In information theory, turbo codes (originally in French Turbocodes) are a class of high-performance forward error correction (FEC) codes developed around 1990–91, but first published in 1993. They were the first practical codes to closely approach the maximum channel capacity or Shannon limit, a theoretical maximum for the code rate at which reliable communication is still possible given a specific noise level. Turbo codes are used in 3G/4G mobile communications (e.g., in UMTS and LTE) and in (deep space) satellite communications as well as other applications where designers seek to achieve reliable information transfer over bandwidth- or latency-constrained communication links in the presence of data-corrupting noise. Turbo codes compete with low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, which provide similar performance.

The name "turbo code" arose from the feedback loop used during normal turbo code decoding, which was analogized to the exhaust feedback used for engine turbocharging. Hagenauer has argued the term turbo code is a misnomer since there is no feedback involved in the encoding process.

History
The fundamental patent application for turbo codes was filed on 23 April 1991. The patent application lists Claude Berrou as the sole inventor of turbo codes. The patent filing resulted in several patents including US Patent 5,446,747, which expired 29 August 2013.

The first public paper on turbo codes was "Near Shannon Limit Error-correcting Coding and Decoding: Turbo-codes". This paper was published 1993 in the Proceedings of IEEE International Communications Conference. The 1993 paper was formed from three separate submissions that were combined due to space constraints. The merger caused the paper to list three authors: Berrou, Glavieux, and Thitimajshima (from Télécom Bretagne, former ENST Bretagne, France). However, it is clear from the original patent filing that Berrou is the sole inventor of turbo codes and that the other authors of the paper contributed material other than the core concepts.

Turbo codes were so revolutionary at the time of their introduction that many experts in the field of coding did not believe the reported results. When the performance was confirmed a small revolution in the world of coding took place that led to the investigation of many other types of iterative signal processing.

The first class of turbo code was the parallel concatenated convolutional code (PCCC). Since the introduction of the original parallel turbo codes in 1993, many other classes of turbo code have been discovered, including serial versions serial concatenated convolutional codes and repeat-accumulate codes. Iterative turbo decoding methods have also been applied to more conventional FEC systems, including Reed–Solomon corrected convolutional codes, although these systems are too complex for practical implementations of iterative decoders. Turbo equalization also flowed from the concept of turbo coding.

In addition to turbo codes, Berrou also invented recursive systematic convolutional (RSC) codes, which are used in the example implementation of turbo codes described in the patent. Turbo codes that use RSC codes seem to perform better than turbo codes that do not use RSC codes.

Prior to turbo codes, the best constructions were serial concatenated codes based on an outer Reed–Solomon error correction code combined with an inner Viterbi-decoded short constraint length convolutional code, also known as RSV codes.

In a later paper, Berrou gave credit to the intuition of "G. Battail, J. Hagenauer and P. Hoeher, who, in the late 80s, highlighted the interest of probabilistic processing." He adds "R. Gallager and M. Tanner had already imagined coding and decoding techniques whose general principles are closely related," although the necessary calculations were impractical at that time.

An example encoder
There are many different instances of turbo codes, using different component encoders, input/output ratios, interleavers, and puncturing patterns.  This example encoder implementation describes a classic turbo encoder, and demonstrates the general design of parallel turbo codes.

This encoder implementation sends three sub-blocks of bits.  The first sub-block is the m-bit block of payload data.  The second sub-block is n/2 parity bits for the payload data, computed using a recursive systematic convolutional code (RSC code).  The third sub-block is n/2 parity bits for a known permutation of the payload data, again computed using an RSC code.  Thus, two redundant but different sub-blocks of parity bits are sent with the payload. The complete block has  bits of data with a code rate of . The permutation of the payload data is carried out by a device called an interleaver.

Hardware-wise, this turbo code encoder consists of two identical RSC coders, C1 and C2, as depicted in the figure, which are connected to each other using a concatenation scheme, called parallel concatenation:

In the figure, M is a memory register. The delay line and interleaver force input bits dk to appear in different sequences.
At first iteration, the input sequence dk appears at both outputs of the encoder, xk and y1k or y2k due to the encoder's systematic nature. If the encoders C1 and C2 are used in n1 and n2 iterations, their rates are respectively equal to

The decoder
The decoder is built in a similar way to the above encoder. Two elementary decoders are interconnected to each other, but in series, not in parallel. The  decoder operates on lower speed (i.e., ), thus, it is intended for the  encoder, and  is for  correspondingly.  yields a soft decision which causes  delay. The same delay is caused by the delay line in the encoder. The 's operation causes  delay.

An interleaver installed between the two decoders is used here to scatter error bursts coming from  output. DI block is a demultiplexing and insertion module. It works as a switch, redirecting input bits to  at one moment and to  at another. In OFF state, it feeds both  and  inputs with padding bits (zeros).

Consider a memoryless AWGN channel, and assume that at k-th iteration, the decoder receives a pair of random variables:

where  and  are independent noise components having the same variance .  is a k-th bit from  encoder output.

Redundant information is demultiplexed and sent through DI to  (when ) and to  (when ).

 yields a soft decision; i.e.:

and delivers it to .  is called the logarithm of the likelihood ratio (LLR).  is the a posteriori probability (APP) of the  data bit which shows the probability of interpreting a received  bit as . Taking the LLR into account,  yields a hard decision; i.e., a decoded bit.

It is known that the Viterbi algorithm is unable to calculate APP, thus it cannot be used in . Instead of that, a modified BCJR algorithm is used. For , the Viterbi algorithm is an appropriate one.

However, the depicted structure is not an optimal one, because  uses only a proper fraction of the available redundant information. In order to improve the structure, a feedback loop is used (see the dotted line on the figure).

Soft decision approach
The decoder front-end produces an integer for each bit in the data stream. This integer is a measure of how likely it is that the bit is a 0 or 1 and is also called soft bit. The integer could be drawn from the range [−127, 127], where:
 −127 means "certainly 0"
 −100 means "very likely 0"
 0 means "it could be either 0 or 1"
 100 means "very likely 1"
 127 means "certainly 1"

This introduces a probabilistic aspect to the data-stream from the front end, but it conveys more information about each bit than just 0 or 1.

For example, for each bit, the front end of a traditional wireless-receiver has to decide if an internal analog voltage is above or below a given threshold voltage level. For a turbo code decoder, the front end would provide an integer measure of how far the internal voltage is from the given threshold.

To decode the -bit block of data, the decoder front-end creates a block of likelihood measures, with one likelihood measure for each bit in the data stream. There are two parallel decoders, one for each of the -bit parity sub-blocks. Both decoders use the sub-block of m likelihoods for the payload data. The decoder working on the second parity sub-block knows the permutation that the coder used for this sub-block.

Solving hypotheses to find bits
The key innovation of turbo codes is how they use the likelihood data to reconcile differences between the two decoders.  Each of the two convolutional decoders generates a hypothesis (with derived likelihoods) for the pattern of m bits in the payload sub-block.  The hypothesis bit-patterns are compared, and if they differ, the decoders exchange the derived likelihoods they have for each bit in the hypotheses.  Each decoder incorporates the derived likelihood estimates from the other decoder to generate a new hypothesis for the bits in the payload.  Then they compare these new hypotheses.  This iterative process continues until the two decoders come up with the same hypothesis for the m-bit pattern of the payload, typically in 15 to 18 cycles.

An analogy can be drawn between this process and that of solving cross-reference puzzles like crossword or sudoku.  Consider a partially completed, possibly garbled crossword puzzle.  Two puzzle solvers (decoders) are trying to solve it:  one possessing only the "down" clues (parity bits), and the other possessing only the "across" clues.  To start, both solvers guess the answers (hypotheses) to their own clues, noting down how confident they are in each letter (payload bit).  Then, they compare notes, by exchanging answers and confidence ratings with each other, noticing where and how they differ.  Based on this new knowledge, they both come up with updated answers and confidence ratings, repeating the whole process until they converge to the same solution.

Performance
Turbo codes perform well due to the attractive combination of the code's random appearance on the channel together with the physically realisable decoding structure. Turbo codes are affected by an error floor.

