Courage Under Fire is a 1996 American war drama film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. It is the second collaboration between Washington and director Zwick. The film was released in the United States on July 12, 1996, to positive reviews and grossed $100 million worldwide.

Plot
While serving in the Persian Gulf War, Lieutenant Colonel Serling accidentally destroys one of his own tanks during a confusing nighttime battle, killing his friend, Captain Boylar. The United States Army covers up the details and transfers Serling to a desk job.

Later, Serling is assigned to determine if Captain Karen Emma Walden should be the first woman to receive (posthumously) the Medal of Honor. She was the commander of a Medevac Huey helicopter sent to rescue the crew of a shot-down Black Hawk helicopter. When Walden encountered a T-54 enemy tank, her crew destroyed it by dropping a fuel bladder onto the tank and igniting it with a flare gun. However, her own helicopter was shot down soon after. The two crews were unable to join forces, and when the survivors were rescued the next day, Walden was reported dead.

Serling notices inconsistencies among the testimonies of Walden's crew. Specialist Andrew Ilario, the medic, praises Walden strongly. However, Staff Sergeant John Monfriez claims that Walden was a coward and that he led the crew in combat and improvised the fuel bladder weapon. Sergeant Altameyer, who is dying in a hospital, complains about a fire. Warrant Officer One Rady, the co-pilot, was injured early on and unconscious throughout. Furthermore, the crew of the Black Hawk claim that they heard firing from an M16, but Ilario and Monfriez claim it was out of ammo.

Serling is under pressure from the White House and his commander, Brigadier General Hershberg, to wrap things up quickly. To prevent another cover-up, Serling leaks the story to newspaper reporter Tony Gartner. When Serling grills Monfriez during a car ride, Monfriez forces him to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint, then commits suicide by driving into an oncoming train.

Serling tracks Ilario down, and Ilario finally tells him the truth. Monfriez wanted to flee, which would mean abandoning Rady. When Walden refused, he pulled a gun on her and Walden threatened him with a court martial for mutiny. Walden then shot an enemy who suddenly appeared behind Monfriez, but Monfriez thought Walden was firing at him and shot her in the stomach, before backing off. The next morning, the enemy attacked again as a rescue party approached. Walden covered her men's retreat, firing an M16. However, Monfriez told the rescuers that Walden was dead, so they left without her. Napalm was then dropped on the entire area. Altameyer tried to expose Monfriez's lie at the time, but was too injured to speak, and Ilario remained silent, scared of the court-martial Walden had threatened them with.

Serling presents his final report to Hershberg. Walden's young daughter receives the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony. Later, Serling tells the truth to the Boylars about the manner of their son's death and says he cannot ask for forgiveness. The Boylars forgive him and tell him he must release his burden at some point.

In the last moments, Serling has a flashback of when he was standing by Boylar's destroyed tank and a medevac Huey was lifting off with his friend's body. Serling suddenly realizes Walden was the pilot.

Cast

Denzel Washington as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
Meg Ryan as Captain Karen Emma Walden
Lou Diamond Phillips as Staff Sergeant John Monfriez
Matt Damon as Specialist Andrew Ilario
Bronson Pinchot as Bruno, a White House aide
Seth Gilliam as Sergeant Steven Altameyer
Regina Taylor as Meredith Serling
Michael Moriarty as Brigadier General Hershberg
Željko Ivanek as Captain Ben Banacek
Scott Glenn as Tony Gartner, a Washington Post reporter and Vietnam veteran
Tim Guinee as Warrant Officer One A. Rady
Tim Ransom as Captain Boylar
Sean Astin	as Private Patella
Ned Vaughn as First Lieutenant Chelli
Sean Patrick Thomas as Sergeant Thompson
Manny Pérez as Jenkins
Ken Jenkins as Joel Walden
Kathleen Widdoes as Geraldine Walden
Christina Stojanovich as Anne Marie Walden
Tom Schanley as Questioner
Korey Coleman as Radio operator
David McSwain as Sergeant Egan

Members of the Corps of Cadets of Texas A&M University were cast as soldiers in the basic training scenes.

Reception

Box office
U.S. domestic gross: US$ 59,031,057
International: $41,829,761
Worldwide gross: $100,860,818

The film opened #3 at the box office behind Independence Day and Phenomenon.

Critical response

The film received mostly positive reviews. As of June 15, 2022, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of critics gave the film a positive review based upon a sample of 56 reviews with an average rating of 7.3/10. The critical consensus states that the film is "an emotional and intriguing tale of a military officer who must review the merits of a fallen officer while confronting his own war demons. Effectively depicts the terrors of war as well as its heartbreaking aftermath." At the website Metacritic, which uses a weighted average rating system, the film earned a generally favorable rating of 77/100 based on 19 mainstream critic reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

The movie was commended by several critics. James Berardinelli of the website ReelViews wrote that the film was, "As profound and intelligent as it is moving, and that makes this memorable motion picture one of 1996's best." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke positively of the film saying that while the ending "lays on the emotion a little heavily" the movie had been up until that point "a fascinating emotional and logistical puzzle—almost a courtroom movie, with the desert as the courtroom."

Denzel Washington's acting was specifically lauded, as Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "In Washington's haunted eyes, in the stunning cinematography of Roger Deakins (Fargo) that plunges into the mad flare of combat, in the plot that deftly turns a whodunit into a meditation on character and in Zwick's persistent questioning of authority, Courage Under Fire honors its subject and its audience." Additionally Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "Denzel Washington is riveting."

Accolades
Denzel Washington was nominated for Best Actor at the 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, but lost to Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade.

Historical context
The Medal of Honor was awarded to Mary Edwards Walker, an American Civil War physician, but not for valor in combat.  Walker's award was revoked in 1917, then restored in 1977.

References

External links

Boxoffice information

1996 films
1990s action films
1990s war films
1990s action drama films
American political drama films
American war films
1990s English-language films
Films about armoured warfare
Films directed by Edward Zwick
Films produced by John Davis
Films scored by James Horner
Films set in Iraq
Films set in the United States
Films shot in Connecticut
Films shot in El Paso, Texas
Gulf War films
20th Century Fox films
Davis Entertainment films
Films about the United States Army
1990s political drama films
1996 drama films
1990s American films

Courage Under Fire


Gregory Sestero (born July 15, 1978) is an American actor, filmmaker, model and author, best known for his role as Mark in the 2003 cult film The Room, as well as for his well-received memoir The Disaster Artist, detailing his experiences making The Room, which itself was later adapted into a 2017 film.

He also appeared in a minor role as James in the 2020 Netflix miniseries The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Early life
Sestero was born in Walnut Creek, California. His mother is of French and Italian (Sicilian) descent. He was raised in Danville, California, where he attended Monte Vista High School.

Sestero has said that he wrote a sequel to the then-recently released Home Alone at the age of 12, titled Home Alone 2: Lost in Disney World, which included a leading role for himself alongside Macaulay Culkin's Kevin McCallister. He submitted the screenplay, along with a provisional poster, soundtrack suggestions and a request for a cross-promotional deal between 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney Pictures, to Hughes Entertainment, and eventually received a commendatory letter from John Hughes. Sestero credits Hughes' gesture with inspiring him to pursue a professional acting career.

During his junior year of high school, Sestero began modeling, working in Milan and Paris for designers such as Giorgio Armani and Gianfranco Ferré. He returned to the United States to focus on acting, enrolling in the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. His signing with Hollywood agent Iris Burton prompted his eventual move to Los Angeles.

Career
Sestero's early acting work included minor roles in the television show Nash Bridges and the films Gattaca (1997) and Patch Adams (1998). In 1999, Sestero was cast as the lead in the horror movie Retro Puppet Master. He followed this with a one-episode role on the television soap opera Days of Our Lives.

The Room
Sestero's best known role to date is as Mark, the best friend to Tommy Wiseau's character Johnny, in the 2003 cult film The Room. Sestero met Wiseau at an acting class in 1998 held by Jean Shelton. Wiseau told Sestero that if he was able to raise the funds to make the film, he would hire him as his co-star; Sestero arrived on set, only agreeing to work behind the scenes and help Wiseau with auditions and casting. However, Wiseau wanted the original actor cast as Mark out of the film, and formulated an elaborate plan to replace him with Sestero.

Sestero has said that he made the film assuming no one would see it and that it would go direct to video. The film was immediately lambasted by critics and fared very poorly at the box office. In Sestero's book, The Disaster Artist, he revealed that Wiseau had sent a copy of the film to Paramount Pictures to gain wide distribution and was denied by the studio within 24 hours (the typical response time is two weeks).

Ross Morin, an assistant professor of film studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, called it "the Citizen Kane of bad movies", and Entertainment Weekly referred to Wiseau as "the Orson Welles of crap". Despite the poor showing, Sestero remained humorous and usually deflected much of the criticism of the film.

The film quickly began to receive attention from audience members because of its poor production values rather than in spite of them; it soon became a "cult classic" with late-night showings at theaters around the United States. Audience members typically arrive wearing wigs resembling their favorite characters, interact with the dialogue on screen, and throw plastic cutlery and footballs around the theater.

This attention grew into what was dubbed The Rooms 2010–2011 "Love is Blind" International Tour, and the film was screened in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Australia, France, and India, among other locations. Sestero appeared at many of these events, posing for photographs with fans and often addressing them before the screenings.

Sestero will appear in a remake of The Room that will be released digitally in June 2023 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original's release.

The Disaster Artist

In June 2011, it was announced that Sestero had signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to write a book based on his experiences making The Room with Tommy Wiseau. The book, titled The Disaster Artist, was released in October 2013.

On November 23, 2014, The Disaster Artist won Best Non-Fiction at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The judges praised the book, stating "The Disaster Artist is not only a hell of a good read, it will make a great film if ever adapted. It's equal parts Ed Wood, American Hustle and demented Citizen Kane—with a dash of Monty Python thrown into the mix." On February 11, 2015, The Disaster Artist audiobook, narrated by Sestero, was nominated for Best Humor Audiobook at the 2015 Audie Awards.

In 2014, Seth Rogen's production company, Point Grey Pictures, acquired the rights to a film adaptation of Sestero's book. In the film, also titled The Disaster Artist, Dave Franco played Sestero, and James Franco starred as Wiseau and directed, for which he won a Golden Globe. Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote the script. New Line Cinema produced the film, and distribution rights were later acquired by A24. Shooting began on December 8, 2015. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2017 and began a wide theatrical release on December 8, 2017.

