Bat-and-ball games are field games played by two teams. They are also known as safe haven (safe zone) games, because players generally score points and take risks by running between various safe zones in the field. These teams take turns "batting" and "fielding." The team that is batting can score. The team that is fielding is defending. Both teams have equal chances batting and fielding. Bat-and-ball games are not timed, but are counted (such as by number of "innings" or "rounds".)

The name bat-and-ball games comes from some common parts of most of these games. In most games, a player on the fielding team puts a ball into play, mostly by throwing the ball. (How the player does this depends on the game's rules.) Then a player on the batting team tries to hit the ball, usually with a "bat." A bat is a kind of club, though the size and shape depend on the rules. This player can then run between the safe zones in the field to score points, though the fielding team can use the ball on the player from the batting team, or a target in one of the safe zones, to get the player "out" if they are not in a safe zone. (In cricket, a player who is out can not score points for the rest of their team's scoring turn, while in other bat-and-ball sports, they might have to wait before batting again.) Thus, the further the batting player can hit the ball away from the defensive players, the more points they are likely to be able to score.

The two most popular bat-and-ball games in the world are cricket and baseball. Games like golf and hockey, which also use clubs, are not bat-and-ball games. (In golf, there are no teams. In hockey, the teams do not take turns "batting" and "fielding.")

Common parts
Here are some things many bat-and-ball games have:

 When a batter makes a mistake, or one of the players on the fielding team does something good, the batter can be "out", meaning they stop batting. Another player on the batting team will bat when this happens. (See "out" in baseball and wicket/dismissal in cricket).
 If the ball is hit by the bat and caught by a fielder, the batter is out. (flyout or caught out)
 If the ball is thrown close to the batter and they don't hit it, they could be out. (Such as in a baseball strikeout, or being bowled out in cricket).
 When enough players on the batting team are out, this ends their turn to bat. (10 outs in cricket and 3 in baseball).
 Batters run from one place to another to score runs (points). While running, if they are at some places, the batter is safe, but if they leave these "safe places", a player on the fielding team who has the ball can stop them from running. (In cricket, they run between 2 batsmen's grounds, and in baseball they run around 4 bases.)
 This may happen if the ball goes to the safe place while the batter isn't near it (cricket run out or baseball force play), or the ball touches the batter themselves (baseball tag out).
 If the ball is hit to a certain place, or out of the field, then the batter scores points. (See home run in baseball and six runs in cricket).

Items used in game

 Bat: can be a baseball bat or cricket bat. It could also be like a hockey stick or something else.
 Ball: A lot of the times it is the same size as a tennis ball.
 Some things can be worn to protect the batter and/or fielders, like helmets or gloves.

In the field, there may be:

 Things showing where the safe zones for runners are (such as bases, wickets, and lines like the crease (cricket))
 Something showing the "strike zone" near the batter (like the target in Vitilla)
 Something at the edges of the field (like the fence in baseball)

List of bat-and-ball games
 Baseball
 Bat-and-Trap
 British baseball
 Brännboll
 Corkball
 Cricket
Test cricket
 First-class cricket
 Blind cricket
 Catchy Shubby
 Club cricket
 French cricket
 Gilli-danda
 Kilikiti
 One Day International
 Kwik cricket
 List A cricket
 Pro40
 Indoor Cricket
 Limited overs cricket
 Short form cricket
 Single Wicket
 Twenty20
 Street cricket
 Crocker (sport)
 Danish longball
 Lapta
 The Massachusetts Game
 Oina
 Old Cat
 Over-the-line
 Pesäpallo
 Rounders
 Scrub baseball
 Softball
 Stickball
 Stool ball
 T-Ball
 Town ball
 Vigoro
 Wiffle Ball
 Wireball

References

Team sports

Bat-and-ball games


Christiane Koren (27 July 1764 – 28 January 1815) was a Danish-Norwegian writer. She wrote both poems and plays, but today she is primarily known for her diaries, which are regarded to be important historical documents of contemporary Norway.

Biography
Christiane Birgitte Diederichsen was born at Kastrup in Amager, Denmark. She was the daughter of Jess Didrichsen, owner of Kastrup Værk on the Danish island of Amager. In Copenhagen, she socialized within Det Norske Selskab and formed an attachment with Swedish professor Carl Frederik Dichmann. .

In 1787, she married Norwegian justice Johan Randulf Clausen Koren (1758-1825). The couple left Denmark for Eidsberg in Østfold, Norway where her husband had been appointed judge. She became the mother of eight children, only three of whom reached adulthood. Her daughter Caroline Mathilde Koren (1801-1840) married Ahlert Hysing (1793–1879), who served in the Norwegian Parliament.

Works

She published a collection of poems in 1803. Her personal diaries, including periods from 1808 to 1810 and 1813 to 1815, (Moer Korens dagbøge) were published  in 1915. Her description of her travel to Denmark in 1802 (Dagbog for Kristiane Koren paa en Reyse fra Norge til Dannemark begyndt den 6. September 1802) was published in 1945.

References

Further reading
Sofie Aubert Lindbæk, ed. (1915)  Moer Korens dagbøger (Oslo: Aschehoug)
Gudrun Høibo, ed. (1945) Dagbog for Kristiane Koren paa en Reyse fra Norge til Dannemark begyndt den 6. September 1802 (Oslo: Cammermeyer)

1764 births
1815 deaths
19th-century Norwegian poets
Norwegian non-fiction writers
19th-century Norwegian women writers
Norwegian women poets
Norwegian diarists
Norwegian memoirists
Women diarists
People from Østfold
People from Tårnby Municipality

Christiane Koren


The Lost. The Sick. The Sacred. is Inhale Exhale's debut album which was released on November 21, 2006 through Solid State Records. The album was originally recorded with Andy Levy, was originally set to be released on October 3, 2006. But due to him leaving, it was re-recorded with different lyrics and new vocalist, Ryland Raus. Because of the departure, it was pushed back to November 21.

On the booklet inside the case there are three pictures: a broken heart, a cross with a snake wrapped around it (as seen on the cover), and the ten commandments. Each represent the three parts of the album name. The lost being the broken heart, the sick being the cross and snake, and the sacred being the ten commandments.

The lost represents the frailty of human beings who feel confused about their beliefs or themselves in general. The sick represents the literal physical deterioration we experience as part of life. The sacred represents the power of God who says that life is worth living.

Track listing
"Redemption" - 3:40
"By Grace" - 3:21
"Frail Dreams & Rude Awakenings" - 3:11
"Dance All Night" - 2:47
"A Call To The Faithful" - 3:50
"Touch Of Deception" - 3:29
"Your Walls... My Words" - 2:58
"Tonight We Die Together" - 3:39
"Sons Of Tomorrow (To Noah James)" - 2:35
"Rose Among The Ashes" - 2:20
"The Lost. The Sick. The Sacred." - 4:37

Credits

Ryland Raus - vocals
John LaRussa - guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Brian Pittman - bass
Bobby Poole - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Production

Travis Wyrick - producer, engineering, mixing
Mike Dearing - engineering
Troy Gelssner - mastering
Chad Johnson - A&R
Ryan Clark (musician) - Design

References

2006 debut albums
Inhale Exhale albums
Solid State Records albums
Albums produced by Travis Wyrick

The Lost. The Sick. The Sacred.


Trondhjems Elektricitetsværk og Sporvei was a municipally owned power company and tram operator in Trondheim, Norway between 1901 and 1936 when the company was split in Trondheim Energiverk (TEV) and Trondheim Sporvei. The company was founded on November 4, 1901, to build a hydro electric power plant at Øvre Leirfoss and the Trondheim Tramway that replaced the old horse omnibus service from 1893.

Through the company the tramway in Trondheim was expanded to Elgeseter with Elgeseterlinjen in 1913 and to Trondheim Central Station. The company was organised as a municipal agency. Today both the successors of the company are owned by the Government of Norway with TEV being a subsidiary of Statkraft while Trondheim Sporvei now is part of Team Trafikk, a subsidiary of Nettbuss.

References
TEV History

Trondheim Tramway operators
Companies based in Trondheim
Defunct electric power companies of Norway
Companies formerly owned by municipalities of Norway
Defunct railway companies of Norway
Defunct companies of Norway
Railway companies established in 1901
Railway companies disestablished in 1936
1936 disestablishments in Norway
Norwegian companies established in 1901

Trondhjems Elektricitetsværk og Sporvei


Thelymitra flexuosa, known as the twisted sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to southern Australia. It has a single thin, wiry leaf and up to four cream-coloured to canary yellow flowers with four rows of short hairs on the back of the column. It is a common and widespread species, superficially similar to T. antennifera.

Description
Thelymitra flexuosa is a tuberous, perennial herb with a single wiry, linear leaf  long and  wide. Up to four cream-coloured to canary yellow  wide borne on a flowering stem  tall. The sepals and petals are  long and about  wide. The labellum (the lowest petal) is shorter and narrower than the other petals and sepals. The column is white to cream-coloured,  long and about  wide with four lines of short hairs on its back. The lobe on the top of the anther is short with a few brown glands on its back. The side lobes are bright yellow and covered with short hairs. The flowers are short-lived, self-pollinating and open only slowly on hot, humid days. Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming
Thelymitra flexuosa was first formally described in 1839 by Stephan Endlicher and the description was published in Novarum Stirpium Decades. The specific epithet (flexuosa) is a Latin word meaning "full of bends", "tortuous", "crooked" or "winding", referring to the twisted or "zig-zagged" flowering stem.

Distribution and habitat
The twisted sun orchid is widespread and common throughout its range. It grows with sedges and low shrubs in moist places such as the edge of swamps. It occurs in southern Victoria, south-eastern South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. In Western Australia it is found between Kalbarri and Israelite Bay.

References

External links

flexuosa
Endemic orchids of Australia
Orchids of South Australia
Orchids of Victoria (state)
Orchids of Tasmania
Orchids of Western Australia
Plants described in 1840

Thelymitra flexuosa


South Asia is home to several hundred languages, spanning the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is home to the third most spoken language in the world, Hindi–Urdu; and the sixth most spoken language, Bengali. The languages in the region mostly comprise Indo-Iranic and Dravidian languages, and further members of other language families like Austroasiatic, and Tibeto-Burman languages.

