WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 15). The two stations share studios on Knob Road in west Nashville, where WSMV-TV's transmitter is also located.

History

Early years
WSMV first signed on the air as WSM-TV on September 30, 1950, at 1:10 p.m. CT. It was Nashville's first television station and the second in Tennessee, behind fellow NBC affiliate WMCT (now sister station WMC-TV, then also on channel 4) in Memphis. As a result of the WSM-TV sign-on, WMCT was forced to switch to channel 5 to avoid co-channel interference. WSM-TV was owned by WSM, Inc., a subsidiary of the locally based National Life and Accident Insurance Company, which also owned WSM radio (650 AM) and the original WSM-FM (103.3; shut down in 1951); the AM station is renowned for broadcasts of the country music show The Grand Ole Opry, which has been heard on the station since 1925. The station took its call letters from its parent's slogan, "We Shield Millions."

The television station has been an NBC affiliate from its sign-on, although it also carried some programming from CBS, DuMont, and ABC. Its secondary affiliation with CBS ended in 1953, when WSIX-TV (channel 8, now WKRN-TV on channel 2) signed on as a primary CBS affiliate. WSM-TV shared ABC programming with WSIX-TV for a year until WLAC-TV (channel 5, now WTVF) signed on in 1954 as the market's new primary CBS affiliate, leaving WSIX-TV to take the ABC affiliation. In the late 1950s, the station also shared a short-lived affiliation with the NTA Film Network with WSIX-TV by airing one of its programs, Sheriff of Cochise. During the first few years of operation, AT&T would not run telephone lines for WSM-TV to receive network programming until there was another TV station in town. This problem was solved by the station running a private microwave relay transmission from fellow NBC affiliate and now sister station WAVE-TV in Louisville, Kentucky; this was the longest privately-operated microwave relay link at the time.

Growth into the 1960s and 1970s
WSM-TV's studios were originally located at 15th Avenue South and Compton Avenue in south Nashville, near the present Belmont University. In 1957, the station attempted to a build a larger tower in west Nashville, near Charlotte Avenue. During the construction process, the new tower's supporting wires failed. This caused the tower to collapse, which took the lives of several people. Afterward, WSM-TV purchased its present property on Knob Road (farther west than the previous site, and allowable since WMCT in Memphis had switched to channel 5 from channel 4) and built a tower there in a forested section away from potential damage to life and property.

WSM-TV shared its broadcast facilities with non-commercial station WDCN-TV (channel 2, now WNPT on channel 8) beginning in 1962. In 1963, National Life and Accident Insurance built new studios for WSM-AM-TV adjacent to the transmission tower on Knob Road. This left WDCN-TV as the sole occupant of the south Nashville building, where that station remained until 1976. WSM-TV was the first station in Nashville to begin broadcasting in color in 1965. In 1974, NL&AI reorganized itself as a holding company, NLT Corporation, with the WSM stations (by then including a new WSM-FM at 95.5) as a major subsidiary.

Ownership changes
Beginning in 1980, Houston-based insurer American General–which owned the WLAC stations until 1975–began purchasing blocks of NLT stock, eventually becoming NLT's largest shareholder and setting the stage for an outright takeover. However, American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance businesses. It opted to sell off the broadcasting interests, the Grand Ole Opry, the then-decrepit Ryman Auditorium, and Opryland USA. Gillett Broadcasting (operated by George N. Gillett Jr.) bought WSM-TV on November 3, 1981, and changed the station's callsign to WSMV on the same day (officially modified to WSMV-TV on July 15, 1982). The new callsign allowed channel 4 to continue trading on the well-known WSM calls while at the same time separating it from its former radio sisters. The change was brought on due to an FCC rule in place at that time forbidding TV and radio stations in the same city but with different owners from sharing the same call letters. However, channel 4 would later engage in news department cross promotions with WSM-AM-FM.

Gaylord Entertainment Company purchased the remainder of WSM, Inc. nearly two years later, in 1983. Soon afterward, the radio stations moved out of the Knob Road facility into new studios on the Opryland Hotel campus.

WSMV-TV was sold on June 8, 1989, to Cook Inlet Television Partners, an Alaska-based company which was a subsidiary of Cook Inlet Region, Inc., an Alaska Native Regional Corporation.

Meredith Corporation ownership

Cook Inlet sold WSMV on January 5, 1995, to the Meredith Corporation. WSMV was not part of the affiliation deal between several Meredith stations and CBS (however, Meredith's only other NBC affiliate at the time, WNEM-TV in Bay City, Michigan, was) because the purchase was announced seven months after the affiliation deal had been finalized. As a result, WSMV became the only NBC affiliate in Meredith's portfolio until their 2021 sale.

In early March 2009, it was announced that WSMV's master control operations would be hubbed at Meredith-owned sister station WGCL-TV in Atlanta. The new hub operation launched in summer 2009.

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire Meredith for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General. Because Media General owned WKRN-TV, and the two stations rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Nashville market in total day viewership, the companies would have been required to sell either WSMV-TV or WKRN to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict sharing agreements. On January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General. This resulted in the termination of the acquisition of Meredith by Media General.

Sale to Gray Television
On May 3, 2021, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division for $2.7 billion. The sale was completed on December 1. As a result, WSMV became a sister station to several other stations in nearby markets, including fellow NBC affiliates WMC-TV in Memphis and WAFF in Huntsville, CBS affiliate WVLT-TV in Knoxville and ABC/Fox affiliate WBKO in Bowling Green. It also resulted in Gray owning a station in Circle's home market, which in turn became the network's flagship station. Gray also immediately changed the station's positioning from "News 4" to "WSMV 4" and implemented a new graphics scheme, resulting in the 4 logo switching from primarily black to primarily white. In 2022, the station launched a heavily localized imaging campaign, reviving the "Nashville's Station" nickname, and inviting viewers to "Come On Back" after years of ratings losses.

Programming

Country music programming
The WSM stations' close ties to Nashville's country music business has meant that the Knob Road facility and/or its personnel was, from time to time, used for the recording of network and syndicated programs featuring Nashville-based performers. This was especially the case during the 1960s and 1970s. Most if not all of these shows were packaged by Show Biz, Inc., headquartered in Nashville and a subsidiary of Holiday Inn. Show Biz, Inc. produced The Porter Wagoner Show, That Nashville Music, The Bill Anderson Show, Dolly! and several other programs seen throughout the United States, especially on stations in the South and rural Midwest. The company dissolved in the late 1970s when its president, Jane Grams, became vice president and general manager of WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee. However, the Show Biz programs were seen on some stations well into the early 1980s.

Sports programming
Since 2006, channel 4 airs any Sunday Night Football games that involve the market's NFL team, the Tennessee Titans. The station also aired Nashville Predators games via NBC's broadcast contract with the NHL that lasted until 2021; this includes the team's appearance in the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals.

From 1987 until March 2002, WSMV-TV was the primary Nashville home to syndicated Southeastern Conference football and men's basketball games originating from Jefferson Pilot Sports, but sharing some broadcasts with WZTV (channel 17) from 1987 to 1990, and WXMT (channel 30, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WUXP) from 1990 onward. All of those games moved to WUXP in 2002, and stayed with that station until 2009, when Raycom Sports lost the syndication rights to ESPN Regional Television. WUXP carried ESPN Plus-oriented SEC TV until 2014, when the SEC Network was launched.

Past programming preemptions and deferrals
In the mid-1980s, WSMV dropped the Tonight Show to air sitcom reruns such as Three's Company, Alice, Barney Miller, Family Ties, and Rosie. NBC was able to get the show on in Nashville on then-independent station (now Fox affiliate) WZTV.

In early 2006, WSMV attracted some attention by becoming the largest NBC affiliate in terms of market size to refuse to carry the controversial NBC show The Book of Daniel on its schedule, after the premiere episode. This action, along with that of several smaller affiliates in the Midwest and South, as well as low ratings, prompted NBC to cancel the series after only three episodes.

On October 26, 2014, WSMV accidentally preempted parts of the first half of the Manchester United–Chelsea Premier League match and instead aired Poppy Cat from the NBC Kids block. This triggered negative responses from social media.

News operation

WSMV-TV broadcasts 53 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with nine hours each weekday and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among all broadcast television stations in the Nashville market.

WSM-TV's news department was the first in the United States to receive satellite photographs when it first used them in 1964. Beginning in the mid-1970s, WSM-TV developed a strong news division that, in the 1980s through the 1990s, won numerous regional and national awards (Peabody Awards among them) for in-depth and investigative reporting. Mike Kettenring was the news director for much of that period along with Alan Griggs and Al Tompkins. For most of the last two decades, WSMV has been a solid runner-up to WTVF in the Nashville ratings. Generally speaking, the station takes a softer approach to news than WTVF. The reverse was true in the 1980s, as WSMV earned awards for hard-hitting investigative stories, while WTVF took a more cautious approach. While WTVF usually leads the way in the city of Nashville itself, WSMV generally leads in Nashville's more conservative suburbs, as well as outlying rural parts of the market, many of whose residents recall readily the station's past association with WSM-AM. In recent years, however, ABC affiliate WKRN has steadily increased their ratings, particularly in the evening and late newscasts. In the November 2017 sweeps, WKRN passed WSMV as runner-up in the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts, and tied WSMV for second place in the 10 p.m. newscast.

On March 5, 1973, the Vanderbilt Television News Archive recorded off the air of WSM-TV a special broadcast of Today aimed toward veterans of the Vietnam War returning home to the U.S. Two months later, on May 1, another broadcast of Today was recorded concerning the Watergate scandal. On both of these broadcasts, Pat Sajak, who had recently joined the WSM radio and TV staff, anchored the five-minute cut-in local newscasts. As it was not the general policy of the Archive to record special programs such as these or local Nashville programming, these probably represent the only known broadcasts of WSM-TV news before 1980 or so available for public viewing, prior to the widespread popularity of consumer-level video cassette recorders in the late 1970s. The only other ones were local cut-ins to NBC coverage of national elections. Because of the equipment at the time, though, the broadcasts were recorded in black and white. The Archive, prior to the advent of satellite technology in the 1980s, taped all NBC News broadcasts from the airwaves of WSM(V).

