

Martin Hall (archaeologist)


Smothered, Covered, and Chunked! is a cover album by American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse. Released August 14, 2012, it was released alongside The Mighty Death Pop! and was never sold separately. It was prepackaged with the Red Pop variant edition of The Mighty Death Pop!, and is the group's fourth album with producer Mike E. Clark since his return to Psychopathic Records.

Background

On April 20, 2012, Psychopathic Records released an infomercial for the album The Mighty Death Pop!, announcing that it will be available in three separate editions, each with a variant color cover and prepackaged with a bonus album. The first variant edition, dubbed the Red Pop edition, contains an album of cover songs entitled Smothered, Covered & Chunked, which features appearances by Psychopathic artists Twiztid, Anybody Killa, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Jumpsteady, Cold 187um and DJ Clay, as well as Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, the band Downtown Brown, and the rapper Lil Wyte. The title was originally announced as Covered, Smothered & Chunked, but later corrected to Smothered, Covered & Chunked.

On July 19, 2012, 30 second snippets of The Mighty Death Pop!, Smothered, Covered & Chunked, and the other two bonus albums pre-packaged with The Mighty Death Pop! were released on Amazon. A day later, the snippets were removed from the website per Psychopathic Records' request. On August 8, the album along with The Mighty Death Pop! and its other bonus albums were all released early in the 13th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos. The art for Smothered, Covered & Chunked was designed by a local Detroit artist and designer Patrick Hatfield and features traditional and digital illustration and design.

On January 9, 2013, it was announced that a music video for the cover for "Jump Around" was in production. The music video for the song was released on February 1, 2013, via Psychopathic Records' YouTube channel.

On March 8, 2017, the second single and music video was released for the song "Beautiful".

Production

Insane Clown Posse contacted Fred Durst, as they sought to record a collaboration that no one would expect. Violent J said that Durst didn't want to be paid for his contribution to the album, as he "was just happy and surprised that we wanted him on it." Boondox was originally announced as having an appearance on "Mind Playin' Tricks On Me" during the Mighty Death Pop! infomercial, while the final released version featured Anybody Killa instead.

Reception

Reviewing The Mighty Death Pop! for The Daily Blam, Kevin Skinner favorably reviewed Smothered, Covered & Chunked, calling it his favorite of the bonus discs, but did not assign the bonus album a star rating. The Oakland Press also considered it to be the best of the bonus albums.

Track listing

The track listing for the bonus album Smothered, Covered & Chunked was released as part of the Mighty Death Pop infomercial. An updated version of the track listing has been confirmed.

References

External links
 Official website

2012 albums
Albums produced by Mike E. Clark
Covers albums
Insane Clown Posse albums
Psychopathic Records albums

Smothered, Covered & Chunked


Manila (February 5, 1983 – February 28, 2009) was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame Champion racehorse. He was sired by Northern Dancer's son Lyphard, out of the mare Dona Ysidra. He was bred by Filipino food and beverage magnate Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. who owned Dona Ysidra and who named her for his grandfather's sister, Dona Ysidra Cojuangco (1867–1960) of Tarlac, reportedly the founder of the Cojuangco family fortune.

Manila was raced by Lexington, Kentucky, thoroughbred agent Bradley M. Shannon and trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee LeRoy Jolley. Considered a very great long-distance turf horse, in his fourteen starts on grass Manila never finished worse than second. In his 2006 book titled THE BEST and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing, author Steve Davidowitz of Daily Racing Form ranks Manila as the best long-distance turf horse in American racing history ahead of No.2, John Henry.

Racing at age three, Manila  won the important Grade I Turf Classic at Belmont Park, then in the fall won the Breeders' Cup Turf, defeating the Champion filly, Estrapade, Theatrical, and the 1986 European Horse of the Year, Dancing Brave. For his 1986 performances, Manila was voted the United States' Eclipse Award for Outstanding Male Turf Horse.

In 1987, Manila repeated as the United Nations Handicap winner and defeated Theatrical again to win the Arlington Million. Injured in the fall, he was retired to stud duty at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky, having been syndicated for US$20 million.

