Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Liszt. Johannes Brahms praised Nikisch's performance of his Fourth Symphony as "quite exemplary, it's impossible to hear it any better."

Biography

Arthur Augustinus Adalbertus Nikisch was born in Mosonszentmiklós, Hungary, to a Hungarian father and a mother from Moravia.

Nikisch began his studies at the Vienna Conservatory in 1866. There he studied under the composer Felix Otto Dessoff, the conductor Johann von Herbeck, and the violinist Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. and won prizes for composition and performance on violin and piano. He was engaged as a violinist in the Vienna Philharmonic, and also played in the Bayreuth Festival orchestra in its inaugural season of 1876.

He achieved most of his fame as a conductor. In 1878 he moved to Leipzig and became second conductor of the Leipzig Opera; in 1879 he was promoted to principal conductor. He gave the premiere of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1884.
On 1 July 1885 Nikisch married Amélie Heussner (1862–1938), a singer and actress, who had been engaged the preceding years at the Kassel court theatre with Gustav Mahler. Their son Mitja (1899–1936) would become a noted pianist in his own right.

Nikisch later became conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and from 1893 to 1895 director of the Royal Opera in Budapest. In 1895 he succeeded Carl Reinecke as director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In the same year he became principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and held both positions until his death.

His successor at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was his scholar and first violinist Albert Heinig. Nikisch was also a popular guest conductor with the Vienna Philharmonic and Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, and conducted the Ring Cycle of Richard Wagner at Covent Garden in London. Nikisch also served as director of the Leipzig Conservatory from 1902 and there taught a class in conducting.

In 1921 Nikisch conducted several concerts at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. In some of these concerts his son, the pianist Mitja Nikisch, then 22, was the soloist.

He was a pioneer in several ways. In April 1912 he took the London Symphony Orchestra to the United States, a first for a European orchestra.

On 10 November 1913, Nikisch made one of the earliest recordings of a complete symphony, Beethoven's 5th, with the Berlin Philharmonic, a performance later reissued on LP and CD by DGG and other modern labels. He also made a series of early recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, some of which display the portamento characteristic of early-20th century playing.

Death

Nikisch died in Leipzig in 1922, and was buried there. Immediately after his death, the square where he had lived was renamed Nikischplatz, and in 1971 the city created the Arthur Nikisch Prize for young conductors.

Legacy
His legacy is as one of the founders of modern conducting, with deep analysis of the score, a simple beat, and a charisma that let him bring out the full sonority of the orchestra and plumb the depths of the music.

Nikisch's conducting style was greatly admired by Leopold Stokowski, Arturo Toscanini, Sir Adrian Boult, Fritz Reiner, Ervin Nyiregyházi, and many others, including George Szell, who called Nikisch "an orchestral wizard." Reiner said, "It was [Nikisch] who told me that I should never wave my arms in conducting, and that I should use my eyes to give cues."

Henry Wood wrote, "I remember... his marvellous way of listening so intently to every phrase he directed.... When rehearsing a melody, he invariably sang it to the orchestra with great emotional feeling – and then would say: 'Now play it as you feel it.' No conductor that I have heard has ever surpassed his emotional feeling and dramatic intensity."

Arthur Nikisch had a huge impact on Wilhelm Furtwängler. The latter always considered Nikisch as his single model. Nikisch supported Furtwängler at the beginning of his career and predicted that he would be his successor.

A film survives of Nikisch conducting; after seeing it Herbert von Karajan described how impressed he was by Nikisch's use of his eyes instead of hand motions.

Notes

References
Kalisch, Alfred (1922). "Arthur Nikisch." Musical Times 63, no. 649, 172–74

 Ferdinand Pfohl: Arthur Nikisch als Mensch und Künstler, Hermann Seemann Nachfolger, Leipzig, (ca. 1900)
 Ferdinand Pfohl: Arthur Nikisch: Sein Leben, seine Kunst, sein Wirken. Alster, Hamburg 1925

External links

1855 births
1922 deaths
People from Győr-Moson-Sopron County
People from the Kingdom of Hungary
Hungarian people of Czech descent
Hungarian male musicians
Hungarian male conductors (music)
Hungarian expatriates in Germany
19th-century conductors (music)
20th-century conductors (music)
19th-century Hungarian musicians
20th-century Hungarian musicians
London Symphony Orchestra principal conductors
Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni
Academic staff of the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig
19th-century British male musicians
Musicians from Austria-Hungary

Arthur Nikisch


Reading TMD is a railway motive power depot situated in Reading, England, and operated by Great Western Railway. The depot code is RG.

Location
The depot was situated to the west of Reading station and to the north of Reading West station until 2012. It was located within the wye formed by the Great Western Main Line to the north, with the Reading to Basingstoke Line split into the curve from Reading West to Reading to the east, and the curve connecting Reading West to the westbound main line to the west.

With the rebuilding of Reading Station and the remodelling of the track, the depot was moved from the wye to a brand new facility located on the other side (to the north) of the main running lines, next to the fields where the Reading Festival is held each year. This new depot opened in mid 2012 and is home to GWR's fleet of Class 165 and 166 Network Turbos. As part of the construction, the preliminary equipment for electrification of the Great Western Main Line was installed. It is intended that this new depot will also be able to handle Crossrail stock such as the Class 345 once it is delivered. With the introduction of Class 387 and the tri-modal British Rail Class 769 (no longer in operation), the Depot will also be the home of the new Electrostar Fleet for GWR. The Depot will also be managed by GWR and Bombardier to carry out light maintenance/heavy maintenance and overhauling of the Electrostar fleet.

The old depot was subsequently demolished apart from two Great Western Railway era water towers, one of which has been donated to the West Somerset Railway (WSR). The site is being used as part of the southern approach to the new flyover for primarily fast passenger trains so that their movements do not conflict with freight trains coming from Southampton along the future Electric Spine.

Changes since 2012
The new "Reading Train Care Depot" was announced as "completed" on 31 July 2013.

See also
 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line

References

Sources

External links

 An overhead view of the old depot.

Railway depots in England
Buildings and structures in Reading, Berkshire
Rail transport in Berkshire

Reading TMD


Kedartal (also known as Shiva's lake) is a glacial lake situated at an altitude of   in the Garhwal region of the Himalayas in India. The lake is fed by the snowfall over Thalay Sagar (6,904 m), Meru (6,672 m), Bhrigupanth (6,772 m) and other surrounding peaks, and is the source of Kedar Ganga, which in Hindu mythology is considered to be Shiva's contribution to Bhagirathi (a source-stream of the Ganges).

Kedartal, at a distance of 17 km from Gangotri, is a popular trekking destination. Starting from Gangotri the route involves a steep rocky climb along the narrow Kedar Ganga gorge en route to Bhojkharak, 8 km away. From there it is 4 km to the next available camping site of Kedarkharak, and a further 5 km to Kedartal. The route passes through scenic Himalayan birch forests, but is made hazardous in places by falling rocks, high altitude and segments of steep ascent.

See also
Gangotri Group

References

External links
Map

Lakes of Uttarakhand
Glacial lakes of India

Kedartal


ProScan is a  consumer electronics manufacturer and has a trademark in continuous use since 1990. It is one brand of the French company Technicolor SA (previously named Thomson SA) with products competing with higher-end electronics. The ProScan name is owned by Technicolor USA, Inc (previously named Thomson Consumer Electronics). The company created television and video products to compete with Sony's Trinitron XBR, Pioneer's Elite, and other electronics brand lines.  Competition is focused mainly on price to size ratio.  The tagline for ProScan is "So advanced, yet so simple."

Once the premium sub-brand of RCA TVs, the ProScan name is owned by Technicolor, which controls RCA as well. The brand is currently licensed in North America by Curtis International, an Ontario, Canada, manufacturer and distributor of value-based consumer electronics products.

History
The ProScan brand superseded the RCA Dimensia line in the early 1990s after the purchase of RCA by General Electric and lasted into the early 2000s until it was dropped for the RCA Scenium brand. Thomson SA has never manufactured or distributed televisions in the United States labeled Thomson.  In 2006, Thomson Consumer Electronics licensed the Proscan name to ON corporation, although they retain ownership of the name and logotype. Electronics are under the brand used by Curtis International. Formally made by OnCorp, then ActiveON, ProScan was made by Curtis International from 2011 until 2019.

References

External links
 ProScan Video

Consumer electronics brands
Technicolor SA

ProScan


Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American political philosopher. His best known work is Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974). It responds to A Theory of Justice, a book by John Rawls.

Politically, Nozick was a libertarian. He believed that the government should protect property and resolve contractual disputes but not much else. Nozick also created the thought experiment of the experience machine.

American philosophers
1938 births
2002 deaths
Libertarians

Robert Nozick


Polestar Racing Group is an American motorsport team based in Chardon, Ohio, which competes in the Atlantic Championship. It was founded in 2001 and is owned by husband and wife team Jim and Pam Griffith, and Bruce Potter.

Polestar has notched 6 victories in the Atlantic series, the first one in 2004, by Ronnie Bremer, who moved to Polestar after driving the season's first five races for Brooks Associates Racing.

The team is notable for running female driver Katherine Legge during the 2005 season, who became the  first woman to win a developmental open-wheel race in North America when she won the season's first race at Long Beach.

The team won the revived 2012 SCCA Atlantic Championship, with Memphis-area homebuilder David Grant winning the first of the revived series.

The team
Polestar Racing Group was founded in 2001 and is owned by husband and wife team Jim and Pam Griffith, and Bruce Potter. Jim Griffith is a race engineer, who was part of the Atlantic championship-winning team of Patrick Carpentier (1996), Alex Barron (1997), and Buddy Rice (2000).  Additional team members include engineer Glenn Knabenshue and chief mechanics Constantin Gheorghe and Jason Robb.