In September 1973, WSM-TV decided to fill the 6:30–7 p.m. time slot opened up by the Prime Time Access Rule in 1971 by expanding its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour. This has proven so successful that to this day WSMV programs a newscast from 6 to 7 p.m. (although it is now broken up into two 30-minute segments). Upon the success of the expanded 6 p.m. newscast on channel 4 (and after years of low-rated syndicated offerings in the 6:30 slot), WTVF followed suit in 1989 by expanding its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour. WSMV and WTVF are among the few stations in the Central Time Zone to run newscasts at 6:30 (stations elsewhere have attempted it since the 1970s with varying degrees of success). WKRN is the only traditional network affiliate in the Nashville market to run only a half-hour of news at 6 p.m., with Wheel of Fortune (hosted by former WSM personality Pat Sajak) airing at 6:30.

In the early 1980s, WSMV introduced the Snowbird character, a scarf- and earmuff-wearing anthropomorphic penguin, as a brand for its weather-related school closing reports. Snowbird appears on-air in both animated and puppet form. Snowbird reports are shown on the station primarily in the winter, but the branding is also used for unexpected school closings caused by other natural and man-made events, not necessarily limited to snow and ice. Due to the character's popularity, Snowbird serves as a year-round mascot for the station, with a -tall costumed version making appearances at community events and station promotions. The station has also engaged in giving away Snowbird-themed apparel and tchotchkes as prizes during sweeps promotions. The Snowbird character has since been licensed to television stations in other markets, including WMC-TV in Memphis, WRCB in Chattanooga, WBOY-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio, all NBC affiliates.

During the May sweeps period that began on April 26, 2007, WSMV debuted its own news helicopter known as Air 4, becoming the second station in Nashville to do so (WTVF's news helicopter Sky 5 debuted a year earlier, in 2006). On September 15, 2008, beginning with the 5:00 p.m. newscast, WSMV became the second television station in Nashville (after WTVF) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.

On May 26, 2011, WSMV debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, serving as a replacement for The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ended its 25-year run the day before; this came on the heels of the expansion of other non-news local programming such as More at Midday and Better Nashville, indicating a decreased reliance on syndicated programming. On January 25, 2014, WSMV was the first station to expand its weekend morning newscast to 5:00 a.m. in the Nashville TV market.

On July 17, 2017, WSMV changed their newscast branding from Channel 4 News to News 4. In January 2018, the station's news graphics and music were updated.

On August 18, 2022, it was reported that WSMV would drop all syndicated programming and air expanded newscasts and locally produced programming outside of network hours. On September 5, 2022, WSMV became the first station in Nashville to offer local news at 3 p.m., while also expanding its midday newscast to two hours, and moving Today in Nashville to 2 p.m., replacing the canceled Wendy Williams Show.

Past on-air staff
The station's former staff include Pat Sajak (announcer and weekend weatherman from 1974 to 1977), Robin Roberts (sports anchor and reporter from 1986 to 1988), John Tesh(news anchor from 1975 to 1976), John Seigenthaler Jr. (weekend anchor in the late 1980s) and Huell Howser (features reporter in the 1970s).

Ralph Emery, the longtime country music disc jockey on WSM radio for many years, hosted morning (and at times, afternoon) shows on channel 4 from the mid-1960s until 1993; for much of that time, The Ralph Emery Show was the highest-rated locally produced early morning shows on American television. Although the show included regular news briefs, its main focus was on general entertainment, including a heavy emphasis on live country music performed in studio. It featured acts by prominent country stars like Tex Ritter and current star Lorrie Morgan; also, the studio band consisted of top-notch Music Row session musicians. Emery would achieve widespread fame by hosting a national version of the show, entitled Nashville Now, weeknights on The Nashville Network from 1983 to 1993. Upon Emery's retirement, WSMV briefly produced a local version of NBC's Today to serve as a lead-in to the national show. As Nashville Today failed to live up to expectations, WSMV finally programmed full-scale newscasts in early mornings, becoming the last of the three major Nashville stations to do so.

Larry Munson, WSM-TV's sports director from 1956 to 1967 and later known as the play-by-play announcer for radio broadcasts of Georgia Bulldogs football (and, for a time, the NFL's Atlanta Falcons), created and hosted a long-running hunting and fishing show called The Rod & Gun Club. Paul Eells replaced Munson as sports director in 1967. Like his predecessor, Eells served as the voice of the Vanderbilt Commodores football team during his time at WSM. Eells left to become the sports director at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1978. There, he also served as radio play-by-play announcer for the Arkansas Razorbacks for 28 years until his death in 2006. Munson died in 2011.

Dan Miller was co-anchor of the main evening newscasts for nearly 40 years, except from August 1986 to March 1995. During this period, Miller spent time in Los Angeles as a news anchor at KCBS-TV, and as sidekick to friend and former WSM-TV colleague Pat Sajak on his short-lived CBS late-night talk show The Pat Sajak Show. Miller returned to WSMV in 1992 to host 5 O'Clock with Dan Miller, which ran from 1992 to 1993. Miller returned to anchoring duties for the evening newscasts in March 1995, and continued until his sudden death in 2009.

In 1974, Bill Hall joined the staff as a weather reporter and morning news anchor. He briefly worked as a weekend news anchor in 1976 before moving into his role leading the weather team in 1977. His unique style and personality made him one of Middle Tennessee's most well known local television personalities. He punctuated his weather discussions with comments about gardening, cooking, and hunting and fishing. During his channel 4 career, Hall also hosted Land and Lakes, an outdoors show focusing on local hunting and fishing adventures. Hall retired in 2005, and later died on December 23, 2011.

Rudy Kalis began anchoring the morning newscasts in 2014 after working in the sports department for 40 years. He was the second sportscaster in Nashville to move to anchoring the morning news in the past year. He retired in November 2017, after 43 years with channel 4.

Longtime anchor Demetria Kalodimos was let go after her contract expired at the end of 2017.

Notable former on-air staff
 Charlie Chase – (1970s; now host for the Crook and Chase television show and countdown)
 Huell Howser – (1970s; died January 7, 2013)
 Demetria Kalodimos – anchor (worked with station from 1984 to 2017)
 Sondra Locke – (1960s; died November 3, 2018)
 Carol Marin – investigative reporter/anchor (1976–1978; later with WMAQ-TV in Chicago as the station's political editor)
 Dan Miller – anchor (died April 8, 2009)
 Robin Roberts – sports anchor/reporter (1986–1988; now anchor of Good Morning America)
 Pat Sajak – weather reporter (1970s; now host of the syndicated game show Wheel of Fortune)
 John Tesh – musician; former anchor of Entertainment Tonight

Technical information

Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion
WSMV-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 10, using virtual channel 4.

Translators
 14 Algood
 15 Lebanon–Nashville
 15 Lewisburg–Columbia
 15 Nashville

Out-of-market coverage

South-central Kentucky
For its first 50 years on the air, WSMV was the default NBC affiliate for the Bowling Green media market in south-central Kentucky, since it did not have an NBC affiliate of its own when Arbitron first assigned Bowling Green into its own media market in 1977 following the success and growth of that area's ABC affiliate (and now sister station) WBKO, which, until 1989, was the only commercial television station in the Bowling Green area at the time. The station, as WSM-TV, once applied to set up a low-powered translator on the campus of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green in 1968 as part of an arrangement with the University; it lasted a short time in the 1970s. WSMV's historical monopoly in providing NBC programming for that area over-the-air and on local cable systems ended on March 27, 2001, when WKNT (channel 40, now WNKY) was forced to drop its Fox network affiliation due to that station's violation of the terms in their affiliation agreement. Immediately after losing Fox, that station became an NBC affiliate as it was renamed as WNKY, causing many Bowling Green area cable systems to drop WSMV. However, even after WNKY switched to NBC in 2001, WSMV remains on Mediacom cable systems serving the Morgantown (Butler County) and Brownsville (Edmonson County) areas. The Glasgow Electric Plant Board also still carried WSMV and its associated subchannels on their lineup until late 2017 when WNKY claimed market exclusivity on that system in terms of NBC and CBS affiliates.

Mediacom also carries WSMV on its systems in Hart and Metcalfe Counties (including Munfordville and Edmonton, respectively).

Western Kentucky
In addition to the station's cable coverage in south central Kentucky, WSMV-TV, and the other two "Big Three" stations are also carried in Murray, Kentucky, in the Paducah, KY–Cape Girardeau, MO–Harrisburg, IL media market, via Murray Electric Systems. WK&T Cable also carries both WSMV and WTVF on its cable lineup for its customers in Calloway County. WSMV, along with WTVF, are also available to Mediacom's customers in Caldwell and Crittenden Counties, respectively including the communities of Princeton and Marion, along with the village of Fredonia. All of those areas are also within the Paducah/Cape Girardeau market, which is the home market to fellow NBC affiliate WPSD-TV.

WSMV was also previously available in some southern areas of the Evansville, Indiana media market, mainly including northwestern Kentucky towns such as Madisonville, Central City, Beaver Dam, and Owensboro and their corresponding counties. The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer still lists WSMV on its TV listings page. Cable systems in those areas have since dropped the station making Evansville NBC affiliate and sister station WFIE the sole NBC affiliate on cable and over-the-air in those areas.

West Tennessee
WSMV, along with WMC-TV in Memphis, was historically carried on cable systems in the Jackson, Tennessee market on the Jackson Energy Authority's EPlus Broadband system. In November 2014, WSMV was dropped from that cable system when WNBJ-LD signed on as that area's own NBC affiliate. WNBJ replaced WSMV on JEA channel 4, with WMC-TV being left intact. In spite of the existence of WNBJ-LD in Jackson, WSMV remains on WK&T Telecom's cable system in Gibson County, in the northernmost area of the Jackson market. WSMV is also still available on cable in Carroll County as well.

Huntsville/Northern Alabama
At sometime from 1957 until the 1980s, cable television systems in northern Alabama, including Knology (now Wide Open West) and TelePrompTer (later Group W Cable, now Comcast Xfinity), carried all of Nashville's Big Three stations, only to be dropped from those systems in the 1980s amid the gradual increase of the launches of new national cable channels. The Nashville stations were once seen as far south as Decatur.

References

External links

Huntsville Rewound-Huntsville AL TV Memories

SMV-TV
NBC network affiliates
Cozi TV affiliates
Court TV affiliates
Circle (TV network) affiliates
Get (TV network) affiliates
Peabody Award winners
Television channels and stations established in 1950
Gray Television
1950 establishments in Tennessee
Former Meredith Corporation subsidiaries

WSMV-TV


The Rezatkreis, between 1806 and 1837, was one of the 15 districts of the Kingdom of Bavaria.  Its name meant in German the "District of the Rezat" because the Fränkische Rezat River ran through it.  It was the predecessor of the  Regierungsbezirks Mittelfranken (Administrative Regional District of Middle Franconia). Its center was Anspach.

