Ethan H. Shagan (born November 16, 1971) is an American historian of early modern Britain.
Shagan is a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the chair of the History Department. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his master's degree and PhD from Princeton University (co-supervised by Diarmaid MacCulloch). He was formerly a junior fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and Wayne V. Jones Research Professor in History at Northwestern University, where he received the E. LeRoy Hall Award for Distinguished Teaching. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize and Morris D. Forkosch Prize from the American Historical Association, the Roland Bainton Prize from Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, and the Whitfield Prize of the Royal Historical Society.

In 2013 he went on record with UC Berkeley's newspaper, disagreeing with the results of a Northwestern University study suggesting that adjunct, or non-permanent faculty, are more effective instructors than permanent, tenured or tenure-track faculty, claiming that "(Studies like these) assume a sort of dumbed-down model of the university, where we are glorified high school teachers whose goal is to better teach students rote memorization ... that they can parrot back on an exam ... The goal is to teach students to think for themselves, and that's not something adjuncts can necessarily do as well."

References

Further information

 Ethan H. Shagan, Associate Professor of History Faculty Profile
 Letter from the Director Ethan Shagan Center for British Studies at Berkeley

 Weddings; Sarah Paul, Ethan Shagan New York Times Wedding Announcement

21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Historians of the United Kingdom
Living people
Princeton University alumni
Brown University alumni
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Northwestern University faculty
1971 births
Historians from California
American male non-fiction writers

Ethan H. Shagan


Wenlan Chia (賈雯蘭) is a Taipei-born American fashion designer and creator of the line, Twinkle by Wenlan, which she launched in 2000. Twinkle made its Fashion Week debut in 2003. The collection is known for its whimsical take on feminine dressing with a dash of the exotic, a dose of pop culture and a sense of humor. In addition to women's ready-to-wear, her line includes home decor and accessories, called Twinkle Living, which launched in 2006; costume and fine jewelry (Twinkle Accessories); knitting yarns; and leather accessories (Twinkle Handknit Yarns).

Chia has also written three knitting pattern books: Twinkle's Big City Knits, Twinkle's Weekend Knits and Twinkle's Town and Country Knits. Twinkle knit designs are characterized by the use of traditional knitting patterns knit with oversized needles and large gauge yarns. Chia's knitwear designs are sometimes featured in Interweave Knits magazine, and a line of her Twinkle yarns was being distributed by Classic Elite Yarns until the Fall of 2012.

To complement her books, Chia began to offer knitting lessons in Rockefeller Center's Anthropologie store. In 2009, she published a sewing pattern book, Twinkle Sews.

Wenlan Chia's awards and nominations include the Onward Kashiyama New Design Prize in Tokyo, the Competition of Young Fashion Designers in Paris, and a nomination for the Fashion Group International Rising Star Award. In 2005, she was selected as one of "Spring's Leading Ladies" by Vogue magazine.

References

External links

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American fashion designers
American women fashion designers
Taiwanese emigrants to the United States

Wenlan Chia


The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) set in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes. Some of Black Library's best known titles include the Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn series of novels by Dan Abnett and the Gotrek and Felix series by William King and Nathan Long.

The authors of these novels, graphic novels, and comics created original storylines and characters that are based on playable armies in the main Warhammer 40,000 game and its many spin-offs (such as Inquisitor or Epic). These works are then promoted with contributions of stories, plot synopses, and rules in the White Dwarf magazine and at the official Games Workshop website. The result is a fusion of tabletop gaming with science fiction and fantasy writing.

History
The publishing company takes its name from the fictional Black Library that appears in the setting of Warhammer 40,000. The fictional Black Library is where the Eldar race keeps their collected knowledge of Chaos and the Necrons.

The Black Library was founded in April 1997 to publish Inferno! magazine, a bi-monthly digest-sized anthology of short stories, comic strips and features from the Warhammer worlds. Black Library began as team at Games Workshop brought together to INFERNO! magazine. Inferno!'''s success spawned Warhammer Monthly comic books, and then from September 1999 a lengthy series of fantasy and science fiction novels. Their first art book, Inquis Exterminatus was published in May, 1999. Black Library's catalogue now runs to well over two hundred titles, with a Warhammer and a Warhammer 40,000 novel appearing every month.

In October 2003 BL Publishing started a sister imprint, Black Flame, which applied the same pulp styling to novels featuring New Line Cinema characters such as Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, and 2000 AD comics' Judge Dredd and others. In 2006, Black Flame produced the novel for the New Line Cinema's feature film Snakes on a Plane. In the summer of 2005 BL Publishing announced another fiction imprint, Solaris Books, that will publish original science fiction and fantasy. Solaris Books has subsequently been sold to Rebellion who also own Abaddon Books.

Background

Short stories and other pieces of fiction were created for the White Dwarf magazine, for Warhammer 40,000 rulebooks and gaming guides, for other publications, such as the Citadel Journal, and for each of their official websites. Later, these evolved into larger novels and other works.

A series of Warhammer 40,000 comics were first created for the Games Workshop magazine, Warhammer Monthly as short background filler. In 1999, the first miniature and game tie-in was released as a joint project of Warhammer Monthly and its publisher, the Black Library. This model was the bounty hunter Kal Jerico of the "Specialist Game" Necromunda.

Including rules and a certificate of authenticity, the Black Library created many more limited edition miniatures and expanded the small comics into larger collections while adding many new ones. These novels and graphic novels are accompanied by cross-promotional articles that connect the characters from the novels to the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures game.

While Warhammer Monthly was discontinued in 2004 (although still listed at the Black Library website), there was a short lived continuation under the title Warhammer Comics. However, with the discontinuation of these magazine projects, the Black Library still continues to produce graphic novels and collections that expand upon the fiction behind the tabletop game.

Gaming with the Black Library
The works produced by the Black Library detail the interactions of the Warhammer 40,000 armies: Chaos Space Marines,  Daemonhunters, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Imperial Guard, Necrons, Orks, Space Marines, Tau, Tyranids, and the Witch Hunters. They are collaborated efforts between the authors of the Warhammer 40,000 game rules and the writers of the background.

These works expand on the storylines, characters, armies, and organisations discussed in the Codexes. Combined with contributions to White Dwarf magazine of articles, stories, and rules, and miniature lines produced by both Games Workshop and Forge World, they expand upon the fictional world of the original Warhammer 40,000 game and its other companion games. The column "Chapter Approved" of White Dwarf is a forum for collaborations between authors, model makers, and the rulemakers, allowing for the characters to have their own place amongst Warhammer 40,000 battles.

Alongside of the Warhammer 40,000 game was a short-lived game called Warhammer Warriors. The system was created by Rick Priestley and based on the playing style of LostWorlds. Many of the characters released for the miniature game were given rules and a "gaming book" to be used in playing against others. This series ended before many of the novels were published and production of cross-promotional books was discontinued.

Fiction of the Black Library
Most of the stories take place thousands of years after the fall of the Emperor of Mankind at the hands of his favoured son Horus, once loyal but corrupted by Chaos. Many millennia have passed since then but the Imperium is still at war with the Chaos Space Marines, along with many new enemies.

The majority of these stories are written in the perspective of humans, primarily those of the Imperial Guard, the mechanic/scientist-mystics of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the female warriors of the Sisters of Battle, the holy Inquisition, and the superhuman Space Marines, although some have been written from the perspective of corrupt Chaos-worshipping humans, as well as the alien Eldar and Tau races. They span the complete Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Novels and short fiction line

The Inquisition Trilogies

Dan Abnett began a series of trilogies involving the Inquisition, beginning in 2001 with the Eisenhorn trilogy: Xenos, Malleus, and Hereticus. In the omnibus edition, released in 2004, there are two short stories placed between these novels to connect them together.

A second trilogy began in 2004, around the time the Eisenhorn omnibus came out, known as the Ravenor trilogy: Ravenor, Ravenor Returned and Ravenor Rogue. The Ravenor omnibus was released in 2009, also with two connecting short stories.

Abnett revealed in the foreword to the Ravenor omnibus that he was planning a "trilogy of trilogies", and the third set, its title confirmed in an interview with Abnett as the Bequin trilogy - will begin in October 2012 with Pariah: Ravenor Versus Eisenhorn.

Plot
The Inquisition (The Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition) is an organisation in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. They act as the secret police of the Imperium, hunting down any and all threats to the stability of the God-Emperor's realm. In the first trilogy, the titular character is Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, a member of the Ordo Xenos (a division of the Inquisition devoted to hunting aliens, though they also uphold the Inquisition's creed of prosecuting "enemies of the state"), as he begins his descent into radicalism and association with daemonhosts and dark sorcery. The second trilogy is focused around Eisenhorn's former student, Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor, also of the Ordo Xenos, as he battles a powerful nemesis and seeks to defeat a conspiracy involving high Imperial officials. The third trilogy will be centred around Alizebeth Bequin, an "untouchable" (anti-psychic, or psychic blank) who had been a long-time, trusted member of Eisenhorn's inner circle.

Warhammer 40,000 gaming
Eisenhorn was made as an official model for the Inquisitor spin-off game. Unlike Inquisitors for the main Warhammer 40,000 game, the Inquisitor version of Eisenhorn is equipped with many beyond the normal standard items: he is equipped with a Power Sword, a special "rune" staff, a "duelling" pistol, grenades and flak armour. He also has the ability to use telepathy.

While the main Warhammer 40,000 games does include two inquisitorial armies (Daemon Hunters and Witch Hunters) official rules for the Alien Hunters of the Ordo Xenos to which Eisenhorn belongs have not been published. Rules for him and Daemonhosts are included in the official Inquisitor rulebook, and generic rules for him and Daemonhosts are included in the Daemonhunters army codex.