English is considered the international lingua franca of the South Asian countries.

Geographical distribution

Geolinguistically, the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Munda language groups are predominantly distributed across the Indian subcontinent, hence sometimes collectively known as Indic languages. The subcontinent is also home to a few language isolates, like Burushaski, Kusunda, Nihali, and Vedda. Aerially, the influence of the languages extend beyond the subcontinent into other neighboring Southern Asian as well as East and Southeast Asian regions, and the extended linguistic area is known as Indosphere. More precisely, the sprachbund of Indic languages and other geopolitically-neighboring languages is known as South Asian languages.

The Iranian Plateau located west to the subcontinent is home to Iranic languages, beginning with Pashto of Pashtunistan and Balochi of Balochistan in the eastern-side of the plateau. Nuristani languages are spoken in pockets at the northern intersection of the plateau and the subcontinent. Tibeto-Burman languages of the Trans-Himalayan family and Khasi–Palaungic languages of the Austroasiatic family are spoken in and beyond the regions of the Himalayan and Indo-Burman Ranges, predominantly on the Tibetan Plateau and Burma. Andamanese languages are spoken on the Andaman Islands.

By country

Afghanistan

The official languages of Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari, both of which are Iranic languages. Dari, an Afghan standardized register of the Persian language, is considered the lingua franca of Afghanistan and used to write Afghan literature. Tajik is spoken by people closer to Tajikistan, although officially the language is regarded same as Dari. Pashto is widely spoken by the Pashtun people, who mainly reside towards the south of Afghanistan on the Pakistani-Afghan border. A few Turkic languages like Uzbek and Turkmen are also spoken near regions closer to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Bangladesh

Standard Bengali based on the Rarhi dialect is the national language of Bangladesh. The majority of Bangladeshis speak Eastern Bengali. Native languages of Bangladesh are Sylheti and Chittagonian, while some ethnic minority groups also speak Tibeto-Burman, Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic languages.

Bhutan

Dzongkha is the national language of the Kingdom of Bhutan. Other languages spoken include Brokpa, Dzala, Chali Chocangacakha, Dakpa language, Khengkha language, Nepali language, Gongduk, Nyenkha, Lhokpu, Takpa and Tshangla.

Almost all the languages of Bhutan are from the Tibetic family (except Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language).

India

Most languages spoken in the Republic of India belong either to the Indo-Aryan (), the Dravidian (c. 24%), the Austroasiatic (Munda) (c. 1.2%), or the  Tibeto-Burman (c. 0.6%) families, with some languages of the Himalayas still unclassified.
The SIL Ethnologue lists 461 living languages for the Indian Republic.

Hindustani is the most widespread language of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of "Hindi" as the broad variety of the Hindi languages. The native speakers of Hindi so defined account for 39% of Indians. Bengali is the second most spoken language of South Asia, found in both Bangladesh and Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. The International Mother Language Day was created by UNESCO to commemorate the Bengali language. Other notable languages include Odia, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Sindhi, Kannada, Pashto, Malayalam, Maithili, Meitei (Manipuri), Konkani, and Tulu.

Thirteen languages account for more than 1% of Indian population each, and between themselves for over 95%; all of them are the "scheduled languages of the Constitution".

Scheduled languages spoken by less than 1% of Indians are Santali (0.64%), Meitei (Manipuri) (0.14%),  Bodo (0.13%), Dogri (0.01%, spoken in Jammu and Kashmir). The largest language that is not "scheduled" is Bhili (0.95%), followed by Gondi (0.27%), Tulu (0.17%) and Kurukh (0.099%)

Maldives

Divehi is national language of Maldives, spoken by 95% of the population. Arabic is considered as the religious language, and English is medium of instruction for education and international purposes such as tourism.

Nepal

Most of the languages of Nepal either fall under Indo-Aryan languages or Sino-Tibetan languages. The official language of the country is Nepali, earlier known as Gorkhali in the Kingdom of Nepal, which is part of the Indo-Aryan group and is the spoken by majority of the population.

The Indo-Aryan languages spoken in Nepal include Maithili language, Bhojpuri language and Tharu language which constitutes majority of the speakers in southern Nepal in the Terai region. The Sino-Tibetan languages includes Tamang, Newari, Magar language, Gurung language, Kiranti languages and Sherpa language and are often spoken in central and northern Nepal in the hilly and mountainous regions.

Pakistan

Pakistan is a linguistically diverse country; it has many dozens of languages spoken as first languages. The major languages of Pakistan broadly fall under the category Indo-Iranian languages, with western regions of Pakistan (close to Iran and Afghanistan) speaking Iranic languages, and eastern regions (close to India) speaking Indo-Aryan languages (with the Indus River approximately dividing the families).

Other language families in Pakistan include Dravidian (Brahui spoken in Central Balochistan), Sino-Tibetan languages such as Balti and Purgi spoken in the north-east (In Baltistan region of Pakistan), Nuristani languages such as Kamkata-vari spoken in the north-west (In chitral region of Pakistan), Language Isolate Burushaski spoken in the north (In Gilgit Division), Turkic languages are also spoken in Pakistan, by Kyrgyz migrant families in the North and Uzbeks and Turkmen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and by Refugees from Afghanistan and China.

The national uniting medium of Pakistan is Urdu, a persianized register of the Hindustani language. The major native languages of Pakistan are Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Baluchi and Pashto, while more than 70 other languages like Shina, Balti, Gujarati, Bengali etc. are also spoken.

Sri Lanka

Sinhala and Tamil are the official languages of Sri Lanka, with English as the link language. Tamil is a South-Dravidian language, and Sinhala belongs to the Insular Indic family (along with Dhivehi of Maldives). Vedda is said to be the indigenous language of Sri Lanka before the arrival of the Indo-Aryans and Dravidians.

See also
 Languages of Asia
 Languages of Bangladesh
 Languages of Bhutan
 Languages of India
 Languages with official status in India
 List of languages by number of native speakers in India
 Languages of Maldives
 Languages of Nepal
 Languages of Pakistan
 Languages of Sri Lanka

References

Citations

 Data table of Census of India, 2001
 SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH – 2001
 COMPARATIVE RANKING OF SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH-1971, 1981, 1991 AND 2001
 Census data on Languages

External links
 Major Indian Languages
 Ethnologue report
 Central Institute of Indian Languages

Languages of South Asia


Eric Koston (born April 29, 1975)  is an American professional skateboarder. He was born in Bangkok, Thailand. Now he is living in California in the United States.

Eric grew up in San Bernardino in California. He started to skateboard in 1986 at the age of 11 years old when his brother gave him his old skateboard. He picked up skateboarding quickly and later went to a skate camp where he met Eddie Elguera, who realized his potential as a professional skateboarder. He was in grade 10 when he dropped out of school to become a full time skateboarder.

In 1992, Koston moved to Los Angeles where Natas Kaupas got him into the 101 team. In 101, he established himself as a leading switch stance skateboarder. He did many switch tricks like the nollie flip nose slide and the switch kick flip backside tail slide. He also took a switch 360 flip down the Embarcadero 7. He was finally sponsored and became a pro-skater in 1993 when he joined the H-Street Team and moved into the team house. Later, in 1993, he created the Fourstar clothing company. He also invented many skateboard tricks. Even though he didn't invent it himself, Koston's main signature trick is the "K Grind" (for Koston) after mastering it and showing it on a video. The "K Grind" is only a crooked grind. His stance is goofy, but he is known for his ability to skate switch. He possesses the technical skill and commitment to create the practice of new tricks, either on the streets, or in competition. He is known for commercializing the competitive, HORSE-derivative game of S.K.A.T.E. Eric Koston appears in the Electronic Arts (EA games) video games Skate 2 and Skate 3. He also is in the Laikai video named Fully Flared where he does a perfect fakie 360 flip down the four stairs. Eric Koston is still skateboarding. He can be seen at the Battle of the Berrics which are games of S.K.A.T.E. in their co-own skate park.

References
 http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/skateboarding/stories/2012/08/nike-skateboarding-team-eric-koston
 http://skateboard.about.com/od/proskaterbios/p/ProEricKoston.htm
 http://espn.go.com/action/athlete/_/id/1016/eric-koston
 http://www.oakley.com/sports/skate/athletes/556
 http://www.kidzworld.com/article/5512-eric-koston-biography

American skateboarders
Sportspeople from California
1975 births
Living people
People from San Bernardino, California

Eric Koston


Raymond T. Baer (May 7, 1905 – January 19, 1968) was an American football player.  He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1924 to 1927.  He was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference and second-team All-American player in 1927.

Early years
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Baer was born in 1905.  His parents, Nathan and Simone "Simmie" Baer, were Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a tailor.

Baer attended Manual High School.  While in high school, he was an all-state football player at the end position.  He was reportedly "a Kentucky high school legend" who was also all-state in basketball and won the Kentucky high jump championship.

University of Michigan
Baer played college football at the guard and tackle positions for the University of Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1924 to 1927. Michigan quarterback Benny Friedman said of Baer: "Ray was the best college lineman I ever saw...the fastest man on the squad, he was smart, he was quick, he was very aggressive, and he had great desire. He was wonderful on both offense and defense."

As a senior, Baer started all eight games at right guard for the 1927 Michigan Wolverines football team.  He was selected by the Associated Press (AP) as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference player and a second-team All-American in 1927. He was also selected by the United Press as a second-team All-American in 1927.  He concluded his college football career playing on the East team in the December 1927 East–West Shrine Game.

Later years
After leaving Michigan, Baer served as the head football coach at Manual High School for many years and later at St. Xavier High School from 1946 to 1951, both in Louisville, Kentucky. His 1938 Manual team won the national high school football championship. He also served as the director of the Jefferson County parks and recreation department. In 1966, he was the 16th person inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. He died in January 1968 at his home in Louisville at age 62. He has been inducted into the Louisville Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. His wife, Blema Baer, died in 2013 at age 99.

His grandson Neal Baer, a Harvard Medical School graduate, produced the first TV series "Law and Order", for which he won an Emmy.  He also worked on the series China Beach, and later produced Law and Order Special Victims Unit.

