Leontius (; died  15 February 706) was Byzantine emperor from 695 to 698. Little is known of his early life, other than that he was born in Isauria in Asia Minor. He was given the title of patrikios, and made strategos of the Anatolic Theme under Emperor Constantine IV. He led forces against the Umayyads during the early years of Justinian II's reign, securing victory and forcing the Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, to sue for peace.

In 692, Justinian declared war upon the Umayyads again, and sent Leontius to campaign against them. However, he was defeated decisively at the Battle of Sebastopolis, and imprisoned by Justinian for his failure. He was released in 695, and given the title of strategos of the Theme of Hellas in Southern Greece. After being released, he led a rebellion against Justinian, and seized power, becoming emperor in the same year.

He ruled until 698, when he was overthrown by Apsimarus, a droungarios who had taken part in a failed expedition that had been launched by Leontius to recover Carthage. After seizing Constantinople, Apsimar took the name Tiberius (III), and had Leontius' nose and tongue cut off. He was sent to the Monastery of Dalmatou, where he remained until some time between August 705 and February 706. By this time Justinian had retaken the throne. Both Leontius and Tiberius were executed.

Origin and early life
Little of Leontius' early life is known, other than that he was from Isauria, and possibly of Armenian descent. Christian Settipani speculates that Leontius was the son of certain Lazarus, who was the direct descendant of emperor Phocas and general Priscus. Furthermore, Settipani identifies patrikios Tarasius as Leontius' son. Leontius was appointed as strategos of the Anatolic Theme, at the time the most senior military command of the Byzantine Empire, and patrikios by Emperor Constantine IV, possibly  AD.

Starting in 680, the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate erupted into a civil war, known as the Second Fitna. Umayyad authority was challenged even in their metropolitan province of Syria, while most of the Caliphate recognized Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr instead. Under Marwan I and his son Abd al-Malik, however, the Umayyads gained the upper hand, although the Zubayrids were not finally defeated until 692.

The civil war in the Umayyad Caliphate provided an opportunity for the Byzantine Empire to attack its weakened rival, and, in 686, Emperor Justinian II sent Leontius to invade Umayyad territory in Armenia and Iberia, where he campaigned successfully, before leading troops into Media and Caucasian Albania; during these campaigns he gathered loot. Leontius' successful campaigns compelled the Umayyad Caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, to sue for peace in 688, agreeing to tender part of the taxes from Umayyad territory in Armenia, Iberia, and Cyprus, and to renew a treaty signed originally under Constantine IV, providing for a weekly tribute of 1,000 pieces of gold, one horse, and one slave.

Justinian invaded the Caliphate again in 692, feeling that the Umayyads were in a weak position, but was repulsed at the Battle of Sebastopolis, where a large number of Slavs defected to the Umayyads, ensuring the Byzantine defeat. After this, the Umayyads renewed their invasion of North Africa, aimed at taking the city of Carthage in the Exarchate of Africa, and also invaded Anatolia. Around this time, Justinian imprisoned Leontius. Some Byzantine sources, such as Nikephoros and Theophanes, suggest that Justinian did so because he believed that Leontius was seeking to take the throne, but it is possible that the crushing defeat at Sebastopolis played a part in his imprisonment; as strategos of the Anatolic Theme, he likely served in the battle, and may have even been the main Byzantine commander in it.

After further setbacks in the war, Justinian released Leontius in 695 because he feared losing control of Carthage, and appointed him strategos of the Theme of Hellas in Southern Greece. During his captivity, Leontius was cared for by two monks, Gregorios and Paulos, who prophesied his rise to the throne, and encouraged him to rise against Justinian after his release. Leontius, once free, quickly raised a rebellion against Justinian. Leontius had wide support from the aristocracy, who opposed Justinian's land policies, which restricted the aristocracy's ability to acquire land from peasant freeholders, and the peasantry, who opposed Justinian's tax policies, as well as the Blue faction (one of the Hippodrome factions), and the Patriarch of Constantinople Callinicus. Leontius and his supporters seized Justinian and brought him to the Hippodrome, where Justinian's nose was cut off, a common practice in Byzantine culture, done in order to remove threats to the throne, as mutilated people were traditionally barred from becoming emperor; however, Leontius did not kill Justinian, out of reverence for Constantine IV. After Justinian's nose was cut off, Leontius exiled him to Cherson, a Byzantine exclave in the Crimea.

Reign and downfall

Upon his coronation, Leontius, now known as "Leo", adopted a moderate political stance. He restricted the activity of the Byzantine army, allowing small raids against the border of the Byzantine empire to proceed without reprisal, and instead focused upon consolidation. Very little is known of his domestic policy, except that he had the port of Neorion in Constantinople cleared, which allegedly led  to a four-month outbreak of plague.

The Umayyads, emboldened by Leontius perceived weakness, invaded the Exarchate of Africa in 696, capturing Carthage in 697. Leontius sent the patrikios John to retake the city. John was able to seize Carthage after a surprise attack on its harbor. However, Umayyad reinforcements soon retook the city, forcing John to retreat to Crete and regroup. A group of officers, fearing the Emperor's punishment for their failure, revolted and proclaimed Apsimar, a droungarios (mid-level commander) of the Cibyrrhaeots, emperor.

Apsimar took the regnal name Tiberius, gathered a fleet and allied himself with the Green faction, before sailing for Constantinople, which was enduring the bubonic plague. After several months of siege, the city surrendered to Tiberius, in 698. Tiberius captured Leontius, and had his nose slit before imprisoning him in the Monastery of Dalmatou. Leontius stayed in the monastery under guard until Justinian retook the throne with the assistance of the Bulgar king Tervel in 705. Justinian then had both Leontius and Tiberius dragged to the Hippodrome and publicly humiliated, before being taken away and beheaded. The execution took place on 15 February 706 according to the 13th-century Chronicon Altinate. The body of Leontius was thrown into the sea alongside Tiberius, but was later recovered and buried in a church on the island of Prote.

See also

List of Byzantine emperors

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

Web sources

External links

7th-century Byzantine emperors
660s births
706 deaths
Executed Byzantine people
8th-century executions by the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine prisoners and detainees
Twenty Years' Anarchy
8th-century Byzantine people
690s in the Byzantine Empire
700s in the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine governors of Hellas
Governors of the Anatolic Theme
Patricii
Executed monarchs
People executed by decapitation

Leontius


Ganthet is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, who first appeared in 1992 in Larry Niven and John Byrne's graphic novel Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale (). He is also Sayd's husband.

Fictional character biography
Ganthet is one of the Guardians of the Universe, but much less stern and 'by-the-book' than most of his colleagues. He shows a human-like personality by displaying empathy, kindness, and concern for individuals, rather than thinking only of the Green Lantern Corps. In DC crossover limited series such as Kingdom Come, this particular Guardian is presented as being part of the Quintessence, a group of gods who oversee their entire universe (or multiverse), yet shows signs of focusing especially on Earth.

He is often distinguished by tying his hair into a long ponytail, in contrast to the shorter, more unkempt hair of other male Guardians.

Green Lantern: Secret Origin

In the Green Lantern: Secret Origin story, Ganthet (without ever revealing himself physically) asks Sinestro to investigate the death of Abin Sur (through a non-official channel, bypassing protocol); this leads to Sinestro first meeting, on Earth, with Hal Jordan.

Ganthet's Tale
The graphic novel Ganthet's Tale by John Byrne (expanded from a story by Larry Niven) tells the story of Hal Jordan's first encounters with Ganthet. Jordan is asked to help him battle the renegade Guardian Dawlakispokpok (nicknamed "Dawly"), who is trying to use a time machine to change history. In the early era of the planet Oa, a scientist named Krona had attempted to use a device to see the beginning of time, and in using his time machine, 'bled' the universe of a billion years of its potential duration. Dawly is going to use another time machine to thrust Krona to the end of time, to prevent his following through with that plan; however, in battling Dawly, he learns that Dawly is responsible for the mishap of the universe being 'born old'. When Dawly's family is brought before the Guardians, Ganthet shields Jordan's mind, allowing him to retain his memory of one of the biggest secrets of the Guardians.

Emerald Twilight

After the destruction of Coast City (in the "Reign of the Supermen" storyline), the subsequent "insanity" of Hal Jordan, and the destruction of the Main Power Battery, the Guardians decide to focus all of their remaining power into Ganthet, recognising that he was the only one of them to foresee a catastrophe like Hal Jordan's current attack on them. As such, he becomes the last Guardian. Ganthet creates a new Green Lantern ring from Jordan's ring and goes to Earth. He appears before Kyle Rayner and hastily hands him the ring, muttering "You shall have to do".

Guy Gardner later claimed that Ganthet first went to him, but he had turned down Ganthet's plan. During Rayner's first few months as Green Lantern, Ganthet is unsatisfied with Rayner, and attempts to take back the ring. Rayner eventually earns the respect of Ganthet by facing Parallax without his ring.

The Quintessence
Ganthet became part of the circle of gods, including (usually) Shazam, Zeus, Highfather, and Phantom Stranger, committed to observing the universe and counselling one another.

Ion and the new Guardians
When Rayner briefly became the godlike Ion, he possessed more power than Hal Jordan did as Parallax. Realizing that he could not continue as Ion without losing his humanity, Kyle travelled to the recently restored Oa to recharge the Central Power Battery. By doing so, he created a new set of Guardians, this time as small children (both male and female), with the intent that Ganthet, as their "father figure", will look after them and teach them how to be better Guardians than their predecessors. After one of the children, Lianna, went missing and was later revealed to have aged prematurely, Ganthet invited the Zamarons to Oa to help raise them with him.

When the Martian Manhunter reverted to the 'Burning Martian' identity that the Guardians of the Universe had locked away long ago and attacked the Justice League, Ganthet teleported John Stewart to safety and treated his injuries when the rest of the League teleported to the Fortress of Solitude to escape the Burning's initial attack. Ganthet was later able to tell John the history of the Burning Martians and teach him a way to 'reroute' his mind to think in the first language of the universe so that he could rescue his teammates from Fernus in a hit-and-run attack (although the intensity of this method of thought meant that John could not use it for more than sixty seconds without burning his mind out), allowing them to come up with a plan to defeat Fernus.

