The Most Honourable Privy Council of Thailand () is a body of appointed advisors to the Monarchy of Thailand. The council, as the Constitution of Thailand stipulates, must be composed of no more than eighteen members. The council is led by the President of the Privy Council of Thailand, currently occupied by former Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont since 27 May 2019. The king alone appoints all members of the council. The council's offices are in the Privy Council Chambers, Phra Nakhon District, Bangkok.

In recent years, the council and its president in particular, have been accused of interfering in politics. This stems from the council's closeness to the military, in particular during the 2006 Thai coup d'état. General Prem was reappointed president of the privy council by the King Maha Vajiralongkorn on 2 December 2016, although in 2018 the office was stripped of some of its powers.

History

The first privy council in Siam was established by a royal decree on 8 May 1874, by King Chulalongkorn (or Rama V). The king, educated by Westerners, was keen on copying the system of government of the absolute monarchs of Europe. At first he created two councils: the "Privy Council of Siam" (; ) (49 members) and the "Council of State" (; ) (12 members, name later changed to "Council of Ministers" (; )). The privy council was created to deal with legislative affairs while the latter became an early version of the cabinet.

Chulalongkorn was succeeded by his son King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) in 1910, who at the beginning of his reign appointed a 40-member "Privy Council of State" (; ). The king, during his 15 years on the throne, would continue to appoint new members at Thai New Year (or 4 April). When he died in 1925 the privy council was composed of 233 members.

King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) who succeeded his brother in 1925, completely overhauled the system and created instead three councils: The "Supreme Council of State of Siam" (; ) (composed of five senior princes, equivalent to the former Council of State); The "Council of Secretaries" (; ) (former Council of Ministers); and the Privy Council of State. The role of the Privy Council was relegated to minor legislative affairs, while the Supreme Council became Prajadhipok's main body of advisors.

On 24 June 1932, a group calling themselves the Khana Ratsadon (or People's Party), together with the military, seized power in Bangkok. They abolished the system of absolute monarchy, changing Siam into a parliamentary constitutional monarchy and demanding of Prajadhipok a constitution for the people of Siam. The king granted them a "temporary" constitution in the same month and a permanent one in December. The Khana Ratsadon, once in power, abolished the Supreme Council and the Privy Council. They replaced the Council of Secretaries with the People's Committee of Siam.

It was not until fifteen years later that the 1947 constitution of Siam recreated the Privy Council under King Bhumibol Adulyadej, with a name change to "Supreme Council of State" (; ). This council existed from 1947 to 1949 and was composed of:
 Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi, Prince of Chainat, President of the council
 Prince Dhani Nivat, Prince Bidyalabh Bridhyakon
 Prince Alongkot, Prince Adisorn Udomsak
 Phraya Manavaratsevi (Plod Vichear na Songkhla)
 Police General Adul Aduldejjarus

Two years later, under the 1949 Constitution of Thailand, the council was renamed the "Privy Council of Thailand" (; ) or (; ). The Privy Council in its current form was created by the 2017 constitution of Thailand.

Members
The present constitution stipulated that the council is composed of no more than eighteen members. The members of the Privy Council or Privy Councillors are appointed and removed at the pleasure of the king alone, but appointments must be countersigned by the President of the Privy Council.

The councillors cannot be partisan and therefore cannot be members of the House of Representatives, Senate of Thailand, Election Commission, Ombudsman, member of the National Human Rights Commission, judge of the Constitutional Court, judge of an Administrative Court, member of the National Counter Corruption Commission, member of the State Audit Commission, a government official holding a permanent position or receiving a permanent salary, an official of a state enterprise, other state official or holder of other position of member or official of a political party, and must not manifest loyalty to any political party. Privy councillors are not prohibited from sitting on the boards of influential companies and, under Prem, some councillors are board members of Bangkok Bank, Charoen Pokphand, the Boonrawd group, and the Charoen Siriwatanapakdi business group.

After being appointed the councilors must take the following oath in the presence of the king to assume office:

"I, (name of the declarer), do solemnly declare that I will be loyal to His Majesty the King and will faithfully perform my duties in the interests of the country and of the people. I will also uphold and observe the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand in every respect."

A councillor vacates office upon death, resignation, or at royal command.

President
The President of the Privy Council of Thailand is the head and chief councillor of the privy council. The king retains the power to appoint and remove the president, however the President of the National Assembly of Thailand must countersign presidential appointments and removals, unlike other councillors which the king alone decides.

Functions

The 2017 Constitution gave the privy council many roles and powers. These are mostly associated with the issues surrounding the head of state and the monarchy.

Regency

If the king is incapacitated or for whatever reason and cannot appoint a regent, the privy council will submit to the National Assembly the name of a suitable individual, who must then be approved by a vote. During the period where there is no regent the President of the Privy Council shall be the regent pro tempore. This case is also applicable if the regent is incapacitated and cannot perform his duties. When this happens the President of the Privy Council shall be replaced in his duties to the council by a president pro tempore.

Palace Law of Succession
In regards to the amendment of the 1924 Palace Law of Succession, the king must ask the privy council to draft an amendment. After the king's approval and signature, the President of the Privy Council will notify the president of the National Assembly that will then countersign such amendment.

Vacancy on the throne
When the throne becomes vacant it is the duty of the privy council to submit to the cabinet and to the National Assembly the name of the successor to the throne. During this vacancy period (before the submission) the President of the Privy Council will be the regent pro tempore.

Other functions
Apart from these constitutionally mandated functions the privy councillors also perform other duties. For instance, they carry out other duties in the royal household and on royal projects. Several councillors are members of the Mahidol Foundation, while Dr. Chaovana Nasylvanta is the Director of the Crown Property Bureau. Councillors can, at royal command, attend official functions or carry out official duties on behalf of the king or the royal family.

List of presidents of the Privy Council

Notable members

The Privy Council of Thailand (Rama IX)

 Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi
 Prince Dhani Nivat
 Prince Alongkot
 Plot Wichean na Songkhla
 Adul Aduldejjarus
 Prince Vivadhanajaya Jayanta
 Prince Nakkhatra Mangala
 Jit na Songkhla
 Hun Huntagun
 Dej Snidvongs
 Sak Senanarong
 Laihud Tititlanon
 Srisena Sombutsiri
 Gumpan Utaravanit
 Thongchai Chotikasatian
 Chalermlap Tavivong
 Sanya Dharmasakti
 Vongsanuwat Devakula
 Pragob Hutasing
 Uttasit Sittisunton
 Jinda Boonyakom
 Prince Chakkapan Pensiri
 Samran Padtayakul
 Chao Na Sinwan
 Thanin Kraivichien
 Gun Israsena na Ayudhya
 Usni Pramoj
 Gumton Sintavanon
 Prem Tinsulanonda
 Chulanop Snidvongs na Ayudhaya
 Siddhi Savetsila
 Adulakit Kitiyakara
 Pichit Kullavanich
 Umpon Senanarong
 Jumrus Khemajaru
 Thawisan Ladawan
 Thepkamol Devakula
 Sakda Mokamakkul
 Kasem Wattanachai
 Palakorn Suwannarat
 Sawat Wattanayakon
 Surayud Chulanont
 Santi Thakral
 Chumpol Patjusanon
 Uttanit Ditumnat
 Chanchai Likitjitta
 Supachai Phungam
 Chalit Pukbhasuk

The Privy Council of Thailand (Rama X)
On 2 December 2016, King Maha Vajiralongkorn reappointed General Prem Tinsulanonda president of the privy council. General Prem became regent pro tempore at the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the 13 October 2016. After Vajiralongkorn accepted the invitation to become king he was able to appoint his own council.

On 6 December 2016 the king appointed ten councillors, seven from his father's council and three new members. Eight members from the previous council were not reappointed.

As of November 2022 the council was composed mostly of retired military leaders and members of the judiciary, with 22 members:

 Prem Tinsulanonda
 Surayud Chulanont
 Kasem Watanachai
 Palakorn Suwannarat
 Chalit Pukbhasuk
 Supachai Phungam
 Charnchai Likhitchittha
 Atthaniti Disatha-Amnarj
 Paiboon Koomchaya
 Dapong Ratanasuwan
 Teerachai Nakwanich
 Wirach Chinvinitkul
 Charunthada Karnasuta
 Kampanat Ruddit
 Pongthep Nuthep
 Chirayu Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya
 Amphon Kittiamphon
 Chalermchai Sitthisart
 Johm Rungsawang
 Nurak Mapraneet
 Kasem Chankaew
 Bundit Malaarisoon

See also
 Monarchy of Thailand
 Chakri Dynasty
 Regent of Thailand
 1924 Palace Law of Succession
 Government of Thailand
 Politics of Thailand
 2006 Thai coup d'état
 Supreme Council of State of Siam

References

External links
 Homepage of the Privy Council of Thailand (English)
 Old Homepage of the Privy Council of Thailand (English)
 List of Members of the Current Privy Council (English)
 Privy Council History (English)

Thai monarchy
Thailand
Royal agencies of Thailand
Organizations established in 1874
1874 establishments in Siam
Network monarchy

Privy Council of Thailand


Riocorrente is a 2013 Brazilian drama film written and directed by Paulo Sacramento. The film debuted at the 46th Festival de Brasília in September 2013, where it received the awards for best editing and best cinematography, then at the 37th São Paulo International Film Festival in October 2013, it was chosen as the best Brazilian Film according to criticism Abraccine.