References

1905 births
1968 deaths
American football guards
American football tackles
Michigan Wolverines football players
High school football coaches in Kentucky
Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky
Jewish sportspeople

Ray Baer


Tết (), short for  (), is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, which is mostly based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar and usually has the date in January or February in the Gregorian calendar.

 is not to be confused with Tết Trung Thu, which is also known as Children's Festival in Vietnam. "" itself only means festival but is often colloquially known as "Lunar New Year" in Vietnamese, as it is often seen as the most important festival amongst the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese diaspora, with  regarded as the second-most important.

Vietnamese people celebrate  annually, which is based on a lunisolar calendar (calculating both the motions of Earth around the Sun and of the Moon around Earth). Tết is generally celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year (also called Spring Festival), with the one-hour time difference between Vietnam and China resulting in the new moon occurring on different days. Rarely, the dates of Vietnamese and Chinese Lunar New Year can differ as such in 1943, when Vietnam celebrated Lunar New Year, one month after China. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese lunar calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day.

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They set aside the trouble of the past year and hope for a better and happier upcoming year. This festival can also be referred to as  in vernacular Vietnamese, (festival – lễ hội, spring – mùa xuân).

Name
The name Tết is a shortening of Tết Nguyên Đán, literally written as tết (meaning festivals; only used in festival names) and nguyên đán which means the first day of the year. Both words come from Sino-Vietnamese respectively, 節 (SV: tiết) and 元旦.

The word for festival is usually lễ hội, a Sino-Vietnamese word, 禮會.

Customs

Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. They also clear up the graves of their families as a sign of respect. Although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs.

Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday food and doing house cleaning. These foods include , , , , , dried young bamboo soup (), , and xôi (sticky rice). Many customs and traditions are practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year (), ancestor worship, exchanging New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, opening a shop, visiting relatives, friends, and neighbors.

Tết can be divided into three time periods, tất niên (celebrations before the end of the year), giao thừa (New Year's Eve), and năm mới (the New Year), representing the preparation before Tết, the eve of Tết, and the days of and following Tết, respectively.

The New Year in Tết

The first day of Tết is reserved for the nuclear family. Children receive red envelopes containing money from their elders. This tradition is called "mừng tuổi" (happy age) in the North region and lì xì in the South region. Usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving money. Since the Vietnamese believe that the first visitor who a family receives in the year determines their fortune for the entire year, people never enter any house on the first day without being invited first. The verb of being the first person to enter a house at Tết is xông đất, xông nhà, or đạp đất, which is one of the most important customs during Tết. According to Vietnamese tradition, if good things come to a family on the first day of the lunar New Year, the entire following year will also be full of blessings. Usually, a person of good temper, morality, and success will be a lucky sign for the host family and be first invited into his house. However, just to be safe, the owner of the house will leave the house a few minutes before midnight and come back just as the clock strikes midnight to prevent anyone else from entering the house first who might potentially bring any unfortunate events in the new year, to the household.

Sweeping during Tết is taboo, it is xui or rủi (unlucky), since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away; that is why they clean before the new year. It is also taboo for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tết.

During subsequent days, people visit relatives and friends. Traditionally but not strictly, the second day of Tết is usually reserved for friends, while the third day is for teachers, who command respect in Vietnam. Local Buddhist temples are popular spots because people like to give donations and get their fortunes told during Tết. Children are free to spend their new money on toys or on gambling games such as bầu cua cá cọp, which can be found in the streets. Prosperous families can pay for dragon dancers to perform at their house. Also, public performances are given for everyone to watch.

Traditional celebrations
These celebrations can last from a day up to the entire week, and the New Year is filled with people in the streets trying to make as much noise as possible using firecrackers, drums, bells, gongs, and anything they can think of to ward off evil spirits. This parade will also include different masks and dancers hidden under the guise of what is known as the múa lân or lion dancing. The lân is an animal between a lion and a dragon and is the symbol of strength in the Vietnamese culture that is used to scare away evil spirits. After the parade, families, and friends come together to have a feast of traditional Vietnamese dishes and share the happiness and joy of the New Year with one another. This is also the time when the elders will hand out red envelopes with money to the children for good luck in exchange for Tết greetings.

It is also a tradition to pay off debts before the Vietnamese New Year for some Vietnamese families.

Decorations

Traditionally, each family displays cây nêu, an artificial New Year tree consisting of a bamboo pole  long. The top end is usually decorated with many objects, depending on the locality, including good luck charms, origami fish, cactus branches, and more.

At Tết, every house is usually decorated by Yellow Apricot blossoms (hoa mai) in the central and southern parts of Vietnam, peach blossoms (hoa đào) in the northern part of Vietnam, or St. John's wort (hoa ban) in the mountain areas. In the north, some people (especially the elite in the past) also decorate their house with plum blossoms (also called hoa mơ in Vietnamese but referring to a totally different species from mickey-mouse blossoms). In the north or central, the kumquat tree is a popular decoration for the living room during Tết. Its many fruits symbolize fertility and fruitfulness which the family hopes in the coming year.

Vietnamese people also decorate their homes with Hòn non bộ and flowers such as chrysanthemums (hoa cúc), marigolds (vạn thọ) symbolizing longevity, cockscombs (mào gà) in southern Vietnam, and paperwhites (thủy tiên) and orchids (hoa lan) in northern Vietnam. In the past, there was a tradition where people tried to make their paperwhites bloom on the day of the observance.

They also hung up Đông Hồ paintings and thư pháp calligraphy pictures.

Greetings

The traditional greetings are "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" (祝𢜠𢆥㵋, Happy New Year) and "Cung Chúc Tân Xuân", (恭祝新春, gracious wishes of the new spring). People also wish each other prosperity and luck. Common wishes for Tết include the following:

Sống lâu trăm tuổi: (𤯩𥹰𤾓歲, Live long for a hundred years!): used by children for elders. Traditionally, everyone is considered one year older on Tết, so children would wish their grandparents' health and longevity in exchange for mừng tuổi (𢜠歲) or lì xì (利市 "SV: lợi thị").
An khang thịnh vượng: (安康盛旺, Security, good health, and prosperity)
Vạn sự như ý: (萬事如意, May things go your way)
Sức khỏe dồi dào: (飭劸洡𤁠, Plenty of health!)
Làm ăn tấn tới: (爫咹晉𬧐, Be successful at work!)
Tiền vô như nước: (錢𠓺如渃, May money flow in like water!). Used informally.
Cung hỉ phát tài: (恭喜發財, Congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous New Year!)
Năm mới thắng lợi mới: (𢆥㵋勝利㵋, New year, new triumphs!; often heard in political speeches)
Chúc hay ăn chóng lớn: (祝𫨩咹𢶢𡘯, Eat well, grow quick!; aimed at children)
Năm mới thăng quan tiến chức: (𢆥㵋陞官進織, I wish for you to be promoted in the new year!)
Năm mới toàn gia bình an: (𢆥㵋全家平安, I wish that the new year will bring health and peace to your family!)
Mừng xuân Di-lặc: (𢜠春彌勒, Happy Spring of Maitreya!). Used by Buddhists.
Mừng xuân an lạc: (𢜠春安樂, Happy peaceful joyful spring!). Used by Buddhists.
Chúc mừng Chúa Xuân: (祝𢜠主春, Praise the Lord of Spring!). Used by Catholics.

Food

In the Vietnamese language, to celebrate Tết is to ăn Tết, literally meaning "eat Tết", showing the importance of food in its celebration. Some of the food is also eaten year-round, while other dishes are only eaten during Tết. Also, some of the food is vegetarian since it is believed to be good luck to eat vegetarian on Tết. Some traditional foods on Tết include the following:
 Bánh chưng and bánh tét: essentially tightly packed sticky rice with meat or bean fillings wrapped in dong leaves (Phrynium placentarium). When these leaves are unavailable, banana leaves can be used as a substitute. One difference between them is their shape. Bánh chưng is the square-shaped one to represent the Earth, while bánh tét is cylindrical to represent the moon. Also, bánh chưng is more popular in the northern parts of Vietnam, bánh tét is more popular in the south. Preparation can take days. After molding them into their respective shapes (the square shape is achieved using a wooden frame), they are boiled for several hours to cook.  The story of their origins and their connection with Tết is often recounted to children while cooking them overnight.
 Hạt dưa: roasted watermelon seeds, also eaten during Tết
 Dưa hành: pickled onion and pickled cabbage
 Củ kiệu: pickled small leeks
 Mứt: These dried candied fruits are rarely eaten at any time besides Tết.
 Kẹo dừa: coconut candy
 Kẹo mè xửng: peanut brittle with sesame seeds or peanuts
 Cầu sung dừa đủ xoài: In southern Vietnam, popular fruits used for offerings at the family altar in fruit arranging art are the custard-apple/sugar-apple/soursop (mãng cầu), coconut (dừa), goolar fig (sung), papaya (đu đủ), and mango (xoài), since they sound like "cầu sung vừa đủ xài" ([We] pray for enough [money/resources/funds/goods/etc.] to use) in the southern dialect of Vietnamese.
 Thịt kho nước dừa: Meaning "meat stewed in coconut juice", is a traditional dish of pork belly and medium boiled eggs stewed in a broth-like sauce made overnight of young coconut juice and nước mắm. It is often eaten with pickled bean sprouts and chives, and white rice.
 Xôi gấc: a red sticky rice made from gac fruit, typically paired with chả lụa (the most common type of sausage in Vietnamese cuisine, made of pork and traditionally wrapped in banana leaves).

Forms of entertainment

People enjoy traditional games during Tết, including bầu cua cá cọp, cờ tướng, ném còn, chọi trâu, and đá gà. They also participate in some competitions presenting their knowledge, strength, and aestheticism, such as the bird competition and ngâm thơ competition.

Fireworks displays have also become a traditional part of a Tết celebration in Vietnam. During New Year's Eve, fireworks displays at major cities, such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang, are broadcast through multiple national and local TV channels, accompanied by New Year wishes of the incumbent president. In 2017 only, fireworks displays were prohibited due to political and financial reasons. In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most provinces and cities canceled the fireworks displays; instead, the displays were only held in Hanoi and several provinces with public gatherings prohibited. In 2022, due to the aforementioned pandemic, all provinces canceled the firework displays due to financial reasons. In Australia, Canada & the United States, there are fireworks displays at many of its festivals, although in 2021 they were either held virtually or canceled.