Practical applications using turbo codes
Telecommunications:
 Turbo codes are used extensively in 3G and 4G mobile telephony standards; e.g., in HSPA, EV-DO and LTE.
 MediaFLO, terrestrial mobile television system from Qualcomm.
 The interaction channel of satellite communication systems, such as DVB-RCS and DVB-RCS2.
 Recent NASA missions such as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter use turbo codes as an alternative to Reed–Solomon error correction-Viterbi decoder codes.
 IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), a wireless metropolitan network standard, uses block turbo coding and convolutional turbo coding.

Bayesian formulation
From an artificial intelligence viewpoint, turbo codes can be considered as an instance of loopy belief propagation in Bayesian networks.

See also
 Convolutional code
 Viterbi algorithm
 Soft-decision decoding
 Interleaver
 BCJR algorithm
 Low-density parity-check code
 Serial concatenated convolutional codes
 Turbo equalizer
 Forward error correction

References

Further reading

Publications

External links

 "The UMTS Turbo Code and an Efficient Decoder Implementation Suitable for Software-Defined Radios" (International Journal of Wireless Information Networks)

 "Pushing the Limit", a Science News feature about the development and genesis of turbo codes
 International Symposium On Turbo Codes
 Coded Modulation Library, an open source library for simulating turbo codes in matlab
 "Turbo Equalization: Principles and New Results", an IEEE Transactions on Communications article about using convolutional codes jointly with channel equalization.
 IT++ Home Page The IT++ is a powerful C++ library which in particular supports turbo codes
 Turbo codes publications by David MacKay
 AFF3CT Home Page (A Fast Forward Error Correction Toolbox) for high speed turbo codes simulations in software

 3GPP LTE Turbo Reference Design.
 Estimate Turbo Code BER Performance in AWGN (MatLab).
 Parallel Concatenated Convolutional Coding: Turbo Codes (MatLab Simulink)

Error detection and correction
Capacity-approaching codes

Turbo code


WINS (1010 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to New York, New York, owned by Audacy, Inc. It features an all-news format known as 1010 WINS, with the call sign phonetically pronounced as "wins". WINS's studios are located in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood in lower Manhattan, and its transmitter is located in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

WINS is the oldest continuously operating all-news station in the United States, having adopted the format on April 19, 1965, under former owner Westinghouse Broadcasting, and is one of two all-news stations in the New York City market owned by Audacy, with WCBS (880 AM) being the other. The station's nighttime signal, via ionosphere skywave propagation, reaches much of the eastern half of North America.

WINS formerly broadcast in the HD Radio (hybrid) format. As of October 27, 2022, WINS is simulcasting on WINS-FM (92.3 FM).

History
The station began broadcasting in 1924 on 950 kHz as WGBS, with studios located in Gimbels Department Store near Herald Square; the call sign was an initialism for Gimbel Brothers Store. WGBS moved to 860 kHz in 1927, to 1180 kHz in 1928, to 600 kHz in 1929, and back to 1180 kHz in 1931. The station was bought by William Randolph Hearst in 1932. That same year, effective January 15, it adopted its present call sign, named after Hearst's International News Service. No longer owned by Gimbels, WINS relocated to the Hotel Lincoln on 8th Avenue.

On June 19, 1932, it moved to the WINS Building, 114 East 58th Street.

WINS changed its frequency from 1180 kHz to 1000 kHz on March 29, 1941, as part of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), and moved again to 1010 kHz in 1944. Cincinnati-based Crosley Broadcasting Corporation announced its purchase of the station from Hearst in 1945 for $1,700,000, though it would be over a year before Crosley would take control of WINS, in July 1946.

Sportscaster Mel Allen was an early disc jockey on the station, hosting an afternoon popular music program beginning in 1947.

Rock and roll (1953–1965)
Crosley sold the station to J. Elroy McCaw's Gotham Broadcasting Corporation in 1953 for $450,000. Soon after, WINS became one of the first stations in the United States to play rock and roll music full time. In the fall of 1954, Alan Freed was hired as a disc jockey on WINS. In 1958, Murray "the K" Kaufman joined as the all-night DJ, naming his show the Swingin' Soiree. Noted sports broadcaster Les Keiter served as sports director for a period in the 1950s. Keiter is perhaps best remembered for his recreations of San Francisco (formerly New York) Giants baseball games, which WINS carried in 1958 to keep disconnected Giant fans in touch with their team. The Giants had moved west along with the Brooklyn Dodgers the previous year.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, as the transistor radio became popular, especially with young people who could carry radios with them everywhere, rock and roll solidified as a genre, thanks in large measure to what became known as Top 40 radio. In New York, four stations battled in the category: WMCA (570 AM), WMGM (1050 AM), WABC (770 AM), and WINS. While WMCA was only 5,000 watts, it was at the bottom end of the dial, which gave it better coverage than might be expected for its power; the other three were all 50,000 watts, but only WABC was both non-directional and a clear channel station. Of those three, WINS was the most directional (aimed straight at New York's inner boroughs), with a weaker signal than the others toward the New Jersey suburbs (primarily to protect 50,000 watt CFRB in Toronto, Canada, which is also on 1010) and the Jersey Shore.

In 1962, WMGM adopted a beautiful music format under its previous call letters, WHN, while WINS was purchased by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. WMCA enjoyed some early success after WINS and WMGM left the Top 40 format, but WABC became the dominant Top 40 station in New York City by 1965. On April 18, 1965, around 8:00 pm, WINS bowed out of Top 40 competition with the song "Out in the Streets", by The Shangri-Las.

"All news. All the time." (1965–present)

On April 19, 1965, after weeks of speculation, WINS changed its format radically. It became the third radio station in the United States to attempt all-news programming, going with the new format around the clock. WINS immediately established a template for its format with an easily identifiable, distinctive teletype sound in the background, which for many years was from a live microphone behind their bank of newswire machines. Most other all-news stations later dropped this, but WINS continued to use a teletype sound effect despite teletype machines becoming obsolete by the mid-1980s. The teletype sound effect was eventually dropped by the late 2010s. WINS used memorable slogans such as "All news, all the time"; "The newswatch never stops"; "Listen two, three, four times a day"; and "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world"; the latter tagline was a reference to WINS's format clock, which returns to the top stories every twenty minutes.

WINS's switch to all-news was initially viewed as a risky programming choice. Tijuana, Mexico-based border blaster XETRA had programmed an English-language all-news format for the Los Angeles radio market, as had Chicago station WNUS and, previously WAVA AM and FM in the Washington, D.C. area. Locally, WABC-FM aired a news format for several weeks during the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike. None of the other attempts were successful, and as a result many in the radio industry predicted a quick demise for WINS, however, Westinghouse Broadcasting supported the format and WINS eventually prospered with it. Westinghouse made similar format changes at two other stations: KYW in Philadelphia, in September 1965; and KFWB in Los Angeles, in March 1968. Together, WINS, KFWB and KYW served as prototype all-news stations, and all three succeeded in attracting both listeners and advertising revenue over the years.

In 1995, Westinghouse Electric purchased CBS, a move which put WINS under common ownership with WCBS. Despite initial speculation after the merger that either station would drop the all-news format, both stations remained in place and are among the most successful radio operations in the U.S. in terms of advertising sales. The two stations have their own areas of dominance; WINS's ratings numbers are better within New York City, while WCBS's listener strength is greater in the suburbs, owing primarily to its much stronger signal. From a programming standpoint, they have different styles (hard news, vs. lighter and conversational) to appeal to different listeners. Since the Westinghouse-CBS merger, both stations have continued to perform well in both ratings and advertising revenue.

WINS's signal was also improved in 1995 after the company bought KSYG in Little Rock, Arkansas, which had also broadcast on the same frequency, and took it off the air. This relieved WINS of the need to "null" its signal in the direction of Little Rock. WINS' towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, which were shorter than optimum for its frequency, were replaced with four taller ones. While the signal is still directional to protect other stations, such as CFRB in Toronto (itself a Class A station), the signal no longer has to protect Little Rock.

Despite having been owned by CBS, WINS maintained an affiliation with ABC News Radio throughout, as WCBS was and remains the CBS Radio News affiliate for New York. WINS added a secondary affiliation with Westwood One News on January 1, 2015, after Westwood One ended a distribution deal with ABC News; WINS does not clear newscasts from either service but does air vocal reports and sound bites.

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.), which fully separated WINS and WCBS radio from WCBS-TV. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17, 2017.

