The physics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) concerns fundamental physical considerations of MRI techniques and technological aspects of MRI devices. MRI is a medical imaging technique mostly used in radiology and nuclear medicine in order to investigate the anatomy and physiology of the body, and to detect pathologies including tumors, inflammation, neurological conditions such as stroke, disorders of muscles and joints, and abnormalities in the heart and blood vessels among others. Contrast agents may be injected intravenously or into a joint to enhance the image and facilitate diagnosis. Unlike CT and X-ray, MRI uses no ionizing radiation and is, therefore, a safe procedure suitable for diagnosis in children and repeated runs. Patients with specific non-ferromagnetic metal implants, cochlear implants, and cardiac pacemakers nowadays may also have an MRI in spite of effects of the strong magnetic fields. This does not apply on older devices, and details for medical professionals are provided by the device's manufacturer.

Certain atomic nuclei are able to absorb and emit radio frequency energy when placed in an external magnetic field. In clinical and research MRI, hydrogen atoms are most often used to generate a detectable radio-frequency signal that is received by antennas close to the anatomy being examined. Hydrogen atoms are naturally abundant in people and other biological organisms, particularly in water and fat. For this reason, most MRI scans essentially map the location of water and fat in the body. Pulses of radio waves excite the nuclear spin energy transition, and magnetic field gradients localize the signal in space. By varying the parameters of the pulse sequence, different contrasts may be generated between tissues based on the relaxation properties of the hydrogen atoms therein.

When inside the magnetic field (B0) of the scanner, the magnetic moments of the protons align to be either parallel or anti-parallel to the direction of the field. While each individual proton can only have one of two alignments, the collection of protons appear to behave as though they can have any alignment. Most protons align parallel to B0 as this is a lower energy state. A radio frequency pulse is then applied, which can excite protons from parallel to anti-parallel alignment, only the latter are relevant to the rest of the discussion. In response to the force bringing them back to their equilibrium orientation, the protons undergo a rotating motion (precession), much like a spun wheel under the effect of gravity. The protons will return to the low energy state by the process of spin-lattice relaxation. This appears as a magnetic flux, which yields a changing voltage in receiver coils to give the signal. The frequency at which a proton or group of protons in a voxel resonates depends on the strength of the local magnetic field around the proton or group of protons, a stronger field corresponds to a larger energy difference and higher frequency photons. By applying additional magnetic fields (gradients) that vary linearly over space, specific slices to be imaged can be selected, and an image is obtained by taking the 2-D Fourier transform of the spatial frequencies of the signal (k-space). Due to the magnetic Lorentz force from B0 on the current flowing in the gradient coils, the gradient coils will try to move producing loud knocking sounds, for which patients require hearing protection.

History

The MRI scanner was developed from 1975 to 1977 at the University of Nottingham by Prof Raymond Andrew FRS FRSE following from his research into nuclear magnetic resonance. The full body scanner was created in 1978.

Nuclear magnetism

Subatomic particles have the quantum mechanical property of spin. Certain nuclei such as 1H (protons), 2H, 3He, 23Na or 31P, have a non–zero spin and therefore a magnetic moment. In the case of the so-called spin- nuclei, such as 1H, there are two spin states, sometimes referred to as up and down. Nuclei such as 12C have no unpaired neutrons or protons, and no net spin; however, the isotope 13C does.

When these spins are placed in a strong external magnetic field they precess around an axis along the direction of the field. Protons align in two energy eigenstates (the Zeeman effect): one low-energy and one high-energy, which are separated by a very small splitting energy.

Resonance and relaxation

Quantum mechanics is required to accurately model the behaviour of a single proton. However, classical mechanics can be used to describe the behaviour of an ensemble of protons adequately. As with other spin  particles, whenever the spin of a single proton is measured it can only have one of two results commonly called parallel and anti-parallel. When we discuss the state of a proton or protons we are referring to the wave function of that proton which is a linear combination of the parallel and anti-parallel states.

In the presence of the magnetic field, B0, the protons will appear to precess at the Larmor frequency determined by the particle's gyro-magnetic ratio and the strength of the field. The static fields used most commonly in MRI cause precession which corresponds to a radiofrequency (RF) photon.

The net longitudinal magnetization in thermodynamic equilibrium is due to a tiny excess of protons in the lower energy state. This gives a net polarization that is parallel to the external field. Application of an RF pulse can tip this net polarization vector sideways (with, i.e., a so-called 90° pulse), or even reverse it (with a so-called 180° pulse). The protons will come into phase with the RF pulse and therefore each other.

The recovery of longitudinal magnetization is called longitudinal or T1 relaxation and occurs exponentially with a time constant T1. The loss of phase coherence in the transverse plane is called transverse or T2 relaxation. T1 is thus associated with the enthalpy of the spin system, or the number of nuclei with parallel versus anti-parallel spin. T2 on the other hand is associated with the entropy of the system, or the number of nuclei in phase.

When the radio frequency pulse is turned off, the transverse vector component produces an oscillating magnetic field which induces a small current in the receiver coil. This signal is called the free induction decay (FID). In an idealized nuclear magnetic resonance experiment, the FID decays approximately exponentially with a time constant T2. However, in practical MRI there are small differences in the static magnetic field at different spatial locations ("inhomogeneities") that cause the Larmor frequency to vary across the body. This creates destructive interference, which shortens the FID. The time constant for the observed decay of the FID is called the T relaxation time, and is always shorter than T2. At the same time, the longitudinal magnetization starts to recover exponentially with a time constant T1 which is much larger than T2 (see below).

In MRI, the static magnetic field is augmented by a field gradient coil to vary across the scanned region, so that different spatial locations become associated with different precession frequencies. Only those regions where the field is such that the precession frequencies match the RF frequency will experience excitation. Usually, these field gradients are modulated to sweep across the region to be scanned, and it is the almost infinite variety of RF and gradient pulse sequences that gives MRI its versatility. Change of field gradient spreads the responding FID signal in the frequency domain, but this can be recovered and measured by a refocusing gradient (to create a so-called "gradient echo"), or by a radio frequency pulse (to create a so-called "spin-echo"), or in digital post-processing of the spread signal. The whole process can be repeated when some T1-relaxation has occurred and the thermal equilibrium of the spins has been more or less restored. The repetition time (TR) is the time between two successive excitations of the same slice.

Typically, in soft tissues T1 is around one second while T2 and T are a few tens of milliseconds. However, these values can vary widely between different tissues, as well as between different external magnetic fields. This behavior is one factor giving MRI its tremendous soft tissue contrast.

MRI contrast agents, such as those containing Gadolinium(III) work by altering (shortening) the relaxation parameters, especially T1.

Imaging

Imaging schemes
A number of schemes have been devised for combining field gradients and radio frequency excitation to create an image:
 2D or 3D reconstruction from projections, such as in computed tomography.
 Building the image point-by-point or line-by-line.
 Gradients in the RF field rather than the static field.
Although each of these schemes is occasionally used in specialist applications, the majority of MR Images today are created either by the two-dimensional Fourier transform (2DFT) technique with slice selection, or by the three-dimensional Fourier transform (3DFT) technique. Another name for 2DFT is spin-warp. What follows here is a description of the 2DFT technique with slice selection.

The 3DFT technique is rather similar except that there is no slice selection and phase-encoding is performed in two separate directions.

Echo-planar imaging
Another scheme which is sometimes used, especially in brain scanning or where images are needed very rapidly, is called echo-planar imaging (EPI): In this case, each RF excitation is followed by a train of gradient echoes with different spatial encoding. Multiplexed-EPI is even faster, e.g., for whole brain functional MRI (fMRI) or diffusion MRI.

Image contrast and contrast enhancement
Image contrast is created by differences in the strength of the NMR signal recovered from different locations within the sample. This depends upon the relative density of excited nuclei (usually water protons), on differences in relaxation times (T1, T2, and T) of those nuclei after the pulse sequence, and often on other parameters discussed under specialized MR scans. Contrast in most MR images is actually a mixture of all these effects, but careful design of the imaging pulse sequence allows one contrast mechanism to be emphasized while the others are minimized. The ability to choose different contrast mechanisms gives MRI tremendous flexibility. In the brain, T1-weighting causes the nerve connections of white matter to appear white, and the congregations of neurons of gray matter to appear gray, while cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) appears dark. The contrast of white matter, gray matter and cerebrospinal fluid is reversed using T2 or T imaging, whereas proton-density-weighted imaging provides little contrast in healthy subjects. Additionally, functional parameters such as cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV) or blood oxygenation can affect T1, T2, and T and so can be encoded with suitable pulse sequences.

In some situations it is not possible to generate enough image contrast to adequately show the anatomy or pathology of interest by adjusting the imaging parameters alone, in which case a contrast agent may be administered. This can be as simple as water, taken orally, for imaging the stomach and small bowel. However, most contrast agents used in MRI are selected for their specific magnetic properties. Most commonly, a paramagnetic contrast agent (usually a gadolinium compound) is given. Gadolinium-enhanced tissues and fluids appear extremely bright on T1-weighted images. This provides high sensitivity for detection of vascular tissues (e.g., tumors) and permits assessment of brain perfusion (e.g., in stroke).
There have been concerns raised recently regarding the toxicity of gadolinium-based contrast agents and their impact on persons with impaired kidney function.  (See Safety/Contrast agents below.)

More recently, superparamagnetic contrast agents, e.g., iron oxide nanoparticles, have become available. These agents appear very dark on T-weighted images and may be used for liver imaging, as normal liver tissue retains the agent, but abnormal areas (e.g., scars, tumors) do not. They can also be taken orally, to improve visualization of the gastrointestinal tract, and to prevent water in the gastrointestinal tract from obscuring other organs (e.g., the pancreas). Diamagnetic agents such as barium sulfate have also been studied for potential use in the gastrointestinal tract, but are less frequently used.

k-space

In 1983, Ljunggren and Twieg independently introduced the k-space formalism, a technique that proved invaluable in unifying different MR imaging techniques. They showed that the demodulated MR signal S(t) generated by the interaction between an ensemble of freely precessing nuclear spins in the presence of a linear magnetic field gradient G and a receiver-coil equals the Fourier transform of the effective spin density, . Fundamentally, the signal is derived from Faraday's law of induction:

where:

In other words, as time progresses the signal traces out a trajectory in k-space with the velocity vector of the trajectory proportional to the vector of the applied magnetic field gradient.
By the term effective spin density we mean the true spin density  corrected for the effects of T1 preparation, T2 decay, dephasing due to field inhomogeneity, flow, diffusion, etc. and any other phenomena that affect that amount of transverse magnetization available to induce signal in the RF probe or its phase with respect to the receiving coil' s electromagnetic field.

