KOSF (103.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California.   It airs a classic hits format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.  The studios are on Townsend Street in San Francisco's SoMa district.  In middays, it carries the syndicated Martha Quinn Show from co-owned Premiere Networks.

KOSF has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,400 watts.  The transmitter is on Colma Road atop San Bruno Mountain in Brisbane.Radio-Locator.com/KOSF  KOSF broadcasts using HD Radio technology.  Its HD2 digital subchannel simulcasts business news KNEW 960 AM.

History

KGO-FM and KSFX
The station signed on the air on .  Its original call sign was KGO-FM and it was owned by ABC Radio.  It mostly simulcast its sister station, KGO 810 AM, occasionally airing a stereo version of The Lawrence Welk Show.  The original frequency was 106.1 MHz, later moving to its current 103.7 MHz.

By the late 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began requiring FM stations to offer separate programming from that of their AM counterparts. KGO-FM, like other ABC-owned FM stations around the country, became an outlet for Love, an automated progressive rock format.

To develop a separate identity from its AM counterpart, KGO-FM changed its call sign to KSFX in early 1971.  Its progressive rock format continued until May 1973, when KSFX switched to a Top 40 "Musicradio" approach, similar to WABC in New York City. By late 1974, the station veered towards a dance/soul-flavored format.  During the late 1970s, KSFX had a brief run with a disco music format.

In late 1980, KSFX switched to an album-oriented rock (AOR) format modeled after sister station KLOS in Los Angeles and WPLJ in New York.  It played the top songs from the best selling rock albums.  This lasted until May 1982.  Stiff competition from rival rock stations KMEL and CBS-owned KRQR prompted KSFX to drop AOR.

In 1982, the station returned to its KGO-FM call letters and switched to All-Talk, based on 810 KGO's success as San Francisco's top station.  While KGO had mostly local talk hosts, KGO-FM featured programs from the ABC-syndicated Talkradio network, along with some local shows.

Yes/No Radio KLOK-FM
ABC sold the station on January 1, 1984, to Weaver, Davis, Fowler (WDF), which owned KLOK 1170 AM in San Jose.  Accordingly, the station was renamed KLOK-FM.  (This is not connected with the current KLOK-FM, a Regional Mexican station in Greenfield.)

KLOK-FM had an interactive adult contemporary format called "Yes/No Radio."  Listeners would call in their votes on whether songs should remain on or to be removed from the playlist.  This only lasted three years.

Smooth Jazz KKSF
In 1987, the station was sold to Brown Broadcasting Corporation.  The call sign was changed to KKSF and under the direction of former KIFM programmer-turned-consultant Bob O'Connor and associate Michael Fischer.  They specialized in a format that at first was termed "new adult contemporary" or NAC.  The description later evolved to smooth jazz.

KKSF debuted on July 31, 1987 at midnight.  The first song played was "Back In The High Life Again" by Steve Winwood. The general manager from 1987 to 1997 was David A. Kendrick. Liner notes of the first "KKSF Sampler for AIDS Relief" list the members of the group responsible for the development of the KKSF concept as Willet Brown, Mike Brown, Dave Kendrick, Phil Melrose, Bob O'Connor, Michael Fischer, and Steve Feinstein.

Steve Feinstein, who had previously been a format editor at trade magazine Radio & Records, was chosen by consultant Bob O'Connor and GM Dave Kendrick to be KKSF's first program director. Until his death in 1996, Feinstein guided KKSF to be one of the leading stations in the NAC/Smooth Jazz format. He was known for being open and responsive to listener comments and suggestions.  He constantly searched for new and interesting music that fit the KKSF sound, often gravitating to lesser-known imports and hard-to-find, out-of-print selections.

In 1988, the station teamed with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to produce their first KKSF Sampler for AIDS Relief album. Songs were donated by the artists so that KKSF could give all the net proceeds from the sale of the Sampler albums to the foundation. Often, the Sampler CDs were the only way to find certain KKSF listener favorites that had otherwise gone out of print. There were seven KKSF Samplers produced by Dave Kendrick and Steve Feinstein, with Sampler 7 being dedicated to Feinstein's memory, as he died in September 1996, during the album's creation.

KKSF was the first commercial radio station to have a presence on the World Wide Web. In October 1993, the station launched a website created by chief engineer Tim Pozar and morning host Roger Coryell, using the URL http://kksf.tbo.com and later http://www.kksf.com. The site was hosted by Internet service provider TLGNet, which was co-founded by Pozar.

Changes in ownership
In 1993, Brown Broadcasting purchased classical station KDFC (then at 102.1 FM). The two stations were co-located at 455 Market Street until 1997, when both were sold to Evergreen Media. Evergreen sold KDFC to Bonneville International that same year but kept KKSF, which eventually passed to Chancellor Broadcasting, AMFM Broadcasting, and finally Clear Channel Communications during a short period of rapid ownership changes in the late 1990s. Studios were moved to their present location at 340 Townsend Street in 1998.

The sound of KKSF changed with the new ownership. The smooth jazz consultancy Broadcast Architecture became more involved with the station at this time. Gradually, the station became more like other stations in the US using the "Smooth Jazz" handle, dropping some of its more eclectic music along the way in favor of mass appeal R&B songs.

The 2000s brought many changes to KKSF. In 2001, several announcers left, with a number of them going to former sister station KDFC. Former KKSF morning host John Evans joined KDFC where he hosted the afternoon show for seven years. Through the next eight years, the number of live announcers on staff gradually decreased, as KKSF began airing syndicated programming in morning drive, like the national Wake Up with Whoopi show hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, and later The Ramsey Lewis Morning Show, featuring pianist Ramsey Lewis. In 2008, KKSF added The Dave Koz Radio Show in afternoons. By the end of the smooth jazz era at KKSF, only midday personality Miranda Wilson was truly live in her time slot.