2003 season
Drivers: Jonathan Macri

2003 was the team's first season in the Atlantic championship. Jonathan Marci finished fourth in the drivers' standings.

2004 season
Drivers: Ronnie Bremer

Polestar won its first Atlantic Championship race, with Ronnie Bremer taking the checkered flag at the Denver street circuit. Bremer finished fifth in the Atlantic Championship and second in the Rookie of the Year standings and the graduated to the Champ Car series where he raced  for one season for both Dale Coyne Racing and the HVM team

2005 season

Drivers: Katherine Legge, Antoine Bessette

By far the team's most successful season, Polestar won 5 races in 2004, making them the most successful team for that season.  Katherine Legge earned three wins and Antoine Bessette won an additional two races, as well as earning pole position in one of them. Legge and Bessette finished third and fourth, respectively, in the championship final standings. Legge won the series opener at the Long Beach Grand Prix in her first career Atlantic championship start. In doing so, she became the first woman to win a developmental open-wheel race in North America.  Legge went on to win two more races, at Edmonton and San Jose. She had a total finished of five podium finishes, and received the Toyota Atlantic BBS Rising Star 2005 Award. Bessette won at Toronto and Montreal. For the season, he had 4 podium finishes, and received the Gilles Villeneuve award by the Atlantic series.

2006 season
Drivers: Alan Sciuto, Antoine Bessette, Ronnie Bremer

Alan Scuito, a rookie, finished the season ranked 8th. He became the youngest-ever Atlantic pole winner  at just 17 years of age at Denver. Ronnie Bremer made a single appearance, in Montreal. Antoine Bassette returned to drive in one race, the season finale at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

2007 season
Drivers: Ronnie Bremer, Bret MacDonald

The team again ran two cars in 2007.  Bremer returned to the Atlantic Championship and to Polestar, after driving the 2005 season in the Champ Car series.

2008 season
Drivers: Rich Zober

The team competed in a single race, at the New Jersey Motorsports Park.

References

External links
  Official website

Auto racing teams in the United States
Atlantic Championship teams
Auto racing teams established in 2001
2001 establishments in Ohio

Polestar Racing Group


Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a writer for stage, television, and film, Sorkin is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent use of the storytelling technique called the "walk and talk". Sorkin has earned numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globes.

Sorkin rose to prominence as a writer-creator and showrunner of the television series Sports Night (1998–2000), The West Wing (1999–2006), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07), and The Newsroom (2012–14). He is also known for his work on Broadway including the plays A Few Good Men (1989), The Farnsworth Invention (2007), To Kill a Mockingbird (2018), and the revival of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot (2023).

He wrote the film screenplays for A Few Good Men (1992), The American President (1995), and several biopics including Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Moneyball (2011), and Steve Jobs (2015). For writing 2010's The Social Network, he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He made his directorial film debut with Molly's Game (2017), followed by The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) and Being the Ricardos (2021).

Early life
Sorkin was born in Manhattan, New York City, to a Jewish family, and was raised in the New York suburb of Scarsdale. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a copyright lawyer who had fought in WWII and went to college on the G.I. Bill; both his older sister and brother went on to become lawyers. His paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Sorkin took an early interest in acting. During childhood, his parents took him to the theatre to see shows such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and That Championship Season.

Sorkin attended Scarsdale High School where he became involved in the drama and theatre club. In the eighth grade, he played General Bullmoose in the musical Li'l Abner. At Scarsdale High, he served as vice president of the drama club in his junior and senior years, and graduated in 1979.

In 1979, Sorkin attended Syracuse University. In his freshman year, he failed a class that was a core requirement, which caused a setback because he wanted to be an actor, and the drama department did not allow students to take the stage until they completed the core classes. Determined to do better, he returned for his sophomore year, and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre. Recalling the influence of theatre teacher Arthur Storch, Sorkin said: "Arthur's reputation as a director, and as a disciple of Lee Strasberg, was a big reason why a lot of us went to S.U. [Syracuse University]... 'You have the capacity to be so much better than you are', he started saying to me in September of my senior year. He was still saying it in May. On the last day of classes, he said it again, and I said, 'How?', and he answered, 'Dare to fail'. I've been coming through on his admonition ever since".

Career

1983–1990: Early work and breakthrough

Sorkin moved to New York City where he spent much of the 1980s as a struggling, sporadically-employed actor who worked odd jobs, such as delivering singing telegrams, driving a limousine, touring Alabama with the children's theatre company Traveling Playhouse, handing out fliers promoting a hunting-and-fishing show, and bartending at Broadway's Palace Theatre. One weekend, while house-sitting for a friend, he found an IBM Selectric typewriter, started typing, and "felt a phenomenal confidence and a kind of joy that [he] had never experienced before in [his] life".

He continued writing and eventually put together his first play, Removing All Doubt, which he sent to his former theatre teacher, Arthur Storch, who was impressed. In 1984, Removing All Doubt was staged for drama students at his alma mater, Syracuse University. After that, he wrote Hidden in This Picture which debuted off-off-Broadway at Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City in 1988. The quality of his first two plays earned him a theatrical agent. Producer John A. McQuiggan saw the production of Hidden in This Picture and commissioned Sorkin to turn the one-act into a full-length play called Making Movies.

Sorkin was inspired to write his next play, a courtroom drama called A Few Good Men, from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up for a three-year stint with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. Deborah told Sorkin that she was going to Guantanamo Bay to defend a group of Marines who came close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin took that information and wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre. He and his roommates had purchased a Macintosh 512K; when he returned home, he would transcribe the story and notes onto the computer, forming a basis from which he wrote many drafts for A Few Good Men.

In 1988, Sorkin sold the film rights for A Few Good Men to producer David Brown before it premiered, in a deal that was reportedly "well into six figures". Brown had read an article in The New York Times about Sorkin's one-act play Hidden in This Picture, and found out Sorkin had a play called A Few Good Men that was having Off Broadway readings. Brown produced A Few Good Men on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. It starred Tom Hulce and was directed by Don Scardino. After opening in late 1989, it ran for 497 performances. Sorkin continued writing Making Movies and in 1990 it debuted Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, produced by John A. McQuiggan, and again directed by Don Scardino. Meanwhile, Brown was producing for TriStar Pictures, and tried to interest them in adapting A Few Good Men into a film, but his proposal was declined due to the lack of star actor involvement. Brown later received a phone call from Alan Horn at Castle Rock Entertainment who was anxious to make the film. Rob Reiner, a Castle Rock producing partner, opted to direct.

1991–1997: Writing for Castle Rock Entertainment

Sorkin worked under contract for Castle Rock Entertainment, where he befriended colleagues William Goldman and Rob Reiner, and met his future wife Julia Bingham, who was one of Castle Rock's business affairs lawyers. Sorkin wrote several drafts of the script for A Few Good Men in his Manhattan apartment, learning the craft from a book about screenplay format. He then spent several months at the Los Angeles offices of Castle Rock, working on the script with director Rob Reiner. William Goldman (who regularly worked under contract at Castle Rock) became his mentor and helped him to adapt his stage play into a screenplay. The film, directed by Reiner, starred Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon, and was produced by Brown. A Few Good Men was released in 1992 and was a box office success, grossing $243 million worldwide.

Goldman also approached Sorkin with a story premise, which Sorkin developed into the script for the thriller Malice. Goldman oversaw the project as creative consultant while Sorkin wrote the first two drafts. However, he had to leave the project to finish the script for A Few Good Men, so screenwriter Scott Frank stepped in and wrote two drafts of the Malice screenplay. When production on A Few Good Men was completed, Sorkin resumed working on Malice right through the final shooting script. Harold Becker directed the 1993 thriller, which starred Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin. Malice had mixed reviews; Vincent Canby in The New York Times described the film as "deviously entertaining from its start through its finish". Critic Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4 stars, and Peter Travers in a 2000 Rolling Stone review summarized it as having "suspense but no staying power".

Sorkin's last screenplay under Castle Rock was The American President; once again he worked with William Goldman who served as a creative consultant. It took Sorkin several years to write the screenplay for The American President, which started off at 385-pages; it was eventually reduced to a standard shooting script of around 120 pages. The film, also directed by Reiner, was critically acclaimed; Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described it as "genial and entertaining if not notably inspired", and believed its most interesting aspects were the "pipe dreams about the American political system and where it could theoretically be headed". A Few Good Men, Malice and The American President grossed approximately $400 million worldwide.

In the second half of the 1990s, Sorkin worked as a script doctor. He wrote some quips for Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in 1996's The Rock. He worked on Excess Baggage, a 1997 comedy about a girl who stages her own kidnapping to get her father's attention, and rewrote some of Will Smith's scenes in Enemy of the State. Sorkin collaborated with Warren Beatty on several scripts, one of which was 1998's Bulworth. Beatty, known for occasionally personally financing his film projects through pre-production, also hired Sorkin to rewrite a script titled Ocean of Storms which never went into production. At one point, Sorkin sued Beatty for proper compensation for his work on the Ocean of Storms script; once the matter was settled, he resumed working on the script.

1998–2006: Television series and theatre work

Sports Night

Sorkin conceived the idea to write about the behind-the-scenes happenings on a sports show while residing at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles writing the screenplay for The American President. He would work late, with the television tuned into ESPN, watching continuous replays of SportsCenter. The show inspired him to try to write a feature film about a sports show but he was unable to structure the story for film, so instead he turned his idea into a television comedy series. Sports Night was produced by Disney and debuted on the ABC network in fall of 1998.