Gặp nhau cuối năm ("Year-end meet") is a nationally known satirical theatrical comedy show, broadcast on VTV on New Year's Eve.

Dates in the Vietnamese calendar

From 2020 to 2043.

Music
In the weeks leading up to Tet, celebratory songs are played throughout Vietnam. One song, Ngày Tết Quê Em (Tet in My Homeland) was released by  Linh Trang and Xuan Mai in 2006. It was on the album Xuân Mai và Thiếu Nhi Cali 2 Hội chợ Cali. The song can be heard playing in many public places across the country.

The lyrics to this song in Vietnamese are:

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết đến trong tim mọi người

Mừng ngày Tết trên khắp quê tôi

Ngàn hoa thơm khoa sắc xinh tươi

Đàn em thơ khoe áo mới

Chạy tung tăng vui pháo hoa

Mừng ngày Tết trên khắp quê tôi

Người ra Trung, ra Bắc, vô Nam

Dù đi đâu ai cũng nhớ

Về chung vui bên gia đình

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết đến trong tim mọi người

Mừng ngày Tết phố xá đông vui

Người đi thăm, đi viếng, đi chơi

Người lo đi mua sắm Tết

Người dâng hương đi lễ chùa

Mừng ngày Tết ta chúc cho nhau

Một năm thêm sung túc an vui

Người nông dân thêm lúa thóc

Người thương gia mau phát tài

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết Tết Tết Tết đến rồi

Tết đến trong tim mọi người

Several covers of the song have been produced since its initial release. An English version was released by  Khánh Vy and Thảo Tâm in 2020.

The lyrics to the English version are:

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet has come to our hearts.

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet has come to our hearts.

Happy holiday everywhere

Flowers blooming in the air

Little children dressing up

Run around with fireworks.

Happy Holiday in everywhere

People traveling here and there

We go far, we go long

But Tet is the time we go home.

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet has come to our hearts.

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet Tet Tet is coming

Tet has come to our hearts.

Everybody's happy in towns

Some will meet up and hang out

Some go shopping together

Some pray in pagodas.

Happy Tet I wish for you

A fortune, happy, peaceful year

If you're farmer, you'll gain more

If you're dealers, you'll earn more.

The song summarizes some of the main Tet traditions. During Tet, it is traditional for Vietnamese people to travel to their hometowns, hence the lyrics "People traveling here and there."

Typically, there are large fireworks displays in most major cities. Prior to 1995, it was customary to use firecrackers at individual homes; however, the government banned the production and use of these fireworks due to fatal accidents. In December 2020 a regulation was passed that allows "anyone aged 18 and older with legal capacity" to purchase sparklers for special occasions. The regulations went into effect on January 11, 2020.

While the song is not inherently religious, it does reference pagodas, a tiered tower used by Buddhists and Taoists for worship. Many Buddhist altars are set up in the weeks leading up to Tet.

The line "If you're a farmer, you'll gain more" refers to beliefs held by many Vietnamese people about the effects the new year will bring on agriculture. Tet symbolizes the start of the spring season. Farmers traditionally use this time as an opportunity to remember the gods of harvest.  The next line, "If you're dealers, you'll earn more" refers to the amount of work retailers do in order to be prepared for the surge of shopping in preparation for the holiday.

See also
List of Buddhist festivals
Celebrations of the Lunar New Year in other parts of Asia:
 Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)
 Korean New Year (Seollal)
 Japanese New Year (Shōgatsu)
 Mongolian New Year (Tsagaan Sar)
 Tibetan New Year (Losar)
Similar Asian Lunisolar New Year celebrations that occur in April:
Burmese New Year (Thingyan)
Cambodian New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey)
Lao New Year (Pii Mai)
Bengali New Year (Pahela Baisakh)
Sri Lankan New Year (Aluth Avuruddu)
Thai New Year (Songkran)

References

External links

 Tet Nguyen Dan: The Vietnamese New Year - Queens Botanical Garden
 Vietnamese New Year customs
 Tet Holiday
 Vietnamese calendar rules - Hồ Ngọc Đức, Leipzig University.
 Tết - Vietnamese Lunar New Year Traditions
 Tet Festival Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, CA
 Tet on Phu Quoc Island on Vietnam's largest island
 Tết Festival - San Francisco
 Vietnamese New Year – Learn about the traditions and customs of the Tet Holiday

New Year celebrations
Public holidays in Vietnam
Festivals in Vietnam
Buddhist holidays
Vietnamese words and phrases
January observances
February observances
Observances honoring the dead
Observances set by the Vietnamese calendar
Buddhist festivals in Vietnam
Observances held on the new moon

Tết


Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited (), often known as OCBC Bank (), is a Singapore multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in OCBC Centre, Singapore. OCBC Bank was born out of the Great Depression through the consolidation of three banks in 1932 — the Chinese Commercial Bank Limited (incorporated in 1912), the Ho Hong Bank Limited (incorporated in 1917) and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Limited (incorporated in 1919).

OCBC Bank has assets of more than S$521.3 billion, making it the second largest bank in Southeast Asia by assets. It is also one of the world's most highly-rated banks, with an Aa1 rating from Moody's and AA- rating from Standard & Poor's.

OCBC Bank is consistently ranked amongst the top three "safest banks in the world" by the magazine Global Finance. The Asian Banker named OCBC Bank Singapore's strongest bank for 2018-2019, and the 5th strongest in Asia-Pacific. The bank's global network has grown to comprise more than 570 branches and representative offices in 18 countries and regions. These include over 320 branches and offices in Indonesia under subsidiary Bank OCBC NISP, and more than 100 branches and offices in Hong Kong, China and Macao under OCBC Bank (Hong Kong), OCBC Bank (China) and OCBC Bank (Macau) respectively. OCBC Bank was awarded World's Best Bank (Asia-Pacific) in 2019 by Global Finance Magazine.

History

On 31 October 1932, three banks – Chinese Commercial Bank (1912), Ho Hong Bank (1917), and Oversea-Chinese Bank (1919), merged to form Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation under the leadership of Hoklos Tan Ean Kiam and Lee Kong Chian. In the subsequent decades, the bank expanded its operations and became the largest bank in South East Asia.

In 1942 during World War II, all the local banks in Singapore closed briefly during the early days of the Japanese Occupation. By April 1942 most banks, including OCBC, had resumed normal operations. In Indonesia, the Japanese occupation authorities closed OCBC's branches in Sumatra. During the war, the bank moved its head office to Bombay, India and only re-registered back in Singapore after the war ended. OCBC's branch in Xiamen survived the war and in the 1950s, OCBC was one of only four foreign banks to have branches in China.

After the war, OCBC re-established its branches in Jambi, Jakarta, and Surabaya. However, the 1963 conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia (which then included Singapore) resulted in the closure of OCBC's branches there. That same year the revolutionary government in Burma nationalized OCBC's two branches there, which became People's Bank No. 14.

The bank was criticized for not expanding fast enough to meet the needs of the post-war Chinese business community, especially in the smaller towns of Malaya. One of the critics was Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, who subsequently resigned to set up Malayan Banking. By 1970, OCBC's total assets exceeded 1 billion SGD, making OCBC the largest financial institution with the biggest deposit base in Singapore.

In 1972, OCBC acquired Four Seas Communications Bank, the oldest surviving Chinese bank in Singapore. The bank had been founded in 1906 as the Sze Hai Tong Bank and its founders had targeted the Teochew community.

On 9 May 1989, OCBC took on a new corporate identity by changing its logo and its name to OCBC Bank.

The bank had branches in Hong Kong and in Bangkok, where it had become the first Chinese bank there when it opened its branch in 1909.

The next major acquisition occurred in 2001, when OCBC Bank acquired Keppel Capital Holdings and all its subsidiaries, including Keppel TatLee Bank, Keppel Securities, and Keppel TatLee Finance. The next year OCBC operationally and legally integrated Keppel TatLee Bank. In 2003 OCBC merged OCBC Finance into OCBC Bank.

On 25 June 2004, OCBC Bank established a wholly owned subsidiary e2 Power Pte Ltd to provide back-office support and transaction processing services in Singapore. A similar operating company, e2 Power Sdn Bhd was also set up on 21 July 2004 in Malaysia.

In June 2005, OCBC Bank saw the official opening of its new corporate HQ in Kuala Lumpur, and in July the same year, opened an off-shore branch in Brunei.

2007: Commencement of business of OCBC China Bank.
2008: Acquired 67% shareholding in PacificMas Berhad.

In March 2020, OCBC announced its partnership with Xero, a New Zealand-based cloud accounting software, to help clients digitize their operations.

In July 2020, OCBC launched HealthPass, a healthcare mobile application that aims to connect patients with medical doctors in Singapore via online consultation.

Shareholders
The ten largest shareholders as of 8 March 2021 are:

* Percentage is calculated based on the total number of issued ordinary shares, excluding treasury shares.

Subsidiaries

OCBC Securities
OCBC Securities Private Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank, and is a member of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) and the Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT). It was established in 1986.

Great Eastern Holdings

In 2004, OCBC acquired Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) following a voluntary cash offer. GEH had $53.1 billion in assets and 3.8 million policyholders as at 30 September 2010. GEH operates two distribution channels – the tied agency force and bancassurance. The company also operates in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. On 19 June 2023, OCBC upped its stake in insurance arm Great Eastern Holdings to 88.4%.

Lion Global Investors (LGI)
In September 2005, OCBC Asset Management Limited (the asset management arm of OCBC Bank) and Straits Lion Asset Management Limited (the asset management arm of Great Eastern) merged to form Lion Capital Management. In 2008, Lion Capital Management was renamed as Lion Global Investors. The Brunei Branch of Lion Global Investors also began operations. Lion Global Investors had total assets under management of S$69.9 billion as at 31 March 2023.

Lion Global Investors Limited is 70% owned by Great Eastern Holdings Limited and 30% owned by Orient Holdings Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank.

