Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his leading roles in a wide variety of genre films. He has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. In 2016, he was named Officer of Order of Arts and Letters in France.

Keaton gained early recognition for his comedic roles in Night Shift (1982), Mr. Mom (1983), and Beetlejuice (1988). He gained wider stardom portraying DC Comics superhero Batman / Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). His subsequent films include Pacific Heights (1990), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Paper (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), and The Other Guys (2010). He also performed voice roles in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).

Keaton has experienced a career resurgence since taking a starring role as a faded actor attempting a comeback in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman (2014), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He has since acted in the biographical films Spotlight (2015), The Founder (2016) and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He also made a return to superhero films, portraying the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Morbius (2022), as well as reprising his role as Batman in The Flash (2023).

On television, Keaton has starred as a journalist in the HBO film Live from Baghdad (2002). He portrayed a drug addicted doctor in the Hulu limited series Dopesick (2021) for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Keaton has also directed the films The Merry Gentleman (2009) and Knox Goes Away (2023).

Early life
Michael John Douglas, the youngest of seven children, was born at Ohio Valley Hospital in Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania, on September 5, 1951. He was raised between McKees Rocks, Coraopolis and Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. His father, George A. Douglas (1905–1977), worked as a civil engineer and surveyor, and his mother, Leona Elizabeth (née Loftus; 1909–2002), was a homemaker, and came from McKees Rocks. Keaton was raised in a Catholic family. His mother was of Irish descent, while his father was of Scottish, Scotch-Irish, German and English ancestry, and was originally from a Protestant family. Keaton attended Montour High School in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. He graduated with the Class of 1969, and studied Speech for two years at Kent State University, where he appeared in plays, and returned to Pennsylvania to pursue his career.

Career

1975–1982: Early work
Keaton first appeared on TV in the Pittsburgh public television programs Where the Heart Is and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1975). For Mister Rogers he played one of the "Flying Zookeeni Brothers" and served as a full-time production assistant. (In 2003, after Fred Rogers' death, Keaton hosted a PBS memorial tribute, Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor; in 2018, he hosted a 50th anniversary special of the series for PBS, Mister Rogers: It's You I Like.) Keaton also worked as an actor in Pittsburgh theatre; he played the role of Rick in the Pittsburgh premiere of David Rabe's Sticks and Bones with the Pittsburgh Poor Players. He also performed stand-up comedy during his early years to supplement his income.

Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various TV parts. He popped up in various popular TV shows including Maude and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. He decided to use a stage name to satisfy SAG rules, as there were already an actor (Michael Douglas) and daytime host (Mike Douglas) with the same or similar names. In response to questions as to whether he selected his new surname due to an attraction to actress Diane Keaton, or in homage to silent film actor Buster Keaton, he has responded by saying "it had nothing to do with that." Keaton has said in several interviews that he searched a phone book under "K," saw "Keaton" and decided to stop looking. Keaton's film debut came in a small non-speaking role in the Joan Rivers film Rabbit Test.

His next big break was working alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs, which showcased his comedic talent and led to a co-starring role in the comedy Night Shift directed by Ron Howard. This was his breakout role as the fast-talking schemer Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski and earned Keaton some critical acclaim.

1983–1988: Stardom as a comic lead
Night Shift led to Keaton becoming a leading man in the 1983 comedy hit Mr. Mom. Keaton was pigeonholed as a comic lead during this time with films like Johnny Dangerously, Gung Ho, The Squeeze, and The Dream Team, though Keaton tried to transition to dramatic leads as early as 1984, playing a hockey player in Touch and Go, which was shelved until 1986. Woody Allen cast Keaton as the lead in The Purple Rose of Cairo the following year, but after filming began Allen felt Keaton was "too modern" and reshot his scenes with Jeff Daniels in the final film, further delaying his transition to drama in the public eye. When Touch and Go was finally released in 1986 the studio was still unsure of how to market the film, making the poster, trailer and TV spots similar to Mr. Mom, which resulted in the film not finding its target audience.

1988 was the seminal year in Keaton's career where he landed two major unconventional roles, forever changing his image to audiences. He played the title character in Tim Burton's horror-comedy Beetlejuice, earning Keaton widespread acclaim and boosting him to Hollywood's A list. That same year, he also gave an acclaimed dramatic performance as a drug-addicted realtor in Glenn Gordon Caron's Clean and Sober.

1989–1999: Breakthrough as a dramatic lead
Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero of the 1989 film Batman. Warner Bros. received thousands of letters of complaint by fans who believed Keaton was the wrong choice to portray Batman. However, Keaton's performance in the role ultimately earned widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences, and Batman became one of 1989's most successful films.

According to Les Daniels's reference book Batman: The Complete History, Keaton initially believed the film would be similar in tone to the 1960s TV series starring Adam West but he understood the darker, brooding side of Batman the film was going for after reading Frank Miller's comic book miniseries, The Dark Knight Returns, which he portrayed to much fan approval. Keaton later reprised the role for the sequel Batman Returns (1992), which was another critically acclaimed success. He was initially set to reprise the role again for a third Batman film, even going as far as to show up for costume fitting. However, when Burton was dropped as director of the film, Keaton left the franchise as well. He was reportedly dissatisfied with the screenplay approved by the new director, Joel Schumacher. According to the A&E Biography episode on Keaton, after he had refused the first time (after meetings with Schumacher), Warner Bros. offered him $15 million, but Keaton steadfastly refused and was replaced by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995).

Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including Pacific Heights, One Good Cop, My Life and the star-studded Shakespearean story Much Ado About Nothing. He starred in The Paper and Multiplicity, and twice in the same role, that of Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in the films Jackie Brown and Out of Sight. He made the family holiday movie Jack Frost and the thriller Desperate Measures. Keaton starred as a political candidate's speechwriter in 1994's Speechless.

2000–2014: Later work

In the early 2000s, Keaton appeared in several films with mixed success, including Live From Baghdad (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award), First Daughter (playing the President of the United States), White Noise and Herbie: Fully Loaded. While he continued to receive good notices from the critics (particularly for Jackie Brown), he was not able to re-approach the box-office success of Batman until the release of Disney/Pixar's Cars (2006), in which he voiced Chick Hicks, a green race car with a mustache, who frequently loses his patience with losing to his longtime rival, Strip Weathers, a.k.a. The King, voiced by Richard Petty. On New Year's Day of 2004, he hosted the PBS TV special Mr. Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor. It was released by Triumph Marketing LLC on DVD September 28, 2004. In 2006, he starred in Game 6, about the 1986 World Series bid by the Boston Red Sox. He had a cameo in the Tenacious D short film Time Fixers, an iTunes exclusive. The 9-minute film was released to coincide with Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. Keaton reportedly was cast as Jack Shephard in the series Lost, with the understanding that the role of Jack would be a brief one. Once the role was retooled to be a long-running series regular, Keaton withdrew. The part was then given to actor Matthew Fox. The show ran for six seasons, with the Shephard role continuing throughout.

Keaton starred in the 2007 TV miniseries The Company, set during the Cold War, in which he portrayed the real-life CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton. The role garnered Keaton a 2008 Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. Keaton provided the voice of Ken in Toy Story 3 (2010). The film received overwhelmingly positive acclaim and grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it one of the most financially successful films ever. He announced in June 2010 his interest in returning for a Beetlejuice sequel. He played Captain Gene Mauch in the comedy The Other Guys. In 2014 he played the OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars in the RoboCop remake as a more active antagonist, taking RoboCop's wife and child hostage, forcing Joel Kinnaman's character to struggle to overcome the 4th directive.

2014–present: Career resurgence

Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), playing Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story to regain his former glory. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of Thomson and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2015, Keaton appeared as Walter V. Robinson in Tom McCarthy's Academy Award-winning film Spotlight, and in 2016, he starred as businessman Ray Kroc in the biopic The Founder. On July 28, 2016, Keaton was honored with the 2,585th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to film. The star is located at 6931 Hollywood, Blvd.

In 2017, Keaton played the supervillain The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming; while making this film, Keaton was unable to reprise his role as Chick Hicks for Disney/Pixar's Cars 3 and was replaced by Bob Peterson. Keaton later portrayed Stan Hurley in American Assassin. In 2019, he played the villain in Disney's live-action adaptation of Dumbo directed by Tim Burton, co-starring with Colin Farrell and Eva Green. In 2020, Keaton played U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark in The Trial of the Chicago 7, a legal drama directed by Aaron Sorkin about seven anti-Vietnam protesters charged with inciting riots in 1968. In 2021, Keaton starred as American lawyer Kenneth Feinberg in the Netflix biographical drama film Worth.

In 2022, Keaton won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his role in the Hulu miniseries Dopesick. Keaton cites his performance in 1988's Clean and Sober as an early preparation for Dopesick. He also briefly reprised his role as Vulture in the SSU film Morbius, which released on April 1, 2022.

In June 2020, Keaton entered talks to reprise his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, after last playing the role in 1992, in the DC Extended Universe superhero film The Flash, which was released on June 16, 2023. In August 2020, it was reported that Keaton would be reprising his role, though Keaton later disputed these claims, stating that it was not confirmed. However, on April 19, 2021, Keaton's talent agency, ICM Partners, officially confirmed his involvement with the film when production had officially begun. He filmed scenes to reprise the character in Batgirl starring Leslie Grace, set for a release on HBO Max, taking some inspiration from the acclaimed DC Animated Universe animated series, Batman Beyond, with Keaton playing the elder Bruce Wayne as the title character's mentor and remote coordinator in the Batcave, only for the film's release was cancelled in August 2022. He also reprised the character in the 2023 film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, in a now deleted scene.