Sorkin fought with ABC during the first season over the use of a laugh track and a live studio audience. The laugh track was widely decried by critics as jarring, with Joyce Millman of Salon magazine describing it as "the most unconvincing laugh track you've ever heard". Sorkin commented that: "Once you do shoot in front of a live audience, you have no choice but to use the laugh track. Oftentimes [enhancing the laughs] is the right thing to do. Sometimes you do need a cymbal crash. Other times, it alienates me." The laugh track was gradually dialed down and was removed by the end of the first season. Sorkin was triumphant in the second season when ABC agreed to his demands, unburdening the crew of the difficulties of staging a scene for a live audience and leaving the cast with more time to rehearse. Although Sports Night was critically acclaimed, ABC canceled the show after two seasons due to low ratings. Sorkin entertained offers to continue the show on other television channels, but declined all the offers because they were dependent on his involvement and he was already working on The West Wing.

The West Wing

Sorkin conceived the political drama The West Wing in 1997 when he went unprepared to a lunch with producer John Wells; in a panic he pitched to Wells a series centered on the senior staff of the White House, using leftover ideas from his script for The American President. He told Wells about his visits to the White House while doing research for The American President, and they found themselves discussing public service and the passion of the people who serve. Wells took the concept and pitched it to NBC, but was told to wait due to the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. There was a concern that television audiences would not be able to take a series about the White House seriously. A year later, other networks started showing interest in The West Wing. NBC decided to give the project the green-light despite their previous reluctance. The pilot debuted in the fall of 1999 and was produced by Warner Bros. Television.

The West Wing garnered nine Primetime Emmy Awards for its debut season, making the series a record holder for most Emmys won by a series in a single season at the time. Following the awards ceremony, there was a dispute about the acceptance speech for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. The West Wing episode "In Excelsis Deo" won, which was awarded to Sorkin and Rick Cleveland, but The New York Times reported that Sorkin ushered Cleveland off the stage before he could say a few words. The story behind "In Excelsis Deo" is based on Cleveland's father, a Korean War veteran who spent the last years of his life on the street, as Cleveland explained in an essay titled "I Was the Dumb Looking Guy with the Wire-Rimmed Glasses". Sorkin and Cleveland continued their dispute in a public web forum at Mighty Big TV in which Sorkin explained that he gives his writers "Story By" credit on a rotating basis "by way of a gratuity" and that he had thrown out Cleveland's script and started from scratch. Sorkin eventually apologized to Cleveland. Cleveland and Sorkin also won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama at the 53rd Writer Guild of America Awards for "In Excelsis Deo".

In 2001, after completing the second season of The West Wing, Sorkin had a drug relapse, and was arrested at Hollywood Burbank Airport for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, and crack cocaine. He was ordered by a court to attend a drug diversion program. There was huge media interest but he did make a successful recovery. In 2002, Sorkin criticized NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw's television special about a day in the life of a president, "The Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing", comparing it to the act of sending a valentine to President George W. Bush instead of real news reporting. The West Wing aired on the same network, and so at the request of NBC's Entertainment President Jeff Zucker, Sorkin apologized, but later said, "there should be a difference between what NBC News does and what The West Wing TV series does."

Sorkin wrote 87 screenplays for The West Wing, which is nearly every episode during the show's first four Emmy-winning seasons. Sorkin described his role in the creative process as "not so much [that of] a showrunner or a producer. I'm really a writer." He admitted that this approach can have its drawbacks, saying "Out of 88 [West Wing] episodes that I did we were on time and on budget never, not once." In 2003, at the end of the fourth season, Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme left the show due to internal conflicts at Warner Bros. Television, causing John Wells to serve as showrunner. Sorkin never watched any episodes beyond his writing tenure apart from a minute of the fifth season's first episode, describing the experience as "like watching somebody make out with my girlfriend." Sorkin later returned in the series finale for a cameo appearance as a guest at the inauguration of Matthew Santos.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

In 2005, Sorkin returned to theatre; he revised his play A Few Good Men for a production at London's West End. The play opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the fall of the same year and was directed by David Esbjornson, with Rob Lowe of The West Wing in the lead role. Sorkin told The Charlie Rose Show that he was developing a television series based on a late-night sketch comedy show similar to Saturday Night Live. In October 2005, a pilot script dubbed Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip, written by him and Schlamme as producer, started circulating in Hollywood and online. In that same month, NBC bought the rights from Warner Bros. Television to air the series on their network for a near-record license fee after a bidding war with CBS. The show's name was later changed to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Sorkin described the show as having "autobiographical elements" to it and "characters that are based on actual people" but said that it departs from those beginnings to look at the backstage maneuverings at a late night sketch comedy show.

On September 18, 2006, the pilot for Studio 60 aired on NBC, directed by Schlamme. The pilot was critically acclaimed and viewed by an audience of over 12 million, but the show experienced a significant drop in viewership mid-season. Even before the first episode aired, there was a large amount of thoughtful and scrupulous criticism in the press, as well as negative analysis from bloggers. In January 2007, Sorkin spoke out against the press for reporting heavily on the low ratings, and for using blogs and unemployed comedy writers as sources. After two months hiatus, Studio 60 resumed airing the last episodes of season one, which would be its only season.

The Farnsworth Invention
As early as 2003, Sorkin was writing a spec script about inventor Philo Farnsworth; he was approached by producer Fred Zollo in the 1990s about adapting Elma Farnsworth's memoir into a biographical film. The following year, he completed the film screenplay, The Farnsworth Invention, which was acquired by New Line Cinema with Schlamme as director. The story is about the patent battle between Farnsworth and RCA tycoon David Sarnoff for the technology that allowed the first television transmissions in the United States. No additional details were released about the film. Shortly, Sorkin was contacted by Jocelyn Clarke of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, requesting he write a play for them, a commission which he accepted. Sorkin decided to rewrite The Farnsworth Invention as a play. He delivered a first draft of the play to the Abbey Theatre in early 2005, and a production was planned for 2007 with La Jolla Playhouse deciding to stage a workshop production of the play in collaboration with the Abbey Theatre. In 2006, Abbey Theatre's new management quit involvement with The Farnsworth Invention. Despite this, La Jolla Playhouse carried on with Steven Spielberg serving as a producer. The production opened under La Jolla's signature Page To Stage program which allowed Sorkin and director Des McAnuff to develop the play from show-to-show according to audience reactions and feedback; the play ran from February 20, 2007, through March 25, 2007. A Broadway production followed soon after, beginning in previews, and opening on November 14, 2007; however, the play was delayed by the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike. The Farnsworth Invention eventually opened at the Music Box Theatre on December 3, 2007, and closed on March 2, 2008.

2007–2015: Return to film and The Newsroom

In 2007, Sorkin was commissioned by Universal Pictures to adapt George Crile's non-fiction book Charlie Wilson's War for Tom Hanks' production company Playtone. The biographical comedy, Charlie Wilson's War, is about the colorful Texas congressman Charlie Wilson who funded the CIA's secret war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Directed by Mike Nichols, and written by Sorkin, the film was released in 2007 and starred Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film earned five nominations at the Golden Globes, including Best Screenplay for Sorkin.

In August 2008, Sorkin announced that he had agreed to write a script for Sony Pictures and producer Scott Rudin about the beginnings of Facebook. David Fincher's The Social Network, based on Ben Mezrich's novel The Accidental Billionaires, was released on October 1, 2010. It was a critical and commercial success; Sorkin won an Academy Award, BAFTA and a Golden Globe for the screenplay.

A year later, Sorkin received nominations in the same award categories for co-writing Moneyball. It is based on Michael Lewis's 2003 non-fiction book of the same name, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team. The film was directed by Bennett Miller, and starred Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the script "dynamite", in which Sorkin's "sharply witty touch is everywhere".

In 2011, Sorkin played himself on the series 30 Rock, episode "Plan B", where he did a "walk and talk" with Liz Lemon played by Tina Fey. While still working on the screenplay for The Social Network, Sorkin was contemplating a television drama about the behind-the-scenes events at a cable news program. Talks had been ongoing between Sorkin and HBO since 2010. To research the news industry, Sorkin observed the production crew at MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and quizzed Parker Spitzers staff. He also spent time shadowing Hardball with Chris Matthews, as well as other programs on Fox News and CNN. Sorkin told TV Guide that he intended to take a less cynical view of the media: "They're going to be trying to do well in a context where it's very difficult to do well when there are commercial concerns and political concerns and corporate concerns." Sorkin decided that rather than have his characters react to fictional news events as on his earlier series, it would be set in the recent past and track real-world stories largely as they unfolded, to give a greater sense of realism.HBO ordered a pilot episode in January 2011 with the working title More as This Story Develops, with Scott Rudin serving as an executive producer. In September, HBO ordered a 10-episode series of The Newsroom with a premiere date of June 2012. A day after the second episode aired, HBO renewed the series for a second season. Sorkin said The Newsroom "is meant to be an idealistic, romantic, swashbuckling, sometimes comedic but very optimistic, upward-looking look at a group of people who are often looked at cynically. The same as with The West Wing, where ordinarily in popular culture our leaders are portrayed either as Machiavellian or dumb; I wanted to do something different and show a highly competent group of people." The series concluded after its third season.

In 2015, Danny Boyle's biographical drama Steve Jobs was released. The screenplay by Sorkin was based on Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, and starred Michael Fassbender as Jobs, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak.  Sorkin expressed hesitation for tackling the film, saying "it was a little like writing about the Beatles—that there are so many people out there who know so much about him [Jobs] and who revere him that I just saw a minefield of disappointment.  [...] Hopefully, when I'm done with my research, I'll be in the same ball park of knowledge about Steve Jobs". He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, although some journalists were surprised that he did not receive an Academy Award nomination in the same category.