From the basic k-space formula, it follows immediately that we reconstruct an image  by taking the inverse Fourier transform of the sampled data, viz.

Using the k-space formalism, a number of seemingly complex ideas became simple. For example, it becomes very easy (for physicists, in particular) to understand the role of phase encoding (the so-called spin-warp method). In a standard spin echo or gradient echo scan, where the readout (or view) gradient is constant (e.g., G), a single line of k-space is scanned per RF excitation. When the phase encoding gradient is zero, the line scanned is the kx axis. When a non-zero phase-encoding pulse is added in between the RF excitation and the commencement of the readout gradient, this line moves up or down in k-space, i.e., we scan the line ky = constant.

The k-space formalism also makes it very easy to compare different scanning techniques. In single-shot EPI, all of k-space is scanned in a single shot, following either a sinusoidal or zig-zag trajectory. Since alternating lines of k-space are scanned in opposite directions, this must be taken into account in the reconstruction. Multi-shot EPI and fast spin echo techniques acquire only part of k-space per excitation. In each shot, a different interleaved segment is acquired, and the shots are repeated until k-space is sufficiently well-covered. Since the data at the center of k-space represent lower spatial frequencies than the data at the edges of k-space, the TE value for the center of k-space determines the image's T2 contrast.

The importance of the center of k-space in determining image contrast can be exploited in more advanced imaging techniques. One such technique is spiral acquisition—a rotating magnetic field gradient is applied, causing the trajectory in k-space to spiral out from the center to the edge. Due to T2 and T decay the signal is greatest at the start of the acquisition, hence acquiring the center of k-space first improves
contrast to noise ratio (CNR) when compared to conventional zig-zag acquisitions, especially in the presence of rapid movement.

Since  and  are conjugate variables (with respect to the Fourier transform) we can use the Nyquist theorem to show that a step in k-space determines the field of view of the image (maximum frequency that is correctly sampled) and the maximum value of k sampled determines the resolution; i.e.,

(These relationships apply to each axis independently.)

Example of a pulse sequence

In the timing diagram, the horizontal axis represents time. The vertical axis represents: (top row) amplitude of radio frequency pulses; (middle rows) amplitudes of the three orthogonal magnetic field gradient pulses; and (bottom row) receiver analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Radio frequencies are transmitted at the Larmor frequency of the nuclide to be imaged. For example, for 1H in a magnetic field of 1 T, a frequency of 42.5781 MHz would be employed. The three field gradients are labeled GX (typically corresponding to a patient's left-to-right direction and colored red in diagram), GY (typically corresponding to a patient's front-to-back direction and colored green in diagram), and GZ (typically corresponding to a patient's head-to-toe direction and colored blue in diagram). Where negative-going gradient pulses are shown, they represent reversal of the gradient direction, i.e., right-to-left, back-to-front or toe-to-head. For human scanning, gradient strengths of 1–100 mT/m are employed: Higher gradient strengths permit better resolution and faster imaging. The pulse sequence shown here would produce a transverse (axial) image.

The first part of the pulse sequence, SS, achieves "slice selection". A shaped pulse (shown here with a sinc modulation) causes a 90° nutation of longitudinal nuclear magnetization within a slab, or slice, creating transverse magnetization. The second part of the pulse sequence, PE, imparts a phase shift upon the slice-selected nuclear magnetization, varying with its location in the Y direction.  The third part of the pulse sequence, another slice selection (of the same slice) uses another shaped pulse to cause a 180° rotation of transverse nuclear magnetization within the slice. This transverse magnetisation refocuses to form a spin echo at a time TE. During the spin echo, a frequency-encoding (FE) or readout gradient is applied, making the resonant frequency of the nuclear magnetization vary with its location in the X direction. The signal is sampled nFE times by the ADC during this period, as represented by the vertical lines. Typically nFE of between 128 and 512 samples are taken.

The longitudinal magnetisation is then allowed to recover somewhat and after a time TR the whole sequence is repeated nPE times, but with the phase-encoding gradient incremented (indicated by the horizontal hatching in the green gradient block). Typically nPE of between 128 and 512 repetitions are made.

The negative-going lobes in GX and GZ are imposed to ensure that, at time TE (the spin echo maximum), phase only encodes spatial location in the Y direction.

Typically TE is between 5 ms and 100 ms, while TR is between 100 ms and 2000 ms.

After the two-dimensional matrix (typical dimension between 128 × 128 and 512 × 512) has been acquired, producing the so-called k-space data, a two-dimensional inverse Fourier transform is performed to provide the familiar MR image. Either the magnitude or phase of the Fourier transform can be taken, the former being far more common.

Overview of main sequences

MRI scanner

Construction and operation

The major components of an MRI scanner are: the main magnet, which polarizes the sample, the shim coils for correcting inhomogeneities in the main magnetic field, the gradient system which is used to localize the MR signal and the RF system, which excites the sample and detects the resulting NMR signal. The whole system is controlled by one or more computers.

Magnet

The magnet is the largest and most expensive component of the scanner, and the remainder of the scanner is built around it. The strength of the magnet is measured in teslas (T). Clinical magnets generally have a field strength in the range 0.1–3.0 T, with research systems available up to 9.4 T for human use and 21 T for animal systems.
In the United States, field strengths up to 4 T have been approved by the FDA for clinical use.

Just as important as the strength of the main magnet is its precision. The straightness of the magnetic lines within the center (or, as it is technically known, the iso-center) of the magnet needs to be near-perfect. This is known as homogeneity. Fluctuations (inhomogeneities in the field strength) within the scan region should be less than three parts per million (3 ppm). Three types of magnets have been used:

 Permanent magnet: Conventional magnets made from ferromagnetic materials (e.g., steel alloys containing rare-earth elements such as neodymium) can be used to provide the static magnetic field. A permanent magnet that is powerful enough to be used in an MRI will be extremely large and bulky; they can weigh over 100 tonnes. Permanent magnet MRIs are very inexpensive to maintain; this cannot be said of the other types of MRI magnets, but there are significant drawbacks to using permanent magnets. They are only capable of achieving weak field strengths compared to other MRI magnets (usually less than 0.4 T) and they are of limited precision and stability. Permanent magnets also present special safety issues; since their magnetic fields cannot be "turned off," ferromagnetic objects are virtually impossible to remove from them once they come into direct contact. Permanent magnets also require special care when they are being brought to their site of installation.
 Resistive electromagnet: A solenoid wound from copper wire is an alternative to a permanent magnet. An advantage is low initial cost, but field strength and stability are limited. The electromagnet requires considerable electrical energy during operation which can make it expensive to operate. This design is essentially obsolete.
 Superconducting electromagnet: When a niobium-titanium or niobium-tin alloy is cooled by liquid helium to 4 K (−269 °C, −452 °F) it becomes a superconductor, losing resistance to flow of electric current. An electromagnet constructed with superconductors can have extremely high field strengths, with very high stability. The construction of such magnets is extremely costly, and the cryogenic helium is expensive and difficult to handle. However, despite their cost, helium cooled superconducting magnets are the most common type found in MRI scanners today.
Most superconducting magnets have their coils of superconductive wire immersed in liquid helium, inside a vessel called a cryostat. Despite thermal insulation, sometimes including a second cryostat containing liquid nitrogen, ambient heat causes the helium to slowly boil off. Such magnets, therefore, require regular topping-up with liquid helium. Generally a cryocooler, also known as a coldhead, is used to recondense some helium vapor back into the liquid helium bath. Several manufacturers now offer 'cryogenless' scanners, where instead of being immersed in liquid helium the magnet wire is cooled directly by a cryocooler. Alternatively, the magnet may be cooled by carefully placing liquid helium in strategic spots, dramatically reducing the amount of liquid helium used, or, high temperature superconductors may be used instead.

Magnets are available in a variety of shapes. However, permanent magnets are most frequently 'C' shaped, and superconducting magnets most frequently cylindrical. C-shaped superconducting magnets and box-shaped permanent magnets have also been used.

Magnetic field strength is an important factor in determining image quality. Higher magnetic fields increase signal-to-noise ratio, permitting higher resolution or faster scanning. However, higher field strengths require more costly magnets with higher maintenance costs, and have increased safety concerns. A field strength of 1.0–1.5 T is a good compromise between cost and performance for general medical use. However, for certain specialist uses (e.g., brain imaging) higher field strengths are desirable, with some hospitals now using 3.0 T scanners.

Shims
When the MR scanner is placed in the hospital or clinic, its main magnetic field is far from being homogeneous enough to be used for scanning. That is why before doing fine tuning of the field using a sample, the magnetic field of the magnet must be measured and shimmed.

After a sample is placed into the scanner, the main magnetic field is distorted by susceptibility boundaries within that sample, causing signal dropout (regions showing no signal) and spatial distortions in acquired images. For humans or animals the effect is particularly pronounced at air-tissue boundaries such as the sinuses (due to paramagnetic oxygen in air) making, for example, the frontal lobes of the brain difficult to image. To restore field homogeneity a set of shim coils is included in the scanner. These are resistive coils, usually at room temperature, capable of producing field corrections distributed as several orders of spherical harmonics.

After placing the sample in the scanner, the B0 field is 'shimmed' by adjusting currents in the shim coils. Field homogeneity is measured by examining an FID signal in the absence of field gradients. The FID from a poorly shimmed sample will show a complex decay envelope, often with many humps. Shim currents are then adjusted to produce a large amplitude exponentially decaying FID, indicating a homogeneous B0 field. The process is usually automated.

Gradients
Gradient coils are used to spatially encode the positions of protons by varying the magnetic field linearly across the imaging volume. The Larmor frequency will then vary as a function of position in the x, y and z-axes.

Gradient coils are usually resistive electromagnets powered by sophisticated amplifiers which permit rapid and precise adjustments to their field strength and direction. Typical gradient systems are capable of producing gradients from 20 to 100 mT/m (i.e., in a 1.5 T magnet, when a maximal z-axis gradient is applied, the field strength may be 1.45 T at one end of a 1 m long bore and 1.55 T at the other). It is the magnetic gradients that determine the plane of imaging—because the orthogonal gradients can be combined freely, any plane can be selected for imaging.