Classic Rock
On May 18, 2009, at 3 p.m., KKSF flipped to classic rock, branded as "103.7 The Band". Owner Clear Channel cited economic considerations and the results of "exhaustive market research". The first song on "The Band" was "Everybody's Everything" by Santana. The demise of smooth jazz on KKSF also ended one of the Bay Area's most spirited radio rivalries, that with urban adult contemporary station KBLX-FM, which often included smooth jazz as part of its "quiet storm" format.

In its first few months as "The Band", KKSF increased its listenership among adults ages 25–54, considered a more desirable group by advertisers than KKSF's previous audience, which skewed considerably older. The station featured mostly out-of-market personalities who voice-tracked their shows, and had a very small local staff.

Classic Hits KOSF
KKSF began shifting towards a classic hits format in February 2011 after Entercom added classic rock on KUZX (using the frequency of KKSF's one-time sister station KDFC).  In the Bay Area, the classic hits format had previously been heard on CBS Radio's KFRC-FM, which became a simulcast of all-news KCBS in October 2008.

The transition to classic hits on KKSF was completed on April 8, 2011 at 3 p.m., when the station rebranded as "Oldies 103.7". The last song on "The Band" was "Changes" by David Bowie, while the first song on "Oldies" was "I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown. The branding was changed to simply "103.7 FM" in December. On January 3, 2012, KKSF changed its call sign to KOSF.

In November 2013, KOSF adopted a new on-air moniker, "The Bay's 103.7". The station rebranded again on May 2, 2014 at 5 p.m., this time to "Big 103.7". No programming or staff changes were made in either case. The first song on "Big" was "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf.

80s Hits
On June 6, 2016, iHeartMedia announced that KOSF would flip to all-1980s hits as "iHeart80s @ 103.7" that day at noon. The change came after its namesake webstream was ranked the most-listened-to stream on the iHeartRadio streaming platform and mobile application for 2016. The last song on Big was "Last Dance" by Donna Summer, and the first song on iHeart80s was "We Built This City" by San Francisco band Starship.

KOSF aired commercial-free for its first eight days. Legendary MTV VJ Martha Quinn began hosting the station's morning drive time show on June 14. This marks the second station in the San Francisco market that has aired an all-1980s format, the first being sister station KIOI from November 2000 to January 2002.

On May 24, 2021, at 10 a.m., KOSF relaunched with a broader-based classic hits format as "80s Plus 103.7".  While 1980s hits still remain the focus of the format, the change saw the station added some songs from the late 1970s and the 1990s.  To a certain extent, this brought the station closer to what it was prior to the debut of the prior format. The last song as "iHeart '80s" was "Oh Sherrie" by Hanford native Steve Perry, while the first song as "80s Plus" was "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

Shortly after the move, in January 2022, likely due to popularity of her morning show on KOSF, Martha Quinn was chosen to become a national show host across all of iHeart's classic hits stations, including KOSF.  Her syndicated show was offered to stations in their midday time slot.  To fill in the morning show gap, KOSF promoted Christie James, former midday DJ and co-host of the Martha Quinn Show.  Her show was named "Morning Drive with Christie Live".  Former show producer Karena Velasquez was promoted to co-host.

HD Radio
The station broadcasts digitally using the HD Radio system from iBiquity. KOSF airs two digital subchannels that can be picked up using an HD Radio-capable receiver:
KOSF-HD1 is a simulcast of the analog FM signal.
KOSF-HD2 broadcasts a business news format, branded "Bloomberg Radio", as a simulcast of KNEW (960 AM).

Booster
KOSF is rebroadcast on the following FM booster:

Technical facts
KOSF is a Class B FM station, transmitting from Mt. San Bruno at an effective radiated power of 6,400 watts. A low-powered booster in Pleasanton, California fills in East Bay coverage gaps caused by topography issues.

From the time KKSF started its new adult contemporary format in 1987 to mid-1996, the station used very light audio processing in order to create a signature sound. It was based on the Schulke Beautiful Music approach of having a very light touch to the audio. KKSF's chief engineer, Tim Pozar — who was also one of the co-founders of San Francisco's first ISP, TLGNet — installed an Aphex Systems audio chain of a Compellor and Dominator along with a Digicoder, which was one of the first digital stereo generators.

References

External links

Media

KKSF Domain
MarkMonitor
Clear Channel HD in San Francisco

SFAF Sampler 17

OSF
Classic hits radio stations in the United States
1980s-themed radio stations
Radio stations established in 1947
1947 establishments in California
IHeartMedia radio stations

KOSF


This is a list of all public libraries in Malta and Gozo by locality:

A

Attard Public Library, St. Nicholas College, Hal Warda Street, Attard.

B

Birgu Public Library, Auberge d'Angleterre, North West Street, Birgu.
Birkirkara Regional Public Library, B'Kara Civic Centre, T. Fenech Street, Birkirkara.
Birzebbugia Public Library, St. Benedict College, St. Michael Street, Birżebbuġa.
Bormla Public Library, Oratory Street, Cospicua.

D

Dingli Public Library, St. Nicholas College, Main Street, Dingli.

F

Fgura Public Library, St. Thomas More College, Carmel Street, Fgura.