Bank of Singapore

Bank of Singapore, (formerly ING Asia Private Bank), is a wholly owned private banking subsidiary of OCBC Bank. With branches in Hong Kong and Dubai and a representative office in Makati City, Bank of Singapore serves high-net-worth individuals and wealthy families of Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Middle East and Europe, as well as global Non-Resident Indians. OCBC acquired ING Asia Private Bank on 29 January 2010 and renamed it Bank of Singapore.

Singapore Island Bank
Singapore Island Bank was formerly known as Bank of Singapore which housed the division, finatiQ, set up by OCBC Bank in 2000 as a self-service online bank during the dot-com bubble.

On 29 January 2010, OCBC Bank completed its acquisition of ING Asia Private Bank and renamed it Bank of Singapore. Therefore, OCBC renamed the bank that housed finatiQ, Singapore Island Bank to differentiate these two separate businesses to avoid confusion. As an online-only service provider of OCBC Bank, finatiQ could no longer meet the growing needs of the bank's customers and had ceased business on 30 June 2011.

Bank OCBC NISP

In 2004, OCBC Bank acquired a 22.5% stake in PT Bank NISP Tbk ("Bank NISP"), its joint-venture partner in PT OCBC Indonesia since 1996. With the completion of this transaction, Bank NISP became an associate company of OCBC Bank. Bank NISP was ranked the 11th largest Indonesian bank by assets and had a network of 135 branches and offices and, over 3,000 shared ATMs.

In the same year, OCBC Bank purchased an additional 28.5% stake in Bank NISP, raising its shareholding in Bank NISP to 51%. OCBC Bank subsequently raised its stake to 70.62% in 2005. By 2008, it had increased its stake in Bank NISP to 74.73%. In 2008, Bank NISP changed its name to Bank OCBC NISP.

As of 30 September 2010, Bank OCBC NISP had 5,995 employees, total assets of Rp 40.2 trillion, and served customers through a network of 411 offices in 62 cities and 576 ATMs throughout Indonesia. Its customers could also use more than 37,500 ATMs (including ATMs belonging to ATM Bersama, Bank Central Asia, OCBC Bank in Singapore, and BankCard in Malaysia). Subsequently, in November 2010, OCBC Indonesia merged with OCBC NISP.

OCBC Al-Amin Bank Berhad
OCBC wholly owns OCBC Al-Amin Bank, which offers Islamic banking products and services in Malaysia. OCBC had offered Islamic banking products and services since 1995. Finally, on 1 December 2008 OCBC launched OCBC Al-Amin Bank Berhad. OCBC Al-Amin offers products and services based on the applicable Shariah contract and with the endorsement of the Shariah Advisory Committee.

OCBC Bank (China)
OCBC China has 17 branches on the mainland and in Hong Kong. OCBC's presence in China dates back to 1925 when it opened a branch in Xiamen. In 2007 OCBC established its wholly owned subsidiary with headquarters in Shanghai.

OCBC Bank (Hong Kong)

In March 2014, OCBC Bank offered to pay nearly US$5 Billion for Wing Hang Bank, one of Hong Kong's last family-owned banks. Wing Hang was the eighth-largest lender in Hong Kong. Under the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance, OCBC Bank, with 97.52 percent of Wing Hang's shares, compulsorily acquired Wing Hang on 29 July 2014.

On 1 October 2014, Wing Hang Bank was rebranded as OCBC Wing Hang Bank to reflect its integration into the OCBC family.

On 3 July 2023, OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited has further changed its name to "OCBC Bank (Hong Kong) Limited" and in Macau, "Banco OCBC Weng Hang, S.A.", has changed its name to "Banco OCBC (Macau), S.A." "Wing Hang" or "Weng Hang" is no longer in the legal names of both OCBC HK & Macau subsidiaries.

Select Securities Limited (Hong Kong)
In November 1960, OCBC established an investment holding company named as Select Securities Limited. The company is based in Hong Kong and operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank. Select Securities Limited has been dissolved and ceased to be a subsidiary of OCBC Bank with effect from 22 March 2016.

Equity investment

Ningbo Commercial Bank
In 2006, OCBC Bank first acquired a 12.2% equity holding in China's Ningbo Commercial Bank. OCBC Bank subsequently raised its stake in the renamed Bank of Ningbo to 20% in 2014.

Controversies

Phishing scams (2021)
In December 2021, nearly 470 customers of OCBC lost a combined S$8.5 million after fallen prey to phishing scams involving OCBC, when scammers took advantage of old short message service (SMS) technology to impersonate the bank to send unsolicited SMSes and dupe victims into handing over their online banking log-in details. OCBC later announced in January 2022 that it will make "full goodwill payouts" to all victims.

Wirecard scandal

In June 2023, OCBC was fined S$600,000 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for breaching anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing rules, in a matter related to the German payments provider Wirecard scandal between June 2015 and January 2016 relating to accounts maintained by one corporate customer. OCBC had failed to inquire into the background and purpose of transactions that were not consistent with its knowledge of the customer, or were unusually large and exhibited an unusual pattern that had no apparent economic purpose. The bank also failed to probe into the customer's ownership and control structure when its declared beneficial owner was not named in its corporate registration documents.

Citations and references
Citations

References
 Turnell, Sean (2009) Fiery Dragons: Banks, Moneylenders and Microfinnance in Burma. (NAIS Press).

External links

 OCBC Group

Banks of Singapore
Banks of Hong Kong
Banks established in 1932
Companies listed on the Singapore Exchange
Multinational companies headquartered in Singapore
Online brokerages
Singaporean brands
1932 establishments in Singapore

OCBC Bank


Tony Sanchez, also known as Spanish Tony (died 2000), was a British photographer of Spanish ancestry. He worked as Keith Richards' assistant for eight years and co-wrote with John Blake a bestselling memoir about this time, entitled Up and Down with the Rolling Stones: My Rollercoaster Ride with Keith Richards (1979).

Sanchez was the son of Spanish immigrants, and his father ran an Italian restaurant in London's Mayfair.

Sanchez met the Rolling Stones through his connection with the art dealer Robert Fraser. According to Keith Richards, Sanchez, who had been a croupier and bouncer, was able to help Fraser when he was in trouble with gambling debts, and became Fraser's drug dealer and general helper.

Sanchez was one of the Rolling Stones' two official photographers, along with Michael Cooper for The Stones in the Park free outdoor festival held in London's Hyde Park on 5 July 1969.

Tony Sanchez died in 2000.

Publications
Up and Down with the Rolling Stones (1979), originally entitled Up and Down with the Rolling Stones - The Inside Story''

References

Photographers from London
English people of Spanish descent
2000 deaths

Tony Sanchez (photographer)


Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka (born 30 July 1958) is a Rwandan priest working in France who was convicted of genocide by a Rwandan military court. Munyeshyaka was pursued in the French courts but in October 2015 the case was not continued because of the quality of the evidence. Despite the controversy and his Rwandan conviction he has been employed as a priest in France since 2001.

History
Munyeshyaka was born on 30 July 1958 in Butare Province, Rwanda. His mother, Félicité Mukarukaka, was a Tutsi and his father, Gabriel Ngiruwonsanga, was a Hutu. He was born in the Rwandan commune of Ngoma in Butare prefecture.

Munyeshyaka was responsible for the Sainte-Famille church and parish in Kigali.

A military tribunal in Rwanda found him guilty of rape and involvement in the 1994 genocide and sentenced him in absentia to life in prison. He was found to have delivered hundreds of adults and children to the genocidal militias, which brutally slaughtered them. The military tribunal found Munyeshyaka guilty of rape and of aiding militias in the killing of hundreds of Tutsi refugees at the Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Kigali, where he was head priest.

In October 2015 the French government expressed disappointment that the French courts had decided to not progress the case further against Munyeshyaka.

The Catholic church has employed him as a priest in Gisors, France and the Epte Valley since 2001.

In late 2021, he was excommunicated by the Catholic Church because he had sired a son which illustrated that he broke his vow of celibacy. Also, it is said by genocide survivors that he carried a pistol on his belt, even while he was celebrating Mass.

Legal twists
He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison by a Rwandan Military Court on 16 November 2006. An ICTR arrest warrant was made public on 21 June 2007. He was arrested in France on 20 July 2007, but released by a French Appeals Court on 1 August 2007. A revised indictment was released by the ICTR on 13 August 2007, upon which he was re-arrested by French authorities on 5 September 2007. On 20 November 2007, the ICTR decided to decline jurisdiction over this affair in favour of the French judicial authorities.

On 20 February 2008, the French authorities agreed to try Wenceslas Munyeshkaya in France.

On 26 August 2015, French prosecutors have asked for the case against Wenceslas Munyeshyaka to be thrown out. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a statement that "[f]rom our investigations, it appears the role of Wenceslas Munyeshyaka during the 1994 genocide raised a lot of questions but the probe was not able to formally corroborate specific acts pertaining to his active participation."

On 2 October 2015, the investigating French judge ordered the dismissal of the case in accordance with the Prosecutor's request. The judge stated that Munyeshyaka had manifested radical opinions and had maintained friendly relations with the military and militias but this would not suffice to establish his participation to the crimes committed by the militias.

See also
 Athanase Seromba
Emmanuel Rukundo
Elizaphan Ntakirutimana
Maria Kisito

References

1958 births
Living people
People from Butare
20th-century Rwandan Roman Catholic priests
Catholic priests convicted of crimes against humanity
Prisoners and detainees of France
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Rwanda
Rwandan people convicted of crimes against humanity
Rwandan people convicted of genocide
21st-century French Roman Catholic priests
Rwandan genocide perpetrators
Violence against women in Rwanda
People convicted in absentia

Wenceslas Munyeshyaka


Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti (; 24 October 1928 – 28 June 1981) was an Iranian jurist, philosopher, cleric and politician who was known as the second person in the political hierarchy of Iran after the Revolution. Beheshti is considered to have been the primary architect of Iran's post-revolution constitution, as well as the administrative structure of the Islamic republic. Beheshti is also known to have selected and trained several prominent politicians in the Islamic Republic, such as former presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami, Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Ali Fallahian, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi. Beheshti also served as the Secretary General of the Islamic Republic Party, and was the head of the Iranian judicial system. He further served as Chairman of the Council of Islamic Revolution, and the Assembly of Experts. Beheshti earned a PhD in philosophy, and was fluent in English, German and Arabic.