Although Manila was reasonably successful as a sire, producing the California multiple graded stakes race winner Bien Bien, none of his offspring achieved his level of success. He stood at stud in İzmit, Turkey between 1999 and 2009. He died on February 28, 2009, due to "Aortic Ring Rupture".

External links
 Manila's 1987 Arlington Million

References

 Davidowitz, Steve THE BEST and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing (2006) DRF Press

1983 racehorse births
2009 racehorse deaths
Racehorses bred in Kentucky
Racehorses trained in the United States
Breeders' Cup Turf winners
Eclipse Award winners
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
Thoroughbred family 16-g

Manila (horse)


Rougned Roberto Odor () (born February 3, 1994), nicknamed "Rougie", is a Venezuelan professional baseball second baseman who is a free agent. He previously played for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and San Diego Padres. Odor played for Texas's minor league affiliates from 2011 until he was called up to the MLB team in 2014. The Rangers traded him to the Yankees in 2021 where he would be released following the season. He was later signed by the Orioles for the 2022 season.

Early life and family
Odor was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on February 3, 1994. His first name is a combination of his grandfather's name, Douglas, and his grandmother's name, Nedia; in keeping with the family custom of giving boys names that begin with the letter "R", the "D" in Douglas was changed to an "R," yielding Rougned.

His father, also named Rougned, played college baseball for the University of New Orleans. He has a sister and a younger brother, Rougned José Odor, who signed with the Texas Rangers organization on February 19, 2015. His uncle, Rouglas, played for eight seasons in Minor League Baseball for the Cleveland and Milwaukee Brewers organizations, and is now a manager with the Akron RubberDucks. Three of his uncles on his mother's side played baseball. All three played for the Aguilas de Zulia in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, while Eduardo Zambrano also played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs.

Though raised in Maracaibo, he also visited his mother's family in the country during weekends. He spent time around horses, and he enjoys toros coleados, a sport involving horses.

Odor began playing baseball at the age of two. He played in the 2009 World Youth Baseball Championship. He was named to the tournament's all-star team as a second baseman.

Professional career

Minor leagues
Odor signed with the Texas Rangers as an international free agent in 2011, receiving a $425,000 signing bonus. The Rangers aggressively assigned him to the Spokane Indians of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. He was the youngest player in the Northwest League, and had a .262 batting average on the season. Odor was suspended for four games after starting a brawl during a game with the Vancouver Canadians. In 2012, Odor batted .259 with the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League.

Odor began the 2013 season with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, where he had a .303 batting average in 99 games played. In August 2013, Odor was promoted to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Class AA Texas League. Odor's emergence with the Rangers allowed them to trade utility infielder Leury Garcia to the Chicago White Sox for all-star right fielder Alex Rios that month. He finished the season with a .305 batting average with 41 doubles, six triples, 11 home runs, and 78 runs batted in in 130 games for Myrtle Beach and Frisco. The Rangers named Odor their minor league player of the year.

The Rangers invited Odor to spring training in 2014. He began the year with Frisco.

Texas Rangers

2014
The Rangers promoted Odor to the major leagues on May 8, 2014. On May 9, against Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz, Odor hit a single for his first major league hit. On May 12, against Houston Astros pitcher Brad Peacock, Odor hit his first major league home run. He hit his first grand slam on August 27, in a 12–4 decision against the Seattle Mariners. Odor was the youngest player in the MLB during his rookie season and helped the Rangers' second base problem even though they finished 67–95, the third-worst record in baseball that year.

Odor finished the year hitting a .259 batting average, 39 runs, 14 doubles, nine home runs, four stolen bases, and 48 RBIs in 386 at-bats over 110 games. He was the youngest player in the American League, was 8th in the league in triples (7), and was 10th in caught stealing (7).

2015
Odor began 2015 as the Rangers' starting second baseman, but he struggled mightily, hitting .144 with one home run, nine RBIs, and 25 strikeouts to go with seven walks in 29 games. He was optioned to the Round Rock Express of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League on May 11. However, upon his demotion, Odor found his stroke, beating up Triple-A pitching to a .352/.426/.639 slash with five home runs, 19 RBIs, and only 10 strikeouts to 12 walks in roughly the same number of appearances. On June 15, following an injury to Delino DeShields Jr., Odor was recalled to the Rangers, and in his return, promptly went 3-for-3 with two RBI against the Dodgers. Rougned proceeded to hit very hot in the month of June, hitting .391 with two home runs and nine RBIs and hit .319 with five home runs and 16 RBI in July.