Plot
Carlos, Renata and Marcelo form a love triangle contextualized in the chaotic routine of a metropolis like São Paulo. Carlos tries to look after the kid Exu, but he spends all day on the streets of the city.

Cast
Simone Iliescu as Renata
Lee Taylor as Carlos
Roberto Audio as Marcelo
Vinicius Dos Anjos as Exu

References

External links

Brazilian drama films
2013 drama films
Films shot in São Paulo
Films set in São Paulo
2013 films
2010s Portuguese-language films

Riocorrente


"Symfonin" is a song written by Elisabeth Lord and Tommy Gunnarsson, and performed by Loa Falkman at Melodifestivalen 1990. Lyrical, it deals with using music and singing to unite the peoples of the Earth.

The single, which was released the same year, peaked at 17th position at the Swedish singles chart. The song also charted at Svensktoppen for 12 weeks between 25 March-10 June 1990, peaking at second position.

Chart trajectories

References

1990 singles
Anti-war songs
Melodifestivalen songs of 1990
Swedish-language songs
1990 songs
Songs about music

Symfonin


Zwartbles sheep are a large breed of domestic sheep. This breed first came from Holland in the north of the Netherlands. They were used to make sheep milk as well as lamb and mutton. They were often kept in the same fields as the dairy cattle.

They were brought over to Great Britain in the late 1900s. They are not very common and now live in the north of England. The sheep have reddish brown wool,  black legs with four white socks, a white tip on the tail, and a black face with a white stripe. They do not have horns. The lambs look the same but have jet black wool. These are a tame and friendly sheep, but are difficult to look after.

They are bred for their meat and not for their wool, because it is very dark and cannot be dyed. The meat from Zwartbles sheep does not have much fat and tastes sweet.

The Zwartbles are large sheep: ewes (females) weigh an average of , and rams (males) .
Being so large, they often have three or four lambs. Having so many babies can cause problems for the mother in giving birth.

These sheep have become less popular in Holland. There are so few there that they are listed as being rare by the Dutch Rare Breed Survival trust in the mid-1970s.
The first Zwartbles were imported to the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. A group for their farmers and owners, the Zwartbles Sheep Association, was formed in 1995.

Zwartbles are now mainly used for breeding lambs, and for their meat and wool. Already coming from the cold, wet, windy climate in the Netherlands, they can live in good health at various altitudes in Great Britain. Some Zwarbles are now shown in agricultural shows to be judged. The wool of these show animals is often trimmed to remove the brown wool tips. This leaves a tight black fleece showing as the primary colour.

References

Other websites

 Zwartbles Sheep Association Website

Caprids
Mammals of Europe

Zwartbles sheep


Prezi is a cloud presentation software developed in 2009. The service uses a zoomable user interface that allows you to operate data in 2.5 D and Parallax.

Prezi is used by 50 million users and 80% of Fortune Global 500 companies. The project was created in Budapest, and the very name prezi translated from Hungarian —  abbreviated form of the word "presentation".

History
The Prezi project (or Prezi.com) was created with the help of Kitchen Budapest and Magyar Telekom. Immediately after its launch, the company entered the international market.

During the first year, the company had virtually no funding. After 18 months in April 2009, Prezi launched in Budapest, and 5 months later opened an office in San Francisco. The founders of the company won a prize in the European competition of startups The Europas in the nomination "Best founder and co-founder of a startup".  Among investors   —  Sunstone Capital, TED Conferences, and Accel Partners.

A Prezi iPhone app was launched in late 2012.

In March 2014, Prezi pledged $100M in free licenses to Title 1 schools as part of the Obama administration's ConnectED program

Prezi for Android was launched in 2015, and in June 2016.

Products
Prezi is developed on Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR and Django, but since 2014 it is also possible to work on JavaScript.

The product has become extremely popular in education systems and among universities. It is used, in particular, by The Guardian and the TED conference.

Platforms
The company runs on the Freemium model, so free users should publish their presentations publicly on the Prezi website. There is a paid service that avoids this.

Prezi Viewer is a program designed for the iPad that allows you to view presentations created on the Prezi Desktop. Up to 10 users can participate in Prezi Collaborate at the same time.

Nutshell
The entertainment application Nutshell for iPhone allows you to glue photos into a comics with moving elements.

Nutshell creates a small square clip based on three images, which can then be posted to Instagram or Twitter.

References

Other websites
 How to create a world-famous startup in a small country - a lesson from Prezi

 Peter Arvai (co-founder of Prezi)  - "We raised $15.5 million, but did not use a penny of this money "

Diagrams
Software companies
Organizations based in Hungary

Prezi


Nabta Playa was once a large basin in the Nubian Desert. It is about 500 miles south of modern-day Cairo or about 100 kilometers west of Abu Simbel of southern Egypt, 22° 32' north, 30° 42' east. Many archaeological sites have been found there.

Early history
From around the 10th millennium BC, this area began to get more rainfall than before. Because of the extra rainwater, a lake formed. Early people may have come here because there was water available. They could only graze their cattle where there was grass, and grass only grew next to water.

Archaeologists (scientists who find and study artifacts) say that the first people came to the region between the 10th and 8th millennia BC. These peoples were growing domesticated cattle and using ceramic pottery. The ceramics had complicated painted patterns on them. These patterns may have been made by using combs.

By the 7th millennium BC, more developed settlements may be found in the area. They also used deep wells for water. Huts are found built in straight rows. People also lived from fruit, legumes, millets, sorghum and tubers.

A little later in 7th millennium BC, there seem to have been more goats and sheep. These most likely came from Southwest Asia  . There were also many large hearths at this time.

High level of organization
Archaeological findings show that these prehistoric peoples led livelihoods seemingly at a higher level of organization than those who came after them, who lived closer to the Nile Valley:
 above-ground & below-ground stone construction,
 villages designed in planned arrangements, and
 deep wells that held water year-round.
Findings also show that the region was occupied only seasonally. This means that people only lived there in the summer, when the local lake filled with water for grazing cattle. Analysis of human remains show that the people who lived here may have migrated from sub-Saharan Africa.

Religious ties to ancient Egypt
By the 6th millennium BC, there may have been a prehistoric religion or cult. Sacrificed cattle were found buried in stone-roofed chambers lined with clay. Some people think that this cattle cult in Nabta Playa may be related to Ancient Egypt's Hathor cult. An example of this connection may be that Hathor was worshiped as a nighttime protector in desert regions.

Though the religious practices of the region involving cattle show possible ties to Ancient Egypt, Egyptologist Mark Lehner says:
It makes sense, but not in a facile, direct way. You can't go straight from these megaliths to the pyramid of Djoser.

This basically means that though there is evidence, there is no direct proof showing that the cattle cult was connected to Hathor.

One of the world's earliest known examples of archeoastronomy
By the 5th millennium BC these peoples had fashioned one of the world's earliest known astronomical device (roughly contemporary to the Goseck circle in Germany), about 1000 years older than but comparable to Stonehenge (see sketch at right). Research suggests that it may have been a prehistoric calendar which accurately marks the summer solstice.

The research done by the astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests that these monoliths might tell much more. The calendar circle itself is made up of one doorway that runs north-south, a second that runs northeast-southwest marking the summer solstice, and six center stones. Brophy's theory proposes first that three of the center stones match the belt of Orion at its minimum tilt and the other three match the shoulder and head stars of Orion at their maximum tilt. This cycle repeats approximately every 25,000 years, following the precession of the equinoxes. The last minimum of Orion's belt occurred between 6400 BC and 4900 BC, matching the radio-carbon dating of campfires around the circle.

The stone circle at Nabta Playa is built precisely on what was then the Tropic of Cancer, the sun's farthest North point of travel that is, today, about 23 degrees 40 minutes N. Such a site would interest the wise men of the megalithic era and some would travel many days to erect such a site and then study there.

Another stone megalithic structure exists which consists of a central radial stone and several other stones in the distance. In interpreting this Brophy found that the lines made to these stones from the radial stone match the spots in the sky where the various stars marked by the center stones in the calendar circle at the time they rose as the vernal equinox heliacal rising. In analyzing the varying distances, mulling through assumptions such as that they represented the brightness of the stars, he inadvertently found that they matched the distance of the stars from Earth on a scale of 1 meter = .799 light years within the margin of error for astronomical distances calculated today.

Notes

References
 Scientific American
 University of Colorado at Boulder:
 1998 article
 1999 article
 2000 article
 Thomas G. Brophy and Paul A. Rosen: Satellite Imagery Measures of the Astronomically Aligned Megaliths at Nabta Playa, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 5(1) (2005) 15 - 24

Prehistoric buildings and structures
Archaeological sites in Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Nabta Playa


Charles Clayton Wylie (1886–1976) was born in Idana, Kansas on June 18, 1886 and died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in April 1976. He earned his first degree from Park College in Missouri in 1908 and a master's degree from the University of Missouri in 1912. After working at the US Naval Observatory from 1913-1919, he went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was the first Ph.D. graduate from University of Illinois' astronomy department. He graduated with his doctorate in 1922 for his work "The Eclipsing Binary Sigma Aquilae, the Cepheid Variable Eta Aquilae."