On 28 June 1981, Beheshti was assassinated in the Hafte tir bombing by the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), along with more than 70 members of the Islamic Republic Party, including four cabinet ministers and 23 members of parliament. The Iranian government blamed Mohammad Reza Kolahi as the MEK operative involved in the incident. Following his death, Ayatollah Khomeini referred to Beheshti as a person who was "as a nation for us."

Early years and education
Beheshti was born in Isfahan in 1928. He studied both at the University of Tehran and under Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei in Qom. Between 1965 and 1970, he led the Islamic Center in Hamburg where he was responsible for the spiritual leadership of religious Iranian students in Germany and western Europe. In Hamburg, he also worked with Mohammad Khatami and was among his influences. From the early 1960s he was involved in activities against the monarchy and was arrested several times by the Shah's secret police, the SAVAK.

Beheshti joined Ayatollah Khomeini in Najaf, Iraq, where the latter was in exile. There he became part of Khomeini's underground movement.

Career
Following the Islamic revolution, Beheshti became one of the original members of the Council of Revolution of Iran and soon its chairman. As vice-president, he played a particularly important role in promoting the principle of velayat-e faqih as the basis for the new constitution. In the first post-revolutionary Iranian parliament, he led the Islamic Republic party together with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. (However, he never campaigned for the parliament, for he was already the head of Iran's Supreme Judicial System). Behesti was the founding member, first general secretary and a central committee member of the party. He was also planning to run for the presidency in the first presidential elections, but withdrew after Ayatollah Khomeini told a delegation of Rafsanjani and Khamenei that he preferred non-clerics as presidents, which led to the Islamic Republic party's endorsement of (firstly) Jalaleddin Farsi and (subsequently) Hasan Habibi as candidate.

Assassination

On 28 June 1981, Beheshti was killed in the Hafte tir bombing during a party conference. A spokesman for Iran's revolutionary guards said in an interview that a People's Mujahedin of Iran member, Mohammad Reza Kolahi, had been responsible.

According to James Buchan, the Islamic Republic of Iran first blamed the Tudeh Party, SAVAK, and the Iraqi regime. Two days later, Ruhollah Khomeini accused the MEK. A few years later, a Kermanshah tribunal executed four "Iraqi agents" for the incident. Another tribunal in Tehran executed Mehdi Tafari for the same incident. In 1985, the head of military intelligence informed the press that this had been the work of royalist army officers. Iran's security forces blamed the United States and "internal mercenaries".

Along with Beheshti, many clerics, ministers, and officials also died. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini was reportedly very moved by Beheshti's death. Today, a commemoration ceremony is organized each year on the day of Beheshti's assassination.

Works
Beheshti authored numerous books during his life which listed in following. After his death, around 24 books were written about him during 30 years. Some of the books are the product of his lectures. Some of his works were translated into Arabic. Some of them are as follow:

Background of the birth of Islam (translated to English)
Philosophy of Islam
Dos and Dont's
Al Ghavaed Va Al Feghhiyat
Islamic Economy
Right and Fault
Pilgrimage in Quran
Unity in Quran
The Problem of Property
God from the Viewpoint of the Quran
Banking and Financial Laws in Islam
What Do We Know about the Political Party?
Review and Analysis of Jihad, Justice, Liberalism, Imamate
School and Specialty

Opinions
Beheshti had an important role in writing the constitution of Iran, particularly the economic section. He believed in cooperative companies (Ta'avoni) in the field of economy and partnership and co-operation in lieu of competition in economic affairs. According to him, in Ta'avoni companies there is no middle man between producer and consumer. He also asserts that in such entities, legal rights belong to members rather than stock holders. He claims the foundation of Iran's Constitution to be Islamic, and that Iran's revolutionary Islamic system is at the same time a people-oriented system according to the volition of the Iranian people. This system is designed for the betterment and evolution of humankind. According to Beheshti, one of the most important pillars of political thought is that human could walk in right path along with faith to truth.

Philosophy of jurisprudence

According to Beheshti, the origin of property and possession in Islam is working.

Epistemology
Beheshti raised some epistemological questions in Knowledge from the Quran's View Point. He believed that knowledge no definition, and that no definition can be found. Beheshti believed there are only four sources of knowledge: perception, introspection, reason and revelation (or Vahy). He coupled an empiric attitude with foundationalism in his structure of knowledge.

Anthropology

Beheshti, opposed to modernism, believed that there is a strict relationship between individual and collective aspects of human being. According to him, although the history of humans shows that they are always tend to falsehood (or Batil), the Quran says there is a strong link between humanity and truth. Beheshti also emphasized on the theory of Fitarat (innateness or primary nature) in anthropology. Beheshti also believed the human soul had to be considered in the whole rather than in part. According to the theory of primary nature, one of the characters of human soul is volition and choosing. At the same time humans undertake responsibility for their actions. Humans have two important qualities: freedom of choice and responsibility. In other words, Beheshti believes Islam has a realist slant in respect to humans as it considers humans as a mix of freedom of choice and responsibility. Whilst humans are given choice, faith has an important role in this way and could help humans in making decision.

Museum
Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti's house in the Gholhak neighborhood was turned into a museum in July 1992. The house consists of two parts and the artists tried to show both parts; A part of Beheshti's social life is like the meeting room, where many things happened before and after the Islamic Revolution, and he was arrested at least twice by SAVAK agents; There are also several meetings between religious modernists, the Revolutionary Council, the Council of Fighting Clergy that have been formed in this place, which are related to his social life in this house.
The other part is the family part of the building, which evokes memories of his behavior with the family.

See also
Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Mohammad-Javad Bahonar
Mohammad Mofatteh

References

External links

|-

1928 births
1981 deaths
Shia clerics from Isfahan
Politicians from Isfahan
Iranian ayatollahs
People of the Iranian Revolution
Islamic Republican Party secretaries-general
Speakers of the Assembly of Experts
Iranian terrorism victims
Iranian expatriates in Iraq
People murdered in Iran
Assassinated Iranian politicians
Burials at Behesht-e Zahra
Iranian revolutionaries
Islamic Association of Teachers of Iran politicians
Combatant Clergy Association politicians
Islamic Coalition Party politicians
People assassinated by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
Deaths by explosive device
Council of the Islamic Revolution members
Members of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution
Secretaries-General of political parties in Iran
Central Council of the Islamic Republican Party members
1980s assassinated politicians
Assassinated leaders of political parties
Assassinated former national legislators in Asia

Mohammad Beheshti


William Morton Fullerton (18 September 1865 – 26 August 1952) was an American print journalist, author and foreign correspondent for The Times. Today he is best known for having a mid-life affair with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton.

Career

William Morton Fullerton was born in Norwich, Connecticut on 18 September 1865. He was a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1886. While studying at Harvard, he and classmates began The Harvard Monthly.

After his graduation and first trip to Europe in 1888, he spent several years working as a journalist in the Boston Area. In 1890, four years after his graduation from Harvard, Fullerton moved to France to begin work for The Times office in Paris. He eventually became the chief foreign correspondent, and remained with The Times. He remained there until 1910, leaving to try his hand at freelance journalism. He authored several books and numerous articles and served as an officer during World War I. Later, Fullerton joined the staff of Le Figaro, where he remained until his death in 1952.

It was Fullerton's extensive knowledge of the world of publishing that led him to assist author Edith Wharton (with whom, at the time, he was involved) in publishing the French translation of her classic novel The House of Mirth, through a well-known magazine.

Personal life

Morton has been described as "Singularly attaching… a dashing well-tailored man with large Victorian moustache and languid eyes, a bright flower in his button hole, and the style of a 'masher'."

After graduating, he was intimate with George Santayana and close to Bernard Berenson. Upon moving to London he befriended Hamilton Aidé and became the lover of Lord Ronald Gower.

From 1906 to 1909, he was famously involved in an affair with American Pulitzer Prize–winning author Edith Wharton. They met in the summer of that year after being introduced by mutual friend Henry James. She undoubtedly considered him the love of her life, describing him as her "ideal intellectual partner".  However they were never "officially" together, as Wharton was already married and Fullerton's highly promiscuous personality prevented him from ever committing to a serious relationship.

After the affair ended, Wharton, who was fiercely guarded when it came to her private life, requested that Fullerton destroy every letter she had ever sent him in order to avoid any scandal. The affair itself, although suspected, was not confirmed until the 1980s. Fullerton had ignored Wharton's request and had kept all of her letters, which were eventually published as a book, The Letters of Edith Wharton, in 1988. The affair probably helped inspire an erotic fragment for Beatrice Palmato, a novel that Wharton outlined but did not pursue, given that the incestuous father-daughter relationship at its core would make it unpublishable.

He was also engaged to his half cousin  Katharine Fullerton Gerould, but the engagement was called off when Fullerton postponed the wedding. Katharine, sick of waiting, went on to marry another man and become a successful author in her own right. Around the same time he was engaged to Katharine and also involved with Wharton, Fullerton lived with an older woman named Mme Mirecourt, in Paris, but the affair ended disastrously and Fullerton was left owing her a great deal of money.

Morton also had a long affair with the Ranee of Sarawak, Margaret Brooke.

A biography, Mysteries of Paris: The Quest for Morton Fullerton, was published in 2001 by Marion Mainwaring.

References

 The Sexual Education of Edith Wharton
 Edith Wharton: An Inventory of Her Correspondence with Morton Fullerton at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
 Edith Wharton
 Matt & Andrej Koymasky - Famous GLTB - William Morton Fullerton
 The Sexual Education of Edith Wharton
 Matt & Andrej Koymasky - Famous GLTB - Ronald Gower
 No Gifts from Chance: A Biography of Edith Wharton

External links

1865 births
1952 deaths
Harvard University alumni
American male journalists
American LGBT journalists
Phillips Academy alumni
People from Norwich, Connecticut

William Morton Fullerton


Replica Sun Machine is the second album by The Shortwave Set.