Green Lantern: Rebirth
Ganthet played a crucial role in resurrecting Hal Jordan, who was revealed to be possessed by the fear entity Parallax during Green Lantern: Rebirth. Following the return of Hal Jordan, all the Guardians are aged to adulthood and are just as cold and manipulative as before. The only change is that there are now female Guardians as well as male. Ganthet, of course still retains a sense of individuality amongst the Guardians, believing that they should retain their emotions; Sayd is the only other Guardian who shares his mindset.

Sinestro Corps War
During the Sinestro Corps War he and Sayd are banished from the council for embracing emotions, discovering that they have romantic feelings for each other.

Just as Parallax (freed from any hosts) attacks the Lanterns for freeing Kyle Rayner, Ganthet and Sayd arrive and draw Parallax into four separate lanterns (Hal, Guy, John, and Kyle's, respectively), reasoning that the Earth Lanterns had proven their superior ability to overcome fear and the division would prevent anyone from being able to release Parallax again. As Ganthet explains, he and Sayd were kicked out of the Guardians of the Universe. Ganthet's final act as Guardian is offering Kyle his power ring. He asks if Kyle is willing to downgrade himself to a normal Green Lantern, to which Kyle quickly accepts. The four men then take their lanterns and, upon hearing the Sinestro Corps oath, recite the Classic Green Lantern Oath and depart to confront Sinestro's Corps.

Ganthet and Sayd also explain to the four about the emotional spectrum created at the start of the universe that is separated into seven colors: green (willpower), yellow (fear), violet (love), red (rage), indigo (compassion), orange (greed), and blue (hope), each representing different forms of emotion, with green being the most center balanced of the energies. The further at one end an energy color is, the wilder its power is to control. The energy ends up corrupting its user. Ganthet also reveals that in the coming future, each color will have its own forces like the Lantern Corps, and these forces will fight against the others in a battle across the universe that will lead into the event known as "The Blackest Night", the worst of the hidden prophecies of the Book of Oa.

Blackest Night

At the end of the Sinestro Corps War, Ganthet and Sayd are currently living on the planet Odym. They harness the blue energy of hope and make plans to create another intergalactic police force to aid the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps in their upcoming battle against "The Blackest Night". The first of the Blue Lanterns is an alien named Saint Bro'Dee Walker or Saint Walker. The second is Warth, an elephant-like alien from Sector Two. According to Saint Walker, Warth will select another candidate from a different sector of space and the process will continue from there. Later, Ganthet reveals to the Blue Lantern Corps that he and Sayd are planning to create an alliance to those who wield the indigo power of compassion along with Oa. However, Ganthet, Sayd, and the Blue Lanterns find themselves being attacked by Agent Orange as the villain seeks the powers they possess; Larfleeze desires anything he does not have. They were eventually rescued by Hal Jordan, accompanied by Carol Ferris, Sinestro, and Indigo Tribe member Indigo-1.

Ganthet and Sayd then seek Atrocitus and Larfleeze's aid to recreate the "white light of creation" with their saviors. To get Larfleeze to cooperate with them, Sayd offers her servitude to Agent Orange, who expresses a desire of having his own Guardian over Ganthet's protests. Ganthet and Sayd later arrive at Coast City with the Lanterns to aid Earth's heroes. They also try to free the Guardians from the Black Central Battery. Failing that, Ganthet duplicates Hal Jordan's ring and places it on his own finger, inducting himself into the Green Lantern Corps. He and Sayd also duplicate the other Lantern Rings, allowing the other six corps to gain temporary 'deputies' to fight alongside the seven already present until the rest of the Corps can arrive. As a result, Barry Allen becomes a Blue Lantern. Lex Luthor becomes an Orange Lantern. Scarecrow becomes a Sinestro Corps officer. Scientist Ray Palmer becomes an Indigo Tribesman. Mera becomes a Red Lantern, and Wonder Woman- after being freed from the influence of her Black Lantern ring- becomes a Star Sapphire.

Brightest Day

After the Blackest Night is over, Ganthet is seen plotting with Guy Gardner and Atrocitus a new, universe-saving plan against a new, hidden foe. To further advance his new cause, Ganthet renounces his Guardian status, requesting his fellow Oans to fill in the permanent post of Green Lantern of Sector 0, forging his own lantern and power ring in the process. Notably, his new Power Battery lacks the ordinary, rounder design, and looks much similar to the squared, older ones once wielded by the Manhunters and the Halla's. He was later forced to assist Hank Henshaw, who has learned from the hidden foe that Ganthet is apparently the key to Henshaw's permanent death. By threatening to make the Alpha Lanterns kill themselves if Ganthet does not cooperate, Henshaw made Ganthet operate several Alpha Lanterns to try and restore them to organic life-forms, believing that the process, once perfected, can be used to return him to a mortal body. During the process, some Alpha Lanterns perished. Ganthet experiences great grief at the death of these Green Lanterns, emotions he is not quite familiar with. Ganthet was rescued by a squad of Lanterns and Hank Henshaw's form and spirit were destroyed. Afterward, all the Alpha Lanterns have their free will restored as well, thanks to Ganthet. Sadly, they must keep their cyborg appearances.

Ganthet brings up more blood, which transforms into Atrocitus' head, who reveals their alliance. Ganthet is forced to admit to his fellow Lanterns that a short time ago that formed into a tapestry of future events, and that, having learned that Atrocitus had the same thing happen to him, he and Guy entered into their alliance.

War of the Green Lanterns

With Krona having returned Parallax to the Green Lantern power battery and infecting the other six remaining Guardians with the other emotional entities, Ganthet, Kilowog, and the four Earth-based Green Lanterns are the only ones even partly immune to Parallax's influence due to their prior experience under his influence, but he is still forced to take John and Kyle's rings when they are driven to attack each other. Unfortunately, when Ganthet takes their rings and his own, the three rings explode, destroying his hand, forcing John to bandage the amputated limb. With the other Green Lanterns searching for them, Ganthet orders John and Kyle to depart while he uses his own Guardian-based powers to draw the Lanterns away.

Despite the odds against them, the four Earth Lanterns were able to rescue Ganthet from Krona using the rings of the other six Corps: Hal wielding Sinestro's ring, Guy wielding Atrocitus's ring, John Indigo-1's ring, and Kyle wielding Saint Walker's ring, Ganthet later advising Hal and Guy to use Larfleeze and Carol's rings respectively to remove Parallax from the Central Power Battery to free the other Green Lanterns from his influence. Ganthet was also able to help Guy master both of his rings by encouraging him to tap into something that he loved and something that he hated. Afterward, Ganthet is visited by Saint Walker, who restores his hand. His blue ring shows Ganthet an image of Sayd, revealing that he still misses her.

The New 52
Following the War of the Green Lanterns storyline, to compensate for the new shortage of Guardians, the other Guardians strip Ganthet of his emotions so that he will re-join their ranks. Kyle Rayner comes to Oa for help after something has turned him into a 'ring magnet', causing rings from the other six Corps to try and latch on to him. Kyle likens Ganthet's transformation to a lobotomy, though Ganthet himself disputes this because "my cognitive abilities are unimpaired". Kyle then compares the process to taking away Ganthet's soul, as he is now nothing more than another Guardian: a charge to which Ganthet does not respond. After Kyle is briefly overwhelmed by the other rings he wields, Kyle's green ring throws Ganthet aside when he attempts to remove it. As the other Lanterns attempt to help Kyle, Saint Walker appeals to Ganthet for help, but Ganthet simply throws Walker off, now regarding the Blue Lantern Corps as a mistake that must be rectified. Ganthet's dismissive attitude towards his past remains even when Sayd is revealed to be accompanying Larfleeze's attack, although he appears to retain a degree of affection for Kyle, as he offers Kyle a chance to return to the Green Lantern Corps if he agrees to remain on Oa so that the consequences of his temporary period wielding the other six rings can be studied. However, hearing Sayd tell him that the Ganthet they knew will be gone forever if Kyle goes with him now, Kyle rejects Ganthet and escapes with the other ring-wielders, stating that, while he may consider Ganthet a father, he has to do things his way.

It is later revealed that Ganthet told the other Guardians that during his time as a Green Lantern, he found the Corps, like the Manhunters, has serious flaws because of the disobedience of Green Lanterns like Hal Jordan or Sinestro, and announces that it is time to replace the Green Lantern Corps with the "Third Army". Although the 'New Guardians' go their separate ways when it is revealed that Sayd brought them together by drawing rings from weaker wielders to Kyle Rayner due to his connection to Ganthet, Kyle is apparently still trying to recruit other ring-wielders together in an attempt to rescue Ganthet and restore him to what he was, even as Ganthet himself states that he considers the Guardians as having 'saved' him rather than the other way around.

Ganthet arrives on Zamaron to attack Kyle. He nearly kills him with his blasts, while the Third Army invades the Zamaron homeworld, but the injured Kyle transforms into the White Lantern, having mastered the seven powers of the emotional spectrum due to his refusal to give up on Ganthet helping him master the violet power of love. When Ganthet witnesses Kyle being able to destroy the Third Army, he becomes horrified and flees, while the group will apparently be able to stop the Guardians' threat.

When the First Lantern Volthoom is freed as Ganthet and the Guardians of the Universe tried to use the Third Army to destroy the sentient beings, he imprisons the Guardians on the planet Maltus and restores their emotions to their original state. Ganthet comes to feel shame for his actions and for his battle with Kyle. In the final battle after Volthoom is destroyed by Hal Jordan and Nekron, the Guardians are freed but are executed by a Parallax-empowered Sinestro. He spares only Ganthet and reunites him with the still-living Sayd, citing his reasons as being that he knows what it is like to lose everything, but exiles them both from Oa. Ganthet and Sayd later observe Kyle. Ganthet reflects that he and Kyle have grown a great deal during their time together, but it is time for Kyle to 'leave the nest' and make his own way.

DC Rebirth
Following the Green Lantern Corps disappearance with nobody protecting the universe, Ganthet and Sayd are happy on an unknown planet elsewhere, but the former sensed the spectrum of green light. Their exile has ended when a Green Power ring arrive on the planet Nok, asking them to find Hal Jordan. Ganthet and Sayd realized Hal's life is in peril so they summoned Kyle Rayner to save his life. They used their power and Kyle's white ring to open a doorway to Emerald Space in the afterlife and manages to bring Hal back to the realm of the living.