Scan speed is dependent on performance of the gradient system. Stronger gradients allow for faster imaging, or for higher resolution; similarly, gradient systems capable of faster switching can also permit faster scanning. However, gradient performance is limited by safety concerns over nerve stimulation.

Some important characteristics of gradient amplifiers and gradient coils are slew rate and gradient strength. As mentioned earlier, a gradient coil will create an additional, linearly varying magnetic field that adds or subtracts from the main magnetic field. This additional magnetic field will have components in all 3 directions, viz. x, y and z; however, only the component along the magnetic field (usually called the z-axis, hence denoted Gz) is useful for imaging. Along any given axis, the gradient will add to the magnetic field on one side of the zero position and subtract from it on the other side. Since the additional field is a gradient, it has units of gauss per centimeter or millitesla per meter (mT/m). High performance gradient coils used in MRI are typically capable of producing a gradient magnetic field of approximate 30 mT/m or higher for a 1.5 T MRI. The slew rate of a gradient system is a measure of how quickly the gradients can be ramped on or off. Typical higher performance gradients have a slew rate of up to 100–200 T·m−1·s−1. The slew rate depends both on the gradient coil (it takes more time to ramp up or down a large coil than a small coil) and on the performance of the gradient amplifier (it takes a lot of voltage to overcome the inductance of the coil) and has significant influence on image quality.

Radio frequency system
The radio frequency (RF) transmission system consists of an RF synthesizer, power amplifier and transmitting coil. That coil is usually built into the body of the scanner. The power of the transmitter is variable, but high-end whole-body scanners may have a peak output power of up to 35 kW, and be capable of sustaining average power of 1 kW. Although these electromagnetic fields are in the RF range of tens of megahertz (often in the shortwave radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum) at powers usually exceeding the highest powers used by amateur radio, there is very little RF interference produced by the MRI machine. The reason for this, is that the MRI is not a radio transmitter. The RF frequency electromagnetic field produced in the "transmitting coil" is a magnetic near-field with very little associated changing electric field component (such as all conventional radio wave transmissions have). Thus, the high-powered electromagnetic field produced in the MRI transmitter coil does not produce much electromagnetic radiation at its RF frequency, and the power is confined to the coil space and not radiated as "radio waves." Thus, the transmitting coil is a good EM field transmitter at radio frequency, but a poor EM radiation transmitter at radio frequency.

The receiver consists of the coil, pre-amplifier and signal processing system. The RF electromagnetic radiation produced by nuclear relaxation inside the subject is true EM radiation (radio waves), and these leave the subject as RF radiation, but they are of such low power as to also not cause appreciable RF interference that can be picked up by nearby radio tuners (in addition, MRI scanners are generally situated in metal mesh lined rooms which act as Faraday cages.)

While it is possible to scan using the integrated coil for RF transmission and MR signal reception, if a small region is being imaged, then better image quality (i.e., higher signal-to-noise ratio) is obtained by using a close-fitting smaller coil. A variety of coils are available which fit closely around parts of the body such as the head, knee, wrist, breast, or internally, e.g., the rectum.

A recent development in MRI technology has been the development of sophisticated multi-element phased array coils which are capable of acquiring multiple channels of data in parallel. This 'parallel imaging' technique uses unique acquisition schemes that allow for accelerated imaging, by replacing some of the spatial coding originating from the magnetic gradients with the spatial sensitivity of the different coil elements. However, the increased acceleration also reduces the signal-to-noise ratio and can create residual artifacts in the image reconstruction. Two frequently used parallel acquisition and reconstruction schemes are known as SENSE and GRAPPA. A detailed review of parallel imaging techniques can be found here:

References

Further reading

Magnetic resonance imaging

Physics of magnetic resonance imaging


Rexine was the registered trademark of an artificial leather leathercloth fabric produced in the United Kingdom by Rexine Ltd of Hyde, near Manchester, England. It was made of cloth surfaced with a mixture of cellulose nitrate (a low explosive also used as the propellant in firearms rounds), camphor oil, pigment and alcohol, embossed to look like leather. Rexine was discontinued in 2005, but similar leathercloth fabrics continue to be produced by multiple manufacturers, including the original manufacturer.

Used as a bookbinding material and upholstery covering, Rexine was also widely used in trimming and upholstering the interiors of motor vehicles produced by British car manufacturers beginning in the 1920s, and the interiors of railway carriages, its cost being around a quarter that of leather. It was used by the British Motor Corporation in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly as a surface for 'crash padding' on dashboards and doors. It was also used for British teddy bear paw and foot pads from the late 1930s to early 1960s.

The author George Orwell, writing in his wartime diary on 29 April 1942, reported on his visit to the British House of Lords: "Everything had a somewhat mangy look. Red rexine cushions on the benches - I could swear they used to be red plush at one time."

The use of rexine in a railway carriage contributed to the rapid spread of fire on the 15:48 West Riding express from King's Cross near Huntingdon on 14 July 1951.

References

Artificial leather
British brands

Rexine


Waikino Music Festival was a 1977 music and alternatives event held on Bicknell's farm in the Waitawheta Valley between Waikino and Waihi, New Zealand. Between band set ups; solo artists, poets and storytellers, comedians, yoga demonstrations and ravers would entertain, enabling the show to continue without breaks. These ideas were even further developed at the subsequent Nambassa festivals.

History

The event was staged as a forerunner to the Nambassa festivals and was a community project run by Peter Terry. The Waikino festival was originally intended as an eight-hour all day music and cultural event, however, a steady flow of bands, buskers and poets from around Auckland and the Waikato spontaneously rocked up to perform. Consequently, the event ran non stop for 24 hours and attracted 5000 patrons. It took place at Franklin Road, Waitawheta Valley, Hauraki.

The Waikino festival broke new ground for the presentation format of open air concerts, by combining popular rock music and entertainment with cultural based demonstrations. Between band set ups; solo artists, poets and storytellers, comedians, yoga demonstrations and ravers would entertain, enabling the show to continue without breaks. These ideas were even further developed at the subsequent Nambassa festivals.

Proceeds from the Waikino festival went towards the purchase of a winters supply of fuel for the predominantly pensioner community of the sleepy Waikino village. Nambassa later contributed towards the construction of a new Waikino community post office, which was washed away into the Karangahake Gorge during the great 1981 Ohinemuri River floods.

Entertainment
Th' Dudes, Living Force, Hello Sailor (band), Dallas Four, Mommba, Norma Leaf, Steve Tulloch and Charlie Daniels Band. A one-day festival at Waikino. Many of the bands who played Waikino as their first major gig, went on to become national New Zealand music stars. Headlining acts also included spontaneous appearances by the Midge Marsden and the Country Flyers, Rockinghorse, Ragnarok, and Larry Killip's band Starbow.

See also

List of historic rock festivals
 New Zealand music festivals
 Nambassa
 Waikino

References

External links
 Nambassa Official site

New Age in popular culture
Hippie movement
Rock festivals in New Zealand
1977 in music
Music festivals established in 1977
1977 festivals
Festivals established in 1977

Waikino Music Festival


Dandy was the mascot of the New York Yankees between 1979 and 1981. He was a large pinstriped bird that sported a Yankees hat.  He had a mustache that gave him an appearance similar to that of former Yankee catcher Thurman Munson.  His name was a play on the classic American folk song "Yankee Doodle Dandy".

Creation
Eager to add a mascot, Yankees management contracted Wayde Harrison and Bonnie Erickson of Acme Mascots, who created the Phillie Phanatic in 1978, to develop a mascot for their franchise. After a meeting with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, in which Steinbrenner and Erickson argued over the shade of blue to use, the Yankees leased Dandy for three years and $30,000.

Release and reception
On July 10, 1979, The San Diego Chicken, then working for the Seattle Mariners, put a hex on Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry during a game at the Seattle Kingdome. Yankees outfielder Lou Piniella responded by chasing the mascot and throwing his glove at him. In response, Steinbrenner said that mascots had no place in baseball, despite the imminent release of Dandy.

Dandy debuted in late-July 1979, weeks after the incident in Seattle. When Thurman Munson died in a plane crash on August 2, 1979, Dandy was put on hiatus, as Dandy resembled Munson. Though Yankees organist Eddie Layton composed a song for Dandy, it was never played. Dandy was confined to the upper deck area of Yankee Stadium by Yankees management. After the lease expired, Harrison and Erickson declined the Yankees' request to sign another lease, as they felt the mascot did not receive the necessary support from management.

Aftermath
After Dandy was returned to Harrison and Erickson, they destroyed Dandy using an industrial shredder, an act that the creators described as "a terrible thing to have to do".

Along with this experiment, the Yankees briefly had mascots resembling ballpark food (plus Yankees hats on top) during the mid-1990s. Outside these two occasions, the Yankees have not had an official mascot or cheerleading squad roam the stands or perform on the field. Unofficial mascots have included a squirrel that Teddy Kider of The New York Times nicknamed "Right Field Ratatosk" after it was seen on the right field foul pole in late 2007. The squirrel was referred to as "Scooter" by the fans, for Yankees legendary shortstop, Phil Rizzuto, who died in August 2007.  Another unofficial mascot was Bronxie the Turtle, a team pet adopted at the behest of Nestor Cortés Jr. in Fall 2021.

Though George Steinbrenner gave final approval to Dandy, he claimed had "no recollection" of Dandy in 1998. Joseph M. Perello, vice president for business development for the Yankees, and Lonn Trost, Yankees' general counsel, were unaware that the Yankees once had a mascot.

In the summer of 2023, the Yankees placed the miniature prototype of Dandy on display in their museum at Yankee Stadium. According to the museum curator, Brian Richards, the museum staff got special permission from the Yankees to display the figure. This is the first time the team as publicly acknowledged the existence of their failed mascot since 1981.

References

External links
 Photo at Acme Mascots

New York Yankees
Bird mascots
Major League Baseball team mascots
1979 establishments in New York City
1981 disestablishments in New York (state)

Dandy (mascot)


The Smurf Apprentice (original French title L'Apprenti Schtroumpf) is the seventh album of the original French-language Smurfs comic series created by Belgian artist Peyo.

Apart from the titular one, it contains other two stories: Smurftraps and Romeo and Smurfette.