In December 2017, The Disaster Artist made its debut on the New York Times Bestseller List for Paperback Nonfiction.

Other works
In 2006, Sestero appeared in the television series Fashion House and had an uncredited role in Accepted. In 2010, he appeared in Miranda Lambert's music video "White Liar," which won the Country Music Television and the Academy of Country Music award for best video and song of the year; the video was also nominated for best video at the 2010 Country Music Association awards. Later that year, Sestero was featured in the 5-Second Film End Zone, directed by Michael Rousselet, one of The Rooms original fans who helped propel the film to cult status.

Sestero starred with comedians Jason Saenz, Nick Turner, and Travis Irvine for a sketch comedy video in which Sestero turned into the "new" Jason Saenz via jaw surgery. The July 2010 edition of Diablo magazine labeled Sestero as one of the "Best of the East Bay Stars and Standouts."

In July 2011, Sestero teamed with comedian Patton Oswalt in You Got Mail, a 5-Second Film that features Oswalt as a mailman and Sestero waiting for his suspicious delivery.

On November 12, 2013, Sestero made a cameo appearance on an episode of the Nostalgia Critic internet review show, which had previously reviewed The Room, reprising his role of Mark. Sestero continues to model and has appeared in ads for Tommy Hilfiger, Armani, and Ralph Lauren, among others.

Sestero costarred in Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015) from the creators of 5 Second Films. The film also stars Patton Oswalt and Andrew W.K. The film premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival on June 13, 2015.

Sestero teamed up with Wiseau again for the film Best F(r)iends (2018), written by Sestero, inspired by a road trip he took with Wiseau in 2003.

He collaborated with Wiseau for a third time on Big Shark, which had its world premiere on April 2, 2023 at Cinema 21 in Portland, Oregon.

In October 2020, Sestero guest-starred as Jack, the fiancé in The Haunting of Bly Manor, the follow-up to Netflix's successful Haunting of Hill House. In 2020, he also starred in the horror comedy film Cyst, which premiered at FrightFest in 2020. He also wrote, directed, and starred in a cultist-themed horror film in early 2020, and in October 2020 said he was writing a UFO film in which he would star alongside Wiseau.

Sestero's directorial debut, Miracle Valley, premiered at Salem Horror Film Festival in October 2022. The film is about an obsessive photographer and his girlfriend who are invited to a desert getaway in search of an ultra-rare bird. There, their relationship is soon threatened by a sinister force, causing them to face demons from the past, present, and future.

Personal life
Sestero lives in Southern California.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

References

External links

1978 births
Living people
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male film actors
American male non-fiction writers
American people of French descent
American writers of Italian descent
Male actors from the San Francisco Bay Area
People from Walnut Creek, California
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
21st-century American male writers
Monte Vista High School (Danville, California) alumni

Greg Sestero


Greater Brighton Metropolitan College was a large further education college based in Brighton, Worthing and Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex on the south coast of England.

It was formed in early 2017 by the merger of Brighton-based City College Brighton & Hove and Worthing-based Northbrook College. The merger was brought together by Nick Jubb who was on the board of Northbrook and CEO/Principle of City College Brighton.

After continuing financial issues and the surprise departure or Mr Judd the CEO of Chichester College Group took over as interim head.

Chichester College Group, who operate as a federation of colleges in West Sussex took over Greater Brighton Metropolitan College on the 1st August 2022 returning the Northbrook brand back as a stand alone college within the federation and restabilising City College, Brighton under the Brighton MET (Metropolitan College) brand

References

External links
 Official website

Defunct universities and colleges in England

Greater Brighton Metropolitan College


Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run is a 2006 American computer-animated short movie from Sony Pictures Animation. The movie is a spin-off of the movie Open Season and stars Boog and Elliot, the main characters of the Open Season franchise.

Plot
One summer night, Bob and Bobbie (Georgia Engel) leave the trailer to go skinny-dipping, leaving Mr. Weenie (Cody Cameron) to guard the cinnamon buns they left on the counter. Boog (Martin Lawrence) and Elliot (Ashton Kutcher) sneak into the camp and discover there's buns in trailer. Unfortunately, Weenie is guarding the door.

To avoid the waking Weenie, Boog and Elliot climb onto the roof and Boog ties Elliot to the end of a rope and lowers him through the open skylight. Unfortunately, Elliot is distracted by the buns and salivates, waking Mr. Weenie, who bites his backside, accidentally pulling Boog into the trailer. Bob and Bobbie is hear noises from outside and think that Weenie is being nightmarely attacked. Bobbie puts on a towel to go investigate. Shocked by what she sees, she accidentally drops her towel, revealing her bare tattooed buttocks (as well as everything else her breasts, abdomen, and crotch, which are off-screen) to the passing police car, whose driver pulls over, startled away by the screaming and naked woman. Elliot runs out of the window looking for a place to hide, leaving Boog incriminatingly holding Weenie by the tail when the police officer, Gordy (Gordon Tootoosis), breaks into the RV camper. Then Mr. Weenie laughs to Boog, "You are so busted?!" and Boog responds, "Tell me about it?.."

Voice cast

 Martin Lawrence as Boog
 Ashton Kutcher as Elliot
 Georgia Engel as Bobbie
 Gordon Tootoosis as Sheriff Gordy
 Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie

Release

Home media
Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run was exclusively released on December 15, 2006, as a special feature on the Open Season DVD and Blu-ray.

The DVD copy of the short film was released on May 9, 2007 in China and the DVD copy of the short film was released on March 18, 2008 in Japan. The DVD copy of the short film was debuted on TV in Sweden on December 27, 2009.

References

 ↑ McCutcheon, David (January 4, 2007). "Open Season's DVD Hunt". IGN. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
 ↑ "Open Season Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved August 23, 2011.

2006 movies
English-language movies
Open Season (franchise)

Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run


Alexander Brydie Dyer (January 10, 1815 – May 20, 1874) was an American soldier in a variety of 19th century wars, serving most notably as a general and the Army's Chief of Ordnance for the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps during the American Civil War.

Early life
Dyer was born at Richmond, Virginia, on January 10, 1815. He was the son of William Hay Dyer (1788–1862) and Margaret (née Brydie) Dyer (1796–1888), who later moved their family to Missouri.

Dyer graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1837 as 6th out of 50 cadets.

Career
He served in the Seminole Wars 1837–38 in the 3rd US Artillery and as Lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps.

In the Mexican–American War in 1846–48, he was brevetted Captain for gallant conduct at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Rosales. He was promoted to full Captain in the Ordnance Department on March 3, 1853. Between the wars, Dyer commanded Fayetteville Arsenal (1851–1853), Little Rock Arsenal (1853–1855), and Fort Monroe Arsenal (1855–1861). He became a member of the Ordnance Board in 1859.

When the Civil War erupted Dyer stayed with the Union, and in August 1861 he was given command of the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, where his expansions and enlargement of operations gained notice. During his tenure at Springfield, Dyer was responsible for expanding the output of small arms for the Union Army. Doubts about the wisdom of placing a southerner in such a position of responsibility were rapidly dispelled as Dyer upgraded production with energy and dispatch. In 1862, Dyer was approached by his superiors concerning the possibility of his supplanting General Ripley as Chief of Ordnance, but he declined to take the assignment because he had great respect for his chief, and because he was in the middle of a major upgrading of weapons production at Springfield Armory.

On the retirement of General Ramsey, the previous Chief of Ordnance, on September 12, 1864, he was advanced three ranks and appointed as the 7th Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army with the rank of Brigadier General. On December 12, 1864, President Lincoln submitted his nomination to brevet Major General to the U.S. Senate, which confirmed the appointment on February 23, 1865.

During his ten years in the office, Dyer had to contend with the demands of inventors and unscrupulous contractors, who ultimately took their various complaints to Congress. Seeking to clear his name, Dyer asked for a court-martial. Failing in this, he requested a court of inquiry, which proved to be protracted and exhaustive. He was not only exonerated, but was declared to be an exemplary officer, worthy of emulation by all Army officers.

Dyer is known as being the first commander committed to the purchasing of a Gatling gun, one of the first designs of a machine gun. He is also known as the creator of the Dyer Shell, an artillery projectile for the 3-inch ordnance rifle, a principal artillery piece by the end of the Civil War.

After the war Dyer stayed in the army and continued his service as head of the Ordnance Department until his death.

Personal life
Dyer was married to Elizabeth Beersheba Allen (1823–1891). Together, they were the parents of six children. Of note is his son, Colonel Alexander Brydie Dyer, Jr. (1852–1920), West Point class of 1873; as the author of the Handbook for Light Artillery.

Dyer died on May 20, 1874, in Washington, D.C. He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. Dyer was reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery along with his wife on November 30, 1910.

See also

List of American Civil War generals (Union)

Notes

References
Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, .

1815 births
1874 deaths
Military personnel from Richmond, Virginia
United States Military Academy alumni
Military personnel from Missouri
United States Army personnel of the Seminole Wars
American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
People of Missouri in the American Civil War
Union Army generals
United States Army generals
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery

Alexander Brydie Dyer


Shitdisco were a dance-punk band from Glasgow, Scotland. They formed in 2003 while studying at the Glasgow School of Art, consisting of
Joel Stone (bass, guitar, vocals), Joe Reeves (bass, guitar, vocals), Jan Lee (keyboards, backing vocals) and Darren Cullen (drums). The band's first single "Disco Blood"/"I Know Kung Fu" was released in December 2005. Signed to record label Fierce Panda, their debut album Kingdom of Fear was released on 16 April 2007.

The group have been compared to Talking Heads and The Rapture, but admitted influences ranging from Donna Summer, Arthur Russel and The Prodigy to Gang of Four and The Clash. Since the release of "Disco Blood"/"I Know Kung Fu" the band toured extensively in the UK and Europe, even playing as far afield as Bangkok and Istanbul. In 2007 they signed to Sony Music in Japan and Dim Mak Records in America.

The members of the group produced two tracks for Japanese new-wave unit 80_pan's 2008 album, Disco Baby.

Jan Lee left the band in January 2008 to concentrate on his career as an illustrator, and later also entered the restaurant business. He was replaced by Tom Straughan, similarly on keyboards and backing vocals.

In 2009 the band split after mutual agreement. Members went on to form the bands Age of Consent and Ubre Blanca, while drummer Darren Cullen has also pursued a career in political art.