Ganthet encouraged Hal about harnessing the green light of pure willpower and the need of forging a new Green ring. He told Hal that the Green Lantern Corps has returned while they arrived at the base of Mogo and reunited it. While the Green Lantern Corps are reinstated, Ganthet and Sayd assign Hal and Kyle to find Saint Walker. After they brought Saint Walker back to the base of the Green Lantern Corps, they called Kyle to test his White Lantern power which they believed could bring the resurrection of the Blue Lantern Corps. When Saint Walker attempted a psionic link to Kyle's power, he was prevented from doing so by an unknown presence, which caused Kyle's White Lantern power to shut down, leading to his return as a Green Lantern.

Later, Ganthet and Sayd were attacked and kidnapped by the Controllers. They wanted to harvest Sayd's power to empower the Controllers, which horrified Ganthet. Four Green Lanterns of the Earth, however, were able to locate the Controllers' base at sector 3001 and attacked. After the Controllers were defeated, Ganthet announced that Sayd will return as the Guardians of the Universe including the Templar Guardians as new members for that will be their legacy.

Other versions
In the Star Trek/Green Lantern crossover series, Ganthet is shown being menaced by an unseen figure that proclaimed it has killed all of the other Guardians and destroyed the six other Corps. This meant that Ganthet was in possession of the last rings of each of the six non-Green Lantern corps rings as the unknown entity attacked him. Using the last of his power, Ganthet transports himself and the rings to the Star Trek universe, where his corpse is later discovered by the USS Enterprise and taken aboard for examination. After Hal Jordan makes contact with the Enterprise, it was revealed that the enemy attacking Ganthet was Nekron, who had destroyed virtually all other life in their universe. Ganthet sacrificed himself to initiate the 'Last Light' protocol and send the last rings and ring-wielders to another universe. Although this action saved Hal, Carol Ferris and Saint Walker, it became apparent that Sinestro, Atrocitus and Larfleeze also escaped and, more importantly, Nekron also survived, finally manifesting at the site of Vulcan's destruction.

In other media

Television

 Ganthet appears in the Duck Dodgers episode "The Green Loontern", voiced by John Stephenson.
 Ganthet appears in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, voiced by Ian Abercrombie. This version is more sympathetic to Hal Jordan's heroic intents, going so far as to suggest outlawed solutions to problems the rest of the Guardians refuse to acknowledge through a prototype Blue Lantern battery. Much in the same way as in the comics, Ganthet advises the Council not to discard emotions completely and emphasizes the need to reinforce their trust in willpower with the emotion of hope.

Film

 Ganthet appears in the animated film Green Lantern: First Flight, voiced by Larry Drake. He appears as Hal Jordan's silent supporter, as the other Guardians looked down upon him due to him being human. Ganthet is in constant disagreement with fellow Guardian Ranakar. In the climactic battle against Sinestro, Ganthet helps Hal retrieve his lost Power Ring, and after Sinestro's defeat, he praises Hal's bravery and heroism.
 Ganthet appears in the anthology film Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, voiced by Michael Jackson.
 Ganthet appears in the 2011 film Green Lantern. In the special features included in the Blu-ray edition, it is confirmed that the male Guardian that mainly speaks is indeed Ganthet.
 Ganthet appears in Green Lantern: Beware My Power, voiced by Jason J. Lewis.

Video games
 Ganthet appears in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, voiced by Michael McConnohie. He and the Guardians tell Green Lantern, Lex Luthor, and Catwoman about the threat of the universes merging. Ganthet is also in the background on the Green Lantern Corps stage.
 Ganthet appears in the video game Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, voiced again by Michael Jackson.
 Ganthet appears as an NPC in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by Brian George.

References

Characters created by John Byrne (comics)
Comics characters introduced in 1992
DC Comics aliens
DC Comics deities
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics characters who are shapeshifters
DC Comics characters with immortality
DC Comics characters with superhuman senses
Fictional avatars
Green Lantern Corps officers
Fictional characters who can manipulate reality
Fictional characters who can manipulate time
Fictional characters who can manipulate light
Fictional characters with death or rebirth abilities
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional characters who can change size
Fictional characters who can turn intangible
Fictional characters with elemental transmutation abilities
DC Comics characters who have mental powers
Fictional illusionists
DC Comics characters who can teleport
DC Comics telekinetics
DC Comics telepaths

Ganthet


The St. Alban's Tavern group was an informal association of 78 British Members of Parliament who aimed to bring about a reconciliation of William Pitt the Younger and Charles James Fox in a unified Ministry. They were named after the St. Alban's Tavern where the members met from January 1784.

Background
The group were largely composed of 'independent country gentlemen' who held themselves free from party allegiance. On 26 January 1784 the group came to a resolution "to support the party who should in the present distracted moment manifest a disposition to union". Given the weakness of Pitt's government, which was in a minority in the House of Commons, he accepted the group's proposition but insisted that a government must be formed "with principle and honour". Fox spoke through the Duke of Portland, who had been titular Prime Minister during the Fox-North Coalition: the Duke insisted that Pitt had come to power through unconstitutional means, and therefore must first resign before a new Ministry was appointed.

In reality, neither Pitt nor Fox believed the group had any prospect of success, but both felt obliged to treat them with respect. Possibly in ignorance of the personal bitterness between Pitt and Fox, the promoters of reconciliation are described as "well-meaning and naive" by the History of Parliament. The failure of negotiations left the group itself split, with 45 members supporting Pitt and 30 supporting Fox.

Members of the group
The membership of the group was published in the Annual Register for 1784. Analysis in the introductory survey to the History of Parliament 1754-1790 indicates that  five of the 78 were from Scottish constituencies, and a large proportion of the members were returned from English counties. The leader was Thomas Grosvenor, MP for Chester, who on 2 February 1784 successfully moved a House of Commons motion which called "for a firm, efficient, extended and united Administration". The members of the group were:

References
 History of Parliament 1754-1790
 Annual Register, 1784, p. 268-269

1784 establishments in Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Political organisations based in the United Kingdom

St. Alban's Tavern group


The Transnistria conflict (; ; ) is an ongoing frozen conflict between Moldova and the unrecognized state of Transnistria. Its most active phase was the Transnistria War. There have been several attempts to resolve the conflict, although none have been successful. The conflict may be considered as having started on 2 September 1990, when Transnistria made a formal sovereignty declaration from Moldova (then part of the Soviet Union).

Transnistria is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. It obtained diplomatic recognition only from three post-Soviet unrecognized states: Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Artsakh.

Historical status of Transnistria

Until the Second World War
The Soviet Union in the 1930s had an autonomous region of Transnistria inside Ukraine, called the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR), where nearly half of the population were Romanian-speaking people, and with Tiraspol as its capital.

During World War II, when Romania, aided by Nazi Germany, took control of Transnistria, it did not attempt to annex the occupied territory during the war, although it had plans to do so in the future.

Territorial consequences of the 1992 conflict

Left bank of the Dniester
During the War of Transnistria, some villages in the central part of Transnistria (on the eastern bank of the Dniester), rebelled against the new separatist Transnistria (PMR) authorities. They have been under effective Moldovan control as a consequence of their rebellion against the PMR. These localities are: commune Cocieri (including village Vasilievca), commune Molovata Nouă (including village Roghi), commune Corjova (including village Mahala), commune Coșnița (including village Pohrebea), commune Pîrîta, and commune Doroțcaia. The village of Corjova is in fact divided between PMR and Moldovan central government areas of control. Roghi is also controlled by the PMR authorities.

Right bank of the Dniester
At the same time, some areas which are situated on the right bank of the Dniester are under PMR control. These areas consist of the city of Bender with its suburb Proteagailovca, the communes Gîsca, Chițcani (including villages Mereneşti and Zahorna), and the commune of Cremenciug, formally in the Căușeni District, situated south of the city of Bender.

The breakaway PMR authorities also claim the communes of Varnița, in the Anenii Noi District, a northern suburb of Bender, and Copanca, in the Căușeni District, south of Chițcani, but these villages remain under Moldovan control.

Later tensions
Several disputes have arisen from these cross-river territories. In 2005, PMR Militia entered Vasilievca, which is located over the strategic road linking Tiraspol and Rîbnița, but withdrew after a few days. In 2006 there were tensions around Varnița.  In 2007 there was a confrontation between Moldovan and PMR forces in the Dubăsari-Cocieri area; however, there were no casualties. On 13 May 2007, the mayor of the village of Corjova, which is under Moldovan control, was arrested by the PMR militsia (police) together with a councilor of Moldovan-controlled part of the Dubăsari district.

Russian invasion of Ukraine
Amid the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 14 January 2022 Ukrainian military intelligence declared that Russian special services were preparing "provocations" against Russian soldiers stationed in Transnistria at the time to create a casus belli for a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On 24 February, on the first day of the invasion, there were allegations that some rockets that had hit Ukraine had been launched from Transnistria, although Moldova's Ministry of Defense denied this. Later, on 6 March, there were again claims that attacks that had hit Vinnytsia's airport had been launched from Transnistria, although Moldovan officials again denied this and said that they had been launched from Russian ships in the Black Sea.

Amid rumors that Transnistria would attack Ukraine, the President of Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselski declared that Transnistria is a peaceful state which never had any plans to attack its neighbors and that those who spread these allegations were people without control over the situation or provocateurs with malicious intentions. He also made reference to the large ethnically Ukrainian population of Transnistria and how Ukrainian is taught in Transnistrian schools and is one of the official languages of the republic. However, in March, an image of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko standing in front of a battle plan map of the invasion of Ukraine was leaked. This map showed a supposed incursion of Russian troops from the Ukrainian city port of Odesa into Transnistria and Moldova, revealing that Transnistria could become involved in the war.

On 22 April 2022, Russia's Brigadier General Rustam Minnekayev in a defence ministry meeting said that Russia planned to extend its Mykolayiv–Odesa front in the Ukraine war further west to include the Transnistria on the Ukrainian border with Moldova.  Minnekaev announced that the plan of Russia's military action in Ukraine included taking full control of Southern Ukraine and achieving a land corridor to Transnistria. He also talked about the existence of supposed evidence of "oppression of the Russian-speaking population" of Transnistria, echoing Russia's justifications for the war in Ukraine.  The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine described this intention as imperialism, saying that it contradicted previous Russian claims that it did not have territorial ambitions in Ukraine".