Gaunt's GhostsGaunt's Ghosts are currently collected into three "sequences": The Founding, The Saint, and The Lost. The Founding includes the novels First and Only, Ghostmaker, and Necropolis. The Saint includes the novels Honour Guard, The Guns of Tanith, Straight Silver,
and Sabbat Martyr. The Lost includes the novels Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt, and Only in Death,. The planned fourth sequence "The Victory" includes "Blood Pact" and "Salvation's Reach".

Plot
The Gaunt's Ghosts series follows Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and the army of Tanith from the creation of the Tanith Regiment of the Imperial Guard and its abandonment of their planet before the destruction of it at the hands of invading Chaos legions. The stories follow the many adventures of the Tanith "First and Only" regiment as they seek to prove themselves. Things are complicated by dissension against their commander, Gaunt, for not letting them die alongside their brethren at the destruction of their planet.

Warhammer 40,000 gaming
After the success of Gaunt's Ghosts, lines of Gaunt's Ghosts based miniatures were produced by Games Workshop. Unlike the previous models, these were not limited edition sets. The production covered both the main characters of Abnett's works (like the title character Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and also created a generic Imperial Guard variant called the Tanith First and Only. Rules were originally published for these miniatures in "Chapter Approved" column of White Dwarf UK 269/US 268 and later collected in the Chapter Approved edition for 2003.

With the creation of the 4th edition Imperial Guard codex, the previous rules for the Tanith First and Only were removed and they were instead a "variant" army created using "doctrine" (variations to traditional army rules). While Colonel-Commissar was given specific rules in the Imperial Guard codex, the other special characters, according to the official Games Workshop website, still use the rules presented in Chapter Approved and provide additional modelling types and rules to create more characters based on the Gaunt's Ghost series.

Space WolvesSpace Wolf, by William King, with additions from Sons of Fenris, describes the Space Wolves and Ragnar Blackmane in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Space Wolf Omnibus is a collection composed of Space Wolf, Ragnar's Claw, and Grey Hunter. Space Wolf: The Second Omnibus by William King and Lee Lightner contains the novels, Wolfblade, and Sons of Fenris (by Lightner rather than King) and Wolf's Honour.

Plot
The Space Wolves series follows the history of Ragnar Blackmane, a young warrior who has to prove himself in combat who later becomes a fierce leader of the Space Wolves. Not only does he battle against the enemies of the Imperium, he also battles against their fellow Space Marines, the Dark Angels, which stems from a long time feud about which is the superior army.

Warhammer 40,000 gaming
Ragnar Blackmane is a special character for the Space Wolves Space Marines army. He is unique in the fact that he has a limited edition promotional model produced by the Black Library and a standard piece produced by Games Workshop. The model produced for the Black Library pits Ragnar Blackmane against the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marine Madox.

Ragnar Blackmane, in the Space Wolves companion codex to the Space Marines army book, is a "Wolf Lord" ranked Space Marine. He was equipped with a "master-crafted" bolt pistol, a "master-crafted" frost blade (a special weapon used by the Space Wolves), grenades, and special clothing/equipment unique to the culture of the Space Wolves (a wolf tooth necklace, a wolf tail, and a wolf pelt). He can be joined with two wolves that accompany him into battle.

Alongside of Ragnar Blackmane and the Space Wolves are members of the Imperial Guard army, the legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Inquisition, and the Space Marines.

Comics and graphic novels line

BloodquestBloodquest: Eye of Terror Trilogy, by Gordon Rennie and Colin MacNeil, is a collection of three works titled Bloodquest, Bloodquest: Into the Eye of Terror, and Bloodquest: The Daemon's Mark. The trilogy involves the founding Space Marines chapter, the Blood Angels, as they struggle first against the Orks and then against the armies of Chaos.

Plot

Captain of the Blood Angels, Leonatos was given a weapon called "Encarmine," the "Sword of Belarius," as a prize for his prowess as a warrior and for the accomplishments of his men on the battlefield. However, Garshul the Destroyer, an Ork, manages to capture the weapon, causing Leonatos to be dishonoured and then exiled. He wanders with his fellow soldiers as they try to regain their honour by hunting down the sword.

This takes them to the world of Eidolon, but they crash land on the wrong side. They are forced to battle the forces of Chaos that control the planet. They must battle against the armies of each Chaos god that control a separate continent in their path so they can finally regain their treasured weapon and their honour so they could be welcomed back once again amongst their brethren.

Warhammer 40,000 gaming

The GamesDay Golden Daemon Award model of 2001 was a converted "Captain Leonatos" of Bloodquest, painted by Bobby Wong. Previously, Captain Leonatos was produced as a miniature in 1999 as "Blood Angel Captain Leonatos, Commander of the Exile". This was in a limited quantity of only 1,000 models sculpted by Mike McVey. Cloten and Lysander, Captain Leonatos's troops, were also produced the same year and titled "The Exiles." They came together and were produced in a limited quantity of 500 miniatures sculpted by Mark Bedford.

In the Warhammer 40,000 game, Captain Leonatos is a Captain of the Space Marine's army, the Blood Angels. While he, and his men, no longer have "canon" rules, they can be used as their generic equivalents. Their original rules accompanied the production models. He did not deviate in equipment from that available for a standard Captain, as with his men. Captain Leonatos and his men also paralleled the "Eye of Terror" Campaign, exploring the "Eye" before the gaming tournament began.

In the Warhammer 40,000 "visual combat game", Warhammer Warriors, the gaming book Warhammer Warriors #2 was created for Captain Leonatos. He equipped with many Blood Angels based weapons, such as a chainsword, bolt pistol and a flamer, but also has new weapons designed for Warhammer Warriors, like Photon Flares and a Bolt Pistol Hotshot. He deals extra damage and has a strong defense based on his Space Marine power armour.

DaemonifugeDaemonifuge, originally published in Warhammer Monthly, is a series of Trade Paperbacks about the life of Ephrael Stern, a member of the Adepta Sororitas, and is collected as Daemonifuge: Heretic Saint. The two books of the series are Daemonifuge, by Kev Walker and Jim Campbell, and Daemonifuge: The Lord of Damnation, by Kev Walker, Gordon Rennie, and Karl Richardson.

In addition to the original series, a smaller series was released called Daemonifuge: The Screaming Cage. This series was produced in three parts, and reproduces the original series with additional pages added/edited into the original plot.

Plot
Ephrael Stern was a Seraphim ranked Sister for the Order of Our Martyred Lady. Mysteriously, she was the sole survivor out of 12,000 that was sent to the planet Parnis in order to battle a daemonic infestation. Inquisitor Silas Hand originally was sent to identify if she was tainted by Chaos and if that was the reason for her survival. While being locked up and awaiting the Inquisitor's arrival, Stern was attacked by possessed individuals. She removed the demons from the individuals, and these actions combined with Silas Hand's investigation's inability to psychically look through her mind and detect traces of daemonic taint upon her lead to no conclusion. Hand was forced to return with her to the planet Parnis in order to figure out her role in the destruction of her Sisters.

During the return, their vessel's navigator was possessed by Chaos destroyed their ship the "Hammer of Thor." Escaping, both Hand and Stern were able to land upon the surface, but they were the sole survivors. Shortly after landing upon the planet, they were soon confronted the Daemon Q'tlahsi'issho'akshami. Only Stern managed to live through the battle, and she is now hunted by the Ordo Malleus to be brought in for questioning. Only Stern knows what happened to Silas Hand, what happened to the Daemon, and what the forces of Chaos were doing on the planet.

Warhammer 40,000 gaming

A limited edition of only 1,000 miniatures was released for Daemonifuge. These miniatures were sculpted by Juan Diaz, Mark Harrison & Alex Hedstrom in 2004 and are no longer in production. Portraying Ephrael Stern and Silas Hand on a diorama base and entering into combat against the Daemons of Chaos.

In the Warhammer 40,000 game, Ephrael Stern is a Seraphim of the Witch Hunters and Silas Hand is an Inquisitor for the Daemonhunters army. While they no longer have "canon" rules, they can be used as their generic equivalents. Their original rules accompanied the production models. Ephrael Stern was armed with a standard bolter, a blessed sword (wounded daemons easily, negated invulnerable saves, and destroyed enemy leadership), a jump pack, general bonuses against daemons and is not allowed to receive "faith" based bonuses standard for the Sisters of Battle. She could not join a unit with her fellow Sisters or an army containing any Inquisitor besides Silas Hand (with Silas, she counted as a "henchman". Silas Hand was armed with a bolter (using "Psycannon bolts", psychically charged weapons used against daemons) and a force field for defense. He could only include Ephrael Stern in his retinue.

In the Warhammer 40,000 "visual combat game", Warhammer Warriors, the gaming book Warhammer Warriors #3 was created for Ephrael Stern. She equipped with many Sisters of Battle-based weapons, such as a powersword, bolter and a flamer, but also has new weapons designed for Warhammer Warriors, like Photon Flares and a Bolt Pistol Hotshot.

Ephrael Stern and Silas Hand are also used as part of an introductory article explaining the background of the Witch Hunters army list, called "Villainy & Infamy." The article is "report" produced by an "unknown" source which describes the history of Silas Hand's investigation from an in-universe perspective.

Lone WolvesLone Wolves is a graphic novel by Dan Abnett and Karl Richardson which describes the interactions of Imperial Guard variant and the Space Marines' chapter, the Space Wolves, when fighting the Tyranids. The story is broken into seven parts, "The Miracle," "Eaters of the Slain" Part 1 and 2, "Payback" Part 1 and 2, and "Bloodgeld" Part 1 and 2. Prefaced to the story are short essays produced by editor, Christian Dunn, about the nature of heroes and following the story is the ending original created by Dan Abnett.