Independent cities

 Anspach
 Eichstätt
 Erlangen
 Fürth
 Nüremberg
 Schwabach

Subdivisions
The district was divided in the following judicial districts (Landgerichte):

 Altdorf bei Nürnberg
 Anspach (outside the city)
 Markt Bibart
 Cadolzburg
 Dinkelsbühl
 Markt Erlbach
 Feuchtwangen
 Forchheim
 Gräfenberg
 Gunzenhausen
 Heilsbronn
 Herrieden
 Hersbruck
 Herzogenaurach
 Höchstadt an der Aisch
 Lauf an der Pegnitz
 Leutershausen
 Neustadt an der Aisch
 Nürnberger Land
 Rothenburg ob der Tauber
 Scheinfeld
 Uffenheim
 Wassertrüdingen
 Windsheim

History
In the years between 1806 and 1808, the Kingdom of Bavaria was divided into 15 (administrative) districts, whose names were taken from the local rivers. The Rezatkreis was bordered in the north by the Bavarian Mainkreis (Obermainkreis after 1817), in the east by the Pegnitzkreis and the Altmühlkreis (until 1810), in the south by the Bavarian Oberdonaukreis and in the west by the Württemberger Jagstkreis.  In 1817, the number of districts was reduced from eight to seven (with the Rheinpfalz).  The Pegnitzkreis and the northern part of the former Altmühlkreis (which had belonged since 1810 to the Oberdonaukreis) were added to the Rezatkreis.  Anspach was the district capital [Kreisstadt]. At the request of King Ludwig I, the Territorial Reorganization (Gebietsreform) was made on 29 November 1837.  Consequently, on 1 January 1838, the Rezatkreis became Mittelfranken [Upper Franconia], one of the seven current Regierungsbezirke of the Kingdom and later State of Bavaria.

Literature
 (de) Handbuch der bayerischen Ämter, Gemeinden und Gerichte 1799 - 1980 (Guide of the Bavarian Districts, Municipalities and Courts 1799 - 1980), written by Richard Bauer, Reinhard Heydenreuter, Gerhard Heyl, Emma Mages, Max Piendl, August Scherl, Bernhard Zittel and edited by Wilhelm Volkert, Senior Professor at the University of Regensburg, Munich, 1983,
 (de) Prof. Dr. Karl Friedrich Hohn: Der Retzatkreis des Königreichs Bayern: geographisch, statistisch und historisch beschrieben [The Retzatkreis of the Kingdom of Bavaria: Described Geographically, Historically and Statistically]. Nuremberg, 1829

Maps
 (en) Christoph Fembo (artist and editor), Johann W. Kneusel (engraver): Charte vom Rezatkreis. Mit der Eintheilung in Land- und Herrschafts-Gerichte. [Map of the Rezatkreis.  With the Division of State and Local Subdivisions] Charter of Rezatkreis. With the division into land and domination courts] Nuremberg, 1819 (digitized image from the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf [University and State Library of Düsseldorf]).

Kingdom of Bavaria

Rezatkreis


Devilance the Pursuer is a fictional extraterrestrial hunter in the DC Comics universe.

Publication history
Devilance first appeared in Forever People #11 (August 1972) and was created by Jack Kirby.

Fictional character biography
Devilance the Pursuer was once one of the most respected minions of Darkseid, lord of Apokolips, as the hunter who captured and brought back his prey to his master for many years. Devilance was tapped to track and destroy Darkseid's hated rivals, the Forever People. When he found them on an island in the Pacific Ocean, the Forever People switched places with the Infinity Man. Devilance and Infinity Man engaged in a terrible battle that destroyed the small island they were fighting on. Both of them appeared atomized and were presumed dead, although later Infinity Man returned to assist the Forever People again. Devilance was not seen for years.

Devilance resurfaces in DC's weekly comic series 52, where he is substantially larger than he was portrayed in the past. He is on a remote alien planet where Starfire, Adam Strange and Animal Man are stranded. It is revealed that Devilance has captured Starfire. Adam Strange and Animal Man search for her but fall victim to his traps and are also captured.

Three days and two nights by in-story time, Devilance seems to believe the trio saw something only the gods (such as himself) were meant to. Thus, being "The God of the Pursuit", Devilance took it upon himself to catch them. The team manage to burn Devilance's face and escape his clutches. They also steal his lance in hopes of using it as a power source for their space cruiser. Devilance is last seen bound by the very vines that once held his captives. It is also of note that, as Starfire stated during her escape, the whole planet they are on seems to be a trap set by Devilance himself.

He catches up with their spaceship only to be killed by Lobo.

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". In the pages of Dial H for Hero, Devilance was seen with DeSaad, Kalibak, Tigra, Steppenwolf, and the Parademons when Robby Reed's Mister Thunderbolt side used the Y-Dial to split Miguel Montez into the Reign of the Supermiguels during their raid on Apokolips.

Powers and abilities
Devilance the Pursuer has superhuman strength and a high degree of immunity to physical injury. Possibly much of his strength and resistance to injury is due to his ability to increase his own physical density. Devilance also has many undefined powers that enable his body to adjust to and undo the effects of various kinds of weaponry or super powers used against him. For example, his body can adjust to extreme temperatures.

Equipment
Devilance's principal weapon is his lance, which serves many functions. It can fire powerful energy blasts. It enables Devilance to fly by holding onto it. It contains circuitry enabling him to track down his victims. Other circuitry causes his lance to return to him if he is separated from it. Devilance can cause his lance's blade to glow with destructive energy. He can also mentally command the lance to leap onto an adversary and tightly coil itself about him.

References

External links
 Devilance at DC Comics Wiki
 Devilance at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe

New Gods of Apokolips
Comics characters introduced in 1972
Characters created by Jack Kirby
DC Comics aliens
DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
DC Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics deities
DC Comics demons
DC Comics extraterrestrial supervillains
Fictional hunters

Devilance


Nosson Tzvi Finkel (, Sephardic/Israeli: Natan Tzvi; ; 1849–1927) was an influential Lithuanian Jewish leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe and founder of the Slabodka yeshiva, in the town of Sloboda Vilyampolskaya (now Vilijampolė, a suburb of Kaunas). He is also known by the Yiddish appellation der Alter ("the Elder") and as the Alter of Slabodka. Many of his pupils were to become major leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the USA and Israel.

Early years
Rabbi Finkel was born in 1849 to Reb Moshe Finkel and was orphaned at an early age, not much is known about his formative years. At a young age, he went to study at the Kelm Talmud Torah under Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, "the Alter of Kelm."

Philosophical approach

Despite his influence, he was an intensely private person. Yet, he personally oversaw the complete student body of the yeshiva.

His motto was summed up in the words Gadlus HaAdam ("Greatness of Man"). He stressed the need for mussar (ethics), using works such as those of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, polishing the character traits of his students so that they would aspire to become gedolim - "great ones" in all areas of both scholarship, and personal ethics.

He spent ten out of every twelve months with his students full-time, only returning to his wife for the Jewish holidays. He had special agents who would keep an eye out all over Europe for teenagers with an aptitude for both scholarship and leadership, recruiting them and bringing them back to Slobodka. He attained unusual success, and his students subsequently reflected that he was a master of the human psyche and knew just which psychological buttons to press to give direction to his students' lives.

He would monitor the extracurricular behavior of students, judging their character faults and strengths. He was responsible for deciding which boys would share rooms together, weighing the strengths of one against the other. Some were chosen to be his personal assistants. He stressed the importance of outer appearance and the need for neatness and cleanliness. He did not want the image of the poor, tattered, down-trodden yeshiva bochur (yeshiva student) to be associated with the alumni of his institution. The rabbinical and Talmudical graduates of the Slobodka Yeshiva tried to live up to a higher code of dress and deportment, to the point of being accused of being dandies.

He would send teams of his trained prized pupils to places that needed a boost in religious observance and learning of Torah. His own son, Eliezer Yehudah (Leizer Yudel) Finkel eventually became the head of the far older Mir yeshiva, eventually leading it all the way to Jerusalem where it is today the largest post-high school yeshiva in the world with thousands of students.

Opposition

His main opponents in the "yeshiva world" were first and foremost Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and as a result the Brisk yeshivas, who were adamantly opposed to any changes in what they believed to be the time-tested ways of yeshiva education. To this day, the Brisk yeshivos, based mainly in Jerusalem today, do not teach mussar (ethics) as a separate curriculum, but focus on pure Talmud study.

Finkel's opponents argued that the pure focus on the Talmud would automatically create greatness in both scholarship and ethics. But Finkel believed that, while this might have been true in previous generations, the modern age was different. In his view, too many new enticing secular ideologies, such as Socialism and Zionism and the very real lure of atheism in universities, were becoming a replacement for traditional Judaism for many young Jews. He was determined to prove that what he had to offer was more appealing than anything the outside world could offer.

Land of Israel

Finkel staged one of the most dramatic moves in the history of yeshivos. In the 1920s he decided to create a branch of his yeshiva in the Land of Israel, together with the dean Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, setting it up in Hebron and sending waves of hand-picked students there, culminating with his own permanent aliyah, "going up", to the Holy Land two years before his passing.

In the region of Palestine he founded his own institution in the town of Hebron called Knesses Yisroel - "Gathering of Israel", which moved to Jerusalem following the massacre of Jews during the 1929 Palestine riots in which many of the yeshiva students were murdered. This yeshiva today, Yeshivas Chevron in Jerusalem, has about a thousand students and is one of the most prestigious Lithuanian yeshivos in Israel.

Influence

During his lifetime, he molded many who would eventually become the heads (roshei yeshiva) of most of the so-called Lithuanian-style yeshivas that were established in the United States and Israel during the 20th century, and which continue to grow dramatically in the 21st century. Some of the more famous students are:
 Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (son of the Alter) of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Mir and Jerusalem, Israel
 Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin of Brooklyn, New York
 Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn, New York
 Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan of Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, Germany
 Rabbi Aharon Kotler, of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey
 Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim: Rabbinical Seminary of America in  Queens
 Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, Maryland
 Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, head of Chevron Yeshiva, Jerusalem, Israel
 Rabbi Isaac Sher, head of the Slabodka Yeshiva of Bnei Brak, Israel
 Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg of Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, Germany

The Alter did not author any books or essays personally, but some of his ethical discourses were published under the name Ohr HaTzafun - "The Hidden Light" (also meaning "The Light of the Hidden (One)"). The word Ha-Tz[a]-F[u]-N also being the four initials of his name, but not in order ("Hirsh-Tzvi-Finkel-Nota"). The title alludes to the hidden and mysterious nature of its subject, as he used to sign his name as Hatzafun.