Album
The band began recording their debut album Kingdom of Fear at The Premises recording studio in London with former Clor guitarist turned producer Luke Smith. He had previously worked with the band producing remixes for "Disco Blood" & "Reactor Party".

The album was to be recorded in two sessions, with the 2nd session taking place after the band had completed the NME New Rave Tour (Oct 2006) supporting Klaxons. During the tour however, after a gig in Birmingham, drummer Darren Cullen fell from the roof of the band's tour bus, breaking his right wrist, requiring an operation and the fitting of a metal plate. For the second recording session Kieron Pepper, live drummer for The Prodigy, was brought in to play on two tracks, "Fear of the Future" and "Dream of Infinity". The album also featured the song "Reactor Party" which was produced by Alan O'Connell.

Kingdom of Fear, named after the last book by American writer Hunter S. Thompson, was released on 16 April 2007 on Fierce Panda Records.

DJ career
In addition to live performances, the band have become well known for their regular DJ sets, playing from the likes of Bugged Out, Gatecrasher & Modular parties in the UK to Judgement Sundays in Ibiza, a recent North American DJ tour and extensively in the Far East.

Discography

Albums
Kingdom of Fear (16 April 2007)
The Emanator – US release of Kingdom of Fear with extra tracks (23 September 2008)

Singles
"Disco Blood"/"I Know Kung Fu" (2005) (1,000 copies)
"Reactor Party" (2006) UK #73
"OK" (2007) (2,000 copies)
"I Know Kung Fu" (2007)

Compilations
"Disco Blood" – On Delete Yourself compilation Digital Penetration (July 2006)
"Reactor Party" – On Neon Nights Mixtape – DMC (June 2007)
"Reactor Party" – On The Bang Gang DJs "Light Sound Dance" – Modular Records (July 2007)
"Reactor Party" – On Ibiza Rocks 2007 – Ministry of Sound (August 2007)

See also
Post-punk revival
Dance-punk
Bolt Action Five

Reviews
 Daily Music Guide Interview
 Album Review, Kingdom of Fear - NME.com
 Album Review - From NG Magazine
 Album Review on The Line Of Best Fit
 Review, March 2006 in Edinburgh - from The Scotsman
 Review, 16/03/06 @ The Barfly, Liverpool - from gigwise online
 Supersweet interview

References

External links
Fierce Panda Records

Scottish rock music groups
Dance-punk musical groups
Dance-rock musical groups
Scottish electronic rock musical groups
Musical groups established in 2003
Musical groups disestablished in 2009
Fierce Panda Records artists

Shitdisco


Jan Beneš (26 March 1936 – 1 June 2007) was a Czech writer, translator, publicist and screenwriter. He was also using the pseudonyms Milan Štěpka, Bobisud Mihule, Mojmír Čada, Ing. Čada, JAB, JeBe, Světlana and others. He is an author of many novels and several historical books. He was a political prisoner of the Czechoslovak communist regime, and a Green Beret volunteer. In 1969 Beneš emigrated to United States, after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. He served 20 years at the US Department of Defense. He returned to Czech Republic in 1992 after the change of regime.

Early life
Prior to his birth, Beneš' father Bohumil, participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia as a member of the Russian Legions during World War I. Bohumil Beneš then worked on the new nation's defenses but in 1938 Czechoslovakia handed over the Sudetenland territory to Nazi Germany without a fight. Bohumil then turned his efforts towards fighting the Nazi occupation. On 11 September 1943, 7 year old Jan's maternal grandfather, Wenzel Kraft, was executed by the Nazis. At the end of the war, the February 1948 Communist coup in Russia lead to Czechoslovakia becoming one of the communist Eastern bloc nations. Jan Beneš graduated from United High School in 1951 after all secondary grammar schools were closed due to the Nejedly's communist school reform. In 1955, Jan Beneš finished his studies at the Academy of Beaux Arts. Two of his school projects were later placed into the Czechoslovak exposition at Expo 58 in Brussels, and rewarded. But, he was not allowed to go there and get the prize.

Career
In 1956, Jan Beneš was recruited to the paratroop unit and served his obligatory military service. In the end of this service, in 1958, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 months for undermining of combat moral of the troops, interference with political education of the troops, illegal arming, and stealing military underwear. He served this sentence mostly in uranium mine Bytiz in Příbram region. This experience was a real eye-opener for a young son of a career officer. Jan Beneš wrote Second Breath, a book about this communistic concentration camp, in 1963. Ideological Department of the ÚV KSČ (Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) banned its publication in 1964. Finally it was published in the United States by Orion Press N.Y. in 1969.

During the sixties, while he was working as a stage technician in the Prague Puppet Theatre, he managed to publish novels Do vrabců jako když střelí (Shooting into the Sparrows) and Situace (Situations). Jan Beneš started to write for exile magazine Svědectví (Testimony). Book of novels Disproporce (Disproportion) was published in 1965, but banned because of his upcoming arrest. His family was expelled from the officer's house because of action B–Bourgeoisie. The family lived in a squat in Prague, close to the river Vltava.

In 1966, Jan Beneš married Šárka Šefranková. After collecting more than 300 signatures on a petition against the imprisonment of the Russian writers Sinyavski and Daniel, he was held 11 months in custody. He was arrested ten days after the wedding, for the crime of treason - subversion of the socialistic social and state system, and an attempt for deceit. According to H Schwarz's 200 Days in Prague, the ill-famed trial Tigrid–Beneš–Zámečník, and involvement of the head of the state and the Communistic Party in fact launched the events of the Prague Spring. Lawyer of the Amnesty International, Dr. Sieghart, was expelled from Czechoslovakia during Beneš's trial. Pregnant Sarka was brutally interrogated by the StB. Pressure on the family was immense. Beneš was sentenced for 5 years in prison, but was released on 22 March 1968, due to the amnesty of president Novotný, as the last political prisoner in Czechoslovakia.

In 1968, after the Soviet invasion, Jan and Šárka Beneš emigrated from Czechoslovakia to France. They returned in January 1969, during the Palach's week, to support the public resistance against the Soviet invasion. In October 1969, after massive wave of emigration, Czechoslovak government eventually invalidated all passports and closed the borders. Jan Beneš was informed that he would be arrested again. My Father did not Fall for Anything, Triangle with Madonna, and After you slept with me you will cry were published at this time.

Jan Beneš worked in various blue-collar jobs, for example in crane maintenance for Danly Machine Corporation, before he became a Research Fellow in International House at Harvard University in 1972. After the beginning of the War in Vietnam Jan Beneš tried to join the US Armed Forces, but was refused as too old for regular service. In 1974 he started to work for the Department of Defense, the Defense Language Institute, at Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California, as a teacher of Czech language, geography and history. He went through all the training with the Green Berets as a volunteer and participated in many missions, mostly abroad.

After the Velvet Revolution, Jan Beneš returned to Czechoslovakia. In 1992, it was too late to influence the chain of events after the series of too velvet takeovers, because the handover of power was already done. Jan Bene published his principal books such as Crime of Genocide, Indolence, American Causerie, Marked by Darkness, Dead is My Godmother, and Time smells by Dreams. In his life, he had published almost 3000 articles in various newspapers. Jan Beneš never gave up his work for democracy and freedom.

His, ill-famed detention in March 2001 and subsequent trial with BIS officer Vladimír Hučín, became the breaking point, where Czech justice system was tested.

Sir Martin Gilbert mentioned Jan Beneš' influence on the events during the Prague Spring and formation of Czechoslovak dissent in his "History of the Twentieth Century" .

References

External links
 Author profile in English on czechlit.cz

1936 births
2007 deaths
Writers from Prague
Czech novelists
Male novelists
Czech male writers
Czechoslovak expatriates in the United States
Harvard Fellows
20th-century squatters
Defense Language Institute faculty
20th-century novelists
20th-century male writers

Jan Beneš (writer)


Louis Manzo (born February 28, 1955, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2008, where he represented the 31st legislative district, and who ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey.

Biography
Manzo received a B.A. from Jersey City State College in health education. He began his career as a sanitarian with the Jersey City Health Division in 1977.

Political career
Manzo unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Jersey City five times in the following elections.

In June 2007, he overwhelmingly lost a bid in the Democratic primary for a seat in the State Senate to Sandra Bolden Cunningham.

2009 race for Mayor of Jersey City

In December 2008, Manzo announced that he would wage an uphill campaign for mayor of Jersey City against incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Though finishing in second place in a field of five candidates, Manzo was unable to force a runoff against Healy. Manzo won 26% of the vote, compared to 53% for Healy.

Arrest on corruption charges

Manzo was one of 44 people arrested on July 23, 2009, as part of Operation Bid Rig, a joint operation of the FBI, IRS, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey into corruption and money laundering. Manzo was charged with taking $27,500 in corrupt cash payments for use in his failed Jersey City mayoral campaign. Manzo was charged with two counts of extortion under the federal Hobbs Act, but in May 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Jose L. Linares dismissed the charges, ruling that the act only applies to elected officials. Manzo then faced two counts of violating the Travel Act, charging him with crossing state lines to commit a crime, and two counts of failing to report to authorities that others were collecting bribes. On February 17, 2012, all remaining charges against Manzo were dismissed by Linares.

Manzo filed suit to have his legal costs reimbursed by the government, but a court denied his claim.

Author
The book Ruthless Ambition: The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie authored by Manzo was released in April 2014.

References

External links
 New Jersey Voter Information Website 2003
 New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure form for 2004 (PDF)
 New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure form for 2005 (PDF)

1955 births
Living people
New Jersey Democrats
New Jersey City University alumni
Politicians from Jersey City, New Jersey
Rutgers University alumni
Operation Bid Rig
21st-century American politicians

Louis Manzo


Becky Levi is an American female mixed martial artist.

Biography
Levi was born in Coldwater, Michigan. She began her training in Tucson, Arizona, training submissions and judo with Steve Owen, a 7th degree black belt in Judo. She also continued her boxing training at two boxing facilities in Tucson. Becky was also a PE teacher and coach in Tucson for 11 years. She was involved in coaching the sports of volleyball, football, wrestling, and track and field. In 1998 she moved to Grand Ledge, Michigan. to pursue her fight career. Levi has wrestled and boxed at Joe Byrd's Boxing Academy for a year and a half hoping to get started in professional boxing. Although Becky did not get info boxing professionally, she did fight an exhibition fight in Toledo, Ohio. in 2002. Becky also holds a second degree black belt in judo. Prior to MMA competition, she was already an accomplished athlete. At the first 1987 Women's World Championships she won the plus 82 kilograms category in weightlifting. While studying at the University of Arizona, she became a discus thrower, winning the 1988 Tucson Elite Classic and becoming an alternate for the 1988 and 1992 Olympic teams. After graduating, she continued to succeed in the discus, winning the 1992 Willie Williams Classic. In 1991, she attempted judo competition, initially with less success, winning one match out of four at the 1991 Olympic Festival, but eventually becoming a national champion. The Arizona Daily Star called her "one of the two or three greatest female athletes produced here" in an article on the University of Arizona. Becky also competed in 4 World Tough Woman Championships: three of which she was runner up.