Wylie remained at the University of Illinois Observatory as an instructor until 1925 when he left for the University of Iowa where he remained for the rest of his career in the department of mathematics and astronomy. Trained in photoelectric photometry by Joel Stebbins, he shifted his research focus to meteors and meteorites because of the lack of equipment at Iowa City. He often interviewed people who have seen meteors and collected samples of the meteorites. During the 1930s he corresponded with Fred Whipple concerning the origins or meteors. Wylie and Whipple agreed that the meteors were of solar system origin. He was the first vice-president of the Society for Research on Meteorites  (now Meteoritical Society) when it organized in 1933.

He authored several books including "Our starland: An easy guide to the study of the heavens," "Astronomy, maps, and weather," and "Problems in Practical Astronomy."

References

University of Illinois alumni
University of Iowa faculty
American astronomers
1886 births
1976 deaths
University of Missouri alumni

Charles Wylie (astronomer)


Dunlap is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It lies at an elevation of .  It has a population of 131.  It is located approximately  east of Fresno. In the 1800s Dunlap was a rest stop for passengers of the stage coach and a location for a change of horses.

St. Nicholas Ranch, a conference and retreat center run by the Greek Orthodox Church, is a major attraction. The Greek Orthodox Monastery (Convent) of the Theotokos, the Life-Giving Spring is also located there. Prior to the acquisition of the land by the ranch and the monastery, the land was known as the Sally K Ranch with two of the old ranch dwellings now being occupied by the ranch manager and assigned clergy. On the ranch property itself, there is an old barn, totally constructed of redwood, with a chapel inside (on the second floor). Referred to as "The Barn Church" or "St. Nicolas Chapel" by locals, the chapel has a minimalist design, and is home to a colony of bats. The extremely large barn itself was built in 1891 to house livestock, with the chapel being a much more recent addition. In the late 1800s the large barn was also used to store ice for the city of Fresno; the ice was cut in the winter, reportedly at nearby Hume Lake, and then the large blocks were moved to the barn. Although the barn is no longer used for livestock, the original enclosures are still there.

An attraction near to Dunlap on Highway 180 is the Sierra Endangered Cat Haven. The ZIP Code is 93621, and the community is inside area code 559.

The first post office was established in 1882, was closed for a time in 1885, and moved in 1898. The name honors George Dunlap Moss, a school teacher instrumental in bringing a post office to the town.

Hye Camp, which was formerly owned by Olympian Bob Mathias, is now owned and operated by the Armenian Church of the Western Diocese as a youth camp and retreat center.

A female intern-volunteer was killed on March 6, 2013 by a lion at the Sierra Endangered Cat Haven animal park. The lion escaped from a feeding cage and attacked while she was cleaning his enclosure.

Climate
The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Csb" (Mediterranean Climate).

References

Further reading

Oak to Pine to Timberline: Tale of Settlers and Sinners South of the Kings (1985), Helen Clingan and Forest Clingan.

Unincorporated communities in California
Unincorporated communities in Fresno County, California
Mono
Populated places established in 1882

Dunlap, California


Vayu (वायु), Wayu or Hayu (हायु) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal by about 1,520 people in Bagmati Province. Dialects include Pali gau (पालि गाउ) Mudajor Sukajor Ramechhap  Sindhuli and Marin Khola.

The Vayu language features SOV ordering. There are strong Nepali influences in its phonology, lexicon, and grammar. Its writing system uses the Devanagari script. There are no known monolingual speakers of the language, as its speaking population also uses Nepali. Despite a lack of monolingual children, use of Vayu has survived into the 21st century

Phonology

Grammar

Geographical distribution
Hayu is spoken in the following locations of Nepal.

Ramechhap District, Bagmati Province: Mudajor and Sukajor villages
Sindhuli District: Manedihi village

Hayu is spoken in the Sunkoshi valley, southwards across the Mahabharat range. Ethnic Hayu live on the hills on both sides of the Sun Kosi River but the language is only spoken in the villages listed.

References

Bibliography
 Boyd Michailovsky (1988) La langue hayu. Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
 Boyd Michailovsky (2003) "Hayu". In Graham Thurgood & Randy LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 518–532. London & New York: Routledge.
 George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.

Further reading
 Hodgson, B. (1857). Váyu Vocabulary. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 26. 372-485.
 Hodgson, B. (1858). On the Vayu tribe of the Central Himalaya. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 27. 443-6.
 Michailovsky, B. (1973). Notes on the Hayu language. Kailash : A Journal of Himalayan Studies, 1(2), 135-152.
 Michailovsky, B. (1974). Hayu Typology and Verbal Morphology. Linguistics Of The Tibeto-Burman Area, 11-26.
 Michailovsky, B. (1976). A Case of Rhinoglottophilia in Hayu. Linguistics Of The Tibeto-Burman Area, 2293.
 Park, I. (1995). Grammaticalization of Verbs in Three Tibeto-Burman Languages. Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(8), 2369A.
 Sherard, M. (1986). Morphological Structure of the Pronominal and Verb Systems in Two Pronominalized Himalayan Languages. In J. McCoy, T. Light (Eds.), Contributions to Sino-Tibetan Studies (pp. 172–199). Leiden: Brill.
 Yadava, Y. P., Glover, W. W. (1999). Topics in Nepalese Linguistics. In Yadava, Yogendra P. and Warren W. Glover (eds.) Kamaladi, Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy. p. 603.

External links
 Hayu recordings from COCOON, COllections de COrpus Oraux Numériques
 Endangered Languages Profile for Hayu

Articles in class projects/Rutgers
Kiranti languages
Languages of Nepal
Subject–object–verb languages
Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages
Languages of Bagmati Province
Languages written in Devanagari

Vayu language


Il Demofonte, also: Demofonte, Demofoonte or Demofont (Russian and Ukrainian: Демофонт or Демофон) is an opera seria by the Ukrainian composer Maksym Berezovsky (1745–1777) composed in 1773  to an Italian libretto by Pietro Metastasio.

The opera libretto Il Demofonte was written by  Metastasio in 1731 (or 1733) and became immensely popular. By 1800 it had inspired at least 73 operas (according to the Encyclopaedia Musical St. Petersburg: The 18th Century)

The version by Maksym Berezovsky is especially important for music history as the first opera by a Russian as well as a Ukrainian composer.

Creation and performance history

Berezovsky worked on the opera during his 4-year stay in Italy. It was for a winter carnival in Livorno, where a Russian flotilla was anchored, written at the request of his patron, count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian fleet. The opera was premiered in February 1773 and was well received by the local press.

The review in the Livorno newspaper Notizie del mondo published on February 27, 1773 noted that the "opera with music composed by Maestro Beresovsky, the Russian maestro di cappella at the service of Her Majesty the Empress of the whole Russia, combines liveliness and good taste with the possession of musical science".

The full score of the opera has been lost and is preserved only in a few remaining fragments: sinfonia (that regarded as the first Symphony of a Russian/Ukrainian composer), which probably served as an introduction to the opera, and four arias:

Sinfonia in C major (1770–1773) in three short movements listen to the beginning of Sinfonia
Aria of Demofonte "Per lei fra l'armi"
Aria of Demofonte "Mentre il cor con meste voci"
Aria of Timante "Prudente mi chiedi" from Act II listen to the introduction to the Aria
Aria of Timante "Misero pargoletto" from Act III, Scene 5

It is known via Sergei Prokofiev that Sergei Diaghilev had an intention to re-stage the opera; however, this plan had not been realized. The arias were published in Kiev in 1988. The recording of the Sinfonia and two Timante's Arias now are available on a CD (Maxim Berezovsky: Secular Music, SACD CM 0022003, 54:48)

Roles
Demofonte
Dircea
Creusa
Timante
Cherinto
Matusio

A playbill featuring the singers' names was found by Robert-Aloys Mooser and published in Annales de la Musique et des Musiciens en Russie au XVIIIe siècle (Geneva, 1948). It reads:

Demofonte, dramma seria. Musica del Sig. Maestro Berezowskoy.
Attori
Signori:
Giacomo Verdi
Francesco Porri
Giuseppe Afferri (tenore)
Vincenzo Nicolini
Signore:
Camilla Mattei
Caterina Spighi

Le balli sono inventati e diretti delli Signori Fratelli Turchi

Synopsis

The Thracian king Demofonte asks the oracle of Apollo how long the practice of the annual sacrifice of a virgin will continue.  The answer is puzzling: "as long as the innocent usurper sits on the throne". The nobleman Matusio tries to protect his daughter Dircea from being sacrificed. He and Demofonte are unaware that Dircea is secretly married to Timante, the son of Demofonte and the heir to the throne. Demofonte wants Timante to merry Creusa, a princess of Phrygia. Timante's younger brother Cherinto is accompanying her to the kingdom of Thrace, however he falls in love with her. Meeting Creusa, Timante admits that he can't marry her, but does not explain why.