On October 10, 2022, it was announced that Audacy would flip sister station WNYL (92.3 FM) from its alternative format to a simulcast of WINS effective October 27; Audacy also concurrently announced that, after a deal was reached with the SAG-AFTRA union, it was planning on combining the separate staffs and newsrooms of WINS and WCBS. Along with the launch of the simulcast, WINS' simulcast on WNEW-FM's HD3 sub-channel was dropped.

Influence
CBS was the first broadcaster to make an attempt to mimic Westinghouse's all-news formula. Locally in New York, WINS' success as an all-news station spurred CBS to make a similar transformation with WCBS in August 1967. At first, WCBS did not go full-time with all-news, offering other programming during late nights, but joined WINS in broadcasting all-news around the clock by 1970. After completing the conversion of WCBS to all-news, five of CBS' other owned-and-operated AM stations also adopted the format; WCAU in Philadelphia and KNX in Los Angeles competed directly against KYW and KFWB, but with varying results.

In 1975, NBC Radio tried a national all-news approach with its News and Information Service (NIS) network, but it was shut down in 1977 after only two years in operation. In the mid-1970s, Westinghouse's second Chicago station, WIND, carried the format part-time while competing against CBS-owned, all-news WBBM. WIND was not successful, and Westinghouse tried again after selling WIND in 1985 and acquiring WMAQ from NBC in 1988. Westinghouse converted WMAQ into a full-time news outlet with mixed results.

In the summer of 2011, New York would gain a third all-news station, this one on the FM dial, in WEMP's FM News 101.9.  In the wake of meager ratings, the format abruptly flipped back to the alternative rock format that had been on the frequency three years prior.  Later in 2012, Merlin Media, LLC sold the frequency to CBS Radio, which turned it into an FM simulcast of WFAN, making it a sister station to both WINS and WCBS.

Today, the New York outlets co-exist with the format as Audacy-owned sister stations. , Audacy operates eight successful all-news stations around the U.S., including WINS, WCBS, WBBM, KNX, KYW, KCBS in San Francisco, WWJ in Detroit, and KRLD in Dallas. (WBZ in Boston had also been a Westinghouse/CBS all-news outlet until CBS Radio's merger with Entercom in November 2017 forced WBZ to be spun off to iHeartMedia to meet FCC ownership limits and concerns from the Department of Justice.)

See also

CBS News Radio

References

External links

 WINS Historical Profile & Interviews - 1978

Westinghouse Broadcasting
All-news radio stations in the United States
Audacy, Inc. radio stations
Radio stations established in 1924
INS
1924 establishments in New York City
Hudson Square

WINS (AM)


The Foreign-buyers tax is a  property transfer tax of 15% on residential property purchased by foreign buyers in  British Columbia.   A property transfer tax is paid only once for each property owner, while property taxes are paid every year.

The tax involved amendments to the Property Transfer Tax Act imposing an additional property transfer tax of 15% of the assessed value on property purchased by those who are neither citizens nor residents of Canada. It is part of the omnibus legislation Miscellaneous Statutes (Housing Priority Initiatives) Amendment Act, 2016. It  was introduced after calls urging the British Columbia provincial government to intervene in the housing market and curb foreign investment that was seen as a major contributor to the rapid rise in home prices.

References

British Columbia
Taxation in Canada
Housing in Canada
Canadian legislation

Foreign-buyers tax


Ventura García-Sancho e Ibarrondo, 1st Count of Consuegra (20 April 1837, in Mexico City, Mexico – 20 July 1914, in Madrid, Spain) better known by his spouse's title Marquess of Aguilar de Campoo, was a Mexican-Spanish nobleman and politician who served twice as Minister of State and as Mayor of Madrid between 1899 and 1900.

Family and Origins
Ventura Crisóforo Domingo Ignacio García-Sancho e Ibarrondo was born in Mexico City on 20 April 1837, the son of don José Marcial García-Sancho y Sánchez-Leñero, knight of the Ilustre Solar de Tejada, and of doña María de la Trinidad de Ibarrondo y Maruri, both from Guadalajara (México) and members of well-stablished families of Spanish origin.

During his youth, don Ventura and his family moved to Bordeaux, France, where decades before his maternal grandparents (the Basque don Domingo de Ibarrondo y Urraza, and the Mexican-criolla doña María Ignacia de Maruri y Berrueco) lived. After his mother's death in 1846, don Ventura began to pass long stays in Spain in the company of his paternal grandfather, don José Ventura García-Sancho y Moreno de Tejada (who was from Lumbreras, Spain).

Marriage and Offspring
He married in Madrid, 2 June 1861, María del Pilar de Zavala, 20th Marchioness of Aguilar de Campoo, daughter of Juan de Zavala, 1st Marques of Sierra Bullones and María del Pilar de Guzmán, 24th Duchess of Nájera. Through his marriage, he became Grandee of Spain.

They were the parents of:

 Doña María del Pilar García-Sancho y Zavala (1864-1916), 27th Duchess of Nájera (GE), 21st Marchioness of Aguilar de Campoo (GE), V Marchioness of Sierra Bullones (GE), 21st Countess of Paredes de Nava (GE), 21st Countess of Oñate (GE), 18th Marchioness of Quintana del Marco, 10th Marchioness of Guevara, Countess of Treviño, 7th Marchioness of Torreblanca, 11th Countess of Castañeda, 2nd Countess of Consuegra. She married don Leopoldo Travesedo y Fernández-Casariego, son of the Counts of Maluque (with succession).
 Doña María del Milagro García-Sancho y Zavala (1874-1959), 15th Marchioness of Montealegre. She first married don Antonio Morenés y García-Alessón, 1st Marquess of Ceballos-Carvajal (with succession), and secondly don Francisco de Urruela y Lara.

Honors

 Count of Consuegra
 Mayordomo Mayor of the Queen
 Caballerizo Mayor of the Queen
 Tutor and Chief of Staff of the infanta doña Cristina
 Chief of Staff of the infanta doña María Teresa
 Knight of the Sovereign Order of Malta
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica (1893).
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos III.
 Knight of the Collar of the Order of Carlos III (elevated in 1908).
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Légion d'Honneur (France).
 Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Iron Crown (Austria-Hungary).
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Christ (Portugal).
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold (Belgium).

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Marquesses of Spain
Counts of Spain
Mayors of Madrid
Foreign ministers of Spain
1837 births
1914 deaths
Conservative Party (Spain) politicians
Grandees of Spain
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal)
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

Ventura García-Sancho, Marquess of Aguilar de Campoo


Catwings is a series of four American children's picture books written by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by S. D. Schindler, and originally published by Scholastic from 1988 to 1999. It follows the adventures of kittens who were born with wings. Catwings is also the title of the first book in the series. The series is in print from Scholastic as of August 2015.

In Britain the series was published in two omnibus volumes as Tales of Catwings and More Tales of the Catwings (Puffin/Penguin, 1999 and 2000). In America the 2003 editions were available in a boxed set of four with slipcase title The Catwings Collection (Orchard/Scholastic), listed as Catwings Set by Powell's Books.

Scholastic classifies the Catwings books as fantasy and classifies the first two by "interest level" as "grades 2–5", the last two as "grades preK–3" (children of ages about 7–11 and 4–9 respectively). The series is covered by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, which classifies the volumes as short fiction and as chapbooks.

Scholastic Book Guides, a series for schoolteachers, includes one Catwings volume.

In 2002 and 2003 as Catwings 5 and Catwings 6, Le Guin published online editions of picture books "by Mrs. Katz's First Grade Class".

Ten years after their last Catwings volume, Le Guin and Schindler created another picture book featuring a cat: Cat Dreams (Orchard/Scholastic, 2009), with "easy rhyming text" and "realistic, full-bleed watercolor illustrations".

Plot summary

Catwings
Mrs. Jane Tabby can't explain why her four precious kittens were born with wings, but gladly she's grateful that they are able to use their flying skills to soar away from the dangerous city slums where they were born. However, once the kittens escape the big city, they learn that country life can be just as difficult.

Catwings Return
James and Harriet return to the city to find their mother. When they arrive, they find a small black kitten with wings, isolated and traumatized. They gain its trust, find their mother, and learn that the kitten is hers – lost when their first home, an old dumpster, was moved. Mother Jane declines to leave the city but asks James and Harriet to take the kitten with them. They do, and the rural children who have cared for them name her Jane.

Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings
In the country, a self-important young cat named Alexander leaves home and finds the catwings family. He grows up as he helps Jane talk.