In 2004, a flash movie and Official Website was created by the Black Library as a limited edition miniature was produced for sale.

Plot
The Imperial Guard's division titled the "10th Slavok Regiment" are abandoned on the ice-planet Shadrac, which is currently controlled by a Tyranid invasion. Sergeant Poul Marlin narrates the travels of the remaining squads of soldiers as they struggle against hunger, the elements, and the aliens who want to devour them. Joined by the Space Wolves led by Skold Greypelt, the Slavok 10th are able to stand against constant attacks and perform deeds of heroism.

Warhammer 40,000 gaming
Sergeant Poul Marlin, Skold Greypelt, an unidentified Space Wolf and a wounded Slovak soldier were produced as a miniature "diorama" for Warhammer 40,000 in 2003 as "Lone Wolves." This was in a limited quantity of only 500 models sculpted by Martin Footitt and Adam Clarke.

In the Warhammer 40,000 game, Poul Marlin a sergeant of the Slovok regiment, an Ice World variant of the Imperial Guard army (similar in design and appearance to the established Valhallan Ice Warriors), and Skold Greypelt is a Captain of the Space Marine's army, the Space Wolves. While they, and their men, lack specific additional rules, they follow standard rules for equipment and statistics with the addition of the "Xeno hunter: Tyranids"/"Preferred Enemy: Tyranids" trait (Skold and his "Lone Wolves" are a Space Wolves version of the Ultramarines's special "Tyranid War Veterans" unit).

 Periodicals
From 1997 to 2005, Black Library published Inferno!, a magazine of short stories, artwork, and other features set in the various fictional universes of Games Workshop's fantasy and science fiction games. These initially included Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer 40,000, and Necromunda, and later added the Mordheim and Gorkamorka settings.

From 1998 to 2004, Black Library published the Warhammer Monthly comic book based on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes. The comics were republished as a series of trade paperback comics.

Black Library discontinued the two periodicals because their sales were meagre compared to the novels.

In August 2010 Black Library announced that it was releasing a new monthly ezine called Hammer and Bolter. Like Inferno! it contains short stories set in the fictional worlds of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000. The magazine also features interviews with Black Library authors, previews of forthcoming novels, and serialised novels. In the first year of Hammer and Bolter the serialised novel was Phalanx by Ben Counter. In the second year (2011–12) the serialised novel was Gilead's Curse'' by Nik Vincent and Dan Abnett.

References

External links
 Official Black Library website

Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Nottingham
Games Workshop
Publishing companies established in 1997
1997 establishments in the United Kingdom

Black Library


MEGA (a recursive acronym standing for MEGA Encrypted Global Access) is a file hosting service offered by MEGA CLOUD SERVICES LIMITED, a company based in Auckland, New Zealand. The service is offered through web-based apps. MEGA mobile apps are also available for Android and iOS.

The Web site and service was launched on 19 January 2013, by Kim Dotcom, together with chief technical officer, director, and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, chief marketing officer Finn Batato and Bram van der Kolk as a successor to Megaupload, which was then seized by the United States Department of Justice a year prior.

Data encryption
Data on MEGA services are end-to-end encrypted client-side using the AES algorithm. Since MEGA does not know the encryption keys to uploaded files, they cannot decrypt and view the content. Therefore, they cannot be responsible for the contents of uploaded files. By encrypting files MEGA can work with a larger number of data hosting companies around the world, decreasing the likelihood of a Megaupload-style seizure of servers by one government. MEGA also uses CloudRAID technology, which means files are split into roughly equal-sized parts and stored in different countries. They also store another part in yet another country recording whether the number of "1" bits at a certain position within all parts is even or odd. This means that users can reconstruct data even when one of the parts is unavailable.

In the first few weeks after the MEGA launch, various security problems were found that researchers said an attacker could use to gain access to a logged-in user's files. In response, MEGA started a vulnerability reward program, offering a reward of up to €10,000 for reporting security problems to MEGA.

Account options
Free account users receive:
20 GB of base storage quota (5 GB of bandwidth per day)
Additional storage allowances can be activated through various "achievements", but expire after 365 days. No maximum storage.
Paid account users are provided with four tiers of options:
400 GB storage (1 TB of bandwidth per month)
2 TB storage (2 TB of bandwidth per month)
8 TB storage (8 TB of bandwidth per month)
16 TB storage (16 TB of bandwidth per month)
Business accounts
3 users minimum
3 TB storage (3 TB of bandwidth per month)
Additional TBs of storage or bandwidth can be purchased with no upper limit

Transparency
MEGA publishes an SDK as well as source code of all their client applications under the MEGA Limited Code Review Licence, a proprietary source-available license which only permits usage of the code "for the purposes of review and commentary". The source code was released after former director Kim Dotcom stated that he would "create a MEGA competitor that is completely open source and non-profit" following his departure from MEGA Ltd.

MEGA also releases a yearly transparency report that publishes statistics on takedown requests, subscriber information disclosure and related issues. This is intended to provide transparency for users, regulatory bodies and suppliers as to MEGA's operating processes relating to privacy and to statutory compliance. According to the latest 2021 report, MEGA now has over 230 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. In total, MEGA's users have uploaded more than 100 billion distinct files.

History
MEGA was founded after file-hosting site Megaupload was seized and shut down on 19 January 2012 by the United States Department of Justice, which began criminal cases against its owners. After Gabon denied the new company domain name me.ga, MEGA announced it would instead be registered in the country of residence of its founders, New Zealand, under the domain name mega.co.nz. MEGA launched on 19 January 2013 – exactly a year after Megaupload was shut down. It was founded by Kim Dotcom, Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato, and Mathias Ortmann. Dotcom reported on Twitter MEGA had over 100,000 registered users within the first hour, speculating that this may make MEGA the fastest-growing startup in history. Kim Dotcom also reported on Twitter that the site was extremely busy, and received thousands of user registrations per minute at the time of the tweet. Kim later reported MEGA having more than 1 million registered users, and 60 uploads completed every second. Three days later that number was updated to 500 uploads completed every second.

Early users of the site experienced various issues due to the site's popularity, including slow-to-nonexistent upload speeds and problems logging in. The service improved slightly over the next three days, but remained insufficient for large volumes of uploads. Others said there appeared to be no way to close an account in case it got compromised. Technology commentators blamed the poor performance on the site's popularity, noting it was ranked in the top 150 websites in the world in the first few days of its existence, subsequently dropping a few thousand places.

MEGA launched in 2013 as a cloud service with a tagline of "The Privacy Company". On 4 July 2013, the MEGA Android application was released on the Google Play marketplace. Four days later, on 8 July 2013, the MEGA software development kit (SDK) and affiliate program was released. On 4 September 2013, Kim Dotcom stepped down as Director of MEGA so he could pursue his political ambitions with the Internet Party. In a later interview with The Washington Post on 7 September, Kim Dotcom announced MEGA was getting 20,000 signups for the service every day. Furthermore, in 2013 MEGA was receiving about 100 DMCA takedowns per day. On 26 November 2013, the official MEGA iOS application was released on the App Store marketplace. On 20 January 2014, the official MEGAsync application was released for Windows and on 6 September 2014, the official MEGAsync application was released for Linux.

In March 2014, chief executive Stephen Hall announced intentions to list MEGA on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. In September, a report published from the Digital Citizens Alliance – commissioned via brand protection organization NetNames – characterising Mega as a "shadowy cyberlocker" was branded "grossly untrue and highly defamatory" by Mega's CEO.

In July 2015, in a Q&A session with tech Web site Slashdot, Dotcom mentioned he was no longer involved with MEGA, neither in a managing nor in a shareholder capacity. Dotcom also mentions he will launch an open-source competitor to MEGA. This competitor was supposed to be launched in 2014, but development and launch seem to be delayed indefinitely.

In January 2016, MEGA announced that the service has 35 million registered users that have uploaded 12 billion files.

Later in 2016, MEGA Ltd. released the source code to their client-side software under the Mega Limited Code Review License, a source-available software license, on GitHub. This allows independent verification of the correctness and integrity of the implementation of MEGA's cryptographic model and service reliability.

In 2020, it reached a user-base of 195 million users. This was also its first year turning a profit.

In 2021, MEGA added a domain name to include Mega.io and Mega.nz. The .io domain was chosen to reflect the global nature of MEGA which has more than 200 million registered users in over 215 countries/territories. MEGA continues to say that the .io pages are also more likely to be properly indexed by search engines than the current .nz pages, which are often incorrectly treated as only being relevant to New Zealand searches.

Later in 2021, MEGA shared their transparency report where they record 230 million registered users storing 107 billion files.

Limitations
According to MEGA, the site works with all major current browsers, but there can be some inconveniences to using browsers other than Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Vivaldi or Microsoft Edge. For example, with Safari, MEGA runs into some limitations.

New features

MEGAchat
In February 2013, MEGA announced it would be expanding into e-mail, chat, voice, video, and mobile. In December 2014, MEGA said it would "soon" launch a browser-based chat service. In mid-January 2015, MEGA launched MegaChat in beta, marketed as a web-based, encrypted alternative to applications like Skype and FaceTime.

Browser extension
MEGA released a browser plugin extension called MEGA Chrome Extension in 2015. It was advertised as reducing loading times, improving downloading performance, and strengthening security. MEGA also released a browser extension for Firefox.

On 5 September 2018, it was reported that the extension on the Chrome Web Store was compromised by the addition of code designed to steal website credentials and cryptocurrency. The original code on the GitHub page was not affected.