He ended the regular season hitting .261, with 16 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 54 runs scored. He led all AL second basemen in errors, with 17.

2016
On May 15, 2016, Odor started an on-field brawl by punching Jose Bautista in the face during the eighth inning of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays after Bautista slid into Odor at second base during a double play. Odor first pushed and then swung at Bautista, hitting him squarely in the face. There was speculation that this incident spilled over from the bad blood that resulted from Game 5 of 2015's American League Division Series between the Rangers and the Blue Jays, a game that included Blue Jays fans throwing trash onto the field and Bautista flipping his bat emphatically after hitting the Blue Jays' go-ahead home run. Odor received an eight-game suspension from MLB two days later for his actions that resulted in the brawl. After an appeal, Odor's suspension was revised, eventually finalized at seven games.

In 150 games, Odor finished the year with a .271 batting average, 33 home runs, 33 doubles, and 88 RBI. He walked in 3.0% of his at-bats, the lowest percentage in the major leagues, and had the lowest walks-per-strikeout ratio in the majors (0.14). He saw the highest percentage of curveballs of all MLB hitters (16.0%). He led all AL second basemen in errors, with 22.

On October 9, Odor was charged with a throwing error which allowed the Toronto Blue Jays to score the winning run in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the ALDS, thus eliminating the Rangers despite holding the best record in the AL in 2016.

2017
Before the 2017 season, Odor played for the Venezuelan national baseball team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. On March 25, Odor signed a six-year extension worth $49.5 million. The deal was finalized on March 30. In the Rangers' season opener against the Cleveland Indians, Odor hit two home runs in his first two at-bats of the season.

For the 2017 season, he batted .204/.252/.397, had the lowest on base percentage of all qualified major league batters, and had the lowest batting average on balls in play (.224) of all major league players. For the third consecutive season he led all AL second basemen in errors, with 19.

2018–2020
In 2018, Odor batted .253/.326/.424 with 18 home runs and 63 RBI. He stole 12 bases, but led the American League in caught stealing, with 12. In 2019, he batted .205/.283/.439/.721 with 30 home runs and 93 RBIs. He led the American League with 178 strikeouts. In 2019, on defense he led all American League second basemen in errors, with 15. In 2020, Odor batted .167/209/.413 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI. Odor only played in 38 games on the year because of the shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 29, 2021, Odor was informed that he had not made the Rangers' Opening Day roster. He was designated for assignment when the Rangers' set their Opening Day roster on April 1.

New York Yankees
On April 6, 2021, the Rangers traded Odor to the New York Yankees for Josh Stowers and Antonio Cabello. In July and August, he moved to third base for 23 games to fill in for Gio Urshela.

The Yankees designated Odor for assignment on November 19. Odor was released by the Yankees on November 23.

Baltimore Orioles
Odor signed a one-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles on November 30, 2021. He struggled with the team in 2022, ending with a negative WAR. He ended the 2022 season with the Orioles with a .207/.275/.357/.632 slash line.

San Diego Padres
On March 1, 2023, Odor signed a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres, receiving a non-roster invitation to spring training. He had his contract selected on March 30, 2023. In 59 games for the Padres, he batted .210/.306/.370 with 4 home runs and 18 RBI. Odor was designated for assignment by San Diego on July 18, following the promotion of Taylor Kohlwey. On July 24, Odor cleared waivers and elected free agency.

Personal life
As part of the contract Odor signed in 2017, Rangers owner Ray Davis included a pair of quarter horses. These are the seventh and eighth horses Odor owns. Odor plans to build a ranch in the North Texas area, so that his family can move from Venezuela.