Jane on Her Own
Young Jane leaves her farm family and returns to the city. She and mother Jane find a home with a woman in an apartment.

Publication
All books were written by Ursula K. Le Guin and illustrated by S. D. Schindler; cover designs vary but consistently use illustrations by Schindler. U.S. editions were published by Scholastic, perhaps under its Orchard Books imprint.
 Catwings (Orchard Books, 1988),
 Catwings Return (1989)
  Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings (1994)
 Jane on Her Own (1999)
 Tales of Catwings (UK: Puffin Books/Penguin, 1999),  – omnibus edition of books 1–2
 More Tales of the Catwings (Puffin, 2000),  – omnibus of books 3–4
All four books were reissued by Orchard/Scholastic in May 2003 with cover designs that display their titles under a common banner that shows "A Catwings Tale", uppercase. They are sometimes listed with titles such as Catwings Return (A Catwings Tale) and Jane on Her Own: A Catwings Tale.
 The Catwings Collection (2003),   – boxed set of "Le Guin's first four installments of her series" (as by Ken Geist and Le Guin)

Reception
Kirkus Reviews called the first Catwings book "a charming, if insubstantial story" and concluded, "Although there is nothing extraordinary here in either theme or event, the wit and precision with which the story is told give it considerable appeal. Schindler's exquisitely detailed drawings, warmed with the softest of added color, make a perfect accompaniment to what should serve as a satisfying young reader or as a read-aloud". Reviewing the sequel six months later, Kirkus observed: "Like its predecessor, this is a rather mild little story made interesting by its beguiling subject, the author's wit and felicitous use of language, and the illustrator's fine, splendidly detailed drawings".

Illustrator
Steven D. Schindler was born September 27, 1952, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and raised there. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology. He lives in Philadelphia (1999 and 2015).

By 1989 his books had been published with credit as illustrator under all of the forename(s) S. D., Steven, Steven D., and Steve.

A list of works published in January 2007 covered more than 100 books but only one as both writer and illustrator ("self-illustrated"), namely My First Bird Book (Random House, 1989, ). In February 2013 the Kirkus Reviews review of his forthcoming self-illustrated picture book Spike and Ike Take a Hike (New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, April 2013, ) observed that "Schindler has illustrated well over 100 picture and chapter books but almost never written the text himself. Readers will be happy he has taken this path". As of August 2015 the Library of Congress Online Catalog includes 130 records of books that it credits to him, which may include multiple editions of some titles. Its records for those two books alone credit Schindler as writer and illustrator.

The First Tulips in Holland, written by Phyllis Krasilovsky and published by Doubleday in 1982, was Schindler's first book published, he says. For that work he received a 1982 Parents' Choice Award for Illustration. If You Should Hear a Honey Guide, April Pulley Sayre (Houghton Mifflin, 1995) was recognized by a 1995 Smithsonian Award for outstanding natural history and Don't Fidget a Feather!, Erica Silverman (Simon & Schuster Children's, 1994) with a 1996–97 California Young Reader Medal.

WorldCat reports that Catwings (1988) ranks fourth among Schindler's books most widely held in participating libraries. The others in his top five, led by The Story of Salt, are much younger books. In chronological order:
 Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!, written by Kathleen V. Kudlinski (Dutton Children's Books, 2005), unpaged,
 Whittington, Alan Armstrong (Random House, 2005), 191 pp. – featuring "a feline descendant of Dick Whittington's famous cat of English folklore",
 The Story of Salt, Mark Kurlansky (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2006), 48 pp.,
 Tricking the Tallyman, Jacqueline D. Davies (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), unpaged – set in Vermont during the inaugural 1790 U.S. Census,

Notes

References

External links

 Search results: catwings at Kirkus.com (4 reviews)

Book series introduced in 1988
Series of children's books
American picture books
Children's fiction books
Series by Ursula K. Le Guin
1988 children's books
Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin
Fictional cats
Orchard Books books
Children's books about cats

Catwings


Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021), professionally known as Ed Asner, was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama.

Asner is the most honored male performer in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, having won seven – five for portraying Lou Grant (three as Supporting Actor in a Comedy Television Series on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and two as Lead Actor in a Dramatic Television Series on spin-off Lou Grant. His other Emmys were for performances in two miniseries: Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), and Roots (1977).

Asner acted in numerous films such as the western El Dorado (1966), the crime drama They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), and the cop drama Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981). He portrayed Guy Banister in the political thriller JFK (1991), Warren Buffett in the HBO drama film Too Big to Fail (2011), and Santa Claus in several films, including in Elf (2003). He voiced Carl Fredricksen in Pixar's animated film Up (2009).

Asner starred in the ABC sitcom Thunder Alley (1994–1995), and Michael: Every Day (2011–2017). He has also acted extensively in numerous television series such as The Practice, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Good Wife, Cobra Kai, Briarpatch, Working Class, and Dead to Me. He also voiced J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man (1994) series, and Uncle Ben in The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008).

Early life and education
Asner was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. His Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents, Lizzie (née Seliger; 1885–1967, from Odesa, Ukraine), a housewife, and Morris David Asner (1879–1957, from Lithuania (Vilna Governorate or Grodno Governorate), ran a second-hand shop and junkyard. His four older siblings were Ben J. Asner (1915–1986), Eve Asner (1916–2014), Esther Edelman (1919–2014) and Labe Asner (1923–2017). He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family and given the Hebrew name Yitzhak.

Asner attended Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, and the University of Chicago. He studied journalism in Chicago until a professor advised him there was little money to be made in the profession. He had been working in a steel mill, but he quickly switched to drama, debuting as the martyred Thomas Becket in a campus production of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. He eventually dropped out of school, going to work as a taxi driver, worked on the assembly line for General Motors, and other odd jobs before being drafted in the military in 1951.

Asner served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1951 to 1953 and appeared in plays that toured Army bases in Europe.

Career

1955–1969: Early work and television roles

Following his military service, Asner helped found the Playwrights Theatre Company in Chicago, but left for New York City before members of that company regrouped as the Compass Players in the mid-1950s. He later made frequent guest appearances with the successor to Compass, The Second City. In New York City, Asner played Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum in the Off-Broadway revival of Threepenny Opera, scored his first Broadway role in Face of a Hero alongside Jack Lemmon in 1960, and began to make inroads as a television actor, having made his TV debut in 1957 on Studio One. In two notable performances on television, Asner played Detective Sgt. Thomas Siroleo in the 1963 episode of The Outer Limits titled "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and the reprehensible ex-premier Brynov in the 1965 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Exile". He made his film debut in 1962, in the Elvis Presley vehicle Kid Galahad.

Before he landed his role with Mary Tyler Moore, Asner guest-starred in television series including four episodes of The Untouchables starring Robert Stack, the syndicated crime drama Decoy, starring Beverly Garland, and Route 66 in 1962 (the episode titled "Welcome to the Wedding") as Custody Officer Lincoln Peers. He was cast on Jack Lord's ABC drama series Stoney Burke and in the series finale of CBS's The Reporter, starring Harry Guardino. He also appeared on Mr. Novak, Ben Casey, Gunsmoke,  Mission: Impossible, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, and The Invaders. In 1963, Asner appeared as George Johnson on The Virginian in the episode "Echo of Another Day".

1970–1982: The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant
Asner was best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after Moore's series ended, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore series, a thirty-minute award-winning comedy about television journalism, the Lou Grant series was an hour-long award-winning drama about newspaper journalism (for his role as Grant, Asner was one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award for a sitcom and a drama for the same role, with the second being Uzo Aduba). In addition he made appearances as Lou Grant on two other shows: Rhoda and Roseanne. Other television series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The Bronx Zoo, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also starred in one episode of the western series Dead Man's Gun (1997), as well as portraying art smuggler August March in an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O (1975) and reprised the role in the Hawaii Five-0 (2012) remake. He also appeared as a veteran streetwise officer in an episode of the 1973 version of Police Story.

Asner was acclaimed for his role in the ABC miniseries Roots, as Captain Davies, the morally conflicted captain of the Lord Ligonier, the slave ship that brought Kunta Kinte to America. The role earned Asner an Emmy Award, as did the similarly dark role of Axel Jordache in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In contrast, he played a former pontiff in the lead role of Papa Giovanni: Ioannes XXIII (Pope John XXIII 2002), an Italian television film for RAI.