G

Gozo General Hospital Library, Tal-Ibraġ, Victoria, Gozo.
Gudja Public Library, St. Benedict College, St. Mark Streer, Gudja.
Gzira Public Library, Gzira Boys' Secondary School, N. Ellul Street, Gżira.

Għ

Għajnsielem Public Library, Anton Cassar Primary School, J.F. de Chambray Street, Għajnsielem, Gozo.
Għarb Public Library, Għarb Local Council, Visitation Street, Għarb, Gozo.
Għargħur Public Library, Maria Regina College, St. Bartholomeo Street, Għargħur.
Għasri Public Library, Għasri Local Council, Dun K. Caruana Street, Għasri, Gozo.
Għaxaq Public Library, Alley 1, St. Philip Street, Għaxaq.

H

Hamrun Public Library, St. George Preca College, Hamrun Primary, G. Pace Street, Ħamrun.

K

Kalkara Public Library, St. Michael Street, Kalkara.
Kerċem Public Library, Peter Paul Grech Primary, Orvieta Square, Kerċem, Gozo.
Kirkop Public Library, Kirkop Primary, St. Benedict Street, Kirkop.

L

Lija Public Library, Lija-Balzan Primary, R. Mifsud Bonnici Street, Lija.
Luqa Public Library, St. Ignatius College, St. Andrew Street, Luqa.

M

Marsa Public Library, Marsa.
Marsaxlokk Public Library, St. Thomas More College, Arznell Street, Marsaxlokk. Librarian -Carmen Scicluna
Mellieha Public Library, Mellieha Primary School, New Mill Street, Mellieħa.
Mgarr Public Library, Mgarr Primary, Fisher Street, Mġarr.
Mosta Public Library, Mosta Civic Centre, Constitution Street, Mosta.
Mqabba Public Library, Mqabba Primary, Valletta Road, Mqabba.
Msida Public Library, Msida Local Council, Menqa Square, Msida.

N

Nadur Public Library, Dun Salv Vella Primary School, Race Course Street, Nadur, Gozo.
Naxxar Public Library, Naxxar Civic Centre, 21 September Avenue, Naxxar.

P

Pembroke Public Library, Pembroke Local Council, Pembroke.

Q

Qala Public Library, Qala Civic Centre, Bishop Buttigieg Street, Qala, Gozo.
Qormi San Ġorġ Public Library, Qormi St. George's Primary, F. Maempel Square, Qormi.
Qormi St. Sebastian's Regional Library, St. Sebastian's Primary School, M. Dimech Street, Qormi.
Qrendi Public Library, Qrendi Primary, Kurat Mizzi Street, Qrendi.

R

Rabat Regional Library, Rabat Civic Centre, Rabat.
Raħal Ġdid Regional Library, Paola Primary, G. D'Amato Street, Paola.

S

Safi Public Library, Safi Primary, Dun G. Caruana Street, Safi.
San Ġiljan Public Library, St. Julian's Primary, Lapsi Street, San Ġiljan.
San Ġwann Public Library, San Ġwann Primary, School Street, San Ġwann.
San Lawrenz Public Library, Dun Salv Portelli Primary School, Our Lady of Sorrows Street, San Lawrenz, Gozo.
San Pawl il-Baħar Public Library, St. Paul's Bay Primary, School Street, San Pawl il-Baħar.
Sannat Public Library, Guze' Aquilina Primary, Sannat Road, Sannat, Gozo.
Senglea Public Library, Senglea Civic Centre, 4 September Square, Senglea.
Siġġiewi Public Library, Siġġiewi Primary, Dr. N. Zammit Street, Siġġiewi.
Sliema Public Library, Sliema Primary, B. Huber Street, Sliema.
Sta. Venera Public Library, Boys' Secondary School, St. Joseph High Road, Santa Venera.

Malta
Library
Library

List of public libraries in Malta


William Frederick Witherington  (26 May 1785 – 10 April 1865) was an English painter and academic. Born in London, he entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1805. Except for one year he exhibited annually at the Royal Academy from 1811 until his death. He was elected A.R.A. on 1 November 1830 and R.A. on 10 February 1840. He retired as an academician on 28 May 1863.

His early works were mostly landscapes, but the influence of artists like George Morland (1763–1804) can be seen in the importance he gave to the figurative element in his paintings.

Witherington enjoyed painting English scenery and never travelled abroad. As with many of his works, he does not depict the harsh realities of rural life, but instead records incidents of family life. Like his contemporary, Augustus Wall Callcott, RA, he creates a composition with a lively foreground of figures and animals, combined with a landscape with distant vistas glimpsed through the wood.

He died on the 19th April, aged 79, and was buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery. His grave (plot no.13865) no longer has a headstone or any marker.

References
 Samuel Redgrave, A Dictionary of Artists of the English School, London, 1878 (2nd Edition)

External links

W F Witherington online (ArtCyclopedia)
Gathering watercress on the Banks of the Mole, Surrey (1855 oil on canvas)
 Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections

1785 births
1865 deaths
Burials at Highgate Cemetery
19th-century English painters
English male painters
Landscape artists
Royal Academicians
Rother Valley artists
19th-century English male artists

William Frederick Witherington


Physaria filiformis (syn. Lesquerella filiformis) is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Missouri bladderpod and limestone glade bladderpod. It is native to Missouri and Arkansas in the United States. It was federally listed as an endangered species in 1987 and it was downlisted to threatened status in 2003. P. filiformis remains listed as an endangered species at the state level in Missouri.