Dircea has been caught while trying to flee the country and imprisoned, and Demofonte orders the immediate sacrifice of Dircea. Timante tries to release her but with no success. He is also imprisoned. Creusa asks Demofonte for mercy. The king releases Timante and Dircea, and Timante decides to give up the throne in favour of Cherinto.

Suddenly they find a letter revealing that Dircea is the daughter of Demofonte, which makes Timante and Dircea brother and sister. Timante is in despair, and tries to avoid Dircea. However another letter reveals that Timante is the son of Matusio. Everybody is happy. The marriage of Timante and Dircea becomes legal, and Cherinto is the real crown prince and can marry Creusa. No more virgins are sacrificed, since Timante is no longer the "innocent usurper of the throne".

Notes

Bibliography

Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона (1890—1907)
Штелин, Я. Музыка и балет в России XVIII века. // Музыкальное наследство. Вып. 1. М., 1935
Старикова, Л. М. Новые документы о деятельности итальянской труппы в России в 30-е годы XVIII века <...> // ПКНО. 1988. М., 1989
Рыцарева, Марина Композитор Березовский, - Rytsareva, Marina  Kompozitor Berezovsky, Leningrad, Muzyka, 1983

External links
booklet of the CD
CD review by John Sunier, English
CD review by Sven Kerkhoff, German
CD review by Artyom Avatinyan, Russian

Italian-language operas
Operas
Opera seria
Russian opera
1773 operas
Operas by Maksym Berezovsky
Operas based on classical mythology

Demofonte (Berezovsky)


Elbe-Havel-Land is a Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 1 January 2010, it was a Verwaltungsgemeinschaft. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, south of Havelberg. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Schönhausen.

The Verbandsgemeinde Elbe-Havel-Land consists of the following municipalities:

Kamern
Klietz
Sandau
Schönhausen
Schollene
Wust-Fischbeck

References

External links
www.elbe-havel-land.de

Verbandsgemeinden in Saxony-Anhalt

Elbe-Havel-Land


Nuclear energy policy is a national and international policy concerning some or all aspects of nuclear energy, such as mining for nuclear fuel, extraction and processing of nuclear fuel from the ore, electricity generation by nuclear power, enriching and storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel reprocessing. Since nuclear energy and nuclear weapons technologies are closely related, military aspirations can act as a factor in energy policy decisions. The fear of nuclear proliferation influences some international nuclear energy policies.

The use of nuclear energy is limited to a relatively small number of countries in the world. As of 2007, only 31 countries, or 16% of the 191 United Nations Member States, operated nuclear power plants. Countries that rely most on nuclear energy were France (with 75% of its electricity generated by nuclear power stations), Lithuania,  Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Sweden, Ukraine and South Korea. The largest producer of nuclear capacity was the USA with 28% of worldwide capacity, followed by France (18%) and Japan (12%). In 2000, there were 438 commercial nuclear generating units throughout the world, with a total capacity of about 351 gigawatts.

Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Germany has permanently shut down eight of its 17 reactors. Italy voted to keep their country non-nuclear. Switzerland and Spain have banned the construction of new reactors. As of 2013, countries such as Australia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Norway remain opposed to nuclear power. Germany and Switzerland are phasing-out nuclear power. Globally, more nuclear power reactors have closed than opened in recent years.

Nuclear energy policy by country

Overview
After the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, China, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Malaysia, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the Philippines are reviewing their nuclear power programs. Indonesia and Vietnam still plan to build nuclear power plants. Countries such as Australia, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, North Korea, and Norway remain opposed to nuclear power.

Australia

Australia produces no nuclear power. Plans to review whether the country should develop nuclear power were abandoned after Kevin Rudd, who opposed the move, was elected prime minister in 2007.

Finland
As of 2006, Finland's nuclear power program has four nuclear reactors. The first of these came into operation in 1977. They now provide 27% of Finland's electricity.

The third Olkiluoto reactor will be the new European Pressurized Reactor. Scheduled to go on line in 2011, it will have a power output of 1600 MWe.

Construction of Olkiluoto 3 started in August 2005. Two and a half years later the project is "over two years behind schedule and at least 50% over budget, the loss for the provider being estimated at €1.5 billion".

France

After the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the French government decided in 1974 to move towards self-sufficiency in electricity production, primarily through the construction of nuclear power stations. France today produces around 78.1% of its electricity through nuclear power. Because France produces an overall electricity surplus, it exports nuclear-produced energy. Some of this goes to countries which are ostensibly against the use of nuclear energy, such as Germany. The Board of Electricité de France (Électricité de France or EDF) has approved construction of a 1630 MWe European Pressurized Reactor or EPR at Flamanville, Normandy. Construction is expected to begin in late 2007, with completion in 2012.

In the 1970s, an anti-nuclear movement in France, consisting of citizens' groups and political action committees, emerged. There were many large anti-nuclear protests and demonstrations.  More recently, targeted campaigns have been conducted, mainly by Greenpeace, and Sortir du nucléaire (France) has called for an official safety inspection of the Areva facilities.

Germany

In 2000, the German government, consisting of a coalition including the Green party Alliance '90/The Greens officially announced its intention to phase out nuclear power in Germany. Jürgen Trittin, the Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, reached an agreement with energy companies on the gradual shut down of the country's nineteen nuclear power plants and a cessation of civil usage of nuclear power by 2020. Legislation was enacted in the Nuclear Exit Law. The power plants in Stade and Obrigheim were turned off on November 14, 2003, and May 11, 2005, respectively. Dismantling of the plants is scheduled to begin in 2007. But the Nuclear Exit Law did not ban enrichment stations - one in Gronau has received permission to extend operations. There have been concerns over the safety of the phase-out, particularly in terms of the transport of nuclear waste. In 2005 Angela Merkel won the German federal election in 2005 with the CDU party. She has subsequently announced to re-negotiate with energy companies the time limit for a shut down of nuclear power stations. But as part of her pact with the SPD, with whom the CDU form a coalition, the phase-out policy has for now been retained.

In November 2008, a shipment of radioactive waste from German nuclear plants arrived at a storage site near Gorleben after being delayed by large protests from nuclear activists. More than 15,000 people took part in the protests which involved blocking trucks with sit-down demonstrations and blocking the route with tractors. The demonstrations were partly a response to conservative calls for a rethink of the planned phaseout of nuclear power stations.

Japan

Japan has 55 reactors of total capacity 47,577 MWe (49,580 MWe gross) on line, with 2 reactors (2,285 MWe) under construction and 12 reactors (16,045 MWe) planned. Nuclear energy accounts for about 30% of Japan's total electricity production, from 47.5 GWe of capacity (net). There are plans to increase this to 37% in 2009 and 41% in 2014.

On 16 July 2007 a severe earthquake hit the region where Tokyo Electric's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant is located. The plant with seven units is the largest single nuclear power station in the world. All of the reactors were shut down and are expected to remain closed for damage verification and repairs for at least one year.

During the Fukushima nuclear disaster there was a failure of cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan on March 11, 2011, and a nuclear emergency was declared. This was the first time a nuclear emergency had been declared in Japan, and 140,000 residents within 20 km of the plant were moved out. Explosions and a fire resulted in dangerous levels of radiation, resulting in a stock market collapse and panic-buying in supermarkets.

United States

Shippingport power plant was the first commercial nuclear power plant built in the United States in 1958. After the growth of nuclear power in the 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission anticipated that more than 1,000 reactors would be operating in the United States by 2000. But by the end of the 1970s, it became clear that nuclear power would not grow nearly so dramatically, and more than 120 reactor orders were ultimately cancelled.

As of 2007 in the United States, there are 104 (69 pressurized water reactors and 35 boiling water reactors) commercial nuclear generating units licensed to operate, producing a total of 97,400 megawatts (electric), which is approximately 20% of the nation's total electric energy consumption. The United States is the world's largest supplier of commercial nuclear power.

The Three Mile Island accident has been the most serious accident experienced by the U.S. nuclear industry. Other accidents include those at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant, which has been the source of two of the top five most dangerous nuclear incidents in the United States since 1979, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Several US nuclear power plants closed well before their design lifetimes, including Rancho Seco in 1989 in California, San Onofre Unit 1 in 1992 in California (units 2 and 3 are still operating), Zion Nuclear Power Station in 1998 in Illinois and Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in 1992 in Oregon.  Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant in California closed in 1976, 13 years after geologists discovered it was built on a fault (the Little Salmon Fault). Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant never operated commercially as an authorized Emergency Evacuation Plan could not be agreed on due to the political climate after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents.

Many plants have recently received 20-year extensions to their licensed lifetimes.

Notes

Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy policy


Chad Severs (born August 13, 1982 in Vineland, New Jersey) is an American soccer player.

Career

College and Amateur
Severs attended Ocean City High School in Ocean City, New Jersey where he is currently the second all-time leading scorer in New Jersey prep history. His 159 career goals are just two shy of Tab Ramos' record of 161. Severs once scored 8 goals in a high school game, a South Jersey record. In 1999-2000, during his junior and senior seasons, at Ocean City High School, he helped capture two New Jersey Group III state co-championships. During his youth, he played his club soccer for the seven-time New Jersey State Cup Champions, Mercer United Warriors. In 2000, he would end his youth career with the newly founded Match Fit Academy. He was also a regular on the Region 1 Olympic Development Team and is a 2000 Adidas Elite Soccer Program Alumni.