1983–2009: Established actor and voice work

Asner had an extensive voice acting career. In 1987, he played the eponymous character, George F. Babbitt, in the L.A. Classic Theatre Works' radio theater production of Sinclair Lewis' novel Babbitt. Asner won one Audie Award and was nominated for two Grammy Awards and an additional Audie for his audiobook work. He also provided the voices for Joshua on Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (1986) for Hanna-Barbera, J. Jonah Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man (1994–98); Hoggish Greedly on Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–95); Hudson on Gargoyles (1994–96); Jabba the Hutt on the radio version of Star Wars; Master Vrook from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel; Roland Daggett on Batman: The Animated Series (1992–94); Cosgrove on Freakazoid!; Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks (2005–14); and Granny Goodness in various DC Comics animated series. He also voiced Napoleon, Cornelia's younger sister's cat in the Disney show W.I.T.C.H., and Kid Potato, the Butcher's dad in the PBS Kids show hit WordGirl. He was even nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program but lost to Eartha Kitt for Nick Jr. Channel's The Wonder Pets. Asner provided the voice of famed American orator Edward Everett in the 2017 documentary film The Gettysburg Address.

Asner provided the voice of the main protagonist Carl Fredricksen in the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Up (2009). He received critical acclaim for the role, with one critic going so far as to suggest "They should create a new category for this year's Academy Award for Best Vocal Acting in an Animated Film and name Asner as the first recipient." He appeared in the mid- to late-2000s decade in a recurring segment on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, entitled "Does This Impress Ed Asner?" He was cast in a Country Music Television comedy pilot, Regular Joe.

In 2001, Asner was the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. Asner won more Emmy Awards for performing than any other male actor (seven, including five for the role of Lou Grant). In 1996, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

2010–2021: Later roles
In July 2010, Asner completed recording sessions for Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders; a documentary on the 1974 DeFeo murders in Amityville, New York. Asner served as the narrator for the film, which covers a forensic analysis of the murders, the trial in which 23-year-old DeFeo son Ronald DeFeo Jr., was convicted of the killings, and the subsequent "haunting" story which is revealed to be a hoax. Also in 2010, Asner played the title role in FDR, a stage production about the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; he subsequently continued to tour the play throughout the country. In January 2011, Asner took a supporting role on CMT's first original sitcom Working Class. He made an appearance in the independent comedy feature Not Another B Movie, and had a role as billionaire Warren Buffett in HBO's economic drama Too Big to Fail (2011). In 2013, he guest starred as Mr. Finger in The Crazy Ones.

Asner also provided voice-over narration for many documentaries and films about social activism, including Tiger by the Tail, a documentary film detailing the efforts of Eric Mann and the Campaign to keep General Motors' Van Nuys assembly plant running. He also recorded for a public radio show and podcast, Playing On Air, appearing in Warren Leight's The Final Interrogation of Ceaucescu's Dog with Jesse Eisenberg, and Mike Reiss's New York Story. Asner was the voice-over narrator for the 2016 documentary Behind the Fear: The Hidden Story of HIV, directed by Nicole Zwiren, a controversial study on the AIDS debate. A 2014 documentary titled My Friend Ed, directed by Sharon Baker, focused on the actor's life and career. It won Best Short Documentary at the New York City Independent Film Festival. During interviews for a 2019 book on the history of Chicago theater, Asner told the author he preferred to be credited for his work as "Edward" rather than "Ed" because he felt the longer name held the page or screen better.

In 2018, Asner was cast in the Netflix dark comedy, Dead to Me, which premiered on May 3, 2019. The series also stars Christina Applegate, Linda Cardellini, and James Marsden. Asner also had a recurring guest role in the 2018–present series Cobra Kai, portraying Johnny Lawrence's step-father, Sid Weinberg, in seasons one and three. In 2020 he guest starred in an episode of Modern Family and in 2021 played himself in a sketch on Let's Be Real. The 2019 feature documentary by Kurt Jacobsen and Warren Leming entitled  Ed Asner: On Stage and Off premiered at the American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs, which Asner attended, and since screened at a dozen more festivals, including a European premiere at the Oxford International Film Festival. In 2013, he played Santa in Christmas on the Bayou.

Beginning in 2016, Asner took on the role of Holocaust survivor Milton Salesman in Jeff Cohen's acclaimed play The Soap Myth in a reading at Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Theatre in New York City. He subsequently toured for the next three years in "concert readings" of the play in more than a dozen cities across the United States. In 2019, PBS flagship station WNET filmed the concert reading at New York's Center for Jewish History for their All Arts channel.  The performance, which is available for free, world-wide live-streaming, co-stars Tovah Feldshuh, Ned Eisenberg, and Liba Vaynberg.

In the week before his death, Asner told his frequent collaborators, Greg Palast and Leni Badpenny, that he soon would be doing three one-act plays. At the time of his death in August 2021, Asner had completed several roles in a number of TV series and films that were released posthumously, including three on the Disney+ streaming service, he reprised his voice role as Carl Fredricksen from the Pixar film Up in the Disney+ animated streaming miniseries of shorts Dug Days, which was the first to premiere, just three days after his death. Asner played a posthumous role as the Ghost of Claude in the Halloween special Muppets Haunted Mansion, and provided the voice of Grandpa Heffley in the 2022 Disney+ animated film adaptation Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, released over a year after his death. The final short film in the Dug Days series, Carl's Date, which includes Asner's voice-over performance, was released in theaters along with the Pixar animated feature film Elemental on June 16, 2023, two years after his death. These were all dedicated to his memory. Many of Asner's other projects on what would become his final roles are yet to be announced for a release, but still in post-production.

Activism

Politics
He played a prominent role in the 1980 SAG strike. He was also active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and the movement to establish California One Care, single-payer health care in California, for which he created a television advertisement. He endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 United States presidential election, and Barack Obama during the 2008 United States presidential election. He was formerly a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and was a member of DSOC's successor, the Democratic Socialists of America.

The sudden cancellation of Lou Grant in 1982 was the subject of much controversy. The show had high ratings, being in the ACNielsen top ten throughout its final month on the air. However, the CBS television network declined to renew it. Asner believed that his left-wing political views, as well as the publicity surrounding them, were the actual root causes for the show's cancellation. In 2011, Asner endorsed Democratic candidate Marcy Winograd who finished 4th in the 16-candidate primary behind eventual winner Janice Hahn, in  California's 36th congressional district special election. From 2011 to 2015, Asner worked with filmmaker Nicole Zwiren on the feature-length documentary Behind the Fear which addresses HIV/AIDS denialism. The film was released in 2016 with Asner as the narrator.

Asner voiced qualified support for the 9/11 truth movement. In 2004, he signed a statement released by the group 9/11 Truth that included a call for a new investigation into some elements of the September 11 attacks that he questioned. Asner confirmed his support for the statement in 2009. Asner also narrated the documentary film The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror.

In April 2004, Asner wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9–11 truth" through the organization 9-11 Visibility Project. In 2011, Asner hosted the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth documentary on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, which endorses the theory that the building was taken down by controlled demolition.

Nonprofit organizations
Asner was on the Entertainment Board of Directors for The Survivor Mitzvah Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing direct emergency aid to elderly and impoverished Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe. Asner was a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a free speech organization that is dedicated to protecting comic book creators and retailers from prosecutions based on content. He served as an advisor to the Rosenberg Fund for Children, an organization founded by the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, which provides benefits for the children of political activists, and was a board member for the wildlife conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife. Asner also sat on the advisory board for Exceptional Minds, a non-profit school and a computer animation studio for young adults on the autism spectrum.

Asner was a supporter of Humane Borders, an organization based in Tucson, Arizona, which maintains water stations in the Sonoran desert for use by undocumented migrants, with the goal of preventing deaths by dehydration and exposure. He was the master of ceremonies at that organization's volunteer dinner in fall 2017.

In November 2017, The Ed Asner Family Center was founded by Asner's son, Matt, and daughter-in-law, Navah Paskowitz. The Center provides arts and vocational enrichments, counseling services, and support groups and camps to special needs individuals and their families.

SAG involvement
Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity during the 1980s he opposed United States policy in Central America, working closely with the Alliance for Survival.