Description
Physaria filiformis is an annual herb producing several slender, branching stems up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) tall, growing erect or drooping. The leaves vary in shape, and the basal ones reach 2.4 centimeters (0.96 inch) in length. Both the leaves and the stems have a dense covering of fine hairs, which gives the plant a silvery-gray appearance. The inflorescence is a raceme of pale yellow flowers with petals half a centimeter to nearly one centimeter (0.4 inch) long. The fruit is a spherical silique. The plant is a winter annual, sprouting and forming a basal rosette of leaves in the fall and then producing stems and flower the following spring. Seeds are dispersed on the wind and in surface runoff.

Distribution and habitat
Physaria filiformis grows in limestone glades and outcrops of bare bedrock in southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas. The surrounding habitat may be prairie and pasture. Several types of forest may be adjacent to the glades. The soil is shallow on the glades and supports few other plants. The plant grows less often in more vegetated areas with deeper soils, probably because other plants successfully compete with it there. It is also less abundant in the shady understory of Juniperus virginiana forest, as sunlight is a limiting factor in its growth. It can be found in a number of microhabitats, a factor that is important in its management and conservation. Wildfire is important in the maintenance of the limestone glade habitat and even more so its surrounding ecotones. Fire is the mechanism that keeps these habitats open and free of large and woody vegetation that shade out small annuals. Fire prevents ecological succession in the open habitat where the plant grows.

As the health of the local ecosystem depends on fire, the practice of fire suppression has caused the degradation of the habitat. When fire is prevented, woody vegetation moves in, covering the glades and blocking the light from reaching this small plant. This encroachment of surrounding vegetation is a main threat to the species. Other threats include off-road vehicles, limestone mining, and urban development. Invasive species of plants have been introduced to the habitat, including Bromus tectorum, a competitive grass. The plant may be affected by grazing, trampling, and other disturbance, but these threats are mild because the plant can tolerate light disturbance.

Conservation
When Physaria filiformis was designated an endangered species there were nine populations. Extensive surveys located more occurrences and many of these were put under the protection of a number of agencies, including the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy. By 2003 there were about 60 populations and the outlook for the plant had improved enough to warrant its downlisting to threatened status.

Most occurrences of the plant are in southwestern Missouri. A large population can be found at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. Other protected populations are being managed at Rocky Barrens Conservation Area (Missouri Department of Conservation), Greenfield Glade (The Nature Conservancy), and Bois d'Arc Conservation Area (Missouri Department of Conservation).   Nearly all remaining sites are on privately owned land. Conservation activities include protection of the habitat in public areas, prescribed burns to replace the natural fire regime, and reduced use of herbicides.

To better inform conservation efforts, a recent study to understand genetic diversity and structure in Physaria filiformis was conducted and found there could be enough genetic variation between geographically isolated populations for them to be considered separate species.  Whether or not a separate species is distinguished, protecting each separate population's genetic diversity is critical to help conservation efforts succeed.

References

External links
United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Missouri in 1929
photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Missouri in 2015

filiformis
Flora of Arkansas
Flora of Missouri
Endemic flora of the United States
Plants described in 1956

Physaria filiformis


The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of  in southern England, stretches for  from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex. The national park covers the chalk hills of the South Downs (which on the English Channel coast form the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head) and a substantial part of a separate physiographic region, the western Weald, with its heavily wooded sandstone and clay hills and vales. The South Downs Way spans the entire length of the park and is the only National Trail that lies wholly within a national park.

History
The idea of a South Downs National Park originated in the 1920s, when public concern was mounting about increasing threats to the beautiful downland environment, particularly the impact of indiscriminate speculative housing development on the eastern Sussex Downs (Peacehaven was an example of this). In 1929, the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, led by campaigners including the geographer Vaughan Cornish, submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister urging the case for national parks, including a national park on part of the South Downs. When however, towards the end of World War II, John Dower was asked to report on how a system of national parks in England and Wales might be established, his 1945 report, National Parks in England and Wales, did not identify the South Downs for national park status, but rather included it in a list of "other amenity areas". Sir Arthur Hobhouse's 1947 Report of the National Parks Committee took a different view, and he included the South Downs in his list of twelve areas recommended for designation as a national park, defined by John Dower as an "extensive area of beautiful and relatively wild country in which, for the nation's benefit...the characteristic landscape beauty is strictly preserved".

The South Downs was the last of the original twelve recommended national parks to be designated. Extensive damage to the chalk downland from 1940 onwards through arable farming, and a resulting decline in sheep grazing, militated at an early stage against further work on designation. When in 1956 the National Parks Commission came to consider the case for the South Downs as a national park, it found designation no longer appropriate, noting that the value of the South Downs as a potential national park had been reduced by cultivation. It did however recognise the "great natural beauty" of the area, and proposed it be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In due course two AONBs were designated, split along the county boundary, namely the East Hampshire AONB in 1962 and the Sussex Downs AONB in 1966.  These were later to form the basis of the South Downs National Park.

In September 1999 the government, following a review of national parks policy, declared support for a South Downs National Park, and announced a consultation on its creation. In January 2003 the then Countryside Agency (now Natural England) made an Order to designate the proposed park in 2003 which was submitted to the Secretary of State for the Environment on 27 January 2003.

As a result of objections and representations received on the proposed Order, a public inquiry was conducted between 10 November 2003 and 23 March 2005, with the aim of recommending to ministers whether a national park should be confirmed and, if so, where its boundaries should be. The results of the inquiry were expected by the end of 2005, but were delayed pending a legal issue arising from a High Court case challenging part of the Order designating the New Forest National Park.