Plots

The Smurf Apprentice
A smurf wants to learn magic and alchemy. After some failed attempts of getting Papa Smurf's magic book, he goes to Gargamel's lab and steals one page of his magic book. However, what the potion written on the page does is written on the following page, so the only way to know what the potion does is to test it. After some failed attempts of giving the potion to the other smurfs, the Apprentice Smurf drinks it himself and becomes a green lizard-like monster that the other smurfs (save for Papa Smurf) are afraid of. Not one of Papa Smurf's attempts on an antidote works, so the Apprentice Smurf goes to Gargamel's lab after the antidote, but is captured. Papa Smurf leads the other smurfs to save him, and then they make the antidote that restores the Apprentice Smurf to his normal smurf appearance.

Smurftraps
Gargamel prepares a series of traps to capture the smurfs, while they are playing hide-and-seek. Brainy Smurf is trapped by a book, Greedy Smurf is immobilised by a sticky cake, Grouchy Smurf follows a series of directions that lead him to a hole, and so on. But the smurf who was counting watches when Gargamel catches the last of his playmates, and goes to the village to tell Papa Smurf, who then organises all the remaining smurfs for a rescue mission. However, Gargamel catches all the rescue party, save for Papa Smurf, with a giant net. Gargamel makes the smurfs do slave labor on his home, but Papa Smurf arrives at night and leaves a trace of gold coins near Gargamel's bed. When Gargamel awakens, he finds the trace and follows it to a chest where Papa Smurf traps him. Papa Smurf releases the smurfs and they leave Gargamel's home.

Romeo and Smurfette
A series of one-page gags showing the love all the smurfs feel for Smurfette.

Publication and other media
In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon version of The Smurf Apprentice, Clumsy Smurf is the one who becomes the apprentice rather than the unnamed smurf from the comic.
The animated version of Romeo and Smurfette links the gags as one story, where Gargamel (who did not appear on any one of the gags) uses a magic flower to make Smurfette decide that she will marry Handy Smurf or Hefty Smurf, thus dividing the Smurfs between Handy's supporters and Hefty's supporters. The episode also uses some scenes adapted from Smurf Versus Smurf.

See also
Characters in The Smurfs

The Smurfs books

The Smurf Apprentice


Kaitoke railway station was a single-platform rural railway station on the Wairarapa Line between Upper Hutt and Featherston in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island.  Initially it was the railhead of the Wairarapa Line, at a point where the railway met the main road between Upper Hutt and the Wairarapa.  Later it was a point at which locomotives were changed, steam engines were watered, trains could cross, and passengers could make use of the refreshment room.

The station was closed along with the old route via the Rimutaka Incline on which the Fell system was used over the Rimutaka Ranges when the Rimutaka Deviation opened in 1955.

History
The Mungaroa Contract for the construction of the Wairarapa Line between Upper Hutt and the Pakuratahi Valley included a station near the terminus of the contract, originally called Pakuratahi Station.  The contractor for this section was Charles McKirdy, who was to have completed the contract between 3 June 1874 and 3 March 1876 but, as was common with contracts for the construction of the Wairarapa Line, work was not completed on time.  Having run out of money with two months of work left to complete, the contract was picked up by McKirdy's guarantors, Walter Turnbull and John McKenzie.  They applied for and received further funds to continue the work, which was completed on 16 December 1877.

When work was nearing completion, the Government called for tenders to erect a fourth-class station building and stationmaster's house.  The contract was let to W. H. Ridler for the sum of £1,778.  This contract also possibly included the erection of the goods shed on a siding 12 chains (240 metres) to the north of the station (the goods shed was demolished in 1882).  A separate contract for the sum of £1,514 was let to Messrs. Fraser and Lyon for the construction of an access road to the station and the levelling of the site for the station and house.

By early December 1877, the Public Works Department had advanced platelaying as far as Pakuratahi Station, by this time renamed Kaitoki, later (probably in the 1880s) to become Kaitoke.  As Kaitoke was expected to be the railhead for two years, there was some consternation over the siting of the station, with complaints particularly from the Wairarapa that the site was unsuitable for the trans-shipment of goods between road and rail.  The Government stood firm and the station stayed where it was intended to be.

The line to Kaitoke Station was officially opened on 28 December 1877 by the Governor, the Marquis of Normanby. A special train was run from Wellington to Kaitoke for the occasion under the supervision of District Engineer Mr. Hales and General Manager Mr. Stone.  After speeches and an inspection of the station, by which time had had a refreshments room added, the Governor and party boarded the train again to return to Wellington.  Over the next few days, excursion trains were run from Wellington to Kaitoke to satiate the curiosity of those who had heard of the fearsome reputation the line had gained during its construction.On 1 January 1878 the line to Kaitoke was opened to the public, becoming the railhead for the Wairarapa for nearly ten months.

Kaitoke Station proceeded to enter the busiest phase of its existence as the railhead of the Wairarapa Line, which lasted only until the opening of the line as far as Featherston on 16 October 1878, after which it was of minor significance.  Initially, two daily mixed trains were timed to connect with road coaches from the Wairarapa.  There was a limited amount of flat land available, so the station retained its original configuration of the main line plus one crossing loop throughout its life.  There was also a locomotive siding to the south of the station until the practice of changing locomotives ceased, at which time the siding was lifted.

The refreshment rooms were extended in 1896, and, except for the addition of the signal box in 1902, the station buildings remained the same until the refreshment rooms were closed about 1952.

In 1883 the station handled 759 outbound passengers, a level of patronage that remained steady for many years.  Traffic increased steadily right from the start, with average goods tonnage at around the same time of 457 tons inward and 1,978 outward.  The growth in business led to the introduction of a third mixed train a month after the station opened.

The Working Timetable of 1887 lists Kaitoke as one of the first stations on the section to receive signals.  Instructions for crossing trains required down (southbound) trains to take the siding or loop and up (northbound) trains to take the main line.

Soon after the installation of the first full mechanical interlocking system at Lambton Station in Wellington, a smaller system was installed at Kaitoke.  A signal box was built at the south end of the platform, and two arm bracket signals for both "home" and "starting" were provided for trains travelling in both directions.  Later, up and down "distant" signals were added.  Balanced arm semaphore signals replaced the earlier slotted-post design.

With the completion of the Rimutaka Deviation, Kaitoke station was closed on 30 October 1955 along with the rest of the old line over the Rimutaka Ranges, followed by the opening of the new line on 3 November.

Today
Station Drive, the access road to the former station off State Highway 2, still exists and provides access to several private dwellings that have been constructed on the terrace that was cut into the hillside to form the station yard.  The terrace can easily be seen from the old State Highway where it intersects with the new State Highway, and there is public access up to the south end of the former station yard via the old railway line, a public walking/cycling track between Kaitoke and Mangaroa.

Future
The 'Rimutaka Incline Railway', the project of the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust, aims to re-establish a railway line on the former Wairarapa Line formation between Maymorn and Featherston.  This includes new track past Kaitoke, utilising an easement created by Transit New Zealand when they built the State Highway 2 deviation through Kaitoke. The trust does not propose to acquire former railway formation now in private ownership at Kaitoke, or establish a new station at or near the original Kaitoke Station for its own operations.

See also
 Cross Creek railway station
 Summit railway station, New Zealand
 Rimutaka Incline
 Rimutaka Tunnel

References

Footnotes

External links
 Greater Wellington Regional Council. Tunnel Gully Recreation Area.
 Photo of Railcar arriving at Kaitoke, 29 October 1955

Rail transport in Wellington
Railway stations closed in 1955
Defunct railway stations in New Zealand
Buildings and structures in Upper Hutt
Railway stations in New Zealand opened in 1877
Railway stations in New Zealand closed in the 20th century

Kaitoke railway station


Jojawar is a village located in Marwar Junction tehsil of Pali District in Rajasthan State, India. The mountains of the Aravalli Range are very near to this village. Jojawar is the location of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya school for Pali District, located about 1.5 km away on the Marwar Junction road.

Jojawar is located on a junction of important routes between Mewar and Marwar regions. The nearest railway stations are Phulad (metre gauge) 15 km distant, and Marwar Junction 35 km distant.  All trains on the Jaipur-Mumbai route stop at Marwar Junction.

History and Surroundings
Jojawar has long been an important village in the Kantha area of Godwar Region. The village, located on the route to Mewar, controlled access to its valuable agricultural land. Numerous battles were fought nearby, and continued to be fought into the nineteenth century. Jojawar was traditionally a jagir of the Solanki Rajputs, who are an offshoot of Roopnagar. Thakur Askaran was given the Thikana of Jojawar by his father Thakur Sawant Singh of Desuri.

Rao Maldeo of Jodhpur took control of Jojawar around V.S. 1595 (1538 AD) and placed a checkpoint there.
Raja Sur Sing's son, Kunwar Gaj Singh and Bhati Govinddas fought for control over Jojawar in V.S. 1670 (AD 1613). On behalf of Raja Sur Singh of Jodhpur, Bhati Govinddas was granted control of Jojawar by Mughal Emperor Jehangir, along with 84 other villages of Godwar. These villages were under control of Rana Amar Singh of Udaipur. But Jodhpur forces could not succeed in taking control of Jojawar.

During Maharaja Vijay Singh, Godwar came under control of Jodhpur from Mewar. However, the Solanki of this region remained loyal to Rana of Udaipur and never accepted their rule, frequently fighting with Jodhpur forces. It remained in the hands of Solankis for around 250 years. Due to their reluctance to accept rule by the Jodhpur Kingdom, Maharaja Man Singh of Jodhpur awarded Jojawar to his maternal uncle Chauhan Shyam Singh in V.S. 1864 (AD 1807), but Shyam Singh died during a siege of Jodhpur Fort that year.

An old fort around 300 years old, built by Solanki Rajputs of the region stands in the nearby Aravali hills.

Demographics

Population of Jojawar is 7,462 according to census 2001 where male population is 3,743 while female population is 3,719.

References

Villages in Pali district

Jojawar


The Vauxhall Cavalier was a large family car. It was sold mostly in the United Kingdom by Vauxhall Motors from 1975 to 1995. It was based on a succession of Opel designs throughout its production life, during which it was built in three incarnations. The first generation of Cavalier, launched in 1975 and produced until 1981, was based on the existing Opel Ascona and Opel Manta with a few minor visual differences.

1970s automobiles
1980s automobiles

Vauxhall Cavalier


Misaki Doi and Jil Teichmann were the defending champions, but Doi chose not to participate. Teichmann played alongside Madison Brengle, but they lost in the first round to Quinn Gleason and Luisa Stefani.