On 26 April, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said during an interview that Moldova was a close neighbor to Ukraine, that Ukraine was not indifferent to it and that Moldova could turn to Ukraine for help. He also declared that Ukraine was able to solve the problem of Transnistria "in the blink of an eye", but only if Moldovan authorities requested the country's help; and that Romania could also come to Moldova's aid as "they are in fact the same people", with the same language as he continued, even though "there are many Moldovans who would not agree with me". Moldova officially rejected this suggestion from Ukraine, expressing its support only for a peaceful outcome of the conflict.

Position of the PMR government advocates

According to PMR advocates, the territory to the east of the Dniester River never belonged either to Romania, nor to its predecessors, such as the Principality of Moldavia. This territory was split off from the Ukrainian SSR in a political maneuver of the USSR to become a seed of the Moldavian SSR (in a manner similar to the creation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR). In 1990, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian SSR was proclaimed in the region by a number of conservative local Soviet officials opposed to perestroika. This action was immediately declared void by the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.

At the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova became independent. The Moldovan Declaration of Independence denounced the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and declared the 2 August 1940 "Law of the USSR on the establishment of the Moldavian SSR"  null and void. The PMR side argues that, since this law was the only legislative document binding Transnistria to Moldova, there is neither historical nor legal basis for Moldova's claims over the territories on the left bank of the Dniester.

A 2010, study conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder showed that the majority of Transnistria's population supports the country's separation from Moldova. According to the study, more than 80% of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, and 60% of ethnic Moldovans in Transnistria preferred independence or annexation by Russia rather than reunification with Moldova.

In 2006, officials of the country decided to hold a referendum to determine the status of Transnistria. There were two statements on the ballot:  the first one was, "Renunciation of independence and potential future integration into Moldova"; the second was, "Independence and potential future integration into Russia". The results of this double referendum were that a large section of the population was against the first statement (96.61%) and in favor of the second one (98.07%).

Moldovan position
Moldova lost de facto control of Transnistria in 1992, in the wake of the War of Transnistria. However, the Republic of Moldova considers itself the rightful successor state to the Moldavian SSR (which was guaranteed the right to secession from the Soviet Union under the last version of the Soviet Constitution). By the principle of territorial integrity, Moldova claims that any form of secession from the state without the consent of the central Moldovan government is illegal. The Moldavian side hence believes that its position is backed by international law.

It considers the current Transnistria-based PMR government to be illegitimate and not the rightful representative of the region's population, which has a Moldovan plurality (39.9% as of 1989). The Moldovan side insists that Transnistria cannot exist as an independent political entity and must be reintegrated into Moldova.

According to Moldovan sources, the political climate in Transnistria does not allow the free expression of the will of the people of the region and supporters of reintegration of Transnistria in Moldova are subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrests and other types of intimidation from separatist authorities.

Because of the non-recognition of Transnistria's independence, Moldova believes that all inhabitants of Transnistria are legally speaking, citizens of Moldova. However, it is estimated that 60,000 to 80,000 inhabitants of Transnistria acquired Russian citizenship and around 20,000 Transnistrians have acquired Ukrainian citizenship. As a result, Moldovan authorities have tried to block the installation of a Russian and Ukrainian consulate in Tiraspol.

International recognition of the sovereignty of Transnistria
Only three polities recognize Transnistria's sovereignty, which are themselves largely unrecognized states: Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Artsakh. All four states are members of the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations.

On 21 February 2023, Russian president Vladimir Putin revoked the foreign policy document that declared Russian commitment to Moldovan sovereignty in the context of the Transnistria conflict.

United Nations Resolution A/72/L.58

On 22 June 2018, the Republic of Moldova submitted a UN resolution that calls for "Complete and unconditional withdrawal of foreign military forces from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, including Transnistria." The resolution was adopted by a simple majority.

See also
 Four Pillars of Transnistria
 War of Transnistria
 2006 Transnistrian customs crisis
 International recognition of Transnistria
 Foreign relations of Transnistria
 Abkhaz–Georgian conflict
 Gagauzia conflict
 Georgian–Ossetian conflict
 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

References

Bibliography

External links
Transnistrian side

 History of creation and development of the Parliament of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR)

Moldovan side

 EuroJournal.org's Transnistria category
 Trilateral Plan for Solving the Transnistrian Issue (developed by Moldova-Ukraine-Romania expert group)

Others

International organizations

 OSCE Mission to Moldova: Conflict resolution and negotiation category
 Marius Vahl and Michael Emerson, "Moldova and the Transnistrian Conflict" (pdf) in "Europeanization and Conflict Resolution: Case Studies from the European Periphery", JEMIE – Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 1/2004, Ghent, Belgium
 Research on the European Union and the conflict in Transnistria
 New York City Bar: Russia's Activities in Moldova Violate International Law

Ukrainian side

 The Plan for the Transnistrian Conflict Settlement Proposed by Ukraine

Romanian side

History of Moldova since 1991
History of Transnistria since 1991
Moldova–Russia relations
Conflicts in territory of the former Soviet Union
Politics of Transnistria
Politics of Moldova
Wars involving Moldova
Wars involving Russia
20th-century conflicts
21st-century conflicts
1990s conflicts
2000s conflicts
2010s conflicts
2020s conflicts

Transnistria conflict


Bobby Stuart (9 October 1913 – 1987) was a professional footballer who played as a defender for Middlesbrough, Plymouth Argyle and Whitby Town. He was born in Middlesbrough, England.

Bobby Stuart gained 3 England International caps as a Schoolboy, from the age of 14 (All Wins) (played then at Half back).

Signed amateur for Middlesbrough FC aged 15, Professional at 17 and made his debut for Middlesbrough at Highbury against Arsenal at 19. As the last line of defence, during the 1934–35 season, he scored 5 own goals against Middlesbrough playing in Left back position.

Towards the end of the 1938 season Middlesbrough played Stoke who then had the legendary Stanley Matthews on the right wing. The match report stated  'Stuart staying close to Matthews prevented the maestro performing his usual magic.'  When questioned how he  managed to achieve the feat he stated "I respected Stanley's skill so I just kept my eye on the ball and shuffled him into the corner", this allowing the defence to be ready to manage any eventual cross.'

He continued in the Left back position until the outbreak of World War II when he joined the RAF as L.A.C.
Post  war he played for 'The Boro' from 1945 to 1947 before being transferred to Plymouth Argyle till 1949.

He made over 250 appearances for Middlesbrough who at the time were in Division 1 (now the Premiership).

He was said to be one of the hardest kickers of a dead ball with either foot and although playing Left back for most of his (leather) footballing life he played Centre half as a Schoolboy and in the RAF.

He was also credited with being the fastest fullback in English football an attribute he passed on to his Granddaughter  Louise Collins (née Stuart) who competed at 200m in the 24th Olympiad in the Seoul Olympics for Great Britain in 1988.

1913 births
1987 deaths
Footballers from Middlesbrough
English men's footballers
English Football League players
Men's association football fullbacks
Middlesbrough F.C. players
Plymouth Argyle F.C. players
Whitby Town F.C. players
Royal Air Force airmen
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II

Bobby Stuart


, better known as , later changed to , was a Japanese idol and musical singer. In 1985, she made her debut with the single "Satsui no Vacance".

She was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia on January 5, 2005. At 4:38 A.M. on November 6, 2005, Honda died at the Juntendo University Hospital in Bunkyō, Tokyo.

Early life
Kudo was born in Japan on July 31, 1967 at Narimasu Maternity Hospital in Narimasu, Itabashi. Kudo's family initially lived in Shibamata, Katsushika but would end up moving to Asaka, Saitama where at an early age she would enroll in Asaka's Shirayuri Kindergarten.

Beginnings
As a child Kudo was very involved with singing, largely influenced by her mother who dreamed of becoming a singer. In Kudo's graduation collection from Asaka's 6th Elementary School in Aska City, she wrote that, "It would be nice if I could become an actress or singer." While at Asaka Daiichi Junior High School at the age of 14, she would audition for Star Tanjō!, where in the TV qualifying round she would sing "Hello Goodbye" by Yoshie Kashiwabara which would win her that round and advance her to the battle tournament round, for that she would sing "Blue Angel" by her cousin, Seiko Matsuda, however none of the production companies expressed interest and Kudo would not win the competition.

While Kudo was enrolled at Tokyo Seitoku University Junior & Senior High School in 1983, she would visit Harajuku because the record label Bondo Kikaku was recruiting a new member for the group called Shojotai. Bondo Kikaku had also participated in the show Star Tanjō!. While still working with Bondo Kikaku in 1984, she heard a demo of Meiko Nakahara's song "Kimitachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne", which had just become a hit, this lead Kudo to believe Bondo Kikaku's President, Keiji Takasugi was taking the company in the wrong direction, and would make her decide to become a solo artist.

In 1984, Kudo performed at the Nagasaki Kayo Festival, which was a television contest to where teenagers and young adults competed to become new idols by winning what was called the grand prix. On the show, Honda was highly evaluated by judges who noted her powerful voice and overwhelming singing ability which led her to win the Grand Prix part of the competition.

Following her success in the Nagasaki Kayo Festival, Kudo would make her debut under the name Minako Honda with the song "Satsui no Vacane", this lead her to receive a Japan Record Award for the best new artist of that year.

Looking to follow up on the success of "Satsui no Vacane", Honda would release "1986 nen no Marilyn", in which a controversy would arise from her performances, in which Honda would shake her hips suggestively while wearing a navel costume, at the time this was not common for idols and was thought to be offensive.

In 1988, she made an attempt to revive her dwindling career by forming an all girl rock group called "Minako with Wild Cats", the group however would disband a year later due to lack of any hit songs.