Upcoming
It has been reported that Keaton will star in Goodrich, a film about a man whose second wife suddenly leaves him, forcing him to take sole care of their nine-year-old twins. Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, filming was set to commence in October 2019, but after a delay ultimately began in April 2023. On May 6, 2022, it was reported that Keaton is set to star in and direct the noir thriller, Knox Goes Away.

On May 9, 2023, it was confirmed by that Keaton would be reprising his role as Beetlejuice for the sequel Beetlejuice 2. Production began in London on May 10, 2023. The film has been given a theatrical release date of September 6, 2024.

Personal life
Keaton was married to Caroline McWilliams from 1982 to 1990. They have a son, Sean, born in 1983. Keaton had a relationship with actress Courteney Cox from 1990 to 1995.

Keaton, a longtime Pittsburgh resident and fan of its sports teams, negotiated a break in his Batman movie contract in case the Pittsburgh Pirates made the playoffs that year, although they ultimately did not. Keaton did however take time off of filming the sequel, Batman Returns in order to return to Pittsburgh to support the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals that year. Keaton regularly has been seen at Penguins home playoff games. Keaton also often attends Pittsburgh Steelers games, and during the 2005 AFC Championship Game, he wandered onto the camera frame of the KDKA pre-game coverage, surprising reporter John Steigerwald. He also wrote an ESPN blog on the Pirates during the final months of their 2013 season.

In the 1980s, Keaton bought a ranch near Big Timber, Montana, where he spends much of his time. An avid fisherman, he is often seen on the saltwater fishing series Buccaneers & Bones on Outdoor Channel, along with Tom Brokaw, Zach Gilford, Thomas McGuane and Yvon Chouinard, among others.

Political views and activism
Keaton supported Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton for President in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Despite his political activism during the 2020 election, Keaton later stated that celebrities should not speak about politics.

In 2019, he appeared in a PETA ad campaign, asking tourists not to visit operations that exploit animals, such as roadside zoos which sometimes offer the opportunity to get selfies with wild animals.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Honorary degrees
 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Kent State University in 2018
 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2017

Awards and nominations

Keaton was honored with a Career Achievement Award from the Hollywood Film Festival. He is also a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.

References

External links

1951 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American people of Scottish descent
Best Actor AACTA International Award winners
Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe winners
Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead winners
Kent State University alumni
Male actors from Pittsburgh
Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
People from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
People from Sweet Grass County, Montana
Pennsylvania Democrats
Disney people

Michael Keaton


Nizam al-Din Yahya (c. 1417 – October 1480) was the Mihrabanid malik of Sistan from 1438/1439 until his death. He was the son of Shams al-Din 'Ali.

Biography
Nizam al-Din gained the throne of Sistan after his father's death in 1438 or 1439. During his reign he spent a significant amount of time at the court of the Timurids at Herat. Some time after Abu Sa'id's capture of Khurasan in 1458, Nizam al-Din was summoned by the Timurid to Herat. There he was given one of Abu Sa'id's sisters in marriage.

In 1468 Abu Sa'id undertook a military campaign against the Aq Qoyunlu Turkmen of Azerbaijan. Nizam al-Din participated in this operation, leading a part of the army of Sistan. Ultimately the campaign ended in disaster; both Abu Sa'id and Nizam al-Din captured by the Aq Qoyunlu, who went on to briefly occupy Herat. The Turkmen leader Uzun Hasan imprisoned Nizam al-Din for six months. He eventually released him and restored him as governor of Sistan, while also giving him land grants in parts of Fars and Kerman. Ultimately the Timurids under Husayn Bayqarah managed to retake Herat, but Nizam al-Din may also been compelled to pay tribute to Uzun Hasan for a while.

The last years of Nizam al-Din's rule were marred by internal discord. The malik had grown wary of the power of his commander-in-chief (sipahsalar) Mir Sayyid Ahmad and his five sons, who held several governorships in parts of Sistan. In around 1475 Nizam al-Din led a campaign to assert his authority over the Garmsir region and Makran, with Mir Sayyid Ahmad and his sons participating. When the Mihrabanid army reached the Helmand River Nizam al-Din planned to arrest the sipahsalar and his family, but they were warned about the plot and managed to flee.

Mir Sayyid Ahmad and his sons traveled to Herat, where they met with the Timurid Husayn Bayqarah. They managed to convince him to revoke the grant for Nizam al-Din's governorship of Sistan and to give the governorship to Husayn Bayqarah's son Badi' al-Zaman instead. Nizam al-Din decided that an attempt to resist in Sistan itself would be futile, since Mir Sayyid Ahmad had a large degree of support in the province. He therefore made his way to the southern frontier region of Sistan, where he commanded the loyalty of several fortresses, and set up his base there. In c. 1478 he was invited by the people of Zirih to return to Sistan, but was repulsed by the forces of Badi' al-Zaman and Mir Sayyid Ahmad. In 1480 the people of Zirih again tried to convince Nizam al-Din to return, but the malik became ill and died. His military commanders then elected his eldest son Shams al-Din Muhammad as his successor.

Notes

References
Bosworth, C.E. The History of the Saffarids of Sistan and the Maliks of Nimruz (247/861 to 949/1542-3). Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 1994.

1410s births
1480 deaths

Year of birth uncertain
Mihrabanids
15th-century Iranian people

Nizam al-Din Yahya


The Bonn–Bamberg basketbrawl describes a violent altercation between players of the German Bundesliga basketball clubs Telekom Baskets Bonn and GHP Bamberg which took place in the 2006 BBL playoff series on May 4, 2006. Fourteen players were ejected, and one fouled out, making that game the probably only playoff game in professional basketball history that ended as a 3-on-4 match.

The disturbance
The second match of the playoff series between Bonn and Bamberg was played in Bonn. With Bonn trailing 21-14 after 13 minutes, Uvis Helmanis (Bamberg) committed a hard foul against Michael Meeks (Bonn) without the referees whistling. In the next play, Meeks scythed Helmanis, prompting Steffen Hamann (Bamberg) to face Meeks and punch him to the ground. In the following 20 minute bench-clearing brawl, almost every player and many team officials stormed onto the court. Thirteen players were ejected; the game could only carry on as a 4-on-5 with Bamberg being short-handed.

The Bamberg team used a 2:2 zone defense against the Bonn team, who were in a perpetual power play situation. It worked surprisingly well, as long as the four players still had some energy left. The Bonn team had the privilege of being able to use a libero (similar to free-roaming defensive positions in  association football and volleyball), but were unable to capitalize on this until the last quarter: the shorthanded Bamberg team led 45–30 at half time, managed to end the third quarter still in front with 52–50 and took a 61–60 lead minutes away from the end, however, then exhaustion took its toll.  Bonn drained shot after shot and shut down Bamberg's offense, because of the advantage of the extra player.

The match reached its absurd climax seconds before the game ended. A Bamberg player fouled out, and Bamberg coach Dirk Bauermann was ejected after receiving his second technical foul for abusing officials. In frustration, the Bamberg player who fouled out pushed another Bonn player, and he shoved him back in retaliation. The referees ejected the Bonn player and the match ended as a 3-on-4 with Bonn winning 75–64.

Suspensions and criminal charges
Most of the players avoided long bans, but Helmanis, Meeks and Hamann received longer bans lasting up to six matches.

See also
 Malice at the Palace
 Knicks–Nuggets brawl
 Sparks–Shock brawl
 Violence in sports
 List of violent spectator incidents in sports
 2010 Acropolis Basketball Tournament brawl
 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl
 Philippines–Australia basketball brawl

References
Play by Play Account
Account from Bonn POV
Account from the Bamberg POV
German Referee Association file
Berliner Zeitung
RP Online
n-TV

2005–06 in German basketball
May 2006 sports events in Germany
Basketball controversies
Brawls in team sports
Telekom Baskets Bonn

Bonn–Bamberg basketball brawl


Malcom Maiuu Floyd (born September 8, 1981) is a former American professional football player who was a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire NFL career with San Diego after signing with them as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football for the Wyoming Cowboys.

Early years
Born Malcom Floyd Maiuu Seabron in Sacramento, California, Floyd played at River City High School in West Sacramento, California, where he was an All-Metro and Offensive MVP of the league. He was also a First-team all-league selection in basketball.

College career
Floyd attended the University of Wyoming (1999–2004). While there, he majored in health sciences. As a freshman with the Cowboys, he redshirted in 1999. Floyd was a First-team all-conference selection by Football News and Sporting News as a sophomore. Floyd finished his career with 186 catches for 2,411 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was an Honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference as senior.

Professional career

San Diego Chargers
As an NFL prospect in 2004, Floyd was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent after the 2004 NFL Draft.

In 2004, Floyd was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted rookie soon after the draft on April 30. He was waived on September 5 and signed to the practice squad two days later, and then re-signed to the active roster on December 11.

Floyd started against the Kansas City Chiefs on January 2, 2005 and caught his first NFL touchdown, a 13-yard pass from Philip Rivers which also happened to be Rivers's own first career touchdown. Floyd helped set up a second-quarter touchdown catch by Ryan Krause with a 27-yard catch down to Chiefs' 10-yard line, leading to a touchdown three plays later. Floyd played as a back-up in the Wild Card playoff game against the New York Jets.