References

External links

Spending time in Slabodka
Learning from the Alter
1929 Palestine riots Slabodka victims
JTA news item March 1, 1927 - Rabbi Finkel, Former Head of Slobodka Yeshiva, Dies.
Article from Hebron.com - The Slabodka Yeshiva and the Renaissance of Hebron.

1849 births
1927 deaths
Musar movement
Haredi rabbis in Europe
Haredi rabbis in Mandatory Palestine
Mashgiach ruchani
Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives
Lithuanian Haredi rabbis
People from Raseiniai
Academic staff of Slabodka yeshiva
Rabbis from Kaunas

Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Slabodka)


Alonzo Granville Draper (September 6, 1835 – September 3, 1865) was a volunteer officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War who eventually earned the grade of brevet brigadier general.  During his early career, Draper was an outspoken advocate of various social causes, particularly worker's rights.  As an officer during the Civil War, Draper was best known as the commander of the 36th United States Colored Troops.

Early career
Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Draper eventually moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. He was known as an eloquent speaker and became a local leader of several social causes including temperance and labor rights.  In 1859, Draper was elected the first chairman of the Lynn Mechanics Association.  In connection with this position, he also became editor of the New England Mechanic, a publication dealing with the rights of industrial laborers.  Draper was one of the key leaders of the New England Shoemakers Strike of 1860, the first significant movement of its kind.  The political popularity he earned as a champion of worker's rights helped him to become assistant city marshal in Lynn.

A few years before the Civil War, Draper married Sarah Elizabeth Andrews of Boston.  They would have six children including one set of twins.

Civil War service
Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, Draper began recruiting a company of volunteer soldiers in Lynn.  Draper was commissioned captain on July 5, 1861, and his company became Company C of the 14th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The regiment trained at Fort Warren in Boston and departed for Washington, D.C., in August 1861. Soon after arriving in Washington, the 14th Massachusetts was assigned to garrison duty at Fort Albany in Arlington, Virginia, which was one of many fortifications defending the capital. The regiment spent months training in the use of heavy artillery and therefore, in January 1862, was re-organized and became the 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery. On January 16, 1863, he was promoted to the grade of major.

In the summer of 1863, Brig. Gen. Edward A. Wild, also from Massachusetts, organized the creation of several units of North Carolina infantry regiments consisting of African-American volunteers who would fight for the Union. Draper desired to lead one of these regiments and sought the support of Governor John Albion Andrew of Massachusetts. Writing Gov. Andrew, Draper described his passion for abolitionism and his desire to support the rights of African-Americans. On August 2, 1863, he became colonel of the 2nd North Carolina Colored Volunteers. According to historian Richard Reid, Draper lived up to his promises, working to enlist freed slaves in his own and other African-American units, defending the men in his regiment in the face of racism on the part of other soldiers and officers, and implementing programs to educate former slaves in his unit.  At the same time, Draper was also a harsh disciplinarian, dealing strictly with the men under his command.

During their service in Virginia and North Carolina in 1863, the 2nd North Carolina was mainly assigned to expeditions in rural areas aimed at capturing and dispersing Confederate guerrillas and recruiting additional African-American soldiers from the large numbers of freed slaves. Draper led one such expedition in November 1863, commanding two regiments of African-American troops through Princess Anne County, Virginia (now Virginia Beach). The expedition was highly successful and Draper earned praise from his superiors.  The expeditions also brought controversy due to alleged harsh treatment of Confederate sympathizers, their families and their property. Draper was under orders from his superior officer, Wild, to execute guerrillas and arrest civilians lending aid to guerrillas. In December 1863, Draper was involved in a dispute with Lieutenant Colonel Frederick F. Wead, commander of the 98th New York Infantry and a garrison post at Pungo, Virginia. After a raid nearby Pungo, at Knotts Island, North Carolina, Draper took a female civilian hostage in retribution for the capture of several of his soldiers.  Wead objected to this and brought charges against Draper. Major General Benjamin Butler intervened in Draper's favor and had Wead transferred to New York.

Draper also received a transfer as a result of the controversy.  In March 1864, Draper and his regiment (which had, in February 1864 been renamed the 36th United States Colored Troops) were transferred to garrison duty at Point Lookout, Maryland, a Union prisoner of war camp.  Draper there served as commandant for three months until June 1864.  Through the support of his mentor, Butler, Draper eventually secured a transfer away from this undesirable post and in the spring of 1864 the 36th USCT was assigned to combat duty with the Army of the James as part of the XVIII Corps.  In 1864 and 1865, the 36th USCT took part in the ending phase of the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign. For much of this time, Draper commanded the brigade, consisting of three regiments of African-American troops, to which the 36th USCT belonged.

During the Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road on October 28, 1864, near Richmond, Draper was commended for gallant service. He later received the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general, dating from October 28 in recognition of his leadership at Fair Oaks.

In February 1865, Draper was again involved in a controversy with fellow officers. This time, Draper brought charges against Wild who was, by that time, a division commander. Draper charged Wild with "conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline." Wild, according to Draper, had slandered Draper's reputation by insinuating that he was malicious and biased in his behavior towards other officers. As a result of the charges, Wild was relieved of command of his division and demoted to command of a brigade.

Post-war
After the war, Draper remained in army and was mortally wounded on August 30, 1865, in Brazos Santiago, Texas, by an accidental gunshot wound by soldiers in target practice. He died on September 3, 1865. Draper was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Draper is portrayed in Black Cloud Rising, 2022 historic fiction by David Wright Faladé. Draper is the commanding officer of the protagonist and narrator, Richard Etheridge, who was among the first enlistees in the African Brigade, later known as 36th U.S. Colored Troops. The plot follows them from March 1863 to the time of Draper's death.

See also

List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War
Massachusetts in the American Civil War

Notes

References

External links

Union Army generals
People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War
1835 births
1865 deaths
People from Brattleboro, Vermont
Firearm accident victims in the United States
Deaths by firearm in Texas
Accidental deaths in Texas
People from Lynn, Massachusetts

Alonzo G. Draper


Cynthia Ann Birdsong (born December 15, 1939) is a retired American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard. Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebells.

Biography

Early life
Birdsong was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey on December 15, 1939, to parents Lloyd Birdsong, Sr. and Annie Birdsong. After living in Philadelphia for a duration of her childhood, the family returned to New Jersey, settling in Camden. Birdsong set her sights on becoming a nurse and attending college in Pennsylvania. When Cindy returned to Philadelphia she was contacted by a longtime friend, Patsy Holt, in 1960 to replace Sundray Tucker in Holt's singing group The Ordettes. At twenty years of age, Birdsong was the oldest member of the group with the remainder of the group still in their mid-teens.

Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells
In 1961, after a year performing in jubilees, sock hops and school functions, the Ordettes, then managed by respected music manager Bernard Montague, who later managed several other Philadelphia-based groups such as The Stylistics and The Delfonics, got their first deal with Harold Robinson's Newtown Records. Robinson almost rejected the group due to him not being initially impressed with the look of Patsy Holt — until she and the group sang to him during an audition, which prompted Robinson to change his mind. Robinson signed the group but changed the name of the group to The Bluebells (a name taken from a Newtown subsidiary, Blue Belle Records) and insisted Holt adopt a stage name, Patti LaBelle. The group had their first hit with "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" in 1962 though Patti LaBelle wrote in her memoirs that the song was actually recorded by The Starlets. When the controversy over the song wound down, the group found a hit with the ballad, "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)". Birdsong was noted for her high soprano vocals in the background.

From 1963 until 1966, The Blue Belles, later known as Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells, found relative success on the charts and were raved for their live performances. After first performing at the Apollo Theater in 1961, the group became regular headliners at the world-famous venue, earning the nickname, The Sweethearts of the Apollo. Following the success of "Down the Aisle", the group had follow-up success with "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Danny Boy" before leaving their second label, Cameo-Parkway, for a more lucrative deal with Atlantic Records.

Cindy Birdsong first met The Supremes when The Bluebells opened for them in 1963, and again when the two groups travelled together throughout 1965–1966. Patti LaBelle has noted that a rivalry between the two groups developed after The Supremes were seen in the same store where LaBelle and her band members were shopping for clothes for performances. Group members reportedly were angry when The Supremes showed up on stage wearing the same outfits that The Bluebells wore. The group also befriended a fellow Motown alumnus and Philly native, Tammi Terrell during that same period. The Bluebells had some success after joining Atlantic in 1965, recording two relatively successful albums, 1966's Over the Rainbow and 1967's Dreamer scoring modest charted singles such as "All or Nothing", "Take Me a Little While" and "I'm Still Waiting".

Starting in mid and late 1966, Birdsong began to appear as a stand-in vocalist for Supremes founder Florence Ballard when Ballard's bout with alcoholism and depression caused her to miss important gigs. In 1967, Birdsong abruptly left The Bluebells to join Diana Ross and The Supremes as Ballard's official replacement. Birdsong said that the remaining Bluebells were angry with her for not telling them about joining The Supremes and refused to talk to her for years. Later, after the group changed their name to Labelle and moved into funk and rock music, they recorded member Nona Hendryx's composition, "(Can I Speak To You Before You Go To) Hollywood", which was allegedly based on the story of Birdsong's departure. Birdsong and lead singer Patti LaBelle repaired their friendship in the early 1980s after Birdsong appeared at one of LaBelle's sold-out, standing-room-only concerts. In 1999, Birdsong and the other Bluebells received a Pioneer Award from the R&B Foundation and were honored by Lauryn Hill.

Diana Ross & The Supremes (1967–1970)

For her first two and a half years as a Supreme, listeners did not hear Birdsong's voice on most of The Supremes' newest singles. Except for featured backgrounds on several collaborations with The Temptations, live album tracks, and some studio LP tracks, Birdsong and fellow member Mary Wilson did not sing backing vocals on the group's later singles. Session singers The Andantes substituted for Mary and Cindy on many, although not on all, cuts in subsequent Diana Ross & The Supremes albums.  Both the Let the Sunshine In album and the Cream of the Crop album include tracks on which Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong sing back-up, often in tandem with the Andantes. However, Cindy can be heard doing a brief solo during "Let the Sunshine In" on their Farewell performance.