See also
 List of Major League Baseball players from Venezuela

References

External links

1994 births
Living people
Baltimore Orioles players
Frisco RoughRiders players
Hickory Crawdads players
Major League Baseball players from Venezuela
Major League Baseball second basemen
Myrtle Beach Pelicans players
Navegantes del Magallanes players
Nashville Sounds players
New York Yankees players
San Diego Padres players
Spokane Indians players
Baseball players from Maracaibo
Round Rock Express players
Texas Rangers players
Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States
World Baseball Classic players of Venezuela
2017 World Baseball Classic players

Rougned Odor


Empress Wang ( 628 – between 16 November–3 December 655) was an empress of the Chinese Tang dynasty. She was the first wife and empress of Emperor Gaozong and became empress shortly after he became emperor in 649. She, however, did not bear any sons for him and was not favored. Therefore, in apprehension that one of his concubines, Consort Xiao, who was both favored and had a son, might seek to displace her, she recommended a former concubine of Emperor Gaozong's father Emperor Taizong, Consort Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), to be Emperor Gaozong's concubine as well, hoping to divert favor from Consort Xiao. Soon, however, Consort Wu became dominant in the palace and overwhelmed both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, eventually accusing them of using witchcraft and conspiracy to poison against Emperor Gaozong. Emperor Gaozong reduced both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao to commoner rank and put them under arrest in 655, replacing Empress Wang with Consort Wu. Soon, as recorded in the New Book of Tang and Zizhi Tongjian, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were cruelly tortured and executed on the new Empress Wu's orders.

Background
It is not known when the future Empress Wang was born, although it is known that she was from Bing Prefecture (并州, roughly modern Taiyuan, Shanxi). Her father Wang Renyou (王仁佑) was a son of Wang Sizheng (王思政), a major general for Western Wei, and during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Wang Renyou served as magistrate of Luoshan County (羅山, in modern Xinyang, Henan). Emperor Taizong's aunt Princess Tong'an had married Wang Renyou's uncle Wang Yu (王裕) and had heard that Wang Renyou's daughter was both beautiful and gentle. Princess Tong'an thus recommended to Emperor Taizong that he make Lady Wang one of his daughters-in-law. Emperor Taizong agreed, taking her to be the wife and princess of his ninth son Li Zhi, the Prince of Jin. In 643, after Li Zhi became crown prince, replacing his older brother Li Chengqian (who was deposed for plotting to overthrow Emperor Taizong), Princess Wang became crown princess. Her father Wang Renyou was promoted to the post of prefect of Chen Prefecture (陳州, roughly modern Zhoukou, Henan).

As empress
In 10 July 649, Emperor Taizong died, and Li Zhi took the throne as Emperor Gaozong. He created Crown Princess Wang empress in spring 650. He also created her father Wang Renyou the Duke of Wei and her mother Lady Liu the Lady of Wei. Wang Renyou soon died thereafter and was posthumously given the honor of being Sikong (司空), one of the Three Excellencies. Her uncle Liu Shi became one of the chancellors.

Despite the length of the marriage that Empress Wang had with Emperor Gaozong, she did not bear him a son, and by the time she became empress, he had already had four sons with his concubines—and the mother of the fourth son Li Sujie, Consort Xiao, who had also given birth to two daughters (the later Princesses Yiyang and Gao'an), was particularly favored. Liu Shi suggested to Empress Wang that she suggest that Emperor Gaozong's oldest son Li Zhong, whose mother Consort Liu was of low birth, be made crown prince, so that she could be endeared to him. Empress Wang was able to persuade Emperor Gaozong's powerful uncle Zhangsun Wuji to support the plan, and in 652, Li Zhong was created crown prince.