Severs accepted a full athletic scholarship and played his college soccer at Penn State University from 2001-2004. While with Penn State, he led the team in scoring for three straight years, from 2002-2004. He finished his Nittany Lion career ninth in all-time career goals (38) and points (90). This achievement also places him sixth in the Big Ten Conference record books. In 2001, he earned Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and was named Penn State Freshman Male Student Athlete of the Year. He was selected to Second-Team All-Big Ten and College Soccer News National All-Freshman Second Team. During that same year, the Nittany Lions would make it to the NCAA Tournament "Sweet Sixteen". In 2002, Severs had a breakout year scoring 17 goals while he led the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten Tournament Championship and onto the NCAA Tournament "Elite 8". For his efforts in his sophomore campaign, he garnered First-Team All-Big Ten honors and Honorable Mention on the College Soccer News All-American Team. In 2003, Severs totaled 7 goals and added 3 assists. In the same year, Penn State would fall one game short of capturing their second straight Big Ten Tournament Championship and losing out on the NCAA tournament for the first time in Severs' career. They lost in the Big Ten Championship game to Indiana University in penalty kicks. Although, a mediocre year by the Nittany Lion squad, Severs would get attention on the Middle-Atlantic All-Region Second-Team.

Prior to his senior season, he was a College Soccer News Third-Team Preseason All-American. He went on to lead the Nittany Lions in goals (9) and points (21) for the third straight year and received Second-Team All-Big Ten. Penn State would eventually lose in the NCAA tournament "round of 32". Shortly after his final year at Penn State, he was one of 66 seniors invited to participate in the 2005 Adidas Major League Soccer Combine at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca. In 2004, he was also named the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association College Player of the Year. In an effort to make his dream become a reality much quicker and concentrate fully on playing professional soccer, Severs would graduate in just 3 and 1/2 years, with a B.S. in Kinesiology.

During his college years Severs also played in the USL Premier Development League with Jersey Shore Boca and the Reading Rage.

Professional
Severs turned professional in 2005 when he with the Harrisburg City Islanders of the USL Second Division and was named USL2 Rookie of the Year. Severs moved on to the Rochester Rhinos for 2006, but the Islanders brought him back for a five-game loan stint over which he scored four goals. He was more of a presence for Rochester in 2007, scoring 3 goals and 7 points over 14 appearances, but still found time for another productive loan spell in Harrisburg (3 goals, 8 points in five games) as he helped the Islanders on their championship run. In 2007, he also appeared in 11 games with Otago United of the New Zealand Football Championship.

He transferred back the Islanders in 2009, and enjoyed the most productive season of his career, scoring 9 goals in 19 games for the team.

Despite playing only 51 games in a Harrisburg uniform, Severs ranks as the club's all-time leader in goals (31), points (70), and game-winning goals (6). On February 11, 2010 Pittsburgh Riverhounds announced the signing of Severs to a contract for the 2010 season.

Personal
In his spare time, Severs enjoys traveling, bodyboarding, and playing golf in his hometown of Ocean City, New Jersey.

References

External links
Harrisburg City Islanders bio
 Rochester Rhinos bio

1982 births
Living people
American men's soccer players
Soccer players from New Jersey
Penn FC players
Jersey Shore Boca players
Southern United FC players
Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer players
Reading United AC players
Rochester New York FC players
USL League Two players
USL First Division players
USL Second Division players
Wilmington Hammerheads FC players
USL Championship players
People from Ocean City, New Jersey
People from Vineland, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Warren County, New Jersey
Men's association football forwards
American expatriate men's soccer players
American expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand
Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand

Chad Severs


Asitha Ameresekere (born 24 June 1971) is a British-Sri Lankan Filmmaker and Writer.

Ameresekere was born in London, and was educated at the Overseas Children's School in Sri Lanka, Harrow School in London and read Classics at Bristol University. Ameresekere received an MFA in Directing for Theatre, Video & Cinema at the California Institute of the Arts.

Ameresekere's short film Do Not Erase won Best Short Film at the 60th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA). Ameresekere is currently in the development stage of his next short film, in addition to writing two feature films and a novella.

A collection of Ameresekere's short stories Wedding Gifts & Other Presents will be published in May 2007 by Perera-Hussein Books in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Asitha Ameresekere lives and works in London.

Filmography
14 - short film, 9 mins (2009)
Do Not Erase - short film, 29 mins (2005)
in sight - short film, 17 mins (2003)

External links
 BBC News Article
 Sunday Times Article
 Daily Mirror News Article
 in sight Website

1971 births
Living people
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of the University of Bristol
California Institute of the Arts alumni
BAFTA winners (people)
British experimental filmmakers

Asitha Ameresekere


The new millennium saw many changes for motorsport. Not only were there technological developments, but also historic ones like NASCAR's severing of ties with the tobacco industry.

North America
Dodge replaces Pontiac in NASCAR as General Motors discontinues the brand. The Dodge Avenger is the vehicle of choice for the new brand.
NASCAR severs ties with R.J. Reynolds after decades of sponsorship
The United States Grand Prix returns in 2001 after almost a decade, being held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. It is held there until 2007, after which it is dropped again.
The Canadian Grand Prix is dropped in 2008 after twenty years. It returns two years later.
Watkins Glen International returns to the IndyCar Series for the first time since 1981. It is dropped in 2011, revived in 2016, and then dropped again in 2018.
Sonoma Raceway becomes a regular on the IndyCar schedule. It will last until 2018, after which it is dropped in favor of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The Chevrolet Camaro is discontinued in 2002. It will not return for eight years.
The Dodge Challenger returns in 2008 based on the original model from the sixties.
IMSA first holds an event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Pontiac GTO returns based on the Holden Monaro. Due to bland styling and Pontiac's decreasing sales, the model is discontinued after only four years. During its run, it is used in the Rolex Sports Car Series and Grand Am Cup Series. The latter is now known as the Michelin Pilot Challenge.
The Mercury Cougar is discontinued after over thirty years. Due to the brand's discontinuation, the model does not see a return
The Pontiac Firebird is discontinued in 2002 alongside the Camaro. Due to the discontinuation of the Pontiac brand, the Firebird does not see a return.
The Ford GT is introduced based on the Ford GT40, albeit as a grand tourer rather than a prototype. Unlike the GT40, the GT is not dominant in motorsport.
The IndyCar Series drops all tobacco advertising
After NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt's horrific fatal death, NASCAR introduces the Car of Tomorrow in an attempt to develop a safer vehicle. This begins an era of NASCAR vehicles becoming more stock, today akin to grand tourers.
Successful GT racing team K-Pax Racing is founded
Debut of IndyCar legend Danica Patrick. Over the years she has tried to become the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500, but without success. Due to the attention gained by her attempts, she is added to a version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.
The Detroit Grand Prix is dropped in 2001 after twenty years. It is revived in 2007 after six years. It is held until 2009. It is revived again three years later at Belle Isle as a doubleheader. It remained there until 2023 when it moved to a new circuit in downtown Detroit.
Sports car legend Scott Pruett debuts.
Debut of IndyCar star Dan Wheldon. He would compete until his death at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011.
Scott Speed becomes the first American F1 driver since Michael Andretti, joining in 2006. His career is shortlived, ending in 2007. He goes on to compete in IndyCar and NASCAR among other series.
NASCAR hosts an event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series merge to become the IndyCar Series
The Ford Thunderbird returns as a luxury roadster, but is quickly discontinued due to poor sales
For 2001, the Talladega 500 returns. It subsequently reacquires its corporate sponsor the following year.

South America
IndyCar legend Helio Castroneves makes his debut

Europe

The French Grand Prix is dropped in 2008 after over fifty years. It does not return until 2018.
The Austrian Grand Prix is dropped in 2003. It does not return until 2014.
The San Marino Grand Prix is dropped in 2006 after over twenty years. Imola Circuit will return to the calendar in 2020 in the form of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, initially as filler to replace events canceled by COVID-19
The Bahrain Grand Prix debuts in 2004
Kinetic Energy Recovery System is introduced in Formula One
Bentley returns to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2003, winning for the first time since 1930 using a thinly-disguised Audi R8.
The FIA bans the use of tobacco advertising from F1. Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren, however, eventually find ways to advertise tobacco subliminally.
Debut of Formula One champion Fernando Alonso
F1 legend Lewis Hamilton debuts
Audi dominates for many years in endurance racing due to its diesel engines and pit strategies. Their streak ends in 2015 when Porsche Racing begins their dynasty and the FIA makes several rule changes.
Debut of Formula One champion Jensen Button
Morgan introduces the Aero 8, which becomes a competitive grand tourer. It is also their first modern designed car since before World War II.

Asia
The Chinese Grand Prix debuts in 2004.
The Singapore Grand Prix debuts in 2008.
The Acura NSX is discontinued in 2005 after about fifteen years. It does not return for over ten years.

Middle East
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix debuts in 2009.
The Turkish Grand Prix debuts 2005. It is held until 2011 and then dropped, returning in 2020.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is first held.