Hayley Carter and Ena Shibahara won the title, defeating Taylor Townsend and Yanina Wickmayer in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–1).

Seeds

Draw

Draw

References
Main Draw

Oracle Challenger Series – Newport Beach - Doubles
Oracle Challenger Series – Newport Beach

2019 Oracle Challenger Series – Newport Beach – Women's doubles


Antoni Castells i Oliveres (; born September 24, 1950) is a Spanish politician. He is considered one of the most prominent members of the Catalanist wing of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia.

Castells is married and has two children. He lives in Barcelona. He received an Economy degree and a PhD at the University of Barcelona.

He is a lecturer in Public Revenue at the UB. He has been a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore (1993) and director of The Institute of Economy of Barcelona until, November 2003.

He has written many books about the topics which he is specialized: fiscal federalism, autonomous and local revenue, regional economy and the economy of the welfare state.

He has been working in the Study Service for the Banca Catalana (until 1983), and member of Audit Office of Catalonia (1984–1989), member of the Catalan part of the Mixed Committee of State-Generalitat Assessment (1989–1996), member of the Catalan Parliament (1992–1994) and Spanish member of the European Court of Auditors (1994–2000).

Currently Secretary of the Economy of the PSC Executive Committee.

Notes

References

1950 births
Economy ministers of Catalonia
Finance ministers of Catalonia
Living people
Politicians from Barcelona
Socialists' Party of Catalonia politicians
European Court of Auditors

Antoni Castells


The Antarctic Peninsula is the largest peninsula in Antarctica. The peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It is 1300 km and reaches from Cape Adams (Weddell Sea) and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands. The northern tip is about 1000 km (600 miles) from Tierra del Fuego. There are many research stations as well as multiple claims of sovereignty on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Average temperatures on the peninsula have risen by nearly 2°C in the past 50 years which makes the Antarctic Peninsula one of the fastest warming places on Earth.

References

Geography of Antarctica
Peninsulas

Antarctic Peninsula


Sirius Academy West (formerly Sirius Academy, Pickering High School, Kingston High School and The Boulevard) is a secondary school in Hull, England. It was renamed Sirius Academy in September 2009 under Building Schools for the Future, with Sports College specialist status.

History
The last headteacher of Pickering High School was Elaine Wadsworth, who was replaced by a principal, Cathy Taylor, when the school became an academy.

In September 2011 the school moved into a new £48.5 million building which replaced an older one, bringing the school within one site, with a new sports hall to support sports college status.

The school's GCSE results have improved over the years.

After becoming an academy the school was originally known as Sirius Academy. However, in 2015 Thomas Ferens Academy joined the Sirius Academy Multi Academy Trust and was renamed Sirius Academy North. Sirius Academy was renamed Sirius Academy West to distinguish the two institutions.

Facilities
School facilities include an all-weather pitch, sports hall, sports lab, hair and beauty salon, industrial quality food technology rooms, dance studio, construction bays and an eco-dome.

Ofsted
The 2003 Ofsted inspection rated the school as Grade 2 "Good", highlighting strengths, and improvements to be made.

Strengths:
 Very good leadership and management by the headteacher and managerial teaching staff
 Good teaching in lessons resulting in good learning and positive relationships
 Provisions made for special education needs (SEN) pupils
 Systems for monitoring pupil progression
Improvements were suggested in:
 Teaching, particularly in mathematics
 The greater use of ICT to assist learning
 Attendance and punctuality
 The modernising of teaching and recreational areas to improve learning and safety

In March 2014 an Ofsted inspection rated the school as Outstanding in all areas.

Former pupils

Kingston High School
Amy Johnson
Tom Courtenay
John Alderton
 Alan Plater

References

Further reading
 A Hull School in Wartime: Kingston High School's Evacuation to Scarborough (paperback) by John D. Hicks
 Bob Rosner (2005)  One of the Lucky Ones: rescued by the Kindertransport.Beth Shalom, Newark (England) .

External links
Official website
  School's Ofsted Report
GCSE Results in more detail
(http://www.oldkingstonianshull.org.uk/ Old Kingstonians' Association website)

Academies in Kingston upon Hull
Educational institutions established in 1895
Secondary schools in Kingston upon Hull
1895 establishments in England

Sirius Academy West


Kin Canada (formerly the Kinsmen and Kinette Clubs of Canada) is a secular Canadian non-profit service organization.  It promotes service, fellowship, positive values, and national pride.  The members comprise Kinsmen, Kinette and Kin Clubs (service clubs) located throughout the country. Membership is open to all persons regardless of race, colour, or creed.

Members
Around 7,000 members belong to about 500 Kinsmen, Kinette and Kin clubs from coast to coast. Kinsmen clubs are predominantly male-only while Kinette clubs are predominantly female-only. Kin clubs have a mixed membership of men and women. The Association was founded in Canada and there are no clubs outside of Canada.

History

In 1920, Harold A. Rogers, known in Kin Canada circles as "Founder Hal", founded the first Kinsmen club in Hamilton, Ontario. Rogers, a 21-year-old, had just returned from World War I and his father, a well-known Rotarian, encouraged him to join the Rotary Club. Rogers was rejected because the Rotary Club would not allow two members from the same business establishment. Not a person to be outdone, Rogers decided to create a new club. As a result of his initiative, a small group of like-minded men gathered for a dinner meeting on February 20, 1920 and formed what became known as the Kinsmen Club of Hamilton – Canada's first Kinsmen Club.

Prominent members
Prominent former and current Kin members include:

 Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
 Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn.
 Ontario Premier  Ernie Eves.
 Ontario MPP Bruce Crozier.
 British Columbia cabinet minister Rich Coleman
 Newfoundland and Labrador MHA, MP, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador John C. Crosbie.
 Senate of Canada MHA, MP, Former Liberal Senator for St. John's East, Newfoundland and Labrador Eric Cook.
 Newfoundland and Labrador MHA, Former Leader of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador Len Stirling.
 Newfoundland and Labrador MHA, 9th Mayor of the City of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador William G. Adams.

Projects
Clubs independently determine what needs in their community they would like to assist with and often partner with municipalities and/or local non-profit organizations to meet those needs. The projects vary from clubs to club, but some examples include:

 Providing funds to hospitals and local organizations
 Supplying resources or services to local schools
 Assisting with the building of community housing
 Building play structures, splash pads and recreation facilities eg. The Kinsmen Field House, a sports venue in Edmonton
 Organizing Christmas parades
 Holding toy and food drives
 Hosting community carnivals, festivals or events

Since the Association's founding, clubs have raised over $1 billion for Canadian communities. Together, the clubs raised CAD $20 million and volunteered over 500,000 hours in the 2018–2019 Kin year.

Cystic fibrosis
Since 1964, Kin Canada has supported Cystic Fibrosis Canada, often raising over CAD $1 million a year for cystic fibrosis (CF) research and treatment. To date, Kin have raised more than $47 million for CF. This makes Kin the country's largest single fundraiser for cystic fibrosis.

Kin Canada Bursaries
Kin Canada Bursaries, a program of the Hal Rogers Endowment Fund, provides financial assistance to eligible persons in their quest for higher learning. Kin Canada established the Hal Rogers Endowment Fund upon the passing of founder Hal Rogers.

Kin Canada Foundation
The Kin Canada Foundation is an incorporated and federally chartered charitable organization established in 2005 to help Kin Canada achieve the objective of "Serving the Community's Greatest Need". The Foundation's primary goal is to work hand-in-hand with Kin Canada to help resource and develop many of the programs provided for the benefit of the members across Canada.

Canadian Blood Services
Kin Canada established a national partnership with Canadian Blood Services in 2014, however Kin clubs have been involved with blood donation in various ways over the decades. Since 2014 Kin members have donated over 4000 units of blood.

Organ Donor Awareness
The Kin Organ Donor Awareness Campaign (Kin-ODAC) was established in 2001 at National Convention to improve awareness and education about the importance of organ donation across Canada.

Telemiracle
Telemiracle is a telethon organized by the Kinsmen and Kinettes in Saskatchewan, Canada, for the benefit of the Kinsmen Foundation, a Kin Canada affiliate in Saskatchewan. Initially broadcast on both CTV and CBC affiliates in Saskatchewan, it is now broadcast, commercial-free, exclusively on the province's CTV stations.

The first telethon, in 1977, raised more than CAD $1 million, which at the time was considered a record for per capita telethon fund-raising in a 20-hour period (the province had a population of only about 1 million people at the time). The telethon passed the $2 million mark for the first time in 1983. And in recent years, the telethon has routinely raised between $3.0 and $5.0 million each year.

Cultural references
 A late hockey player's "picture in a case in the Kinsmen's Rink" is mentioned in the folk song "Glory Bound" on the album My Skies by James Keelaghan.

See also
Harold A. Rogers

References

External links
 Kin Canada website
 Kin Canada Bursaries website
 Telemiracle website
 Preston (cambridge) Family of Kin website
 Kinsmen Club of Brantford website
 Brantford Kinsmen Ribfest website
 Kin Club Of Woolwich website
 Kinsmen Club of Cornwall website
 Cystic Fibrosis Canada website
 Kinsmen Club of Edmonton Legends Experience website
 Kinsmen Club of Calgary website

Clubs and societies in Canada
Organizations established in 1920
Service organizations

Kin Canada


Cleone Benest (13 June 1880 – 23 December 1963), also known by the pseudonym C. Griff, was a pioneering motorist, as well as an engineer, and metallurgist. She was one of the first women engineers to pass mechanical examinations of the City and Guilds of London Institute, Royal Automobile Club, and Portsmouth Municipal College. She published articles on engineering and established her own firm which was both managed and run by women. She served as the chair of the Women's Engineering Society from 1922 to 1926.

Early life
Cleone de Heveningham Benest was born on 13 June 1880, Forest Gate, London, to Edith Maria (née Powell) and George Philip Benest. In her youth, her parents separated and Benest was taken to St. Aubin, on the Isle of Jersey, to live with her mother and maternal grandparents, Eliza and Thomas Powell. In the early 1890s the family moved to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight.

Career
By the early 1900s, Benest had earned a reputation as pioneering motorist and owned a 1906 Lanchester Motor Company 12-hp tonneau and a 12-hp Fiat, which she maintained in her own workshop. In 1907, Benest wrote to the Institution of Automobile Engineers (IAE) to ascertain if women were allowed to be admitted. By 1908, she had passed the City and Guilds of London Institute's motor-engineering examination, the Royal Automobile Club's mechanical test, and was a certified driver. She was noted as the first woman to have taken the motor engineering examination and first to drive a motor omnibus, having driven the Milnes-Daimler and Thornycroft buses for the Isle of Wight Express Motor Syndicate Ltd.