In 1990 a turning point came for her career. Honda had auditioned for a part in the Tokyo production of Broadway play Miss Saigon, she won out over 15,000 other candidates for the part of Kim. While still starring in the role as Kim in Miss Saigon in the 1990s, Honda visited Vietnam. There she visited the famous Củ Chi tunnels just outside Ho Chi Minh City. She was found by Vietnamese authorities having photographs taken of her in the Củ Chi tunnels draped only in a Vietnamese flag. She was fined and expelled from Vietnam shortly after.

She would go on to perform in leading roles in Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, and Les Miserables.

Later career and illness
Towards the end of her life, she released several classical albums demonstrating her soprano singing voice, including religious works such as "Amazing Grace" and Ave Maria. She also sang theme songs for several anime programs.

She did not abandon pop music in her adult career; indeed, she became recognized for her vocal improvement in the adult pop genre. Her song "Tsubasa" is famous for the "long note" that she holds for 30 seconds.

In 2004, Honda would add a period to the end of her name; this was done because Honda believed there was judgment to her surname.

Honda became ill in late 2004, but still performed in December in spite of a fever and fatigue. When her cold-like symptoms failed to improve, she sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia on January 5, 2005.

Honda was able to celebrate her 38th birthday at home feeling relatively well, but had a relapse shortly afterwards. Chromosome aberration was discovered and she received a dose of anticancer medicine from the United States to treat it. She recovered again briefly, but then suffered another relapse.

Death

Honda developed lung complications on October 21, 2005 and she lapsed into a coma on November 3. At 4:38 a.m. on November 6, 2005, Honda died at the Juntendo University Hospital in Bunkyō, Tokyo, officially from acute myelogenous leukemia. She was 38 at the time of her death.

Discography

Singles
Satsui No Vacance (殺意のバカンス Satsui No Bakansu, Vacation of the Urge To Kill) (April 21, 1985)
Suki To Iinasai (好きと言いなさい, Tell Me "I Love You") (July 20, 1985)
Aoi Shumatsu (青い週末, Blue Weekend) (August 31, 1985)
Temptation (September 28, 1985)
1986 Nen No Marilyn (1986年のマリリン Senkyuhyakuhachijūnen No Maririn, Marilyn in 1986) (February 5, 1986)
Sosotte (Seduce Me) (May 1, 1986)
Help (July 23, 1986)
The Cross -Ai No Jyujika- (愛の十字架, The Cross Of Love) (September 3, 1986)
Oneway Generation (February 4, 1987)
Crazy Nights (April 22, 1987)
Golden Days (May 11, 1987) released only in UK
Heartbreak (22 June 1987 )
Kodoku Na Hurricane (孤独なハリケーン Kodoku Na Harikēn, Lonely Hurricane) (September 9, 1987)
Kanashimi Swing (悲しみSWING ) (November 25, 1987)
Anata To Nettai (あなたと、熱帯, With You, Tropical) (July 6, 1988) as "Minako With Wildcats"
Stand Up~Full Metal Armor (November 30, 1988) as "Minako With Wildcats"
Katte Ni Sasete (勝手にさせて, Let Me Have My Own Way) (May 31, 1989) as "Minako With Wildcats"
7th Bird "Ai Ni Koi" (愛に恋 Love And Love) (October 11, 1989)
Shangri-La (July 4, 1990)
Tsubasa (つばさ, Wings) (May 25, 1994)
Rarabai~Yasashiku Dakasete~ (ら・ら・ば・い~優しく抱かせて, Lullaby~Let Me Hold You Kindly) (May 10, 1995) (2nd ending theme of Magic Knight Rayearth)
Boku No Heya De Kurasou (僕の部屋で暮らそう, Let's Live in My Room) (July 26, 1995)
Fall in Love With You -Koi Ni Ochite- (恋に落ちて, Fall in Love) (November 6, 1995)
Shining Eyes (July 21, 1996)
Kaze No Uta (風のうた, Wind Song) (November 21, 1999) (ending theme song of Hunter × Hunter)
Honey (October 21, 2000)
Hoshizora (星空, Starlit Sky) (January 24, 2001)
Nadja!! (ナージャ!! Nādja!!) (February 21, 2003) (theme song of Ashita no Nadja)
Shinsekai (新世界, New World) (May 14, 2004)

Albums

Studio albums
 M'Syndrome (M'シンドロームEmu'Shindorōmu) (November 21, 1985)
 Lips (June 4, 1986)
 Cancel (September 28, 1986)
 Oversea (June 22, 1987)
 Midnight Swing (December 15, 1988)
 Hyōteki (豹的, Target) (July 5, 1989) as "Minako With Wildcats"
 Wild Cats (August 4, 1989) as "Minako With Wildcats"
 Junction (September 24, 1994)
 Hare Tokidoki Kumori (晴れ ときどき くもり, Fine, Sometimes Cloudy) (June 25, 1995)
 Ave Maria (May 21, 2003)
 Toki (時, Time) (November 25, 2004)
 Amazing Grace (アメイジング・グレイス Ameijingu Gureisu) (October 19, 2005)
 Kokoro Wo Komete... (心を込めて... Heartily) (April 20, 2006)
 Yasashii Sekai (優しい世界 Gentle World) (December 6, 2006)
 Eternal Harmony (November 6, 2008)
 Last Concert (ラスト・コンサート) (December 10, 2008)

Live albums
 The Virgin Concert (ザ・ヴァージン・コンサート Za Vājin Consāto) (February 20, 1986)
 DISPA 1987 (January 24, 1989)

Compilations
 The Minako Collection (December 20, 1986)
 Golden Best- New Best Now (June 4, 1988)
 Look Over My Shoulder (October 26, 1988)
 Stand Up- Best Beat Collection (December 12, 1988)
 Life -Minako Honda: Premium Best- (May 21, 2005)
 I Love You (March 29, 2006)
 Angel Voice ~Minako Honda. Memorial Best~ (April 18, 2007)
 Classical Best ~Ten Ni Hibiku Uta~ (April 20, 2007)

Movie soundtracks
 Passenger (October 25, 1988)

VHS/DVD
 The Virgin Live in Budokan
 Dangerous Bond Street
 Dramatic Flash
 DISPA 1987
 Minako in L.A.
 Katte Ni Sasete (勝手にさせて, Let Me Have My Own Way)
 Tropical Holiday
 Tropical Holiday in Hawaii

Theatre
 Miss Saigon (1992–1993) – Kim
 Fiddler on the Roof (1994-1998) – Hodel
 The King and I (1996–2002) – Tuptim
 Les Misérables (1997–2001) – Eponine
 Himeyuri (2002-2004) – Kimi
 Twelfth Night (2003) – A Cat
 Claudia (2004) – Claudia
Note: Minako Honda was originally cast as Fantine in Les Misérables for the Japanese tour in 2005, but due to her death, another actor was given the part.

References

External links

 Minako Honda's official page
 Web page by Columbia record
 Live for Life web page
 Minako Honda discography
 Nippop – Minako Honda Profile
 Japan will miss its Miss Saigon MSN-Mainichi Daily News

1967 births
2005 deaths
Deaths from leukemia
Japanese actresses
Japanese women pop singers
Japanese female idols
Actors from Saitama Prefecture
Deaths from cancer in Japan
Nippon Columbia artists
Singers from Saitama Prefecture
20th-century Japanese women singers
20th-century Japanese singers
21st-century Japanese women singers
21st-century Japanese singers
People from Itabashi

Minako Honda


Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990.

In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish champion. Before that (1908-1929) the championship was decided by cup competition. The league was dominated by clubs from Helsinki, Turku and Vyborg. The first champion was HIFK Fotboll from Helsinki. In 1935 four best clubs were from Helsinki; and in 1934 and 1936 top three clubs also came from Helsinki. From 1908 to 1940 the championship went outside Helsinki on only six occasions. Kuopio was the first inland city to get into the league when Pallotoverit were promoted in 1938. During World War II years the league was sometimes cut short, abandoned or decided with cup competition instead. In 1940s TUL clubs also participated.

The last Mestaruussarja season was 1989 and FC Kuusysi was crowned as the last champions. The new top level division was at first called SM-liiga and later renamed as Veikkausliiga.

Mestaruussarja consisted of 8 clubs when it was founded. It was later expanded to ten and at the time of dissolution league had 12 clubs. The league's popularity peaked in 1960s. Ten HJK matches between 1964 and 1969 had more than 10,000 spectators. The highest attendance was 17,293 between HJK and FC Haka in 1965. Highest average attendance was 3,071 in 1967, a figure that is yet to be beaten by current Veikkausliiga.

Champions

Top scorers

External links
 Finland - List of League First Level Tables at RSSSF

1
Fin

Mestaruussarja


In mathematics, the slice genus of a smooth knot K in S3 (sometimes called its Murasugi genus or 4-ball genus) is the least integer g such that K is the boundary of a connected, orientable 2-manifold S of genus g properly embedded in the 4-ball D4 bounded by S3.

More precisely, if S is required to be smoothly embedded, then this integer g is the smooth slice genus of K and is often denoted gs(K) or g4(K), whereas if S is required only to be topologically locally flatly embedded then g is the topologically locally flat slice genus of K.  (There is no point considering  g if S is required only to be a topological embedding, since the cone on K is a 2-disk with genus 0.)  There can be an arbitrarily great difference between the smooth and the topologically locally flat slice genus of a knot; a theorem of Michael Freedman says that if the Alexander polynomial of  K is 1, then the topologically locally flat slice genus of K is 0, but it can be proved in many ways (originally with gauge theory) that for every g there exist knots K such that the Alexander polynomial of K is 1 while the genus and the smooth slice genus of K both equal g.

The (smooth) slice genus of a knot K is bounded below by a quantity involving the Thurston–Bennequin invariant of K:

The (smooth) slice genus is zero if and only if the knot is concordant to the unknot.

See also
Slice knot
knot genus
Milnor conjecture (topology)

Further reading

 Livingston Charles, A survey of classical knot concordance, in: Handbook of knot theory, pp 319–347, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005.