On March 30, 2012, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) completed a merger of equals, forming a new union SAG-AFTRA. Asner was adamantly opposed to such a merger, arguing that the planned merger would destroy the SAG's health plan and disempower actors. Asner and a group of fellow actors and voice-actors, including Martin Sheen and Ed Harris, filed (but later dropped) a lawsuit against SAG president Ken Howard and several SAG vice presidents, seeking to have the merger overturned, and the two unions separated to their pre-merger organizations.

Community theater
In 2021, Asner traveled to Monte Rio, California to support the reopening, revitalization, and shifted focus of the local Monte Rio Theater.

Personal life and death
Asner was married to Nancy Lou Sykes from 1959 to 1988. They had three children, twins Matthew and Liza, and Kate. In 1987, he had a son named Charles with Carol Jean Vogelman. Asner was a parent and a grandparent to  autistic children and was involved with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Autism Speaks. He also served as a board member and adviser for Aspiritech, a nonprofit organization that trains high-functioning autistic persons to test software and perform quality-assurance services for companies.

Asner became engaged to producer Cindy Gilmore in 1991. They married on August 2, 1998. Gilmore filed for legal separation on November 7, 2007. Asner filed for divorce in 2015.

Asner died of natural causes at his home in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on August 29, 2021, at the age of 91. He was buried at Sheffield Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 12.

Numerous celebrities paid tribute to Asner, including Maureen McCormick, George Takei, Mark Hamill, Michael McKean, Bradley Whitford, Josh Gad, Mia Farrow, Andy Richter, Katie Couric, Denis O'Hare, Mira Sorvino, Eric Stonestreet, Niecy Nash, Yvette Nicole Brown, Michael Moore, Rosario Dawson, Rosanna Arquette, Ben Stiller, The Muppets, William Baldwin, Greg Weisman, William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Bob Peterson, Bill Farmer, and Zooey Deschanel.

References

External links

1929 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male actors
9/11 conspiracy theorists
Activists from California
Activists from Missouri
Activists from New York City
American conspiracy theorists
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
American political activists
Audiobook narrators
Autism activists
Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (television) winners
Burials in Missouri
Canadian Screen Award winning actors
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American trade union leaders
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Male actors from Kansas City, Missouri
Male actors from New York City
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Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
People from Tarzana, Los Angeles
Presidents of the Screen Actors Guild
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United States Army soldiers
University of Chicago alumni

Ed Asner


Aliens of the Deep is a 2005 documentary movie, directed in part by James Cameron and filmed in the IMAX 3D format. It was produced by Walden Media and Buena Vista Pictures. Cameron worked with NASA scientists to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridges, under water chains of mountains in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that are home to some of the planet's more unusual forms of life.

Plot
Cameron joins up aboard the Russian research ship, "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh", with a group of NASA scientists, as well as some Russian marine biologists, to investigate ten hydrothermal vents in both the Atlantic and Pacific. The vents have their own unique ecosystem, which support diverse organisms such as giant tube worms, swarms of blind white crabs, and vast amounts of shrimp which are capable of "seeing" water that is heated by the vents. These creatures do not need sunlight like other organisms, and instead get their energy from the vents. They are able to survive in the superheated and sulfurous water. Because of this, the documentary suggests that this is what life beyond Earth might look like. As some alien ecosystems are likely to be a lot harsher than a typical terrestrial ecosystem, these exotic vents provide an insight into some of the forms that alien life might take.

The documentary shows Cameron's passion for exploring the oceans, as well as his interest in extraterrestrial life. It also shows the technology used to reach such depths.

The movie is similar to Cameron's earlier documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss (2003), which involves him journeying to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It too was filmed in the 3-D IMAX format.

American documentary movies
English-language movies

Aliens of the Deep


Henri van der Noot, in Dutch Hendrik van der Noot, and popularly called Heintje van der Noot or Vader Heintje (7 January 1731 – 12 January 1827), was a jurist, lawyer and politician from Brabant. He was one of the main figures of the Brabant Revolution (1789–1790) against the Imperial rule of Joseph II. This revolution led to the short-lived existence of the United States of Belgium with himself as Prime Minister (11 January 1790 – 2 December 1790).

Family

He was the son of Nicolas van der Noot, Lord of Vrechem, and is distantly related to the current Marquess of Assche.

Overview
Two lawyers, Jan Frans Vonck and Henri Van der Noot, were the leaders of the revolt but each represented a different faction. The Vonckists were inspired by the French Revolution (1789–1799) and sought a link-up with the people and the patriot army. The Statists led by Van der Noot strived for the restoration of old privileges of the nobility and the church such as the "Joyous Entry" and sought cooperation with the Dutch Republic. However, at the court case of apothecary Elyse Mertens, after witnessing the suspect's organized defense, the two ultimately made the decision to launch a fight together against the crown.

In contrast to Vonck, who was of the opinion that the Belgian people themselves had to fight against the despot of Vienna, Van der Noot had more confidence in obtaining foreign support. In 1788 Van der Noot travelled to England, the Dutch Republic and Prussia to get attention for the cause of Brabant liberty. Only Prussia, which itself had beaten the Dutch patriots in 1787, was inclined to support the Belgian patriots as they were at that time anti-Austrian. Van der Noot had less success seeking support from the last Grand Pensionary of Holland, Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel.

In October 1789 Van der Noot and General Vander Meersch with a small patriot army from Breda captured the entire province of Brabant. In his first concurred (or freed) town, Hoogstraten, Van der Noot published his Manifesto of the Brabant People on 24 October 1789. The document explains why the people of Brabant have the right to disobedience against a ruler. The main argument is that the will of a nation is the highest law and if that is violated by a ruler the nation has the right to revolt against the ruler.

Van der Noot captured Turnhout, defeating the Imperials in the Battle of Turnhout on 27 October and Ghent was taken on 13 November. On 17 November the imperial regents Albert of Saxony and Archduchess Maria Christina fled Brussels. The remains of the imperial forces withdrew behind the citadel walls of Luxembourg and Antwerp.

Van der Noot declared Brabant independent, and all other provinces of the Austrian Netherlands with the exception of Luxembourg soon followed suit. On 11 January 1790 they signed a pact, establishing a confederation, headed by Van der Noot, under the name Verenigde Nederlandse Staten/États-Belgiques-Unis (United States of Belgium).

When Prussia abandoned the revolt after the signing the Convention of Reichenbach (27 July 1790) with the Holy Roman Empire the fragile state soon came under attack by the Imperials of Leopold II, who had succeeded his brother Joseph II after the latter's death on 20 February 1790. In November 1790 Van der Noot had to flee to the Dutch Republic and thereafter to England. In 1792 he made an appeal for cooperation with the French occupiers (1794–1815). He returned to Brabant but was arrested 1796 and imprisoned in 's Hertogenbosch.

He died in 1826 in Strombeek and his tomb is located in the wall of the vicar's compound of the Sint-Amandsparochie in Strombeek-Bever.

See also
Jeanne de Bellem

References

External links
 Manuscript of Henri van der Noot on his captivity in 1796 (archived 2 October 2011)
Political trial of Henri van der Noot

1731 births
1827 deaths
Jurists from Brussels
Independence activists of the Brabant Revolution
Lawyers of the Austrian Netherlands
Politicians from Brussels

Henri Van der Noot


Pogge is a name for the fish Agonus cataphractus.

Pogge is also a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Justin Pogge (born 1986), Canadian hockey player
Thomas Pogge (born 1953), German philosopher
Paul Pogge (1838-1884), German explorer of Africa
Brenda Pogge (born 1957), American politician

Pogge


Brandon Bogle (born June 18, 1987) is an American professional wrestler who performs for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the name Brandon Cutler. He is an executive producer of content of AEW where he is also signed as a wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

Early years (2005–2011)
Cutler was trained by The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) and debuted in their Victorville, California-based promotion High Risk Wrestling by the ring name Ronnie Tsunami. He spent most of his early career wrestling in the California-based promotions including Empire Wrestling Federation, Alternative Wrestling Show, SoCal Pro Wrestling, Mach One Pro Wrestling, Vendetta Pro Wrestling, Battleground Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling LIVE and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.  He also made a debut in the Ring Of Honor (ROH). After 2011, Cutler disappeared from the ring for the next seven years.