Benest competed in motorsport competitions and through 1911 was a fencer with the British Ladies Fencing Association. In 1910, she took the Portsmouth Municipal College examination for heat engines and that same year entered a design for a speed alarm in the competition sponsored by Flight magazine. The only entry by a woman among the 39 competitors, her design was published in the magazine. By 1915, Benest was using the professional name of C. Griff, sometimes known also as Cleone or Clayton Griff, and operated a consulting business on automotive, electrical, and mechanical engineering. Her firm was located in Dover Street in Mayfair, conveniently next to the headquarters of the Women's Engineering Society and she not only repaired mechanical devices but offered courses in motor mechanics. Publishing an article in 1915 in Englishwoman's Year Book, Benest argued that with increasing use of machinery, there was growing need for training women as engineers.

During World War I Benest/Griff became an aircraft engine inspector and moved to The Midlands. She first worked for the British Thomson-Houston Company and later for Vickers Limited. In 1920 she joined the Women's Engineering Society and was elected its chair in 1922, serving through 1926. She wrote articles for The Women Engineer journal and gave several talks on radio about engineering. Around the same time, she began attending meetings of the Institute of Automobile Engineers, as an invited guest, since their official bylaws banned women as members. In 1922, she founded a company, The Stainless Steel and Non-Corrosive Metals Company Limited, in Birmingham. Her directors included other women, like Gabrielle Borthwick, Gertrude Crawford, and C. Davis, a former foundry manager.  The firm received wide press coverage for being managed by and employing women. Using Benest's colouring method, the company manufactured lamp reflectors, ornaments, railway fittings and other items, before it folded in 1925.

Throughout the 1920s, Benest/Griff published articles and gave talks on stainless steel and its application to industry. As a regular writer for the Woman Engineer, she wrote on aviation and driving through 1927 and broadcast talks on the programme Afternoon Topics, sponsored by BBC Radio about engineering and electrical applications for housewives. She remained in Birmingham until 1928, when she abruptly ended her membership in the Women's Engineering Society and stopped using the name of Griff. She may have returned to Ryde to care for her ailing mother, who died in 1930.

By the beginning of World War II, Benest was again living in England, with an engineer, Frederick J. Crinage in Olney, Buckinghamshire. She registered with the Women's Land Army and advertised services not only as a mechanical engineer and metallurgist, but as a "Gyrotillage executive". Gyrotillers were a massive, industrial-grade agricultural ploughing machine used to prepare earth for food production; it is unknown whether Benest operated the machinery or maintained it. She remained in Olney until 1953 and subsequently lived in Dorset.

Death and legacy
Benest died on 23 December 1963 in Poole. She is remembered as one of England's pioneering women engineers.

References

1880 births
1963 deaths
British women engineers
20th-century British engineers
20th-century women engineers
English metallurgists
People from Forest Gate
Women's Engineering Society

Cleone Benest


De Bruijn is a Dutch surname meaning "the brown". Notable people with the surname include:

  (1887–1968), Dutch politician
 Brian de Bruijn (b. 1954), Dutch-Canadian ice hockey player
 Chantal de Bruijn (b. 1976), Dutch field hockey defender
 Cornelis de Bruijn (1652–1726/7), Dutch artist and traveler
 Daniëlle de Bruijn (b. 1978), Dutch water polo player
 Frans de Bruijn Kops (1886–1979), Dutch footballer
 Hans de Bruijn (b. 1962), Dutch political scientist
 Inge de Bruijn (b. 1973), Dutch swimmer
  (born 1965), Dutch billiards player
 Jean Victor de Bruijn (1913–1979), Dutch district officer and ethnologist in the Dutch East Indies
 Maarten de Bruijn (b. 1965), Dutch engineer
 Maria Brigitta Catherina de Bruijn (1938–2006), Dutch GreenLeft politician
 Matthijs de Bruijn (b. 1977), Dutch waterpolo player
 Meike de Bruijn (born 1970), Dutch racing cyclist
 Nick de Bruijn (b. 1987), Dutch racing driver
 Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn (1918–2012), Dutch mathematician
 Pi de Bruijn (b. 1942), Dutch architect
 Sophia Adriana de Bruijn (1816–1890), Dutch museum founder
 Ruben Jacob de Bruijn (b. 2003), Dutch clothing designer

Mathematics
In mathematics, de Bruijn may refer to one of the following topics named after Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn:
 De Bruijn sequence, a cyclic sequence of a given alphabet such that every length n subsequence appears exactly once
 De Bruijn torus, a generalization of the De Bruijn sequence in two dimensions
 De Bruijn graph, a graph representing overlaps between sequences of symbols
 De Bruijn–Erdős theorem (disambiguation)
 De Bruijn–Erdős theorem (graph theory), a theorem about graph coloring
 De Bruijn–Erdős theorem (incidence geometry), a theorem about lines determined by points in the projective plane
 De Bruijn index, a nameless representation of the λ calculus
 De Bruijn–Newman constant, Λ, a mathematical constant related to the Riemann zeta-function
 De Bruijn notation, a syntax for terms in the λ calculus
 De Bruijn's theorem, a theorem regarding the packing of bricks into boxes

See also
Bruijn
De Bruyn
De Bruin
De Bruyne

Dutch-language surnames

De Bruijn


Julie Potash, also known as Hesta Prynn, is an American musician, singer, and rapper from Long Island, New York. She began her career in music as one-third of the all-female hip hop group Northern State. After the band broke up she started focusing on solo material.  In July 2010 she released an EP titled Can We Go Wrong and followed it with a second EP, We Could Fall in Love, in August 2012. She currently lives in New York City and travels the world as a DJ and pop music ghostwriter.

Biography

Northern State

Hesta Prynn is a founding member of Northern State, along with Correne "Spero" Spero and Robyn "Sprout" Goodmark, who all met while attending high school in the 1990s. In this group she took her moniker from Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter. The group was initially formed as a joke, but eventually became fairly successful, receiving critical acclaim from Rolling Stone magazine and touring with artists such as Tegan and Sara. They have released three albums. After the last Northern State album was completed, all three members started working on their own material. There are no definite plans yet for Northern State to record another album.

Can We Go Wrong
Prynn's first solo EP, called Can We Go Wrong, was released in July 2010 and has received positive reviews from Time Out New York and NME. The six-track EP was produced and co-written by Chuck Brody, who, at the time, also served as her live guitarist. The sound of her solo material is more electronic-based than her work with Northern State, utilizing dance beats in combination with 90's-style electric guitars. When describing Hesta Prynn's solo musical style, the New York Post referred to her as "MIA and Miike Snow's lovechild" and named her the #4 Artist to Watch in 2010.

September 2010 marked the release of a stop-motion video for the song "Can We Go Wrong" composed of 13,000 still images. The video was directed by NYC indie director Randy Scott Slavin (videethis.com) and received much attention including a feature on MTV's "The Seven". Jared Leto of Thirty Seconds to Mars was intrigued by the video and took Hesta Prynn on tour in late 2010.

Following the release of the Can We Go Wrong EP, Prynn has played with Andrew WK, Jay-Z and Avi Buffalo and has collaborated with Neon Indian, Bear Hands, Les Savy Fav's Tim Harrington and remixer RAC. The title track "Can We Go Wrong" has been featured in ads for Ray-Ban and Nylon Fashion TV. Hesta Prynn toured Europe with Tegan and Sara in the summer of 2010 and played Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park on July 4, 2010.

In August 2010, Hesta Prynn launched the first part in a series of webisodes titled Hesta Prynn & Friends, which features backstage footage with Tegan and Sara, Chuck Brody, photographer Lindsey Byrnes, and UK grime rapper Scorcher. In a similar fashion, Hesta Prynn (along with Sara Quin) appeared in Kaki King's video for "Pull Me Out Alive".

Pepper
In September 2010, relatively shortly after the release of the Can We Go Wrong EP, Hesta Prynn released a 7" vinyl single titled Pepper with two previously unreleased tracks. The A-side is a cover of the Butthole Surfers' song "Pepper" and is a collaboration with Shawn Crahan, aka "Clown", from Slipknot. The B-side is a song called "Seven Sisters", the song that started off her solo project with Chuck Brody.  Following the release, Clown invited Prynn and Slavin to Iowa to film the video for "Seven Sisters," which AOL called "a dark, sexy precursor to the slasher thriller The Strangers.

As of December 2010 Hesta Prynn shared some of her personal interests outside of music with the world. Hesta is an avid fan of horror movies which, as she has explained in interviews, often inspire her lyrics. Because of this particular interest, she has been given her own column on Artist Direct titled "Oh the Horror with Hesta Prynn", in which she writes film reviews in the horror genre.

Turn It Gold
In February 2011 UK record label Too Pure, which is part of Beggars Banquet, released Turn It Gold on vinyl.  Turn It Gold is being played on BBC Radio 6 Music including Steve Lamacq's show. A provocative video also directed by Slavin depicting Hesta Prynn in various states of undress was released in conjunction with the single. She subsequently went on a European tour to promote this release.

A remix of Turn It Gold was featured in a Verizon Super Bowl commercial in Feb 2012.

We Could Fall in Love
On August 28, 2012, Hesta Prynn both announced and released her second EP We Could Fall in Love which features a dance-based club sound and features production by Mad Decent's Derek "DJA" Allen, DJ Teenwolf formerly of Ninjasonik, and newcomer Ido vs the World. Prynn teamed up with Slavin for the video which features neon colors, x-ray images and a VHS aesthetic. Of the new sound, Prynn says, "I'm a child of the '90s. I'm a New York City hip-hop kid inspired by LA dance music. I like to put it all together."

DJ career
In 2011 Hesta Prynn's DJ set from the Bonnaroo Festival was featured in The New York Times. Since then she has developed a successful DJ career and performed at events for clients including Vogue magazine. She can also be seen as a host on Michael Hirschorn's YouTube Channel and for Logo TV interviewing artists like Robyn and The Strokes.

She also appeared as a guest model for designer Daryl K's spring 2011 line and walked in her runway show during Fashion Week in Feb 2011.