Knot theory

Slice genus


কেল্টীয় ইংরেজি Celt বা Celtic শব্দের বাংলা প্রতিশব্দ হিসেবে ব্যবহৃত হয়। এটি নির্দেশ করতে পারে:

 কেল্ট জাতি
 কেল্টীয় ভাষাসমূহ, descending from the Proto-Celtic language, spoken by these people and their modern descendants
 Celtici, Celts from ancient Lusitania (modern day Portugal).
 Celtiberians for a Celtic people on the Iberian peninsula
 Celtic mythology, Celtic polytheism, Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism and a List of Celtic deities.
 Celtic horoscope
 Celtic music, referring to folk music that originated from "Celtic" cultures.
 Celtic art, cultural art that avoids straight lines and only occasionally uses symmetry, or knotwork that is typically recognizable by interlocking lines and figures
 Celtic law
 Celtic calendar
 Celtic nations Ireland, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany.
 Celtic Congress Seeks to promote the Celtic languages in the Celtic nations.
 Celtic League (political organisation)
 Celtic League (rugby union)
 Pan-Celticism
 Celtic Sea
 Celtic Christianity

The following should only be pronounced /selt(ik)/:

 Celtic F.C. of Glasgow, Scotland
 Oban Celtic a shinty club from Oban, Scotland
 Bloemfontein Celtic
 Belfast Celtic Football Club former Irish/Northern Irish football team
 Donegal Celtic Football Club Northern Irish football team
 Stalybridge Celtic Football Club of Stalybridge, England
 Lurgan Celtic Football Club of Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
 Boston Celtics professional basketball team in the U.S.A.
 Celt (tool), a type of stone tool.

কেল্টীয়


Edgar Miles Ponsonby "Ted" Tanner (born 19 March 1947) is a former Australian politician.

He was born in Caulfield; his father, Sir Edgar Tanner, was a Victorian MLA from 1955 to 1976. He attended Melbourne Grammar School and received a Master of Business Administration from Swinburne University of Technology. From 1971 to 1973 he was private secretary to the Victorian Minister for Health and from 1973 to 1976 the Chief secretary, before becoming Victorian tourism promotion officer in London from 1976 to 1979. A member of the Liberal Party from 1958, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1979 as the member for Caulfield. Appointed Shadow Minister for Labour and Industry in 1982 and adding Tourism in 1983, he went to the backbench in 1985 before assuming the role of Opposition Whip in 1988. He held the position into government, but retired from politics in 1996. From 1996 to 2000 he was chairman of EcoRecycle Victoria, and since 1999 he has been a member of the Victorian Liquor Licensing Panel.

References

1947 births
Living people
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria
Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
People educated at Melbourne Grammar School
Swinburne University of Technology alumni

Ted Tanner


Bengt Magnusson (born 26 November 1950, in Ystad) is a Swedish journalist and a TV presenter at TV4.

Magnusson studied at Journalisthögskolan i Stockholm (Journalist School of Stockholm) and was employed at the Sveriges Radio (Swedish Radio) in 1973. In the late 1970s, he worked for Sveriges Radio Stockholm (Swedish Radio Stockholm) and came in 1979 to TV and Sveriges Television, where he worked in TV-sporten program. In 1985 Magnusson moved to host the Rapport, where he stayed until 1987 when he moved to host Stockholm regional news in ABC-nytt program in TV2.

In 1990 Magnusson moved to the newly established commercial channel TV4 to work as a news presenter. In September 1990, he led the first broadcast of Nyheterna program. In 1992 TV4 started broadcasting breakfast television program, Nyhetsmorgon, which was hosted by Magnusson and Malou von Sivers. Since autumn 2005, he is the main host for the news broadcast at 7 PM on Sunday-Thursday evenings.

He has also hosted several other programs, such as På liv och död (Rescue 911), Jakten på den röda rubinen (Hunt for the red ruby) and Vem vill bli miljonär? (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?).

References

External links

Swedish television journalists
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
1950 births
Living people

Bengt Magnusson


Mmhmm is the fourth album made by Relient k. It has other spellings because it's a strange word. It is different from the bands previous albums, because it's heavier but also softer at times with the music. It marks the time where the band became more serious, using fewer joke songs than before.

This was their first album on their record label Capitol Records. It was also the last CD which Brian Pitman (Relient k bassist) recorded with the band.

The album was released again, with a new song which was first found on an EP. In 2005, the album was given gold status, because it had sold half a million copies in America. The album had a few singles which were played only on Christian radio such as "High of 75" and "I so hate consequences".

Songs

 The One I'm Waiting For
 Be My Escape
 High of 75
 I So Hate Consequences
 The Only Thing Worse Than Beating A Dead Horse Is Betting On One
 My Girls Ex-Boyfriend
 More Than Useless
 Which To Bury, Us Or The Hatchet?
 Let It All Out
 Who I Am Hates Who I've Been
 Maintain Counciousness
 This Week The Trend
 Life After Death And Taxes
 When I Go Down

2004 albums

Mmhmm


A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are loaded onto or unloaded off of ships or road vehicles and/or where goods wagons are transferred to local sidings.

A station where goods are not specifically received or dispatched, but simply transferred on their way to their destination between the railway and another means of transport, such as ships or lorries, may be referred to as a transshipment station. This often takes the form of a container terminal and may also be known as a container station.

Goods stations were more widespread in the days when the railways were common carriers and were often converted from former passenger stations whose traffic had moved elsewhere.

First goods station

The world's first dedicated goods terminal was the 1830 Park Lane Goods Station at the South End Liverpool Docks. Built in 1830 the terminal was reached by a  tunnel from Edge Hill in the east of the city. The station was a part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was also a first being the first inter-city railway.

Location

Goods stations may be located:
 next to a passenger station (either on the far side of the platforms as seen from the station building or immediately alongside it),
 separately from the associated passenger station on one of the railway lines leading from it,
 as an independent facility not connected with any particular passenger station.

Where individual goods wagons are dispatched to specific goods stations, they are usually delivered to special shunting stations or marshalling yards where they are sorted and then collected. Sometimes there are combined shunting and goods stations.

Equipment

A goods station is usually equipped with a large number of storage and loading sidings in order to fulfil its task. On the loading sidings there may be fixed facilities, such as cranes or conveyor belts, or temporary equipment, such as wheeled ramps for the loading of sugar beet.

Stations where the primary purpose of the station is the handling of containers are also known as container terminals (CT). They are equipped with special cranes and fork-lift vehicles for loading containers from lorries or ships onto the railway vehicles, or vice versa.

If only a small section of a station is used for the loading and unloading of goods, it may be referred to as the "loading area" or "loading dock" and has its own access and signposting. Often there are no facilities for loading and the individual firm has to organise its own loading equipment such as conveyor belts or lorry cranes.

Such loading areas were mainly to be found on branch lines, narrow gauge railways and at smaller stations.

Medium-sized and larger goods stations usually have marshalling or shunting sidings to enable trains to be divided amongst the various local loading and sorting sidings and industrial branches, at the same time performing the function of a small railway hub. In many European countries they are also equipped with a hump yard.

Changing nature of goods stations

Due to the increasing amount of goods traffic that has switched from rail to road many goods stations and, in consequence marshalling yards, closed and were often eventually demolished, so that reviving rail services at the same location is no longer possible. In combined goods and hub stations with a hump yard, the latter was closed if the station lost its role as a railway hub, whilst the local goods function was retained. In addition, in most countries, part-load or parcel goods services have been entirely transferred to the roads, which has led to the closure of goods sheds as well as most of the public loading sidings and ramps used by smaller customers. As a result, most of the remaining goods stations today are just used as container or transshipment stations.

European terminology
In German-speaking countries, various terms for goods station are used including Güterbahnhof in Germany (abb: Gbf) and Switzerland (abb: GB), Frachtenbahnhof (Fbf) in Austria; Umschlagbahnhof (Ubf) for transshipment station and Containerbahnhof or Containerterminal (CT) for container station or terminal.

In French : gare aux marchandises or gare de fret.

See also

 Container terminal
 Freight house
 Freight yard
 Goods shed
 Goods train
 Railway station, which includes information on passenger stations.
 Warehouse

References

External links
 Europe-wide goods station search (excludes Turkey and the former Soviet Union except for Lithuania and Ukraine)
 Goods stations search - Germany
 Container services

Railway stations by type
Station

Goods station


The steel industry is an established and growing industry in Bangladesh. Predominantly based in the port city of Chittagong, the industry has emerged as a major contributor to the national economy. According to the experts, the growth of steel industry in Bangladesh is mainly induced by the rapid expansion of the country's shipbuilding and real estate sector, as well as the major investments in various infrastructure projects throughout the country.

History
The first ever steel mill was established  in 1952 by the H Akberali Group of Industries as the "Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills (BSRM)". Located at Nasirabad, Chittagong, the plant formed re-enforcing bars and structural sections. The mill gradually prolonged, adopting new technological know-how by setting up a cross-nation European mill in 1987 which incorporated a wire-rod mill. The BSRM group added a captive billet manufacturing plants in 1996 so as to make sure a stable distribution of billets of its plants. In 2006, the company installed pilot cold rolling mill to make ribbed high strength wires.

By this time, KSRM Steel Plant Ltd emerged. Very recently, they have established Billet Plant at Chittagong. Their factory situated at Ghoramara, Sitakunda at Chittagong. KSRM is a steel manufacturing organization belonging to Kabir Group of Industries. One of the largest rolling mills in Bangladesh. Moreover, several other steel companies emerged in the country, most notably GPH Ispat, RRM (The Rani Re-rolling Mills LTD, Kabir Steel Re-rolling Mills, AKS, Anwar ISpat, HKG Steel Mills Ltd., Rahim Steel Mills LTD, Seema Steel Re-rolling Mills LTD, Bashundhara Steels etc.

Market
German plant maker SMS Group has announced  that it has signed a contract with Bangladesh based Bashundhra Multi Steel Industries Limited to build an plant in Bangladesh.

References

Bangladesh
Industry in Bangladesh

Steel industry in Bangladesh


Kaiika (Māori for "eater of fish") is an extinct genus of basal penguin from Early Eocene (Waipawan-Mangaorapan subage) deposits of South Canterbury, New Zealand. It is known only from a single humerus. It was found in 1998 by Dr Phillip Maxwell, a paleontologist and stratigrapher, from the Kauru Formation of the Canterbury Basin, near the Waihao River. It was first named by Ewan Fordyce and Daniel Thomas in 2011 and the type species is Kaiika maxwelli. Kaiika is one of the oldest penguins known.