Central America
From 2005 to 2008 the NASCAR Xfinity Series hosts an event at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

South Pacific
IndyCar legend Scott Dixon makes his debut

See also
2010s in motorsport
1990s in motorsport

References

2000s in motorsport


The Hitzacker Archaeological Centre () is an archaeological open-air museum in Hitzacker in the German state of Lower Saxony. The core theme of the museum is the presentation of Bronze Age settlements.

The museum has three reconstructed single-room houses  (Wohnstallhäuser) or longhouses (Langhäuser) that combine livestock stalls and living accommodation under one roof, a burial hut (Totenhütte) and a pit-house (Grubenhaus), as they would have looked based on local archaeological finds. The longhouses have been further enhanced by various, everyday household and handiwork items. One of the longhouses contains an exhibition of the important  aspects of life in the Bronze Age some 3,000 years ago. The museum gives visitors a diverse range of historical activities such as bronze casting, bread baking, Feuerschlagen, spinning and weaving as well as modern activities to participate in and try out.

In 1969 the first archaeological discoveries of ceramic shards and building floor plans were made during building work at Lake Hitzacker (Hitzacker See). Not until 1987 were planned archaeological digs carried out on the area, because the expansion of the lake and upgrade of a federal road endangered the cultural monuments. The following years yielded further finds and floor plans. In 1990 the Hitzacker Archaeological Centre was founded due to the importance of these discoveries. The museum is sponsored by the Lüchow-Dannenberg District Archaeological Society (Kreisarchäologie Lüchow-Dannenberg) and the Society for the Hitzacker Archaeological Centre (Förderverein Archäologisches Zentrum Hitzacker e.V.).

The open-air museum is a place recognised by the town of Hitzacker for registry office weddings that are accompanied by a supporting programme by the museum.

Sources
 Arne Lucke: Zeitpfade - Mensch, Umwelt, Technik vor 3000 Jahren. Archäologisches Zentrum Hitzacker, Hitzacker 2002

See also
 List of open-air museums in Germany

External links
 Pages on the Hitzacker Archaeological Centre

Museums in Lower Saxony
Archaeological museums in Germany
Archaeological sites in Germany
Open-air museums in Germany

Hitzacker Archaeological Centre


A rotunda (from Latin rotundus) is any building with a circular plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building. A famous example is the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C..

Further readings
 Vera, Gervers-Molnár (1972): A középkori Magyarország rotundái. (Rotunda in the Medieval Hungary). Akadémiai, Budapest
 József, Csemegi (1949): A tarnaszentmáriai templom hajójának stíluskritikai vizsgálata. (Studies on the Nave of the Church at Tarnaszentmária.) in: Antiquitas Hungarica III (1949), 92-107.

Buildings and structures

Rotunda (architecture)


Erzsébet Szilágyi (, c. 1410–1483) was a Hungarian noblewoman, wife of John Hunyadi and mother of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary.

Elizabeth was the daughter of the Ladislaus Szilágyi and Catherine Bellyéni, members of two influential Hungarian families of the 15th century that were loyal to the King Sigismund of Hungary. She had several siblings, including Mihály Szilágyi, who had an important role after the death of Elizabeth's husband, John Hunyadi. Hunyadi was the regent of the Kingdom of Hungary and supreme commander of the armies, an excellent fighter, that counted with the favor of the Pope for confronting the Ottoman Empire. He was the most powerful nobleman of the Kingdom and counted with huge properties and centenars of lower noblemen that supported him. After his death in 1456, his older son Ladislaus Hunyadi became the head of the House of Hunyadi, however after murdering the count Ulrich von Cilli, the counselor of the King Ladislaus V of Hungary, he was executed. Then Elizabeth's only son Matthias Corvinus of Hungary was taken to Prague by the young King, who felt for his life before the instability caused after the execution of Ladislaus Hunyadi. Mihály Szilágyi and Elizabeth founded Szilágyi – Hunyadi Liga and became the leaders of this Liga, and after the sudden death of the King Ladislaus (possibly poisoned), she negotiated the release of Matthias, who was soon elected as King of Hungary in 1458.

After this, Elizabeth became the mother of the King, and continued being a great influence in the Kingdom. Matthias had an illegitimate son in 1473, and soon was sent to the properties of his grandmother, who raised him with the best teachers of the Kingdom. The illegitimate John Corvinus never became King of Hungary after the death of Matthias because of the pression of the noblemen and the widow of the monarch, but enjoyed titles and properties, fighting the Turkish armies until the end of his life as his grandfather and father did before. His grandmother Elizabeth lived in Óbuda most of his life, and founded several monasteries and chapels, following her deeply religious beliefs. She died around 1483.

Ancestry

References

Erzsebet
1410 births
1483 deaths
Hunyadi family
Hungarian nobility
15th-century Hungarian women

Elizabeth Szilágyi


Marshall Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of central-southern Colorado, US. It lies in northern Saguache County on the Continental Divide between the Sawatch Range to the north and the Cochetopa Hills to the south. The pass is part of a backcountry alternative to U.S. Highway 50 between Salida and Gunnison.

Marshall Pass was discovered by and named for Lt. William L. Marshall, of the Wheeler Survey, in 1873.

History
When William Marshall first crossed the pass he realized that it would be a good route for a road, and shortly after this a company was organized to build a toll road.  The Marshall Pass Toll Road was completed in 1880, with stagecoach service from Gunnison to the Arkansas River where it connected with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.  The new road at the pass summit was barely passable, and the grades on both sides of the pass were reported to be very steep.

In 1881, the narrow gauge mainline of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad was built across Marshall Pass on the way from Denver to Salt Lake City. This railroad line was completed before the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad completed the Alpine Tunnel, so it was the first crossing of the continental divide in Colorado by any railroad.  The line reached Sargents, Colorado in August 1881.  By 1884, the line was complete from Ogden, Utah to Denver.

The line saw the daily Shavano passenger train until closure. Interestingly, there are many reports of a phantom train chasing the Shavano along the route. The line closed with the Gunnison Division in 1955, and the rails were removed the same year.

Marshall Pass, Colorado was a small settlement, railroad station and post office, located at the pass. The population was 11 in 1948; there were six buildings then.  Time Magazine called it "the U.S.'s smallest post office."

Water diversion

In 1939, the Catlin Canal Company built the Larkspur ditch to divert water from upper Harry Creek (a tributary of Marshall Creek and eventually Tomichi Creek) south over the continental divide at Marshall Pass, delivering its water into Poncha Creek and thence to the South Arkansas River.  The 1.5 mile (2.4 km) ditch has a capacity of approximately 8 cubic feet per second (0.2 m3/s) and average annual deliveries between 1990 and 1999 were 31 acre-feet (38,000 m3).

The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District entered a cooperative agreement with the Catlin Canal Company to improve the ditch in 2004, doubling the length of the ditch and increasing its average annual delivery to over 300-acre-feet (370,000 m3).  The water district completed purchase of the ditch in 2011.

Geography

Marshall Pass is just a few miles south of Monarch Pass, and in fact, both were considered as potential routes for U.S. 50, with the latter ultimately being chosen. Today, a gravel road still follows the old railroad route over Marshall Pass. In the summer and late fall, this drive is especially beautiful. It may be driven by regular passenger cars in good conditions.

From the east, take U.S. 285 south from Poncha Springs (near Salida) about 6 miles to County Road 200 and turn right; from the west turn right off U.S. 50 at Sargents. While grades are gentler (the railroad had a ruling grade of 4%) than on U.S. 50 over Monarch Pass (7% grades), please note that the Marshall Pass Road is closed to wheeled vehicles during the winter months. Marshall Pass is usually—but not always—a better route for small aircraft passing over the Continental Divide than is Monarch Pass.

Gallery

References

External links

"The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass"

Rail mountain passes of the United States
Mountain passes of Colorado
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
Landforms of Saguache County, Colorado
Transportation in Saguache County, Colorado

Marshall Pass


The Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House is located on Huguenot Street in the Town of New Paltz, New York, United States. It was built in 1786 by Hasbrouck, grandson of Jean Hasbrouck, one of the original Huguenot settlers of the New Paltz area in the late 17th century, after he had moved out of the family home, two miles (3.2 km) to the south in what is today the Huguenot Street Historic District. A descendant of his lives in the house today, and it is believed to be the only 18th-century stone house in the New Paltz area continuously owned by the family that first built it.

Hasbrouck's house shows sophistication and refinement befitting a large landholder who served as town supervisor and later in the American Revolutionary War. It is the culmination of the Dutch/Belgian-style stone houses that had been built all over Ulster County during the preceding century. His descendants found the house somewhat confining and, over several different generations, modified it in ways that reflected the changing tastes of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Property

The house is located on a  lot on the west side of the street. There are several outbuildings from the former farm, no longer in use for their original purpose.

Its original section is the front block, a one-and-a-half-story with  thick load-bearing stone walls. A porch covers the front entrance between two of the three pairs of windows; the upper story has two large, wooden gabled dormers added later, between the three small shed dormers remaining from the original house. In the rear is another later addition, a section called the "outlet", after the Dutch "uitlayt", a one-story stone enclosure  wide across the entire rear section, with its own basement.