In 2005, Floyd was released on September 3 and re-signed to the practice squad two days later. He spent the first 12 weeks of the season on the Chargers' practice squad. He was then signed to the main roster on December 7 but remained inactive for the rest of the season.

In 2006, Floyd caught a 31-yard touchdown pass against the Baltimore Ravens, on a play in which Samari Rolle slipped and fell in coverage. He caught a touchdown pass for the second time in two weeks with a nine-yard tip-toe catch in the back corner of the end zone against Pittsburgh. Floyd caught a career-long 46-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter of the win against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was selected as the Chargers Alumni Player of the Week following the game in Cincinnati, after substituting for Eric Parker who was out with a neck injury. Floyd left Cincinnati with his first career 100-yard game, making five catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. He was inactive for Week 13 game against the Denver Broncos with an ankle injury. Floyd was placed on injured reserve due to the ankle injury on December 14.

In 2007, Floyd made a 25-yard catch on a 3rd-and-13 play during the opening drive of the second half against Green Bay Packers that helped set up 21-yard touchdown catch-and-run by LaDainian Tomlinson. He helped extend the Chargers' touchdown drive on the opening series of the Week 6 game against the Oakland Raiders with a 16-yard catch on 3rd down.

In 2008,  Floyd was re-signed by the Chargers as a restricted free agent. He went on to play in 13 games with three starts. He ended the season with 27 receptions good for 465 yards and four touchdowns.

In 2009, following the release of Chris Chambers, Floyd became the Chargers' number two starting receiver. Floyd played in 16 games, with 45 receptions for 776 yards, a 17.2 YPR, and one touchdown.

In 2010, Floyd signed a one-year RFA tender contract on June 7. He played 11 games with 37 receptions for 717 yards, despite missing five games with a groin injury. Floyd averaged 19.4 yards per catch as he emerged as an elite downfield threat.

After the end of the 2011 NFL Lockout, Floyd was courted by the Ravens before re-signing for two years with the San Diego Chargers on August 5.

Again playing in limited games due to injury, Floyd missed 4 games, but still put up a career-high 856 receiving yards. For the second straight year he averaged over 19 yards per catch, this year averaging 19.9. Floyd's average was also the ninth highest average in team history among players with at least 40 catches.

Floyd also performed a rather impressive feat in 2011 when 41 of his 43 catches went for first downs. The 95.3 percent clip was the second-highest in NFL history (min. 32 catches). Only Henry Ellard, who totaled 71 first downs on 74 catches (95.9%) for the Washington Redskins in 1994, posted a higher percentage.

In 2012, Floyd was on his way to a 1,000-yard season when his campaign was cut short by two games as result of an ankle injury. He still managed to lead the team with a career-high 56 catches and score five touchdowns.

In 2013, Floyd was carted off the practice field on August 12 with a potentially serious right knee injury. An MRI brought good news as Floyd avoided a ligament tear.

On September 15, 2013, during a Week 2 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Floyd was again carted off the field after an undisclosed head injury. He had feeling in all limbs and was awake and alert in the hospital, and it was announced he would fly to back to San Diego with his team, not needing to stay overnight at the hospital. He was placed on injured reserve on October 1, 2013 as a result of this neck injury.

In 2014, Floyd returned from his injury to play against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1. He caught 4 passes for 50 yards including a six-yard touchdown reception. After missing the final 14 games the prior season, Floyd played in all 16 games for just the second time in his career. He had 52 catches and six touchdowns; his receiving yards (856) tied his career high and also led the team for the second time in three years. He and teammate Jarret Johnson were named by the Chargers as their most inspirational players.

On June 9, 2015, the San Diego Chargers announced that Floyd would retire after the 2015 season.

NFL career statistics

Personal life
Floyd's older brother, Malcolm, played wide receiver for the Houston Oilers from 1994–1997. The older brother was allowed to name his sibling, and he named him after himself—their father introduced the spelling difference.

Floyd's mother, Leataata, resided in Sacramento where she volunteered as a mentor, tutor, counselor and ambassador, who taught Polynesian dancing after school each day at one of the poorest schools in the city. In 2012, the Sacramento School District paid tribute to Floyd by changing the name of the school where she had given so much of her time from Jedediah Smith Elementary to Leataata Floyd Elementary.

Floyd and his wife, Daphne, have two sons, Maiu and Malc. In his spare time, Malcom enjoys playing basketball, bodyboarding at Mission Beach and spending time grilling out with his family. An all-conference hoopster in high school, Floyd's team won the school's intramural championship while he was an undergrad at Wyoming.

See also
List of family relations in American football

References

External links
 San Diego Chargers bio
 Statistics from Pro-Football-Reference

1981 births
Players of American football from Sacramento, California
American sportspeople of Samoan descent
Wyoming Cowboys football players
San Diego Chargers players
American football wide receivers
Living people
People from West Sacramento, California
Players of American football from Yolo County, California

Malcom Floyd


Four of Cups is a Minor Arcana tarot card.

Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play Tarot card games.

In English-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for divinatory purposes; the unconscious finds meaning and fulfillment in the Tarot's images and symbols.

References

Suit of Cups

Four of Cups


Apukshunnubbee District was one of three provinces, or districts, comprising the former Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory.  Also called the Second District, it encompassed the southeastern one-third of the nation.

The Apukshunnubbee District was named in honor of Chief Apukshunnubbee (also spelled Apuckshunubbee), a Choctaw warrior and statesman.  He was district chief of the Okla Falaya ("Upper Towns") District in the original Choctaw Nation of the Southeast. Many Choctaw from that area referred to the Apukshunnubbee District as the Okla Falaya District.  The other two districts were the Moshulatubbee District and Pushmataha District.

History

The districts were established when the Choctaw Nation relocated via the Trail of Tears to the Indian Territory—present-day Oklahoma. They were originally intended to be homelands for settlers from the three major clans or divisions of the Choctaw comprising the nation. In practice, the clan affiliations and allegiances rapidly became less important after the Choctaw reached Indian Territory. The districts' importance in the political life of the nation, which earlier had reflected geographic settlement and development, waned over time.

The three district chiefs lost power and authority to the principal chief of the nation. Eventually the principal chief became, simply, the chief. No longer a "first among equals", he became the sole political leader.

In judicial jurisdiction, the three districts and their seats of government retained their historic influence. Crimes and criminals not tried at the county level were bucked to the district level automatically. Court days were the busiest days of the year in the district seats of government.

Apukshunnubbee District's administrative seat of government was Alikchi, in Nashoba County, Choctaw Nation.  Alikchi is located east of present-day Rattan, Oklahoma and north of Wright City, Oklahoma, in McCurtain County.

Included in the Apukshunnubbee District were the Choctaw Nation counties of Bok Tuklo, Cedar, Eagle, Nashoba, Red River, Towson and Wade.

As Oklahoma's statehood loomed, the Apukshunnubbee District, and its constituent counties, slowly wound down their governmental functions.  The United States courts in the Indian Territory usurped their powers.  On November 16, 1907—Oklahoma's Statehood Day—the district and its counties disappeared forever.

The territory of the former Apukshunnubbee District is incorporated principally into the present-day Oklahoma counties of Choctaw, Le Flore, McCurtain, and Pushmataha.

References

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma
1907 disestablishments in the United States

Apukshunnubbee District


El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (or simply El Camino) is a 2019 American neo-Western crime thriller movie. It is an epilogue to the television series Breaking Bad (2008–2013). Series creator Vince Gilligan wrote, directed and produced the movie.

Aaron Paul reappears as Jesse Pinkman. The plot follows Pinkman and the events right after the series finale. Many other actors from the series reappear in the movie, including Bryan Cranston, Jonathan Banks, Jesse Plemons, Krysten Ritter, Charles Baker, Matt Jones and Robert Forster. El Camino was also Forster's final movie appearance, as he died on the day of its release.

El Camino was released digitally on Netflix and limited theaters on October 11, 2019. It was also shown on TV channel AMC on February 16, 2020. It was given positive reviews from critics.

References

Other websites

2019 crime thriller movies
2010s Western (genre) movies
American sequel movies
English-language movies
Movies based on TV series
Movies set in New Mexico
Netflix movies
2010s American crime thriller movies
American Western (genre) movies

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie


Joaquin Botellas, known to the State of California in 1853 as Joaquin Botellier, one of the Five Joaquins, was a Sonoran born near Real de los Álamos that came to Alta California before the California Gold Rush.  He was a brother to Refugio Botellas the first mail carrier in Alta California.

Joaquin Botellas mined with Joaquin Murrieta, in Murphy's New Diggins and took up Murrieta's cause against the mob that lynched Murrieta's elder stepbrother Jesus Carrillo Murrieta and whipped Joaquin on the false accusation of  the theft of a mule.  He became an active member of the Five Joaquins Gang riding with Joaquin Murrieta's own band.

In April 1853 Joaquin Botellas' name, appearing as Joaquin Botellier, was included in the list of the five Joaquins in the bill of the California legislature authorizing the California Rangers to hunt them down. Joaquin Botellas became fearful for his safety, and was in Monterey winding up his affairs before moving back to Sonora, when the battle of the Cantua occurred.  Nothing further is known about him; presumably he returned to Sonora.

References

Five Joaquins Gang
People in 19th-century California

Joaquin Botellas


Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is an important member of the Frat Pack, a name used by members of the media for a group of comedians active in today's Hollywood movies. Black is also in order for some of Hollywood's largest movies and smallest indie films. He and Kyle Gass make up the comedy-rock duo Tenacious D. Black starred in the movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, which is based on a true story. He also starred in the 2008 movie Tropic Thunder.