Post Diana Ross: The "new" Supremes (1970–1972; 1973–1976)
In 1970, Jean Terrell replaced Diana Ross as lead singer of The Supremes. In the new group, both Mary and Cindy's voices were heard more prominently, including the three albums the group recorded with the Four Tops.  The same year, Birdsong married Charles Hewlett. Birdsong continued to perform with the Supremes when she became pregnant with her son, David, Birdsong officially leaving The Supremes in April 1972, after completing the Floy Joy album's recording sessions.

Her replacement, Lynda Laurence, who is Sundray Tucker's sister, had already joined Mary Wilson and Jean Terrell onstage and on the Floy Joy album cover, as Birdsong's pregnancy became visible. After a brief hiatus, Birdsong returned to The Supremes in November 1973, replacing a pregnant Laurence and remaining with The Supremes until she retired in February 1976, frustrated with her dealings with Mary Wilson's then-husband Pedro Ferrer, who was serving as the group's manager; coincidentally, a few days before Birdsong's official departure, Florence Ballard died of cardiac arrest at the age of 32 while experiencing a financial and personal recovery. During that period, Birdsong contributed to two albums: The Supremes (1975) and High Energy (1976). During this timeframe, Cindy recorded lead vocals on a version of "High Energy", however her version could not be found until the alternate take with her vocals surfaced on a 1970s Supremes CD compilation years later. Although Birdsong is vocally present on the entire High Energy album, her replacement Susaye Greene, whose voice is only heard on the title song as well as "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do The Walking", appears on the album cover.

Later career

In June 1977, Mary Wilson performed a "farewell" concert with The Supremes (by then Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene) and thereafter embarked on a solo career. Later that fall, Wilson was forced to play several Supremes dates, most notably in the country of Chile, that Payne and Greene would not fulfill on such short notice. Rather than risk lawsuits, Wilson recruited Birdsong and Debbie Sharpe as her backups.

After leaving The Supremes, Birdsong worked at UCLA Medical Center under her married name of Cindy Hewlett, and then went to work for Suzanne de Passe at Motown Records.

In 1983, Birdsong joined fellow former Supremes Mary Wilson and Diana Ross in a one-off reunion on the Motown 25 anniversary television special.

In 1986, she was an original member of the Former Ladies of the Supremes along with Jean Terrell and Scherrie Payne but left to pursue a solo career in singing. Once again, she was replaced by Lynda Laurence in the group.

In 1987, Birdsong returned to singing, and released the single "Dancing Room" on Hi-Hat Records. Other songs were demoed, but none released. These songs included "Ready For You", "Check It Out", "Talk is Cheap", and "Anatomy". During this time, Cindy made several high-profile appearances, performing at the Hippodrome, London, where she had performed several years earlier as a Supreme at "London's Talk of the Town". Former singing partner Diana Ross was in attendance for this performance. She also sang a medley of Supremes hits and her new single on a television talk show hosted by Regis Philbin and his wife Joy.

In 1999, she reunited with The Bluebells, who changed their name to Labelle after Birdsong's departure, for the first time in thirty-two years as the group accepted an R&B Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement, singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" together.

In 2004, Birdsong joined Mary Wilson and Kelly Rowland (of Destiny's Child) to perform a medley of Supreme hits for the Motown 45 anniversary television special.

Cindy currently resides in the Los Angeles area.

Personal life
Birdsong married Charles Hewlett in August 1970 in San Francisco. In attendance were then singing partners Jean Terrell and Mary Wilson. This was Birdsong's first marriage and Hewlett's second. Birdsong filed for divorce in March 1975, citing "irreconcilable differences". The couple have one son, David, born in 1972.

In June 2023, The New York Times printed a full length article on Birdsong's health and financial status. Her family revealed that she suffered several debilitating strokes, and expressed frustration with Birdsong's longtime caretaker and roommate Rochelle Lander who they said was preventing family support.  A hearing on her conservatorship has been set for August 2023.

Kidnapping
On December 2, 1969, Birdsong was kidnapped while returning to her apartment with her then-boyfriend (later husband) Charles Hewlett and their friend, Howard Meek. The intruder, wielding a knife, forced Birdsong to tie up the two, then forced her downstairs into her car. Birdsong managed to unlock the car door and jump out of the vehicle onto the highway to safety. Four days later, on December 6, 1969, Charles Collier, a maintenance man at Birdsong's apartment, contacted police and turned himself in.

In popular culture

In the 1980s, Cindy appeared on the PTL Network and was interviewed by Tammy Faye Bakker. Cindy "testified", then later in the program, sang a spiritual hymn.

In a 1989 episode of Designing Women entitled "The Wilderness Experience", the character of Anthony (played by actor Meshach Taylor) poses as "Cindy Birdsong".

Discography

Patti LaBelle & The Bluebells

Albums
1963: Sweethearts of the Apollo
1963: Sleigh Bells, Jingle Bells & Bluebells
1965: On Stage
1966: Over the Rainbow
1967: Dreamer

Singles
1962: "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman"
1962: "I Found a New Love"
1962: "Tear After Tear"
1963: "Cool Water"
1963: "Decatur Street"
1963: "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)"
1964: "You'll Never Walk Alone"
1964: "One Phone Call (Will Do)"
1964: "Danny Boy"
1965: "All or Nothing"
1966: "Over the Rainbow"
1966: "Ebb Tide"
1966: "I'm Still Waiting"
1966: "Take Me for a Little While"
1967: "Always Something There to Remind Me"
1967: "Dreamer"
1967: "Oh My Love"

Diana Ross & The Supremes

Albums
1968: Reflections
1968: Live at London's Talk of the Town
1968: Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing and Perform "Funny Girl"
1968: Diana Ross & The Supremes Join The Temptations (w/ The Temptations)
1968: Love Child
1968: TCB (w/ The Temptations)
1969: Let the Sunshine In
1969: Together (w/ The Temptations)
1969: Cream of the Crop
1969: G.I.T. on Broadway (w/ The Temptations)
1970: Farewell

Singles
(All singles with The Temptations)
1968: "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"
1969: "I'll Try Something New"
1969: "The Weight"
1969: "I Second That Emotion"
1970: "Why (Must We Fall in Love)"

The Supremes

Albums
1970: Right On
1970: The Magnificent 7 (w/ The Four Tops)
1970: New Ways but Love Stays
1971: The Return of the Magnificent Seven (w/ the Four Tops)
1971: Touch
1971: Dynamite (w/ The Four Tops)
1972: Floy Joy
1975: The Supremes
1976: High Energy

Singles
1970: "Up the Ladder to the Roof"
1970: "Everybody's Got the Right to Love"
1970: "Stoned Love"
1970: "River Deep – Mountain High" (w/ The Four Tops)
1971: "Nathan Jones"
1971: "You Gotta Have Love in Your Heart" (w/ The Four Tops)
1971: "Touch"
1971: "Floy Joy"
1972: "Automatically Sunshine"
1972: "Without the One You Love" (w/ The Four Tops)
1972: "Your Wonderful, Sweet Sweet Love"
1975: "He's My Man"
1975: "Where Do I Go from Here"
1975: "Early Morning Love"
1976: "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking"
1976: "High Energy"

Solo

Singles
1987: "Dancing Room"

References

External links

1939 births
Living people
African-American women singers
American nurses
American women nurses
Musicians from Camden, New Jersey
People from Mount Holly, New Jersey
Camden High School (New Jersey) alumni
The Supremes members
Labelle members
Singers from Philadelphia
Singers from New Jersey
Motown artists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
African-American nurses

Cindy Birdsong


Alfred Dorfer (; 11 October 1961) is an Austrian comedian, writer, and actor. He is one of the most well-known cabaret artists and comedians in Austria, not least due to his commitment to numerous Austrian film productions. After initial success with the group Schlabarett he attained more widespread recognition  as the writer and star (alongside Josef Hader) of the film Indien.

Film
In 1993 Dorfer appeared alongside Josef Hader in the film Indien under the direction of Paul Harather. A year later came the film  Muttertag (Mother's Day), in which he appeared alongside such other prominent Austrian actors and comedians as Roland Düringer, Andrea Händler and Reinhard Nowak. In 1995 he appeared in Freispiel ("Freegame") under the direction of Harald Sicheritz, once more appearing alongside Roland Düringer.

Television
From 2004 to 2010 he presented a show on the Austrian channel ORF called Dorfers Donnerstalk on Thursday nights, which was a mix of stand-up comedy, sketches and social commentary.

References

External links
 Official homepage

1961 births
Austrian comedians
Austrian male film actors
Living people
Male actors from Vienna

Alfred Dorfer


Thomas Spitzer (born 6 April 1953 in Graz, Styria) is an Austrian lyricist, composer, singer, guitarist and graphic designer.  He is a founding member the band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (EAV), whose lyrics, album artwork and illustrations come almost exclusively from him.

Life
Spitzer was born in 1953 in Graz, Austria. His music career began in the Styrian rock band "Mephisto", where he played alongside Gert Steinbäcker.  In April 1977 he was guitarist of the group "Antipasta".  Shortly thereafter, broke up the band and Spitzer joined with Eik Breit, Nino Holm and Anders Stenmo and formed Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung.

Spitzer studied graphic design at the Art Academy in Graz and actually wanted to be a painter.  As a thesis, he submitted in 1980 the album EAV Café Passé, stage and costume designs as well as recording the live show as a multimedia project and was given the graphic artist's diploma.  In 2008 he first exhibited his prints of the EAV as part of an opening.

Since 1992, Spitzer has been living in Kenya for several months in the year. When he is not living in Kenya, he lives in Feldbach, Austria. He has a daughter and a son.

Career
Thomas Spitzer is known for his satirical lyrics.  In addition to his work for the Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung, he also wrote for other Austrian artists, such as Udo Jürgens and his song "Café Größenwahn".   On the occasion of the "1000 years of Austria," jubilee, he wrote "Tu Felix Austria", which was then recorded together with Wolfgang Ambros, Gert Steinbäcker, and Opus.  The text of Carl Peyers's Austropop hit "Romeo and Juliet" was also from Spitzer.

Spitzer is also known for his use of dialect words and intentionally induced grammatical inaccuracies, the lyrics give the local colour.  A lot of this can be seen in his songs written for Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung.  This is sometimes done for humorous purposes.