See also
 Comparison of file hosting services
 Comparison of file synchronization software
 Comparison of online backup services

References

External links

Cloud storage
File hosting
File sharing services
Internet properties established in 2013
Kim Dotcom
Internet technology companies of New Zealand
New Zealand brands
New Zealand websites
New Zealand companies established in 2013
Computer companies established in 2013

Mega (service)


Acanthomintha is a genus of the Lamiaceae, or mint family.  The Acanthomintha genus is commonly referred to as Thornmint.  There are a number of species within this genus, including the endangered species Acanthomintha duttonii. All four thornmints are native to the California Floristic Province.  The origin of the genus name is from the identical Greek word meaning thornmint.

There are four species of Acanthomintha:

Acanthomintha duttonii (Abrams) Jokerst: San Mateo thorn-mint
Acanthomintha ilicifolia (Gray): San Diego thorn-mint, San Diego thornmint
Acanthomintha lanceolata (Curran): Santa Clara thorn-mint
Acanthomintha obovata (Jepson): San Benito thorn-mint

Other websites

Lamiaceae

Acanthomintha


George Stack KC*HS CStJ (born 9 May 1946) is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was installed as the seventh Archbishop of Cardiff on 20 June 2011 and retired on 20 June 2022.

Biography

George Stack was born in Cork, Ireland, on 9 May 1946. He attended school in Highgate, London, before entering seminary at St. Edmund's College, Ware, in 1966.
He was ordained deacon in 1971 and completed his seminary training in 1972, being ordained priest on 21 May 1972 by Bishop Victor Guazzelli, an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

Following ordination, Father Stack was appointed curate at St Joseph's, parish, Hanwell. Between 1974 and 1977, Stack pursued a Bachelor of Education degree at St Mary's University College, Twickenham. He then became curate at St Paul's, Wood Green, and in 1983 was appointed Parish Priest of Our Lady, Help of Christians in Kentish Town.

In 1990 he was appointed Vicar General for Clergy, a post based at Archbishop's House in Victoria, London. He became Administrator of Westminster Cathedral in 1993, and was granted the title Monsignor.

In 2001, Monsignor Stack was consecrated an Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Westminster, by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. In 2006, he was responsible for the pastoral care of deaneries in Hertfordshire and for Westminster's Diocesan Department for Education and Formation.

On 19 April 2011, Bishop Stack was named as the 7th Archbishop of Cardiff. He was installed as archbishop on 20 June 2011, and received the pallium in Rome from Pope Benedict XVI on 29 June 2011. In June 2022, Stack was succeeded by Mark O'Toole as Archbishop of Cardiff.

Positions held

At some unspecified time between 1993 and 2001, while Administrator of Westminster Cathedral, he was appointed one of the first Ecumenical Canons at St Paul's Cathedral.

In 2006, Bishop Stack was identified as holding appointments as Chair of Governors at St Mary's University College, Twickenham; a Governor at Heythrop College in the University of London; and a member of the board of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, London.

In 2011 Bishop Stack was listed as a member of the Department for Education and Formation of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, serving as the Chairman of the Committee for Ministerial Formation and Chairman of the National Office for Vocations. The 2012 Provincial Yearbook confirms the latter two roles and also identifies Archbishop Stack as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and an Ecclesiastical Knight Grand Cross of Grace of the Constantinian Order of St George. Archbishop Stack is the Sub-Prior of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George within the Delegation of Great Britain and Ireland.

, Stack was the 'member bishop' representing England and Wales on ICEL (International Commission on English in the Liturgy).

References

External links

Archdiocese of Cardiff
Archdiocese of Westminster
Catholic-Hierarchy
Catholic Church of England and Wales

1946 births
Living people
Christian clergy from Cork (city)
Roman Catholic archbishops of Cardiff
Commanders of the Order of St John
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Wales
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United Kingdom
People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware
Knights of the Holy Sepulchre
People from Victoria, London
Irish expatriate Roman Catholic bishops

George Stack


Route 58 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Connecticut connecting the towns of Fairfield and Bethel. Route 58 is  long and is one of the primary routes to the downtown Danbury area via Routes 302 and 53.

Route description
Route 58 officially begins at U.S. Route 1 in Fairfield, traveling for about  on Tunxis Hill Road up to the Black Rock Turnpike. Route 58 continues northward along the Black Rock Turnpike, passing through the towns of Easton and Redding. There is an interchange with the Merritt Parkway in Fairfield. Within Easton, Route 58 can also go by the name "Black Rock Road" as well as "Black Rock Turnpike."  Route 58 passes by two reservoirs (Hemlock Reservoir and Aspetuck Reservoir) that supply the Greater Bridgeport area with much of its drinking water.  On crossing into the town of Bethel, Route 58 runs along "Putnam Park Road", ending at Route 302.

Black Rock Turnpike continues south after Route 58 separates from it in Fairfield. It ends at a junction between U.S. Route 1 and Interstate 95. This portion is designated as State Road 732 and is  long.

A  section in Easton near the Hemlock Reservoir is a designated scenic highway.

History
On April 25, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, British soldiers under the command of General William Tryon marched up the Redding Road, which paralleled present-day Route 58 south of Easton center and ran along Route 58 north of Easton center, on their way to Danbury to destroy homes, warehouses and ammunition stores as part of the Danbury Raid.

In May 1797, the northern portion of Redding Road was chartered as the Fairfield, Weston, and Redding Turnpike. The turnpike company improved the road from Easton village through Redding Ridge into Bethel (then a part of Danbury). It ran from Easton center along modern Route 58 then along Sunset Hill Road and Hoyts Hill Road. In May 1832, the road from Black Rock harbor to Easton village was chartered as a public toll road known as the Black Rock and Weston Turnpike, or more commonly as just the Black Rock Turnpike. The old road ran north up to the Branch Turnpike (Route 136) and used the Branch Turnpike to reach Easton. Both turnpike roads are collectively known as Black Rock Turnpike today.

In the 1922, the Bridgeport to Danbury road became a state road and was known as State Highway 124. Highway 124 uses a newer alignment through Putnam Memorial State Park instead of the 19th century turnpike alignment (Sunset Hill Road). It also continued into downtown Danbury using modern Route 302 and 53. Modern Route 58 was created in the 1932 state highway renumbering from old Highway 124. The route was truncated in 1935 to end in Bethel (at modern Route 302) instead of Danbury, when U.S. Route 202 was designated, which was designated on the Danbury-Bethel segment.

The state developed plans in the 1960s to extend Route 58 northward as a freeway from its present terminus to I-84 in Danbury to divert through traffic around Danbury's congested central business district.  Although the Route 58 Connector was cancelled, a short segment (known as Patriot Drive today) near the Danbury Train Station between White Street and Liberty Street was built.

Major intersections

References

External links

kurumi.com - CT Route 58

058
Fairfield, Connecticut
Redding, Connecticut
Transportation in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Easton, Connecticut
Bethel, Connecticut
U.S. Route 202

Connecticut Route 58


A Wild Weasel is a nickname for an aircraft in the United States Air Force that is supposed to destroy enemy anti-aircraft guns, surface-to-air missiles, and other ground attack weapons by seeking them out with radar and destroying them with missiles.

History

The idea was first thought of in 1965 during the Vietnam War, because North Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles, or "SAMs" were destroying American aircraft. The first Wild Weasel airplane was the F-100 Super Sabre, a variant of the F-86 Sabre. In 1966, the F-105 Thunderchief took the job.

After that, a new kind of F-4 Phantom IIs, the "G" model was used as a Wild Weasel. During the Gulf War of 1991, Wild Weasel missions were done by the F4-G  and not theF-16 Fighting Falcon, a light fighter-bomber that can also battle enemy fighter aircraft. Currently, the F-16CJ does this. They were being used in the Iraq War.

Weapons used
In the Vietnam War, the main missile used by Wild Weasels was the AGM-45 Shrike. Currently, some of the weapons used by the Wild Weasel planes includes the AGM-88 HARM and the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles. They can also have ALQ-131 and ALQ-184 pods that can mess up enemy radar.

References

United States Air Force
Vietnam War aircraft
United States military aircraft

Wild Weasel


The Green brothers, John (born 1977) and Hank (born 1980), are two American entrepreneurs, social activists, authors, and YouTube vloggers. The two have collaborated extensively throughout their public careers, beginning with a daily vlog project in 2007 titled "Brotherhood 2.0", in which they only communicated in vlogs posted to YouTube for a year. The Greens' portfolio of online work now includes their main Vlogbrothers channel, Crash Course, SciShow, their podcast Dear Hank & John, and several other projects spanning several forms of media.

Both brothers have found success individually. John has written several books which have received widespread acclaim and popularity, including The Fault in Our Stars. The novel was made into a 2014 film adaptation, which was number one at the box office during its opening weekend and grossed over $307 million worldwide. Hank has founded several companies, including "EcoGeek", a blog dedicated to environmentally beneficial advancements in technology. The blog was originally a class project of Hank's, while he studied at the University of Montana, but eventually progressed into becoming a major environmental publication, which would grab the attention of Time. The company has since evolved into Complexly, the parent company for most of the Green brothers' projects. Hank co-founded the record label and e-commerce merchandise company DFTBA Records with Alan Lastufka and his debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and its sequel A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor debuted as New York Times best sellers.

Together, the two brothers are credited with creating what some have described as a "YouTube media" or "online multimedia" empire. This empire, including projects centered on education, gaming, and activism, among others, has amassed an active fanbase known as "Nerdfighteria". Other projects founded by the brothers include the online-video conference VidCon and the annual charity event Project for Awesome.