2016–present: Film directing debut and Broadway work

To Kill a Mockingbird
In February 2016, it was announced that Sorkin would adapt Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage reuniting with Jeff Daniels who would portray Atticus Finch. This would be Sorkin's first collaboration with director Bartlett Sher. His Broadway adaptation opened on December 13, 2018, to positive reviews at the Shubert Theatre. The play received nine Tony Award nominations although notably not for Best Play. Despite initial legal disputes with the Harper Lee estate and controversy regarding actions by producer Scott Rudin, the play was a financial success where it transferred to the West End and embarked on a national tour. The play returned to Broadway following the COVID-19 pandemic with Daniels returning to the role.

Film directorial debut
Next, Sorkin made his directorial debut with Molly's Game, an adaptation of entrepreneur Molly Bloom's memoir. He also wrote the script for it, which starred Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba. Production began in 2016 and the film was released in December 2017 to mostly positive reviews; Sorkin received his third Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Molly's Game garnered an approval rating of 81% based on 297 reviews, with an average rating of 7.07/10.

Sorkin told Vanity Fair in July 2020 that Steven Spielberg offered him a job in 2006 about "a movie about the riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention and the trial that followed". However, after meeting at Spielberg's home, Sorkin said, "I left not knowing what the hell he was talking about." On July 12, 2007, Variety magazine reported that Sorkin had signed a deal with DreamWorks to write three scripts. The first was The Trial of the Chicago 7, which Sorkin was already developing with Spielberg, Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. In March 2010, Sorkin's agent, Ari Emanuel, had stated that the project was proving "tough to get together". In late July 2013, it was announced that Paul Greengrass would be directing, but Sorkin eventually both wrote and directed the film. Focusing on the Chicago Seven (and Bobby Seale), the film began a limited release on September 25, 2020, before streaming on Netflix. At the 78th Golden Globes, Sorkin won Best Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Director.

In September 2015, Entertainment Weekly reported that Sorkin was writing a biopic that will focus on the twenty-year marriage of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and their work on a comedy series, I Love Lucy. Cate Blanchett was originally to star as Ball. In 2017, Amazon Studios acquired the rights to the film. In January 2021, it was announced that Blanchett had been replaced by Nicole Kidman, and Javier Bardem had been cast as Desi Arnaz. Titled Being the Ricardos (2021), it was directed by Sorkin and received a limited release on December 10, 2021, followed by a wide release on Prime Video on December 21. Paul Byrnes of The Sydney Morning Herald praised the film's dialogue, while the critic from The Irish Times opined that the film lacked "spark or insight".

Camelot
It was announced that Sorkin would be reuniting with director Bartlett Sher to revive the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot on Broadway starring Phillipa Soo and Andrew Burnap. The production was set to begin at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater on November 3, 2022. but was moved back to April 13, 2023.

Prospective projects
In March 2007, it was reported that Sorkin had signed on to write a musical adaptation of the hit 2002 record Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by psychedelic-rock band The Flaming Lips, collaborating with director Des McAnuff who had been developing the project. In August 2008, McAnuff announced that Sorkin had been commissioned by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival to write an adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. In 2010, Sorkin reportedly obtained the film rights to Andrew Young's book The Politician (about Senator John Edwards), and announced that he would make his debut as a film director while adapting the book for the screen.

In November 2010, it was reported that Sorkin will write a musical based on the life of Houdini, with music by Danny Elfman. In January 2012, Stephen Schwartz was reported to be writing the music and lyrics, with Sorkin making his debut as a librettist. The musical was expected for release in 2013–14; Sorkin said: "The chance to collaborate with Stephen Schwartz [the director], Jack O'Brien, and Hugh Jackman on a new Broadway musical is a huge gift." In January 2013, he quit the project, citing film and television commitments.

In March 2016, it was announced that Sorkin would adapt A Few Good Men for a live production on NBC, originally slated to air in 2017; , "Sorkin is still mulling the project".

Writing process and style
Sorkin has written for the theater, film, and television, and in each medium his level of collaboration with other creators has varied. He began in theater, which involved a largely solitary writing process, then moved into film, where he collaborated with director Rob Reiner and screenwriter William Goldman, and eventually worked in television, where he collaborated very closely with director Thomas Schlamme for nearly a decade on the shows Sports Night, The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; he now moves between all three media. He had a habit of chain smoking while he spent long hours plotting out scripts in his office, though he quit smoking after having a stroke in 2022. He describes his writing process as physical because he will often stand up and speak the dialogue he is developing.

A New York Times article by Peter de Jonge explained that "The West Wing is never plotted out for more than a few weeks ahead and has no major story lines", which De Jonge believed was because "with characters who have no flaws, it is impossible to give them significant arcs". Sorkin has stated: "I seldom plan ahead, not because I don't think it's good to plan ahead, there just isn't time." Sorkin has also said, "As a writer, I don't like to answer questions until the very moment that I have to." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV critic John Levesque has commented that Sorkin's writing process "can make for ill-advised plot developments". Further complicating the matter, in television, Sorkin will have a hand in writing every episode, rarely letting other writers earn full credit on a script. De Jonge reported that ex-writers of The West Wing have claimed that "even by the spotlight-hogging standards of Hollywood, Sorkin has been exceptionally ungenerous in his sharing of writing credit". In a comment to GQ magazine in 2008, Sorkin said, "I'm helped by a staff of people who have great ideas, but the scripts aren't written by committee."

Sorkin's long-term collaboration with Schlamme began in early 1998 when they found they shared common creative ground on the soon to be produced Sports Night. Their successful partnership in television is one in which Sorkin focuses on writing the scripts while Schlamme executive produces and occasionally directs; they have worked together on Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Schlamme will create the look of the shows, work with the other directors, discuss the scripts with Sorkin as soon as they are turned in, make design and casting decisions, and attend the budget meetings; Sorkin tends to stick strictly to writing. In response to what he perceived as unfair criticism of The Newsroom, Jacob Drum of Digital Americana wrote, "The essential truth that the critics miss is that The Newsroom is Sorkin being Sorkin as he always has been and always will be: one part pioneer; one part self-conscious romantic; two parts actual Lewis & Clark-style pioneer, trapping his way across an old, old idea of an America that can always stand to raise its game—but most importantly, spinning a good yarn while he does so."

As a writer, Sorkin is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent collaborator Thomas Schlamme's storytelling technique called the "walk and talk". These sequences consist of single tracking shots of long duration involving multiple characters engaging in conversation as they move through the set; characters enter and exit the conversation as the shot continues without any cuts. Sorkin is also known for writing memorable lines and fast-paced dialogue, such as "You can't handle the truth!" from A Few Good Men and the partly Latin tirade against God: "You get Hoynes!" in The West Wing episode "Two Cathedrals". For television, one hallmark of Sorkin's writer's voice is the repartee that his characters engage in as they small talk and banter about whimsical events taking place within an episode, and interject obscure popular culture references into conversation. Although his scripts are lauded for being literate, Sorkin has been criticized for often turning in scripts that are overwrought. His mentor William Goldman has commented that normally in visual media speeches are avoided, but that Sorkin has a talent for dialogue and gets away with breaking this rule. His portrayal of women has been criticized by several commentators, with female characters in his works often subordinate, written to support the main male characters, ditzy and incompetent or ostensibly professional while still being depicted as overly emotional and needing to be rescued by men.

Personal life

Sorkin married Julia Bingham in 1996 and divorced in 2005, with his workaholic habits and drug abuse reported to be a partial cause. Sorkin and Bingham have one daughter, Roxy. He dated Kristin Chenoweth, who played Annabeth Schott on The West Wing, for several years (after Sorkin had left the show). He has also reportedly dated columnist Maureen Dowd and actress Kristin Davis. In 2021, Sorkin and Paulina Porizkova dated for a few months.

A consistent supporter of the Democratic Party, Sorkin has made substantial political campaign contributions to candidates between 1999 and 2011, according to CampaignMoney.com. During the 2004 US presidential election campaign, the liberal advocacy group MoveOn's political action committee enlisted Sorkin and Rob Reiner to create one of their anti-Bush campaign advertisements. In August 2008, Sorkin was involved in a Generation Obama event at the Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills, California, participating in a panel discussion subsequent to a screening of Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. However, Sorkin does not consider himself a political activist: "I've met political activists, and they're for real. I've never marched anyplace or done anything that takes more effort than writing a check in terms of activism". In 2016, after President Donald Trump won the election, Sorkin wrote an open letter to his daughter Roxy and her mother Julia.

In 1987, Sorkin started using marijuana and cocaine. He said cocaine gave him relief from certain nervous tensions that occur on a regular basis. In 1995, he sought rehabilitation at the Hazelden Institute in Minnesota, on the advice of Bingham to combat his addiction. In early 2001, Sorkin and his colleagues John Spencer and Martin Sheen received the Phoenix Rising Award for overcoming their drug abuse. However, on April 15, 2001, Sorkin was arrested when security guards at Hollywood Burbank Airport found that he was in possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, crack cocaine, and a metal crack pipe. He was court-ordered to a drug diversion program, while still working on The West Wing. In a commencement speech for Syracuse University on May 13, 2012, Sorkin said he has not used cocaine for eleven years.

In November 2022, Sorkin had a stroke which was caused by hypertension. He later called it "a loud wake-up call" to improve his health, and said he quit smoking, changed his diet, and began exercising daily as a result.