Early and personal life
Black was born on August 28, 1969, in Santa Monica, California to Thomas Black and Judith Cohen. His father is of English, French, German, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent. His mother is Jewish and of Russian descent. Since March 14, 2006, he is married to Tanya Haden. They have two sons.

Filmography

References

1969 births
Living people
Actors from Santa Monica, California
American guitarists
American Jews
American movie actors
American movie producers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American television actors
American television producers
American television writers
American voice actors
Comedians from Santa Monica, California
Singers from California
Writers from California

Jack Black


Cents () is a quarter in eastern Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg.

, the quarter has a population of 6,325 inhabitants.

The area lies on the eastern side of the city, on an elevated area 60 metres above Clausen and Neudorf.

History
The Kéibierg connects the Grund and Clausen with the elevation of the Fetschenhof. The name "Kéibierg" ist first recorded in a document from 20 December 1506 as Gyersberg, and is later also mentioned as Gyrsberg, Geierspergh, and Gyhersperg. In 1666/67 in the accounts of the Hospital of St. John this had become the Gansberg, and in the cadaster of 1824 it is registered as the Küheberg.

The plateau of Cents-Fetschenhof was a useful area for any army wishing to attack the Fortress of Luxembourg from the East. Directly in front of the fortress walls, the elevation allowed a wide view over the whole city. In 1683 Marshal François de Créquy started the siege of Luxembourg, on the orders of French King Louis XIV. He set up his permanent camp to the East of the city at Mensdorf, where the name Krékelsbierg is still a reminder of him to this day. From there his troops — 12,000 infantry and cavalry — marched to the rise of Fetschenhof and fired on the city from the Kéibierg.

They fired 6,000 projectiles at the city, causing great destruction. The historian Leo Müller described how citizens of Metz observed "the eerie spectacle of the burning Luxembourg, which was blazing like an almighty torch". Shortly after Christmas, on 27 December 1683, the French marched off. The number of civilian casualties was quite low, but the suffering of the population was severe due to the winter cold. This was made worse by the order of the Governor Chimay, to uncover the houses, in order to decrease the risk of fire. Through the destruction of buildings and the weakened state of the population, it was easy for Marshall de Créqui to take over the city in April 1684 with 35,000. In this siege, the city was devastated by over 50,000 projectiles, and was later fortified by Vauban.

The French did not get to make much use of these extensive fortification works, however: in 1697 they returned Luxembourg to the Spanish. From 1713, when Luxembourg passed over to the Austrians under the Peace of Utrecht, it experienced a more peaceful time for both the fortress and its surrounding area. On 21 November 1794 however, the French again laid siege to the city, this time under the orders of the Directoire. Once again, the attackers made use of the strategic location of the Fetschenhof plateau. In a week, they had constructed the Fetschenhof entrenchment for 2 cannons — a structure which was expanded in April 1795 by six more cannons. While the city itself suffered less damage than under previous sieges, this time it was more the surrounding areas that suffered destruction. The Fetschenhof, for example, went up in flames.

See also

 Cents-Hamm railway station
 Luxembourg-Cents football stadium

References

Quarters of Luxembourg City

Cents, Luxembourg


Raymond Pearl (June 3, 1879 – November 17, 1940) was an American biologist, regarded as one of the founders of biogerontology. He spent most of his career at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Pearl was a prolific writer of academic books, papers and articles, as well as a committed populariser and communicator of science. At his death, 841 publications were listed against his name. An early eugenicist, he eventually became an important critic of eugenics. He also advanced the concept of carrying capacity, although he didn't use the term, and was a Malthusian concerned with resource limits. He was a critique of mass consumption.

Early life

Pearl was born into an upper-middle-class family on June 3, 1879, in Farmington, New Hampshire, the son of Ida May (McDuffee) and Frank Pearl. At an early age, Pearl was exposed to the classics.  His parents and grandparents wanted him to study Greek and Latin.  However, when he attended Dartmouth College at 16 years old, he became fascinated by biology and graduated with a B.A. as the youngest in his class.  At Dartmouth, he was known to be an exceptional student as well as a skilled musician.  He was capable of playing almost every wind instrument, and he planned amateur music performances with his friends and colleagues.  In 1899, Pearl attended the University of Michigan where he received his PhD in zoology for his work on the behavior of planarians.  He also was involved in studying the variation of fish for the Biological Survey of the Great Lakes.  While working in a zoological laboratory, he met his future wife, Maude M. De Witt.  In 1903, they married, and together in 1905 and 1906, they traveled abroad and worked at the University of London, University of Leipzig, and Marine Biological Station in Naples.

In 1906, he spent a year studying under Karl Pearson at University College, London. During this year he discovered biometry, which seemed to offer a solution to the problems he was concerned with in biology, zoology and eugenics. On his return to the US he continued his interests, but was converted from biometry to Mendelian genetics.

Career

Pearl's interest in statistical methods in biology began at the University of London, where he worked alongside Karl Pearson.  He stayed as an instructor at the University of Michigan until 1906, and that same year, he went to the University of Pennsylvania to be an instructor in zoology.  A year later, he became the head of the Department of Biology of the Main Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Maine in Orono where he studied the genetics of poultry and other domestic animals.  From 1917 to 1919, Pearl was the Chief of the Statistical Division of the United States Food Administration.  In 1918, Pearl developed a department of laboratory statistics when he was recruited by Johns Hopkins University to be the Professor of Biometry and Vital Statistics.

In 1920 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association,
which he also served as president.

Wilson's attack

In 1929, Pearl's friend William Morton Wheeler was about to retire as the Dean of the Bussey Institution at Harvard University.  At this time, there were plans to alter the current biological departments and create a field of human biology at Harvard.  Due to his connections at Harvard, Pearl was mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed Wheeler and had many supporters there.  However, Edwin Bidwell Wilson, a Harvard mathematician, was a critic of Pearl and did not believe he was fit for this position.  Wilson believed that great detail and attention should be used when dealing with the math of biological data and thought that Pearl had been messy with his handling and reasoning of math in the field of biology.  Wilson's first issue with Pearl was his study of population growth in the 1920s.  Pearl stated that he discovered the law of population that represented an S-shaped curve of growth, but Wilson thought that his data was insufficient and did not support this assertion.

Despite his criticism of Pearl, in 1925, Wilson reached out to Pearl for help on his cancer research.  Pearl was unaware of Wilson's criticism of him at the time.  He did not help Wilson because he thought that he did not have a sufficient understanding of the biological and medical fields, which further ignited Wilson's distaste of Pearl.  In 1929, Pearl conducted research on the correlation between tuberculosis and cancer and published a paper that claimed that there is a negative correlation.  This research had mistakes in its data analysis, so Wilson saw this study as an opportunity to attack Pearl and prevent him from becoming the new dean.  Wilson denounced Pearl's use of mathematics in the cancer study to different departments at Harvard and published about it as well.  His efforts paid off as the Board of Overseers at Harvard rejected Pearl's nomination by a vote of ten to nine.  Pearl continued his scientific pursuits at Hopkins until his death.

Eugenics, medicine, population, and politics

Pearl was a eugenicist who held traditional Galtonian beliefs.  He wanted to use eugenics and biometry in medicine and public health in order to gain knowledge of human heredity.

Pearl founded the Constitutional Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He believed in constitutional medicine, which focuses on examining the soil on which a seed falls.  He later became the director of a new Institute of Biological Research at Johns Hopkins in 1925 that was aimed at examining the genetics and environmental factors of disease.  This research institute combined biometry, genetics, and medicine to investigate the hereditary predisposition of tuberculosis and hypertension.  When conducting his research of these diseases, Pearl recorded the height, weight, handedness, measurements of different body parts, and physical descriptions.  Just like Galton, he believed that race was an important factor in human characteristics and believed in using biology and genetics to improve the long-term health of the population.  Although he tried to be quantitative, objective, and systematic, his classifications of different races were influenced by social norms and prejudices.

However, in the late 1920s, Pearl condemned eugenics.  Pearl criticized the use of race in eugenics despite conducting research that recognized racial differences.  He believed that eugenics was doing the right thing badly and that human biology was eugenics done right if it consisted of reliable statistics, objectivity, a liberal social agenda, and medical affiliations. In 1927, he published the landmark article The Biology of Superiority, which attacked the basic assumptions of eugenics. The article was the first general attack on eugenics by someone perceived as being within the movement. It also contributed to the emergence of reform eugenics and the population control movement.

Pearl was an influential member of the Advisory Committee of the World Population Conference, after which Pearl helped found the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population Problems. Pearl's ideas about human population growth, which were separable from his ideas about eugenics, owed to both his biological research but also the role he believed population played in the origins of World War I as well as his concern that mass consumption would push against resource limits. His research on population limits helped develop the concept of carrying capacity.

Despite his apparent rejection of eugenics, Pearl maintained relatively good relations with key eugenicists and expressed classist views. He made statements which have been interpreted as being anti-Semitic. From 1927 to 1932, Pearl and his colleague Alan Meyer were important figures of one of the first birth control clinics in the United States called Baltimore's Bureau for Contraceptive Advice.  Pearl was a supporter of birth control, but had a more conservative and scientific approach when compared to the ideologies of Margaret Sanger.  The clinic performed a eugenic medicine study that looked at how the distribution of birth control information that was provided by a clinic affected society.