Despite the many humorous works Spitzer has written, he is not a pure comical songwriter.  Many of the EAV songs are of a corporate and anti-church nature and are directed against right-wing extremists.  Some songs also contain strong language and sexual references.

References

External links

Official Website of EAV and EAV Fanclub (in German)
Unofficial fan site (in German)
The Beginnings of Ersten Allgemeinen Verunsicherung (in German)

1953 births
Living people
Austrian graphic designers
Austrian male musicians
Austrian songwriters
Austrian male songwriters
Musicians from Graz
Artists from Graz

Thomas Spitzer


Rock-A-Bye Baby is a 1958 American musical comedy film starring Jerry Lewis. A loose remake of Preston Sturges' film The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), the film was directed and written by Frank Tashlin, and features Marilyn Maxwell, Connie Stevens and Reginald Gardiner.

Plot
Clayton Poole is a small-town TV repairman whose former sweetheart, Carla Naples, is now a famous movie star.  Carla has cultivated a reputation as a virgin who does not have affairs or carouse with men in typical Hollywood fashion.  On a romantic fling, she secretly marries Carlos, a famous Mexican bullfighter; the next morning the couple agree it was unwise and plan to have it annulled, but her husband dies that day in a bull-fight. Distraught, Carla tore up her marriage license, not realizing she was pregnant; there's no legal documentation to legitimize the child. Her agent, Harold Herman tries to avoid a scandal by sending Carla into the country to give birth.  He suggests that they send the baby back to the town where she grew up, Midvale, Indiana. The cover story will be that she is going into seclusion to prepare for her next role, the lead in a controversial religious epic The White Virgin of the Nile.  After, she can adopt her baby.  Carla says that her sister is too young and her father hasn't forgiven her for becoming a movie star, so Carla decides on Clayton to take care of her baby.

After she gives birth, Carla asks if Clayton will help her.  Still professing his undying devotion, Clayton agrees to care for the child.  He is very surprised to discover that it is triplets, not one baby.  Carla's sister, Sandy, offers to help Clayton (she is in love with him and will do anything to get his attention).

Clayton works very hard to take care of the triplets, taking on extra work and attending a course on motherhood at a local college, but Midvale's child services want to place them with a well-to-do two-parent family.  He earns the respect of Carla's father in his efforts to care for the triplets; both he and Carla's sister, Sandy, support Clayton keeping the babies.

On the final court day, the Naples family jump in to rescue Clayton and the triplets.  Sandy enters the court in a wedding gown, pursued by her father, who is carrying a shotgun and claims that the babies are Sandy's.  The Judge marries them, the implication being that they can keep the triplets.  Meanwhile, Carla has seen the Midvale news and is afraid that her triplets will be taken from Clayton.  She releases a press statement that triplets are hers and that she and Clayton are secretly married.  Now suspected of bigamy, Clayton goes into hiding with the triplets.

Then, truth comes out: in the wake of the bigamy scandal, Mexican authorities reveal Carla's secret marriage to Carlos, so Clayton isn't a bigamist, nor is he the father of the triplets, nor are the triplets illegitimate.  Harold (Carla's agent), who is in love with Carla, proposes. She accepts. Clayton then realizes that he's actually in love with Sandy, who has always loved him, not Carla.  While taking a romantic walk and wondering when they can marry, they realize that they are married.  Nine months later, Sandy gives birth to quintuplets. A statue of Clayton and his five babies is erected in front of the town courthouse, as Midvale's Hero.

Cast
Jerry Lewis as Clayton Poole
Marilyn Maxwell as Carla Naples
Connie Stevens as Sandra Naples
Salvatore Baccaloni as Gigi "Papa" Naples
Reginald Gardiner as Harold Hermann
Hans Conried as Mr. Wright
Isobel Elsom as Mrs. Van Cleeve
James Gleason as Doc Simpkins
Ida Moore as Miss Bessie Polk
Hope Emerson as Mrs. Rogers, instructor at child care clinic
Alex Gerry as Judge Jenkins
Mary Treen as Nurse
Judy Franklin as Young Carla Naples
Gary Lewis as Young Clayton

Cast notes:
Two of the original Keystone Kops, Hank Mann and Chester Conklin, have bit parts.
Jerry Lewis' son Gary Lewis plays "Clayton Poole" as a boy in a fantasy sequence.
A picture of comedian Jack Benny was used as a photograph of "Carlos", the Mexican bullfighter that Carla married, and the father of her triplets.
George Sanders is listed in some cast lists for the film, but his part was cut before the movie was released, as was a small part played by Jerry Lewis' father, Danny.

Production
Rock-A-Bye Baby was loosely based on the Preston Sturges' film The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), which starred Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton.

Rock-a-Bye Baby was filmed from November 18, 1957 through January 8, 1958, and opened in Los Angeles on July 16, 1958, followed by a premiere in New York City on July 23. It entered general release shortly afterwards. The film was re-released in 1962 on a double bill with another Jerry Lewis film, Don't Give Up The Ship.

Songs and music
The songs in Rock-A-Bye Baby were written by Harry Warren (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics):

"Rock-a-Bye Baby" – sung by Jerry Lewis
"The Land of La-La-La" – sung by Jerry Lewis and Gary Lewis
"Love Is a Lonely Thing" – sung by Jerry Lewis
"Dormi, Dormi, Dormi (Sleep-Sleep-Sleep)" – sung by Salvatore Baccaloni and Jerry Lewis
"Why Can't He Care for Me?" – sung by Connie Stevens
"The White Virgin of the Nile" – sung by Marilyn Maxwell
"Rock My Baby, Rock" – sung by Jerry Lewis

Songs and music notes:
Another song by Warren and Cahn, "Me and My Baby", was written for the film but not used.
The musical numbers in the film were staged by Nicholas Castle, Sr.
Because of a musician's strike, Walter Scharf's score had to be recorded in Mexico City in March 1958, causing union musicians to picket a preview of the film in Los Angeles on June 3, 1958.  Some reports maintain that Lewis himself conducted the 100-piece orchestra.
"Rock My Baby, Rock" is a spoof of rock and roll music, with Lewis fronting a group dressed and equipped in similar fashion to Bill Haley & His Comets, and incorporating a drum solo performed by Lewis.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 63% rating based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 5.70/10.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 14, 2012 through the Olive Films company.

References

External links

1958 films
American musical comedy films
1958 musical comedy films
Remakes of American films
Films directed by Frank Tashlin
Paramount Pictures films
Films with screenplays by Frank Tashlin
Films based on works by Preston Sturges
Films produced by Jerry Lewis
Films scored by Walter Scharf
1950s English-language films
1950s American films

Rock-A-Bye Baby (film)


Saul Rosenzweig (1907–2004) was an American psychologist and therapist who studied subjects such as repression, psychotherapy, and aggression. Rosenzweig, who, with a co-author, has been credited with being the first to attempt to "elicit repression" in a laboratory setting, became well known after publishing a paper discussing "common factors" underlying competing approaches to psychotherapy.

Biography
Rosenzweig, a friend and classmate of B.F. Skinner, earned his doctorate from Harvard College in 1932. He worked at Worcester State Hospital and Clark University before becoming the chief psychologist at the Western State Psychiatric Institute.

Rosenzweig taught at Washington University in St. Louis from 1948 until he retired in 1975.
He died on August 9, 2004, at the age of 97.

Work
In the 1930s, Rosenzweig studied repression. With G. Mason, Rosenzweig criticized H. Meltzer's survey of studies of repression in an article published in the British Journal of Psychology. Rosenzweig and Mason argued that the studies reviewed by Meltzer worked with sensory stimuli unrelated to the theory of repression, and "failed to develop under laboratory control the experiences which are subsequently to be tested for recall." Donald W. MacKinnon and William F. Dukes credit Rosenzweig and Mason with being "the first to make an explicit attempt to elicit repression under conditions of laboratory control and observation." Sigmund Freud was sent reprints of Rosenzweig's attempts to study repression, but replied to Rosenzweig that while he had examined his "experimental studies for the verification of the psychoanalytic assertions with interest" he could not "put much value on these confirmations because the wealth of reliable observations on which these assertions rest make them independent of experimental verification."

Rosenzweig became well known after publishing a paper discussing "common factors" underlying competing approaches to psychotherapy. He argued that all models of therapy could be equally successful, due to competent therapists sharing common factors that aided their patients.  His premise became known as the Dodo Bird Verdict or Dodo Bird Hypothesis — a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), in which a dodo bird declares at the end of a race designed to dry everyone off: "Everybody has won and all must have prizes."

Rosenzweig's study of aggression led to the development of the Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study, a test of latent hostility.  The Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study is usually considered a semi-projective technique and involves an examinee responding verbally to a semi-ambiguous picture scenario. Each of the three forms (child, adolescent, and adult) consists of 24 comic strip pictures that portray a situation that might induce frustration. The overall purpose of the study is to assess how the examinee responds to frustration and frustrating situations. The test assumes that the way that the examinee responds to each frustrating situation depicts how they behave in the face of frustration. The worth of this test is based on how aggression is conceptualized into three types. The first direction of aggression can be extragressive meaning that it is turned onto the environment. The second direction is intraggressive meaning that it is turned by the examinee onto the self. The final direction is imaggressive which means that it is evaded in an attempt to gloss over the frustration. In terms of reliability and validity, the P-F Study interscorer reliability is in the range of .80 to .85. The test-retest reliability is fair to marginal. The test became popular in Europe and was featured in Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange (1971).

A collection of Rosenzweig's papers has been maintained in the Archives of the History of American Psychology, at the University of Akron. This comprises a collection of papers from 1929 to 2003, in five series:
 Correspondence
 Foundation for Idiodynamics Personality Theory, and Creativity in Literature
 Psychoarchaeology
 Sexology
 Reprints

References

Further reading

External links
 Saul Rosenzweig on the history of social work timeline

1907 births
2004 deaths
20th-century American psychologists
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Clark University faculty
Washington University in St. Louis faculty
Analysands of Sigmund Freud

Saul Rosenzweig


The Mass in B minor (BWV 232) (usually called Hohe Messe in German) is a large composition by Johann Sebastian Bach for choir, orchestra and vocal soloists. The words are in Latin and Greek (first movement only). They are the traditional words of the Mass.

Bach did not plan the Mass in B minor as one continuous work. Parts of it were composed in 1724. He put the movements together just before his death. It is one of the greatest musical works ever written.