Filmography

Films

Television

Plays
Playwright

Acting credits

Awards and nominations

Sorkin has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following films:
83rd Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, win, The Social Network (2010)
84th Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, nomination, Moneyball (2011)
90th Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, nomination, Molly's Game (2017)
93rd Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay, nomination, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Sorkin has been nominated for ten Golden Globe Awards, winning three for Best Screenplay for: The Social Network (2011), Steve Jobs (2015), and The Trial of the Chicago Seven (2020). He has also received five British Academy Film Awards nominations, winning one for The Social Network (2010). He has also received fourteen Writers Guild of America Award nominations winning twice for The West Wing, and The Social Network (2010). He has received seven Critics' Choice Movie Awards nominations winning consecutively for Best Screenplay for The Social Network and Moneyball.

For his work on television Sorkin has received nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning four awards for Outstanding Drama Series for The West Wing in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. He also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for The West Wing episode: "In Excelsis Deo" in 2000.

References

Further reading

External links

 Aaron Sorkin at Moviefone

 Blog Entries by Aaron Sorkin at HuffPost
 Aaron Sorkin, on Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc
 Aaron Sorkin, on Open Library, Internet Archive
 Aaron Sorkin, on AllMovie, All Media Network
 Aaron Sorkin, on TV.com, Red Ventures (archived 1º January 2012)
 Aaron Sorkin, on Internet Broadway Database, The Broadway League

1961 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
American male dramatists and playwrights
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American screenwriters
American television writers
Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners
Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award winners
Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners
Film directors from New York City
Jewish American writers
Living people
People from Scarsdale, New York
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Scarsdale High School alumni
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriting instructors
Showrunners
Syracuse University alumni
Television producers from New York City
Writers from Manhattan
Writers Guild of America Award winners

Aaron Sorkin


The Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the constitution of North Korea. It tells how the government should work and that the socialist Workers' Party of Korea is the only political party. The constitution has 166 articles which are in three sections. The first constitution was made in North Korea in 1948. The current constitution was made in 1972.

Constitutions
Politics of North Korea

Constitution of North Korea


Betty Rebecca Wilson (21 November 1921 – 22 January 2010) was considered one of the greatest woman cricketers of all time. She represented Australia in Women's Test cricket between 1947–48 and 1957–58. Wilson batted right-handed, and was a good off spin bowler and a superb fielder.

Early life
Born in Melbourne, Wilson grew up in the inner neighbourhood of Collingwood and learned the game by playing against a lamp post in her street. At the age of 10, she joined the Collingwood Women's Cricket Club where she played with the adults. She made it to the Victoria second XI at the age of 14, and to the senior side at 16.

Cricket career
The Second World War delayed her Test appearances till 1948. On her debut against New Zealand, she scored 90 and took 4/37 and 6/28. In her second Test in 1949, she scored 111 against England becoming the first Australian woman to score a Test century against England, and took nine more wickets. This made her the first woman cricketer to score a century and to take a five wicket haul in an innings of a Women's Test match.

She toured England in 1951 and scored 81 in the first Test at Scarborough. Against Yorkshire, she scored 100* in 77 minutes, leading Australia to a last ball win. After this series, she stayed in England for two and a half years.

In the St. Kilda Test against England in 1957–58, she became the first cricketer, male or female, to score a 100 and to take 10 wickets in a Test. On a wet wicket, she took 7/7 in the first innings which included the first ever hat-trick in a women's Test. The feat was not repeated until Shaiza Khan of Pakistan did the same in 2004. She top scored with 12 in Australia's low first innings and a 100 in the second. Taking 4/9 in 19 overs in the second, she set another record for the best bowling of 11/16 in a match, which stood as a record till 2004.

Wilson played 11 Tests in her career scoring 862 runs at 57.46 and taking 68 wickets at 11.80.

Test match centuries

Honours
In 1985, Wilson became the first woman cricketer to be inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame. In 1985–86, the Under-21 National Women's Cricket Championship was renamed the Betty Wilson Shield. In 1996–97, the age group was changed to Under-19.

In 2015, Wilson was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

In 2017, Wilson was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.  The Betty Wilson Young Player of the Year award was inaugurated at the 2017 Allan Border Medal Ceremony, to recognise a female cricketer who, prior to 5 December 2015, was aged under 25 and had played 10 or fewer matches.

References

Notes
The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket

Further reading

External links

Cricinfo : Wilson interview
Wilson's sporting legacy

1921 births
2010 deaths
Australia women Test cricketers
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees
Cricketers from Melbourne
Sportswomen from Victoria (state)
Victoria cricketers
Women's Test cricket hat-trick takers
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees

Betty Wilson


r/IAmA is a subreddit for question-and-answer interactive interviews termed "AMA" (short for "Ask Me Anything"). AMA interviewees have ranged from various celebrities to everyday people in several lines of work. Founded in May 2009, the subreddit has gone on to become one of Reddit's most popular communities.

Concept
IAmA is based on posting "AMAs" (for "Ask Me Anything"), or similarly "AMAAs" (Ask Me Almost/Absolutely Anything) – prompts for others to ask questions about any topic. AMAs are open to all Reddit users, but interviewees require proof that they are who/what they claim to be. They use the site's comment system for both questions and answers; this process has been equated to an online press conference. Like the rest of Reddit, users can also upvote and downvote potential candidates, with the most favoured being more likely to receive an answer.

History
According to The Atlantic, this concept is new to the digital age. They deemed the closest equivalents to be game shows, and radio call-in shows, which placed a heavy focus on the interviewees. Contrastingly, r/IAmA places more emphasis on users answering the questions.

The concept's genesis on the internet began in the 1990s; Slashdot launched similar interviews in 1999, but only 10 questions per person were allowed. Participants included free software advocate Bruce Perens and Linux developer Alan Cox. This was followed by Something Awful's Ask/Tell forums, which was more focused on interviews with everyday people.

Reddit built on this idea with video interviews with site staff Alexis Ohanian and Erik Martin. The following demand for AMAs led to the creation of the current r/IAmA subreddit in May 2009. Unlike its precursors, it requires proof of identity.  Since its founding, similar features have appeared in other social media sites, like Tumblr and Ask.fm.

Participants
Initially, AMAs focused more on ordinary citizens; these interviews still make up some of the subreddit's content today. As Reddit expanded, its staff attempted to bring in celebrity guests—early examples include businesswoman Caterina Fake. Since then, a number of individuals have been interviewed in the IAmA subreddit, some of whom have appeared multiple times. Notable participants include then-United States President Barack Obama (while campaigning for the 2012 election), Bill Gates (multiple times), Bernie Sanders (amidst the 2018 midterm elections), and Holocaust survivor Alex Hershaft. Other people, including Donald Trump, have conducted AMAs in a similar fashion on other parts of Reddit.

The increased traffic for Obama's AMA brought down many parts of the website when it occurred on August 29, 2012.

Celebrities participating in AMAs have seen both positive and negative responses. In 2012, Woody Harrelson's AMA was criticized after Harrelson declined to answer questions that were unrelated to the movie he was then promoting, apparently unaware of the AMA's purpose. By contrast, rapper Snoop Dogg's 2012 AMA attracted 1.6 million page views after he provided several candid responses to the community's questions.

Controversies

From 2013 to 2015, Victoria Taylor assisted Reddit's volunteer community in presenting interviews. She primarily transcribed spoken celebrity responses, but also helped organize timing, affirmed best practices, and assisted in preparation.  On July 2, 2015, hundreds of subreddits, including several with over a million subscribers, were set to private by their respective volunteer moderators after Taylor was dismissed. These moderators stated that a primary factor for the shutdown was a lack of warning for Reddit's decision; Reddit provided no immediate replacement for Taylor's services. Sources closer to Reddit users cited an increased focus on commercializing AMAs as the most likely reason.

References

Further reading

External links
 Official website

2009 establishments in the United States
IAmA
Internet properties established in 2009
2009 in Internet culture
Interviews

R/IAmA


The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without the will to continue living, should be allowed to end their own life, use assisted suicide, or to decline life-prolonging treatment. The question of who, if anyone, may be empowered to make this decision is often the subject of debate.

Religious views on suicide vary from the Hindu and Jain practices of non-violent suicide through fasting (Prayopavesa and Santhara, respectively) to considering it a grave sin, as in Catholicism.

Ethics
The preservation and value of life have led to many medical advancements when it comes to treating patients. New devices and the development of palliative care have allowed humans to live longer than before. Prior to these medical advancements and care, the lifespans of those who were unconscious, minimally unconscious, and in a vegetative state were short as they were unable to receive assistance with basic needs such as breathing and feeding. The advancement of medical technology raises the question about the quality of life of patients who are no longer conscious. For example, the right to self-determination questions the definition of quality and sanctity of life—if one had the right to live, then the right to die must follow suit. There are questions in ethics as to whether or not a right to die can coexist with a right to life. If it is argued that the right to life is inalienable, then it cannot be surrendered and therefore may be incompatible with a right to die. A second debate exists within bioethics over whether the right to die is universal, only applies under certain circumstances (such as terminal illness), or if it exists at all. It is also stated that 'right to live' is not synonymous to 'obligation to live.' From that point of view, the right to live can coexist with the right to die.

The right to die is supported and rejected by many. Arguments for this right include:

 If one had a right to live, then one must have the right to die, both on their terms.
 Death is a natural process of life thus there should not be any laws to prevent it if the patient seeks to end it.
 What we do at the end of our lives should not be of concern to others.
 If euthanasia is strictly controlled, we can avoid entering a slippery slope and prevent patients from seeking alternative methods which may not be legal.

Arguments against include:

 It can lead to a slippery slope; if we allow patients this right, it can expand and have dire consequences.
 Give rise to pressuring those to end their lives or the lives of others; ethically immoral by human and medical standards.
 "Throwing away" patients who are deemed no longer capable to be part of society.
 Decrease in palliative end-of-life care due to the expectation of terminal patients to exercise their right to die.