References

Eocene birds
Fossil taxa described in 2011
Extinct penguins
Extinct birds of New Zealand
Sphenisciformes
Extinct monotypic bird genera

Kaiika


The Johannesburg Interbank Agreed Rate (JIBAR) is the money market rate, used in South Africa. It is calculated as the average interest rate at which banks buy and sell money.

This rate is calculated daily by the South African Futures Exchange as the average prime lending rate quoted independently by a number of different banks. The rate is available in one-month, three-month, six-month and twelve-month discount terms. In particular, the three-month JIBAR rate is used as a benchmark of short-term interest rate movements.

The rate is calculated daily after all of the rates are received. It is  calculated as a yield and then converted into a discounted rate. The JIBAR rate is available daily from Thomson Reuters.

See also
LIBOR
Prime rate
TED spread
LIBOR-OIS spread

References

Finance in South Africa
Reference rates

Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate


The Plumb-Bronson House, also known as the Dr. Oliver Bronson House and Stables, is a historic house on Worth Avenue (United States Route 9) in Hudson, New York.  Built in 1811 and significantly altered in 1839 and 1849, it is an important early example of the Hudson River Bracketed style by Alexander Jackson Davis.  The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003.

Description and history
The Plumb-Bronson House is located in southeastern Hudson, on the west side of Worth Avenue (US 9) just north of the town line. The estate consists of about  of open grass and woodlands, with most of the buildings set well back from the road.  A gated drive with a small gatehouse on the south side provides access to the property.  In addition to the main house, there are three outbuildings set in a cluster around it.

The house was originally built for Samuel Plumb, who purchased the site in 1811.  The construction of the house has been attributed to local builder Barnabas Waterman (1776-1839), but the identity of its architect, if there was one, remains unknown.  Alterations and additions to the house were designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis and constructed in 1839 and 1849 for Dr. Oliver Bronson, who purchased the property in 1838. Davis' work converted the house into an early example of the Hudson River Bracketed style, and his influence is also evident in the adjacent outbuildings. Dr Bronson was the heir to an affluent banking family and was probably introduced to Davis by his brother in law, Robert Donaldson Jr. The grounds may be an early example of the work of landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing.

Bronson sold the house in 1853. In the twentieth century portions of the property became the site of a girls' school, now used as a prison. The house and its immediate grounds are now leased by Historic Hudson, Inc., who have begun a restoration program.

In popular culture
The house was a setting of a shoot out scene in the 2012 film Bourne Legacy, where it is burned down.

References

External links

National Historic Landmarks Program - Dr. Oliver Bronson House and Estate
Oliver Bronson Bio
Driving map of Davis structures in the Hudson Valley
Historic Hudson - Plumb Bronson House

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
National Historic Landmarks in New York (state)
Houses in Columbia County, New York
National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, New York

Oliver Bronson House


Drawn Together is an American adult animated sitcom created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein for Comedy Central. It premiered on October 27, 2004. The series is a parody of house-based reality shows such as The Real World, The Surreal Life, and Big Brother, and follows the misadventures of the housemates in the fictional show of the same name and uses a sitcom format with a reality TV show setting.

The show's main characters are a combination of personalities that were recognizable and familiar prior to the series. Differently, Drawn Together used caricatures of established cartoon characters and stock characters. These character traits parody personalities that are typically seen in reality TV shows.

Comedy Central advertised it as the first animated reality TV series, and in some episodes the characters participate in challenges that are similar to reality TV challenges. This premise is largely dropped in later episodes.

After three seasons the show was cancelled. A direct-to-video film and series finale, The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! was released on April 20, 2010.

Cast and characters

Captain Leslie Hero (voiced by Jess Harnell): A sociopathic, chauvinistic, idiotic, perverted, anti-heroic, heteroflexible, necrophiliac and lecherous parody of superheroes, with a visual style taken from the cartoons of Bruce Timm and Max Fleischer. Being primarily macho, he is prone to occasional random fits of hysterics, akin to post-traumatic stress disorder, playing on the "tragic origin" stories of many superheroes. His character is based on the "flying brick" superhero archetype, especially DC Comics' Superman and Shazam, though he refers in one episode to his "hero cave", an allusion to Batman's Batcave.
Wooldoor Jebediah Sockbat (voiced by James Arnold Taylor): A hyperactive, idiotic, gullible, bizarre children's show character, in the mold of SpongeBob SquarePants, who displays many of the typical reality-defying behaviors of Roger Rabbit or Looney Tunes characters.
Princess Clara (voiced by Tara Strong): A pampered, and bigoted princess. A Christian, she is passionate about singing, but repeatedly demonstrates homophobic and racist behavior. She is a spoof of Disney princesses such as Ariel from The Little Mermaid considering her voice pitch and appearance. Her color scheme resembles Megara from Hercules and in wearing a purple dress and white pearl earrings; she shares a likeness with other princesses in popular culture, e.g. Princess Peach.
Foxxy Love (voiced by Cree Summer): A sharp-tongued, promiscuous, mystery-solving musician, and a ghetto-spoof of the Scooby Gang and of Valerie Brown from Hanna-Barbera's Josie and the Pussycats.
Toot Braunstein (voiced by Tara Strong): A fat, egotistical and alcoholic retro-style sex symbol who is a parody of Betty Boop. Toot demands to be the center of attention, cuts herself with razor blades, practices poor personal hygiene, eats excessively when depressed and often instigates conflict in the house.
Xandir P. Wifflebottom (voiced by Jack Plotnick): A hypersensitive, homosexual and effeminate spoof of young, blonde, and handsome swordsman protagonists from JRPGs, such as Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda, Sony PlayStation's Final Fantasy VII and Sega's Wonder Boy in Monster Land.
Spanky Ham (voiced by Adam Carolla): A hypersexual, toilet-humored, obnoxious anthropomorphic pig and a parody of various Internet Flash cartoon characters, specifically from Newgrounds and Adult Swim; his likenesses were inspired by The Real World: San Francisco cast member David "Puck" Rainey.
Ling-Ling (voiced by Abbey McBride): A psychopathic, homicidal anime character who is a spoof of Pikachu from the Pokémon franchise. He battles using various supernatural powers/abilities (represented in anime-like style) and speaks in pseudo-Japanese gibberish (or "Japorean", a portmanteau of "Japanese" and "Korean", as Ling-Ling's voice Abbey McBride calls it) with English subtitles.

Production

Animation style

The show's visual style is that of digital ink-and-paint. The style was chosen both for the retro feel it gives the show and for the versatility and freedom it allows the animators, providing an environment in which it is possible to combine many different styles of animation. Another unique aspect of the show is that, where most cartoons present their characters, though animated, as real within the show's world, the Drawn Together characters retain their identities as cartoon characters even within their animated world, and they acknowledge their status as animations. The show has cameo appearances by famous characters (or in some cases, clones to avoid infringing copyright) from all across the animated spectrum. In keeping with the various animation styles for the characters, Wooldoor and Toot have four fingers on each hand, whereas Clara, Foxxy, Hero and Xandir have five. In promotional artwork for the show, Toot and Wooldoor are drawn with the standard five fingers, but in the show itself they have four. Whereas most of the characters are drawn with black outlines, Clara and items belonging to her are drawn with soft edges, a reference to Disney animation techniques, which involve "cleanup" of any black outlines. Contrasting, Toot is drawn in the grainy, high-contrast monochrome of her era's technology.

The show was made by Rough Draft Studios in Glendale, California, with much of the animation done at the studio's facilities in South Korea. A gag in "The Drawn Together Clip Show" is that they show a list of all the Korean children who died animating the show.

The movie was produced by 6 Point Harness and done completely with Flash animation due to budget cuts.

Cancellation
A total of three seasons were produced. Season 3 began airing on October 5, 2006, and took a mid-season break which started on November 15, 2006. The second half of season three began airing on October 4, 2007.
In March 2007, it was announced that creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein had left Comedy Central, and later created DJ & the Fro for their sister channel MTV in 2009, and eventually signed a two-year contract with 20th Century Fox Television to create new series and/or work on the studio's existing shows.

The season three finale included multiple jokes about the show's cancellation. TV Guide listed this episode as a series finale and described the episode as follows: "The series wraps up with the housemates participating in a singing competition as they look back on their recent misadventures."

In March 2008, Tara Strong confirmed that the show had been cancelled, and the back of the third season DVDs box refers to it as the "third and final season".

Since cancellation, the show has partial rotation late-nights, and airs uncensored on Comedy Central's Secret Stash and on Logo.

In response to the cancellation, the official page of Drawn Together in Myspace had suggested the fans call Comedy Central and convince them to make a new season.

Content

The plots and humor of Drawn Together are adult-oriented and laden with shock comedy. The humor is largely morbid and satirical in nature, its primary focus being the mockery of stereotypes and the casual exploration of taboo subject matter, such as masturbation, paraphilia, kinky sex, homosexuality or gay marriage, abortion, rape, incest, pedophilia, menstruation, spousal abuse, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, antisemitism, necrophilia, terrorism, graphic violence and death. Episodes such as "Gay Bash" or "A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special", for example, feature the exploration of homosexuality as a central theme. Nearly all episodes feature at least one death, and several episodes feature characters going on killing sprees or perpetrating or becoming victims of mass murder, though the main characters subsequently returned alive and uninjured. The show breaks the fourth wall regularly; on one occasion, the show mocks Adam Carolla, the voice of Spanky Ham.

Despite the show's overt and underlined sexuality, the characters' innocent and sensual sides are often the main driving force of the plot (alongside comedic non-sequitur moments intended to parody standard plot lines). This adds romantic comedy, melodrama, action film, war film, court drama and other genres to the pool of spoofing material. Sincere feelings the characters are forced to experience (and comic disregard thereof) seem to add integrity to the plot and imbue every episode with a genuine moral message, made more efficient by constant spoofing of moral message clichés like "character X has learned a valuable lesson".

Comedy Central's original tagline for the show was "Find out what happens when cartoon characters stop being polite... and start making out in hot tubs", referring to Clara and Foxxy's kiss in the pilot episode. The line is a parody of The Real World's tagline, "Find out what happens when people stop being polite... and start getting real." The aforementioned hot tub kiss is considered one of the show's defining images; Comedy Central based nearly all of its first-season promotional material for Drawn Together on it.  In The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, a billboard featuring the hot tub kiss is a major plot point in the film and is the main reason why the Network Head is hunting the housemates down in order to kill them in the movie, due to the billboard being the cause of his wife and daughter's death.