Other websites
 Mass in B minor: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information)

Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach
Choral compositions
Masses (music)

Mass in B minor


Securum was a Swedish state company founded in 1992 during the financial crisis in Sweden 1990–1994 for the purpose of taking on and unwinding bad debt from the partly state-owned Nordbanken bank. It followed a proposal made to the Swedish authorities by McKinsey & Co and based on better practices from the US banking crises of the 1980s (e.g., Savings & Loan, Resolution Trust Company and Mellon Bank). Many of the debts were owed by real-estate companies and it became a goal for Securum to stabilize the property market. The company was established when Anne Wibble was Finance Minister and Per Westerberg was Minister for Business and Industry in the Government of Carl Bildt.

The company took over a quarter of the bank's credit portfolio, comprising 3000 credits with 1274 companies (of which 790 were listed companies, the biggest of which was Nobel Industries to the value of 24 billion Swedish kronor). Securum had a share capital of 24 billion kronor from the Swedish state as well as 27 billion in credits. That would be enough to get through the crisis during a period of 10 to 15 years.

Securum's design was quite particular and followed proven success factors for a "bad bank": speed and independence to isolate the problem exposures, while simultaneously protecting capital and liquidity of the surviving "good bank" and its operations. In addition, The company management were given free hands. A large number of the credits were unwound by the summer of 1994. Five flotations were executed: Nobelpharma – today Nobel Biocare – Servisair and three property companies: Castellum AB, Norrporten as well as Pandox. By the summer of 1997, Securum itself could be wound down.

See also

Bad bank
Swedish banking rescue

References

 Clas Bergström, Peter Englund, Per Thorell, Securum. Och vägen ut ur bankkrisen, 2002, Studieförbundet Näringsliv och Samhälle,
 Stortingets granskningskommisjon for bankkrisen A Norwegian report about the banking crisis in different countries. (PDF)

External links

 Securum and the way out of the Swedish banking crisis, summary of report (PDF)

Government-owned companies of Sweden
Bad banks

Securum


The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in 1923 in Switzerland's city Lausanne, after Turkey had won the Greco-Turkish War in 1919 to 1922. It settles the border between Greece and Turkey and the other borders of Turkey. Other countries that signed the treaty were Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Yugoslavia.

Greece and Turkey still have disputes that are often focused on the question over the country that owns islands and rocks, most of which are uninhabited, in the Aegean Sea. In 1987 and 1996, those disputes almost led to military conflict.

1920s in Greece
1920s in Turkey
1923
1920s treaties

Treaty of Lausanne


St Michael's College () is a voluntary Catholic boys' school, with an associated primary school, located on Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4, Ireland. Founded in 1944 by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (The Spiritans) as a second feeder school along with Willow Park, it was initially a primary school to Blackrock College. The first eight pupils were transferred from Willow Park. The next September, 58 boys were enrolled. In 1952 the first secondary school pupils were admitted. Following expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, the school developed both a primary and secondary school. It has been extensively expanded, including the opening of a cafeteria, a sports pavilion, as well as new classrooms and a new gym.

History

1950s and 1960s
In 1952–53 St. Michael's had its first boys go into First Year, which became the origin of the senior school, which contained just eight pupils that first year. By 1963, the school was growing. For the first time a second First Year class was created. In 1967–68, the school started constructing a new wing, which included the assembly hall and swimming pool. From 1944–68, St. Michael's had continued to be a junior school which had served as far as Second Year, but in 1968 it was decided that pupils would stay in St. Michael's until after the Intermediate Certificate (4th Year). In 1970–71, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid blessed and opened the new junior school and swimming pool. In December 1970, Seamus Galvin was appointed the first president (1970–1976), and this was the first time St Michael's officially became an independent school and community from Blackrock College.

1970s and 1980s
In 1972–73 the school started construction of the new library, classrooms and science rooms. In 1974–75 Archbishop Dermot Ryan opened the new buildings. In 1975, pupils from St. Michael's sat the Leaving Certificate for the first time. The following year, Cyril Sheedy became superior of St Michael's, Laurence McHugh was appointed principal of the junior school with Fr Flood appointed principal of the senior school.

In 1982 Aidan Lehane was appointed principal of the senior school until 1991. Seamus Galvin became the first president of the Past Pupils' Union in 1986. In 1991 while the Senior Cup team were defeated in the final against Clongowes, the Junior Cup team won the first title against Clongowes. The following year (1991–92), Willie Bradley was appointed principal of the senior school. Mairéad Burke was appointed principal of the junior school 1992–93. Lehane was appointed manager of St Michael's later that same year. In 1993–94, St Michael's celebrated its Golden Jubilee.

1990s and 2000s
Michael Duggan was appointed superior in 1995. In 1995–96 Mr. Len Howard was appointed Principal of the Senior School, with Mr. Noel Turley as Vice Principal and Fr. Lehane appointed as manager of the school. In 1997–98, Fr. Billy Cleary was appointed manager of the school. The start of the building of the new school began in 1998–99.

The following year Ms. Lorna Heslin was appointed Deputy Principal of the Junior School. In 2000–01 the new school building was opened. Fr. Pat Palmer dedicated the new college chapel, Cardinal Desmond Connell blessed the new building and President Mary McAleese visited the school. In 2001–02, Fr Bradley was appointed manager of the school. The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visited the school. The Junior Cup team defeated Castleknock in the final for a second Junior Cup title. In 2001–02 Tim Kelleher was appointed principal of the senior school and Sheila Murray as deputy principal.

The following year, boards of management were set up for both the senior and junior schools. 2006–07 St Michael's won their first-ever Senior Cup and had a school record of 5 players playing for the Irish U-19s in the U-19s World Cup hosted in Belfast that summer.

Academics
The school was ranked ninth in Ireland in terms of the number of students who progressed to third level and by the types of institutions to which the students progressed.

Extra-curricular activities
Sports played include rugby, basketball and Gaelic sports.

Rugby
The school has a strong rugby playing tradition, having won the Leinster Schools Junior Cup six times: in 1991, 2002, 2012, 2017, 2019 and 2022 in addition to reaching 6 JCT finals in a row up to 2012. In addition to the run of finals 2007-2012 the school has also finished runners up in the Leinster Schools Junior Cup in 1986, 2000 and 2016. The school has won the Leinster Schools Senior Cup three times first in 2007, when Noel Reid kicked all six of the game's points, and again in 2012 when Dan Leavy captained the team beating Clongowes Wood College in the final. In 2019 the school won the cup for the third time, beating Gonzaga College.

In 2013, St Michael's reached the Senior Cup Final with captain Ross Molony but narrowly missed out on a second consecutive victory to Blackrock College. The school were runners-up in 1988, 1991, 2006 & 2010. The school participates in an U13s (now U14s) Cup rugby competition organised and played by Spiritian schools; Templeogue, St Mary's, Willow Park (Blackrock) and Rockwell colleges.

In 2016 St Michael's has invested heavily in on site sporting facilities and has now astro-turf all weather training, astro-turf all-weather pitch and scrummaging areas, modern weights and a gym zone, in addition to a new sports pavilion housing modern changing facilities and showers. In addition St Michael's has a number of rugby pitches and training areas located on its Dublin 4 campus. It also has a large indoor basketball/football/training arena and an 18-metre indoor swimming pool. St Michael's senior school fields 18-21 rugby teams annually from U-14s right through to U-19s; its junior school houses a rugby nursery for boys aged from 4–12 years.

Simon Keogh (class of 1998), was a member of Senior Schools Cup sides for three years up to 1998 when he also captained the first XV. He has played professional rugby for many seasons having played with Leinster (2000–03), Harlequins (UK; playing 133 times between 2003–09) and re-signing for Leinster in 2009 & 2010. He won a European Cup medal with Leinster in 2009 having won a European Shield medal with Quinns in 2004 where he scored the match winning try. Keogh has also represented Ireland at schools, u21, sevens and A levels. In 2011 he was a member of the Old Belvedere RFC 1st XV who won the All Ireland League Division 1 title.

Aidan Kearney (class of 1998 and member of the 1st XV that year), played a number of seasons professionally with Leinster (2003–04) and then Ulster. He represented Ireland at u19s and u21 levels winning an under 19 Rugby World Cup medal in 1998.

As of 2020, St Michael's has more than 20 past-pupils playing professional rugby, across Ireland, the UK, France and the USA.

On 2 November 2020, a record nine St. Michael's graduates played in Leinster Rugby's Pro14 win against Glasgow Warriors in Scotstoun. This record of nine players in the matchday 23 was equaled in a European Rugby Champions Cup match against Northampton Saints in December 2020.

Former St. Michael's rugby coaches, Greg McWilliams and Mark McDermott coached the USA Rugby and Russian national rugby team, respectively at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby honours
Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup - 2007, 2012, 2019
Leinster Schools Junior Cup - 1991, 2002, 2012, 2017, 2019, 2022
Leinster Schools Rugby Senior League - 1998

GAA

The school provides teams for boys in first and second year, and has entered the Leinster GAA Schools competition since 2008. The junior school also enters the Cumann na mBunscol GAA league, and they won the shield in 2014.

Notable past pupils

The arts
Robert Ballagh - painter
Risteard Cooper – actor, comedian
Allen Leech – actor
Fergus Martin - artist
Peter McDonald - actor
David O'Doherty - comedian
Jason O'Mara - actor
Killian Scott - actor

Politics

Richard Boyd Barrett – Teachta Dála (TD) AAA-PBP
Charles Lysaght – lawyer
Eoghan Murphy – Former Fine Gael TD and Minister for Housing
Ruairi Quinn – former Labour Party (Ireland) leader and Minister for Finance (1994 - 1997)

Rugby union

John Brendan "China" Murray - became the school's first international in 1963 when he made his debut against France at Lansdowne Road
Derek McGrath - former Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby - became the school's second international in 1984
Noel Reid – Agen and former Leicester Rugby, Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby - became the school's third international in 2014
James Ryan – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby - In 2020, became the first graduate of the school to captain the national senior rugby team
Luke McGrath – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby - nephew of Derek
Dan Leavy – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby
Adam Leavy – Ireland Rugby sevens
Rory O'Loughlin – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby
Nick McCarthy - Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby u20s
Ross Byrne – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby
Ross Molony – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby u20s
Rónan Kelleher – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby
Cian Kelleher – Leinster Rugby and former Connacht Rugby
Jack Kelly – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby u20s
Scott Penny – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby u20s
Max Deegan – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby
Ryan Baird – Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby u20s
Óisín Dowling – Leinster Rugby
Jack Dunne – Leinster Rugby
Harry Byrne – Leinster Rugby
Denis Coulson – US Carcassonne and former FC Grenoble and Connacht Rugby
Cathal Marsh - Rugby United New York and former Leinster Rugby and Ireland Rugby u20s
Keith Gleeson – former Irish rugby international and Leinster player
Simon Keogh – former Leinster Rugby
Josh Murphy - Leinster Rugby
Will Hickey - Leinster Rugby
Andrew Smith - Leinster Rugby
Lee Barron - Leinster Rugby
Jack Boyle - Leinster Rugby
Chris Cosgrave - Leinster Rugby
Dylan Ryan - Leinster Rugby

Cricket
Padraic Flanagan – first-class cricketer for Cambridge University
Barry McCarthy – Leinster Lightning and Ireland and formerly of Durham

Notable  teachers
Dermot Morgan – The future "Father Ted" taught English in the college before becoming a full-time actor.
Brian O'Meara - former Leinster and Ireland professional rugby player taught History in the school.