Online video and audio projects

Vlogbrothers

On January 1, 2007, after being heavily inspired by the show with zefrank, the Greens launched the Vlogbrothers channel. Another inspiration for the project was the video blog, lonelygirl15. The project was originally meant to be a year-long way to deepen the bond between the brothers, creating a new outlet to communicate to each other. Prior to the video blog, Hank claims the two, "didn't ever talk, really". The project, titled "Brotherhood 2.0", quickly grew an audience, leading to the Greens' success on YouTube. On their following, Hank has stated, "We were never really shouting into the void. There were always people following us. Even if it was just a couple dozen people, they were really engaged." The New Yorker has described the Vlogbrothers channel as "the anchor of an online empire".

The topics of videos on the channel vary widely, as the Greens speak about whatever is on their minds at the time.
The first majorly successful Vlogbrothers video, "Accio Deathly Hallows", uploaded on July 18, 2007, was a song about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The video was featured on YouTube's front page, earned over 1 million views, now has almost 2 million views, and introduced the brothers to the Harry Potter fandom. By the end of 2007, the channel garnered 40,000 subscribers. Another video, in which John announces his support for his friend, mathematician and politician, Daniel Biss, was covered by The Wall Street Journal.

The Brotherhood 2.0 project would end on December 31, 2007, but the Greens announced on their final Brotherhood 2.0 vlog, that they would continue creating videos. The channel and its fanbase would grow past Brotherhood 2.0, and eventually in 2013, it reached the 1 million subscriber threshold. The brothers have continued to work on the channel, with Hank stating, "I'm so happy that we get to keep doing vlogbrothers and that people still care about vlogbrothers", adding, "that's still the thing I do. Everything else is just an extension of that thing."

Educational channels
The Green brothers have been constantly seeking to educate their viewers on various topics. Since late 2011 and early 2012, the two have been launching and working on several educational channels. Among these channels include Crash Course, SciShow (including its Space and Psych spinoffs),  The Brain Scoop (since spun off), Sexplanations, How to Adult, and Mental Floss. In an interview with The Washington Post, John Green stated, "I think people support Crash Course and SciShow because they want for Crash Course and SciShow to exist and they believe in our mission to make educational content for free, for everyone, for ever." The brothers have been described as, "one of the main voices in YouTube's vibrant education community". These channels are operated under the company name of Complexly.

Crash Course and SciShow

Crash Course is an educational channel that was launched by Hank Green and John Green as an educational channel as part of YouTube's original channel program. Crash Course launched a preview on December 2, 2011. Initially, John presented the humanities courses, while Hank presented with the sciences, though the channel has since expanded to include other hosts such as Craig Benzine and Phil Plait. Crash Course was funded by YouTube's $100 million original channel initiative. The graphics of Crash Course videos are created by Thought Café (formerly Thought Bubble).

SciShow is a series of science-related videos on YouTube hosted by Hank and Michael Aranda, as well as other hosts. SciShow, like Crash Course, was launched as an original channel. Several scientific fields are covered by SciShow. Among these are organic and thermodynamic chemistry, physics, geology, climatology, astronomy and astrophysics, evolutionary biology, psychology and several miscellaneous fields. The topics on videos uploaded onto SciShow varied; for example, one video detailed the origins of "cute". SciShow landed a national advertisement campaign deal with YouTube, in 2014. As a result, the channel was promoted through several platforms, including billboard ads, as well as a television commercial featured during the fifth season premiere of The Walking Dead. A spin-off titled, SciShow Space, launched in 2014, dedicating itself to space related news, discoveries and space related science. Hank Green also hosts the channel, although he is joined by co-hosts Reid Reimers and Caitlin Hofmeister.

Other educational channels

Additionally, Hank Green helped Emily Graslie to launch The Brain Scoop, in early 2013. The channel focuses on taxidermy, biology, and natural history. Prior to the channel's launch, Hank Green featured Graslie giving a tour of the University of Montana's Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum on one of his Vlogbrothers videos. Green's fans positively responded to video, suggesting for Graslie to host her own channel, leading Green to e-mail Graslie with an offer to assist her in the launch of this channel. Green later announced that the channel would launch in January 2013, helping the channel to spike to 20,000 subscribers prior to its first upload. The channel would upload videos from Montana, until Graslie became employed at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. In December 2014, the brothers sold the channel, for an undisclosed amount, to the Chicago-based museum. Regarding this transaction, Hank stated, "We helped create The Brain Scoop with Emily and Michael Aranda of our studio because she was just so passionate and enthusiastic about science, history, and her work. I am so proud and pleased that The Brain Scoop and Emily have found what is absolutely their best possible home."

Another educational channel, Mental Floss, based on a magazine of the same name, was launched in February 2013. John would host the channel's first series, The List Show. Prior to becoming a published novelist, Green wrote for the magazine, and attended Indian Springs School with the magazine's first editor, Neely Harris. The channel's success has been described as "somewhat of an outlier in the magazine industry", by The New York Times, as videos on the channel have outgained videos on other channels launched by magazine companies, such as Wired, and Vogue. The channel later added to its library of videos, launching The Big Question, and Misconceptions hosted by Craig Benzine and Elliott Morgan, respectively. Emerson College's Entertainment Monthly paper listed Mental Floss, as well as the aforementioned Crash Course as top five educational YouTube channels.

Hank Green also serves as the executive producer for Sexplanations, a channel dedicated to open and honest conversation and information about sex-related topics hosted by clinical sexologist Lindsay Doe. It was launched in June 2013.

In February 2014, Hank and John Green announced a new channel, How to Adult. The channel is "dedicated to teaching everything you need to know how to do as an adult that school never got around to." The channel is aimed at young people who have recently entered adulthood. The channel is hosted by vlogger Emma Mills (known as "Elmify" on YouTube) and Young Adult novelist T. Michael Martin. The Greens serve as the channel's Executive Producers.

Dear Hank & John

In June 2015, the brothers started a weekly podcast titled Dear Hank & John. Taking a mainly humorous tone, each podcast opens with John reading a poem that he selected for the week before the brothers read a series of questions submitted by listeners and offering their advice. The podcast now opens with a "dad joke" from Hank. The podcast closes with a news segment with two standard topics: Mars, presented by Hank, and AFC Wimbledon, presented by John. On a number of occasions, one of the brothers was absent from a number of episodes (for example, during the publicity tours for Paper Towns, Turtles All The Way Down, and An Absolutely Remarkable Thing); various friends and family members of the brothers filled in on those occasions.

Other online projects
Aside from the aforementioned projects, the Greens also created a sub-project of Vlogbrothers called Truth or Fail, an interactive game show on YouTube. The game is often themed, and consists of five rounds of two statements each, relating to the theme, with one statement being true, and the other being false.

Hank also launched a gaming channel, Hankgames. It featured Hank, his wife Katherine, John, and occasionally Charlie McDonnell and Michael Aranda playing video games such as Minecraft, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and FIFA 11. Eventually, the channel's videos were predominantly uploaded by John to a point where Hank decided to create another gaming channel, called "Games With Hank", in 2014. However, the "hankgames" channel is still being used by John, as he continues to upload commentary over his FIFA gameplay. John's devotion for both the video game series and English football has led to Nerdfighteria being an official sponsor of the real football club, AFC Wimbledon.

More successfully, the Green Brothers have helped launch modernized adaptations of classic novels. The production company behind these is Pemberley Digital, which according to Hank Green's Reddit userpage, he helped co-create.

The first of these adaptations was The Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube in early 2012. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was a web series adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice. In 2013, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries won an Emmy Award for Original Interactive Program. Following the conclusion of the series, Emma Approved, a web series adaptation of Emma, another Austen novel, was launched in October 2013. In 2014, Pemberley Digital launched Frankenstein, MD, an adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios.

In 2014, The Art Assignment was launched by PBS Digital Studios, featuring John's wife, Sarah Urist Green. John serves as an executive producer for the series.

Business ventures and philanthropy

Complexly

Complexly LLC is an online video and audio production company, based in Missoula, Montana, and Indianapolis, Indiana. The brothers were previously co-CEOs, though Hank is now the sole CEO and John acts as the cofounder and strategic advisor. In 2012, the Greens began producing educational video content with the YouTube channels Crash Course and SciShow, and in the years since have created many other channels and podcasts which have been folded into the company. Originally named EcoGeek LLC, it was founded by Hank Green to support his blog on environmental and science issues and was renamed in 2016. Also associated with Complexly's business, but separate to its operation, are VidCon, DFTBA Records, and the Project for Awesome. The business affairs of the Greens' personal projects, such as the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers, are handled by Complexly but the company does not directly produce their content. The company's strengths in educational content has led to them being approached by institutions like PBS and the Poetry Foundation to co-produce content. In November 2018, Complexly fully launched a co-production arrangement with WNYC Studios for three regular podcasts; two had been produced independently before, one was new (but adapted from an old format). Two years later the co-production was ended, and Complexly now produces the shows on its own.

VidCon

In 2010, VidCon was launched by the brothers. Since its launch, VidCon has annually increased its attendance to become the largest in-person gathering of online video creators, viewers, and representatives. On VidCon's purpose, Hank Green stated "Even when VidCon was just 1,000 people in a hotel, it was our goal for the conference to reflect the growth and culture of the online video industry", later adding, "VidCon's exponential growth over the last four years is indicative of online video's impact on the entertainment industry and on our everyday lives." One Nerdfighter has described their experience of VidCon stating, "it's just a three-day conference with just all nerdfighters and YouTubers. It's an incredible community, and the first year, which was in 2010 ... I went and it was just the most overwhelming thing I've ever experienced, and I made a bunch of friends who I'm still friends with today."