Discography

Solo releases
EPs
 Can We Go Wrong (2010)
 We Could Fall in Love (2012)

Singles
 "Pepper" 7" vinyl (2010)
 "You Winding Me Up" 7" vinyl (2010)
 "Turn It Gold" 7" vinyl (2011)

With Northern State
Albums
 Dying in Stereo (2002, Star Time/Wichita)
 All City (2004, Sony)
 Can I Keep This Pen? (2007, Ipecac)

EPs
 Hip Hop You Haven't Heard (2002)
 At the Party (2005, Wichita)
 Better Already (2007, Kanine)

References

External links
 Official site

Living people
1978 births
Singers from New York (state)
Women rock singers
American women rappers
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American singers
21st-century women rappers

Hesta Prynn


Eridanus () is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is represented as a river. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is the sixth largest of the modern constellations, and the one that extends farthest in the sky from north to south.  The same name was later taken as a Latin name for the real Po River and also for the name of a minor river in Athens.

Features

Stars

At its southern end is the magnitude 0.5 star Achernar, designated Alpha Eridani. It is a blue-white hued main sequence star 144 light-years from Earth, whose traditional name means "the river's end". Achernar is a very peculiar star because it is one of the flattest stars known. Observations indicate that its radius is about 50% larger at the equator than at the poles. This distortion occurs because the star is spinning extremely rapidly.

There are several other noteworthy stars in Eridanus, including some double stars. Beta Eridani, traditionally called Cursa, is a blue-white star of magnitude 2.8, 89 light-years from Earth. Its place to the south of Orion's foot gives it its name, which means "the footstool". Theta Eridani, called Acamar, is a binary star with blue-white components, distinguishable in small amateur telescopes and 161 light-years from Earth. The primary is of magnitude 3.2 and the secondary is of magnitude 4.3. 32 Eridani is a binary star 290 light-years from Earth. The primary is a yellow-hued star of magnitude 4.8 and the secondary is a blue-green star of magnitude 6.1. 32 Eridani is visible in small amateur telescopes. 39 Eridani is a binary star also divisible in small amateur telescopes, 206 light-years from Earth. The primary is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 4.9 and the secondary is of magnitude 8. 40 Eridani is a triple star system consisting of an orange main-sequence star, a white dwarf, and a red dwarf. The orange main-sequence star is the primary of magnitude 4.4, and the white secondary of magnitude 9.5 is the most easily visible white dwarf. The red dwarf, of magnitude 11, orbits the white dwarf every 250 years. The 40 Eridani system is 16 light-years from Earth. p Eridani is a binary star with two orange components, 27 light-years from Earth. The magnitude 5.8 primary and 5.9 secondary have an orbital period of 500 years.

Epsilon Eridani (the proper name is Ran) is a star with one extrasolar planet similar to Jupiter. It is an orange-hued main-sequence star of magnitude 3.7, 10.5 light-years from Earth. Its one planet, with an approximate mass of one Jupiter mass, has a period of 7 years.

Supervoid

The Eridanus Supervoid is a large supervoid (an area of the universe devoid of galaxies) discovered . At a diameter of about one billion light years it is the second largest known void, superseded only by the Giant Void in Canes Venatici. It was discovered by linking a "cold spot" in the cosmic microwave background to an absence of radio galaxies in data of the United States National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array Sky Survey.  There is some speculation that the void may be due to quantum entanglement between our universe and another.

Deep-sky objects

NGC 1535 is a small blue-gray planetary nebula visible in small amateur telescopes, with a disk visible in large amateur instruments. 2000 light-years away, it is of the 9th magnitude.

IC 2118 is a faint reflection nebula believed to be an ancient supernova remnant or gas cloud illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel in Orion.

Eridanus contains the galaxies NGC 1232, NGC 1234, NGC 1291 and NGC 1300, a grand design barred spiral galaxy.

NGC 1300 is a face-on barred spiral galaxy located 61 (plus or minus 8) million light-years away. The center of the bar shows an unusual structure: within the overall spiral structure, a grand design spiral that is 3,300 light-years in diameter exists. Its spiral arms are tightly wound.

Meteor showers
The Nu Eridanids, a recently discovered meteor shower, radiate from the constellation between August 30 and September 12 every year; the shower's parent body is an unidentified Oort cloud object. Another meteor shower in Eridanus is the Omicron Eridanids, which peak between November 1 and 10.

Visualizations

Eridanus is depicted in ancient sky charts as a flowing river, starting from Orion and flowing in a meandering fashion past Cetus and Fornax and into the southern hemispheric stars. Johann Bayer's Uranometria depicts the river constellation as a flowing river.

History and mythology
According to one theory, the Greek constellation takes its name from the Babylonian constellation known as the Star of Eridu (MUL.NUN.KI). Eridu was an ancient city in the extreme south of Babylonia; situated in the marshy regions it was held sacred to the god Enki-Ea who ruled the cosmic domain of the Abyss - a mythical conception of the fresh-water reservoir below the Earth's surface.

Eridanus is connected to the myth of Phaethon, who took over the reins of his father Helios' sky chariot (i.e., the Sun), but didn't have the strength to control it and so veered wildly in different directions, scorching both Earth and heaven. Zeus intervened by striking Phaethon dead with a thunderbolt and casting him to Earth. The constellation was supposed to be the path Phaethon drove along; in later times, it was considered a path of souls. Since Eridanos was also a Greek name for the Po (Latin Padus), in which the burning body of Phaethon is said by Ovid to have extinguished, the mythic geography of the celestial and earthly Eridanus is complex.

Another association with Eridanus is a series of rivers all around the world. First conflated with the Nile River in Egypt, the constellation was also identified with the Po River in Italy. The stars of the modern constellation Fornax were formerly a part of Eridanus.

Equivalents

The stars that correspond to Eridanus are also depicted as a river in Indian astronomy starting close to the head of Orion just below Auriga. Eridanus is called Srotaswini in Sanskrit, srótas meaning the course of a river or stream. Specifically, it is depicted as the Ganges on the head of Dakshinamoorthy or Nataraja, a Hindu incarnation of Shiva.  Dakshinamoorthy himself is represented by the constellation Orion.

The stars that correspond to Eridanus cannot be fully seen from China. In Chinese astronomy, the northern part is located within the White Tiger of the West (西方白虎, Xī Fāng Bái Hǔ). The unseen southern part was classified among the Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, Jìnnánjíxīngōu) by Xu Guangqi, based on knowledge of western star charts.

Namesakes
USS Eridanus (AK-92) was a United States Navy Crater-class cargo ship named after the constellation.

See also
 Eridanus (Chinese astronomy)
 List of brightest stars

Citations

References

 Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning, Richard Hinckley Allen, New York City, Dover, various dates

External links

 The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Eridanus
 The clickable Eridanus
 Epsilon Eridani
 New 'Vulcan' Planet Tantalizes Astronomers
 Starry Night Photography - Eridanus Constellation
 Ian Ridpath's Star Tales – Eridanus
 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (medieval and early modern images of Eridanus)

Constellations
Constellations listed by Ptolemy
Equatorial constellations

Eridanus (constellation)


George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s USA rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Alone". He has also helped to popularize older songs by American icons, such as "Move It on Over", "Who Do You Love?", and "House Rent Blues/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer".

With his band, the Delaware Destroyers (often known simply as "The Destroyers"), Thorogood has released over 20 albums, two of which have been certified Platinum and six have been certified Gold. He has sold 15 million records worldwide. Thorogood and his band continue to tour extensively, and in 2014, the band celebrated their 40th anniversary of performing.

Music career
Thorogood began his career as a solo acoustic performer in the style of Robert Johnson and Elmore James after being inspired in 1970 by a John P. Hammond concert. In 1973, he formed a band, the Delaware Destroyers, with high school friend and drummer Jeff Simon. With additional players, the Delaware Destroyers developed its sound, a mixture of Chicago blues and rock and roll. The band's first shows were in the Rathskeller bar at the University of Delaware and at Deer Park Tavern, both in Newark, Delaware. Eventually, the band's name was shortened to the Destroyers. During this time, Thorogood supplemented his income by working as a roadie for Hound Dog Taylor.

Thorogood's demo Better Than the Rest was recorded in 1974, but was not released until 1979. His major recording debut came with the album George Thorogood and the Destroyers, which was released in 1977. In 1978, Thorogood released his next album with the Destroyers titled Move It on Over, which included a remake of Hank Williams's "Move It on Over". He followed those recordings in 1979 with "Please Set a Date" and a reworking of the Bo Diddley song "Who Do You Love", both released in 1979. The band's early success contributed to the rise of folk label Rounder Records.

During the late 1970s, Thorogood and his band were based in Boston. He was friends with Jimmy Thackery of the Washington, D.C.-based blues band, The Nighthawks. While touring in the 1970s, the Destroyers and the Nighthawks were playing shows in Georgetown at venues across the street from each other. The Destroyers were engaged at the Cellar Door and the Nighthawks at Desperados. At midnight, while both bands played Elmore James's "Madison Blues" in the same key, Thorogood and Thackery left their clubs, met in the middle of M Street, exchanged guitar cords and went on to play with the opposite band in the other club. The connection with the Nighthawks was extended further when Nighthawks bass player Jan Zukowski supported Thorogood's set with Bo Diddley and Albert Collins at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 1985.

Thorogood gained his first mainstream exposure as a support act for the Rolling Stones during their 1981 U.S. tour. He was also the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live (Season 8, Episode 2) on the October 2, 1982, broadcast. During this time, Thorogood and the Destroyers became known for their rigorous touring schedule, including the "50/50" tour in 1981, on which the band toured all 50 US states in 50 days. After two shows in Boulder, Colorado, Thorogood and his band flew to Hawaii for one show and then performed a show in Alaska the following night. The next day, Thorogood and his band met his roadies in Washington and continued the one-show-per-state tour. In addition, he played Washington, D.C., on the same day that he performed a show in Maryland, thereby playing 51 shows in 50 days.

With his contract with Rounder Records expiring, Thorogood signed with EMI America Records and, in 1982, released the single "Bad to the Bone" and an album of the same name that went gold. The song became the band's most well-known song through appearances on MTV and use in films, television and commercials. Thorogood and his band went on to have two more gold studio albums in the 1980s, Maverick and Born to Be Bad. The former features Thorogood's only Billboard Hot 100 hit, a remake of Johnny Otis's "Willie and the Hand Jive", and his concert staple "I Drink Alone".