The extensive use of stereotypes is another controversial aspect of the show, though the intent is actually to make fun of bigotry. As Jess Harnell states in the DVD commentary for "Hot Tub", "Most of the racism on the show is coming from people who are so obviously stupid about it; it really isn't that threatening". (Jewish people are mocked, including creators and principal cast member Tara Strong.) Other content known to be featured on some episodes are occurrences of natural disasters, depictions of dictators and sexual fetishes.

Drawn Together is heavy with popular culture references. Animation is a major source of material; as mentioned above, many characters from comics and animated cartoons make cameo appearances and often are the subjects of parody. Numerous live-action films, TV shows, and video games are referenced as well. Reality shows are another prime inspiration, not surprising given that Drawn Together is presented as a reality show that takes place in a cartoon world. Although many of the first-season plots made extensive use of the reality show scenario, this aspect of the show has largely been de-emphasized in later episodes. The spoofing of film and television clichés is another common theme on the show; many Drawn Together stories are parodies of overused plots from TV and films.

One notable factor of the series are musical numbers. Some are parodies of real songs (i.e. in "Hot Tub", the song "Black Chick's Tongue" is a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin; in the episode "Super Nanny", the song at the DMV is a riff on "Who's That Guy?" from Grease 2; in "Freaks & Greeks", the song at the end is a take on "Summer Nights" from Grease; and "You'll Really Love Being Abandoned Here" in "Alzheimer's That Ends Well" is a reference to "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" from Annie). Other songs are those written by the show's creators/writers, like "The Bully Song" from "Requiem for a Reality Show" and "La-La-La-La-Labia" in "Clara's Dirty Little Secret"). Only two episodes ("Lost in Parking Space, Part One" and "Nipple Ring-Ring Goes to Foster Care") do not feature a musical performance.

In terms of continuity, events in different episodes contradict each other, as there is a loose sense of canon. One such example is in "The Other Cousin" and "N.R.A.y RAY", in which Toot is pictured with a penis, something that is not consistent with other episodes. Another is Foxxy's various and contradictory stories about her son Timmy (one involves selling him on the black market, another involves her accidentally shooting him after believing him to be rabid, when he was really just brushing his teeth). Plots and gags are often used that do not make any type of internal sense, but are used as one-off jokes, as when Foxxy, who is in her twenties, is said to have a teenage grandson. Some episodes begin with a fake recap of events supposed to have happened in a (non-existent) previous episode. According to executive producer Bill Freiberger, "Very little on Drawn Together can be considered canon. If you try to find continuity on this show you'll drive yourself nuts. The only thing that's consistent is we try to make the show as funny as possible. And we'd never let a little thing like continuity get in the way of that."

Occasionally, episodes of Drawn Together are shown with less editing for content during Secret Stash, a Comedy Central program aired on weekends at 1am that showcases films (i.e. Not Another Teen Movie), comedy specials (Comedy Central Roast), and animated programs (this and South Park) with uncensored language. Though Secret Stash programs typically have the nudity still censored, Drawn Together is an exception to this. Some nudity not seen in the original broadcast is shown in the Secret Stash version, while the nudity in other scenes is censored with a caption reading "DVD only"; this is done as a way of promoting the show's DVD releases.

Voice cast
Drawn Together features an ensemble cast of veteran voice actors (Tara Strong, Cree Summer, Jess Harnell, Adam Carolla and James Arnold Taylor) and newcomers to the field (Abbey McBride and Jack Plotnick).

Three of the show's voice actors had worked with creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein on other projects: Jack Plotnick on Action, and Adam Carolla and Abbey McBride on The Man Show. Two of Drawn Together's guest stars also came from the casts of earlier Jeser/Silverstein projects: "The Other Cousin" guest star Sarah Silverman (from Greg the Bunny), and Carolla's Man Show co-host Jimmy Kimmel, who guest-starred in "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree" and "Alzheimer's That Ends Well".

Tara Strong and James Arnold Taylor had previously worked together on the animated series Mutant League and the video game Final Fantasy X where they voiced the characters of Thrasher and Rikku (Strong) and Cannonball and Tidus (Taylor) respectively.

Principal cast member Tara Strong has stated that she deeply loves the show, as it was such a departure from the family-friendly productions that she was used to working on at the time. The only problems that she had with it were a few jokes related to Anne Frank.

Originally, Xandir was to have been played by Nat Faxon, but he was fired following the first table read because the network felt his portrayal of the character was too stereotypically gay. Actor Jack Plotnick ended up being cast because he could play a gay man without resorting to stereotypical mannerisms such as the gay lisp.

In addition to their regular roles, the show's cast provides many of the minor roles and guest voices on the series, Summer, Strong, Harnell and Taylor in particular. In the DVD commentary for "Hot Tub", Tara Strong jokes that this is because the show does not have a lot of money to pay guest stars. Chris Edgerly appears in the majority of season one and two episodes despite not having a regular role on the series.

Critical reception
The pilot episode, "Hot Tub", was given mediocre reviews, which focused mostly on its crudity. USA Today deemed Drawn Together "the smutty offspring of Real World and Superfriends", stating that the pilot pushed the limits of taste, being overpowered by violence, sex, and disgusting subject matter. According to The New York Times, "Hot Tub", while it had many good sight gags, did not go far enough in parodying reality television. The domination of Clara's racism in the story was criticized as being a weak attempt to "send up racism while still showcasing its cruel excitement". Toot's cutting was praised as a good parody of self-harm presented on reality shows, but Spanky's flatulence was considered more disgusting than humorous.

The pilot episode was given an F rating from Entertainment Weekly, leading to the second-season episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree" having a subplot in which the majority of the housemates seek revenge for the rating. The latter episode also received an F from the magazine. Some reviewers called Drawn Together a "bizarre and highly entertaining series" which has a unique style of humor and "level of self-parody."

TV Guide named Drawn Together in its 60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time list in 2013.

Episodes

Distribution

Syndication and streaming
The series previously aired on Logo TV with episodes uncensored.

In May 2019, the series began streaming on the Viacom owned streaming platform, Pluto TV on the Comedy Central Pluto TV channel. The entire series was added to CBS All Access's (now Paramount+) roster in July 2020 among other Paramount Global properties.

Home releases
Season releases

The first season of Drawn Together was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on October 4, 2005. Its release was timed to coincide to be the same month as the premiere of Season Two on television on October 19, 2005. The set includes all seven aired first-season episodes. (By the time the release was finalized, it had been determined that the unaired "Terms of Endearment" would air during Season Two, so it was left off the set and eventually released as part of the Season Two set.) The profanity and nudity are intact and uncensored. Some shows also contain additional lines and scenes. Special features include audio commentary on select episodes by creators Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein along with assorted cast and crew members, in addition to deleted scenes and karaoke/sing-along versions of the show's songs.

The set has a game called the Censored/Uncensored game: A line is given, and the viewer must decide if the line aired on television as given (uncensored), or if it had to be altered significantly or deleted (censored). Some of the censored lines appear intact in the extended DVD version of the episode. Getting at least 11 of the 19 questions correct unlocks a hidden feature, a prank phone call by Jeser and Silverstein to their agent regarding the royalties they are to receive for the DVD audio commentaries.

The song "Time of My Life" from "Dirty Pranking No. 2" had to be left off the first season DVD because of copyright concerns. The show mocked the situation in the lyrics of the replacement music.

Season Two Uncensored was released on September 25, 2007. Like the Season One set, the set features audio commentaries by Jeser and Silverstein along with assorted cast and crew members, as well as karaoke/singalong versions of the show's songs. The set also contains, in the words of the box art, "potentially annoying" commentary on the commentary for "Terms of Endearment". The behind-the-scenes interviews in the set are the same ones that appear on Comedy Central's website, which feature each of the voice actors talking about his or her character, along with a separate interview with creators Jeser and Silverstein. Tara Strong does two separate interviews, one for each of her characters (Princess Clara and Toot Braunstein).

The set includes the controversial horse shot from "Terms of Endearment", which was not allowed to air on television.

Season Three Uncensored was released on May 13, 2008.

The censored broadcast cuts of the episodes have never been made available on DVD or any other physical media, but they are available on Amazon.com's streaming service, with the original music.

Broadcast
The show aired on Comedy Central for all three seasons from 2004 to 2007.

See also

The Joe Schmo Show, "A reality show that's not real"
Total Drama, a Canadian animated TV series that parodies reality television.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, a Japanese animation with many styling cues of American animation and inspired by Drawn Together.
Saturday Morning All Star Hits!
Robot Chicken
Clone High

References

External links

Drawn Together
2000s American adult animated television series
2000s American sitcoms
2000s American LGBT-related animated television series
2000s American LGBT-related comedy television series
2000s American reality television series
2000s American satirical television series
2000s LGBT-related reality television series
2000s LGBT-related sitcoms
2004 American television series debuts
2007 American television series endings
American adult animated comedy television series
American adult animated musical television series
American adult animated superhero television series
American animated sitcoms
Animated adult television sitcoms
American television series with live action and animation
English-language television shows
Comedy Central animated television series
Metafictional television series
Reality television series parodies
Animated satirical television series
Television censorship in the United States
Television series by Rough Draft Studios
Television series created by Dave Jeser
Television series created by Matt Silverstein
Television shows adapted into films

Drawn Together


Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is a Greek-American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. He was born in New York City and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey.

Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian and as a contributor on The Daily Show. He hosted his own show on Comedy Central called Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Other websites

1973 births
Living people
Actors from New Jersey
Actors from New York City
Comedians from New Jersey
American movie actors
American stand-up comedians
American television actors
American television personalities
American television producers
American television writers
Comedy Central personalities
Writers from New Jersey
Writers from New York City
Comedians from New York City

Demetri Martin


Formal verification is the process used to prove that a piece of software or hardware works according to its specification. Formal verification uses a mathematical proof. Systems such as those used in robots, or airplanes need to be proved correct, before they can be used.

Mathematics

Formal verification