Her first entry into the world of mixed martial arts was as a strength and conditioning trainer to fellow Arizona resident Don Frye, present as part of his corner during Ultimate Fighting Championship 8, 9 and 10. In 1999, she helped set up The Danger Zone, a mixed martial arts promotion, with UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn, who she had assisted in his preparation for UFC V.  Severn would also train Levi for contests such as the Toughwoman World Championships, and said of her in a 1999 interview "She hits harder than most men." They parted ways in 2001 to pursue other business ventures.

Her last fight was a loss by flying armbar against Marloes Coenen at ReMix World Cup 2000, on 5 December 2000. Becky now is the fitness and sport performance co-director at Spiece Fitness a premier fitness facility in Ft. Wayne, IN. Becky has worked and developed their sport training and personal training programs since 2002. Becky is also involved in coaching the throwing events at Indiana Tech University in Fort Wayne, IN.

Career
 1981 National Junior College Champion Shot Put/Runner up discus
 1982 National Junior College Champion Discus/Runner up shot put
 1987 National Champion Women's Weightlifting 82 kg.+
 1987 World Team Trial Champion Weightlifting 82 kg.+
 Pima College Track Hall of Fame Athlete
 USWF Superfight Champion
 L1 Superfight Champion
 IFC Super Heavyweight Champion
 Tough Woman World Champion  3 time Runner-up.

Mixed martial arts record

|-
| Loss
|align=center| 7–1
| Marloes Coenen
| Submission (flying armbar)
| ReMix-World Cup 2000
|
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 1:25
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 7–0
| Junko Yagi
| Decision (unanimous)
| ReMix-World Cup 2000
|
|align=center| 2
|align=center| 5:00
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 6–0
| Miwako Ishihara
| Decision (split)
| ReMix-World Cup 2000
|
|align=center| 2
|align=center| 5:00
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 5–0
| Terri Lukamski
| TKO (punches)
| LLPW-Ultimate L-1 Challenge
|
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 5:06
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 4–0
| Javio Flores
| Submission (choke)
| WSW-World Shoot Wrestling
|
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 3:07
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 3–0
| Leslie Brace
| Submission (neck crank)
| USWF 7-Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 7
|
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 0:40
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 2–0
| Betty Fagan
| TKO (corner stoppage)
| IFC 4-Akwesasane
|
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 1:44
|
|
|-
| Win
|align=center| 1–0
| Yoko Takahashi
| TKO (submission to punches)
| U-Japan
|
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 2:14
|
|

External links
 Becky Levi Awakening Profile

See also
List of female mixed martial artists

References

American female mixed martial artists
Mixed martial artists from Michigan
University of Arizona alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People from Coldwater, Michigan
American female judoka
Mixed martial artists utilizing judo
Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing
Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling
American female weightlifters
21st-century American women

Becky Levi


Western Tasmanian is an aboriginal language family of Tasmania in the reconstruction of Claire Bowern.

Languages
The Western Tasmanian languages are the most poorly attested of all Tasmanian families. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis suggests (at either p < 0.15 or p < 0.20) that Northwestern Tasmanian and Southwestern Tasmanian were distinct languages; several word lists of unrecorded provenance turn out to be Western Tasmanian or to have Western words mixed in. Bayesian analysis does not support a connection to other Tasmanian languages. However, manual comparison suggests they are related to the Northern Tasmanian languages, which are less poorly attested, though the similarities may be due to loans.

Between the region inhabited by Western language groups and other Tasmanian language groups, there is a large strip of land in the western interior where no information has been found or published regarding possible inhabitants. This area has been mapped as having isolated the Western language groups from the rest of Tasmania except by small shared borders along the north and south coasts, or on one shared border along the south coast only.

References

Indigenous Australian languages in Tasmania
Language families
Western Tasmania
South West Tasmania

Western Tasmanian languages


River City Gang is an American country music group and songwriting team founded in Richmond, Virginia. Since its creation, River City Gang has been composed of three members: Sam Hayes (lead vocals), Brian S. Friedman (guitar, vocals) and David Phoenix Karns (Bass Guitar, vocals).

History
River City Gang is a group of musicians, producers, and music industry pros with ties to Richmond, Virginia, a.k.a. the River City. The project began in early 2007, when a fellow music supervisor asked Brian to submit songs to another country music trio for a new album. Brian had been working 10+ years in Los Angeles as a music editor and composer for MTV and movies. Rick had been managing and developing artists while assisting Brian composing for television and film. Brian and Rick are BMI award winning song writers having recorded and composed television theme songs including the theme to MTV's "Punk'd"  and "Making the Video"

Brian called his brother Rick to discuss demoing a few songs from their music library. Although Brian was in Los Angeles, and Rick was in Virginia, through technology they were able to cut tracks in both places and simultaneously share info. Once all the music tracks were cut, it was time to record vocals. However, Brian had caught a cold and the brothers were under deadline. They needed someone to cut vocals and someone fast. A few years back, the brothers had worked with Kyle Davis, a singer-songwriter who had released recordings on Virgin Records, Universal, and Windmark. Kyle was a seasoned professional, performing 200+ shows a year. "The Brothers Friedman" as they are referred to in the LA TV World, began thinking of vocalists. They immediately both thought of Kyle. Kyle was an old friend, and they knew he could get the job done. Rick called Kyle who agreed to cut the vocals. The tracks turned out so good, that the trio decided not to even submit the songs to another group, but to keep them for a new a project that would rekindle their love of performing.

Within a few weeks, Brian flew back to Richmond, for a songwriting session. Brian recalls, "I knew we had captured magic the minute we started writing together. Kyle's Folk and country background totally complemented our country and rock edge."

The band began 2009 opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd on January 2, 2009, at ODU's Ted Constant Convocation Center.

Debut album
Volume One Ltd (2008)

References

External links
 River City Gang Official Website

Country music groups from Virginia

River City Gang


Moriz Winternitz (Horn, December 23, 1863 – Prague, January 9, 1937) was a scholar from Austria who began his Indology contributions working with Max Müller at the Oxford University. An eminent Sanskrit scholar, he worked as a professor in Prague in the German part of Charles-Ferdinand University after 1902, for nearly thirty years. His Geschichte der indischen Literatur, published 1908–1922, offered a comprehensive literary history of Sanskrit texts. The contributions on a wide range of Sanskrit texts by Winternitz have been an influential resource for modern era studies on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Education
An Austrian Orientalist, he received his earliest education in the gymnasium of his native town, and in 1880 entered the University of Vienna, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1886. In 1888 he went to Oxford, where until 1892 he assisted the preparation of the second edition of the Rig-Veda (4 vols., Oxford, 1890–92), collating manuscripts and deciding on the adoption of many new readings. Winternitz remained in Oxford until 1898, acting in various educational capacities, such as German lecturer to the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (1891–98), librarian of the Indian Institute at Oxford (1895), and frequently as examiner in German and Sanskrit both for the university and for the Indian Civil Service.

Work

In 1899, attending the Oriental Congress in Rome, he proposed the establishment of a society dedicated to studying Sanskrit texts, and particularly noted the need for a new critical edition of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In that same year, he went to Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague as privatdozent for Indology and general ethnology, and in 1902 was appointed to the professorship of Sanskrit (made vacant by the retirement of Ludwig) and of ethnology. The Winternitz family were friendly with Albert Einstein, when he was in Prague around 1911.

Rabindranath Tagore visited Prague in 1920 and met Winternitz. On an invitation from the poet, he went to Santiniketan and worked as a visiting professor from February 1923 to September 1924. During this time in India, he continued his advocacy for Mahabharata studies, working with the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and advising them in editing their critical editions of the Mahabharata. He additionally published several research papers that studied the Mahabharata, including analyses on versions of the epic common in South India, and studies of the figure of Ganesha in the epic.

Among his students were Vincenc Lesný,  Wilhelm Gampert and Otto Stein, who themselves went on to become prominent Indologists.

In addition to valuable contributions on Sanskrit and ethnology to various scientific journals, Winternitz edited the Apastambiya Gṛihyasutra (Vienna, 1887) and the Mantrapaṭha, or the Prayer-Book of the Apastambins (part i, Oxford, 1897); translated Müller's Anthropological Religion and his Theosophy, or Psychological Religion into German (Leipzig, 1894–95); and published Das Altindische Hochzeitsrituell (Vienna, 1892), which also contains valuable ethnological material; A Catalogue of South Indian Manuscripts Belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1902); and Geschichte der Indischen Literatur (part i, Leipzig, 1905). He also published expansive studies of Indian literature, publishing a two-volume book on the same.

See also
Moriz Winternitz (Longer biography, in German)
Wilhelm Winternitz

References

1863 births
1937 deaths
People from Horn, Austria
Austrian Indologists
Austrian Jews
Visva-Bharati University alumni
Academic staff of Charles University
Sanskrit scholars
Scholars from Austria-Hungary

Moriz Winternitz


Dido Queen of Carthage is a play by Christopher Marlowe. It is a tragedy. The date of the play is uncertain. It is probably Marlowe's first play, and possibly written while he was a student at Cambridge University. The source material was Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Heroides. Unlike his sources however, Marlowe emphasizes not the character of Aeneas but the character of Dido.

References
  Cheney, Patrick (Ed.) 2004. The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe. Cambridge University Press. p. 193.

 Plays by Christopher Marlowe
1590s plays

Dido Queen of Carthage


Calothamnus accedens, commonly known as Piawaning clawflower, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It was first formally described in 1984, declared extinct in 1992, rediscovered in 2004, removed from the "extinct" list in 2013 and found to have a population of at least 25,000 in 2015. It is a small erect shrub with crowded hairy leaves and red flowers. In 2014 Craven, Edwards and Cowley proposed that the species be renamed Melaleuca accedens.