DFTBA Records

In 2008, Hank Green and fellow musician, Alan Lastufka, founded DFTBA Records. The distribution of merchandise is largely independent. In 2009, the record label caught the attention of YouTube, who praised the label on its official blog. DFTBA Records launched a series called The Warehouse on its YouTube channel, where it documents new products and announces events. DFTBA Records' merchandise extends past music, and includes merchandise such as T-shirts and posters.

In March 2014, several artists and creators signed under DFTBA Records were at the center of controversial sexual abuse cases. These artists were dropped from the label, and both Hank and John responded to these circumstances, and began working with a group of Nerdfighters, including "survivors of sexual abuse", to begin a "task force against abuse and assault". Additionally, Hank posted a video onto the Vlogbrothers channel, and in it, he discussed sexual abuse, sexual consent, as well as the culture surrounding sexual activities.

In June 2014, Lastufka announced that would be selling his entire stake in DFTBA Records, and resigning as the label's president, to pursue other projects. During an interview, Lastufka stated "Over the last few years I worked on the big ideas or product designs less and less, as my position transformed into brokering deals with brick and mortar stores and meeting with cart developers", and added "I would get a little jealous when art assignments that once went to me by default were being hired out because I just didn't have the time."

Subbable
On July 26, 2013, Hank Green made a video announcing the introduction of Subbable, a crowdfunding system to support various web series (both entertainment- and education-oriented). Users subscribe to creators and decide how much they want to pay to receive their content on either a recurring basis or with a one-time donation. The money that users spend to support various projects goes into a "perk bank" and can be redeemed for creator-determined perks such as signed posters or shoutouts in videos. The money that users donate goes immediately and directly to each creator, minus five percent of revenue that goes to Subbable itself to pay for overhead and server costs and roughly five percent that goes to Amazon to process payments. Subbable was originally created as a crowdfunding system to continue the production of CrashCourse at the termination of the two-year Google grant that funded the project. Additionally, Subbable presents a $0 subscription option, offering the subscriber access to special emails, behind the scenes videos and live shows.

Hank, who has been described as "idealistic" for the idea, explained that donations to projects on Subbable are voluntary, stating in his video, "We're asking, and this is weird, for you to pay for content because you want to, not because you're forced to. This is a weird cultural shift." John emphasized the point of the crowdfunding system's voluntary nature, "If you're authentic toward your community and don't focus on the ads, your audience will support you."

In March 2015, Subbable was acquired by Patreon. As part of the deal with Patreon, all 24 content creators signed to Subbable switched over to Patreon, and John joined Patreon as an advisor. Prior to the deal, Hank was already on the Patreon team as an advisor.

Project for Awesome

In December 2007, the two launched Project for Awesome, a charitable movement driven by the YouTube community. Legally, Project for Awesome is a project of the Greens' Montana-based charitable organization, the Foundation to Decrease World Suck, Inc. The most recent event occurred in 2023. The 2014 event raised over $1 million, and may have been responsible for the IndieGoGo site-wide crash which occurred just as they broke the million-dollar threshold. The project has donated to a variety of charity organizations. During the project's first year, Hank Green stated, "There were more than 400 videos posted, but several people focused on humanitarian organizations in Darfur, UNICEF, Autism Speaks, The Humane Society, Toys for Tots, World Wildlife Fund, I'm proud to say that it's a very long list."

Subscription services
In November 2020, the brothers started the Awesome Socks Club, a monthly subscription service where members receive a pair of socks designed by independent artists. All post-tax profits are donated to the charity Partners in Health, in a business model similar to Newman's Own products. As of March 2022, the Awesome Socks Club had 45,000 members.

In March 2022, the brothers started the Awesome Coffee Club, with an identical business model and goal to the Awesome Socks Club. The coffee is ethically sourced from Colombia via the brothers' sourcing partner Sucafina. The beans are then roasted in St. Louis, Missouri, and distributed through DFTBA's fulfillment center in Missoula, Montana.

Views
The Green brothers have discussed several educational, political, philosophical, and moral topics in their videos. Speaking about what subjects he would like to teach on the Crash Course channel, John stated, "I'm very interested in economics and personal finance (I sometimes post at r/personalfinance) and literature and philosophy and anthropology and the list goes on and on." Both Hank and John have been referred to as philosophers of sorts. Additionally, the Greens have been described as "charismatic, real, charmingly nerdy, and unquestionably talented", as well as "funny – an insightful, inclusive, not mean kind of funny", by The Wire, a sister site of The Atlantic. In their youth, the Greens' parents encouraged the brothers to discuss big issues at the dinner table, and John often argued about philosophy and ethics.

Online video
Both John and Hank have expressed their liking for online video as a platform and culture. Their careers are heavily invested upon online video, and in 2010, they founded the aforementioned VidCon. Hank and John founded the event, believing that somebody else would do so eventually, and that video blogging was becoming more of an industry. Hank has been documented to be active in the crowdfunding field, and would establish Subbable, allowing online content creators to have an alternative funding source aside from video advertising.

In a 2015 speech spoken to advertising executives at YouTube's Brandcast event, John stated, "I and the most passionate creators on YouTube ... we're not in the distraction business. We're in the community business, and number of eyeballs is a terrible metric for my business." John elaborated on his valuing of engagement and connection over raw viewing numbers stating, "I don't care how many people watch or read something I make. I care how many people love what I make."

Religion

The Green brothers have discussed religion in their videos. However, in one video, John states that religion is a, "topic we've been reluctant to discuss over the years, mostly because the quality of discourse about religion on the internet is atrocious."

On his website, John writes that he is a Christian, introducing a blog post with, "I don't talk about it very often, but I'm a religious person. In fact, before I became a writer, I wanted to be a minister. There is a certain branch of Christianity that has so effectively hijacked the word 'Christian' that I feel uncomfortable sometimes using it to describe myself. But I am a Christian." Green has also stated, in an interview, that he belongs to the Episcopal Church. At the same time, John disagrees with the notion that creationism should be brought back into schools' educational curriculums, stating, "What science has taught us does not invalidate religious faith, and to those evangelical Christians who believe otherwise, I would respectfully say that you are placing too much faith in the power of science." Green adds, "Science has given so much to the experience of being a creature on this planet. But it does not render our spiritual lives irrelevant." Additionally, John, has stated, "Ultimately, there are Muslims who I have more theologically in common with than many of my fellow Christians." Early in his YouTube career, John made jokes about Young Earth creationism, which offended some viewers. Although he stood by his pro-evolution beliefs, he also apologized for his comments, stating, "It's a privilege to have a platform to talk about things you care about, but it's an irrevocable privilege. I try to take it seriously", adding, "It's wrong to make people feel other and separate."

Hank, too, has been reluctant to discuss his religion. In 2011, he responded to his reluctance to answer questions regarding his religion, stating, "People are asking, because they want to inform their opinions of me with this little one word answer that says so very little about who I actually am." Later in 2016, during a podcast, Hank expressed, "I'm so jealous of religious people, man. They just know what to do." On May 22, 2023, shortly after announcing his diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma, Hank answered "I don't have a god, but I believe that people caring about people matters to people, and praying is one of many ways we show that we care about each other," when asked if he would feel comfortable receiving prayers.

Existentialism and human complexity

The Greens have often discussed the topic of existential anxiety and an existential crisis. John, in particular, has included themes of existentialism in his novels, notably, The Fault in Our Stars. The two main characters of the novel, Hazel and Augustus, bond over existentialism and philosophy. Another theme in Green's works, including The Fault in Our Stars, is the complex imagination of others. Green has commented on the character of aforementioned Nerdfighter, Esther Earl, stating she, "had a wonderful gift for imagining others and for imagining them very complexly". Green incorporated this aspect of Earl's personality into the novel. Additionally, Green has stated, "while the world talks about young people's insularity and solipsism, they're creating a fascinating and complex world of deep engagement online, a world in which they are not just watching content but becoming part of it by being community members whose comments and fanfiction and artwork and passion have profound impacts on the broader culture."

Hank has spoken about human dreams of success. On the topic, Hank has stated, "There are problems with the institutions of dreams, [but] I am in favor of them. We need something to push us to work 16-hour days sometimes. We need something to drive us to be better, and weirder, and different, but I think if we let that one thing drive us, it's a failure of imagination, and we miss opportunities." Hank would add, "In the end, it's not about finding success, it's about building the number of things you're capable of, because then you could do more interesting things, and we need people to do interesting things in the world."

Politics

Both John and Hank have often discussed political and governmental topics in their videos. Hank, in particular, is a strong advocate of young Americans taking advantage of their right to vote. John has also advocated for this, and has written that for years after he turned 18, he did not participate in voting. During this period, John "found politics boring and divisive", believing that politics and voting were a waste of his time. Green adds to this, stating, "I was going to be a writer, and the great writers (I thought) transcend the minor quibbles of their historical moments. Writers focus on the big questions; politics, I thought, is about the small questions." However, as Green matured during his adult years, he has developed a belief that, "the big questions—about our environment, our responsibilities to one another, our rights as citizens—are political questions." In 2016, while speaking on the SourceFed Podcast, Hank expressed that he has become "less liberal".