Following an appeal on the High Court case and new legislation included in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, the South Downs Inquiry report was published on 31 March 2006. It recommended a 23% reduction in the size of the originally proposed national park, focussing it more narrowly on the chalk downland and excluding from it a large part of the existing East Hampshire and Sussex Downs AONBs. This proved highly controversial, leading to calls from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and others for the inclusion of the so-called western Weald, a region within the two AONBs possessing a geology, ecology and landscape quite different from the chalk hills of the South Downs, within the park boundary to ensure that it remained protected from development. The Secretary of State invited objections and representations on new issues relating to the proposed national park in a consultation that ran from 2 July to 13 August 2007. In the light of the responses received, the Secretary of State decided that it was appropriate to re-open the 2003–05 public inquiry. The inquiry re-opened on 12 February 2008 and was closed on 4 July 2008 after 27 sitting days. The Inspector's report was submitted on 28 November 2008.

On 31 March 2009 the result of the inquiry was published. The Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, announced that the South Downs would be designated a national park, and on 12 November 2009 he signed the order confirming the designation. Importantly, he confirmed that a number of hotly disputed areas, including the western Weald, the town of Lewes and the village of Ditchling, would be included within the national park.

The new national park came into full operation on 1 April 2011 when the new South Downs National Park Authority assumed statutory responsibility for it. The occasion was marked by an opening ceremony which took place in the market square of Petersfield, a town situated in the western Weald just  north of the chalk escarpment of the South Downs.

In 2016 the national park was granted International Dark Sky Reserve status, to restrict artificial light pollution above the park.  It was the second such area in England and the 11th in the world.

Administration

The national park is administered by the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA). The SDNPA was established on 1 April 2010, and became fully functioning, including becoming the planning authority for the national park, on 1 April 2011. It is responsible for promoting the statutory purposes of the national park and the interests of the people who live and work within it. The statutory purposes of the SDNPA, as a national park authority, are specified by the Environment Act 1995; these are:

To conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area
To promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the Park's special qualities by the public.

It must also fulfil the following duty:

In carrying out its role, the authority has a duty to seek to foster the economic and social well-being of the communities living within the national park.

The SDNPA is a public body, funded by central government, and run by a board of twenty seven members. The board consists of seven national members, appointed by the environment secretary by means of an open recruitment process; fourteen local authority nominees drawn from the fifteen local authorities covering the park area with Adur and Worthing opting to share a place; and six parish council representatives, two for each county.

The chair of SDNPA is Ian Phillips.

Geography

The South Downs National Park stretches for  across southern England from St Catherine's Hill near Winchester in Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne in East Sussex in the east.  In its western half, the southern boundary of the park lies up to  inland from the south coast; it thus excludes the major coastal towns and cities of Southampton, Portsmouth, Chichester, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. Further east, where the park's southern boundary lies much closer to the coast, it has been carefully drawn to exclude the urban areas of Worthing, Brighton and Hove, Newhaven, Seaford and Eastbourne, which had all made substantial encroachments onto the Downs during the 19th and 20th centuries. By contrast, the park includes a number of towns situated in the western Weald, including Petersfield, Liss, Midhurst and Petworth, and the two historic Sussex towns of Arundel and Lewes.

The total population living within the national park is approximately 108,000. Of these 42,000 live in Hampshire, 40,000 in West Sussex and 25,000 in East Sussex. East Hampshire District Council area and Chichester District each have around 30,000 residents in the area and Lewes District 22,000. Winchester has 11,500 residents in the park, with much smaller numbers for the other districts and boroughs. The area receives about 39 million visits each year, which is thought likely to increase as a result of the creation of the national park.

The national park has an area of , of which  is in Hampshire,  in West Sussex and  in East Sussex. Among the district council areas, Chichester District has the largest area at , followed by East Hampshire District with , Winchester with , Lewes District with  and Arun .  are in Horsham District and  in Wealden District.

Apart from a number of boundary revisions, the park incorporates two areas previously designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the East Hampshire AONB and Sussex Downs AONB. The park also includes the Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield.

The South Downs National Park's chalk downland sets it apart from other national parks in Britain. However, almost a quarter (23%) of the national park consists of a quite different and strongly contrasting physiographic region, the western Weald, whose densely wooded hills and vales are based on an older Wealden geology of resistant sandstones and softer clays. The highest point in the national park, Blackdown, at  above sea level, is in fact situated in the Weald, on the Greensand Ridge, whereas the highest point on the chalk escarpment of the South Downs, Butser Hill, has an elevation of   above sea level.

Within the national park there are two chalk hill figures, the Litlington White Horse and the Long Man of Wilmington.

Geology

Most of the national park consists of chalk downland, although a significant part consists of the sandstones and clays of the western Weald, a strongly contrasting and distinctive landscape of densely wooded hills and vales.

The chalk was formed in the Late Cretaceous epoch, between 100 million and 66 million years ago, when the area was under the sea. During the Cenozoic era the chalk was uplifted as part of the Weald uplift which created the great Weald-Artois Anticline, caused by the same orogenic movements that created the Alps. The relatively resistant chalk rock has, through weathering, resulted in a classic cuesta landform, with a northward-facing chalk escarpment that rises dramatically above the low-lying vales of the Low Weald.

The chalk escarpment reaches the English Channel west of Eastbourne, where it forms the dramatic white cliffs of Beachy Head, the Seven Sisters and Seaford Head. These cliffs were formed after the end of the last ice age, when sea levels rose and the English Channel was formed, resulting in under-cutting of the chalk by the sea.