Description
Calothamnus accedens grows to a height of about  and has a single trunk, sometimes with papery bark, but is densely branched. Its leaves are crowded at the ends of the branches, stiff and needle-like, mostly  long and  wide. They are covered with long, whitish hairs at first but become glabrous with age and have distinct oil glands.

The flowers are a shade of dark pink to crimson and arranged in clusters of 4 to 10, mostly on one side of the stem. The petals are  long with a prominent vein in the centre. The stamens are arranged in claw-like bundles with 15 to 21 stamens per bundle.  Flowering occurs in February and is followed by fruits which are woody, cup-shaped or cylindrical capsules,  long and  in diameter.

Taxonomy and naming
Calothamnus accedens was first formally described in 1984 by Trevor J. Hawkeswood from a specimen found on a roadside between Piawaning and Wongan Hills. The population in that area was apparently destroyed during roadwork in the 1980s and the species declared extinct in 1992. In 2004 a specimen was collected in a botanical survey, then other populations were located so that by 2007, the population size was estimated at more than 25,000 and the species was removed from the endangered list. The specific epithet (accedens) is derived from "Latin, meaning approximating or resembling." The name refers to this species' close relationship to C. brevifolius and C. hirsutus.

Distribution and habitat
Calothamnus accedens occurs in the area between Perth and  to the north of Perth in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.<ref name=FloraBase>{{FloraBase|name = Calothamnus accedens''|id = 5396}}</ref> It grows in sandy soils over laterite.

Conservation
This species was removed from the extinct list on 6 March 2013 and is recommended for removal from all lists under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999''. Although some populations are in areas outside protected zones, it is estimated that at least 20,000 individual plants are in a national park. It is classified as "Priority Four" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that is rare or near threatened.

References

accedens
Myrtales of Australia
Plants described in 1984
Endemic flora of Western Australia

Calothamnus accedens


Wah!  (pronounced WAAH) is a U.S. band that performs and produces music for the new-age and yoga market.  The female lead singer Wah! (whose legal name is Wah Devi) and the band's name are synonymous.

Wah!'s mystical relaxation music CD, Savasana has sold over 50,000 units worldwide and continues to draw attention in the yoga community and beyond. Wah!'s music is often compared to that of Sade, Zero 7 and India.Arie, but her latest releases (such as Maa) reflect the gritty dance grooves of her live performances.

Biography
Born to a professor father and a professional violinist mother, Wah grew up in a musical and intellectually stimulating environment. She was a musician, singer, dancer and conservatory student when she attended Oberlin College/Conservatory. Wah traveled to Ghana and Nigeria with the Philadelphia-based Arthur Hall Afro-American Dance Ensemble. She was enrolled at the University of Ghana for a year of study at their African Dance and Music program but a government coup cut short her stay.

When she returned to the U.S., Wah finished her performing arts degree at Oberlin and moved to New York City, where she danced and choreographed (most notably for the Angela Caponigro Dance Company), composed and performed music, and tried to cultivate the sense of community she had found in Africa. Wah joined an ashram and lived with ten other Kundalini yoga enthusiasts in Brooklyn. She spent 15 years there and then moved to New Mexico to serve the mission of its charismatic leader, Yogi Bhajan. After three years, the leader's involvement in corruption and scandal caused her to separate from the group and she joined Amma (also known as Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī) shortly thereafter. Wah maintained a private and public association with Amma, attending her meditation programs and performing concerts to benefit her charitable activities.
Wah took the rudiments of classical Indian music she had learned at Oberlin and played for her housemates in the ashram during the 1980s, mimicking North Indian classical and folk styles. Early albums (Guruka Shabad, Japji Sahib Vol I-III and a children's yoga product Child's Play: Affirmations for Children to Sing and Dramatize) reflect her eclectic musical education.

In 1997, the Wah! Music label was started. After several years of performing and experimentation, Wah moved with her husband and young daughter to Manhattan Beach and began making CDs professionally. Her early performances in Los Angeles included opening for Hole (with front woman Courtney Love). From 1999 to 2002, Wah worked for Triloka Records, and managed vocalist Krishna Das, booking tours and performing with him on violin and bass. She subsequently returned to her own career and built a successful following with CD releases Savasana, Hidden in the Name and Jai Jai Jai. She also wrote a book, compiling her teachings in yoga and yogic philosophy called Dedicating Your Life to Spirit.

Wah was featured on the cover of Yoga+ magazine in September 2008. Her music was licensed by Nutone Records (Yoga Revolution, Love Holding Love), Putumayo (Yoga), Sounds True (Best of Wah'!, Kirtan Nation), Intentcity (Buddha Café Vol 2), White Swan Music (Jai Ma White Swan Yoga Masters), Gaiam (Women's Yoga Chants), as well as various international companies (Music Mosaic, Music Brokers Argentina, Spirit Yoga Berlin, U.K. Tara Lee).

In 2012, Wah started using her music to explore healing - teaching workshops, writing a book on healing and performing The Healing Concert, an evening length concert of ambient music with calming Blisslights designed to induce relaxation and rejuvenation.  She performed The Healing Concert in planetariums, theaters, conference centers, universities and churches and began lecturing on the nature of healing and how it can be used to increase receptivity.  Her record label released Savasana 3: Natural Beauty (2013) and Healing: A Vibrational Exchange (2014) in support of this new direction.

Discography

Studio albums
 1984: Japji Sahib (self-released)
 1996: Child's Play (Cherdi Kala Music)
 1997: Chanting with Wah! (Wah! Music)
 1998: Transformation (Wah! Music)
 1999: CD Krishna (Wah! Music)
 2001: Hidden in the Name (Wah! Music)
 2001: Savasana (Wah! Music)
 2002: Opium (Wah! Music)
 2003: Jai Jai Jai (Wah! Music)
 2004: Lokaha (Wah! Music)
 2005: Unplugged (Wah! Music)
 2006: Savasana*2 (Wah! Music)
 2006: Embrace (Wah! Music)
 2006: Best of Wah! (Sounds True)
 2008: Love Holding Love (Nutone Music)
 2010: Maa (Wah! Music)
 2012: Loops N Grooves (Wah! Music)
 2012: Opening to Bliss (Sounds True)
 2013: Savasana 3: Natural Beauty (Wah! Music)
 2014: Healing: A Vibrational Exchange Book & CD'' (Wah! Music)

References

External links

American musical groups
New-age music groups
Kirtan performers

Wah! (band)


In algebra, the zero-product property states that the product of two nonzero elements is nonzero. In other words,

This property is also known as the rule of zero product, the null factor law, the multiplication property of zero, the nonexistence of nontrivial zero divisors, or one of the two zero-factor properties.  All of the number systems studied in elementary mathematics — the integers , the rational numbers , the real numbers , and the complex numbers  — satisfy the zero-product property.  In general, a ring which satisfies the zero-product property is called a domain.

Algebraic context

Suppose  is an algebraic structure.  We might ask, does  have the zero-product property?  In order for this question to have meaning,  must have both additive structure and multiplicative structure.  Usually one assumes that  is a ring, though it could be something else, e.g. the set of nonnegative integers  with ordinary addition and multiplication, which is only a (commutative) semiring.

Note that if  satisfies the zero-product property, and if  is a subset of , then  also satisfies the zero product property: if  and  are elements of  such that , then either  or  because  and  can also be considered as elements of .

Examples
 A ring in which the zero-product property holds is called a domain.  A commutative domain with a multiplicative identity element is called an integral domain.  Any field is an integral domain; in fact, any subring of a field is an integral domain (as long as it contains 1).  Similarly, any subring of a skew field is a domain.  Thus, the zero-product property holds for any subring of a skew field.
 If  is a prime number, then the ring of integers modulo  has the zero-product property (in fact, it is a field).
 The Gaussian integers are an integral domain because they are a subring of the complex numbers.
 In the strictly skew field of quaternions, the zero-product property holds. This ring is not an integral domain, because the multiplication is not commutative.
 The set of nonnegative integers  is not a ring (being instead a semiring), but it does satisfy the zero-product property.

Non-examples

 Let  denote the ring of integers modulo . Then  does not satisfy the zero product property: 2 and 3 are nonzero elements, yet .
 In general, if  is a composite number, then  does not satisfy the zero-product property.  Namely, if  where , then  and  are nonzero modulo , yet .
 The ring  of 2×2 matrices with integer entries does not satisfy the zero-product property: if  and  then  yet neither  nor  is zero.
 The ring of all functions , from the unit interval to the real numbers, has nontrivial zero divisors: there are pairs of functions which are not identically equal to zero yet whose product is the zero function.  In fact, it is not hard to construct, for any n ≥ 2, functions , none of which is identically zero, such that  is identically zero whenever .
 The same is true even if we consider only continuous functions, or only even infinitely smooth functions. On the other hand, analytic functions have the zero-product property.

Application to finding roots of polynomials
Suppose  and  are univariate polynomials with real coefficients, and  is a real number such that .  (Actually, we may allow the coefficients and  to come from any integral domain.)  By the zero-product property, it follows that either  or .  In other words, the roots of  are precisely the roots of  together with the roots of .

Thus, one can use factorization to find the roots of a polynomial.  For example, the polynomial  factorizes as ; hence, its roots are precisely 3, 1, and −2.

In general, suppose  is an integral domain and  is a monic univariate polynomial of degree  with coefficients in .  Suppose also that  has  distinct roots .  It follows (but we do not prove here) that  factorizes as .  By the zero-product property, it follows that  are the only roots of : any root of  must be a root of  for some .  In particular,  has at most  distinct roots.

If however  is not an integral domain, then the conclusion need not hold.  For example, the cubic polynomial  has six roots in  (though it has only three roots in ).

See also
 Fundamental theorem of algebra
 Integral domain and domain
 Prime ideal
 Zero divisor

Notes

References
David S. Dummit and Richard M. Foote, Abstract Algebra (3d ed.), Wiley, 2003, .

External links
 PlanetMath: Zero rule of product

Abstract algebra
Elementary algebra
Real analysis
Ring theory
0 (number)

Zero-product property


Ghoti is an artificial word used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish: i.e., it is supposed to be pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/. It is made of these phonemes:
 gh, pronounced /f/ as in tough /tʌf/;
 o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/; and
 ti, pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation /ˈneɪʃən/.

Using the same method, ghoti can be a silent word, where:
 gh as in though; here, and in the next examples, the bold letters are not pronounced.
 o as in people;
 t as in ballet or mortgage;
 i as in business or plaid

In fact, ghoti is likely to be spontaneously pronounced [goʊtaɪ] or [gəʊtaɪ] (like "go" + "tie"), or [goʊti] ("go" + "tea"), but certainly not like "fish" since : gh is never pronounced [f] (cf. "ghost") at the beginning of a word neither ti is pronounced [ʃ] at the end of a word.