By this point, however, Empress Wang was facing a major threat from a different romantic rival. When Emperor Gaozong was crown prince, he had been attracted by the beauty of one of Emperor Taizong's concubines, Consort Wu.  After Emperor Taizong's death, all of his concubines who did not bear children were housed at Ganye Temple (感業寺) to be Buddhist nuns. In either 650 or 651, when Emperor Gaozong was visiting Ganye Temple to offer incense to Buddha, when he saw Consort Wu. Both of them wept. When Empress Wang heard this, she, wanting to divert Emperor Gaozong's favor from Consort Xiao, secretly instructed Consort Wu to grow her hair back, while suggesting to Emperor Gaozong that he take her as a concubine.  Consort Wu was intelligent and full of machinations, and therefore, when she first returned to the palace, she acted humbly and flattered Empress Wang, who trusted her greatly and recommended her to Emperor Gaozong.  Soon, Emperor Gaozong became enamored with Consort Wu. Both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao lost favor, and soon, they realized the seriousness of the situation and joined forces to try to alienate Consort Wu from Emperor Gaozong but were unsuccessful. In particular, Empress Wang was described as being unable or unwilling to make friends among Emperor Gaozong's other concubines, ladies in waiting, and servants, a situation aggravated by the fact that her mother Lady Liu and uncle Liu Shi were disrespectful to the other concubines. By contrast, Consort Wu cultivated relationships with other concubines, ladies in waiting, and servants, particularly those that Empress Wang had offended, and she further distributed the rewards she received with them. So, Consort Wu took virtual control of the palace from the hands of Empress Wang, who was in charge of it, without her getting a whiff of the matter, and Consort Wu encouraged the crew both near her and at the palace door to spy on and slander Empress Wang.

However, the situation came to a head in 654. Consort Wu had given birth to a daughter, and after birth, Empress Wang visited her. Shortly thereafter, the child was found dead, and the Empress Wang accused of murdering the girl. Consort Wu took this opportunity to convince Emperor Gaozong that Empress Wang had killed their daughter and she wanted to get rid of Empress Wang in this way (Historians believe that Lady Wu's ambitions were such that she killed her daughter to oust Empress Wang.)

In summer 655, Consort Wu accused Empress Wang and Lady Liu of using witchcraft to try to gain favor back for Empress Wang, and in response, Emperor Gaozong barred Lady Liu from the palace and exiled Liu Shi.  Despite this, he did not immediately depose Empress Wang.  In fall 655, he summoned the chancellors Zhangsun, Chu Suiliang, Li Ji, and Yu Zhining to the palace to discuss the matter—a meeting that Li Ji declined to attend.  Chu fervently opposed deposing Empress Wang and pointed out that Consort Wu was previously Emperor Taizong's concubine and, therefore, taking her was considered incest. Two other chancellors not invited to the meeting, Han Yuan and Lai Ji, also submitted opposition.  However, after Emperor Gaozong asked Li Ji for his opinion, Li Ji responded, "This is your family matter, Your Imperial Majesty.  Why ask anyone else?"  Emperor Gaozong thus became resolved to depose Empress Wang, and in winter 655—November 16—both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were deposed and reduced to commoner rank.  Their mothers and brothers were exiled to the modern Guangdong region, while Empress Wang's father Wang Renyou's posthumous honors were stripped.

After removal
Six days after Empress Wang's removal, Consort Wu was created empress. By order of the new Empress Wu, like criminals, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were put under arrest inside the palace, at a building that had its doors and windows tightly sealed, with only a hole on the wall to deliver food, and they were rarely fed. One day, after the coronation of Empress Wu, Emperor Gaozong thought of them and decided to visit them, and when he saw the conditions they were in, he was saddened, calling out, "Empress, Shufei [Consort Xiao's title], where are you?"  Empress Wang wept and responded, "We have been found guilty and reduced to be maidservants.  How can we still be referred to by honored titles?"  She also begged, "If Your Imperial Majesty considered our past relationships and will allow us to again see the light of day, please rename this place 'Huixin Courtyard' (回心院, meaning "the courtyard of a returned heart")."  Emperor Gaozong was initially receptive, responding, "I will do so right away."  However, when Empress Wu heard this, she was enraged, and she issued their death warrants, and sent people to cane Empress Wang and Consort Xiao 100 times each and cut off their hands and feet.  She then had them put into large wine jars, saying, "Let these two witches be drunk to their bones!"  When Empress Wang was informed of the orders, she bowed and stated, "May His Imperial Majesty live forever, and may Zhaoyi [(昭儀, Empress Wu's title as a concubine, implicitly refusing to acknowledge her as empress)] be favored forever. Dying is within my responsibility."  However, Consort Xiao cursed Empress Wu, "Wu is a treacherous monster!  May it be that I be reincarnated as a cat and she be reincarnated as a mouse, so that I can, for ever and ever, grab her throat."  Empress Wang and Consort Xiao suffered for several days inside the wine jars before dying, and Empress Wu had their bodies taken out of the jars and beheaded.  (When Empress Wu heard of Consort Xiao's curse, she forbade the palace personnel from keeping cats as pets, and even ordered the banning of cats as pets in the capital, Chang'an, but thereafter often dreamed of Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, with scattered hair and bleeding limbs, seeking to kill her. She thereafter initially moved to Penglai Palace (蓬萊宮), but continued to dream of them, and therefore eventually spent most of her time in the eastern capital Luoyang and not in the capital Chang'an, where these events occurred.)  Soon after Empress Wang's and Consort Xiao's deaths, at Empress Wu's urging, Emperor Gaozong also had Empress Wang's and her clan's surname changed to Mang (蟒, meaning "boa constrictor") and Consort Xiao's and her clan's surname changed to Xiao (梟, meaning "owl").  Only after Empress Wu's own death in 705 were their clans' proper surnames restored.