References

External links
St. Michael's College Past Pupils Union

Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland
Secondary schools in Dublin (city)
Private schools in the Republic of Ireland
Catholic primary schools in the Republic of Ireland
Spiritan schools
Primary schools in South Dublin (county)
Catholic secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland
Educational institutions established in 1944
1944 establishments in Ireland

St Michael's College, Dublin


The Yankee Years is a book written by Tom Verducci and Joe Torre.  The book chronicles Torre's years as manager of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1996 to 2007.  It goes into great detail on Torre's relationship with the players, general manager Brian Cashman, team owner George Steinbrenner, and the Yankees organization as a whole.  Also discussed are major developments in the way baseball management throughout the years changed from a batting average focused market to the in-depth statistical-based approach centered on base-percentage, as well as covering issues such as the "Steroids Era".

Torre has received criticism for revealing certain things that went on in the clubhouse after he emphasized loyalty between Yankee personnel. In the book, Torre said he felt that Cashman "betrayed" him in negotiations with the Yankees following the 2007 season.  Torre also stated that teammates had referred to Alex Rodriguez as "A-Fraud."

In response to the criticism, Torre said he was proud of the book and he did not violate the sanctity of the clubhouse.

References

Major League Baseball books
Works about the New York Yankees
2009 non-fiction books

The Yankee Years


Cybernetica  is a Norwegian technology company with headquarters in Trondheim, Norway. Cybernetica delivers systems for model predictive control (MPC) and soft-sensing, as well as performing research and problem-solving for hire within the field of process control, for customers within polymer, metal and petroleum industry.

History

Cybernetica was founded on June 29, 2000, by Dr. Tor Steinar Schei, Prof. Bjarne A. Foss and Dr. Peter Singstad. The company grew out of industrial research projects on model predictive control (MPC) conducted at the department for Engineering cybernetics at SINTEF in the late 1990s. The aim of the company was to commercialize the results on model predictive control that grew out of these research projects.  SINTEF secured a stake in the newly founded company when it was formed, but the main shareholders were the original four employees.

At the onset, the company decided to focus on model-based control of industrial processes that were either nonlinear systems, batch production or both. For these kinds of processes, traditional linear and empirical model predictive control was considered less suitable. Development focused on developing products which were suitable to nonlinear processes, as well as tailor-making nonlinear physical models for this intended use.

In the late 2000s, the company started work on building a model library written in Modelica and on integrating models from Modelica with their existing tools. This effort was motivated by needs for more complex models in oil and gas applications and by a desire for model re-use and reducing the time and cost of model synthesis.

In the early 2010s, existing tools for fitting models were made more easily accessible for offline model tuning through development efforts in a new product called ModelFit.

Cybernetica holds an annual course on model predictive control through the Norwegian Society for Automation (NFA).

The main clients in the first ten years of the company were Statoil, Hydro Aluminium, Dynea, Ineos, Eramet, Elkem and Arclin (US).

Products
The main product areas for Cybernetica are:
Model predictive control
products to control the settings of industrial plants in real-time with the aim of maximizing throughput or some economic objective, to ensure that process constraints are met or to achieve a more smooth and stable process by rejecting disturbances.  At the core of these products are always models custom-tailored for the plant and for use with model predictive control.
Nonlinear model predictive control
an in-house developed suite for nonlinear model predictive control can be applied to control processes with strong nonlinearities and to batch processes, for instance polymer reactors.
Soft sensors
products to infer the value of un-measured variables from measurements by means of combining a plant model with mathematical methods such as the Kalman Filter.
Dynamic process simulation
simulators that are fitted using estimation theory to plant data and are used as process analogs in engineering analysis. These simulators give predictions of transient and dynamic behavior of the plant as well as the stationary responses, and can be used for operator training, "what-if" analysis or bottleneck analysis. These simulators can be implemented to run in real-time in parallel with the process plant as an online model.

References

External links
 Cybernetica  – official homepage
 Sintef  – Part owner
 Department of Engineering Cybernetics  – At Norwegian University of Science and Technology
 NFAplassen  – Norwegian Society of Automation(NFA).
 Arclin – official homepage

Technology companies of Norway
Companies based in Trondheim

Cybernetica (Norwegian company)


The silver real () was the currency of the Spanish colonies in America and the Philippines. In the seventeenth century the silver real was established at two billon reals (reales de vellón) or sixty-eight maravedís. Gold escudos (worth 16 reales) were also issued. The coins circulated throughout Spain's colonies and beyond, with the eight-real piece, known in English as the Spanish dollar, becoming an international standard and spawning, among other currencies, the United States dollar. A reform in 1737 set the silver real at two and half billon reals (reales de vellón) or eighty-five maravedís. This coin, called the real de plata fuerte, became the new standard, issued as coins until the early 19th century. The gold escudo was worth 16 reales de plata fuerte.

History
Coins were produced at mints in Bogotá, Caracas, Guatemala City, Lima, Mexico City, Popayán, Potosí, Santo Domingo and Santiago.
For details, see the:
 Colombian reales
 Mexican reales
 Peruvian reales
 Santo Domingo reales
 Venezuelan reales

After the independence of Spain's colonies, the real was replaced by currencies also denominated in reales and escudos, including the Argentine real, Central American Republic real, Ecuadorian real, Honduran real, Paraguayan real and Santo Domingo real.

Coins
From 1572 to 1773 Spanish colonial silver coins were cobs. Initially cut from a silver bar and hammer struck on a coin die, they were accurate in weight, though sometimes debased in precious metal content. However unlike machined coins, they were often irregular in shape, especially if a too-thick coin was clipped by the mint to reach the proper weight. After 1732 similar, but better shaped cobs were produced on screw presses. Cob denominations were , 1, 2, 4, and 8 reales. When circulating in New England the larger coins might be cut to give intermediate values; since a real was nicknamed a "bit", the expression "two bits" came to mean a quarter dollar.

Unlike in Spain, the copper coins were generally not struck by the colonial mints. Most issued silver coins in denominations of , , 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales and gold coins for , 1, 2, 4 and 8 escudos. Exceptions were the Santo Domingo mint, which did strike maravedíes in the sixteenth century and the Caracas mint which issued fraction of real copper coins in the early nineteenth century to facilitate commerce.

Columnarios

Columnarios are silver coins that were minted by Spain from 1732 to 1773 throughout its New World colonies. While the majority of columnarios were struck in Mexico, smaller mints existed in Guatemala; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; Potosí, Bolivia; and Colombia. The base denomination is an 8 reales coin (aka Piece of eight or Spanish dollar). Other minor denominations included 4 reales, 2 reales, 1 real, and 1/2 real. The 8 reales coin is the predecessor to the American dollar. Before the United States Mint was in production, columnarios circulated, along with other coinage, in the US colonies, as legal tender until the middle of the 19th century.

Prior to the columnario, Spanish coins were hammer struck. These rather crude looking coins were called cobs. Clipping was a problem with cobs as it was easy to shave small amounts of silver from their edges, and although this action was punishable by death, it was still a widespread occurrence. The columnario, unlike the odd-shaped cob, is a round coin with milled edges which makes clipping detectable and less likely to occur.

The design of the columnario consists on the reverse of two worlds — representing the new world and old world — with a royal crown above. Below are the waves of the sea that separate the worlds and on the left and right are columns (hence the name "columnarios") representing the Pillars of Hercules adorned with crowns and wrapped with a banner spelling "PLUS ULTRA", meaning "more beyond". The reverse also has the letters "VTRAQUE VNUM", referring to the Old and New Worlds, "Both are One", and the date at the bottom, with mint marks on both sides.

The obverse features the crown's name followed by "D G HISPAN ET IND REX", meaning, "By the Grace of God, King of Spain and the Indies." The assayer's mark is on the left and the denomination on the right of a large Spanish shield which is adorned with a royal crown atop. Various florets, rosettes, stops, and other features are used to separate features.

The edge has a repeating laurel leaf design which is very difficult to counterfeit and is often used for authentication purposes.

Currently, the Mexican 8 reales columnario is worth US$200 or more, depending on condition. Specimens from other mints fetch much higher values due to their rarity.

See also

Currency of Spanish America
Peso
Spanish dollar
Spanish escudo
Spanish real
Viceroyalty

References

External links

 Columnarios.com, a website devoted to the columnario
 The Colonial Coinage of Spanish America: an introduction by Daniel Frank Sedwick

Modern obsolete currencies
Spanish colonization of the Americas
New Spain
Viceroyalty of Peru
Viceroyalty of New Granada
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
Coins of Spain

Spanish colonial real


Evanka Osmak (born September 20, 1980) is a sports anchor for Canada's Rogers Sportsnet television.

Osmak was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, but raised in Oakville, Ontario.

After attending Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario, Osmak earned a civil engineering degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and worked in the industry for several years. She went on to receive a diploma in radio and television broadcasting in 2005 at Seneca College in Toronto, and then changed careers, moving to broadcasting. She worked at Jack FM in Orillia, Ontario as a news anchor, then moved to Yuma, Arizona to work at KYMA-TV's morning show for two years, before returning to Canada in 2007 to work for Rogers Sportsnet.

References

1980 births
Living people
Canadian television sportscasters
American civil engineers
People from Ridgewood, New Jersey
American people of Ukrainian descent
Queen's University at Kingston alumni
Seneca College alumni
American emigrants to Canada
Canadian people of Ukrainian descent
Engineers from New Jersey
Canadian women television personalities

Evanka Osmak