Spelling in English is discussed in orthography.

Words

Ghoti


Sisi () is a 2009 Austrian-Italian-German biographical drama television miniseries directed by Xaver Schwarzenberger and starring Cristiana Capotondi in the title role. It was produced by Sunset, Publispei, RAI and EosTV, with a budget of about 11 million euros. It depicts real life events of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Plot

Part 1
The first part takes place from 1853, when Elisabeth got engaged to Franz Joseph, to 1857, when her first-born daughter Sophie dies.

Elisabeth, known as Sisi, grew up in Bavaria for 16 years. Reluctantly, she accompanies her mother and her older sister Helene to Bad Ischl, where Helene, known as Néné, is to be betrothed to the Emperor of Austria, the 23-year-old Franz Joseph I. However, he falls in love with Elisabeth, and although she is reluctant for Néné's sake, Sisi reciprocates his feelings. Franz 'mother, Archduchess Sophie, is reluctant to see this, but faces the new situation: Sisi should be "re-educated" to become Empress, she has to take language and dance lessons, learn to understand court etiquette and acquire knowledge about her new empire. Franz and Sisi married in April 1854 to the great cheer of the population. Contrary to all etiquette, they kiss each other in front of the entire wedding party and later spend their wedding night outdoor, in the palace gardens of Schönbrunn.

Sisi begins her new life in Vienna, oppressed by the Austria court ceremony and by her mother-in-law Sophie. She finds it difficult to get used to life at court, with the ladies-in-waiting who are always present and the strange rules. For example, when she wants to bathe, she is told that she can only do this once a week. Sophie assigns Countess Esterházy as Sisi's main lady-in-waiting, with the task of helping her with learning the court manners, but above all of supervise her and reporting to Sophie about her. One of the few friendly faces at court is Franz Joseph's brother Maximilian, Sisi's brother-in-law, with whom she gets along well, but who is leaving for Trieste. She tries to get closer to her people and is shocked at the harsh treatment that the emperor reserve to those who hold more liberal views than the government.

Elisabeth becomes pregnant and has a child, Sophie. However, to her displeasure and by order of her mother-in-law, the baby is breastfed by a wet nurse instead of herself, and is soon taken away, to be raised by a governesses. Sisi tries to change Franz's mind, but when he agrees with his mother that her tasks should be elsewhere, Sisi leaves the court. She returns to her parents, where she spends time with Néné and also meets Count Andrássy, who asks her to take the side of Hungary and to convince the emperor to give more freedom to his provinces. He also asks for an amnesty for himself and other political exiles, who were banished as enemies of the Reich after the 1848 revolution.

Franz soon reunites with Sisi and travels with her to Milan, where she has to fulfill her representative duties as his empress. During the journey she has another argument with Franz, who does not want her to raise the little Sophie. He also learned about Sisi's meeting with Count Andrássy through Countess Esterházy and is angry about his attempt to contact her. Sisi, however, tends to support Andrássy's requests (a parliament for Hungary). Nevertheless, she reconciles with Franz and soon gives birth to another daughter, Archduchess Gisela.

When Elisabeth and Franz Joseph travel to Budapest in 1857 to speak to the representatives of Hungary, including Count Andrássy, who has since been pardoned, Sophie dies of acute pneumonia. Since the two children Sophie and Gisela were brought to Hungary against the consent of Archduchess Sophie, she now accuses Elisabeth of being responsible for Sophie's death. Sophie's funeral concludes the first part.

Part 2
The second part describes the years from 1857 to 1867, when Elisabeth was crowned Queen of Hungary.

After the death of her daughter, Sisi struggles with depression and is reluctant to return to public life. While Maximilian introduces her to his fiancée, Charlotte of Belgium, and Sisi appoints the young Hungarian countess Ida Ferenczy as her new lady-in-waiting, Franz struggles with the freedom and unification movements in the Italian provinces (Lombardy and Veneto). He adheres to the advice of Field Marshal Radetzky and insists on an authoritarian position. Maximilian tries to change his brother's mind, but Franz instead seeks an alliance with the French emperor in order to prevent the Italian provinces from rebelling against the empire. Napoleon III visits the Austrian court with his wife Eugénie and confirms the alliance.

Sisi makes no secret of her distrust of Napoleon. Nevertheless, in 1858 she and Franz celebrate the birth of the longed-for heir to the throne, Crown Prince Rudolf. Meanwhile Napoleon III betrays the Austrians, allying with the Piedmontese. Franz goes to war and suffers a devastating defeat in the Battle of Solferino, losing Lombardy. While Sisi takes care of wounded soldiers returning home in Vienna, Andrássy reappears and confronts her with the consequences of Franz Joseph's actions. He also warns them that Hungary could go the same way as the northern Italian provinces.

On the way home, Franz is confronted with the aversion of his people, who would rather have his brother Maximilian on the throne - with whom Franz has quarrelled because of his liberal attitude. Sisi discussed with him Andrássy's advice, and Franz then creates a parliament with the October diploma. However, it has no executive power, but is purely of an advisory nature, and therefore Andrássy and other Hungarians reject it immediately. Sisi also finds out that her very young son was sent to a military academy, where he is mistreated and psychologically harassed. She wants to take action against it, but Franz Joseph and Archduchess Sophie refuse to raise the child differently.

Maximilian wants to avoid further arguments with Franz - he goes to Mexico and has himself proclaimed emperor there. His mother Sophie can hardly bear to say goodbye, knowing that Max will find no support from the Mexican people. Sisi's impotence to help anyone, be it Franz, Maximilian, the Hungarians or her own son Rudolf, contributes to a serious illness: with lung sickness, emaciated and depressed, she is advised by her doctors to spend some time in a more southern climate. During such trip, she had the emperor informed that he should not contact her again until Rudolf was given a different kind of education. At a masked ball in Venice she meets an admirer who turns out to be Count Andrássy. They kiss, but she politely rejects him. After much back and forth, during which Elisabeth ignored all of Franz Joseph's letters, the emperor yields and travels to meet her with both children.

After the reconciliation (also between Elisabeth and Archduchess Sophie) and Rudolf's conversion to a more civil education, further tragedies hit the imperial couple: another military defeat, this time against Prussia, almost bankrupts the Austrian state and at the same time deprives it of Veneto. In addition, Maximilian's body is brought home from Mexico; he was shot by the rebellious Mexicans. Charlotte does not cope well with the loss and becomes increasingly entangled in delusions. Sisi is dedicated to preserving the Hungarian part of Austria and not repeating what happened in the Italian provinces. After a speech to Andrássy and the other country representatives, in which she promised more independence and the fulfillment of her demands, the Hungarians agree to crown Franz Joseph and her as their king and queen.

Main cast

 Cristiana Capotondi as Empress Elisabeth
   as Franz Joseph I of Austria
 Martina Gedeck as Sophie of Bavaria
 Licia Maglietta as Ludovika of Bavaria
 Herbert Knaup as Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria
   as Duchess Helene in Bavaria
 Fritz Karl as Gyula Andrássy
   as Sophie Esterházy
  as Ida Ferenczy
  as Maximilian Anton
   as Ferdinand Maximilian (Maximilian I of Mexico)
 Friedrich von Thun as Joseph Radetzky von Radetz
   as Charlotte of Belgium (Charlotte of Mexico)
 Erwin Steinhauer as Napoleon III
 Andrea Osvárt as Eugénie de Montijo
  as Otto von Bismarck

Historical inaccuracies

 The failed attempt on the emperor Franz Joseph took place in February 1853, several months before he met Sisi. Furthermore, the emperor reported only minor bruises. In the miniseries, the attack takes place later and the emperor is wounded quite seriously.
 In the first part one can see in Franz Joseph's study a famous picture of Elisabeth by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, which was made only in 1864, when Elisabeth was already 27 years old. At the time of the film, however, she was only 17 years old.
 The wedding night of Sisi and Franz Joseph was not consummated on the same day as the wedding, but three days later, and it was not in the garden of Schönbrunn.
 Duke Max of Bavaria, Sisi's father, and Gyula Andrássy were never friends; the two didn't even know each other.
 Sisi learned Hungarian when she was already empress, in the early years of her marriage, and not as a child. It wasn't her father who taught her.
 The name of the eldest daughter, Sophie, was chosen by Franz Joseph together with his mother, not with his wife.
 Countess Esterhazy is shown as a fake friend with whom Sisi immediately bonds. In reality, the countess did not pretend to be a friend to Sisi, and the latter immediately detested her.
The shooting of Maximilian, emperor of Mexico, is depicted a few days before Sisi and Franz become king and queen of Hungary. In reality it happened a few days later.
The miniseries ends in 1867 with the coronation, showing Sisi with three living children (her first daughter, Sophie, had died 10 years before the coronation, in 1857). The last daughter, Marie Valerie, actually was born only in 1868.
The real Hungarian crown is topped with an inclined cross while the one shown in the miniseries features a straight cross.
The presence of an Orthodox bishop at the coronation is somewhat strange, given that Hungary was Catholic.
The scene of the masked ball, where Sisi pretends to be called Gabriella, is partially inspired by a real event. The ball did not take place in Venice, but in Vienna; the real Sisi was not wearing a red  (which was her lady-in-waiting Ida Ferencsy), but a yellow one; she danced not with Gyula Andrássy, but with a young man named Fitz Pacher von Theinburg, with whom she maintained a secret correspondence for several years.
Unlike the one shown in the miniseries, Sisi never got involved in political matters. In particular, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise happened as a result of the lost war against Prussia and Italy, in order to prevent another future rebellion and defeat; it has nothing to do with Sisi's charm.

References

External links

2009 films
2009 television films
Italian drama television films
Austrian television films
German drama television films
2000s German-language films
German-language television shows
2000s Italian-language films
Italian-language television shows
Films directed by Xaver Schwarzenberger
Films scored by Pino Donaggio
Films set in the 19th century
Cultural depictions of Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Biographical films about Austrian royalty
Films set in Austria
Films set in Vienna
ZDF original programming
Cultural depictions of Napoleon III
Cultural depictions of Franz Joseph I of Austria
Cultural depictions of Otto von Bismarck
Films set in Austria-Hungary

Sisi (miniseries)


Life of the Party is a 2018 American comedy movie directed by Ben Falcone and written by Falcone and Melissa McCarthy. It is the third movie directed by Falcone and co-written by the pair, following Tammy (2014) and The Boss (2016).