Return to professional wrestling (2018–present)
Brandon returned in 2018 on January 21 debuting in Alpha Omega Wrestling (AOW) under the ring name Brandon Cutler. During Alpha Omega Wrestling's Unleashed VII, Cutler competed in a three-way match against Funny Bone and Steven Andrews for the AOW Dragon Class Championship. He resumed his wrestling in the California promotions including Maverick Pro Wrestling, Bar Wrestling, LA Lucha, Alternative Wrestling Show and Championship Wrestling From Hollywood. On September 1, 2018, Brandon participated in the Over Budget Battle Royal at All In but was unsuccessful.

All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
In a Being the Elite episode, Brandon's trainers Matt and Nick Jackson offered him contract with All Elite Wrestling, which Brandon signed. Cutler debuted on AEW's inaugural event Double or Nothing where he was a participant of the 21-man Battle Royale. He eliminated Billy Gunn but was eliminated by MJF. Cutler returned on the first episode of AEW Dynamite where he lost his singles debut against MJF by submission. On the October 23 edition of AEW Dark, Brandon returned to the ring where he lost another match against Joey Janela. Following this, Brandon went on a losing streak. Following, he went on a losing streak between October 2019 and November 2020 on AEW Dark, both in single and tag team matches.

On the May 26, 2020, edition of AEW Dark, Cutler began a storyline with Peter Avalon in a "race to the bottom", trying to get their first wins in AEW. The next week, Avalon and Cutler would compete in tag team action, losing to teams such as the Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes and Q. T. Marshall), Jurassic Express (Marko Stunt and Luchasaurus), SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), and the Young Bucks. They were a dysfunctional tag team until they shook hands with each other as a sign of respect after losing to the Young Bucks. They made a team called the Initiative. However, the Initiative lost all of their matches and couldn't win a single match, leading Peter to attack Brandon Cutler. Shortly after, they resumed their feud against each other with both men fighting to achieve their first victory in AEW. On the September 15, 2020, edition of AEW Dark, Avalon and Cutler had their first match against each other which ended in a double count out, leaving both men still winless. Avalon would face Cutler again on the October 13, 2020, episode of Dark and this time the match ended in a double disqualification, again leaving both competitors without a single victory. On the October 19, 2020, episode of Being the Elite (where much of Avalon and Cutler's feud has played out) AEW President Tony Khan announced Avalon vs. Cutler III for the October 27, 2020, edition of Dark and stipulated that there must be a winner. On the October 27, 2020, episode of Dark, Brandon defeated Peter Avalon and broke his losing streak. After breaking the losing streak, Brandon went on a winning streak. His eight match winning streak came to an end when he lost to Luchasaurus in the January 19, 2021, edition of AEW Dark. Brandon earned his first AEW title shot for the FTW Championship against Brian Cage in a losing effort in the March 11, 2021, edition of AEW Dark. He also appeared twice in AEW Dynamite matches in early 2021, both in a losing effort against Jake Hager and a trios match against Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid.

Following the Young Bucks' heel turn, Cutler now acts as associate stooge as a member of the Elite often interfering in matches to aid the faction to win the match. Upon doing so, he also changed his attire to a tracksuit in the ring.

Other media
Cutler has a gaming channel where he usually uploads Among Us and DnD Critical Botch videos.

Early and personal life
Brandon Bogle was born in California on June 18, 1987. His brother Dustin Bogle, better known by ring name Dustin Cutler, is a retired professional wrestler. They both were also a professional wrestling tag team known as the Cutler Bros and Tsunamis.

Brandon Cutler is married and has two sons.

Championships and accomplishments
 Alternative Wrestling Show
 AWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dustin Cutler
 Insane Wrestling League
 IWL Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dustin Cutler

References

1987 births
Living people
American male professional wrestlers
Professional wrestlers from California
All Elite Wrestling personnel
21st-century professional wrestlers

Brandon Cutler


Aguila (born Jan Gielens; January 15, 1937 in Melsbroek, Belgium) is an artist, industrial designer, and founder of the "probability reality", a new art trend in contemporary art. His works consists of paintings, monumental sculpture, monumental installations, conceptual architecture and new concepts on naval design and computer art.

Education
Aguila studied visual and monumental art at the Higher Institute for Arts and Sciences in St Lucas, Brussels under such artists as Jos De Maegd and Maurits Van Saene. During the last year of his art education Aguila came to the conclusion that rather than focus on color, priority should be given to strong compositional elements and the contact the painting had with the environment, extending the composition of the work to the three-dimensional environment.

Aguila discovered industrial design as a student of Professor Elno (1920–1998). He studied industrial design first at L'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre in Brussels and then at Academy for Industrial Design in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He later practiced industrial design in Germany.

Early works
Beginning in 1965, Aguila worked as an independent industrial designer for various European industries including Philips – Telecom, Hilson, Bumaco, Brugman, Pirelli Brussels, Verbrughe (furniture), and Munar Antwerp, Belgium. For one of his package designs, Gielens was awarded the Howard Design Award. In the same period he also worked as the Industrial Design advisor at Febelhout, which is the Belgian Federation of Belgian, wood-using industries, Brussels (Belgium). In 1972, with Belgian architect, Bob Van Reeth, he designed his residence in Brussels, Belgium.

In 1974, Aguila was invited to exhibit his paintings at the University of Ghent. The former conservator of the Museum for Modern Art in Brussels, Mrs. Phil Mertens, became interested in Aguila's painting, and recognized him as the leader of a new direction in contemporary art, coined, "Multidimensional Transparent Art".

Aguila later was invited to work as a teacher and lecturer at Cool international school in Brussels 1977–1980, and from 1977–1999 at Universidad Las Colinas in Elche, Spain, where he was time engaged full-time, teaching courses and giving conferences based on his knowledge of painting, conceptual architecture, and landscape art . The painting classes were soon being called "The School of Ilicitis", called after Ilice, the ancient name for Elche. Ilicitis means City of Light. The campus of the University was constructed by Gielens and his architecture students amongst the many palm trees, using very light structures and materials.

Building and art design
The social facet of this cultural artistic movement, is present all over and the aggregation of the multiple facets and disciplines gives birth to a living monumental work of art called "A Creation of the free will", started 1977 and ongoing until at present. This monumental work of art is composed of multi disciplinary works of art, sculpture, installations, design, philosophy and architecture. In July 2001, Gielens was awarded the "Premio Juanito Laguna la trayectoria artistic" for the totality of his oeuvre by the Volpens-Stessens foundation in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

References

External links

  Universidad Las Colinas
  Agora département
  "A Creation of the free will"
  The future of marine craft
  G. Macia, La Verdad es.icon, Spanish newspaper, July 1978, La Ciudad del Hombre, casi terminada" (City of Men almost finished)
  De Standaard nl.icon, Flemish Newspaper, October 28, 1978, "Kreatieve Geesten" (Creative minds)
 Lode Willems, Knack Magazine nl.icon, weekly Flemish magazine, October 1978, Gewoon alert (simply alert)
 Gazet van Antwerpen nl.icon, Flemish newspaper, October 1978, "Vlamingen stichten krachtcentra in Spanje en de Franse Pyreneeën" (Flemish people found power points in Spain and the French Pyrenees).
 Wouters, Bres nl.icon, October 1978, "Stad van de mens"" (City of men)
  Nautica Milano, Italy, March 2008
  Create Culture
  Coroflot

1937 births
Living people
Belgian artists
Belgian industrial designers
People from Steenokkerzeel

Aguila (artist)


Highway to Hell is a 1992 American B horror comedy film directed by Ate de Jong and starring Chad Lowe, Kristy Swanson and Patrick Bergin. It was written by Brian Helgeland. The film tells the story of Charlie Sykes (Lowe) and his girlfriend Rachel Clark (Swanson), who is kidnapped by a demon and taken to Hell to become one of Satan's brides, while Charlie must travel to the other dimension to rescue her.

The film features cameo appearances by Lita Ford, Gilbert Gottfried, actor Ben Stiller, his sister Amy Stiller and their parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. In 2019, Gottfried reprised his role as Adolf Hitler from the film in the comedy television series Historical Roasts.

Synopsis

Charlie Sykes and Rachel Clark are a young all-American couple who decide to run away and elope in Las Vegas. On the road to Vegas, they ignore a warning by the local gas station attendant, Sam, and take an abandoned backroad where Rachel is kidnapped by a zombie Hell Cop, who takes her to hell. Sam explains the situation and gives Charlie a shotgun with special ammo and a car that holds a special attribute. After a few attempts, Charlie passes through the portal to hell, an expansive desert with buildings scattered about.