The South Downs run linearly west-north-westwards from the Eastbourne area through southern Sussex to the Hampshire downs, separating the south coastal plain from the clays and sandstones of the Weald. Behind the escarpment, on the dip slope, are the characteristic high, smooth, rolling downland hills interrupted by dry valleys and wind gaps, and the major river gaps of the Cuckmere, Ouse, Adur and Arun.

The chalk is a white sedimentary rock, notably homogeneous and fine-grained, and very permeable. It consists of minute calcite plates (coccoliths) shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores. The strata include numerous layers of flint nodules, which have been widely exploited as a material for manufacture of stone tools as well as a building material for dwellings. Similar areas in Britain include the North Downs and the Chilterns.

In its western section, the national park extends north beyond the chalk escarpment of the South Downs into a quite different and strongly contrasting physiographic region, the western Weald, taking in the valley of the western River Rother, incised into Lower Greensand bedrock, and the densely wooded hills and valleys of the Greensand Ridge and Weald Clay south of Haslemere.

See also
 Wiston House
 Butser Ancient Farm

References

External links
National Park Authority website
Establishment team newsletter
Links to detailed Defra maps of the confirmed boundary
Visit South Downs Tourism Website
South Downs Trust website

National parks in England
Environment of Hampshire
Parks and open spaces in Hampshire
Parks and open spaces in West Sussex
Parks and open spaces in East Sussex
Environment of East Sussex
Protected areas established in 2010
Environment of West Sussex
Dark-sky preserves in the United Kingdom
International Dark Sky Reserves

South Downs National Park


The Lost Files is a series of three radio dramas released prior to the fourth series of Torchwood, a British science fiction television series which airs on the BBC. These dramas aired as BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play on the 11,12 and 13 July 2011 and feature the regular cast. Although broadcast to coincide with the airing of Torchwood: Miracle Day, two of the episodes are set prior to the Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries of 2009, as they include the character of Ianto Jones, who is killed off in the 2009 miniseries. The episode "The House of the Dead", however, is set right before "Children of Earth"'s epilogue.

References

External links
Torchwood Website
Torchwood Radio Play

Radio plays based on Torchwood
2011 radio dramas
2011 audio plays

Torchwood: The Lost Files


About the Mystery of the Letters (, Peri tou mystēriou tōn grammatōn) is a work about the names and forms of letters of the Greek and Hebrew letters. The author of the work is unknown, but he probably had a Christian background. It was probably written in the 6th century Byzantine Palaestina Prima.

How the text is known
The text is known from three Greek manuscript copies written between the 14th and 16th centuries, and one Coptic–Arabic bilingual translation from the late 14th century. The first modern edition of the Coptic text was published in 1900/1901. The Greek text was first described in 1931, but published for the first time only in 2007.

Origin and authorship
The text was originally written in Palaestina Prima. It was written in the Greek language. The Coptic manuscripts names its author as Apa Seba (Arabic: Saba), referring to Saint Sabas of Palestine (439–532).  Evidence from the text itself  leads to a somewhat later dating: in the second half of the 6th century. It could have been written by a follower of Sabas, possibly a monk in the monastery of Mar Saba. This monastery had been founded by Sabas. A certain anti-philosophical polemic tendency expressed by the text can be related to the Origenist controversies of the mid-6th century, in which Mar Saba had played an important role.

Contents
The unknown author declares he was prompted to the study of the secret meanings of the letters by the words of the Apocalypse, I am the Alpha and Omega, and that he then received a vision about them on Mount Sinai.

The author proposes a re-modelled Greek alphabet reduced to 22 letters on the model of the 22 letters of Hebrew (leaving out Xi Ξ and Psi Ψ), and with the Hebrew letter names. He then interprets these letters as symbolic figures of 22 works of divine creation in the biblical Creation according to Genesis, and of 22 corresponding works of salvation by Christ. He shows this theory through descriptions of the various letters and interpretations of their shapes. This is followed by an account of the history of the alphabet, which weaves together elements of Greek mythology and the Hebrew Bible as well as several Jewish and pagan texts: according to this account, the Hebrew alphabet was first handed down to mankind by divine inspiration during the generation of Enoch, but was lost during the Confusion of Tongues. God then revealed the Greek alphabet on a tablet of stone, which, after the Deluge, was brought to Phoenicia and Greece by Cadmos.

A long section of the text is devoted especially to the letter Waw and its Greek equivalent, Digamma (called Episemon in the treatise), the numeral sign for "6". This sign is interpreted as a special symbol of Christ. This idea is further connected to the interpretation of all three extra-alphabetic numeral signs of Greek ("Episemon" for 6, Koppa for 90, and Sampi for 900) as symbols of the Holy Trinity, i.e. Christ, the Holy Ghost and God the Father respectively later in the text.

The final chapters of the text are speculations about more general topics, including the history of mankind – whose key events are related symbolically to the sequence of vowels and consonants in the alphabet –, a discussion of Christology dealing with issues related to the Council of Chalcedon, and reflections upon the name of Adam.

References

Other websites

 English translation by Anthony Alcock
 Volume 19 of Le Museon containing the first of the original Hebbelynck articles.
 A related entry at The Matheson Trust Library
Christian texts
6th-century books

About the Mystery of the Letters


William Henry Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough,  (30 October 1855 – 9 January 1945) was a British athlete, sportsman, public servant and politician. He sat in the House of Commons first for the Liberal Party and then for the Conservatives between 1880 and 1905 when he was raised to the peerage. He also was President of the Thames Conservancy Board for thirty-two years.