Scientific interests

Pearl's main focus of interest was in biostatistics.  As one of the first biostatisticians to use mathematics as a way to interpret population genetics, Pearl published a book called Modes of Research in Genetics in 1915 and another book called Introduction to Medical Biometry and Statistics in 1923.  They were both widely read and were influential in showing the importance of statistics in the genetic and medical fields.

Even though many of his books were well-received, some of his beliefs still caused controversy.  One such belief was that when a brother and sister reproduce, there would not be an increase in homozygosity.  Pearl believed that with brother-sister breeding and no selection past the F3 generation, heterozygosity would not fall below 50%.

Even though his main interest was biostatistics, Pearl had a wide range of interests in biology and was known for his broad knowledge of the subject.  He published works on animal behavior, population growth, food and prices, Jewish and Christian marriages, and vegetarianism.  In the 1920s and 1930s, Pearl focused on the effect that the environment, which included disease, alcohol, and tobacco, has on longevity.  He published a book called Alcohol and Longevity in 1926, where he claimed that moderate consumption of alcohol could be beneficial for cardiovascular health, which was met with much debate due to prohibition.  Controversy continued when Pearl conducted a study on tobacco in which he demonstrated that smoking decreases longevity while drinking does not.

Pearl is regarded as one of founders of biogerontology. In 1908 Max Rubner observed that mammals of different size and longevity had equal mass specific metabolic output. Partly based on the observation that the longevity of fruit flies varies inversely with ambient temperature, Pearl (like Rubner) also asserted that maximum life span is inversely proportional to basal metabolic rate. Pearl accepted Alexis Carrel's erroneous ideas that normal somatic cells don't age, and that aging must therefore be due to dysfunction at the body level. Pearl speculated that lifespan was limited by vital cell components that were depleted or damaged more rapidly in animals with faster metabolisms. Denham Harman's free-radical theory of aging later provided a plausible causal mechanism for Pearl's hypothesis.

The Rate of Living Hypothesis enjoyed prominence as one of the foremost theories of aging for nearly 50 years. The Rate of Living Hypothesis is undermined by the observation that a rat and a bat have similar metabolic rate, but a bat lives several times longer. More recently, further doubts have been raised on the Rate of Living Hypothesis by the demonstration that, when modern statistical methods for correcting for the effects of body size and phylogeny are employed, metabolic rate does not correlate with longevity in mammals or birds. (For a critique of the Rate of Living Hypothesis see Living fast, dying when?.)

Social habits and death
Pearl was widely known for his lust for life and his love of food, drink, music and parties. He was a key member of the Saturday Night Club which also included H. L. Mencken. Prohibition made no dent in Pearl's drinking habits (which were legendary).

Raymond Pearl is, also, known for his population biology work, as in his 1928 volume, The Rate of Living: Being an Account of Some Experimental Studies on the Biology of Life Duration.   In this book, he presents extensive research regarding population density effects on life duration in fruit flies, demonstrating that an optimal population density existed for that insect in his experimental model.  This raised the question of whether or not the same effect might not occur in other species, including humans.  His work demonstrating longer lifespans for flies with lower metabolic rates, also, raised the question of whether or not a similar phenomenon might be found in other species, including humans.  Thus, he became a mentor to John B. Calhoun, famous for his ecological studies of rodent populations and their possible importance for modern humans.  Population density effects on duration of life is thought, by population biologists, to be Raymond Pearl's greatest contribution to biological science.

In November 1940, Pearl was in apparently good health and paid a visit to the Baltimore Zoo. He cut his trip short complaining of chest pains and died later that day.

See also
 Life extension
 Maximum life span
 Senescence (aging theories)

References

Further reading

External links

American Philosophical Society Raymond Pearl Papers

 The Papers of Raymond Pearl at Dartmouth College Library

1879 births
1940 deaths
People from Farmington, New Hampshire
University of Michigan alumni
Biogerontologists
American biologists
Researchers in alcohol abuse
Presidents of the American Statistical Association
Fellows of the American Statistical Association
American statisticians
Writers from New Hampshire
Mathematicians from New Hampshire
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America editors

Raymond Pearl


The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1956.

These Games were the first to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania, as well as the first to be held outside Europe and North America. Melbourne is the most southerly city ever to host the Olympics. Due to the Southern Hemisphere's seasons being different from those in the Northern Hemisphere, the 1956 Games did not take place at the usual time of year, because of the need to hold the events during the warmer weather of the host's spring/summer (which corresponds to the Northern Hemisphere's autumn/winter), resulting in the only summer games ever to be held in November and December. Australia hosted the Games for a second time in 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, and will host them again in 2032 in Brisbane, Queensland.

The Olympic equestrian events could not be held in Melbourne due to Australia's strict quarantine regulations, so they were held in Stockholm five months earlier. This was the second time the Olympics were not held entirely in one country, the first being the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, with some events taking place in Ostend, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Despite uncertainties and various complications encountered during the preparations, the 1956 Games went ahead in Melbourne as planned and turned out to be a success. Started during the 1956 Games was the "Parade of Athletes" at the closing ceremonies.

Eight teams boycotted the Games for various reasons. Four teams (Egypt, Iraq, Cambodia and Lebanon) boycotted in response to the Suez Crisis, in which Egypt was invaded by Israel, France and the United Kingdom. Three teams (the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland) boycotted in response to the Soviet invasion of Hungary, and the People's Republic of China's boycott was in response to a dispute with the Republic of China over the right to represent China.

The Soviet Union won the most gold medals, and the most medals overall.

One of the most notable events of the games was a controversial water polo match between the Soviet Union and the defending champions, Hungary. The Soviet Union had recently suppressed an anti-Soviet revolution in Hungary and violence broke out between the teams during the match, resulting in numerous injuries. When Ervin Zádor suffered bleeding after being punched by Valentin Prokopov, spectators attempted to join the violence, but they were blocked by police. The match was cancelled, with Hungary being declared the winner because they were in the lead.

Host city selection
Melbourne was selected as the host city over bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and San Francisco at the 43rd IOC Session in Rome, Italy on 28 April 1949. Mexico City, Montreal and Los Angeles would eventually be selected to host the 1968, 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

Prelude
Many members of the IOC were sceptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games must be held during the northern winter. The November–December schedule was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from the Northern Hemisphere, who were accustomed to resting during their winter.

Notwithstanding these concerns, the field of candidates eventually narrowed to two Southern Hemisphere cities, these being Melbourne and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Melbourne was selected, in 1949, to host the 1956 Olympics by a one-vote margin. The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events. Stockholm was selected as the alternative site, so equestrian competition began on 10 June, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic Games were to open.

The above problems of the Melbourne Games were compounded by bickering over financing among Australian politicians. Eventually, in March 1953, the State Government accepted a £2 million loan from the Commonwealth Government to build the Olympic Village, which would accommodate up to 6,000 people, in Heidelberg West. After the Olympics, the houses in the village were handed back to the Housing Commission for general public housing.

At one point, IOC President Avery Brundage suggested that Rome, which was to host the 1960 Games, was so far ahead of Melbourne in preparations that it might be ready as a replacement site in 1956.  Construction of sporting venues was given priority over the athlete's village.  The village was designed as a whole new suburb with semi-detached houses and flats.  For the first time both sexes were to reside in the same buildings, separated only by fence.

As late as April 1955, Brundage was still doubtful about Melbourne and was not satisfied by an inspection trip to the city. Construction was well under way by then, thanks to a $4.5 million federal loan to Victoria, but it was behind schedule. He still held out the possibility that Rome might have to step in.

By the beginning of 1956, though, it was obvious that Melbourne would be ready for the Olympics.

Participation and boycotts

Egypt, Iraq, Cambodia and Lebanon announced that they would not participate in the Olympics in response to the Suez Crisis when Egypt was invaded by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.

The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Liechtenstein boycotted the event in protest of the Soviet Union's crushing of the Hungarian Revolution.

The People's Republic of China chose to boycott the event because the Republic of China had been allowed to compete.

Although the number of countries participating (67) was almost the same as in 1952 (69), the number of athletes competing dropped sharply, from 4,925 to 3,342. (This figure does not include the 158 athletes from 29 countries who took part in the Stockholm equestrian competition.)

Events
Once underway, the Games progressed smoothly, and came to be known as the "Friendly Games". Betty Cuthbert, an 18-year-old from Sydney, won the 100 and 200 metre sprint races and ran an exceptional final leg in the 4 x 100 metre relay to overcome Great Britain's lead and claim her third gold medal. The veteran Shirley Strickland repeated her 1952 win in the 80 metre hurdles and was also part of the winning 4 x 100 metre relay team, bringing her career Olympic medal total to seven: three golds, a silver, and three bronze medals.

Australia also triumphed in swimming. They won all of the freestyle races, men's and women's, and collected a total of eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Murray Rose became the first male swimmer to win two freestyle events since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924, while Dawn Fraser won gold medals in the 100 metre freestyle and as the leadoff swimmer in the 4 x 100 metre relay team.

The men's track and field events were dominated by the United States. They not only won 15 of the 24 events, they swept four of them and took first and second place in five others. Bobby Morrow led the way with gold medals in the 100 and 200 metre sprints and the 4 x 100 metre relay. Tom Courtney barely overtook Great Britain's Derek Johnson in the 800 metre run, then collapsed from the exertion and needed medical attention.

Ireland's Ronnie Delany ran an outstanding 53.8 over the last 400 metres to win the 1,500 metre run, in which favourite John Landy of Australia finished third.