Work began on the album shortly after the release of The Debt Collection. In an interview for Swedish television, singer and songwriter Andrew Pettitt said that by February 2007 the album was completed as far as they were concerned. However, around this time, Danger Mouse heard they were working on a new album, and offered to produce it for them. This led to The Shortwave Set delaying release of the album in order to accommodate Danger Mouse's busy schedule.

Production with Danger Mouse began in May 2007. The group kept in touch with their fan base during this time in Los Angeles via a series of posts on their myspace blog. Their return in July was followed by a long 'radio silence', during which time they left their then current record label Independiente Records, and signed with Wall of Sound to produce Replica Sun Machine.

Track listing
All songs written and performed by The Shortwave Set. Produced by Danger Mouse.

"Harmonia"
"Glitches 'N' Bugs"
"Replica"
"House of Lies"
"Now Til '69"
"Distant Daze"
"No Social"
"Yesterdays to Come"
"I Know"
"Sun Machine"
"The Downer Song"

Orchestration on tracks 3,4,8,9 arranged by Van Dyke Parks.
John Cale of The Velvet Underground is also credited for 'Viola, synths and atmospheres'.

From Deptford to Hollywood
The album was released with an exclusive bonus disc via Rough Trade. The disc included alternative versions of some songs, and a movie entitled The Shortwave Set Go To Hollywood. This, along with the title of the bonus disc, From Deptford to Hollywood, reference how the band, which began in Deptford, London, ended up working with Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley fame) to produce Replica Sun Machine.

"Yesterdays To Come (Clothed Dog Remix)"
"House of Lies (Orchestral Version)"
"Replica (Orchestral Version)"
"I Know (Deptford Daze Remix)"

2008 albums
The Shortwave Set albums
Albums produced by Danger Mouse (musician)
Wall of Sound (record label) albums

Replica Sun Machine


is a Japanese conductor who has had an active international career since the 1970s. Koizumi was one among the founding conductors of the New Japan Philharmonic established in July 1972. He has appeared as a guest conductor throughout Europe and the United States, appearing with such ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is the current principal conductor of both the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, a post he has held since 2008, and the Century Orchestra Osaka (2003). Since 2006 he has been a current principal guest conductor with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.

Biography
Born in Kyoto, Koizumi is a graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1973, he was awarded first prize at the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin. From 1983–1988 he was music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He then served as the music director of the New Japan Philharmonic for many years.

References

1949 births
20th-century conductors (music)
21st-century conductors (music)
Japanese male conductors (music)
Living people
Tokyo University of the Arts alumni
Berlin University of the Arts alumni

Kazuhiro Koizumi


J. Michael Miltenberger (born March 17, 1951 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is a former carpenter and a former territorial level politician from northern Canada.

Early life
J. Michael Miltenberger was born in Ottawa. His family moved to Northern Canada in 1962. He attended post secondary education at the University of Lethbridge and Arctic College.

Political career
Miltenberger began his political career on the municipal level. He served on the town council including two years as mayor for the town of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories from 1983 to 1989.

Miltenberger first ran for a seat in the Northwest Territories Legislature in the 1995 Northwest Territories general election. He defeated former speaker and cabinet minister Jeannie Marie-Jewell to win his first term in office. He ran for re-election in the 1999 general election defeating Marie-Jewell for the second time. He was appointed to the executive council as the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Miltenberger ran for a third term in the 2003 general election, he solidified his popularity winning his district with 65% of the vote over challenging candidate Don Torangeau. He won a fourth term on October 1, defeating current Fort Smith mayor Peter Martselos and Marie-Jewell. He was elected to cabinet by his colleagues in the Legislative Assembly, and appointed by Premier Floyd Roland as deputy premier and minister for environment and natural resources.

After serving as finance minister and environment minister, Miltenberger sought a record sixth term in the 2015 general election, but was defeated.

Human rights complaint

A human rights complaint was filed against Miltenberger in connection with a December 9, 2011 incident in which a trans woman alleged that the Government of the Northwest Territories and Miltenberger denied her access to facilities customarily available to the public – Aurora College - because she is transgender. In 2013, the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission found that gender-identity was not a factor in the matter, that there was no connection between Miltenberger's words or actions and the complainant's transgenderism, and that while the complainant was denied access to school facilities, the denial was not related to her gender identity. Her complaint was dismissed.

References

External links
Michael Miltenberger Legislature biography

1951 births
Living people
Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Politicians from Ottawa
University of Lethbridge alumni
Mayors of places in the Northwest Territories
People from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
Members of the Executive Council of the Northwest Territories
21st-century Canadian politicians
Canadian carpenters

Michael Miltenberger


Edward Paul Larkin (June 1, 1915 – August 30, 1986) was an American politician from New York.

Life
He was born on June 1, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York City. He attended Hempstaed High School and Sewanhaka High School. He attended St. John's University for two years but did not graduate. Then he worked on construction sites. He was Executive Secretary to the Town of Hempstead Zoning Board from 1942 to 1952. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army as an army engineer. After the war, he entered politics as a Republican. He married Grace Marie Miller (died 1983), and they had six children.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Nassau Co., 1st D.) in 1953. He resigned his seat on July 7, 1953, to run for the State Senate seat vacated by the resignation of John D. Bennett. Larkin was a member of the New York State Senate (2nd D.) in 1954 and 1955. He resigned his seat on September 16, 1955, to run for Presiding Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead.

He was Presiding Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead from 1956 to 1961. On June 22, 1961, he was appointed by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to the New York Public Service Commission. He was re-appointed several times and remained in office until his death in 1986. After the death of his first wife, he married Eleanor Isacsen.

He died on August 30, 1986, in Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, of lung disease.

Sources

1915 births
1986 deaths
Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly
People from Hempstead, New York
Republican Party New York (state) state senators
Town supervisors in New York (state)
20th-century American politicians

Edward P. Larkin


Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a dark ride at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. It is loosely based on Disney's adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (1908), one of two segments comprising the animated package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). The ride is one of the few remaining attractions operational since the park's opening in July 1955, although the current iteration of the ride opened in 1983. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is located in Fantasyland, a variation of the attraction also existed as an opening day attraction at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World from 1971 until 1998.

In all versions of the attraction, guests have assumed the role of the titular Mr. Toad, recklessly careening through the English countryside and streets of London in a period motorcar before ultimately meeting demise in a railway tunnel and ending up in a tongue-in-cheek depiction of hell. The attraction, unlike other Fantasyland dark rides, is not a direct retelling of the film that it was based on. Its ending in particular is an original scene that has no basis in either the 1949 film or the original novel by Kenneth Grahame. Originally envisioned as a roller coaster, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was realized as a dark ride because Walt Disney felt as though a roller coaster might not have been appropriate for young children and the elderly.

1955 version (Disneyland)
The very first iteration of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was the least complex out of all three. Designed by Imagineers Bill Martin, Ken Anderson, Claude Coats, and Robert A. Mattey, the version of the attraction that opened to the public along with the rest of Disneyland in July 1955 contained the simplest gags, the fewest setpieces and characters, and, with a duration of 98 seconds, was the shortest in length.

One notable quality of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride that was especially prevalent during its earliest years is the liberal use of painted plywood "flats" in its interior sets. Whereas its contemporary opening-day Fantasyland dark rides Snow White and her Adventures and Peter Pan's Flight employed three-dimensional figures and sculpts for either the majority or at least a significant quantity of their interior scenery and characters, the various scenes of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride were rendered predominantly by means of two-dimensional flats, with only a scarce presence of three-dimensional sculpts. More three-dimensional gags and scene details were added in later updates, although the attraction has always remained overwhelmingly "flat" in its presentation, despite the other Fantasyland dark rides having become considerably less so over the decades.

As with the 1955 incarnations of the Snow White and Peter Pan dark rides, the exterior façade of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was fashioned to resemble a colorful medieval tournament tent, and its loading queue was located within a large opening in the front wall of the show building. Embellishing the boarding area was a huge, elaborately painted mural spanning the entire front wall of the space housing the interior scenes; this mural depicted both the cast of the film on which the ride was based as well as the scenarios encountered within the attraction.

Guests waiting in line were treated to the confusing lyrics of The Merrily Song, and the enthusiastic voice of Mr. Toad himself (provided by Eric Blore, his voice actor from the film) beckoned all to come along with him on his travels: "Come along! Hop on up here! We'll go for a jolly ride! Buford Road! The dusty highway! Come! I'll show you the world! Travel! Change! Excitement!" Upon boarding a fiberglass replica of a 1900s-era one-seat roadster (manufactured by Arrow Development), guests "crashed" through the front doors of Toad Hall (the extravagant Tudor-style estate of Mr. Toad) at the far-left end of the mural. Once in the confines of the lavishly detailed mansion, guests approached a large stained-glass bay window before their car performed a sudden U-turn and headed instead toward a forced-perspective mural of an open living parlor. Here, two miniature "toad-shaped" suits of armor supported by pedestals (one on either side of the mural) swung down their halberds as guests drew near, causing the vehicle to swerve into the opposite direction. Guests then rolled under a pointed arch and into a smaller room where a third miniature suit of armor brought down its mace. The motorcar then veered to the left and crashed through the paneled wall, and guests found themselves in total darkness.

Swerving through the night, guests encountered a large mirror reflecting their vehicle's headlights, providing the illusion of an oncoming automobile as the screech of a motorcar's brakes was heard. Guests then swung out of the way before passing under a natural archway and advancing toward a mural depicting the rustic cottage of Ratty the water rat along the moonlit riverbank, as well as a fully sculpted boat docked in front. Swinging around another bend, guests approached a three-dimensional roadway leading off into a mural of a twisted intersection at the center of a rural hamlet, while signs labeled with nonsensical place names such as "Woostershire" and "Not So Shire" made for a sense of confusion. Guests then swerved into a narrow village street, where a plethora of road signs fixed to the buildings and lampposts read, "TURN BACK," "DO NOT ENTER," "ONE WAY," and other such warnings. Despite these, guests had no choice but to continue down the long straightaway, eventually reaching the headlights of an oncoming vehicle in the darkness beyond the thoroughfare and swerving out of the way to avoid it.