Background and education
Grenfell was the son of Charles William Grenfell, former  MP for Sandwich, and Georgiana Lascelles, daughter of William Saunders Lascelles, MP. He was the nephew of Henry Riversdale Grenfell, the banker and politician, and the first cousin of Edward Grenfell, 1st Baron St Just. Grenfell was educated at Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford.

Athletic career
Grenfell rowed for Oxford in the Boat Race, in the only dead heat race, in 1877, and Oxford's win of 1878. He was President of the Oxford University Boat Club in 1879. He won the silver medal for fencing in the event of team épée at the 1906 Intercalated Games, having been the first person to carry the flag for Great Britain in the parade of nations. In 1908, he was president of the Olympic games held in London. He also served as the president of the Athletic Club and of the Bartitsu Club. He was also the first ever captain of Maidenhead Rowing Club.

He enjoyed mountaineering, swimming, fishing and big-game hunting. He swam the Niagara rapids twice, climbed the Matterhorn three times, rowed across the English Channel and was amateur punting champion of the Upper Thames. He was President of the Amateur Fencing Association, Marylebone Cricket Club based at Lords, and the Lawn Tennis Association based at Wimbledon. A registered tennis players golf tournament survives in his name since 1912 with its top prize being The Desborough Cup.

He was also a founder member of Maidenhead Golf Club in Berkshire, formed in 1896. It was the friendship of one local founder member, Dr G E Moore, with Grenfell which really got the project off the ground. Grenfell was the Mayor of Maidenhead in 1895 and 1896 and an extremely wealthy and competent businessman who owned more than 10,000 acres of land around the town. Grenfell offered to lease some of his acreage near to Maidenhead Railway Station, which was to become Maidenhead Golf Club and remains so well into a second century. Grenfell became one of the earliest 63 members of the club, and its first president and agreed to present "a challenge cup for competition". This was the Grenfell Cup which is still in yearly competition.

Political career
In the 1880 general election, Grenfell was elected the Member of Parliament for Salisbury; he lost the seat in a ministerial by-election in 1882 but returned in 1885–1886. He was elected MP for Hereford in 1892.  Politically he was a Gladstonian (loyal) Liberal who resigned in 1893 rather than support Gladstone's Second Irish Home Rule Bill.  He returned to the House of Commons in 1900 as a Conservative. On 30 December 1905, Grenfell was raised to the peerage as Baron Desborough, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham, a title that combined the defunct hundred of Desborough and the riverside village in which he lived in Buckinghamshire.

Other public appointments

During a long career dedicated to public service, he was President of the Thames Conservancy Board from 1904 to 1937, the London Chamber of Commerce, and the Royal Agricultural Society, amongst many others.  He was High Steward of Maidenhead, the nearest town to his home at Taplow Court, Taplow in Buckinghamshire. His good deeds for Maidenhead included the donation of an old chalk pit, converted for use as a park, to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria: this park, Grenfell Park, contains many unusual trees, the seeds of which were collected by Lord Desborough as he travelled the world. He was also an active Freemason. He became a steward of Henley Royal Regatta. He was a J.P. for Buckinghamshire and a Deputy Lieutenant for Tower Hamlets. He was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1889. On 3 Jun 1915, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. In 1919, he presided over the Desborough Committee which investigated the conditions that led to the crippling London Police Strike of August 1918. Its recommendations resulted in the enactment of the influential Police Act of 1919 which changed the working conditions of the police in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and elsewhere.

Desborough was appointed CVO in 1907 and advanced to KCVO in 1908 and GCVO (Knight Grand Cross) in 1925; and in 1928 he was admitted as a Knight of the Order of the Garter. He was a Major of the 1st Battalion, Buckinghamshire Rifle Volunteers from February 1900. In November 1914, he was appointed President of the Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps, a voluntary home defence militia, until it was disbanded in 1920. From 1924 to 1929 he was Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. Between 1919 and 1929 he was chairman of the Pilgrims of Great Britain. He planned and oversaw the construction of the Desborough Cut, a navigation channel between nearby stretches of the Thames at Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge, which was opened in 1935. The large island created thereby was named Desborough Island.

In 1933 he was one of eleven people involved in the appeal that led to the foundation of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), an organisation for the study of birds in the British Isles.

Desborough had the unfortunate distinction of having an obituary prematurely published on 2 December 1920 by The Times, which confused his name with that of Lord Bessborough, who really had died – Desborough died 25 years later at the age of 89.

Family

Lord Desborough married Ethel Fane (27 June 1867 – 28 May 1952), daughter of the Hon. Julian Fane and granddaughter of John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland, in 1887. They had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son was the poet Julian Grenfell, who was killed in action in 1915. His second son Gerald William Grenfell was also killed, about two months after his elder brother. His third son, Ivo George Grenfell, died in 1926 as the result of a car accident. His daughters were Alexandra Imogen Clair Grenfell (Imogen) (1905–1969) and Monica Margaret Grenfell (1893–1973). As all his sons predeceased him, the barony became extinct. The family lived at Taplow Court, where he and his wife hosted gatherings of the elite and aristocratic group, the 'Souls', adjacent on the riverside to Cliveden, which is a slightly grander country estate, but which saw its social heyday immediately after, from 1920 to 1965. Lady Desborough was a well-known celebrity in her day. Margot Asquith, whose husband would later be politically aligned against Desborough, said of her, She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake.

In 1892, he built a stické tennis court at the house.

He was the owner of Whiteslea Lodge on the Hickling Estate in Norfolk, close to the Hickling Broad. This was the former shooting lodge of Whiteslea Estate and was extensively improved and added to by Lord Desborough in the 1930s. Its interior featured enormous friezes by bird artist Roland Green.