Thorogood's popularity waned in the 1990s, although he had a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart in 1992 with "Get a Haircut".

In 2012, Thorogood was named one of the "50 Most Influential Delawareans of the Past 50 Years". He released his first proper solo album in 2017, titled Party of One.

On March 14, 2020, Thorogood was inducted into the Mississippi Music Project Hall of Fame in Biloxi, Mississippi, and was awarded the MMP Music Award for his lifelong commitment to the music industry, by Commander Joseph W. Clark.

Hank Carter, who served as the saxophonist for Thorogood's band from 1980 to 2003, died on September 14, 2021 at the age of 71.

On April 11, 2023, Thorogood's social media pages announced that he was seriously ill, although the nature of his illness was not disclosed. Tour dates from April 27 to May 21 were all cancelled as a result.

Band members

The Destroyers
George Thorogood – lead vocals, lead, slide and rhythm guitar (1973–present)
Jeff Simon – drums, percussion (1973–present)
Billy Blough – bass guitar (1976–present)
Jim Suhler – rhythm and lead guitar (1999–present)
Buddy Leach – saxophone, piano (2003–present)

Former members
Michael Levine – bass (1973–1976)
Ron "Roadblock" Smith – rhythm guitar (1974–1980)
Hank "Hurricane" Carter – saxophone (1980–2003; died 2021)
Ian Stewart – keyboards (1982; died 1985)
Steve Chrismar – rhythm guitar (1985–1993)
Waddy Wachtel – guitar (1997)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums with the Destroyers
1977: George Thorogood and the Destroyers
1978: Move It on Over
1979: Better Than the Rest (Recorded in 1974)
1980: More George Thorogood and the Destroyers
1982: Bad to the Bone
1985: Maverick
1988: Born to Be Bad
1991: Boogie People
1993: Haircut
1997: Rockin' My Life Away
1999: Half a Boy/Half a Man
2003: Ride 'Til I Die
2006: The Hard Stuff
2009: The Dirty Dozen
2011: 2120 South Michigan Ave.

Solo studio album
2017: Party of One

Personal life
George Thorogood married Marla Raderman on July 16, 1985. She died from ovarian cancer in 2019. They have one daughter, Rio Thorogood.

Thorogood has been a baseball fan for most of his life, playing semi-pro ball as a second baseman during the 1970s (drummer Jeff Simon played center field on the same team). He took his daughter to Chicago for her first major league game (Cubs vs. Rockies), during which he sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". In a 2011 Guitar World interview, he stated "I'm a Mets fan. There aren't many of us but you know, that's me."

In April 2023, Thorogood had to cancel the first leg of his 50th anniversary tour due to a serious medical situation.

References

External links

George Thorogood and the Destroyers official website
Review: The Hard Stuff

1950 births
Living people
Lead guitarists
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
American blues harmonica players
American blues singers
American rock guitarists
American rock singers
Musicians from Wilmington, Delaware
Slide guitarists
Blues rock musicians
University of Delaware alumni
Semi-professional baseball players
EMI Records artists
Rounder Records artists
MCA Records artists
Attic Records (Canada) artists
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
20th-century American guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
Singers from Delaware
Guitarists from Delaware
20th-century American male singers
21st-century American male singers

George Thorogood


Rayson Lisung Huang,  (; 1 September 1920 − 8 April 2015), was a Hong Kong chemist, who was an expert on radicals. He was the first Chinese Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, a position in which he served from 1972 until 1986.

Early years
Huang's family came from Shantou, Guangdong. He completed his primary and secondary education at Munsang College, where his father was the founding principal. He later attended St. John's University in Shanghai in 1937, but his studies were interrupted by the Japanese invasion. After 1938 he continued his studies as a scholarship student at The University of Hong Kong. In Hong Kong Huang majored in chemistry at St. John's Hall (now called St. John's College). In addition to his academic studies, Huang was an accomplished violinist. Following the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941, Huang briefly worked with British auxiliary forces and was responsible for detecting chemical weapons. In 1942 his studies at the University were interrupted when the school was forced to close.  Huang returned to China in 1942 and arrived in Guangxi. By 1945 Huang had followed other members of The University of Hong Kong chemistry department to Britain and received a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford's Institute of Chemistry. He received at doctorate in chemistry and subsequently pursued his post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago. During his study in Chicago, he met his future wife Grace Wei Huang.

Academic career
In 1951, Huang taught chemistry at the University of Malaya in Singapore (now National University of Singapore) and later he was transferred to University of Malaya's Kuala Lumpur campus. He became a tenured professor of chemistry and then acting Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Science.

University administrator

In 1969 Huang was appointed as Vice-Chancellor at Nanyang University in Singapore.

In 1972 Huang became the first Chinese Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong and quelled a student demonstration during a royal visit to Hong Kong. In addition, he served in various capacities including becoming a member of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee in drafting Hong Kong's post handover constitution. Rayson Huang and his wife retired in 1994 and lived with their son.

Retirement and post-academic life

By 1999 the Huang's returned to Hong Kong. His wife Grace who was suffering from senile dementia then died in Hong Kong.

To commemorate his wife's life, Rayson Huang established the Grace Wei Huang Memorial Fund. and authored a memoir, A Lifetime in Academia: An autobiography by Rayson Huang
, the proceeds from which will be set aside for the fund.

Huang had a wide range of hobbies, one of the most special having been the study of violin making. He returned to Hong Kong on a regular basis. Huang also established the Progress of Hong Kong's Rayson Huang and the "Rayson Huang Foundation." in Malaysia.

References

External links
The oral history of Rayson Huang - Hong Kong Memory

1920 births
2015 deaths
St. John's University, Shanghai alumni
Alumni of the University of Hong Kong
Alumni of St. John's Hall, University of Hong Kong
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Academic staff of the University of Hong Kong
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Hong Kong
Academic staff of the National University of Singapore
Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee members
Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee members
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Vice-chancellors of universities in Malaysia
Hong Kong expatriates in Malaysia

Rayson Huang


The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure is  a 1993 novel by James Redfield that discusses various psychological and spiritual ideas rooted in multiple ancient Eastern traditions and New Age spirituality. The main character undertakes a journey to find and understand a series of nine spiritual insights in an ancient manuscript in Peru. The book is a first-person narrative of the narrator's spiritual awakening as he goes through a transitional period of his life.

Summary
The book discusses various psychological and spiritual ideas that are rooted in many ancient Eastern traditions, such as how opening to new possibilities can help an individual establish a connection with the Divine. The main character undertakes a journey to find and understand a series of nine spiritual insights in an ancient manuscript in Peru. The book is a first-person narrative of spiritual awakening. The narrator is in a transitional period of his life and begins to notice instances of synchronicity, which is the belief that coincidences have a meaning personal to those who experience them.

The story opens with the male narrator becoming reacquainted with an old female friend, who tells him about the insights contained in a manuscript dating to 600 BC, which has been only recently translated. After this encounter leaves him curious, he decides to go to Peru. On the airplane, he meets a historian who also happens to be interested in the manuscript.

The historian explains how the world is currently undergoing an enormous shift in consciousness, elaborating on how things had been generally understood (until now) to be: 1) In the beginning, people believed the world to be governed by the forces of divinity; everything could be explained as an act of a god or gods, 2) With increasing knowledge of the world, brought about by scientific inquiry, people turned to the men and women of science for an explanation of life and their world, and 3) Since the problem of how to find meaning in the world could not be solved by science, people chose to instead focus on efforts to improve their lives materially, subduing and plundering the earth for its natural resources, with a hyper-emphasis on controlling economic conditions and market fluctuations. What was now occurring, explained the historian, was that the baseness of our current conditions had begun to infect our souls as well. We had become restless and desperate, primed for another fundamental shift in consciousness so as to bring about the creation of a new, better world.

He also discovers that powerful figures within the Peruvian government and the Catholic Church are opposed to the dissemination of the material found in the manuscript. This is dramatically illustrated when the police try to arrest and then shoot the historian after his arrival. Threats to his life forced the narrator to live nomadically, moving from town to town in search of kind-hearted people who would offer lodging in exchange for more information about the manuscript and its message.

While evading the Church and Peruvian government, the narrator finds time to read from the prized manuscript that offers 'Insights' as a sequence of passages. During pursuit, the narrator experiences real-world lessons that prepare him for each Insight in advance. In the end, he returns to the United States after learning the first nine Insights, and promises to reveal a 'Tenth Insight' to his audience in a short time.
'Insights' as such, are never made explicit to the reader, but are instead paraphrased through action; made into a sequence of parables that drive the storyline. Sourcing transcription is made impossible by the narrator, claiming, "it must be the way it is for sake of brevity"; adding that even a partial translation of the Ninth 'Insight' is a lengthy twenty pages, typewritten.

In the novel, the Celestine Temple in the ruins of an ancient civilization in Peru was where the manuscript was buried. After it was found, the Incas re-habituated the abandoned cities. At some point, the ancients reached an "energy vibration level" threshold that allowed them to cross over into a reality of pure spirituality.

Influences
Redfield has acknowledged the work of Dr. Eric Berne, the developer of transactional analysis, and his 1964 bestseller Games People Play, as major influences on his work.

Publishing history, adaptations and sequels
Redfield originally self-published The Celestine Prophecy, selling 100,000 copies out of the trunk of his car before Warner Books agreed to publish it.

Christopher Franke, former member of Tangerine Dream, adapted the book into a music album in 1996.

As of May 2005, the book had sold over 5 million copies worldwide, with translations into 34 languages.

A film adaptation was released in 2006.

Redfield expanded the book's concept into a series, which he completed in three sequels:

 The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision (1996)
 The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight (1999)
 The Twelfth Insight: The Hour of Decision (2011)

Reception and critique
The book was generally well received by readers and spent 165 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. The Celestine Prophecy has also received some criticism, mostly from the literary community, who point out that the plot of the story is not well developed and serves only as a delivery tool for the author's ideas about spirituality. James Redfield has admitted that, even though he considers the book to be a novel, his intention was to write a parable, a story meant to illustrate a point or teach a lesson.

References

 The Celestine Prophecy (1995)

External links

 www.celestinevision.com
 Commentary on The Celestine Prophecy by Tom Butler-Bowdon
 The Celestine Prophecy entry of the Skeptic's Dictionary

1993 American novels
Visionary fiction
American novels adapted into films
Self-published books
Books about spirituality
Novels set in Peru

The Celestine Prophecy