John has stated that he is an independent voter who has voted for both Republican and Democratic politicians. Additionally, the Greens once created a YouTube channel, registered under the username, obamasidiots. Although, as John stated, "the project went nowhere", the channel was created to raise money for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

In 2015, Hank, along with fellow online media personalities, GloZell and Bethany Mota, conducted personal interviews with United States President Barack Obama, following the 2015 State of the Union Address. Though the approach was somewhat different from previous years, having the three conduct interviews continued the White House's efforts to "speak directly to the American people online". Some of the questions Green and his fellow online personalities asked were collected from social media input. CNN's Senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta was critical of the decision to have Obama be interviewed by the media personalities. Acosta stated, "None of them are professional journalists. They're people who post videos on YouTube", sarcastically adding, "I'm just curious: Was 'Charlie Bit My Finger' or 'David After Dentist' not available?" In response to Acosta, Hank tweeted, "I think sometimes we need to think about how to involve people who are not reached by legacy media in the conversation. That's all." Acosta subsequently replied, "No sense of humor @hankgreen? Totally agree. Good luck." John then defended Hank via a Tumblr post. Coincidentally, John had previously participated in a Fireside Hangout on Google+ with Obama, with the President even reciting the commonly used phrase by Nerdfighters, "Don't forget to be awesome", to conclude one of his answers to John's questions.

Gender and sexual orientation
Hank and John Green are supporters of LGBT rights. Arguing against those who say homosexuality is unnatural, Hank Green states that, "the most natural thing in the world is complexity, and gender, and sexual orientation are proven over and over again to not be firm lines." Hank adds, "To me, there's only one argument that matters for gay marriage: That all people in our country should be seen as equals in the eyes of the law." After receiving high ratings on his vlog centered on same-sex marriage, Hank stated, "It's stuff like that where I feel like we're making the world a better place, and resonating with how people feel about new cultural ideas, and really being a part of the cultural evolution toward a better way of understanding each other and the world."

In 2009, John posted a video, expressing his frustrations with the usage of the word gay as an insult. The word was being used to describe John, despite the fact that, at the time, it was already known that he was married to a woman. In the video, John stated, "Ultimately, gay will never work as an insult, because it's not bad."

When asked by a Reddit user whether he identifies as a feminist, John Green replying with an anecdote from his childhood, "Yes, I do. My hardcore badass feminist mom told both my brother and me that we were feminists from the time we were like two years old, so if she ever heard me saying I wasn't a feminist she'd fly to my house and smack me upside the head."

Impact
The Green brothers' projects have had varying effects on the YouTube community, nerd culture, young adult fiction, and other fields. One such effect is that of the Green brothers' fanbase, Nerdfighteria, which has been utilized to accomplish charitable actions. Aside from charity, however, several Nerdfighter clubs have been launched as an extracurricular activity at universities such as the University of Maryland and Auburn University. Nerdfighters use the collaborative nature of Nerdfighteria to schedule offline meetups, which on occasion, include the Greens themselves. The New Yorker has described the community as "strikingly civil and constructive for an Internet subculture".

The Greens have also influenced online videos, prompting individuals to create their own vlogs. Additionally, Hank has stated "We really believed in the importance of online video as a cultural form."

Another influence is that of John's novels, which are of the young adult fiction genre. In 2013, A. J. Jacobs of The New York Times reviewed Winger by Andrew Smith. In the review, Jacobs coined the term GreenLit, a play on John's surname, Green and the word literature, to describe "realistic stories told by a funny, self-aware teenage narrator", that include, "sharp dialogue, defective authority figures, occasional boozing, unrequited crushes and one or more heartbreaking twists". The Wall Street Journal also noted "The John Green bump", an effect which includes "a blurb or Twitter endorsement from Mr. Green", that, "can ricochet around the Internet and boost sales". The term has been criticized by Green himself, as he disagrees with the concept that he is singlehandedly responsible for launching any one individual's career, or propelling an individual to success.

Nonetheless, Green's novels have been successful, leading him to be included on Time 2014 "100 Most Influential People" list. Shailene Woodley, who portrayed the main character of The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel Grace Lancaster, in the novel's film adaptation, wrote the piece on Time list for Green, describing him as a "teen whisperer" and saying, "He acknowledges the intelligence and vulnerability that stem from those beautiful years when we are, for the first time, discovering the world and ourselves outside of our familial stories. But he doesn't just listen to young adults. He treats every human he meets as their own planet, rather than simply one of his moons."

Community

The Green brothers' videos have been able to connect with their viewers, which are individually referred to as "Nerdfighters", and collectively referred to as "Nerdfighteria". Activities, events, and community symbols and terminology have been noted by various media outlets. Nerdfighters have adopted the initialism "DFTBA", standing for Don't forget to be awesome, as their slogan. The community has also developed a hand sign, which is similar to the Vulcan salute seen in Star Trek. Hank describes the community as "people who are pro-nerd: They fight for nerd culture, to celebrate intellectualism, to find and build spaces on the Internet that are devoted to engagement and meaningful conversation instead of distraction and echo-chambery conversations."

The Greens and Nerdfighters collaborate on various charitable endeavors, which the fanbase refers to as "decreasing" or "fighting world suck". Charitable events conducted by Nerdfighters include the aforementioned Project for Awesome, as well as loaning funds through Kiva.org, to entrepreneurs in developing nations. Additionally, a charity foundation, This Star Won't Go Out (TSWGO), was founded by Wayne and Lori Earl, the parents of Esther Earl.

Esther was an active member of Nerdfighteria, as well as an associated group, the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA), who died of thyroid cancer in 2010. Earl is an influential Nerdfighter, having started the Esther Day celebration, which has been described by HPA founder Andrew Slack, as "the first baggage-free holiday about love and gratitude". Another member of the community, Rosianna Halse Rojas, whom The New Yorker describes as a "pioneering nerdfighter", has the position of being John's personal assistant. However, John describes her as more than a PA, citing that, "she does many things—from project management to helping shape the strategic direction of our educational and charity projects." Daniel Biss, who serves as a member of the Illinois Senate's 9th district, has been referred to by John as, "Brotherhood 2.0's Resident Mathematician", and is also a member of the community. Additionally, Biss designed the mathematics formulas for John's novel, An Abundance of Katherines. Celebrities, including British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, and American rapper Lupe Fiasco, who has compared Crash Course to crack, have also been documented as Nerdfighters.

References

American businesspeople in the online media industry
American educators
American podcasters
American social activists
American YouTubers
Brother duos
Charity fundraisers (people)
Educational and science YouTubers
Internet activists
Living people
Nerd culture
People from Orlando, Florida
YouTube podcasters
YouTube vloggers

Green brothers


Roger G. Ishee (March 25, 1930 – June 21, 2015) was an American petroleum engineer and politician.

Born in Dushua, Jasper County, Mississippi, Ishee served in the United States Air Force from 1948 to 1953. He then received his bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering at Louisiana State University. He then worked in the oil industry and was a civilian instructor in the United States Air Force. Ishee was also general manager at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens. He lived with his family in Gulfport, Mississippi. From 1997 to 2012, Ishee served in the Mississippi House of Representatives as a Republican. Ishee died in a hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Notes

1930 births
2015 deaths
People from Gulfport, Mississippi
People from Jasper County, Mississippi
Louisiana State University alumni
Republican Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives
21st-century American politicians

Roger Ishee


Roman Nesterenko (born 22 March 1977) is an association footballer from Kazakhstan. He plays as a goalkeeper and has played for nine different clubs as well as the Kazakhstan national football team, for whom he has two caps. Despite playing for Kazakhstan at international level, Nesterenko was born in Ukraine and has actually spent more of his career there than with clubs in Kazakhstan.

Club career

Early career

Nesterenko began his career with AFK-UOR Mariupol in Ukraine in 1994–95. However, later in the same season he left for another Ukrainian side, FC Shakhtar-2 Donetsk, the reserve side of Shakhtar Donetsk. Nesterenko played for the club for three seasons, leaving in 1998 to join Metalurh Volodymyrivka. He spent two years at Metalurh, making over twenty appearances in each of his seasons there.

Volyn Lutsk

Roman joined Volyn in 2000–01, when the club was in the Persha Liha, Ukraine's second division. In his four seasons at the club, Nesterenko helped Volyn reach the Ukrainian Premier League in 2001–02 despite being used mainly as a back-up goalkeeper and only making eight appearances in their promotion-winning season. He made six appearances in 2002–03 as Volyn finished an impressive sixth in their first season back in the top flight.

FK Aktobe

Nesterenko joined a team from Kazakhstan for the first time in his career in 2004. His became a regular for FK Aktobe, making 32 appearances in his first season with the club as they finished in fourth place, just five points off an UEFA Cup spot. In 2005 Aktobe won the league by a single point, with Nesterenko playing in 26 of their 30 league games. Aktobe conceded just 27 goals all season.

2006 was to be Nesterenko's final year with FK Aktobe, and they finished in second place in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. He played in Aktobe's subsequent UEFA Cup qualification matches against FK Liepājas Metalurgs of Latvia, which were played in July 2006 and resulted in a 1–1 draw and 1–0 loss for Aktobe. However, Roman played just six times in the league and had lost his place as the club's first choice goalkeeper. Therefore, it came as no surprise when he left for Kaysar Kyzylorda in 2007.

Kaysar Kyzylorda

Kaysar provided Roman with the chance to be a first-choice goalkeeper again, and he made 27 appearances in 2007 as Kaysar finished tenth in the Kazakhstan Premier League. He followed this up with another 26 appearances in 2008, when the club finished fourth, but despite regular playing time at Kaysar he moved on again, this time to Lokomotiv Astana. He would return to Kaysar in 2010.

Lokomotiv Astana

After attending a trial along with two team-mates while playing for Kaysar Kyzylorda, Astana signed Roman as one of their goalkeepers in December 2008. Lokomotiv Astana had only been formed after a merger in 2009, but being a wealthy club they were able to recruit players of high quality to play alongside Nesterenko in the new club's first season in the Kazakhstan Premier League. Astana finished in second place in 2009, five points behind Roman's former club FK Aktobe. Nesterenko played in 15 of the club's 25 league games, but at the end of the season he departed Astana to rejoin former club Kaysar Kyzylorda, who had been relegated from the top-flight in 2009. Unusually for a goalkeeper, Roman wore the number 32shirt for Lokomotiv Astana.