The interior of the main block follows the standard 18th-century center-hall plan, with the kitchen on one side and the parlor on the other. The outlet is partitioned into five rooms, three connecting to the kitchen side of the house and two to the parlor.

In the rear of the lot are three farm buildings: a granary that has since itself been converted into a house, a greatly deteriorated chicken coop, and a modern barn used for storing firewood. There is also a baseball field used for local Little League games on the southwest corner. None of those are considered contributing resources. An old well house behind the kitchen side is, as is the stone wall on the front and north side of the property.

History

The Hasbroucks in the 18th century

The land on which the house stands was originally part of Jean Hasbrouck's vast holdings in the area that is today the town and village of New Paltz and the surrounding lower Wallkill Valley. He died in 1714, thirteen years before the birth of Jacob Hasbrouck's youngest son, Jacob Jr., in 1727.

Jacob lived in the family homestead with his father, as his older brothers moved out to the land their father had already planned to divide between them in his will. Jacob Jr. was originally to receive only cash and bonds, on the assumption he would inherit the family house, but shortly after the will was drawn up in 1747 Benjamin Hasbrouck, the oldest son, died in a fall from a horse. The document was quickly revised to give the younger Jacob title to the lands between the Wallkill and the mountains known today as the Shawangunk Ridge, considered the best in the Hasbrouck tract. Jacob the elder died in 1761 and the lands and house became his son's.

The year afterward he served the first of two stretches as town supervisor. He continued to work with the other descendants of New Paltz's original Duzine ("Dozen") on the further subdivision and development of the original lands. In the early 1770s he returned as supervisor again, stepping down in 1776 when the war began as he had already been commissioned as a captain of the Second New Paltz Company of the Third Regiment of the Ulster County Militia. Three years later, he was promoted to major, and would forever after be known by that title in family histories to distinguish him from his father and his son, Jacob J. Hasbrouck.

According to Hasbrouck family tradition, Major Hasbrouck built the house in 1786 for Jacob J., the younger of his two sons, to live in after he died, while his brother Josiah lived in the old house. The Major moved in to spend his later years there, no longer extensively involved in either farming the property or land deals, although an assessment done for the 1798 federal Direct Tax, when he still owned both houses, rated him the wealthiest man in New Paltz. He died in 1806, and passed the house to Jacob J. and his growing family.

19th century

The younger man needed more space, and built the rear extension known as the "outlet", from the Dutch uitlayt, a common term for that kind of extension in Dutch architecture. It was 12 feet (4 m) wide, running the entire width of the house and continuing the slope of the roof. Jacob left his initials in the plaster of the north wall interior. A neoclassical-styled archway was the main portal between the  outlet and the main house. These renovations were complete by 1810.

In 1825, Jacob J. Hasbrouck moved out to a brick farmhouse two miles (3.2 km) along the Wallkill to retire; his son, Maurice, took over the main stone house and devoted himself primarily to the farm, as most of the family's land had been subdivided and sold. He undertook no major renovations other than whatever routine maintenance the house needed, and moved out in 1870 when his own son, Abram, married and needed the space as his grandfather had before him. The house, by this time, was almost a century old and badly needed to be restored. The original Hasbrouck land parcels had long been divided up, leaving only , and the family had moved on to other sources of income. By the mid-19th century, tax assessments suggest that the stone houses that had symbolized their earlier wealth were losing their appeal as younger homeowners embraced newer styles.

Abram's most visible changes, begun in 1876, were the two front window gables, adding a Picturesque aspect to the house, and an update to the front entranceway and the accompanying hall, although it is uncertain from the house today exactly what changes were made. The porch roof may have been changed to its flat hipped style, more consistent with tastes of the time.

20th century

Upon his death in 1910, the house passed to his daughter, Laura, and the woman he married after her mother had died. After her stepmother died in 1924, Laura began to spend more of her time at a house in the nearby village, reflecting the completion of the early aspirations of the Hasbroucks and other Duzine members. She sold half of the remaining land for houses after Route 32 was built through the property in the late 1920s.

Eight years later, in 1932, she married and moved to Ossining, leaving the house to caretakers and returning to it only on weekends. Aware of the historic significance of the house, she became active in early local preservation efforts, and encouraged her caretaker, a Danish stonemason, to do some restoration work. He redid the walls (particularly the joints, removing any trace of earlier efforts) and the chimneys and fireplaces. Laura also had him build a new staircase inside, and remove the plaster ceilings to restore a more authentic original appearance to the house.

In 1944, she sold the rest of the property save the two acres (8,000 m²) around the house. The north end was remodeled into a caretaker's residence, although it had to be rebuilt to its original appearance after a fire destroyed it. Laura Hasbrouck died childless in 1964 and willed it to Richard Relyea Hasbrouck, a descendant of Maurice Hasbrouck's brother Huram, specifically to keep it in the family, since he had two sons already. He only found out when the estate's lawyer called and said he had to start paying taxes on the property.

The newest Hasbrouck, like earlier residents, renovated the house to suit the needs of his family and his time. An interior frame wall was added to conserve heat in the old house, and a new kitchen was built. Thirty years after moving in, in 1994 one of the partitions in the outlet was removed to create a larger bedroom. He bought the  with the old farm buildings on it, bringing the property to its current size.

Aesthetics

According to architectural historian Neil Larson, the house represents the culmination of Ulster County's traditional stone houses. Originally built on a European model for urban areas, they had been small rectangles similar to the Jean Hasbrouck House and the other older Huguenot Street homes, sometimes with their sides facing the street as in that neighborhood's Bevier House. As the children of the Duzine moved out into the surrounding lands, the houses evolved into farmhouses with a three-room plan, since builders could take advantage of larger lots. Using this form may have been a conscious choice on Major Hasbrouck's part to preserve his ancestral culture, since some of his contemporaries later built themselves homes in more English-influenced styles like Josiah Hasbrouck's Locust Lawn.

The builder of Major Hasbrouck's house formalized this, providing a facade with continuous horizontal lines uniting all the family spaces. There are none of the vertical interruptions seen on other stone houses. The stones chosen were carefully dressed, although not to the point of making an ashlar pattern. The kitchen wing to the north was placed asymmetrically, to highlight its difference in function.

Inside, the house was more in accord with traditional stone house, at least in its early years, in having little decoration save the doors and trim, since the Major despite his wealth and fame would have wanted to appear humble and pious. His son's efforts to change this by adding a decorated archway, plastering over the ceilings and using charcoal to marbleize some of the walls suggest he was uncomfortable with the already dated style of the house as well as its physical limitations to his family. A similar impulse may have been behind Maurice Hasbrouck's additions of distinctly contemporary features to the house later in the 19th century.

References

Huguenot history in the United States
Houses in Ulster County, New York
National Register of Historic Places in Ulster County, New York
Houses completed in 1786
New Paltz, New York

Major Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. House


Peter Kempf (born September 15, 1939) is a former award-winning and Grey Cup champion kicker and tight end who played in the Canadian Football League from 1963 to 1968.

Kempf joined the BC Lions in 1963 and, with 109 points and 22 field goals (second in the league and then team records,) was winner of the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy for Canadian rookie of the year in the west. In 1964 he again was second in the league with 81 points, adding 4 converts in the Leos' Grey Cup victory. Again second in scoring in 1965 with 82 points, after 48 games with the Lions he left for the Montreal Alouettes in 1966, where he played 14 games and scored 67 points. He played his final 2 seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos, including 32 games and 163 points.

He retired after scoring 502 points, additionally catching 70 passes for 834 yards and 5 touchdowns, and 1 interception.

References

1939 births
BC Lions players
Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners
Edmonton Elks players
Montreal Alouettes players
Living people

Peter Kempf


Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a 2008 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles, with Budcat Creations solely developing the PlayStation 2 port, Vicarious Visions solely developing the Wii port, and Aspyr solely publishing the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X ports. The game was released on June 29, 2008 in North America, on July 27, 2008 in Europe, on August 6, 2008 in Australia and October 9, 2008 in Japan. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold as both a bundle with a specially designed guitar controller as well as a game-only package.

The game is considered an expansion in the Guitar Hero series, extending upon the general features of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. As with other games in the series, the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music by playing in-time to scrolling notes on-screen. It is the first game in the series to primarily focus on the work of one rock band, with Aerosmith songs comprising approximately 70% of the soundtrack, while the remaining songs are from bands that have been influenced by or opened for Aerosmith. The single player Career mode allows the player to follow the history of the band through several real-world-inspired venues, interspersed with interviews from the band members about their past. Aerosmith  re-recorded four songs for this game, and have participated in a motion capture session to create their in-game appearances. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the final installment of the series to only feature guitar and bass as possible instrument choices. The next entry (Guitar Hero World Tour) would introduce other roles to create a full band experience.

While Guitar Hero: Aerosmith maintains the same gameplay as past Guitar Hero games, it has received criticism for being shorter and easier than the previous Guitar Hero titles and difficult to justify its price point; furthermore, with the game's strong focus on one band, reviewers felt that the game's ultimate enjoyment rested on the player's appreciation and fandom for the music of Aerosmith.