A court in the American state of Montana for example, has found that the right to die only applies to those with life-threatening medical conditions. Physician-assisted suicide advocate Ludwig Minelli, euthanasia expert Sean W. Asher, and bioethics professor Jacob M. Appel, in contrast, argue that all competent people have a right to end their own lives. Appel has suggested that the right to die is a test for the overall freedom of a given society. A professor in social work, Alexandre Baril, proposed to create an ethic of responsibility "based on a harm-reduction, non-coercive approach to suicide. [He] suggest that assisted suicide should be an option for suicidal people." He argued that the voice of suicidal people is viewed as illegitimate and that there are 'injunctions to live and to futurity' where suicidal subjects are oppressed and silenced. Baril suggests the word suicidism to describe the "[...] oppressive system (stemming from non-suicidal perspectives) functioning at the normative, discursive, medical, legal, social, political, economic, and epistemic levels in which suicidal people experience multiple forms of injustice and violence [...]" He suggests creating safer spaces and listening to suicidal people without forcing the 'will to live' upon them.

The 1991 Patient Self-Determination Act passed by the US Congress at the request of the financial arm of Medicare does permit elderly Medicare/Medicaid patients (and by implication, all "terminal" patients) to prepare an advance directive in which they elect or choose to refuse life-extending and/or life-saving treatments as a means of shortening their lives and thus suffering unto certain death. Under US law (1991 PSDA), the treatment refused in an advance directive does not have to be proved to be "medically futile" under some existing due-process procedure developed under state laws, such as TADA in Texas.

The right to die, also known as the right to death, is an ethical and legal concept that supports the freedom of a human being to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. This right is generally associated with individuals suffering from a terminal illness or lacking the will to continue living, and it may allow them to terminate their own life, refuse life-prolonging treatment, or opt for assisted suicide or euthanasia. The question of who should be able to exercise this right is often central to the debate.

Some scholars and philosophers, such as David Benatar, approach this debate in terms of antinatalism. Since human beings do not have the power to act at the time of their birth, no one should have authority over a person's decision to continue living or to die.

Supporters of the right to die often connect it to the idea that a person's body and life belong solely to themselves, and they should have the freedom to dispose of them as they see fit, understanding that the right to life does not imply a duty or obligation to live. However, a legitimate state interest in preventing irrational suicides is typically opposed. For example, Avital Pilpel and Lawrence Amsel argue:

"Contemporary advocates of rational suicide or the right to die generally demand, for reasons of rationality, that the decision to end one's life be an autonomous choice of the individual (i.e., not due to pressure from doctors or family to 'do what is right' and commit suicide), that the choice be 'the best option in these circumstances' (desired by Stoics or utilitarians), as well as other natural conditions, such as the stability of the decision, the absence of impulsivity, the absence of mental illness, deliberation, etc."

By country

As of 2023, some forms of voluntary euthanasia are legal in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland.

Australia

As euthanasia is a health issue, under the Australian constitution this falls to state and territory governments to legislate and manage.

Euthanasia was legal within the Northern Territory during parts of 1996–1997 as a result of the territory parliament passing Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995. As a territory and not a state, the federal government under Prime Minister John Howard amended the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 (amongst others) to ensure that territories of Australia are no longer able to legislate on euthanasia. However, this was repealed in December 2022 with the passing of Restoring Territory Rights Act. The federal government is not able to legislate restrictions on health issues for the Australian states and territories in the same manner.

Voluntary assisted dying schemes have been in effect in the following states; Victoria since 19 June 2019, Western Australia since 1 July 2021, Tasmania since 23 October 2022, Queensland since 1 January 2023, and South Australia since 31 January 2023. New South Wales was the final state to pass legislation for assisted dying in May 2022, which will go into effect on 28 November 2023.

Belgium

In 2002, the Belgian parliament legalized euthanasia.

Canada

In August 2011, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge requested to speed up a right to die lawsuit so that Gloria Taylor could have a doctor assist her in dying by suicide. She had Lou Gehrig's disease. She died of an infection in 2012.

On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that denying the right to assisted suicide was unconstitutional. The court's ruling limits physician-assisted suicides to "a competent adult person who clearly consents to the termination of life and has a grievous and irremediable medical condition, including an illness, disease or disability, that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition." The ruling was suspended for 12 months to allow the Canadian parliament to draft a new, constitutional law to replace the existing one. The court decision includes a requirement that there must be stringent limits that are "scrupulously monitored." This will require the death certificate to be completed by an independent medical examiner, not the treating physician, to ensure the accuracy of reporting the cause of death. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) reported that not all doctors were willing to assist in a patient's death due to legal complications and went against what a physician stood for. Many physicians stated that they should have a voice when it comes to helping a patient end their life. However, the belief in late 2015 was that no physician would be forced to do so but the CMA was offering educational sessions to members as to the process that would be used.

On June 17, 2016, legislation passed both houses of the Parliament of Canada and received Royal Assent to allow euthanasia within Canada.

Colombia

On 20 May 1997, the Constitutional Court of Colombia decriminalised piety homicide, for terminally ill patients, stating that "the medical author cannot be held responsible for the assisted suicide of a terminally ill patient" and urged Congress to regulate euthanasia "in the shortest time possible".

On 15 December 2014, the Constitutional Court had given the Ministry of Health and Social Protection 30 days to publish guidelines for the healthcare sector to use in order to guarantee terminally ill patients, with the wish to undergo euthanasia, their right to a dignified death.

Germany
In February 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the right to personal identity in German constitutional law encompasses a right to self-determined death, which in turn contains a right to suicide. Notably, this right is not limited to terminally ill patients, instead finding its limits within the requirement for the choice to be autonomous. The ruling has sparked controversy, with opponents arguing that the ruling may enable peer pressure into assisted suicide.

India

Since 2018, the Supreme Court of India has legalized passive euthanasia in India during a case involving Aruna Shanbaug under strict conditions, namely that the patient's consent (or relatives) is needed, and that the patient must be terminally ill or vegetative state.

Netherlands

The Netherlands legalized voluntary euthanasia in 2002. Under Dutch law, euthanasia and assisted suicide can only be performed by doctors, and that is only legal in cases of "hopeless and unbearable" suffering. In practice, this means that it is limited to those with serious and incurable medical conditions (including mental illness) and in considerable suffering like pain, hypoxia or exhaustion. Helping somebody to die by suicide without meeting the qualifications of the Dutch euthanasia law is illegal. These criteria concern the patient's request, the patient's suffering (unbearable), the infaust prognosis (hopeless), the information provided to the patient, the absence of reasonable alternatives, consultation of another physician and the applied method of ending life.

New Zealand

Euthanasia is legal in New Zealand. In 2015, a lawyer with cancer Lecretia Seales brought a case (Seales v Attorney-General) to the High Court to challenge New Zealand law for her right to die with the assistance of her GP, asking for a declaration that her GP would not risk conviction. However legislation to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill patients was voted upon in the 2020 general election and was voted in favour of legalisation. The End Of Life Choice Bill took effect on 7 November 2021.

Peru
Peru legally forbids euthanasia. In 2020, a legal challenge to the law was launched by Ana Estrada, aimed at decriminalizing the practice.

United States

The term right to die has been interpreted in many ways, including issues of suicide, passive euthanasia, active euthanasia, assisted suicide, and physician-assisted suicide.

In the United States, public support for the right to die by physician-assisted suicide has increased over time. In a 2005 survey, the Pew Research Center found that 70% of participants say that there are circumstances in which a patient should be allowed to die; however, only 46% of participants approved of laws permitting doctors to assist patients in ending their lives. In May 2018, a Gallup poll report announced that 72% of responders said that doctors should legally be allowed to help terminally ill patients die. However, framing effects of using language such as "suicide" rather than "ending one's life" have the potential to lower approval rates by 10-15%.

A 2014 survey of physicians revealed that 54% of respondents agreed that physician-assisted suicide should be allowed. In a rigorous survey of physicians in 1996, less than 20% of physicians reported that they received requests from patients to be euthanized, and less than 5% complied. In 2020, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act data summary revealed that the number of prescriptions for lethal doses of medications increased by 25% since 2019, and have been steadily increasing since 1998. Of patients who received these prescriptions, 66% eventually died from ingesting the medications.

Major right to die cases

Karen Quinlan
The right to die movement in the United States began with the case of Karen Quinlan in 1975 and continues to raise bioethical questions about one's quality of life and the legal process of death. Quinlan, 21, lost consciousness after consuming alcohol and tranquilizers at a party. She soon began to experience respiratory problems, which then prevented oxygen from flowing to her brain. That led her to slip into a comatose state in which a respirator and a feeding tube were used to keep her alive and breathing. Quinlan did not have a proxy or living will and had not expressed her wishes if something ever happened to her to those around her, which made it difficult to decide what the next step should be.