As a police officer blew his whistle and a loud siren blared, the car performed a U-turn and began down a dilapidated wooden pier flanked to the right with old bollards and a large ocean freighter. As guests advanced over a series of bumps emulating the rough surface of unsafe boards, a mural depicting London across from the harbor under a foggy night sky was seen beyond the edge of the wharf. Just before guests approached the end of the pier, their vehicle swung around and rammed through the doors of a dockside warehouse, now racing between long, towering rows of crates and kegs stocked with dynamite, blasting powder, and other dangerous contents. At the end of the corridor was a forced-perspective mural featuring an exit door marked with a sign reading, "THIS WAY OUT," next to which was a tall stack of barrels and a crate. As guests approached the false exit, the tower of barrels toppled down, blocking the way out and forcing the motorcar to instead turn toward a solid brick wall before smashing straight through it.

Guests now found themselves back in the English countryside, swerving swiftly around stunted trees (some of them anthropomorphic, with startled faces and branch arms lunged away in shock) and darting briefly toward police officers blowing their whistles and a mural of a dirt roadway leading off into the distance. After swinging past a signal box and a ringing crossbuck, guests briefly drew near a mural of a precarious, winding road scaling the side of a cliff before racing by a sleepy railroad engineer and breaking through a crossing gate. As the steam whistle of a nearby locomotive was heard, guests were swept under the arched stone maw of "R.R. Tunnel No. 13." Inside the pitch-black tunnel, riders proceeded over a series of simulated railroad ties, heard the roar of an oncoming engine, saw the front headlight of the approaching locomotive appear straight ahead in the darkness, and finally "collided" directly into the train amid a loud crash. The darkness then gave way to a menacing, demonic face with a gaping mouth: the jaws of hell. As guests passed under the demon's sharp teeth, the word "WELCOME" written in flames greeted them into the depths of the underworld, where they swerved around red-hot stalagmites topped with miniature horned devils who laughed maniacally and wielded pitchforks. Guests were soon directed toward the ride's final set of doors, which took them back out into the queue area.

In 1961, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride received an assortment of new gags, scene details, and technical improvements. Among these were additional character flats (Moley, MacBadger, and a human butler in Toad Hall, as well as Ratty in front of one of the painted storefronts in the village scene and a handful of new police officers, including one on a motorcycle), new crash doors (these being a construction barricade located in the village street and multiple breakaway flats of stacked crates and kegs in the warehouse), improved crash doors in general, and fully-sculpted devils and red "rock" in the hell scene replacing the original flats.

1983 version (Disneyland)

Guests enter a re-creation of Toad Hall, passing by artistic works commemorating characters from the film. A large mural shows the adventures of Toad and his motorcar, foreshadowing various scenes in the ride. This mural has a hidden reference to Walt Disney and his love for trains in the form of a train named "W.E.D. Rail". Guests hop aboard miniature, early 1900s (decade)-era, multicolored motorcars. The name of one of the characters from the film (Mr. Toad, Toady, Ratty, Moley, MacBadger, Cyril, Winky, or Weasel) is inscribed on each motorcar. Disembodied voices sing The Merrily Song, but it is more like the version in the film.

Passengers begin their journey by crashing into a library, where MacBadger is seen teetering atop a ladder with a stack of books. They then crash through the fireplace, where fiberoptic effects simulate the scattering of embers on the floor. Narrowly avoiding a falling suit of armor, the passengers break through a set of doors to find the interior hallway of Toad Hall in disarray, as weasels swing from chandeliers. Guests then enter the dining room, where Mole is having a meal at a dinner table and gets knocked aside.

Upon leaving Toad Hall, guests travel through the countryside, passing Ratty's house, being chased by policemen, barely avoiding colliding with traffic (which is actually their reflection in a mirror), and cracking a bridge with a farmer's animals on it. Making a right turn, guests head for the docks and get the impression that their car will plunge into the river, but quickly make a sharp turn in a different direction and enter a warehouse full of barrels and crates containing explosives. Guests crash through a brick wall as the warehouse's contents explode in a burst of bright, flashing lights. They then head out into the streets of London, narrowly avoid a collision with a delivery truck, and enter Winky's Pub, where Mr. Winky the bartender holds two beer mugs. He ducks down, leaving the mugs spinning in midair (this gag is recycled from the Florida version of the ride).

Passengers then enter the town square, where the cars wreak further havoc on the citizens. A statue of Toad and Cyril Proudbottom stands in the center of the town. Behind this statue is one of Lady Justice peeking out from under her blindfold. Next, guests enter a jury-less courtroom, where the riders are proclaimed guilty by a judge (based on the film's prosecutor for the Crown). The cars then enter what is presumed to be a dark prison cell before abruptly turning right and landing on railroad tracks. The vehicles bounce along the tracks in the dark before colliding head-on with an oncoming train.

Passengers then arrive at the ride's final scene: hell. The entire room is heated, and the scenery features small devils who bounce up and down. Passengers also see a demon who resembles the judge from the courtroom scene. Near the end of the scene, a towering  green fire-breathing dragon emerges and attempts to burn the riders to a crisp. A glowing light is seen in the back of its throat and it coughs while the motorcar speeds away. The passengers then go back to the ride's loading and unloading area, where they disembark.

Some small changes were made to this version of the attraction. The fireplace effect used to be a projection on smoke, but it got changed to a crash door due to the smoke's timing often making it invisible.

The installation at Disneyland was manufactured by Arrow Development.

Magic Kingdom version
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was one of the Magic Kingdom's opening day attractions on October 1, 1971. The biggest difference from the Disneyland version was that it had two separate boarding areas. The vehicles (in the form of jalopies) in each boarding area were on separate tracks that followed different paths, so riders would get a slightly different ride depending on where they boarded. It contained highly ornate plywood characters and sets that were very reminiscent of the multiplane camerawork featured in many Disney films.

In October 1997, rumors began to spread that an attraction based on Winnie-the-Pooh would replace Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. On August 27, 1998, Walt Disney World officially announced the closure of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The attraction closed on September 7, 1998, to make room for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which opened on June 4, 1999. Tributes to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride can be found in the attraction, including paintings of Mr. Toad and Moley. In addition, there is a statue of Mr. Toad in the pet cemetery outside of The Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square.

The two tracks of the Magic Kingdom version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride did not pass through all of the same show scenes, so each track gave riders an almost completely different experience.

Right Track
On the Right Track, guests first passed through the library (similar to the Disneyland version) then broke out of Toad Hall and passed through a barnyard, coming face to face with a sheep, a pig and a couple of cows along the way. After passing through a small tunnel with several warning signs, known as the One Way Street, guests made a turn into a central plaza. Traveling around the turn, the vehicles passed a policeman signaling riders to stop with his whistle. Guests then made a right hand turn into the courtroom and saw the judge (who in this version was actually a policeman holding a gavel). Upon making another right hand turn, the vehicles passed by several policemen and weasel convicts and then entered a prison cell, where some weasels were trying to break out.

After winding through the cells, guests emerged out into Shireland, passing by a shootout between the police and some weasels (using red lights to simulate gunfire). Several of the police barriers then moved aside revealing a railroad crossing, complete with a ringing bell. The gate then moved aside (presumably breaking apart), and the vehicles made a right hand turn onto the tracks. The vehicles traveled along the railroad tracks until getting hit by a train (with guests seeing the headlight of the locomotive). A door then opened, revealing the hell scene, in which there were volcanos, flashing lights, multiple laughing demons, and a giant flat of Satan that popped up (similarly to the dandelion in Alice in Wonderland at Disneyland). Afterwards, guests went through a door back to the boarding area.

Left Track
From the boarding area to the plaza, the Left Track passed through three scenes not seen in the Right Track: Toad's trophy room, a kitchen, and a Gypsy camp. After going through the One Way Street and rounding the plaza, instead of entering the courtroom, guests continued on and entered Winky's Tavern. Mr Winky the bartender, who was holding two beer mugs, could then be seen ducking down, leaving the mugs spinning in the air (this gag was recycled for the revamped 1983 California version of the ride). The vehicles then made a right hand turn and guests could see the weasels hiding out in the tavern among the ale barrels. Following this, guests emerged into the night countryside. Passing by Ratty's house (where Ratty appeared only once and Moley was seen on a boat), the vehicles reached a railroad crossing. This gate moved aside, and vehicles made a left hand turn onto the railroad tracks. As on the Right Track, the headlight of the locomotive was visible before the train hit the guests. The hell scene on this track was merely a mirror image of the Right Track's hell sequence.

See also
List of Disneyland attractions
List of Magic Kingdom attractions
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (film)

References

External links

 Official website at Disneyland

Amusement rides manufactured by Arrow Dynamics
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions
Disneyland
Dark rides
Fantasyland
1955 establishments in California
1971 establishments in Florida
1998 disestablishments in Florida
Hell in popular culture
Works based on The Wind in the Willows

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride


An ophiolite is a section of the Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level. The rocks which make up ophiolites are an altered form of basalt. The rocks are often green.

They are found in the mountain belts such as the Alps or the Himalayas. They show where former ocean basins were consumed by subduction. This was one of the discoveries of plate tectonics. Ophiolites have always played a central role in plate tectonic theory and the interpretation of ancient mountain belts.

Stratigraphy and definition

The stratigraphic sequence seen in ophiolites is caused by lithosphere-forming processes at mid-oceanic ridges:

 Sediments: muds (black shale) and cherts deposited after the crust formed.
 Extrusive sequence: basalt "pillow lavas" show magma/seawater contact.
 Vertical, parallel dikes fed lavas above.
 Gabbros from minerals settling from a magma chamber.
 Peridotite: mantle rock minerals, heated and pressured in orogeny (mountain-building).

Notable ophiolites
In the California Coast Ranges, from Santa Barbara through San Francisco Counties, California.
In Oman and the United Arab Emirates, widely considered one of the best exposed ophiolite sequences
 Macquarie Island, Tasmania, Australia was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, as the only known example of an ophiolite complex in the process of being formed and currently in its original geological setting.
 In Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 because of its superbly exposed complete ophiolite stratigraphic sequence

References

Igneous rocks
Plate tectonics

Ophiolite