There was a major upset, marred briefly by controversy, in the 3,000 metre steeplechase. Little-known Chris Brasher of Great Britain finished well ahead of the field, but the judges disqualified him for interfering with Norway's Ernst Larsen, and they announced Sándor Rozsnyói of Hungary as the winner. Brasher's appeal was supported by Larsen, Rozsnyói, and fourth-place finisher Heinz Laufer of Germany. Subsequently, the decision was reversed and Brasher became the first Briton to win a gold medal in track and field since 1936.

Only two world records were set in track and field. Mildred McDaniel, the first American woman to win gold in the sport, set a high jump record of , and Egil Danielsen of Norway overcame blustery conditions with a remarkable javelin throw of .

Throughout the Olympics, Hungarian athletes were cheered by fans from Australia and other countries. Many of them gathered in the boxing arena when thirty-year-old Laszlo Papp of Hungary won his third gold medal by beating José Torres for the light-middleweight championship.

A few days later, the crowd was with the Hungarian water polo team in its match against the Soviet Union which took place against the background of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The game became rough and, when a Hungarian was forced to leave the pool with a bleeding wound above his eye, a riot almost broke out. The police restored order and the game was called early, with Hungary leading , and the Hungarians went on to win the gold medal.

In a much publicized Olympic romance, American hammer throw champion Hal Connolly would marry Czechoslovak discus throw champion, Olga Fikotová. After moving to the United States, Olga wanted to continue representing Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee would not allow her to do so. Thereafter, as Olga Connolly, she took part in every Olympics until 1972 competing for the U.S. She was the flag bearer for the U.S. team at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Despite the international tensions of 1956—or perhaps because of them—a young Melburnian, John Ian Wing, came up with a new idea for the closing ceremony. Instead of marching as separate teams, behind their national flags, the athletes mingled together as they paraded into and around the arena for a final appearance before the spectators. It was the start of an Olympic tradition that has been followed ever since.

Highlights
 These were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Avery Brundage.
 Hungary and the Soviet Union (who were engaged in an armed conflict at the time) were both present at the Games which, among other things, led to a hotly contested and emotionally charged water polo encounter between the two nations.
 Athletes from both East and West Germany competed together as a combined team, a remarkable display of unity that was repeated in 1960 and 1964, but was then discontinued.
 Australian athlete Betty Cuthbert became the "Golden Girl" by winning three gold medals in track events. Another Australian, Murray Rose, won three gold medals in swimming.
 U.S. sprinter Bobby Morrow won three gold medals, in the 100m and 200m sprints, and the 4 × 100 m relay.
 Soviet runner Vladimir Kuts won both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre events.
 Inspired by Australian teenager John Ian Wing, an Olympic tradition began when athletes from different nations were allowed to parade together at the closing ceremony, rather than separately with their national teams, as a symbol of world unity.
During the Games there will be only one nation. War, politics and nationalities will be forgotten. What more could anybody want if the world could be made one nation. —Extract from a letter by John Wing to the Olympic organisers, 1956
 Laszlo Papp defended his light-middleweight boxing title, gaining a record third Olympic gold medal.
 Ronnie Delany won gold for Ireland in the 1,500m final, the last Olympic gold medal that Ireland has won in a track event.
 The India men's national field hockey team won its sixth consecutive Olympic gold.

Olympic torch relay

The Olympic flame was relayed to Melbourne after being lit at Olympia on 2 November 1956.
Greek runners took the flame from Olympia to Athens.
The flame was transferred to a miner's lamp, then flown by a Qantas Super Constellation aircraft, "Southern Horizon" to Darwin, Northern Territory.
A Royal Australian Air Force English Electric Canberra jet bomber transported the flame to Cairns, Queensland, where it arrived on 9 November 1956.
The Mayor of Cairns, Alderman W.J. Fulton, lit the first torch.
The torch design was identical to the one used for the 1948 London Games (except for the engraved city name and year).
The first runner was Con Verevis, a local man of Greek parentage.
The flame was relayed down the east coast of Australia using die cast aluminium torches weighing about 3 pounds (1.8 kg).
The flame arrived in Melbourne on 22 November 1956, the day of the opening ceremony.
The flame was lit at the Olympic stadium by Ron Clarke, who accidentally burned his arm in the process.

While the Olympic flame was being carried to Sydney, an Australian veterinary student named Barry Larkin carried a fake Olympic Flame and fooled the mayor of Sydney.

Television
The Olympics were first televised during the 1936 games to a domestic audience in Berlin. The 1956 Winter Olympics in 	Cortina d'Ampezzo were broadcast internationally with the organising committee giving the television rights for free. While there was much interest in the games overseas, no international television or newsreel rights were awarded, as the Melbourne organising committee requested licensing payments for the broadcasting rights. However, domestic rights to the games were hastily agreed by the three Melbourne stations at the time, GTV9, HSV7 and ABV2, only a week before the opening ceremony. The three Sydney stations, TCN9, ATN7 and ABN2, syndicated the Melbourne coverage. With television in Australia having its beginnings in September 1956, for many Australians, their first glimpse of television was Olympic broadcasts.  As only around five thousand televisions had been sold by the time of the Games, the Australian audience largely watched the games at community halls and at Ampol petrol stations.

Sports
The 1956 Summer Olympics featured 17 different sports encompassing 23 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 151 events (145 events in Melbourne and 6 equestrian events in Stockholm). In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

Aquatics

Road (2)
Track (4)

Dressage (2)
Eventing (2)
Show jumping (2)

Freestyle (8)
Greco-Roman (8)

Demonstration sports

Venues

Ballarat
Lake Wendouree – Canoeing, Rowing

Melbourne
Broadmeadows – Cycling (road)
Hockey Field – Field hockey
Melbourne Cricket Ground – Athletics, Field hockey (final), Football (final)
Oaklands Hunt Club – Modern pentathlon (riding, running)
Olympic Park Stadium – Football
Port Phillip Bay – Sailing
Royal Australian Air Force, Laverton Air Base – Shooting (shotgun)
Royal Exhibition Building – Basketball (final), Modern pentathlon (fencing), Weightlifting, Wrestling
St Kilda Town Hall – Fencing
Swimming/Diving Stadium (Olympic Pool) – Diving, Modern pentathlon (swimming), Swimming, Water polo
Velodrome – Cycling (track)
West Melbourne Stadium – Basketball, Boxing, Gymnastics
Williamstown – Modern pentathlon (shooting), Shooting (pistol, rifle)

Stockholm
Lill-Jansskogen – Equestrian (eventing)
Olympic Stadium – Equestrian (dressage, eventing, jumping)
Ulriksdal  – Equestrian (eventing)

Participating National Olympic Committees

A total of 67 nations competed in the 1956 Olympics. Eight countries made their Olympic debuts: Cambodia (only competed in the equestrian events in Stockholm), Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (modern-day Sabah of Malaysia), and Uganda. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany, an arrangement that would last until 1968.

For the first time, the team of Republic of China effectively represented only Taiwan.

Five nations competed in the equestrian events in Stockholm, but did not attend the Games in Melbourne. Cambodia, Egypt and Lebanon did not compete in Melbourne due to a boycott regarding the Suez Crisis, whilst the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland all boycotted the Melbourne Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1956 Games.

Key
 Host nation (Australia). John Ian Wing of Australia was also presented with a bronze medal, not included in the above table, for suggesting the closing ceremony have athletes as one nation.

See also

2005 Summer Deaflympics
2006 Commonwealth Games

Notes

References

External links

Sports competitions in Melbourne
Sports competitions in Stockholm
Summer Olympics by year
Olympics Games
Olympic Games
Olympic Games
International sports boycotts
June 1956 sports events in Europe
November 1956 sports events in Australia
December 1956 sports events in Australia
1950s in Melbourne
1950s in Stockholm

1956 Summer Olympics


Selectorate Theory is a political theory that attributes the actions of leaders to rational, calculated decisions based on acquiring and maintaining power, originally proposed by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita.

History
Originally proposed in 1993 as a part of a work titled The Logic of Political Survival, co-written by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith, Randolph M. Siverson, and James D. Morrow, published by MIT Press. It discusses the selectorate theory of politics. Their theory was refined into a 2011 publication titled The Dictator's Handbook. The main thesis of the book is the implications of selectorate theory and how to improve world and national politics based on its principles.

Main Ideas

No Ruler rules alone
The theory is based on a single idea: No political leader has ever had total control of their government. Leaders need the support of at least some people to lead, because those people either do something for the leader or tell other people what to do. This means that there is a group of people the leader needs to persuade in order to obtain or keep power. These people are the selectorate, and are divided into three categories:

The Three Dimensions of Politics
There are three groups of people that a leader, or their contenders, must remain aware of in order to keep, or acquire, power:

 The Essentials are the people whose support is absolutely necessary for a person to come to power and keep power.
 The Influentials are the people who, though are important for a leader to gain power, aren't always the people that determine whether the leader stays in power.
 The Nominals are the people who have some influence over who is in charge, but aren't necessary for a leader to obtain power.

There are many ways that a leader and the selectorate interact with each other, mostly through the five rules that leaders follow to acquire and keep power.

The Five Rules to Rule By

 A ruler wants to keep the amount of Essentials they need to rely on as few as possible.
 A ruler wants to keep the group of Nominals as high as possible, so they can replace disloyal Essentials and Influentials.
 A ruler must have some way of paying their selectorate through taxes and a treasury.
 A ruler must pay their Essentials enough to stay in power, but not more.
 A ruler cannot take money away from their Essentials to make people's lives better.