Quinlan's parents understood that their daughter would never wake up and that prolonging her life may be more damaging and it would not be of quality life. Her father sought out the right to be Quinlan's legal guardian and petitioned for the removal of the respirator that was keeping her alive. The court, however, argued that the removal of the ventilator, which would lead to Quinlan's death, would be considered unlawful, unnatural, and unethical. Quinlan's lawyer made the counterargument that the removal of the respirator would allow Quinlan to have a natural death, which is natural and ethical. The Quinlans won the court case and were appointed as the legal guardians of their daughter. The respirator was removed in 1976, but Quinlan continued to live without the ventilator until 1985. The case continues to raise bioethical questions of one's quality of life and the legal process of death. It also brings up many important issues that are still being addressed to this day. One of the critical points that the Quinlan case brings up is the patient's right to deny or withdraw treatment. Cases in which the patient rejected or withdrew treatment were then unheard of and went against medical ethics in preserving one's life. Debates on allowing patients the right to self-determination were controversial, and they would be evaluated for the next couple of decades from state to state. The case also brought up whether family members and those who are close to the patient are allowed in the decision-making process. Since Quinlan had no written documentation, voiced no decision, and appointed no proxy, a lengthy legal battle was caused between the Quinlan family and the state in determining Quinlan's best interest and determining if she would want to live or die. That had a significant influence on the use and establishment of advance directives, oral directives, proxies, and living wills.

Nancy Cruzan

Another major case that further propagated the right to die movement and the use of living wills, advance directives and use of a proxy was Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health. In 1983, Cruzan had a car accident, which left her permanently in a vegetative state. Her status as an adult and lack of an advance directive, living will, or proxy led to a long legal battle for Cruzan's family in petitioning for the removal of her feeding tube, which was keeping her alive since the accident. Cruzan had mentioned to a friend that under no circumstances would she want to continue to live if she were ever in a vegetative state, but this was not a strong enough statement to remove the feeding tube. Eventually, the Cruzan family won the case and had their daughter's tube removed. The case brought great debate if the right to die should be approved from state to state or as a whole nation.

Terri Schiavo
The Terri Schiavo case occurred between 1990 and 2005. This case was controversial due to a disagreement between Schiavo's immediate family members and her husband. In the Quinlan and Cruzan cases, the family was able to make a unanimous decision on the state of their daughters. Schiavo suffered from a cardiac arrest which led to her collapse and soon after began to have trouble breathing. The lack of oxygen to her brain caused irreversible brain damage, leaving her in a vegetative state and required a feeding tube and ventilator to keep her alive. Schiavo left no advance directive or had a discussion with her parents or husband about what she may have wanted if something were to happen to her. Soon after, her husband was appointed as her legal guardian.

Years later, her husband decided to remove Schiavo's feeding tube since the chances of her waking up were slim to none. Schiavo's family, however, argued against this decision and brought this case to court. The case was very turbulent and occurred over some years and involved the state and its legislators before a decision was made. This brought up bioethical debates on the discontinuation of Schiavo's life vs. allowing her to continue living in a permanent vegetative state. Those who were for preserving Schiavo's life stated that removing the tube would be ethically immoral since they do not know what she would have wanted. They challenged her physical and mental state and stated that she might have some consciousness; thus she deserved to continue living. Those for removing the tube argued for self-determination and that her quality of life was diminished. The Schiavo case is the most recent and significant right to die case that propagates the thought of having an advance directive or living will. It also further looks into other complications that can arise, such as family disagreements, which should have been accounted for when dealing with a right to die case.

See also
 Washington v. Glucksberg
 Vacco v. Quill

Legislation
As the health of citizens is considered a police power left for individual states to regulate, it was not until 1997 that the US Supreme Court made a ruling on the issue of assisted suicide and one's right to die. That year, the Supreme Court heard two appeals arguing that New York (Vacco v. Quill) and Washington (Washington v. Glucksberg) statutes that made physician-assisted suicide a felony violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In a unanimous vote, the Court held that there was no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide and upheld state bans on assisted suicide. While in New York has maintained statutes banning physician-assisted suicide, the Court's decision also left it open for other states to decide whether they would allow physician-assisted suicide or not.

Since 1994, the following states in the US have passed assisted suicide laws: Oregon (Death with Dignity Act, 1994), Washington (Death with Dignity Act, 2008), Vermont (Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act, 2013), California (End of Life Option Act, 2015), Colorado (End of Life Options Act, 2016), District of Columbia (D.C. Death with Dignity Act, 2016), Hawaii (Our Care Our Choice Act, 2018), Maine (Death with Dignity Act, 2019), New Jersey (Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, 2019), and New Mexico (Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act, 2021) passed legislation that provides a protocol for the practice of physician-assisted suicide. The law in these states allows terminally ill adult patients to seek lethal medication from their physicians. In 2009, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that nothing in state law prohibits physician-assisted suicide and provides legal protection for physicians in the case that they prescribe lethal medication upon patient request. In California, the governor signed a controversial physician-assisted-suicide bill, the California End of Life Option Act, in October 2015 that passed during a special legislative session intended to address Medi-Cal funding, after it had been defeated during the regular legislative session.

In early 2014, New Mexico Second District Judge Nan Nash ruled that terminally ill patients have the right to aid in dying under the state constitution, i.e., making it legal for a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient. The ultimate decision will be made with the outcome of New Mexico's Attorney General's appeal to the ruling. Organizations have been continuously pushing for the legalization of self-determination in terminally ill patients in states where the right to end one's life is prohibited.

Medical Perspective

The American Medical Association (AMA) is the national association that advocates for physicians and provides guidance for the best practices for delivering health care. The AMA is responsible for maintaining the Code of Ethics, which consists of two parts: the Principles of Medical Ethics and Opinions of the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. The role of physicians in patient's right to die is debated within the medical community, however, the AMA provided an opinion statement on the matter.

Opinion statement regarding physician-assisted suicide

Patients who are terminally ill or suffering from debilitating illnesses may decide that they prefer to die rather than continue suffering. Physicians commit themselves to "do no harm" and by participating in assisted suicide physicians would inherently be causing harm to their patients. Rather than participating in assisted suicide, physicians should provide palliative care to minimize patient suffering. These are recommendations for physicians from the Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.7 regarding end of life care:

 Should not abandon a patient once it is determined that a cure is impossible.
 Must respect patient autonomy.
 Must provide good communication and emotional support.
 Must provide appropriate comfort care and adequate pain control.

Religion
Hinduism accepts the right to die for those who are tormented by terminal diseases or those who have no desire, no ambition, and no responsibilities remaining. Death is allowed by non-violent means such as fasting to the point of starvation (Prayopavesa). Jainism has a similar practice named Santhara. Other religious views on suicide vary in their tolerance and include denial of the right as well as condemnation of the act. In the Catholic faith, suicide is considered a grave sin.

See also

Initiatives
 Advance Directives Act (Texas)
 Initiative 1000 (Washington)
 Oregon Death with Dignity Act

Groups
 Compassion & Choices of Oregon
 Death with Dignity National Center
 Dignitas
 Exit International
 World Federation of Right to Die Societies
 Final Exit Network
Films
 How to Die in Oregon documentary film
 Right to Die? documentary film
 The Sea Inside drama film
 Whose Life Is It Anyway? drama film

Books
 Final Exit

Individuals
 Elizabeth Bouvia
 Eluana Englaro
 Edward Brongersma
 Betty and George Coumbias
 David Goodall
 Tirhas Habtegiris
 James Harden-Hickey
 Derek Humphry
 Richard Huxtable
 Jack Kevorkian
 Brittany Maynard
 Philip Nitschke
 Haleigh Poutre
 Diane Pretty
 Karen Ann Quinlan
 Sue Rodriguez
 Jo Roman
 Terri Schiavo
 Ramón Sampedro
 Piergiorgio Welby

Other related
 Advocacy of suicide
 Assisted suicide
 Bioethics / Medical ethics
 Bodily integrity
 Do not resuscitate
 End-of-life care
 Euthanasia
 Force feeding
 Free will
 Freedom of choice
 Philosophy of suicide
 Right to life
 Letting die
 Living will
 Patient refusal of nutrition and hydration

References

Further reading

  "Uit Vrije Wil – Burgerinitiatief voltooid leven"

Autonomy
Euthanasia
Suicide
Human rights by issue

Right to die


Anbe Aaruyire () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by S. J. Surya.  The film stars S. J. Surya and debutant Nila in a dual roles along with, Urvasi, Santhana Bharathi and Santhanam. The score and soundtrack are composed by A. R. Rahman.

Plot
Siva (S. J. Surya) is an investigative scribe who shares a live-in relationship with rich and bratty Madhu (Nila). They have hot-headed run-ins and even hotter patch-ups. Things come to a head when Madhu starts a restaurant with a brother of her friend. Nosy and envious Siva cannot take it, and this causes a split between the duo. Fun starts as the fantasy element appears in the form of their apparitional alter egos. Eventually they come together, but there is plenty of over-the-top entertainment aimed at a post-teen youth audience. Anbe Aaruyire features the memories of each other in a human lookalike appearances. These memories remind them of their good times and the inner love for each other, which help in their reunion.

Cast

Production
S. J. Surya announced a film titled Isai in 2004 shortly after the release of New, when he revealed that A. R. Rahman would also collaborate for two further ventures titled Anbulla Nanbane and Aezhumazhai vs Chitra. While Isai was postponed, Anbulla Nanbane developed under the title Best Friend, before the title Anbe Aaruyire (2005) was finalised. The film was initially titled BF, an acronym of Best Friend, but Surya was met with a protest from Tamil Protection Movement led by PMK leader Ramadoss and Dalit Panthers of India leader Thol. Thirumavalavan to change the title. After three months of its launch, Surya changed the name from BF to Ah Aah, the first two letters in the Tamil alphabet. Featuring himself in the lead role again, he signed up newcomer Meera Chopra for the film and rechristened her under the stage name Nila, after initially considering the stagename of Junior Simran, owing to her likeness to Simran. He revealed that he was inspired to make the film to convey that young lovers must give each other space and wanted to showcase that attitudes towards relationships by the Indian youth was changing from the previous decade. He also called the film a "sequel to Kushi (2000)", revealing that the film's lead actors would have similar ego clashes.