The movie, starring McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Gillian Jacobs, Maya Rudolph, Julie Bowen, Matt Walsh, Debby Ryan, Adria Arjona, Jessie Ennis, Stephen Root, and Jacki Weaver.

It is about a newly divorced mother who returns to college to complete her degree, and ends up bonding with her daughter's friends.

It is produced by On the Day Productions and New Line Cinema. The movie was released on May 11, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It has made $49 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics.

References

2018 comedy movies
American comedy movies
Movies directed by Ben Falcone
Movies set in 2018

Life of the Party (movie)


The Garden of Mirrors is an album by Stephan Micus, released by the ECM label. It was recorded in 1995–1996 and released the following year. It follows the tradition of all of Micus's earlier works in that he plays all of the instruments: he also provides all of the voices for the 20-man chorus in three of the tracks.

Micus's inspiration for this album was two traditional low-range West African harps that he studied in Gambia: the bolombatto and the sinding. When playing these two instruments, Micus claims to have identified with early African American music, which they influenced, claiming that the bassline in jazz was influenced by these harps. Other instruments used by Micus include steel drums and four different flutes: the Japanese shakuhachi, the Balinese suling, the Irish tin whistle, and the Egyptian ney.

Track listing
"Earth"
"Passing Cloud"
"Violeta"
"Flowers in Chaos"
"In the High Valleys"
"Gates of Fire"
"Mad Bird"
"Night Circles"
"Words of Truth"

1997 albums
Stephan Micus albums
ECM Records albums

The Garden of Mirrors


MSV Nordica is a Finnish multipurpose icebreaker and offshore support vessel. Built in 1994 by Finnyards in Rauma, Finland, and operated by Arctia Offshore, she and her sister ship Fennica were the first Finnish icebreakers designed to be used as escort icebreakers in the Baltic Sea during the winter months and in offshore construction projects during the open water season.

When Botnica was sold to Port of Tallinn in 2012, Nordica became again the newest icebreaker in service in Finland until the delivery of the new icebreaker, Polaris, in 2016.

Design

General characteristics

The maximum overall length of Nordica is  and her length between perpendiculars is . The hull has a moulded breadth of  and depth of . Her draught varies between  as a Baltic icebreaker and  in Arctic conditions and offshore work. The gross tonnage of Nordica is 9,392, net tonnage 2,818 and deadweight tonnage ranging between 1,650 and 4,800 tons depending on the draft. The ship weighs 7,935 tons and has a maximum displacement of 12,800 tons.

Nordica is classified by Det Norske Veritas with a class notation 1A1 POLAR-10 Icebreaker Tug Supply Vessel SF HELDK EPR E0 DYNPOS-AUTR. Her ice class, POLAR-10, means that her hull is strengthened for unassisted operation in the Arctic, sub-Arctic and Antarctic regions, where the vessel can encounter winter ice with a nominal thickness of , pressure ridges, multi-year ice floes and glacial ice inclusions. The additional class notation "Icebreaker" states that she has no limitations for repeated ramming. To improve the maneuverability of the ship in ice her hull is wider at the bow than in the stern. These "reamers" increase the width of the ice channel and reduce friction between the hull and ice. The reamers are designed so that they create minimum additional resistance in the astern mode by breaking ice downwards. In addition the forward part of the hull has explosion-welded stainless steel ice belt that reduces friction and protects the steel plates from abrasion.

The aforementioned design with the maximum breadth in the foreship and a narrower hull aftship, provides the multipurpose vessel also good seakeeping characteristics. Traditionally icebreakers have had, due to their broad beam and relatively shallow hull, a very short roll period in waves, which makes working on board the vessel extremely difficult due to its violent motions. In the design phase of the vessel, the seakeeping characteristics of the multipurpose icebreaker were defined to be at least as good as those of existing offshore vessels in the North Sea. The offshore operator set a requirement of acceptable acceleration figures at various locations of the vessel at zero speed. The vessel had to be able to operate at least 80% of the time in the North Sea in the summer and autumn season plus have a roll period longer than 10 seconds. The solution with narrow breadth in the aftship results in a sufficiently long roll period. At the midship and aft ship area there are also exceptionally wide bilge shelves as an integral part of the hull, to further dampen the rolling. Moreover, the vessel is equipped with a U-shaped semi-active anti-rolling tank across the widest point of the bow section. The good seakeeping characteristics are an asset also in Arctic operations and long transit distances.

For offshore construction projects, Nordica is equipped with a Hydralift active heave compensated crane capable of lifting 30 tons at a radius of  or 160 tons at . She also has a smaller MacGregor crane capable of lifting 5 tons at . The vessel can also be equipped with a 120-ton A-frame for trenching machines and ploughs. Nordica has a helipad and can accommodate 48 workers in addition to the ship's crew. Before her helipad was rebuilt in 2012, she also had a small hangar capable of accommodating one helicopter for ice reconnaissance. Since Nordica acts as an escort icebreaker during the winter season, she is also equipped with a Aquamaster-Rauma anchor handling and towing winch, and stern notch for assisting merchant ships. The oblique bridge maximizes visibility from the starboard side steering position.

Power and propulsion

Nordica has a diesel-electric propulsion system with four main generators. She has two twelve-cylinder Wärtsilä Vasa 12V32D and two sixteen-cylinder 16V32D four-stroke medium-speed diesel engines driving Strömberg alternators, the former producing  and the latter  each. The main engines are also equipped with exhaust gas economizers. In late 2011 they were also retrofitted with catalytic converters and urea spraying systems to reduce NOx emissions in order to meet the strict EPA requirements. While designed according to the power plant principle in which the main generators produce power for all shipboard consumers either directly or through a motor-generator, Nordica has one auxiliary diesel generator that can be used to produce electricity when the ship is at port. The four-cylinder Wärtsilä Vasa 4R22 4-stroke medium-speed diesel engine has an output of  at 1,000 rpm. In addition she has a twelve-cylinder Caterpillar 3412 DISA emergency diesel generator with an output of  at 1,500 rpm.

While underway, the fuel consumption of the main engines is 42 tons of heavy fuel oil or diesel per day at  or 30 tons per day at , giving the vessel an operating time of 45 to 67 days depending on the speed. During dynamic positioning operations the fuel consumption is 15 tons per day and the operating time depends on the distance and speed of transit to location. In late 2011 the fuel system was converted for the use of ultra-low-sulfur diesel.

Nordica is propelled by two Aquamaster US ARC 1 Z-drive azimuth thrusters with  ducted fixed-pitch stainless steel propellers. The 177-ton thrusters, driven by ABB Strömberg AC/AC propulsion motors rated at 7,500 kW, considerably improve the maneuverability of the icebreaker. This is especially useful during escort and assistance operations in difficult ice conditions when the icebreaker has to operate at close proximity to other vessels at low speeds. When delivered, she was the first large icebreaker to be equipped with such propulsion system and her maneuverability was often described to be superior to older icebreakers with traditional shaftlines and rudders. Together with three 1,150 kW Brunvoll FU-80 LTC-2250 variable-pitch bow thrusters the azimuth thrusters also allow dynamic positioning during offshore operations.

The maximum speed of Nordica is  in open water. She can maintain a speed of  on  level ice and operate in continuous motion in level ice up to  thick. Her bollard pull is 234 tons.

History

Development and construction

The development of the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers began in the mid-1980s when the Finnish National Board of Navigation launched a project to find secondary uses for the new vessels it was planning to build as a replacement for some of the oldest icebreakers. Until then the Finnish icebreakers had been designed solely for escort operations in ice-infested waters and their specialized hull form was not suitable for open water. As a result the existing icebreakers had an effective operational time of only three to five months per year and spent the summer season moored at Katajanokka in Helsinki. A multipurpose application of the new icebreakers would thus result in a better utilization of the vessels and, assuming they were chartered by a commercial third party during the summer, improve the economics of the state-owned fleet.

However, the concept did not become reality until the early 1990s, when the Norwegian company Ugland Offshore AS (later DSND Offshore AS) became involved in the project to develop and construct multipurpose icebreakers that could be used for offshore operations in the oil fields during the summer months. The concept was developed by the Board of Navigation together with a Finnish consulting engineering company ILS. The summer period operational profile of the vessel was defined by the offshore markets' needs. Most of all, there was a demand for vessels that could conduct flexible pipe and cable laying and trenching and ploughing of cables and pipelines. Other defined tasks were e.g. cable repair work, anchor handling and the moving of offshore oil drilling platforms, semi-submersible units, and other offshore units, and transportation of deck cargo.

An extensive series of both seakeeping and ice model tests was performed during the design phase of the vessel. Open water model testing was performed in VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland's tank, and the results indicated that the vessel would be able to operate at least 90 % of the time in the North Sea in the summer and autumn seasons, and able to keep the speed of  in the area's head seas, also 90 % of the same seasons. Comparative tests were run with a conventional large supply ship model, and they showed that the new icebreaker hull design would function better than a typical large supply ship in normal operating conditions.

The novel hull form was tested and adjusted in an extensive ice model test series at VTT's ship laboratory. The testing concentrated also especially on maneuvering characteristics. Later the full scale ice trials were conducted in March 1993 in Northern Baltic off the cities of Oulu and Kemi, and they proved that the design criteria was achieved in icebreaking and ridge penetration capability ahead and astern, whereas the assistance and maneuvering capability in ice exceeded expectations.

The contract for the construction of the first vessel with an option for a sister ship was signed with Finnyards in October 1991. The second vessel was ordered in June 1992. The first Finnish multipurpose icebreaker, Fennica, was delivered in 1993 and her sister ship, Nordica, in the following year. The new vessels replaced the aging four-screw icebreakers Tarmo and Varma which were sold to Estonia and Latvia, respectively.

In 1997 a third multipurpose icebreaker was ordered from Finnyards. The ship, delivered in 1998 as Botnica, was slightly smaller than the previous Finnish multipurpose icebreakers and had several other differences, such as twelve Caterpillar high-speed diesel engines instead of medium-speed units and Azipod electric azimuth thrusters instead of the ducted Z-drive Aquamasters. In 2012, Botnica was sold to Port of Tallinn, Estonia.