The Two Strategies
There are two methods of governance that form using the Selectorate Theory: a government with few Essentials- called a small coalition- and a government with a large group of Essentials- called a large coalition.

Small coalition governments are autocracies such as North Korea or the Soviet Union. Although many people can vote in their elections, if there are any, a leader stays in power because of the very few people who are rewarded for their loyalty. In small coalition governments, a leader can simply bribe their Essentials with material rewards such as money or real estate.

Large coalition governments are governments that force leaders to appeal to large amounts of people to take power, such as through an election. This style of governance makes it implausible to bribe individual voters or Essentials, meaning a leader instead pools the money earned from taxes to create policy that disproportionately rewards their Essentials more than other groups.

How the selectorate affects leadership
With the basic idea of how a leader and their selectorate interact with each other, there are several ways that this manifests in domestic and foreign policy.

The Fall of Monarchy
Monarchy is a system where a regent has a small court of lords whom support the ruler. However, those who are eligible to become a member of the court is also small. This means a contender can easily promise big rewards for those who are able to become members of the court who aren't already, while those in the court must always prepare to be replaced, meaning they are never as loyal as they could be.

As such, democracy and autocracy are more stable systems for a leader because these systems allow them to follow the Second Rule: keep the Nominal selectorate as large as possible.

Foreign Aid
Foreign aid with no strings attached, such as the giving of money from a wealthy nation to a less fortunate one, often acts as a symbiotic relationship between dictators and democrats. Large-coalition governments send foreign aid money to impoverished nations as a policy concession- thus retaining power- while the impoverished nations, who are often governed by small coalitions, distribute the money among the coalition instead of benefiting the people.

References

Political systems
Political books
1993 books

Selectorate theory


Loyal Griggs, A.S.C. (August 15, 1906 – May 6, 1978) was an American cinematographer.

Griggs joined the staff of Paramount Pictures in 1924 after graduating from school and initially worked at the studio's process department. He was promoted from assistant photographer to second unit photographer to camera process photographer, before becoming director of photography for three 1951 releases: Crosswinds, Passage West and The Last Outpost.

Griggs won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for the 1953 Western Shane.
He was part of the production team that received an Academy Honorary Award at the 11th Academy Awards for their efforts on the Paramount film Spawn of the North.

Griggs' other Paramount films as cinematographer included the 1954 musical White Christmas, the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille epic The Ten Commandments, and the Jerry Lewis comedies The Sad Sack (1957) and Visit to a Small Planet (1960).  He was also the cinematographer on George Stevens' 1965 United Artists release The Greatest Story Ever Told as well as Otto Preminger's World War II drama of that same year, In Harm's Way.  His final film was the 1971 American International Pictures comedy Bunny O'Hare starring Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine.

Selected filmography
Hot News (1928)
Shane (1953)
White Christmas (1954)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Sad Sack (1957)
Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
In Harm's Way (1965)
Bunny O'Hare (1971)

References

External links

Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners
American cinematographers
Academy Honorary Award recipients
1906 births
1978 deaths

Loyal Griggs


Morey Mansion is an 1890 Victorian house in Redlands, California, United States.

History
The house was built in 1890 by early Redlands residents David and Sarah Morey for $20,000, profits from the sale of their citrus nursery. Following the Moreys' deaths in 1901, the house's second owners were Willard R. and Nancy Cheney, the brother and sister-in-law of Helen Cheney Kimberly, who was the wife of one of the founders of Kimberly-Clark Corporation. In the 1940s, it was reportedly owned by actress Carole Lombard's uncle and left to her in his will, but she died before she could take ownership. Shortly after, the mansion was purchased by Willard L. and Florence Wiseman, and then sold in 1969 to Curtiss and Phyllis Allen. The Allens owned it during the 1970s. Mr. Allen had seen the house as a young boy while in Redlands; he told someone that he was going to own that house one day. A friend told him it was for sale and Mr. Allen purchased it immediately.

The house was featured in the film Talk About a Stranger (1952) as the house of the character Dr. Paul Mahler, alias Matlock.

The mansion opened as the first bed and breakfast in Redlands in 1985 under then-owners Carl Ljungquist and Gary Conway. The house was purchased by Janet Cosgrove in 1998, who oversaw renovation work to the building before reopening it as a bed and breakfast in 2006. In 2010, Sara and Bill Taylor bought the mansion for sole use as their private residence.
In 2012 the house went into foreclosure. In January 2014, ownership was returned to Janet Cosgrove.

Gallery

References

Houses completed in 1890
Houses in San Bernardino County, California
Buildings and structures in Redlands, California
History of Redlands, California
Gilded Age mansions

Morey Mansion


Wilsons is an unincorporated community in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, United States, along U.S. Route 460 between Petersburg and Blackstone. Several Civil War battles were fought in and around Wilsons, including the Battle of Five Forks.
This town was a stop on the Southside Railroad in the mid-nineteenth Century.   This became the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad in 1870 and then a line in the Norfolk and Western Railway and now the Norfolk Southern Railway. From the late 19th century through mid-20th century, it provided water for steam engines and the water tower remained a landmark of the town until the 1990s.

Today it maintains a U.S. Post Office for its few hundred residents, near the intersection of Springston Road and Cox Road (Route 460).

References

Unincorporated communities in Virginia
Unincorporated communities in Dinwiddie County, Virginia

Wilsons, Virginia


The Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club (HTAC) is a competitive swim team in Nova Scotia. HTAC is based out of Dalplex, the athletic facility for Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Trojans also use Halifax's Centennial Pool as a secondary training facility.

HTAC is one of the oldest and largest swim teams in Atlantic Canada. The Trojans have over 300 members at various competitive levels, ranging from novice/introductory levels through to nationally ranked competitors.

The Trojans have won many Swim Nova Scotia Short Course and Long Course Provincial Championship titles as well as several Short and Long Course East Coast Championships titles over its history.

Famous swimmers
Nancy Garapick, double Bronze Medalist and World Record holder at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Susan Mason, National Team Member
Carwai Seto, represented Taiwan at the 1988 Summer Olympics
David Sharpe, represented Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics

External links
Official team site
Swim Meet Results

Swim teams in Canada

Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club


Taieb Cherkaoui (also Taib Cherkaoui - born 1949) was the Minister of Interior of Morocco between 2010 and 2012.

He was appointed to the post in January 2010, succeeding Chakib Benmoussa. A crackdown on protesters occurred under his command in the Rif mountains in 2012. He is alleged to have violated human rights of Moroccan demonstrators and activists. He also commands the different police regions which have government thugs (Baltagija) operating to suppress demonstrations in certain key areas.

Legal career
Cherkaoui was born in 1949 and worked for years as a public prosecutor, and served the government as director of criminal affairs for the Justice Ministry. He was eventually appointed president of the Moroccan Supreme Court.

References

1949 births
Living people
Government ministers of Morocco
People from Boujad

Taieb Cherkaoui


Donald Palma is a prominent classical double bassist, conductor, bass instructor, and educator of ensemble performance. He is a native of New York City, and is a graduate of the Juilliard School. Palma studied with several noted bassists including Frederick Zimmermann, Robert Brennand, Orin O'Brien, and Homer Mensch.

Double bass
At twenty years of age, Palma became a member of Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra, and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of twenty-four. In 1971 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Palma is a founding member of the prestigious Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is a noted chamber musician, having performed with the Nash Ensemble, Juilliard Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Da Camera Society of Houston, and Speculum Musicae, and has appeared in recital with such noted artists as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jan DeGaetani and Jorge Bolet. Palma is also the former principal bassist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Palma also appeared on Charles Schwartz's 1979 jazz symphony Mother ! Mother ! with Clark Terry and Zoot Sims.

Conducting
Palma frequently conducts ensembles at the New England Conservatory of Music and is both a bassist and conductor with Speculum Musicae. Palma is the former music director for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, which was awarded two ASCAP-Chamber Music America Awards for adventurous programming during his tenure. Palma is the conductor and music director of Symphony by the Sea, which performs in Marblehead and Byfield, MA.

Teaching
Palma is a full-time double bass faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he also serves as artistic director of the Chamber Orchestra. He is also a faculty member at Yale School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut. He has held master classes worldwide, including the Hartt School, Rice University, the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, and the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan. Many of Palma's double bass students are featured members of orchestras and ensembles worldwide.

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American male conductors (music)
Classical double-bassists
Yale School of Music faculty
New England Conservatory faculty
21st-century American conductors (music)
21st-century double-bassists
21st-century American male musicians

Donald Palma


"Real Good Man" is a song written by Rivers Rutherford and George Teren and recorded by American country music singer Tim McGraw.  It was released in May 2003 as the fourth single from McGraw's 2002 album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors.  The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart.

Content
The narrator states to his significant other that while he may be a "bad boy", he is a "real good man".

Critical reception
Rick Cohoon of Allmusic reviewed the song favorably, saying that the song "offers a unique melody." Cohoon goes on to say that McGraw can "party with the best of 'em" but also "touts his softer side complete with soft-as-velvet hands and a patriotic spirit."

Music video
The music video, directed and produced by Sherman Halsey, and premiered on CMT on July 12, 2003. It was filmed live in concert, and was released as a double-song video with "The Ride," a cover of the David Allan Coe hit.  A special promotional single of this double-song performance was sent to radio stations.  While the live version of "Real Good Man" did eventually appear on McGraw's Greatest Hits 3 CD, it did not contain "The Ride"; "The Ride" would appear on McGraw's 2016 "Ultimate Collection" 4 disc set.

Chart positions
"Real Good Man" debuted at number 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the chart week of May 17, 2003.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

2003 singles
Tim McGraw songs
Songs written by Rivers Rutherford
Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore
Song recordings produced by Tim McGraw
Music videos directed by Sherman Halsey
Curb Records singles
2002 songs
Songs written by George Teren

Real Good Man


The Deep Space Network (or DSN) is NASA's group of large antennae at three stations around world. They are at Madrid, California, and Canberra, about 120 degrees apart around the Earth. They communicate with satellites and probes in space. The antennas are also used as radio telescopes to learn about stars and other natural things in space.

The DSN is NASA's international array of giant radio antennas. It supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, plus a few that orbit Earth. It also provides radar and radio astronomy observations that improve the understanding of the solar system and the larger universe.

According to NASA, "The antennas of the Deep Space Network are the indispensable link to explorers venturing beyond Earth. They provide the crucial connection for commanding our spacecraft and receiving their never-before-seen images and scientific information on Earth, propelling our understanding of the universe, our solar system and ultimately, our place within it."

The placement of these sites allow communication with spacecraft as our planet rotates. Before a distant spacecraft sinks below the horizon at one DSN site, another site can pick up the signal and carry on communicating. All three sites have at least four antennae stations. Each are equipped with large parabolic dish antennas and ultra-sensitive receiving systems. They can detect incredibly faint radio signals from distant spacecraft.

References

NASA

Deep Space Network


The Conversion of Saul is a fresco painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti (c. 1542–1545). It is housed in the Pauline Chapel (Capella Paolina), Vatican Palace, in Vatican City. This piece depicts the moment that Saul is converted to Christianity while on the road to Damascus.

Pope Paul III commissioned the work for the chapel of his namesake. The chapel was built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in 1537 to 1538 with the patronage of Pope Paul III Farnese to serve as storage for the consecrated Host, and as the place where cardinals gather to elect a new Pope.

Description
The figure of Christ is in the top left corner of the fresco. He is making a dramatic entrance into the scene, surrounded by a halo of light and a security detail of heavenly hosts. Some of these angels look on in awe and shock at the event occurring, while others act as a protective barrier between those things that are heavenly and divine and the earthly things below. A beam of light radiates from Christ down to a group of figures. This group is highly dramatized in their posing and expression. The most dramatic of these earthly figures is Saul himself. Saul has the face of an old man, though "we know and Michelangelo also knew it well that the calling of Saul on the road to Damascus occurred when he was about 30 years old." Saul's face reflects Michelangelo's own, who at this point was an old man also troubled by his faith. The figure of Saul represents "the human being in need of a greater light".  Surrounding Saul is a triangular composition of companions that attempt to aid him as he lies recumbent on the ground. With one hand raised to shield himself from Christ, he has an expression of strange discomfort and fear. Most of the elements of this painting point towards the figure of Saul as being the main focus of the composition. The downward sloping hills, the beam of radiant light, and the groupings of the figures surrounding Saul make it clear to the viewer that he is the most important person in this figure-heavy piece.

Further in the background is an outline of a city to contextualize the exact moment in which Saul is experiencing this divine intervention. On a journey to this city of Damascus in which he originally intended to arrest Christ followers, Saul was converted to Christianity. While Saul lies helpless on the ground, some of his companions begin to pull out weapons and shields as though they are evading an enemies attack. There is a tension to this scene that is only heightened by the individual expressions on each of the figures faces. The people on earth range from fearful to concerned. Even the angels above seem shaken by Christ's actions.

As in most of his pieces, Michelangelo pays careful attention to anatomy, and gives great detail to the musculature and form of all the figures, whether clothed or nude. Even the horse shows some muscularity as he recedes into the background, carrying a stray figure with him. Michelangelo's sources for anatomical knowledge were live models, dissections, and sculptures from antiquity. Anatomy played a very important role in his work and can be seen playing out in the Conversion of Saul. In his later works such as the Last Judgement and also in his Conversion of Saul, the muscularity of his figures have more of a strain to them than previous pieces. The muscles and anatomy seem contorted and elongated in ways that should not be natural and the figures are in impractical poses. Yet, this approach to anatomy works to enhance the drama of the piece. These poses and movements create a tension to the scene and highlight the miraculous nature of the event occurring.

Restoration
The work began restoration in 2002 and was finished in 2009. Methods included using a chemical solvent, ultrasonic curettes, and laser equipment. Restoration efforts revealed that Michelangelo not only painted in fresco, but he also painted in mezzo fresco and a secco. Mezzo fresco is a technique in which the artist paints the final, thin layer of plaster underneath the actual painting so that paint pigments only slightly penetrate the plaster. A secco is a technique in which the artist painted on dry plaster and was able to work more quickly and correct mistakes as opposed to other methods.

See also
List of works by Michelangelo

References
Elkins, James. "Michelangelo and the Human Form: His Knowledge and use of Anatomy." Art History 7, no. 2 (June 1984): 176–186.

E. Wallace, William. "Narrative and Religious Expression in Michelangelo's Pauline Chapel." Artibus et Historiae 10, no. 19 (1989): 107–121.

Kuntz, Margaret. "Designed for Ceremony: The Cappella Paolina at the Vatican Palace." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 62, no. 2 (2003): 228–255.

de Tolnay, Charles. "The Final Period: Last Judgement, Frescoes of the Pauline Chapel, Last Pietas." Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960. Vol 5

Notes

External links

Religious paintings by Michelangelo
1540s paintings
Fresco paintings in Rome
Michelangelo
Paintings depicting Jesus
Horses in art

The Conversion of Saul (Michelangelo)


Renana Peres () is an Israeli researcher and a faculty member at the Jerusalem School of Business Administration at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. Peres is the founding CEO of PerSay Ltd. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Marketing Research and International Journal of Research in Marketing and has published her research in top academic and practitioner journals in the fields of marketing and management.

Research
Peres' research focuses on different topics in the marketing field. These include brands, word-of-mouth, innovation diffusion and the evolution of markets for new products, social networks; complexity research and use of agent-based models for exploring market growth, seeding, industrial marketing, new product diffusion, B2B marketing, and CRM in growing markets.

Peres' research on brands and word-of-mouth aims to comprehend and recognise the richness of the phenomenon. Her research project compares word-of-mouth in different channels and connects it to brand characteristics through the brands' categories, products and brand attributes. Peres analyzes both offline (face-to-face and phone conversations) and online (blogs, user forums, and Twitter) as a means of generating word-of-mouth advertising and addressing the scarcity of knowledge about the online/offline dynamic. Peres' research interests in physics focus on neural networks brain modeling. Prior to her research in marketing, Peres explored the usage of neural network models for describing learning phenomena in the human visual cortex. Then she moved to develop algorithms and systems for voice-based verification. Peres has published her works in leading journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Marketing Letters and The Economic Quarterly.

Selected publications

Books
 Eitan Muller, Renana Peres, and Vijay Mahajan (2009), Innovation Diffusion and New Product Growth, Marketing Science Institute, relevant Knowledge Series, December 2009.

The book offers a first full review of all classic and more recent diffusion models and focuses on the mechanisms that underlie new product growth. Specifically, the book focuses on current market trends such as information proliferation, globalization, competition, social networks, and growth in service markets.

Selected articles
 Mitch Lovett, Ron Shachar and Renana Peres (2014) "A dataset of brands and their characteristics," Marketing Science.
 Renana Peres (2014) "The impact of network characteristics on the diffusion of innovations," (2014) Physica A, 402 330-343.
 Mitch Lovett, Renana Peres, and Ron Shachar (2013) "On Brands and Word-of-Mouth", Journal of Marketing Research, 50 (4) 427-444.
 Stefan Stremersch, Renana Peres and Eitan Muller (2010), "Does New Product Growth Accelerate Across Technology Generations?" Marketing Letters, 21 (2) 103-120.
 Barak Libai, Eitan Muller and Renana Peres (2009), "The Diffusion of Services", Journal of Marketing Research, 46 (2) 163-175. Final nominee for the Paul Green award.
 Barak Libai, Eitan Muller and Renana Peres (2005), "The Role of Seeding in Multi-Market Entry", International Journal of Research in Marketing, 22(4), 375-393.

Business leadership
After completing her Masters in Physics, Peres worked as a process engineer at Intel in Jerusalem. In 1995, she joined Comverse Technology as the head of research group at the Signal-Processing Department, and later was appointed the director of marketing of speech technologies and signal processing. The strength and sustainability of the voice-based technology she developed at Comverse led Peres to establish PerSay Ltd in 1999, a company that focuses on developing, promoting and marketing speaker recognition technologies. PerSay, which was a subsidiary of Comverse, develops systems which perform voice-based authentication of subscribers in applications of direct banking, telecommunication, and e-commerce. The company's products are server systems, based on unique in-house technology, and involve voice processing algorithms, hardware, and complex software architecture. Peres was the founder and CEO from 1999 to 2001. PerSay was acquired by Nuance Communications in 2010.

References

External links
 Personal page on the Jerusalem School of Business Administration at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem website

 The fourth Israeli Presidential Conference, 2012. Lecture at the panel: Homoconnecticus: Technological Evolution or Social Revolution?
 The fifth Israeli Presidential Conference, 2013. Panel: Has Traditional Media Been Caught in the Web?
 Prof. Peres' appearance on the Israeli current affairs news show on the Israeli channel 10, April 2014

Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
21st-century Israeli businesswomen
21st-century Israeli businesspeople
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)

Renana Peres