Music

The soundtrack features six songs composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics penned by Vaali. The song "Anbe Aaruyire" was initially composed in 2004 for the shelved K. S. Ravikumar-Rajinikanth venture Jaggubhai, and Surya requested Rahman if the song could be used in his film instead.

Release and reception
Like New, the film faced hurdles prior to release with the censor boards insisting on several cuts and Surya's ongoing legal tussles meant the film was delayed. The film opened to mixed reviews in September 2005, with Sify.com labelling it as "adult entertainment" though added he "tries hard to bring his character Shiva to life but has to go miles as far as dialogue delivery and voice modulation goes but has improved leaps and bound on the dancing front". The film became his fourth consecutive commercial success in Tamil films, with Surya adamant on thanking his crew for helping get through the controversies, labelling that "team effort" helped them overcome the problems.

References

External links

2000s Tamil-language films
2005 films
2005 romantic comedy films
Films directed by S. J. Suryah
Films scored by A. R. Rahman
Films set in Chennai
Indian romantic comedy films

Anbe Aaruyire (2005 film)


Popeswood is a village in Berkshire, England, near Bracknell.  The village is within the civil parish of Binfield approximately  west of Bracknell. The main part of Popeswood lies north of the B3408 west of Temple Park and south of Binfield village, with a smaller section south of the B3408 between Amen Corner and Farley Wood.

Amenities
Along London Road, the B3408, there are a post office, a garage and a number of small businesses.

Parks
Nearby Pope's Meadow is a countryside park that offers recreational facilities with open grassland, ponds, copse and veteran oak trees.

Newbold College
Binfield is home to Newbold College, a Seventh-day Adventist college and church. There are two Church of England churches, named All Saints' on Terrace Road North and St Mark's on St Mark's Road. There is also Binfield Free Church on Chapel Lane, behind the old Roebuck pub. In addition to the college, Newbold has its own Seventh-day Adventist primary school. Binfield also has a Church of England Primary School with about 420 pupils, and a day nursery. There used to be a Pre-school at Memorial Hall.

Alexander Pope at Popeswood
Popeswood is named after the family of the poet Alexander Pope who lived in Pope's Manor, then called Whitehill House, between 1700 and 1715. Pope was born to Alexander Pope Snr. (1646–1717) a linen merchant of Plough Court, Lombard Street, London, and Edith Pope (née Turner) (1643–1733), who were both Catholics. Shortly after William III and Mary II became joint monarchs in 1689, Catholics were expelled from the City of London. The Popes moved up river to Hammersmith, but in 1700 they relocated Popeswood in Binfield. There, the principal manor house, Binfield Manor, was held by the Catholic Dancastle family. The village was also only seven miles across the heath from Hall Grove, Bagshot, in Surrey. This was the home of Magdalen Rackett, Mr Pope's daughter by his first wife.

It was through Magdalen's husband Charles Rackett that Pope had been able, in 1698, to purchase Whitehill House, a small manor house in fourteen acres of land in Binfield. The house has been known successively as Binfield Lodge, The Firs and Arthurstone. Now much altered, and renamed Pope's Manor, it was for some years the southern headquarters of the construction company Bryant Homes (later Taylor Wimpey), who refurbished the then much neglected property. But if Queen Anne was capable of acts of clemency towards individual Catholics, she showed no compromise to Catholics in general. In 1706 she made it a treasonable offence to convert anyone to Catholicism. She ordered the enforcement of the laws against Catholics and had a census made of the Number of Papists in every Parish, with their Qualities, Estates and Places of Abode.

The Catholic population of the Thames Valley area remained fairly static at about 1 per cent. In Berkshire, for example, there were 293 known or suspected Catholics. In the city of Oxford there were fourteen. In the spring of 1714 Pope returned to his parents' home in Binfield from one of his frequent periods in London. With him came the poet Thomas Parnell, a charming Irish Anglican clergyman who was greatly liked by the Catholic household. Two months later Parnell revisited Binfield and from there he and Pope travelled to Letcombe Bassett,  southwest of Wantage. In the spring of 1715, Alexander Pope paid his last visit to the family home in Binfield, Windsor Forest. Whitehill House, his parents' home, had been sold and a few weeks later they moved to Twickenham. Where Popes House still stands to this day.

References

Villages in Berkshire
Bracknell Forest

Popeswood


Glaciovolcanism is volcanism and related phenomena associated with glacial ice. The ice commonly constrains the erupted material and melts to create meltwater. Considerable melting of glacial ice can create massive lahars and glacial outburst floods known as jökulhlaups.

General
Three forms of glaciovolcanism are known. Subglacial eruptions occur when a volcano erupts under ice. Such activity can produce landforms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds. Ice-marginal volcanism takes place when material from a subaerial eruption makes lateral contact with ice. Ice-marginal lava flows are a product of this phenomenon. Supraglacial eruptions deposit ejecta onto the surface of an ice sheet.

World regions identified for possible glaciovolcanic activity include Alaska, and western parts of Canada, southern Chile, Argentina, Iceland, and a couple of regions along Antarctica's coast, such as the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Ice Shelf. Volcanologist Bill McGuire noted in 2014,

Examples
Isostatic rebound in response to glacier retreat (unloading), increase in local salinity (i.e., δ18Osw), have been attributed to increased volcanic activity at the onset of Bølling–Allerød, are associated with the interval of intense volcanic activity, hinting at an interaction between climate and volcanism - enhanced short-term melting of glaciers, possibly via albedo changes from particle fallout on glacier surfaces.

See also
Pine Island Glacier

References

Volcanology
Glaciology

Glaciovolcanism


Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector.

Career

Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the New York Press while studying at New York University. He served as the sports editor of the Press and the Sun Press until 1929. Encouraged by Tex Rickard, he inaugurated in 1922 The Ring magazine. In 1929 Fleischer acquired sole ownership of the magazine, which he led as editor-in-chief for fifty years, until his death at Atlantic Beach, New York in 1972.

In 1942, Fleischer began to publish the magazine's annual record book and boxing encyclopedia, which was published until 1987. In addition, Fleischer wrote several other books about the lives of some world champions and about boxing history.

Fleischer contributed to the founding of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and was twice presented with its James J. Walker Award. After Fleischer's death, the BWAA named an award after him. Fleischer, who had been instrumental in creating The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954 (disbanded in 1987), was himself an inaugural 1990 inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Carruthers-Songkitrat match

In 1954, Fleischer was involved with the "Bare-footed Title Fight", a world championship bout fought in Thailand's open air Chulalongkorn Stadium during a tropical monsoon.

Thai General Pichai invited Fleischer as a special guest to his homeland, as a way to ensure that the World Bantamweight Championship bout, between champion Jimmy Carruthers of Australia and challenger Chamroen Songkitrat, would follow the international boxing rules. It rained on the day of the fight, and 60,000 people (including the boxers) were drenched. Fleischer suggested the fight be postponed and that they wait to see if the weather would get better the next day, but General Pichai ordered the bout to take place, reasoning that it would be hard to send off 60,000 people and the other thousands who were stranded outside under the pouring rain, to have them return the next day. In an effort to better their traction in the flooded ring, this became the first recorded match in modern world boxing history where the fighters removed their footwear. Carruthers retained his crown by decision, and retired shortly after.

Ali-Liston rematch
Fleischer was seated at ringside on May 25, 1965, at the heavyweight championship rematch between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine to report on the contest for The Ring. Fleischer played a role in the strange and controversial ending of the fight. When Liston went down in the first round from Ali's infamous 'anchor punch," Ali did not go to a neutral corner. Instead he circled near the fallen Liston, taunting him to get up shouting "Nobody will believe this!".  By the time Liston did rise to continue the fight, he had been on the canvas for more than ten seconds. Fleischer yelled at referee Jersey Joe Walcott (the former heavyweight titlist) to inform him that the knockdown timekeeper's count had reached ten with Liston still on the canvas. Walcott improperly declared Ali the winner by knockout even though he had not gone to a neutral corner. By rule, if a fighter delays going to a neutral corner after scoring a knockdown, the count is not to start until he gets there.

Fleischer and lineal titles
As editor of The Ring, Fleischer believed that professional boxing titles had to be won and lost within the ring. His policy in recognizing world champions followed a principle that a fighter could not be stripped of a title by any state or national boxing commission. (A title could only be vacated by a champion who retired, died, or voluntarily relinquished the crown to fight in a different weight class.)  This policy was severely tested in 1967 with Muhammad Ali. Ali had won the world heavyweight championship by dethroning Sonny Liston in 1964. As part of the antiwar movement in the United States during the Vietnam era, Muhammad Ali lost his world heavyweight crown in the eyes of most American boxing commissions when he refused to be inducted in the U.S. Army. Despite Ali possessing no boxing license in the United States and no passport to travel outside America to fight, The Ring continued to list Ali as the rightful world champion in its heavyweight rankings until 1970 when Ali informed Fleischer he was retiring from boxing. (Ironically, later that same year Ali won a court victory that allowed him to box again.) Fleischer's continued recognition of Ali as world champion for more than two years was considered controversial. Many boxing fans at the time criticized The Ring'''s policy—and Fleischer specifically—for continuing to list Ali as world heavyweight champion while he was inactive. Despite its recognition of Ali as world champion, The Ring'' continued to commonly refer to him as Cassius Clay or Clay/Ali until the early 1970s.

Published works

Fleischer, Nat (1936). From Milo to Londos: The Story of Wrestling Through the Ages. The Ring Athletic Library.

References

1887 births
1972 deaths
American magazine founders
Boxing writers
Jewish American writers
People associated with physical culture
The Ring (magazine) people

Nat Fleischer