Career

When Fennica and Nordica entered service in 1993 and 1994, it was agreed that the multipurpose icebreakers would be chartered for offshore duties about 180 days per year during the ice-free season. For the winter months, they would return to Finland for escort icebreaking duties in the Baltic Sea or, if there was no need to deploy the whole state-owned icebreaker fleet during particularly mild winters, for lay-up in a Finnish port. The exclusive right to charter the multipurpose icebreakers was given to Ugland Offshore AS and later DSND Offshore AS. In 2002, Halliburton Offshore and DSND combined their resources and the exclusive charter of the multipurpose icebreakers was transferred to the new company, Subsea 7, that held it until 2004.

In November 1994, the then-new Nordica and the Swedish minesweeper HMS Furusund raised the bow visor of the car ferry Estonia that capsized and sank on 28 September 1994 with a loss of 852 lives.

Following the reorganization of the Finnish Maritime Administration in 2004, the ownership and management of the state-owned vessels was transferred to a newly founded state-owned enterprise, Finstaship. Later a separate company, GDV Maritime AS, was established together with Norwegian partners and handled the global marketing of the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers until 2008. During this time, the focal point in the marketing of the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers shifted more to offshore activities and the ships returned to their home waters only if they were needed for icebreaking. Between 2005 and 2010, Nordica was not deployed in the Baltic Sea as an escort icebreaker.

In 2010 Arctia Shipping, a state-owned limited company, took over the operations of Finstaship. The ownership and management of the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers was transferred to a subsidiary company, Arctia Offshore. In October 2011, Arctia Offshore and the Finnish Transport Agency signed a five-year contract with an optional two-year extension regarding the use of the multipurpose icebreakers Fennica and Nordica in the Finnish waters during the winter months. Prior to this, Arctia Icebreaking had already signed a similar contract for the conventional Finnish icebreakers.

In November 2011, Shell Oil Company signed a three-year contract with Arctia Offshore and chartered the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers Fennica and Nordica to serve as primary ice management vessels in the Chukchi Sea during the summer seasons of 2012–2014. The primary purpose of Nordica was to protect the drilling platform Kulluk by steering large ice floes so that they do not endanger the drilling operation. The decision to charter the Finnish icebreakers to support Arctic offshore drilling was widely criticized due potential environmental damage in case of oil spill. On 16 March 2012, some 52 Greenpeace activists from five different countries boarded Fennica and Nordica at Arctech Helsinki Shipyard to protest Shell's drilling operations in Alaska. The protests continued on May Day when the 52 activists from 15 different countries tried again to prevent Nordica from leaving Helsinki. On 3 May, while Nordica was passing the Swedish island of Öland in the Baltic Sea, six Greenpeace activists boarded the icebreaker, forcing the vessel to stop at Karlskrona where the protesters were arrested by the Swedish police and coast guard. Finally, in the following night 14 activists forced Nordica to carry out evasive manoeuvres in the sea region between Denmark and Germany by stopping boats in the middle of the shipping lane in front of the icebreaker and even swimming in the sea.

Nordica supported Shell's oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea in 2012, 2013 and 2015; the 2014 drilling season was cancelled. In November 2012, the multipurpose icebreakers became the first Finnish icebreakers to sail through the Northern Sea Route when the vessels returned to Finland for the 2012 icebreaking season. During the transit, the multipurpose icebreakers were escorted by Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers. In 2013, Fennica and Nordica returned to Finland via the Northern Sea Route for the second time. In 2015, after Shell had decided to stop drilling in Alaska, Fennica and Nordica returned to Europe via the Northwest Passage. This late-season eastbound unescorted transit was the first time the Finnish icebreakers have sailed through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and was claimed to save both time and money. The ships arrived to Nuuk, Greenland, on 31 October 2015.

In late 2016, Nordica was chartered to support oil and gas production activities in the Sea of Okhotsk. The vessel left Finland on 30 December and remained in the Sakhalin region until May 2017. The icebreaker then returned to Europe via the Northwest Passage, carrying an international group of scientists and journalists on "Arctic 100" expedition from the west coast of Canada to Greenland. Nordica left Vancouver on 5 July and arrived in Nuuk on 29 July, claiming the record for the earliest Northwest Passage transit from the Canadian icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent by one day.

In 2023, Arctia signed a three-year contract with Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation for icebreaking services of one multipurpose icebreaker during the 2023, 2024 and 2025 shipping seasons in the Canadian Arctic. For the 2023 shipping season, Nordicas sister ship Fennica was deployed to Canada.

Controversies
In the early 2000s the managing director Kyösti Vesterinen and several other high-ranking members of the Finnish Maritime Administration were caught in a bribery scandal when it was found out that DSND Offshore, the charterer of the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers, had offered them several private trips around the world. At the same time the offshore company, which had failed to make payments for the charters in time, was forgiven 153,000 euros of penalty interests. As a result, Vesterinen and two other officials were found guilty for corruption and as a result lost their positions, were given suspended sentences of four to ten months and had to pay back the unlawfully obtained benefits. The incident ended the co-operation between DSND and the Finnish Maritime Administration and left many people suspicious about the profitability of the multipurpose icebreakers.

In October 2013, the Finnish media reported that Heidi Hautala (Green League), the Minister for International Development to the Finnish government and the minister responsible for ownership steering in the Prime Minister's Office, had instructed the state-owned Arctia Shipping to withdraw criminal charges against Greenpeace whose activists had boarded the company's multipurpose icebreakers in 2012. In addition, the head of the Government Ownership Steering Department, Pekka Timonen, had threatened two top executives of the company with firing unless they complied with the request. After providing conflicting accounts of the incident, Minister Hautala announced her resignation on 11 October 2013. Later, several prominent people such as the Finnish Minister of Transport Merja Kyllönen have again questioned the profitability of using the multipurpose icebreakers in offshore business and started a discussion of the future role of the Finnish state-owned icebreaker fleet in commercial work in the Arctic.

Criticism

Although the crews have been generally satisfied with the vessels' operational capabilities, the multipurpose icebreakers have also been perceived as compromise designs due to the conflicting requirements of icebreaking and offshore operations. The vessels have been criticized for their lower icebreaking capability and ability to operate in the Bothnian Bay ice conditions characterized by heavy ridging when compared to traditional icebreakers built in the 1970s. In open water, the multipurpose icebreakers have not been competitive against purpose-built offshore vessels due to their higher fuel consumption.

The state-owned shipping company Arctia and its predecessors have also been criticized for the financial losses and low profitability of the offshore business. Unable to compete commercially against purpose-built offshore vessels, the multipurpose icebreakers would be the last ones to be hired unless they were offered at significantly reduced day rates. Sometimes the ships were left without contracts and spent long periods of time in foreign ports even during the Baltic Sea winter navigation season, forcing the Finnish Government to hire icebreakers from the commercial market to keep the ports open.

Arctia also received criticism from environmental organizations such as Greenpeace after the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers were chartered for Shell Oil Company to support exploration drilling operations in the Arctic waters off Alaska where the consequences of an oil spill would be devastating. There have also been concerns about the legal liability in case of an oil spill after a report by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy claimed that the Finnish State could be held liable and the compensations could include the entire property of Arctia Shipping, the state-owned shipping company that owns and operates the Finnish icebreaker fleet.

Nordica and the other Finnish multipurpose icebreakers are sometimes jokingly referred to as "Moulinex ships" after the French brand of household appliances and kitchen equipment.

Notes

References

External links

Icebreakers of Finland
Ships built in Rauma, Finland
1993 ships

MSV Nordica


Balance shafts are used in piston engines to reduce vibration by cancelling out unbalanced dynamic forces. The counter balance shafts have eccentric weights and rotate in opposite direction to each other, which generates a net vertical force.

The balance shaft was invented and patented by British engineer Frederick W. Lanchester in 1907. It is most commonly used in inline-four and V6 engines used in automobiles and motorcycles.

Overview

The operating principle of a balance shaft system is that two shafts carrying identical eccentric weights rotate in opposite directions at twice the engine speed. The phasing of the shafts is such that the centrifugal forces produced by the weights cancel the vertical second-order forces (at twice the engine RPM) produced by the engine. The horizontal forces produced by the balance shafts are equal and opposite, and so cancel each other.

The balance shafts do not reduce the vibrations experienced by the crankshaft.

Applications

Two-cylinder engines
Numerous motorcycle engines— particularly parallel-twin engines— have employed balance shaft systems, for example the Yamaha TRX850 and Yamaha TDM850 engines have a 270° crankshaft with a balance shaft. An alternative approach, as used by the BMW GS parallel-twin, is to use a 'dummy' connecting rod which moves a hinged counterweight.

Four-cylinder engines

Balance shafts are often used in inline-four engines, to reduce the second-order vibration  (a vertical force oscillating at twice the engine RPM) that is inherent in the design of a typical inline-four engine. This vibration is generated because the movement of the connecting rods in an even-firing inline-four engine is not symmetrical throughout the crankshaft rotation; thus during a given period of crankshaft rotation, the descending and ascending pistons are not always completely opposed in their acceleration, giving rise to a net vertical force twice in each revolution (which increases quadratically with RPM).

The amount of vibration also increases with engine displacement, resulting in balance shafts often being used in inline-four engines with displacements of  or more. Both an increased stroke or bore cause an increased secondary vibration; a larger stroke increases the difference in acceleration and a larger bore increases the mass of the pistons.

The Lanchester design of balance shaft systems was refined with the Mitsubishi Astron 80, an inline-four car engine introduced in 1975. This engine was the first to locate one balance shaft higher than the other, to counteract the second order rolling couple (i.e. about the crankshaft axis) due to the torque exerted by the inertia caused by increases and decreases in engine speed.

In a flat-four engine, the forces are cancelled out by the pistons moving in opposite directions. Therefore balance shafts are not needed in flat-four engines.

Five-cylinder engines
Balance shafts are also used in straight-five engines such as GM Vortec 3700.

Six-cylinder engines
In a straight-six engine and flat-six engine, the rocking forces are naturally balanced out, therefore balance shafts are not required.

V6 engines are inherently unbalanced, regardless of the V-angle. Any inline engine with an odd number of cylinders has a primary imbalance, which causes an end-to-end rocking motion. As each cylinder bank in a V6 has three cylinders, each cylinder bank experiences this motion. Balance shaft(s) are used on various V6 engines to reduce this rocking motion.

Eight-cylinder engines
Examples are the Mercedes-Benz OM629 and Volvo B8444S engine.

See also
 Balancing machine
 Engine balance

References

Engine technology

Balance shaft