Return to Kaysar Kyzylorda

Despite having dropped to the Kazakhstan First Division for the first time in his career, Nesterenko only made ten appearances in his second spell for Kaysar. The club managed to win promotion back to the Premier League by finishing in second place. He left after the promotion season, joining FC Ordabasy of the Kazakhstan Premier League, who became the eighth club of a lengthy career.

FC Ordabasy

In 2010 FC Ordabasy had finished in eighth place, having to compete in the relegation group to keep their top-flight status. However, in 2011 they fared better, finishing in sixth place with Nesterenko as their first-choice goalkeeper. He made twenty-five appearances in his debut season with the club, making his FC Ordabasy debut against Tobol in a 1–0 win on 6 March 2011, in the first league game of the season. Nesterenko kept a total of seven clean sheets from his twenty-five league games. He also played in cup victories over former club Kaysar Kyzylorda on 20 April and FC Sunkar on 11 May. Despite this, Nesterenko was an unused substitute in Ordabasy's 1–0 2011 Kazakhstan Cup final win over FC Tobol on 13 November. This cup win qualified Ordabasy for the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League first round despite the club's mid-table 2011 Kazakhstan Premier League finish.

International career

Nesterenko made his international debut at the unlikely age of 34, with manager Miroslav Beránek including him in his squad for 2011 friendlies and qualifying matches. His first game for Kazakhstan was a UEFA Euro 2012 Group A qualifier against Azerbaijan. Kazakhstan won 2–1, with Nesterenko playing the whole match. He won his second international cap in a 1–1 friendly draw with Syria on 10 August 2011. Roman was replaced at half-time by Anton Tsirin, despite having kept a clean sheet in the first half.

References

Ukrainian men's footballers
1977 births
Living people
People from Vuhledar
Men's association football goalkeepers
Ukrainian emigrants to Kazakhstan
Kazakhstani men's footballers
Kazakhstan men's international footballers
AFK-UOR Mariupol players
FC Volyn Lutsk players
FC Kovel-Volyn Kovel players
FC Shakhtar-2 Donetsk players
FC Aktobe players
FC Vostok players
Ukrainian Premier League players
Kazakhstan Premier League players
Footballers from Donetsk Oblast
FC Shakhtar Donetsk players

Roman Nesterenko


Naomi Judd (born Diana Ellen Judd; January 11, 1946 – April 30, 2022) was an American country music singer and actress. In 1980, she and her daughter Wynonna (born Christina Claire) formed the duo known as The Judds, which became a very successful country music act, winning five Grammy Awards and nine Country Music Association awards. The Judds ceased performing in 1991 after Naomi was diagnosed with hepatitis; while Wynonna continued to perform as a solo artist, she occasionally reunited with her mother for tours as The Judds. Naomi struggled with mental health issues throughout her life. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 30, 2022, the day before she and Wynonna were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Early life
Judd was born to Pauline Ruth "Polly" (née Oliver) and Charles Glen Judd on January 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky. Her father owned a gas station and her mother was a riverboat cook. Her brother Brian died of leukemia in 1965 at the age of 17; Naomi Judd's first child, Christina Claire Ciminella (later Wynonna Judd), was born when Judd was 18. Her first daughter was given the last name Ciminella after Michael Ciminella, the man who Judd quickly married after being abandoned by her boyfriend and Wynonna's biological father, Charles Jordan. After the birth of her second daughter, Ashley (1968), who later became a film and stage actress, and the end of her marriage to Ciminella, Judd brought up both daughters as a single parent, first attending nursing school at California's College of Marin while living in nearby Lagunitas, California, and later beginning a successful singing career with daughter Wynonna. When she reverted to her maiden name following her divorce, she also took the opportunity to change her name, Diana, which she did not think fit "her own spiritual, rural Kentucky conception of her true heritage", and decided to pay homage to the Biblical figure Naomi, finding resonance in her story of moving to another land and eventually being left without a husband raising two women.

Career

The Judds

With her daughter Wynonna Judd, Naomi formed the highly successful singing duo known as the Judds. As country music's most famous mother–daughter team, they scored twenty top ten hits (including fifteen number ones) and went undefeated for eight consecutive years at all three major country music awards shows. They won five Grammy Awards and a vast array of other awards and honors. Naomi won a Country Song of the Year Grammy for writing "Love Can Build a Bridge".

Breakup and solo work
The Judds broke up soon after Naomi Judd was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1991. The band's farewell concert was the most successful musical event in cable pay-per-view history.  Judd created the Naomi Judd Education and Research Fund in 1991 to raise awareness of hepatitis C, and used the strength of her experiences as a spokes-model for the American Liver Foundation.

She received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 1993.  In 1998, she achieved virologic cure of hepatitis C following treatment with interferon alpha. The Judds reunited for a 1999 New Year's Eve concert in Phoenix at the America West Arena, with Ashley as the MC. The Judds reunited again in 2000 for their "Power to Change" tour, performing to over 300,000 people on 30 dates. The duo was nominated as the Academy of Country Music's top vocal duo of the year in 2001. From 2003 to 2004, Judd judged the revamped version of Star Search hosted by Arsenio Hall.

Judd began Naomi's New Morning, a Sunday morning talk show on the Hallmark Channel, in 2005. The show lasted two seasons. She was also the author of several self-help books, including Naomi's Guide to Aging Gratefully: Facts, Myths, and Good News for Boomers (2007).

Judd joined a new television reality-competition series Can You Duet, as a judge and mentor in 2008. The show aired on CMT. She competed with her husband,  Larry Strickland, in the first season of the Fox Broadcasting reality cooking series My Kitchen Rules in 2017.

Acting
Judd made her first screen appearance in the 1979 comedy film More American Graffiti. She executive produced the 1995 made-for-television film Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge based on her book. She guest-starred in the television series Sisters, The Client, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Touched by an Angel. In 1993, Judd played the female lead opposite Kenny Rogers in the made-for-television Western Rio Diablo. She continued to act, and in 1999 she starred as Lily Waite in the television film, A Holiday Romance. Also that year, Judd starred in the drama film Family Tree. She made cameo appearance in the 2001 romantic comedy film Someone Like You starring Ashley Judd.

Judd starred alongside Laura Prepon in the 2011 Lifetime television movie The Killing Game. She later starred in the Hallmark Channel films Nearlyweds and Window Wonderland, both released in 2013. In 2014, she starred as "Honey" in the Netflix film An Evergreen Christmas. In 2021, Judd starred in the Lifetime adaptation of V.C. Andrews' novel Ruby playing the title character's grandmother.

Personal life
Judd had two daughters, Wynonna (b. 1964) and Ashley (b. 1968). Wynonna is a musician and was the other half of their duo, The Judds. Ashley is an actress with a career spanning more than three decades.

Judd married her second husband, Larry Strickland of the Palmetto State Quartet, on May 6, 1989. Strickland has also sung with other gospel groups, including J.D. Sumner and The Stamps Quartet.

Death
On April 30, 2022, Judd died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at her home in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee; she was 76 years old. She had long been struggling with depression accompanied by anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. The medications prescribed to her, including lithium, produced side effects including facial edema, alopecia and tremors, which caused her further emotional distress.

Announcing her death, her daughters tweeted: "Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness." Ashley Judd revealed the cause of her mother's death in a May 12, 2022, interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America. She made the revelation to help raise awareness of mental illness, which she hoped would help those suffering from it. She also said that she and the rest of the family wanted the manner of death to be shared by them rather than a secondhand source.

A memorial for Judd was televised on CMT. Naomi Judd: A River of Time Celebration was broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium, as specified by Judd before she died and was hosted by Robin Roberts. It featured appearances from Ashley Judd, Larry Strickland, Bono, Bette Midler, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Reese Witherspoon, Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey and Salma Hayek, plus performances by Wynonna, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Emmylou Harris and Allison Russell, Little Big Town, Brandi Carlile, and Jamey Johnson.

Discography

Singles

Filmography

References

External links

1946 births
2022 deaths
2022 suicides
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Kentucky
American country singer-songwriters
American film actresses
American motivational speakers
American motivational writers
American self-help writers
American television talk show hosts
American women country singers
Country musicians from Kentucky
Female suicides
Grammy Award winners
Kentucky women musicians
Singers from Kentucky
Musicians from Appalachia
Musicians from Ashland, Kentucky
Singer-songwriters from Kentucky
The Judds members
Women motivational speakers
Women motivational writers
Writers from Kentucky
Suicides by firearm in Tennessee

Naomi Judd


James Kershaw (1795–1864) was a British cotton mill owner and Liberal MP, associated with the Anti-Corn Law League.

He rose from being a clerk for the cotton-spinning company of Lees, Millington & Cullender, of Manchester, to a partner and then head of Kershaw, Lees & Sidebottom, mill owners of Manchester.

He was instrumental in obtaining the municipal franchise of Manchester as a borough in 1838, and was its Mayor between 1842 and 1843, and later became the MP for Stockport from 1847 until his death.

He died at his home in Streatham, and was buried in West Norwood Cemetery where his ornate Gothic tomb by Alfred Waterhouse (architect of the Natural History Museum, London and Manchester Town Hall) is listed Grade II, and in such poor condition as to be on the English Heritage at risk register.  There is currently no plan from Lambeth council to improve the situation.

References

Sources
 Obituary, The Times 28 April 1864

Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Councillors in Manchester
UK MPs 1847–1852
UK MPs 1852–1857
UK MPs 1857–1859
UK MPs 1859–1865
1795 births
1864 deaths
Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stockport
19th-century English businesspeople

James Kershaw