Story
A departure from other games in the franchise, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith follows the career of Aerosmith, by playing significant songs in their catalog in a 'rough chronological fashion'. The gameplay follows the band through various periods in its history, spanning from its first show at Mendon Nipmuc Regional High School in 1970 to the 2001 Super Bowl XXXV halftime show, to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 19, 2001. The player starts as Joe Perry, and will eventually be able to unlock Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton. The game does not focus on the internal strife and stress within the band; guitarist Joe Perry stated that the game would focus on the positive aspects of Aerosmith's history. Perry has stated that "Having a game built around Aerosmith has been a huge honor and really a great experience for us. We've put a lot of ideas into the game so that fans can have fun interacting with our music, getting inside our body of work and learning about the band's history."

Gameplay

The gameplay in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is based on the same gameplay elements from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Players use a guitar controller to hold down fret keys and strum on the strum bar in time with the note patterns as they scroll down the screen in order to complete a song. The player's performance is tracked by a Rock Meter, and if it falls too low, the song ends prematurely. Star Power can be collected by completing marked note phrases correctly, and by using the whammy bar during sustained notes; Star Power is released by lifting the guitar controller vertically or by pressing the Select button in order to double the scoring multiplier and dramatically affect the Rock Meter. The player is rated after successfully completing a song from 3 to 5 stars, and can examine statistics related to their performance, and in Career mode, awarded money to be used to unlock ten bonus songs in "The Vault" and additional guitars, outfits, and other videos about the band. Each song can be played at one of four difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert.

The game offers several gameplay modes. Career mode is broken into six tiers of five tracks, each based on a period in Aerosmith's history. Furthermore, within each tier, there are two Opening Acts, featuring non-Aerosmith songs, that must be completed before the Aerosmith songs can be played; the final song in each tier is an encore once the other four songs are completed. As the player completes this mode, they will also be presented with video clips talking about the band and other trivia about the band. The Career mode features one Boss Battle (against Joe Perry) as introduced in Guitar Hero III. Any unlocked song can be played in Quick Play mode, Co-operative mode, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass, and Competitive mode, including the Battle modes. Unlike Guitar Hero III, there is no Co-Operative Career mode. One significant upgrade from Guitar Hero III is the addition of score balancing in Pro Face Off multiplayer mode, which allows each player to choose their own difficulty while still allowing each side to play the full note chart, instead of switching back and forth within regular Face Off. This is the first Guitar Hero game compatible with Rock Band controllers.

Development
Billboard announced that the band Aerosmith was "working closely with the makers of Guitar Hero World Tour, which will be dedicated to the group's music." Guitar Hero: World Tour was also confirmed as in development following the announcement of the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007.

On February 15, 2008, Activision announced that one of their two new Guitar Hero installments would be Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and would be released in June 2008. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, the Wii version of the game was being developed by Vicarious Visions, and the PlayStation 2 version was developed by Budcat Creations.

The idea for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith came about during the development of Guitar Hero III. Originally, a cover version of "Same Old Song and Dance" was present in the game, but Neversoft president Joel Jewett noted that the quality of the recording was poor. After getting in contact with Joe Perry, Perry was able to provide the original masters for the song, and, according to Neversoft developer Alan Flores, "that sort of established the relationship." This also came at a time where Activision was attempting to expand the Guitar Hero franchise, and fans expressed a strong interest in playing a game focused solely on Aerosmith's works, according to RedOctane's Dusty Welch. Another producer for the game, Aaron Habibipour, stated that Aerosmith was one of the five "holy grail" musical groups as polled by Activision. Newsweek reported that Aerosmith's license allows for exclusive use of their songs within the Guitar Hero series for a limited amount of time, preventing their use within other rhythm games such as Rock Band. This is not the first time Aerosmith have appeared video games. The band was previously featured in both Quest for Fame and Revolution X.

Similar to Slash, Tom Morello, and Bret Michaels in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, each member of Aerosmith participated in motion capture to accurately recreate themselves digitally for the game. Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, and Tom Hamilton (the lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and bass players of Aerosmith respectively) are unlockable characters which can be played as. Additionally, Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels appear in the game as members of their band, Run-DMC. D.M.C. appears as a playable character, with the former being an unlockable character as well. All other members of Aerosmith and Run-DMC are not unlockable and can not be played in the game.

While Aerosmith was able to provide many of the original master recordings to the development team, the band re-recorded the four songs chosen for the game from their first album: "Make It", "Movin' Out", "Dream On" and "Mama Kin". Joe Perry re-mastered the lead guitar on many songs to interact with the gameplay better, while Steven Tyler re-recorded some of the vocals.

The game itself is based much on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rocks mechanics with some improvements; notably, hammer-ons and pull-offs are "less mushy", there are new venues for the game, and while all other gameplay modes from Guitar Hero III are present, there is no co-op career mode. The game's interfaces and menus were redesigned for the game. Additionally, the team re-evaluated the difficulty of the game based on feedback from players of Guitar Hero III who felt that there were "too many brick walls for casual fans".

The developers attempted to recreate as many of historical venues within the game. For example, to fulfill Joe Perry's request that they recreate Max's Kansas City in New York, the developers used old photographs and YouTube videos of the club during the 1970s, to a highly accurate degree, as claimed by those that had attended the club during that period. Within these venues, set decorations are inspired from Aerosmith album covers. Five that were confirmed are Pump, Toys in the Attic, Just Push Play, Get Your Wings, and Nine Lives.

During Activision's press conference at the 2008 E3 convention, it was announced that a long-standing dispute between Activision and Electronic Arts over the use of guitar controllers in their respective games had been resolved; Guitar Hero: Aerosmith on the 360 was patched after released to allow the use of the Rock Band controller within the game, while all such instruments will be usable in Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar controllers for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are also compatible with the Playstation 2 version of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

Promotion

Activision released Aerosmith's "Dream On" to the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store as a free Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock downloadable song. The free download was available from February 16–18, 2008, after which it was removed pending the release of the game.

The members of Aerosmith participated in a special sneak preview event at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City on June 27, 2008, allowing attendees to ask questions, eat food at the Hard Rock Cafe, and try out the game. Target had Chip Ganassi's #40 car, driven by Dario Franchitti, painted to celebrate the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for a NASCAR race on June 29, 2008.

As with some of the previous installments in the series, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is available as both a standalone disc and as part of a bundle. This bundle includes the Gibson Les Paul controller and a special red faceplate with the Aerosmith logo in white. The bundle also includes a tour book for the game listing the songs featured in the game. The special Aerosmith bundle is available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii versions. The Playstation 2 bundle includes the Kramer Wireless controller included with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.  There is also a very limited edition bundle for the PlayStation 2 at Wal-Mart.  This bundle comes with the game and two wired Gibson SG guitar controllers as bundled with the original Guitar Hero and its sequel.

Soundtrack

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith soundtrack consists of 41 songs; thirty are playable during Career mode and another 11 songs are unlockable in the vault. Twenty-nine of the songs are from Aerosmith, while the other twelve songs are from bands that inspired or have played with Aerosmith in the past. Most of the songs are master recordings, including four Aerosmith songs that were re-recorded for this game. Four songs are covers—two performed by Wavegroup Sound and two by Steve Ouimette.

Reception

The game has received generally mixed reviews. Many reviews found the game avoided some of Aerosmith's "more popular sugar-coated hits...like 'Amazing', 'Crazy', or 'I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing'", but felt that other major Aerosmith songs could have also been included. Game Informer noted that "creating a band specific game was smart", but that "very little has changed from the base game". They also complimented the great job that Activision did with their motion captures of Aerosmith. The difficulty of the game was not to be found as hard as Guitar Hero III due to the "very riff-friendly guitarist" Joe Perry; while reviewers felt this was a good correction from the previous game, they also noted that the easiness of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith led to some bland tiers, repetitive musical sections, and lack of any significant difficulty curve. The length of the game was poorly received, with reviewers commenting that it is difficult to justify the title priced equivalently as other next-generation console full games. Eurogamer commented that one's appreciation for the game "lives or dies based on [the player's] fondness for Aerosmith", and that ultimately, with other available music games that offer additional downloadable songs, a game that focuses on a single band would need "to offer gameplay innovations, spectacular fan service, or a lot more material" than what Guitar Hero: Aerosmith provides. Reviews also noted the sparseness of downloadable content.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold more than 567,000 copies in its first week and grossed more than $25 million.  The game has seen more than $50 million in sales in the first three months following its release, with over one million copies sold. The band itself saw a 40% increase in their catalog sales in the weeks following the game's release.  According to Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has made more money for the band than any sales of their previous albums. The game surged in sales in April 2009, with 110,000 copies for the Xbox 360 sold  in North America, due to retails discounts on the title following the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica, and actually outsold the newer title. By April 2010, the game has seen more than 3.6 million units sold, 2.7 in North America, and is considered the best selling band-centric music game across both Guitar Hero and Rock Band series.

Notes

References

External links
 Aerosmith - Official site of the Band

2008 video games
Activision games
Aerosmith
Band-centric video games
Cooperative video games
Guitar Hero
Guitar video games
Music video games
Video games based on musicians
Neversoft games
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection games
MacOS games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 3 games
Wii Wi-Fi games
Windows games
Xbox 360 games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Aspyr games
Video games developed in the United States
Budcat Creations games
Vicarious Visions games

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith