Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as "software artists". EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987's Skate or Die!. The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991.

Currently, EA develops and publishes games of established franchises, including Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Army of Two, Apex Legends, and Star Wars, as well as the EA Sports titles FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL, PGA and UFC. Their desktop titles appear on self-developed Origin, an online gaming digital distribution platform for PCs and a direct competitor to Valve's Steam and Epic Games' Store. EA also owns and operates major gaming studios such as DICE, Motive Studio, BioWare, and Respawn Entertainment.

History

1982–1991: Trip Hawkins era, founding, and early success

Trip Hawkins had been an employee of Apple since 1978, at a time when the company had only about fifty employees. Over the next four years, the market for home personal computers skyrocketed. By 1982, Apple had completed its initial public offering (IPO) and become a Fortune 500 company with over one thousand employees.

In February 1982, Trip Hawkins arranged a meeting with Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital to discuss financing his new venture, Amazin' Software. Valentine encouraged Hawkins to leave Apple, where Hawkins served as Director of Product Marketing, and allowed Hawkins to use Sequoia Capital's spare office space to start the company. On May 27, 1982, Trip Hawkins incorporated and established the company with a personal investment of an estimated .

For more than seven months, Hawkins refined his Electronic Arts business plan. With aid from his first employee (with whom he worked in marketing at Apple), Rich Melmon, the original plan was written, mostly by Hawkins, on an Apple II in Sequoia Capital's office in August 1982. During that time, Hawkins also employed two of his former staff from Apple, Dave Evans and Pat Marriott, as producers, and a Stanford MBA classmate, Jeff Burton from Atari for international business development. The business plan was again refined in September and reissued on October 8, 1982. By November, the employee headcount rose to 11, including Tim Mott, Bing Gordon, David Maynard, and Steve Hayes. Having outgrown the office space provided by Sequoia Capital, the company relocated to a San Mateo office that overlooked the San Francisco Airport landing path. Headcount rose rapidly in 1983, including Don Daglow and Richard Hilleman.

When he incorporated the company, Hawkins originally chose Amazin' Software as their company name, but his other early employees of the company universally disliked the name, and it changed its name to Electronic Arts in November 1982. He scheduled an off-site meeting in the Pajaro Dunes, where the company once held such off-site meetings. Hawkins had developed the ideas of treating software as an art form and calling the developers "software artists". Hence, the latest version of the business plan suggested the name "SoftArt". However, Hawkins and Melmon knew the founders of Software Arts, the creators of VisiCalc, and thought their permission should be obtained. Dan Bricklin did not want the name used because it sounded too similar (perhaps "confusingly similar") to Software Arts. However, the name concept was liked by all the attendees. Hawkins had also recently read a bestselling book about the film studio United Artists and liked the reputation that the company had created. Hawkins said everyone had a vote, but they would lose it if they went to sleep.

Hawkins liked the word "electronic", and various employees had considered the phrases "Electronic Artists" and "Electronic Arts". When Gordon and others pushed for "Electronic Artists", in tribute to the film company United Artists, Steve Hayes opposed, saying, "We're not the artists, they [the developers] are..." This statement from Hayes immediately tilted sentiment towards Electronic Arts and the name was unanimously endorsed and adopted later in 1982. He recruited his original employees from Apple, Atari, Xerox PARC, and VisiCorp, and got Steve Wozniak to agree to sit on the board of directors. Hawkins was determined to sell directly to buyers. Combined with the fact that Hawkins was pioneering new game brands, this made sales growth more challenging. Retailers wanted to buy known brands from existing distribution partners. Former CEO Larry Probst arrived as VP of Sales in late 1984 and helped expand the already successful company. This policy of dealing directly with retailers gave EA higher margins and better market awareness, key advantages the company leveraged to leapfrog its early competitors.

Promoting its developers was a trademark of EA's early days.  Games were sold in square packages modeled after album covers (such as those for 1983's M.U.L.E. and Pinball Construction Set). Hawkins thought the packaging would both save costs and convey an artistic feeling. EA routinely referred to their developers as "artists" and gave them photo credits in their games and full-page magazine ads. Their first such ad, accompanied by the slogan "We see farther," was the first video game advertisement to feature software designers. EA shared lavish profits with their developers, which added to their industry appeal.

In the mid-1980s, Electronic Arts aggressively marketed products for the Amiga, a home computer introduced in 1985. Commodore had given EA development tools and prototype machines before Amiga's actual launch. For Amiga EA published some notable non-game titles. A drawing program Deluxe Paint (1985) and its subsequent versions became perhaps the most famous piece of software available for Amiga platform. In addition, EA's Jerry Morrison conceived the idea of a file format that could store images, animations, sounds, and documents simultaneously, and would be compatible with third-party software. He wrote and released to the public the Interchange File Format, which soon became an Amiga standard. Other Amiga programs released by EA included Deluxe Music Construction Set, Instant Music and Deluxe Paint Animation. Some of them, most notably Deluxe Paint, were ported to other platforms. For Macintosh EA released a black & white animation tool called Studio/1, and a series of Paint titles called Studio/8 and Studio/32 (1990).

Relationships between Electronic Arts and their external developers often became difficult when the latter missed deadlines or diverged from the former's creative directions. In 1987, EA released Skate or Die!, their first internally developed game. EA continued publishing their external developers' games while experimenting with their internal development strategy. This led to EA's decision of purchasing out a series of companies they identify as successful, as well as the decision to release annualized franchises to cut budget costs. Because of Trip Hawkins' obsession of simulating a sports game, he signed a contract with football coach John Madden that led to EA's developing and releasing annual Madden NFL games.

In 1988, EA published a flight simulator game exclusively for Amiga, F/A-18 Interceptor, with filled-polygon graphics that were advanced for the time. Another significant Amiga release (also initially available for Atari ST, later converted for other platforms) was Populous (1989) developed by Bullfrog Productions. It was a pioneering title in the genre that was later called "god games". In 1990, Electronic Arts began producing console games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, after previously licensing its computer games to other console-game publishers.

1991–2007: Larry Probst era, continuous expansion, and success into the new millennium
In 1991, Trip Hawkins stepped down as EA's CEO and was succeeded by Larry Probst. Hawkins went on to found the now-defunct 3DO Company, but still remained EA's chair until July 1994. In October 1993, 3DO developed the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, which at the time was the most powerful game console. Once a critic of game consoles, Hawkins had conceived a console that unlike its competitors would not require a first-party license to be marketed, and was intended to appeal to the PC market. Electronic Arts was The 3DO Company's primary partner in sponsoring their console, showcasing on it their latest games. With a retail price of US$700 () compared to its competitors' $100, the console lagged in sales, and with the 1995 arrival to North America of Sony's PlayStation, a cheaper and more powerful alternative, combined with a lower quality of the 3DO's software library as a backfiring of its liberal license policy, it fell further behind and lost competition. Electronic Arts dropped its support for 3DO in favor of the PlayStation, 3DO's production ceased in 1996 and, for the remainder of the company's lifetime, 3DO developed video games for other consoles and the IBM PC until it folded in 2003.

In 1994, Electronic Arts and THQ signed a licensing agreement to develop and release EA's titles, like John Madden Football, FIFA International Soccer, Shaq Fu, Jungle Strike and Urban Strike for various consoles.

In 1995, Electronic Arts won the European Computer Trade Show award for best software publisher of the year. As the company was still expanding, they opted to purchase space in Redwood Shores, California in 1995 for construction of a new headquarters, which was completed in 1998. Early in 1997, Next Generation identified Electronic Arts as the only company to regularly profit from video games over the past five years, and noted it had "a critical track record second to none".

In 1999, EA replaced their long-running Shapes logo with one based on the EA Sports logo used at the time. EA also started to use a brand-specific structure around this time, with the main publishing side of the company rebranding to EA Games. The EA Sports brand was retained for major sports titles, the new EA Sports Big label would be used for casual sports titles with an arcade twist, and the full Electronic Arts name would be used for co-published and distributed titles.

EA began to move toward direct distribution of digital games and services with the acquisition of the popular online gaming site Pogo.com in 2001. In 2009, EA acquired the London-based social gaming startup Playfish.

In 2004, EA made a multimillion-dollar donation to fund the development of game production curriculum at the University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division. On February 1, 2006, Electronic Arts announced that it would cut worldwide staff by 5 percent. On June 20, 2006, EA purchased Mythic Entertainment, who are finished making Warhammer Online.

After Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5 successfully grabbed market share away from EA's dominant Madden NFL series during the 2004 holiday season, EA responded by making several large sports licensing deals which include an exclusive agreement with the NFL, and in January 2005, a 15-year deal with ESPN. The ESPN deal gave EA exclusive first rights to all ESPN content for sports simulation games. On April 11, 2005, EA announced a similar, 6-year licensing deal with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) for exclusive rights to college football content.

Much of EA's success, both in terms of sales and with regards to its stock market valuation, is due to its strategy of platform-agnostic development and the creation of strong multi-year franchises. EA was the first publisher to release yearly updates of its sports franchises—Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live, Tiger Woods, etc.—with updated player rosters and small graphical and gameplay tweaks. Recognizing the risk of franchise fatigue among consumers, EA announced in 2006 that it would concentrate more of its effort on creating new original intellectual property.

In September 2006, Nokia and EA announced a partnership in which EA becomes an exclusive major supplier of mobile games to Nokia mobile devices through the Nokia Content Discoverer. In the beginning, Nokia customers were able to download seven EA titles (Tetris, Tetris Mania, The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and FIFA Street 2) on the holiday season in 2006. Rick Simonson is the executive vice-president and director of Nokia and starting from 2006 is affiliated with John Riccitiello and are partners.

2007–2013: John Riccitiello era
In February 2007, Probst stepped down from the CEO job while remaining on the board of directors. His handpicked successor is John Riccitiello, who had worked at EA for several years previously, departed for a while, and then returned. Riccitiello previously worked for Elevation Partners, Sara Lee and PepsiCo. In June 2007, new CEO John Riccitiello announced that EA would reorganize itself into four labels, each with responsibility for its own product development and publishing (the city-state model). The goal of the reorganization was to empower the labels to operate more autonomously, streamline decision-making, increase creativity and quality, and get games into the market faster. This reorganization came after years of consolidation and acquisition by EA of smaller studios, which some in the industry blamed for a decrease in quality of EA titles. In 2008, at the DICE Summit, Riccitiello called the earlier approach of "buy and assimilate" a mistake, often stripping smaller studios of its creative talent. Riccitiello said that the city-state model allows independent developers to remain autonomous to a large extent, and cited Maxis and BioWare as examples of studios thriving under the new structure.

Also, in 2007, EA announced that it would be bringing some of its major titles to the Mac. EA has released Battlefield 2142, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Crysis, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Madden NFL 08, Need for Speed: Carbon and Spore for the Mac. All of the new games have been developed for the Macintosh using Cider, a technology developed by TransGaming that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows games inside a translation layer running on Mac OS X. They are not playable on PowerPC-based Macs.

It was revealed in February 2008 that Electronic Arts had made a takeover bid for rival game company Take-Two Interactive. After its initial offer of  per share, all cash stock transaction offer was rejected by the Take-Two board, EA revised it to  per share, a 64% premium over the previous day's closing price and made the offer known to the public. Rumours had been floating around the Internet prior to the offer about Take-Two possibly being bought over by a bigger company, albeit with Viacom as the potential bidder. In May 2008, EA announced that it will purchase the assets of Hands-On Mobile Korea, a South Korean mobile game developer and publisher. The company will become EA Mobile Korea. In September 2008, EA dropped its buyout offer of Take-Two. No reason was given.

As of November 6, 2008, it was confirmed that Electronic Arts is closing their Casual Label & merging it with their Hasbro partnership with The Sims Label. EA also confirmed the departure of Kathy Vrabeck, who was given the position as former president of the EA Casual Division in May 2007. EA made this statement about the merger: "We've learned a lot about casual entertainment in the past two years, and found that casual gaming defies a single genre and demographic. With the retirement and departure of Kathy Vrabeck, EA is reorganizing to integrate casual games—development and marketing—into other divisions of our business. We are merging our Casual Studios, Hasbro partnership, and Casual marketing organization with The Sims Label to be a new Sims and Casual Label, where there is a deep compatibility in the product design, marketing and demographics. [...] In the days and weeks ahead, we will make further announcements on the reporting structure for the other businesses in the Casual Label including EA Mobile, Pogo, Media Sales and Online Casual Initiatives. Those businesses remain growth priorities for EA and deserve strong support in a group that will complement their objectives." This statement comes a week after EA announced it was laying off 6% about 600 of their staff positions and had a  net loss for the quarter.

Due to the 2008 economic crisis, Electronic Arts had a poorer than expected 2008 holiday season, moving it in February 2009 to cut approximately 1100 jobs, which it said represented about 11% of its workforce. It also closed 12 of their facilities. Riccitiello, in a conference call with reporters, stated that their poor performance in the fourth quarter was not due entirely to the poor economy, but also to the fact that they did not release any blockbuster titles in the quarter. In the quarter ending December 31, 2008, the company lost . On February 2, 2009, Ludlum Entertainment had inked a deal with Electronic Arts to grant exclusive rights to bring the work of Robert Ludlum into video gaming. As of early May 2009, the subsidiary studio EA Redwood Shores was known as Visceral Games. On June 24, 2009, EA announced it will merge two of its development studios, BioWare and Mythic into one single role-playing video game and MMO development powerhouse. The move will actually place Mythic under control of BioWare as Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will be in direct control of the new entity. By fall 2012, both Muzyka and Zeschuk had chosen to depart the merged entity in a joint retirement announcement.

On November 9, 2009, EA announced layoffs of 1,500 employees, representing 17% of its workforce, across a number of studios including EA Tiburon, Visceral Games, Mythic and EA Black Box. Also affected were "projects and support activities" that, according to Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown "don't make economic sense", resulting in the shutdown of popular communities such as Battlefield News and the EA Community Team. These layoffs also led to the complete shutdown of Pandemic Studios.

In October 2010, EA announced the acquisition of England-based iPhone and iPad games publisher Chillingo for  in cash. Chillingo published the popular Angry Birds for iOS and Cut the Rope for all platforms, but the deal did not include those properties, so Cut the Rope became published by ZeptoLab, and Angry Birds became published by Rovio Entertainment.

On May 4, 2011, EA reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2011, and on January 13, 2012, EA announced that it had exceeded $1 billion in digital revenue during the previous calendar year. In a note to employees, EA CEO John Riccitiello called this "an incredibly important milestone" for the company.

In June 2011, EA launched Origin, an online service to sell downloadable games for personal computers directly to consumers. Around this time, Valve, which runs Steam in direct competition with Origin, announced changes to storefront policy disallowing games that used in-game purchases that were not tied to Steam's purchasing process, and removed several of EA's games, including Crysis 2, Dragon Age II, and Alice: Madness Returns in 2012. Though EA released a new packaged version of Crysis 2 that including all the downloadable content without the storefront features, EA did not publish any additional games on Steam until 2019, instead selling all personal computer versions of games through Origin.

In July 2011, EA announced that it had acquired PopCap Games, the company behind games such as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled. EA continued its shift toward digital goods in 2012, folding its mobile-focused EA Interactive (EAi) division "into other organizations throughout the company, specifically those divisions led by EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, COO Peter Moore, and CTO Rajat Taneja, and EVP of digital Kristian Segerstrale."

2013–2022: Andrew Wilson era, Disney partnership, and monetization
On March 18, 2013, John Riccitiello announced that he would be stepping down as CEO and a member of the Board of Directors on March 30, 2013. Larry Probst was also appointed executive chairman on the same day. Andrew Wilson was named as the new CEO of EA by September 2013.

In April 2013, EA announced a reorganization which was to include dismissal of 10% of their workforce, consolidation of marketing functions which were distributed among the five label organizations, and subsumption of Origin operational leadership under the President of Labels.

EA acquired the lucrative exclusive license to develop games within the Star Wars universe from Disney in May 2013, shortly after Disney's closure of its internal LucasArts game development in 2013. EA secured its license from 2013 through 2023, and began to assign new Star Wars projects across several of its internal studios, including BioWare, DICE, Visceral Games, Motive Studios, Capital Games and external developer Respawn Entertainment.

In April 2015, EA announced that it would be shutting down various free-to-play games in July of that year, including Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield Play4Free, Need for Speed: World, and FIFA World.

The reorganization and revised marketing strategy lead to a gradual increase in stock value. In July 2015, Electronic Arts reached an all-time high with a stock value of US$71.63, surpassing the previous February 2005 record of $68.12. This is also up 54% from $46.57 in early January 2015. The surge was partly attributed to EA's then-highly anticipated Star Wars Battlefront reboot, which released one month before Star Wars: The Force Awakens, also highly anticipated.

During E3 2015, vice-president of the company, Patrick Söderlund, announced that the company will start investing more on smaller titles such as Unravel so as to broaden the company's portfolio. On December 10, 2015, EA announced a new division called Competitive Gaming Division, which focuses on creating competitive game experience and organizing ESports events. It was once headed by Peter Moore. In May 2016, Electronic Arts announced that they had formed a new internal division called Frostbite Labs. The new department specializes in creating new projects for virtual reality platforms, and "virtual humans". The new department is located in Stockholm and Vancouver.

EA announced the closure of Visceral Games in October 2017. Prior, Visceral had been supporting EA's other games but was also working on a Star Wars title named Project Ragtag since EA's acquisition of the Star Wars license, even hiring Amy Hennig to direct the project. While EA did not formally give a reason for the closure, industry pundits believed that EA was concerned about the principally single-player game which would be difficult to monetize, as well as the slow pace of development.

EA's original approach to the microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront II sparked an industry-wide debate on the use of random-content loot boxes. While other games had used loot boxes, EA's original approach within Battlefront II from its early October 2017 launch included using such mechanics for pay to win gameplay elements, as well as locking various Star Wars characters behind expensive paywalls, leading several gaming journalists and players to complain. EA modified some of the costs of these elements in anticipation of the game's full November 2017 launch, but they were reportedly told by Disney to disable all microtransactions until they could come up with a fairer monetization scheme. Ultimately, by March 2018, EA had developed a fairer system that eliminated the pay to win elements and drastically reduced costs for unlocking characters. The controversy over Battlefront II loot boxes led to an 8.5% drop in stock value in one month—about $3.1 billion and impacted EA's financial results for the following quarters. Further, the visibility of this controversial led to debate at government levels around the world to determine if loot boxes were a form of gambling and if they should be regulated.

In January 2018, EA announced eMLS, a new competitive league for EA Sports' FIFA 18 through its Competitive Gaming Division (CGD) and MLS. That same month, EA teamed up with ESPN and Disney XD in a multi-year pact to broadcast Madden NFL competitive matches across the world through its Competitive Gaming Division arm.

On August 14, 2018, Patrick Söderlund announced his departure from EA as its vice-president and chief design officer, after serving twelve years with the company. With Söderlund's departure, the SEED group was moved as part of EA's studios, while the EA Originals and EA Partners teams were moved under the company's Strategic Growth group.

On February 6, 2019, Electronic Arts' stock value was hit by a decline of 13.3%, the worst decline since Halloween 2008. This was largely due to the marketing of their anticipated title Battlefield V, which was released after the holiday season of October 2018. Stocks were already declining since late August, when EA announced that Battlefield Vs release would be delayed until November. Upon release, the game was met with a mixed reception, and EA sold one million fewer copies than their expected figure of 7.3 million. Also attributed to the stock plunge was the game's lack of the game mode Battle Royale, popularized by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and then Fortnite. Stocks then surged 9.6% with the surprise release of Apex Legends, which garnered 25 million players in just one week, smashing Fortnites record of 10 million players in two weeks. In advance of the end of its financial quarter ending March 31, 2019, Wilson announced they were cutting about 350 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, primarily from their marketing, publishing, and operations divisions. Wilson stated the layoffs were necessary to "address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead".

EA announced in October 2019 that it would be returning to release games on Steam, starting with the November 2019 release of Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, as well as bringing the EA Access subscription service to Steam. While EA plans to continue to sell games on Origin, the move to add Steam releases was to help get more consumers to see their offerings.

Due to COVID-19 lockdowns and growing demand for online games, EA's revenue grew to $1.4bn in the first quarter of 2020.

EA rebranded both EA Access and Origin to EA Play on August 18, 2020, but otherwise without changing the subscription price or services offered as part of a streamlining effort.

In December 2020, EA placed a bid to buy Codemasters, a British developer of racing games, in a deal worth $1.2 billion, outbidding an earlier offer placed by Take-Two Interactive. The acquisition, agreed to by Codemasters, was completed by February 18, 2021, with all shares of Codemasters transferred to Codex Games Limited, a subsidiary of EA. Wilson stated that "the franchises in our combined portfolio will enable us to create innovative new experiences and bring more players into the excitement of cars and motorsport".

In January 2021, Disney announced it had revived the Lucasfilm Games label for its licensed video game properties and announced new games including a new Star Wars game that would be developed by Ubisoft aimed for release in 2023, indicating that EA's ten-year exclusive license in 2013 to the Star Wars property was likely not extended. EA still maintained a non-exclusive license to Star Wars games, affirming more titles will be coming following this announcement. As of February 2021, EA's Star Wars games had sold more than 52 million copies and brought in more than  in revenue.

After a six-year absence from producing college sports-based game due to legal issues related to student athlete likenesses with the NCAA, EA announced in February 2021 that it was returning to college sports with a planned EA Sports College Football title to likely be released in 2023.

The company announced its plans to extend its mobile commitment in February 2021 by acquiring Glu Mobile in an deal estimated worth . The acquisition was completed by the end of April 2021.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia acquired 7.4 million shares of EA, valued at , in February 2021.

Former CEO and current chairman Probst stated in May 2021 he was retiring from the company. Current EA CEO Wilson took over as chairman.

In June 2021, EA confirmed that they had suffered a data breach, with game and engine source code taken from their servers, including the source for the Frostbite Engine and FIFA 21, though assuring no player or user data had been obtained. Hackers that had taken the code had started selling it around on the dark web. The perpetuators of this breach began to extort EA for money in July, releasing small portions of the data to public forums and threatening to release more if their demands were not met.

EA acquired mobile game developer Playdemic Studios in Manchester, England from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in June 2021 for , following the merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia. The acquisition is expected to complete by 2022.

In their SEC filings in September 2021, the company said that current CFO and COO Blake Jorgensen will be stepping down by mid-2022. The company's COO role will be taken over by Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele, while a search for a new CFO will be launched. Longtime Microsoft executive Chris Suh was later appointed as CFO in March 2022.

Industry reports around May 2022 asserted that EA had been looking to be acquired by larger media firms, including Disney, Apple, and Comcast/NBCUniversal. These reports said that EA had been nearing a final deal that would have had NBCUniversal spun out from Comcast before bringing EA within it. Amazon was also mentioned as a possible customer for EA, though CNBC reported in late August that Amazon is no longer interested in a takeover.

2023–present: Internal restructuring
In June 2023, EA announced an internal reorganization of the company: CEO Andrew Wilson announced a realignment of the company into two organizations – EA Sports and EA Entertainment – both which would report directly to him, having Laura Miele, previously Chief Studios Officer and COO as the president of EA Entertainment, and Cam Weber, formerly EVP and group General Manager of EA Sports as president of EA Sports. Vince Zampella, Samantha Ryan and Jeff Karp will continue on EA Entertainment leading and overseeing specific studios under EA Entertainment. Also announced in the same day, CFO Chris Suh and chief experience officer Chris Bruzzo will be leaving the company at the end of the month, with the first leaving for another company while the other going to retire. Replacing Suh as CFO will be Stuart Canfield, a 20-year veteran of the company who has most recently been serving as SVP of enterprise finance and investor relations, while the company's new chief experiences officer will be David Tinson, previously the company's chief marketing officer.

Games

Company structure

Since June 2023, the company is organized in two main divisions: EA Entertainment Technology & Central Development (EA Entertainment for short, formerly EA Games) and EA Sports.

EA Entertainment

 BioWare in Edmonton, Canada; acquired in October 2007.
 BioWare Austin in Austin, Texas; acquired in October 2007.
 Cliffhanger Games in Seattle, Washington, led by Kevin Stephens formerly vice-president of Monolith Productions, founded in May 2021.
 Criterion Games in Guildford, England; acquired in August 2004.
 Criterion Cheshire in Cheshire, England
 DICE in Stockholm, Sweden; acquired in October 2006.
 Frostbite Labs in Stockholm, Sweden and Vancouver, Canada; founded in May 2016.
 EA Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; founded in September 2008.
 EA Chillingo in Macclesfield, England; acquired in October 2010, reduced to bare staff in 2017 to primarily support mobile publishing.
 EA Galway in Galway, Ireland.
 EA Korea Studio in Seoul, South Korea; founded in 1998.
 EA Mobile in Los Angeles, California; founded in 2004.
 EA Capital Games in Sacramento, California; acquired in 2011. From 2011 to 2014, the studio was named BioWare Sacramento.
 EA Redwood Studios in Redwood City, California; founded in 2016.
 Firemonkeys Studios in Melbourne, Australia; acquired in July 2012.
 Glu Mobile in San Francisco, California; acquired in April 2021.
 PlayFirst in Delaware; acquired by Glu in September 2014.
 Playdemic in Manchester, England; acquired by EA in June 2021 from WarnerMedia.
 Slingshot Games in Hyderabad, India.
 Tracktwenty Studios in Helsinki, Finland; founded in 2012.
 Full Circle in Vancouver, Canada; opened in 2021.
 Maxis in Redwood City, California; acquired in July 1997.
 Maxis Texas in Austin, Texas was opened in 2019 and working on a new IP.
 Maxis Europe in multiple locations in Europe, was opened in 2021.
 Motive Studio in Montreal, Canada; founded in July 2015.
 Motive Studio Vancouver in Burnaby, Canada; founded in June 2018.
 Pogo Studios in New York City; acquired in March 2001.
 PopCap Games in Seattle, Washington; acquired in July 2011.
 PopCap Shanghai in Shanghai, China; acquired in July 2011.
 PopCap Hyderabad in Hyderabad, India; acquired in July 2011.
 Respawn Entertainment in Sherman Oaks, California; acquired in December 2017.
 Respawn Vancouver established in 2020 in Vancouver.
 Respawn Wisconsin established in 2023 in Madison, Wisconsin.
 Ridgeline Games in Seattle, Washington, led by Marcus Lehto former creative director of Bungie, founded in October 2021.
 Ripple Effect Studio in Los Angeles, California; established in May 2013, previously a subsidiary of DICE called DICE Los Angeles, and a support studio before becoming its own company and being renamed in 2021. Some of the staff were originally from Danger Close Games.

EA Sports

 Codemasters in Southam, England; founded in October 1986, acquired by EA in February 2021.
 Codemasters Birmingham in Birmingham, England
 Codemasters Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 Codemasters India in Pune, India
 Slightly Mad Studios in London, England; founded in 2009, acquired by Codemasters in November 2019.
 EA Cologne in Cologne, Germany
 EA Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden; founded in March 2011. From March 2011 to November 2012, the studio was named EA Gothenburg. From November 2012 to January 2020, the studio was named Ghost Games, until the original name came back.
 EA Madrid in Madrid, Spain; founded in October 2018.
 EA Orlando in Orlando, Florida; acquired in April 1998.
 EA Romania in Bucharest, Romania; acquired in 2006.
 EA Vancouver in Burnaby, Canada; acquired in 1991.
 Metalhead Software in Victoria, British Columbia; acquired in May 2021.

Former
 BioWare Montreal in Montreal, Canada; founded in March 2009, the studio merged into Motive Studio in August 2017.
BioWare San Francisco in San Francisco, California; founded as EA2D, the studio was renamed in August 2011 and closed in March 2013.
 Bullfrog Productions in Guildford, England; acquired in January 1995, the studio closed in 2001.
Danger Close Games in Los Angeles, California; acquired in February 2000, the studio closed in June 2013.
 EA Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland; founded in 1998, the studio closed in 2002.
 EA Black Box in Burnaby, Canada; acquired in June 2002 as Black Box Games, later rebranded as EA Black Box. The studio closed in April 2013.
 EA Bright Light in Guildford, England; founded in 1995 as EA UK, the studio was renamed in 2008 and closed in October 2011.
 EA Chicago in Hoffman Estates, Illinois; founded in February 2004, the studio closed in November 2007.
 EA North Carolina in Morrisville, North Carolina; the studio closed in September 2013.
 EA Pacific in Irvine, California; the studio was acquired in August 1998 as Westwood Pacific, the studio was renamed in 2002 and closed in 2003.
 EA Phenomic in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany; the studio was acquired in August 2006 and closed in July 2013.
 EA Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah; the studio was acquired in December 2006 and closed in April 2017.
 EA Seattle in Seattle, Washington; the studio was acquired in January 1996 and closed in 2002.
 Easy Studios in Stockholm, Sweden; the studio was founded in 2008 and closed in March 2015.
 Codemasters Cheshire in Cheshire, England; merged with Criterion Games in May 2022.
 Firemint in Melbourne, Australia; the studio was acquired in May 2011 and merged with Iron Monkey Studios to become Firemonkeys Studios in July 2012.
Hypnotix in Little Falls, New Jersey; acquired in July 2005, the studio was merged into EA Tiburon.
 Iron Monkey Studios in Sydney, Australia; the studio was acquired in May 2011 and merged with Firemint to become Firemonkeys Studios in July 2012.
 Industrial Toys in Pasadena, California; acquired in July 2018, shut down in January 2023.
 Kesmai in Charlottesville, Virginia; the studio was acquired in 1999 and closed in 2001.
 Mythic Entertainment in Fairfax, Virginia; acquired in July 2006 as EA Mythic, the studio became Mythic Entertainment in July 2008, then BioWare Mythic in June 2009 and again Mythic Entertainment in 2012. The studio closed in May 2014.
 NuFX in Hoffman Estates, Illinois; the studio was acquired in February 2004 and closed in the same year.
 Origin Systems in Austin, Texas; the studio was acquired in September 1992 and closed in February 2004.
 Pandemic Studios in Los Angeles, California and Brisbane, Australia; the studio was acquired in October 2007 and closed in November 2009.
 Playfish in London, England; the studio was acquired in 2009 and closed in June 2013.
 Quicklime Games; closed in April 2013.
 Uprise in Uppsala, Sweden; founded as Uprise and acquired in 2012 as ESN. From 2014, the studio was named Uprise again. It merged into DICE Stockholm in 2019.
 Victory Games in Los Angeles, California; founded in February 2011 as BioWare Victory, the studio was renamed in November 2012 and closed in October 2013.
 Visceral Games in Redwood City, California; founded in 1998 as EA Redwood Shores, the studio was renamed in 2009 and closed in October 2017.
 Waystone Games in Los Angeles, California; the studio closed in November 2014.
 Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada; the studio was acquired in August 1998 and closed in March 2003.

Labels

EA Sports

First introduced in 1991 as the Electronic Arts Sports Network, before being renamed due to a trademark dispute with ESPN, EA Sports publishes all the sports games from EA, including FIFA Football, Madden NFL, Fight Night, NBA Live, NCAA Football, Cricket, NCAA March Madness, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, NHL, NASCAR and Rugby. In 2011, Forbes ranked EA Sports eighth on their list of most valuable sports brands, with a value of .

EA All Play
EA All Play is a mobile-oriented label that, since 2012, publishes digital titles like The Simpsons''', Tetris, and Battlefield, as well as Hasbro board games like Scrabble.

 EA Competitive Gaming Division
The EA Competitive Gaming Division (CGD), founded in 2015 by Peter Moore and currently headed by Todd Sitrin, is the group dedicated on enabling global eSports competitions on EA's biggest franchises including FIFA, Madden NFL, Battlefield and more.

 SEED
The Search for Extraordinary Experiences Division (SEED) was revealed at the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo as a technology research division and incubator, using tools like deep learning and neural networks to bring in player experiences and other external factors to help them develop more immersive narratives and games. SEED has offices in Los Angeles and Stockholm.

 Former labels
 EA Kids — A label for educational titles. In January 1995, EA sold the label to and in conjunction with Capital Cities/ABC formed the independent ABC/EA Home Software, which was later absorbed into Creative Wonders in that year's May. In October 1997, EA and ABC sold Creative Wonders to The Learning Company for $40 million.
 EA Sports Big — A label used from 2000 to 2008 for arcade-styled extreme sports.
 EA Sports Freestyle — A short-lived replacement for EA Sports Big used from 2008 to 2009, which focused exclusively on casual sports games, regardless of genre. The label was used for only three games before being retired.
 Electronic Arts Studios
 EA Games

Partnership and initiatives

EA Partners program (1997–present)
EA Partners co-publishing program was dedicated to publishing and distributing games developed by third-party developers. EA Partners began as EA Distribution, formed in 1997 and led by Tom Frisina, a former executive from Accolade and Three-Sixty who helped both companies find third-party developers as to provide publishing support for them. Frisina's early partners included Looking Glass Studios, MGM Interactive for the rights to the James Bond property, DreamWorks Interactive, and eventually DICE; in the latter two cases, these studios were acquired by EA as part of the EA DICE family. In 2003, EA's president John Riccitiello pushed for a renaming of the EA Distribution label, seeing the potential to bring in more independent developers and additional revenue streams. While they rebranded the label as EA Partners in 2003, Riccitiello left EA the following year, which disrupted the direction the label had been aiming to go.

Oddworld Inhabitants, who had signed on with EA Partner for their next Oddworld games, found the situation difficult as EA Partners was reluctant to support games where they did not own the intellectual property rights and instead favored internal development. The situation with EA Partners switched gears in 2005 after EA and Valve signed an EA Partners deal for the physical distribution of The Orange Box; EA Partners realized it needed to be flexible to handle the different publishing opportunities presented to them. A similar breakthrough was reached with signing on Harmonix for the distribution of the Rock Band games, requiring them to work closely with MTV Games on the plastic instrument controllers necessary for the titles. A number of major partnerships were made over the next few years, including Namco Bandai, Crytek, Starbreeze Studios, id Software, Epic Games and People Can Fly, Double Fine Productions, Grasshopper Manufacture, Spicy Horse, and Realtime Worlds. While many of these partnerships proved successful, the division had two major marks on its name. It was associated with the situation around Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning developed by 38 Studios, which had been significantly backed by loans from taxpayer funds from the state of Rhode Island. Kingdoms failed to be commercially successful, and EA Partners pulled out of making a sequel, leaving 38 Studios in default of its loan payback to the state. Secondly, while The Secret World from Funcom launched as a subscription game, Funcom had to switch their monetization model to free-to-play to improve their revenues, which further affected EA Partners.

Around April 2013, as part of a large 1000-employee layoff, many reporters claimed that EA Partners was also being shut down for its poor commercial performance, but the program remained active as the company refocused its efforts. The label remained dormant over the next several years, while Letts expanded on the EA Originals program, but following the move of EA Partners and EA Origins into the Strategic Growth group in August 2018, the label was revived on the March 2019 with a publishing deal with Velan Studios, formed from the former heads of Vicarious Visions.

Notable publishing/distribution agreements include:
 Alice: Madness Returns – Spicy Horse
 APB – Realtime Worlds
 Brütal Legend – Double Fine Productions
 Bulletstorm – Epic Games
 Crysis series – Crytek
 DeathSpank – Hothead Games
 Fuse – Insomniac Games
 Hellgate: London – Flagship Studios
 Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – 38 Studios, Big Huge Games
 Rock Band series – Harmonix and MTV Games
 The Secret World – Funcom
 Shadows of the Damned – Grasshopper Manufacture
 Shank series – Klei Entertainment
 Syndicate – Starbreeze Studios
 Warp – Trapdoor

 EA Originals label (2017–present)

EA Originals is a label within Electronic Arts own EA Partners program to help support independently developed video games. EA funds the money for development, and once it recoups that, all additional revenue goes to the partner studio that created the game. That studio also gets to keep the intellectual property rights for whatever it creates, and even has creative control over the project. The program was announced at EA's press event at the 2016 E3 Conference, and builds upon the success they had with Unravel from Coldwood Interactive in 2015. The first game to be supported under this program was Fe by Zoink, released in 2018. It was followed by A Way Out from Hazelight Studios, Unravel Two from Coldwood Interactive and Sea of Solitude from Jo-Mei Games.

In 2019, during its EA Play event, EA teased three new titles. Among the games featured were Lost in Random from Zoink and an unnamed title from Hazelight Studios. It was also announced that Glowmade would be entering the initiative with a title called RustHeart. In June 2020, Hazelight Studios' untitled project was revealed as It Takes Two'' and was released the following year.

In February 2023, Jeff Gamon, general manager of EA Partners, which oversees the Originals label, said the label will now invest on bigger games, although for those cases, the deal won't be as generous as the smaller games, for obvious reasons, as those are larger companies. Gamon said though, that the company still plans to release smaller and niche games and don't want to completely abandon its roots.

Criticism and controversies

Since the mid-2010s, Electronic Arts has been in the center of numerous controversies involving acquisitions of companies and alleged anti-consumerist practices in their individual games, as well as lawsuits alleging EA's anti-competition when signing sports-related contracts.

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

1982 establishments in California
Companies based in Redwood City, California
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Entertainment companies based in California
Golden Joystick Award winners
Macintosh software companies
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Public Investment Fund
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Video game companies based in California
Video game companies established in 1982
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
Wargame companies

Electronic Arts


Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (17011773), also known as Job Ben Solomon, was a prominent Fulani Muslim prince from West Africa who was kidnapped and trafficked to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade, having previously owned and sold slaves himself.

Born in Bundu, Senegal (West Africa), Ayuba's memoirs were published as one of the earliest slave narratives, in Thomas Bluett's Some Memories of the Life of Job, the Son of the Solomon High Priest of Boonda in Africa; Who was enslaved about two Years in Maryland; and afterwards being brought to England, was set free, and sent to his native Land in the Year 1734. However, this version is not a first-person account. A first-hand account of Ayuba's capture and eventual return home can be found in Francis Moore's Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa.

Early life
Ayuba Suleiman Ibrahima Diallo was born  in Bondu, in the state of Futa Tooro. His family were well-known religious leaders of the Muslim Fulbe peopleDiallo's grandfather had founded Bondu, and his father, Suleiman Diallo, was a religious and political leader. As a child, Diallo was acquainted with Sambo, the prince of Futa, and the two studied the Quran and Arabic. Diallo had married two wives that were previously his slaves and fathered several children by the end of the 1720s.

Capture and enslavement
Diallo travelled to the coast in 1730, intending to purchase supplies, such as paper, and sell two slaves owned by his father to a factor working for the Royal African Company. While on the trip, Diallo and Lamine Ndiaye, a translator, were captured and  sold into slavery.

The invaders shaved the heads of Diallo and Loumein to make them appear as war captives, and thereby supposedly legitimately enslavable, as opposed to their actual condition of people captured in a kidnapping raid for the specific purpose of selling slaves for financial profit. The two men were sold to factors of the Royal African Company.

Ayuba subsequently convinced the slave ship captain, named Pike, that they had previously met when Ayuba himself was selling slaves. He convinced Pike of his high social status and explained that his father was capable of paying a ransom. Pike granted Ayuba leave to send word to Ayuba's family. A messenger was sent, but did not return in time. At the behest of Pike's superior, Captain Henry Hunt, the two captives (Ayuba and Loumein) were sent across the Atlantic to Annapolis, Maryland without further delay. Here, Diallo was delivered to another factor, Vachell Denton. At this time, his name was changed and Diallo became known as Job Ben Solomon, which is the biblical translation of his original name.

In America
Ayuba was then purchased by Mr Tolsey of Kent Island, Maryland. Ayuba was initially put to work in the tobacco fields; however, after being found unsuitable for such work, he was placed in charge of the cattle. While in captivity, Ayuba used to go into the woods to pray. However, after being humiliated by a child while praying, Ayuba ran away in 1731 and was captured and imprisoned at the Kent County Courthouse. Unfortunately, Ayuba's rationale for escape was not understood until an African translator was located. Able to communicate his needs, Ayuba's owner set aside an area for undisturbed prayer upon the slave's return. It was at the courthouse that he was discovered by a lawyer and Anglican priest, Thomas Bluett of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, travelling through on business.

The lawyer was impressed by Ayuba's ability to write in Arabic. In the narrative, Bluett writes the following:

Upon our Talking and making Signs to him, he wrote a Line or two before us, and when he read it, pronounced the Words Allah and Mahommed; by which, and his refusing a Glass of Wine we offered him, we perceived he was a Mahometan, but could not imagine of what Country he was, or how he got thither; for by his affable Carriage, and the easy Composure of his Countenance, we could perceive he was no common Slave.

When another African who spoke Wolof, a language of a neighbouring African ethnic group, was able to translate for him, it was then discovered that he had aristocratic blood. Encouraged by the circumstances, Tolsey allowed Ayuba to write a letter in Arabic to Africa to send to his father. Eventually, the letter reached the office of James Oglethorpe, Director of the Royal African Company. After having the letter authenticated by John Gagnier, the Laudian Chair of Arabic at the University of Oxford, Oglethorpe purchased Ayuba for £45.

In England
According to his own account, Oglethorpe was moved with sentiment upon hearing the suffering Ayuba had endured. Oglethorpe purchased Ayuba and sent him to the office of the Royal African Company in London. Bluett and Ayuba travelled to England in 1733. During the journey Ayuba learned to communicate in English. However emotionally swayed his letters claimed him to be, Oglethorpe was not so conscientious to leave instructions with the London office of the RAC concerning what to do with Ayuba upon his arrival in late April 1733.

Captain Henry Hunt (or perhaps his brother, William Hunt), one of the original factors in charge of Ayuba's enslavement, arranged for lodging in a country province. Yet Ayuba heard rumours that Hunt was planning to sell him to traders who claimed they would deliver him home. Ayuba, fearing yet more trickery, contacted Bluett and other men whom he had met en route to London. Bluett took Ayuba to his own home in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and promised not to sell him without letting him know. The RAC, following Oglethorpe's orders, made in part through persistent requests from interested men in London, subsequently paid all the expenses and purchase price of the bond for Ayuba. Ayuba beseeched Bluett once again, explaining that none of this secured he would not be enslaved once again. According to Bluett, all the honourable men involved had promised they would not sell Ayuba into slavery, so, though supposedly Ayuba was not under any threat, Bluett and other sympathizers paid "fifty-nine pounds, six shillings, and eleven pence half-penny" simply to ease Ayuba's anxiety. Englishmen in London and surrounding provinces who had met Ayuba collected money so that his "freedom in form," an official document seal made and sealed by the RAC. Bluett explained, "Job's Mind being now perfectly easy," he could fraternize with London's elite, obtaining many gifts and new friendships, while also being of service to Hans Sloane through his newly acquired ability to translate Arabic into English. His service to Hans Sloane included organizing the collection of Arabic Manuscripts at the British Museum. While in England, Ayuba was in the company of many other prominent people, including the royal family and John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu and his wife, Mary, Duchess of Montagu, which led him to being inducted into the Spalding Gentlemen's Society.

Though in England, Ayuba continued to pray regularly and observe his Islamic beliefs. He was said to have copied, by hand, the Quran three times from memory. His acquaintances made effort to convert him to Christianity, however, gifting him an Arabic version of the New Testament. Ayuba was already familiar with the Christian belief system, agreeing with the role of Jesus as prophet, but he refuted the concept of the holy Trinity. He considered his monotheistic perception of religion to be incompatible with the Christian belief in "the father," "the son," and "the holy spirit." He found the term "trinity" is not mentioned in the New Testament. He also advised against assignment of human images to God's name, and for this reason, displayed a particular disdain for Roman Catholicism and what he regarded as its characteristic worship of idols.

In July 1734, Ayuba freely returned to Gambia and later returned to his homeland. Of this, Bluett recaps:About the latter End of July last he embark'd on Board one of the African Company's Ships, bound for Gambia, where we hope he is safely arrived, to the great Joy of his Friends, and the Honour of the English Nation.However, Ayuba found that his father had died, and one of his wives, presuming that Ayuba had perished, had remarried. His homeland was ravaged by war, but being a prosperous individual, he was able to regain his old lifestyle—including the enslavement of his fellow Africans.

His memoirs were published by Bluett in English and French. Ayuba was an extremely rare exception in the slave trade. Due to his education and monetary prowess, he was able to escape legally the hardships of slavery and return home to Africa.

Ayuba, however, faced later hardships. In June 1736, he was imprisoned or held as a parolee by the French. Ayuba may have been targeted by the French because of his alliances with the British. He was held perhaps for a year by the French, when Ayuba's local countrymen secured his release. He later sent letters to the London RAC to be given transit to visit London, but this request was turned down. Ayuba continued to press his acquaintances in London for Loumein's freedom. Due to Ayuba's commitment and the help of Bluett, Loumein was eventually released from slavery and returned to the Gambia region in 1738.

Ayuba's death was recorded in the minutes of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society in 1773.

Portrait
A portrait of Diallo, wearing West African traditional clothing, by William Hoare of Bath was painted in 1733. Previously known only from a print, the original painting was purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) at Christie's in November 2009.

The UK government imposed a temporary export bar because of its importance to British history and culture. The National Portrait Gallery, London launched an appeal to raise £554,937 to prevent its export. Most of this money was provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund and the Gallery launched a public appeal for the remaining £100,000. The money was raised to buy the work but the QMA agreed to lend it instead.

See also
List of enslaved people

References
 Notes

 Citations

 Bibliography

 Primary sources
 Bluett, Thomas. Some Memories of the Life of Job, the Son of the Solomon High Priest of Boonda in Africa; Who was a Slave about two Years in Maryland; and afterwards being brought to England, was set free, and sent to his native Land in the Year 1734. London: Richard Ford, 1734.
 Moore, Francis. Travels into the Inland parts of Africa: containing a description of the several nations for the space of Six Hundred Miles up the River Gambia; their Trade, Habits, Customs, Language, Manners, Religion and Government; the Power, Disposition and Characters of some Negro Princes; with a particular Account of Job Ben Solomon, a Pholey, who was in England in the Year 1733, and known by the Name of the African. To which is added, Capt. Stibbs's voyage up the Gambia in the Year 1723, to make Discoveries; with an accurate map of that River taken on the Spot: And many other Copper Plates. Also extracts from the Nubian's Geography, Leo the African, and other authors antient and modern, concerning the Niger-Nile, or Gambia, and Observations thereon. By Francis Moore, Factor several Years to the Royal African Company of England. London: Printed by Edward Cave, at St. John's Gate, for the author, and sold by J. Stagg, in Westminster Hall; and at St. John's Gate aforesaid, 1738, 216, 202, and 213–124.

External links

Digital History entry
"Allah. Muhammad." Ayuba Diallo's long journey back to Africa; by Hassam Munir

1701 births
1773 deaths
18th-century American slaves
18th-century slaves
African-American Muslims
African slave owners
African slaves
American Muslim slaves
American people of Fulbe descent
Black British former slaves
People of colonial Maryland
People who wrote slave narratives
Senegalese Muslims

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo


Bigfoot (known as The Kids That Saved Bigfoot in the United Kingdom) is a 2009 American comedy adventure film directed by Kevin S. Tenney with a screenplay by Sandy Schklair. The film stars Richard Tyson, Angie Everhart, Adam Racque, Nicole Badaan, and Kenyon Dudley. It was released on October 6, 2009.

Plot
Percy Caldwell is a teenage boy who lives in Pine Bluffs, California. He is in love with Madison, his high school's most popular cheerleader, but his best friend Leonard doesn't think he stands a chance. One day, after Percy rescues Madison from two local bullies, brothers named Cletis and Devlin, the brothers knock his bicycle off the road with their truck, and Percy ends up crashing in the woods, falling unconscious.

When Percy wakes up, he sees an eight-foot-tall Bigfoot standing over him. Percy is initially scared, but the creature seems friendly and interacts with him. Then, Percy rushes home where he tells his parents but they do not believe him.

The next day, Madison thanks Percy for saving her from the bullies; kissing him and declaring him her boyfriend. After school, Percy goes to see the Sasquatch in the woods and they share a picnic. Cletis and Devlin, who are going bear hunting, hear the Sasquatch burp from a distance and mistake him for a Grizzly bear. Percy hears the hunters and tells the Sasquatch to flee. When the brothers find Percy they threaten him, and Bigfoot comes to Percy's rescue; throwing the brothers down a hill. After that, the brothers start planning to catch the creature to sell for big money.

The next morning Percy goes back into the woods for another picnic with Bigfoot. When he gets home, Madison arrives. While they are watching King Kong, Percy tells Madison about his encounters with the Sasquatch but she doesn't believe him and begins to have doubts about him. Meanwhile, Cletis and Devlin are building a cage for the Sasquatch in their barn.

The following day, Percy tells Madison and Leonard to follow him to go see the Sasquatch, but Madison then decides that their relationship is over and she leaves. Leonard, however, agrees to go with him.

When Percy and Leonard arrive in the woods, they find Cletis and Devlin trying to capture Bigfoot. Percy tells the creature to flee but the Sasquatch won't go. The brothers shoot Bigfoot with a tranquillizer gun but he manages to chase them back to their truck. However, he then falls asleep, from the dart, in the back of their truck. Leonard can snap a picture of Bigfoot before Cletis and Devlin drive away with the creature.

Percy and Leonard meet with Madison, and when Leonard shows her the picture of Bigfoot she agrees to show them where the brothers live and to give Percy another chance. They all cycle to Cletis and Devlin's farm and watch the brothers going to and from the barn. When the coast is clear, they go in and find Bigfoot locked in a cage which they attempt to open; but just as they get the cage unlocked the brothers return. Bigfoot then throws the brothers to the ground, and the teenagers escape with Bigfoot. They drive off in the brother's truck while Cletis and Devlin wake up and follow them in Cletis's car, armed with rifles.

During the chaos, Bigfoot throws the truck's spare tire at the windshield of the brothers' car, and they retaliate by attempting to shoot the tires of the truck. Their bullet accidentally hits Bigfoot, causing a life-threatening injury. The teenagers take Bigfoot to Percy's father, who is a surgeon, and he removes the bullet and saves Bigfoot's life. They then take Bigfoot back to the forest. However, Cletis and Devlin have been following them in their car and start shooting at them but Bigfoot pushes their car off the road. As it spins over, the brothers escape and Cletis waves goodbye to Bigfoot, much to Devlin's annoyance.

Bigfoot is taken to his original forest home, which he was forced to leave after a recent forest fire, and they see him meeting with another Sasquatch, who they think may be his girlfriend. The movie ends with Percy telling the Sasquatch goodbye as they part ways.

Cast

Adam Raque as Percy Caldwell
Richard Tyson as David Caldwell, Percy's father
Angie Everhart as Brooke Caldwell, Percy's mother
Kenyon Dudley as Leonard, Percy's best friend
Nicole Badaan as Madison, Percy's girlfriend
Jean Louise O'Sullivan as Lisa, a friend of Madison
Andrew Chase as Devlin, Percy's enemy
Brandon Gibson as Cletis, Devlin's brother
Leslie Wong as News Reporter

Reception
Writing for DVD Talk, Justin Felix considered Bigfoot to be a " light-hearted comedy" but he was concerned that "the depiction of antagonists Cletis and Devlin certainly flirts with some ugly stereotypes of rural whites.They're uneducated, carry rifles, drive a pickup and live in a rundown shack". He noted that they were referred to as 'rednecks' several times and was also troubled by" the economic class issue- Cletis and Devlin are clearly poor while the hero teenagers are blatantly wealthy". Felix concluded that 'Bigfoot'  "might be worth a look if you've got young kids wanting something new to watch, otherwise you can pass on this one."

Joly Herman at Common Sense Media found Bigfoot to be "Surprisingly good for a movie with B-list actors, this family film has some tender and laugh-out-loud moments." Herman noted that "the earnestness with which Adam Raque's Percy approaches the monster is reminiscent of moments in E.T." . Herman praised the script and the "comic bumbling issued from the bad guys" and concluded that "Parents might enjoy watching this one as much as their kids do."

References

2000s English-language films
2009 films
Bigfoot films

Bigfoot (2009 film)


Ptolemaic Terrascope is a magazine covering old and new music, usually of a psychedelic nature.  It has been published irregularly since 1989. Originally published by the Woronzow record label, it covers a wide variety of bands and artists from the 1960s to the present day.  Issues typically come with a 7" vinyl record or latterly a CD, and sometimes also special inserts such as artwork, scrap books, and discount coupons.

In March 2005, editor Phil McMullen announced that the magazine would be coming under new management and relocating from Britain to North America.  The terrascope.co.uk domain name has been retained by McMullen for the website Terrascope Online, featuring reviews, interviews, articles and artwork by the majority of the former Ptolemaic Terrascope staff.

The Terrascope Online website also acts as a focus for the semi-annual Terrastock indie rock festivals which, since 1997, Phil McMullen has curated.

According to the magazine, the name Ptolemaic Terrascope has no real meaning.  Their official web page explains, "Ptolemy is a tortoise who lives at Terrascope Towers.  Terrascope is a word Phil made up because (a) it matched the artwork we'd designed for the first issue, and (b) we like the Captain Beefheart song 'Tarotplane'."

Additionally to the online magazine, McMullen started a new letterpress-printed music magazine, the Terrascopædia in 2012.

Personnel
Phil McMullen, editor (print issues from 1988–2005, since then online as Terrascope Online)
Pat Thomas, editor (one print issue, 2007)

See also
Terrastock

External links
Terrascope Online Website (includes archive of Ptolemaic Terrascope)
Terrascopædia Magazine

Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United States
Biannual magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1989
Magazines published in England
Magazines published in California
Mass media in Wiltshire
Mass media in Oakland, California
Magazines disestablished in 2007
English-language magazines
Defunct magazines published in the United States

Ptolemaic Terrascope


Shoot the Messenger is a television play first broadcast on BBC Two on 30 August 2006.

Synopsis
After reading a report that black pupils from inner city schools are being failed by the education system, IT consultant Joe (David Oyelowo) decides to become a teacher. Having secured himself a job at a school in South London, Joe uses a series of discriminatory methods to ensure black students are given extra tuition over their white contemporaries (targeting them for detention being one such method). When he is falsely accused of assaulting one of the pupils in his care (Charles Mnene), Joe is suspended from work pending an investigation. He appears on local radio where he defends himself against black rights activist Councillor Watts (Brian Bovell) who denounces Joe as "the embodiment of 21st century Britain [...] a Ku Klux Klanman with a black face". As a result of the broadcast, the community begins to turn against Joe and he loses his job. When he slips into a deep depression, Joe's marriage breaks up and he finds himself homeless.

Following these events, Joe begins exhibiting apparent racism towards other black people. He soon, however, finds himself being taken in by the members of a local gospel church. He observes black society as a detached onlooker at first, mocking the apparent cultural differences he perceives from the perspective of his new 'white' persona. Through the charity he receives he manages to find gainful employment as a handyman and meets Heather (Nikki Amuka-Bird) who helps in his eventual rehabilitation into black society. As the play reaches its conclusion Joe's innocence in the mistreatment of the pupil is revealed. Having rediscovered his heritage, Joe comes to the realisation that race and cultural identity are merely a state of mind.

Style and themes
The play's title derives from the phrase shooting the messenger; it is told entirely from the perspective of the central character who frequently addresses the audience. His asides to camera do not serve a strict narrative function, but allow him to deliver his ruminations on black culture and society.

External links
BBC site for Shoot the Messenger

2006 television films
2006 films
British television films
2000s English-language films

Shoot the Messenger (film)


The Foster Memorial AME Zion Church is located on Wildey Street in Tarrytown, New York, United States. Formed in 1860, it is the oldest black church in Westchester County and possibly one of the oldest in the state. During the Civil War it was a stop on the Underground Railroad. One of the church's founders was herself an escaped slave, as were many parishioners. They helped slaves either continue to Canada or settle in Tarrytown if they wished. The church has played a major role in Tarrytown's African-American community ever since.

The church's brick building, designed by local architect James Bird, was opened in 1865. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Building

The church is a three-by-four-bay building two storeys high. The red brick of its surface is only visible on the facade and is elsewhere covered by an artificial stone veneer. The gable roof is likewise of imitation slate. Pilasters on the front flanks support triangular granite capstones. A cinder block addition is on the rear.

Inside, the first floor is devoted to offices, a kitchen and large meeting room. The sanctuary is on the second floor, entered from the north with the altar and podium to the south. On either side are marble tablets commemorating founders Henry Foster and Henry Brown.

History

The first AME Zion congregation in Westchester was established in New Rochelle in 1837, with a White Plains group following six years later. In 1860, four members of the latter congregation from Tarrytown decided to organize locally. They were Henry Foster, a barber, his wife Amanda, their friend Hiram Jimerson and The Rev. Jacob Thomas.

At first the four founders and three more local members met in whatever space they could borrow. They began in the room over Amanda Taylor's popular local confectionery. As the congregation began to grow, they moved to another store and then a shoe factory. Finally, with the assistance of white members of the local Dutch Reformed and Methodist congregations, the new church formed a committee to find and purchase land for a church of its own.

Local builder and architect James Bird contributed the design, and the cornerstone was laid in October 1864. Henry Foster died the next year, urging his wife to continue the church's development as he expected a large-scale migration of freed slaves from the South after the end of the war. While that did not happen initially, Amanda Foster would continue to play a major role in the church's development and is today revered as the "Mother of the Church".

After a construction expenditure of $9,120.85 (~$ in ), the church opened in 1865. As was typical of the time, the cost was partly defrayed by charging for the pews, in this case an annual rent of $3. In lean economic times, the congregants practiced "pounding" their pastor, each member bringing him and his family a pound of food when the church could not afford to pay him. The church grew slowly, including some whites, numbering 40 members by 1886.

Amanda Foster died in 1904 at the age of 98. The wave of southern blacks that her husband had anticipated finally materialized in the years afterwards, and during the Great Migration the church served as a community center for new arrivals in the Tarrytown area, helping them acclimate to an urban lifestyle.

The 20th century saw the first physical alterations to the church building, as its limited finances in turn limited what could be done to stave off deterioration. In the 1930s the original roof was replaced. The Meadowstone coating was applied to the sides and rear in the 1950s. The following decade the rear wing was added, expanding the available space in both the sanctuary and meeting room, and the original minister's apartment was converted into an auditorium. Pastor Madison McRae continued the church's activist traditions, leading protests against housing discrimination and persuading the Tarrytown Fire Department to hire more African-Americans.

Legacy
This significant site was added to the African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County in 2004 as part of a mission to "preserve and interpret the legacy and contributions that people of African descent have made to the development of our unique American identity." It is one of only 14 such sites.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Westchester County, New York

References

Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York
Churches completed in 1864
19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States
Tarrytown, New York
African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches
Churches in Westchester County, New York
Churches on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad in New York (state)
African-American history of Westchester County, New York

Foster Memorial AME Zion Church


Winnekenni Castle is located in the over 700-acre Winnekenni Park Conservation Area, overlooking Kenoza Lake, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Inspired by stone buildings he saw while visiting England, Haverhill chemist Dr. James R. Nichols built it between 1873 and 1875 as a summer home, and he named it and the surrounding land "Winnekenni," an Algonquin word meaning "very beautiful." It is one of the earliest works of Haverhill architect C. Willis Damon. The city of Haverhill  purchased the castle in 1895, and in 1976, the city acquired 50.8 acres of conservation land between the Castle and Lake Saltonstall. The Castle's elaborate Victorian interior was destroyed by a fire in 1969, which led to the formation of the Winnekenni Foundation by a group of citizens. Today, the foundation is responsible for the upkeep of the castle and the surrounding land and trails. Under the direction and guidance of carpentry teacher Paul Crowley and carpentry students from Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, they were able to complete a refurbishing and remodeling of the building.

References

External links
 Winnekenni Castle - official site

Houses in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Tourist attractions in Essex County, Massachusetts
Castles in Massachusetts
Houses completed in 1875

Winnekenni Castle


Mauritian passports are issued to citizens of Mauritius for travel outside the country. , Mauritius' Passport and Immigration Office processed an average of 434 passport applications each day.

Legal basis

Mauritian passports are issued under the Passport Act of 14 February 1969. The Passport Regulations 1969 govern details of their issuance. The regulations make provision for extending the period of validity of a passport; however, after a passport is expired, there is no provision for renewal, and instead a new application must be made to the Passport and Immigration Office.

Physical appearance

Mauritian passports issued to adult citizens are navy blue in colour, with the Coat of arms of Mauritius emblazoned in the centre of the front cover. The word "Passport" is inscribed below the coat of arms, and "Republic of Mauritius" above.  The passport contains 64 visa pages.

Identity information page

The Mauritian passport includes the following data:

 Photo of passport Holder
 Type P
 Code of Issuing State (MUS)
 Passport No.
 Surname
 Given Names
 Profession
 Nationality
 Date of birth
 Sex
 Date of issue
 Date of expiry
 Personal No.
 Place of birth
 Authority
 Holder's Signature

The information page ends with the Machine Readable Passport Zone.

Passport note

The passports contain a note from the issuing state that is addressed to the authorities of all other states, identifying the bearer as a citizen of that state and requesting that he or she be allowed to pass and be treated according to international norms.  The note inside Mauritian passports states:

In English:

The President of the Republic of Mauritius requests and requires all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford such assistance and protection as may be necessary.

and in French:

Le Président de la Republique de Maurice requiert de laisser passer le titulaire librement et sans empêchement et de lui fournir toute assistance et protection si nécessaire.

Languages

The data page/information page is printed in both English and French.

Visa requirements

As of 26 March 2019, Mauritian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 145 countries and territories, ranking the Mauritian passport 31st (tied with Saint Lucia) in terms of travel freedom accordant to the Henley visa restrictions index.

See also

Visa requirements for Mauritian citizens
List of passports

References

External links
Debriefing Session on Signature of EU Visa Waiver Agreement
Permitted durations of stay for visa-free travel are based on the Delta Travel Planner unless otherwise indicated

Mauritius and the Commonwealth of Nations
Passports by country
Law of Mauritius

Mauritian passport


Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke () is a 2010 Hindi-language comedy film directed by and starring Rahul Aggarwal as a Uttar Pradesh migrant to Mumbai. The film was released on 12 March 2010.

Plot
Devki Nandan Tripathi (director Rahul Aggarwal) is a simple, rustic man who tries his luck in the city of dreams, Mumbai. He gets himself employed at the Mausam Vibhaag, his only means to a lucrative and thriving future. The plot thickens and so do Devki's circumstances, for he pursues something that he had never meant to. He finds himself doing everything except dedicating time to his vocation. He comes across an array of city people who often find his innocence amusing and comical, but Devki realises that they stick with him even in the thickest of bogs that his life hauls him in. From the village folk to the corrupt cop to the impish goon, Devki finds himself cared for and aided even while he feels entrenched in a Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke state of affairs. The film depicts the everyday struggle of common man in a 'rural meets urban' set-up.

Director Aggarwal plays the lead opposite Narayani Shastri, while one meets iconic characters played by Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Ravi Kishan and Neena Gupta.

Cast
 Neena Gupta as Devkinandan's mother
 Ravi Kishan as Madan Khachak
 Anant Mahadevan as V. G. Chunawala
 Om Puri as Sankata Prasad Tripathi
 Paresh Rawal as Inspector Khote
 Ruma Sengupta as Devki's Dadi
 Narayani Shastri as Mithilesh
 Akshita Arora as Mithilesh ' mother
 Rakesh Shrivastav as Devkinandan's father-in-law
 Neeraj Vora as Mr. R. K. Khanna
 Giaa Manek as Daughter of Sankata Prasad Tripathi
 Ehsan Khan	 ...	Special appearance
 Manmauji      	 ...	Special appearance
 Lalit Pandit   	 ...	Special appearance
 Shweta Salve	 ...	Special appearance
 Shriya Saran   as herself (Special appearance)

Soundtrack

Release
The Times of India gave the film two out of five stars and wrote that "The intentions are noble. Debutant director, Rahul Aggarwal has a point to make".

References

External links

2010 films
2010s Hindi-language films
Indian comedy films

Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke


The L.A.T.E. Ride was an annual, non-competitive, mass bike ride through the streets of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It historically started about 1:00 am (but started at midnight in 2010) and finishes at about sunrise. It was a charity ride benefiting Friends of the Parks, a not-for-profit parks advocacy group in Chicago. The event's title was a backronym, Long After Twilight Ends. The Ride's director from its inception in 1989 until 2012 was Nancy Minster Swabb. The final LATE Ride was in 2016. It was originally promoted with the name "Insomnia Cycle", but that changed sometime in the mid 1990s.

In 2006, 9,000 people (ranging in age from 5 to 75) participated. The majority of riders and volunteers come from Chicago, its suburbs and Northwest Indiana; however, other participants have been from faraway parts of the US and the world.

The Ride started and ended in downtown Chicago at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park at Congress and Columbus Drive (500 S. Columbus Drive), right across from Lake Michigan. The route is 25 miles, through areas of downtown Chicago, and various neighborhoods, but changed every few years, one year taking place on Lake Shore Drive.

In December 2016, ride organizers announced through social media the ride would not return in 2017.

Sponsorship
Corporate sponsorship included "title sponsor" positions for major contributors. From 2006-2009, McDonald's was the title sponsor.  Other major sponsors have included: Peoples Gas, Sports Authority, Village Cycle Center, WXRT, CBS 2, and Jewel.

Ride information
For registered riders:
 Live music was played before the ride.
 There were midnight snacks before the ride.
 About midway through the ride, there was a rest stop with toilets, food, and water.
 Roving medical and bike repair services were available throughout the ride.
 A light breakfast was served at the end of the ride.
 In 2010, there was an optional all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast (fee of $7).
 Prizes were awarded for Best Lit Bike and Best Decorated Helmet.

References

External links

Friends of the Parks, the event's organizer
LATE Ride at Facebook
LATE Ride at Twitter

Cycling in Chicago

L.A.T.E. Ride


Brookenby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated  north-east from Market Rasen. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 742, falling to 665 at the 2011 census but recovering to 705 in the 2021 census.

The village developed around the former RAF station, RAF Binbrook, with most of the population living in the former RAF housing. Since the name of the station came from an existing nearby village, the name 'Brookenby' was chosen in the 1980s when the new village was constituted. The name is believed to be derived from a nearby abandoned or plague village.

The former sergeants' mess is now Brookenby Church, part of the Walesby group of parishes. A Trading Estate was developed on the remains of the RAF station in 1998.

The consistent 1940s period architecture led to the use of RAF Binbrook for scenes in the 1990 re-make of Memphis Belle.

See also
Lincolnshire Wolds
Binbrook

References

External links

Lincolnshire Wolds AONB
The Defiant – local web site

Villages in Lincolnshire
Civil parishes in Lincolnshire
West Lindsey District

Brookenby


Cosgrave is a surname, an it mey refer tae:
 Fran Cosgrave (born 1977), Erse nichtclub owner
 James Cosgrave (dee'd 1936), Erse naitionalist politeecian
 John B. Cosgrave (born 1946), heid o the mathematics depairtment o St. Patrick's College
 Lawrence Moore Cosgrave (1890–1971), Canadian signatory tae the Japanese Instrument o Surrender at the end o Warld War II
 Liam Cosgrave (1920–2017), fift Taoiseach o Ireland
 Liam T. Cosgrave (born 1956), umwhile Fine Gael politeecian in the Republic o Ireland
 Michael Joe Cosgrave (born 1938), Erse Fine Gael politeecian
 Niamh Cosgrave (born 1964), umwhile Fine Gael pairty politeecian frae Dublin, Ireland
 Philip Cosgrave (dee'd 1923), Erse Cumann na nGaedhael pairty politeecian
 W.T. Cosgrave (1880–1965), Erse politeecian

Cosgrave


Robert Barry (c. 1759 – 3 September 1843) was a teacher and merchant, among other pursuits, who became an important figure in Nova Scotia.

Barry was born in Scotland, raised in England and came to North America as an impressed sailor who escaped his ship in New York in about 1774. Little is known about his life there other than he was in a business partnership, he was a participant in Methodist services at the John Street Chapel and formed a friendship with the Reverend Charles Inglis, the rector of Trinity Church where he was a regular communicant.

In 1783, Barry was part of a large group of loyalists, including many Methodists, who left New York and ended up in Nova Scotia. In Shelburne he taught school and then became involved in a very successful partnership with his brother in Liverpool. They were involved in West Indies fish, lumber, sugar, and rum trade, as well as agricultural produce. British dry goods were imported for sale in Nova Scotia and stores were operated in many locations. They serviced these with a small fleet of vessels in which they had a substantial interest.

Barry had four sons, all of whom were successful in business in the colony. His one son, John Alexander Barry married a daughter of William Black, a prominent Methodist minister and was elected to the 13th General Assembly of Nova Scotia. Robert's Methodism contributed to the family's success by providing close business ties within the colony. His life is a good example of the importance that evangelical Protestantism had in that area of Canada.

References

Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

1759 births
1843 deaths
English emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia
Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia
United Empire Loyalists
Canadian merchants
Loyalists who settled Nova Scotia

Robert Barry (merchant)


Facundo Suárez (November 5, 1923 – August 2, 1998) was an Argentine Radical Civic Union (UCR) politician.

Biography
Suárez was born in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1923. His father, Leopoldo Suárez, served as the Minister of Public Works in Mendoza Province. He enrolled at the University of La Plata, and became acquainted with Buenos Aires Province legislator Ricardo Balbín of the centrist UCR. Suárez joined the UCR in 1941, and was later elected delegate to the Argentine University Federation. He earned a law degree at La Plata, and a Doctorate in political science at the University of Cuyo. He was elected to the Mendoza Chamber of Deputies, serving from 1948 to 1952, and in 1958, to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. He ran for governor in 1963, and was defeated by Democratic Party leader Francisco Gabrielli. The newly elected president of Argentina, Arturo Illia of the UCR, appointed Suárez chairman of the national oil company, YPF. He was one of the first UCR officials to meet the exiled populist leader, former President Juan Perón, at the latter's Puerta de Hierro residence in Madrid.

Suárez was removed from his post at YPF by the 1966 military coup against Illia. He developed a good working relationship with the banned Peronist movement, and had become a close adviser to party leader Ricardo Balbín when the dictatorship called for general elections in 1973. Balbín chose his running-mate, Fernando de la Rúa, on his advice. The UCR ticket was defeated in the 1973 elections, and Suárez did not return to active politics until a decade later, when a subsequent dictatorship called new elections. The winner of the 1983 elections, Raúl Alfonsín, had challenged Suárez's mentor, Balbín, for the leadership of the UCR in 1972. He nevertheless appointed Suárez director of Segba, the state electric utility company then serving Greater Buenos Aires. He served a stint as Ambassador to Mexico, from 1985 to 1986, and was named director of Argentine Intelligence Service.

Suárez proposed making the SIDE expense account, long a source of controversy in Argentina due to its classified nature, a matter of Congressional purview. Though the proposal was not enacted by Congress, Suárez made the agency's budget public, and during his 1986–89 tenure, this amount doubled. His tenure coincided with a number of scandals, however, including the filming of the UCR's 1989 presidential campaign television ads on a SIDE base, with employees in the background, the involvement of numerous SIDE officials in the far-right Carapintadas, and the surveillance of opposition senators for human weaknesses to be used against them in future political operations.

Following Alfonsín's departure in 1989, Suárez served in the UCR National Committee, and was elected to the 1994 Constitutional Amendments Convention. His son, Facundo Suárez Lastra, also became a politician and served as mayor of Buenos Aires from 1986 to 1989.

Suárez developed cancer, and died in Buenos Aires in 1998, at age 74.

See also
List of secretaries of intelligence of Argentina

References

1923 births
1998 deaths
People from Mendoza, Argentina
Argentine people of Spanish descent
National University of La Plata alumni
National University of Cuyo alumni
Argentine political scientists
Radical Civic Union politicians
Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Mendoza
Ambassadors of Argentina to Mexico
Argentine Secretaries of Intelligence
Deaths from cancer in Argentina
20th-century political scientists

Facundo Suárez


Pedro Bonifacio Palacios (13 May 185428 February 1917), better known by his sobriquet Almafuerte, was an Argentine poet.

Biography

Palacios was born in San Justo, a western suburb of Buenos Aires, into a humble family. As a boy he lost his mother and was abandoned by his father, and because of this was raised by his relatives.

His first career was as a painter, but, because the government denied him a grant to travel to Europe, he changed direction and dedicated himself to writing and teaching. At 16 years of age, he was appointed director of a school in then-rural Chacabuco.

After meeting former President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento in 1884, he was dismissed as school director for not possessing a teaching degree, though this was arguably because his poems were highly critical of the government. He was, however, elected to the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies, and later worked as a librarian and translator for the Provincial Statistical Bureau. In 1887, he moved to La Plata and was taken in as a journalist at the newspaper El Pueblo.

In 1894 he renewed his teaching activities at a school near Trenque Lauquen, but two years later was once again withdrawn for political reasons.

At the start of the 20th century, he began participating briefly in active politics, but because of his unstable economic situation and his refusal to accept a political position, he did not do it with much enthusiasm.

At the end of his life, the Argentine National Congress granted him a pension so he could dedicate himself in full to his poetry. However, his health had deteriorated, and he died on 28 February 1917 in La Plata, capital of the Province of Buenos Aires, at the age of 63.

Literary work

Palacios published some works under various pseudonyms, the most well known of which was Almafuerte.

Evangélicas (1915)
Lamentaciones (1906)
Poesías (1917)
Nuevas Poesías (1918)
Milongas clásicas, sonetos medicinales y Dios te salve. Discursos (1919)
La inmortal
El misionero
Trémolo
Cantar de los cantares
La sombra de la patria

See also

Almafuerte, a 1949 Argentine film dramatized the life of Palacios

External links

19th-century Argentine poets
Argentine male poets
Argentine journalists
Argentine male journalists
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine people of Spanish descent
Argentine librarians
People from La Matanza Partido
1854 births
1917 deaths
20th-century Argentine poets
20th-century Argentine male writers
19th-century male writers
Burials at La Plata Cemetery

Pedro Bonifacio Palacios


Surprise is an emotion that a person might feel if something unexpected happens. For example, a person may feel surprised at a loud, sudden noise, like the popping of a balloon, or they may feel surprised at the outcome of an event. The feeling of surprise can be both good or bad, depending on the circumstances.

Emotions

Surprise (emotion)


The Sri Varadharaja Perumal Temple in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu India is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

Temple
Sri Varadharaja Perumal temple is situated in a small town called Tirunelveli, found at the southern end of Tamil Nadu. This temple is an ancient and reputed Vishnu temple. It lies on the banks of the perennial river Thamarabarani. This area is also known as Veeraraghavapuram, which is the hoary name of this place. It has been named after Veeraraghavan, the main and preceding deity (Moolavar), in Sri Varadharaja Temple. Sri Varadharaja perumal is the Usthava Moorthy. The temple is called on his name.

Legend
Few centuries back, a king by name Krishnavarma was ruling over this part of Tirunelveli. He held this region as his capital. He was a staunch devotee of Varadharaja perumal. He always used to pray Lord Varadharaja Perumal enthroned in his palace and chant the name of Lord Sri Rama. Observing the deep piety of this king, the neighbouring king utilized the chance to attack him. Legend says Lord Rama saved Krishnavarma from his foe. Lord appeared before king Krishnavarma as 'Veeraraghavan', the embodiment of bravery and valour. Deeply moved by the divine vision, the king sang a few slogans in praise of the Lord as stated in Thamirabarani Mahatmiyam (Ch:16-17 ).

King Krishnavarma felt happy and constructed a temple for Lord Veeraraghavan to show his gratitude. He formed a city called Veeraraghavapuram around it and also called Veeraragha Theertha Kattam in river Thamirabrani, which flows as uthiravahini (towards north) in this kshetram. Hence this area holds the name Veeraraghavapuram.

Darshan, Sevas and Festivals
It is a matter of pride that there is a close connection between Sri Varadharaja perumal temple, Tirunelveli and Sri Vanamamalai Mutt, Nanguneri. Even now, in this temple the first and the foremost honour and respect are given to H.H. Vanamamalai Jeer swamigal.

Shrines
This celebrated temple, at present has separate shrines for Sudharsanar with Yoga Narasimar at the back, Garudar, Krishnar, Vikshwasenar, Adhiseshan, Alwars. Two separate shrines are situated for Sri Vedhavalli Thayar and Sri Perundevi Thayar. Vaiganasa Agamam is being followed here.

Rajagopuram
Five tiers Rajagopuram was successfully built and also big mahamandapam with four giant saptaswara pillars was built by replacing the old 16 pillars mandapam the samprokshana took place on 29 May 2013 Wednesday. Thousands of devotees were witnessed it.

Poojas
Regular pujas (Visvarupam, Kalasanthi, Uchikalam, Sayarakshai and Thiruvisagam) are performed daily. Pujas are performed as per "Sri Vaikanasa baghavat sastra". Every day the moolavar get bathed from the holy tamirabarani water.

Brahmam Uthsavam
Brahmamosthavam is celebrated for 10 days during the Tamil of Chitarai (Mid of April to Mid of May) ending on Thiruvona Nakshatram for Chakrasnanam. On 5th day  5 Garauda sevai (iyendhu garudasevai) festival takes place with four other deities on their Garudavahanam from the neighbouring temples (Sri Srinivasa perumal, Sri Kariayamanika perumal, Sri Lakshmi Narasima perumal and Sri Rajagopala perumal).
Car festival is celebrated on the 9th day.

New car (ratham) samarpanam
A new car (ratham) was built and it has been offered to Lord Varadharaja swamy by Sri Lakshmi Vallabha trust with the help of public at May 2015 chitrai brahmosthavam. The car (ratham) is 32 feet height and 13 feet breadth with nearly 350 teak wood carvings and has 52 chiming bells in it. A shed is under construction to secure the ratham.

Athyayana Uthsavam
Athyayana Uthsavam is celebrated for 21 days. Usthavar is adorned in different thirukolams (decorations). Nalayara Dhivya Prabandham is chanted on all these 21 days and on the 21st day is the Vaigunda Ekadesi festival is completed by performing Veedupadi veedu. On the day of Vaigunda Ekadesi the Usthavar is adorned in sayanakolam. That evening Sorgavasal festival is celebrated.

Other Uthsavam
Hanuman Jayanthi festival is celebrated for 10days during Marhazi ending on Moola Nakshatram (Amavasya) with Pushpanjali. 7 days of Thailiakappu utsavam for Thayar in margazhi,7 days of Pavithrothsavam in the month of Aavani, All Saturdays of the Tamil month Purratasi are celebrated with Garudaseva. Navarathri also celebrated in the same month. Five days of Unjal utsavam starts with deepavali.  In Karthigai month "Sokkapanai" festival celebrated on the full moon day. Alwar thirunakhsatrams and related Uthsavams are celebrated regularly every year.

External links
 Sri Varadaraja Perumal – Tirunelveli

Tirunelveli
Vishnu temples
Abhimana temples of Vishnu

Sri Varadharaja Perumal Kovil


The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology of teil as Latin tilia and Old French (13th to 15th centuries) til. In Modern French it is tilleul. The French and Latin word cognates appeared amongst the English literate classes starting in the 14th century. Most names of trees, however, kept their Germanic origins, hence linden and lime (a deformation of lind according to the OED). The linden or til tree is native to northern Europe and Asia. In various versions of Protestant Bibles the til is sometimes confused with the terebinth, which is a tree native to southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. One variety of terebinth furnishes the pistachio nut and the thick bark of the tree is a source of a highly valued varnish and particular turpentine (Modern French, térébenthine). The English and French translations in the Roman Catholic Douay Bible from the Vulgate do not confuse the two trees.

The Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) says that Teil tree is an old name for the linden tree, the tilia (also known as "lime tree" in the UK).

The name was used in the King James Version of the Bible for the Hebrew word "elah", a word that more modern translations translate as "terebinth" or "oak" – this seems to be the chief source of Web references to the name, but the linden tree does not grow in the middle east in present-day where the Bible verses are describing now.

References
 Easton's Bible dictionary entry

"Tiel Tree " is also mentioned in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:13  But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a Teil Tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bible.kingjamesbiblelite

External links
 USDA page for Pistacia
 1962 article on trees of the Bible

Trees
Plant common names
Plants in the Bible

Teil tree