However, it is controversial that Empress Wang was allowed to suffer the torture for a few days, to her death. Another assumption is that Empress Wang was strangled to death with Emperor Gaozong's approval.

Modern depictions
 Portrayed by Chang Chung Wen in the 1963 Hong-Kong movie Empress Wu Tse-Tien.
 Portrayed by Ban Ban in the 1984 Hong-Kong TV series Empress Wu.
 Portrayed by Chen Pei-ling in the 1985 Taiwanese TV series The Empress of the Dynasty.
 Portrayed by Zheng Shuang in the 1995 Chinese TV series Wu Zetian.
 Portrayed by Zhang Tong in the 2003 Chinese TV series Lady Wu: The First Empress.
 Portrayed by Yan Bingyan in the 2006 Chinese TV series Wu Zi Bei Ge.
 Portrayed by Jun Hyun-ah in 2006-2007 SBS TV series Yeon Gaesomun.
 Portrayed by Ni Hong Jie in the 2011 Chinese TV series Meng Hui Tang Chao.
 Portrayed by Zhou Mu Yin in the 2011 Chinese TV series Beauty World.
 Portrayed by Jiang Lin Jing in the 2011 TV series Secret History of Empress Wu.
 Portrayed by Lan Yan in the 2012 Chinese TV series Secret History of Princess Taiping.
 Portrayed by Shi Shi in the 2014 Chinese TV series The Empress of China.
 Portrayed by Hu Sang in the 2014 Chinese TV series Young Sherlock.
 Portrayed by Theresa Fu in the 2017 Chinese TV series Legendary Di Renjie.

Notes and references

 Old Book of Tang, vol. 51.
 New Book of Tang, vol. 76.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 199, 200.

628 births
655 deaths
Tang dynasty empresses
Executed Tang dynasty people
7th-century executions by the Tang dynasty
People executed by torture
7th-century Chinese women
7th-century Chinese people
People from Taiyuan
People executed for witchcraft

Empress Wang (Gaozong)


Filin-class guard ships were a class of ships originally built in Finland as patrol vessels for the Imperial Russian Navy. With the withdrawal of Russia from the area, the ships went to other use.

Overview
Four ships were constructed, two of them were sold to Polish Navy where they served as General Haller and Komendant Piłsudski and the other two were commissioned into the Finnish Navy as Turunmaa and Karjala.

They were initially classified as patrol cruisers though the name did not describe them well. The class had good accommodation for a their size but they hardly resembled a warship. Foreign observers' comments on the ships of the class in Finnish service was that they were 'graceful tugs'. The ships were only suitable for coastal patrolling as they were not particularly seaworthy and their structural strength and power were limited. Also the structure did not allow guns larger than 75 mm to be installed.

Ships in class

Last two ships of the same class - Gorlitsa and Sova - were being constructed before the work on them was halted. They were never completed and instead were scrapped.

References

Gunboats
Naval ships of Finland
Naval ships of Poland
Gunboat classes
Patrol boat classes

Filin-class guard ship