On the highway, Charlie meets other dead people that live in Hell and even a motorcycle gang led by the rebel Royce, who thwarts Rachel's escape attempt at Pluto's Diner. Charlie manages to catch up to Hell Cop, but his car gets shot up during the chase and becomes disabled. His car is then taken by the repair man, Beezle, who is able to fix the car. Charlie continues his pursuit and finds that Beezle's kid assistant, Adam, had sneaked into the car, wanting to help him find Rachel and keep his dog Ben company. Adam tells him that Hell Cop killed his family, took him to hell and gave him to Beezle. Charlie promises to bring him back with him.

Charlie eventually tracks down Hell Cop and Rachel at a nightclub/casino. He tries to free Rachel, but Hell Cop fatally shoots Charlie before they both leave. Fortunately, Beezle arrives and secures a promise from Adam to come back with him if he uses his repair powers to save Charlie, allowing him to continue his pursuit. Charlie decides to try a shortcut but is warned against it by Clara, Royce's girlfriend and Sam's ex. Charlie ignores this and seems to defeat Hell Cop and saves Rachel, who is sexually aggressive towards him. He finds out from her reflection that this "Rachel" is a demon in disguise. After defeating the demon, Charlie heads back on the highway and makes it to the outskirts of Hell City.

With his dog Ben distracting Cerberus, Charlie convinces Charon to give him a ride over the River Styx to the city. Charlie is able to sneak his way around and make it to Rachel. Satan then appears, wanting Rachel as a bride. Since Charlie went through all that trouble, Satan decides to let them go in a take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Charlie cannot look back at Rachel. When Charlie does, a large group of minions appear. The young couple manages to break into Hell Cop's car and use its power to break through the wall and jump over the river to their car.

Charlie goes back to Beezle's place to get Adam, but finds his repair shop had become a mansion. Beezle comes out, revealing that he is actually Satan. He refuses to allow Charlie to take Adam. Charlie proposes a deal: a race against Hell Cop. If he loses, both Rachel and Adam would stay in hell. As the race begins, Royce drives up to Charlie, demanding to be let inside as he wants to return to the real world. Charlie refuses, and Royce responds by trying to stab Adam. Clara covers his eyes, causing both to crash into a ravine. Just as Hell Cop is about to disable Charlie's car, Rachel finds a switch which releases nitro that propels their car through the portal, winning the race. However, Hell Cop follows them, seeking revenge. As he is about to kill Charlie, Rachel shoots Hell Cop in his one weakness, his sunglasses, causing him to blow up.

Scrolling text reveals the whereabouts of the cast after the film's events, with Rachel and Charlie getting married and using their experience to create successful video games and pizzeria chains, Sam continues to warn drivers about the road, Adam is returned to Earth with relatives, and Beezle continues as normal.

Cast
 Chad Lowe as Charlie Sykes
 Patrick Bergin as Beezle
 Kristy Swanson as Rachel Clark
 Jarrett Lennon as Adam
 Adam Storke as Royce
 Pamela Gidley as Clara
 C.J. Graham as Sgt. Bedlam, Hellcop
 Richard Farnsworth as Sam
 Lita Ford as The Hitchhiker
 Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler
 Anne Meara as Medea, Waitress in Pluto's
 Amy Stiller as Cleopatra
 Ben Stiller as Pluto's Cook/Attila
 Jerry Stiller as The Desk Cop
 Be Deckard as Dentist, Royce's Gang
 Michael Reid MacKay as Rachel Demon
 Kevin Peter Hall as Charon

Production
The film was shot in Phoenix and Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon was also a location. Parts of the film were also shot at Glen Canyon in Utah.

Release
Completed in 1989, Hemdale shelved the film for over 2 years before finally giving it a limited release. It was released to home video on August 21, 1992 and on DVD and Blu-ray on February 2, 2016.

Reception
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Although ambitious, amusing and even romantic, replete with lots of striking sets and jazzy special effects, its humor is not sophisticated enough to attract the wide audiences of a Beetlejuice".  Michael Dare of Billboard called it "smart, witty, and incredibly imaginative". TV Guide rated it 2/5 stars and wrote: "Highway to Hell is no masterpiece, but it is a genuine video find". Todd Rigney of Beyond Hollywood called it a "deliriously enjoyable satanic road trip" film that is "fun if you approach it in the right frame of mind". HorrorNews.Net called it "one of the greatest campy horror films to never arrive on DVD".

Highway to Hell has since developed a cult following.

References

External links

1992 films
1992 comedy horror films
1990s supernatural horror films
American comedy horror films
American fantasy comedy films
American independent films
American satirical films
The Devil in film
American supernatural horror films
American road movies
Films about kidnapping
Films set in hell
Films shot in Utah
Films shot in Arizona
Films with screenplays by Brian Helgeland
1990s English-language films
Films directed by Ate de Jong
1990s American films

Highway to Hell (film)


Cecil Thomas (1883 – 26 October 1960) was a British newspaper editor.

Born in Newton-in-the-Isle in Cambridgeshire, Thomas was the younger brother of colonial administrator Shenton Thomas.  Cecil became a journalist in 1908, and joined the Daily Mirror in 1910.

In 1934, Thomas was appointed as editor of the Mirror.  He served during World War II, during which he became known for writing lengthy letters in the paper, described life at its headquarters.  In 1942, he was called to the Home Office by Herbert Morrison, and threatened that the paper could be closed if it continued to publish articles considered detrimental to the war effort.  He retired in 1948.

In his obituary in The Times, Thomas was described as "cherubic, courteous and unobtrusive", and in the Daily Mirror as "a tranquil man".  In his spare time, he enjoyed painting.

References

1883 births
1960 deaths
English newspaper editors
Daily Mirror people
People from Cambridgeshire

Cecil Thomas (journalist)


Thirunelveli (said as Thiru-nel-veyli) is a town in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. The name in Tamil means "God's-paddy-field" or farm land. It is around 5 km from Jaffna.

This is where an attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that killed 13 soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in July 1983 took place. This started the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Settlements in Sri Lanka
Jaffna District

Thirunelveli, Sri Lanka


Adam Herbert Dickey (June 26, 1864 – February 8, 1925), was an author, member of the Board of Directors of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and a secretary to Mary Baker Eddy.

Biography
Dickey was born in Toronto, Canada where he was raised a Methodist. His family moved to Kansas City, Missouri when he was a teen and he began working at his father's business, W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing, in 1884. In 1887 he married Lillian M. Selden, and in 1893 his wife became interested in Christian Science after what she saw as a healing through prayer. He joined her in studying the religion and joined The Mother Church soon after.

In 1898 he and his wife visited Mexico for business where they met a city official, who was reportedly suffering from jaundice. Dickey introduced him to Christian Science and prayed during the night and the man recovered. This inspired Dickey, upon returning to Kansas City, to immediately quit his job to become a Christian Science practitioner. Soon afterwards he would start teaching Christian Science and become First Reader at his church in Kansas City.

In 1908 he began working for Mary Baker Eddy as a secretary until her passing in 1910. He was named by Eddy as a Trustee to her estate in 1909 and a director of the Mother Church on November 21, 1910. This was her last official communication to any of her Church officers. He remained in the position until 1925; and was also Treasurer of the Mother Church from 1912 to 1917.

Dickey's biography entitled Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy was published posthumously with the permission of his widow Lillian S. Dickey in 1927; however it was not published as an official biography sanctioned by the Mother Church to be sold in Christian Science Reading Rooms at the time. In 2013, his book finally appeared in the anthology We Knew Mary Baker Eddy Volume II alongside other early Christian Scientists such as Septimus J. Hanna and William R. Rathvon. Dickey also wrote two of the most famous articles within the church in The Christian Science Journal entitled "God's Law of Adjustment" and "Possession."

Publications
God's Law of Adjustment (1916)
Possession (1917)
Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy (1927) (Republished in We Knew Mary Baker Eddy Volume II (2013))

References

Further reading
 Ernest Sutherland Bates, John Valentine Dittemore. (1932). Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition. A. A. Knopf.
 Nancy Niblack Baxter. (2005). Mr. Dickey: Secretary to Mary Baker Eddy. Hawthorne Publishing.

External links

1864 births
1925 deaths
Canadian Christian Scientists
Christian Science writers
Converts to Christian Science from Methodism
People from Old Toronto

Adam H. Dickey