Desborough College in Maidenhead is named after Lord Desborough.

See also
 List of Oxford University Boat Race crews

Notes

References

External links

 William Henry Grenfell at Grenfell family history site
 The Forgotten Olympics

1855 births
1945 deaths
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Knights of the Garter
Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
People from Taplow
People from Maidenhead
Olympic fencers for Great Britain
Fencers at the 1906 Intercalated Games
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1900–1906
UK MPs who were granted peerages
Grenfell, William
High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire
British people of Cornish descent
William
Deputy Lieutenants of Buckinghamshire
Medalists at the 1906 Intercalated Games
Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club
British sportsperson-politicians
British International Olympic Committee members
People from Hickling, Norfolk
British male fencers
Peers created by Edward VII

William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough


"Frankenstein" is an instrumental by the Edgar Winter Group from their 1972 album They Only Come Out at Night.

The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in May 1973, being replaced by Paul McCartney's "My Love". It sold over one million copies. In Canada it fared equally well, reaching number 1 on the RPM 100 Top Singles Chart the following month. That same month the song peaked at number 18 in the UK Singles Chart. The following month, the song peaked at number 10 in Mexico. The song also peaked at number 39 in West Germany, remaining on the chart for one week.  The single was certified gold June 19, 1973, by the RIAA.

Background
The song's title, coined by the band's drummer Chuck Ruff, derives from the fact that the original recording of the song was much longer than the final version, as the band would often deviate from the arrangement into less structured jams. The track required numerous edits to shorten it. The end result was spliced together from many sections of recording. Winter frequently refers to the appropriateness of the name also in relation to its "monster-like, alumbering beat". (One riff was first used by Winter in the song "Hung Up", on his jazz-oriented first album Entrance. He later tried a variation on it, "Martians" on the 1981 Standing on Rock album.)

Winter played many of the instruments on the track, including keyboards, alto saxophone and timbales. As the release's only instrumental cut, the song was not initially intended to be on the album, and was only included on a whim as a last-minute addition. It was originally released as the B-side to "Hangin' Around", but the two were soon reversed by the label when disc jockeys nationwide in the United States, as well as in Canada, were inundated with phone calls and realized this was the hit. The song features a "double" drum solo, with Ruff on drums and Winter on percussion. In fact, the working title of the song was "The Double Drum Song". The group performed the song, with Rick Derringer on guitar, on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973.

Record World called the song "a thumping instrumental featuring fine performances by each member [of the group]."

The song was actually performed three years previously when Edgar was playing with his older brother Johnny Winter at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970. This rare recording was released in 2004 as one of several live bonus tracks included in the two-disc Legacy Edition CD of Johnny Winter's Second Winter.

Rolling Stone listed it number 7 on their top 25 best rock instrumentals. Sections of the track were edited and sequenced into idents and jingles for Alan Freeman's Top 40 and Saturday Rock Show on UK's BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 for many years, often followed with Freeman's trademark opening line "Greetings Pop Pickers..."

In live performances of the song, Edgar Winter further pioneered the advancement of the synthesizer as a lead instrument by becoming the first person ever to strap a keyboard instrument around his neck, giving him the on-stage mobility and audience interaction of guitar players.

The song is described as a hard rock and progressive rock instrumental, and an example of art rock by non-art rock bands.

In 1983, Winter released a beat-heavy, more-synthesizer-heavy reworking of the song; its contemporaneous video, an homage with Winter appearing as Dr. Frankenstein, was added to MTV's playlist in November of that year.

Personnel
Edgar Winter – ARP 2600 synthesizer, electric piano, alto saxophone, timbales
Ronnie Montrose – guitar
Dan Hartman – bass
Chuck Ruff – drums
Rick Derringer – producer

Cover versions
"Frankenstein" has been covered by the rock group Phish 91 times as of January 2020, with the first time in 1989; keyboardist Page McConnell often utilizes a keytar for the synthesizer solo. In 1991 it was covered by the thrash metal band Overkill on their album Horrorscope. They Might Be Giants have covered this song in their live repertoire for many years, mainly between 1992 and 1995. The Southern California band Bazooka covered "Frankenstein" on their 1993 debut album Perfectly Square. In 1996, British psychedelic glam group Doctor and the Medics wrote lyrics for the track, including it on their album Instant Heaven.

Derek Sherinian's 2001 solo album Inertia includes his cover of the song. It was covered in 2003 by surfer-rock guitarist Gary Hoey. Those Darn Accordions recorded an accordion-based version of the song for their 2004 album Lawnball. Bass guitarist Marcus Miller included it in his 2005 album Silver Rain. Tomoyasu Hotei covered it on his 2009 covers album Modern Times Rock'N'Roll. Claude François, the French singer and writer of "My Way", used the song, played with a brass section, as an introductory theme to his live concerts. Primus covered the song at midnight during their 2012/2013 New Year's Eve show. Warren Hill features a version for saxophone on his 2015 release Under the Influence.

Rock violinist Deni Bonet covered the song on her 2017 album Bright Shiny Objects. The track features Liberty DeVitto, longtime drummer for Billy Joel, and Lenny Kravitz' bass player Jack Daley among others. This version was also orchestrated by Danny Elfman's orchestrator Steve Bartek. Bonet premiered it in October 2017 with the award-winning Baylor University Symphony to a standing ovation.

A few bars of an edited version of the song feature at the very beginning of the 1993 film, Wayne's World 2, as the Paramount Pictures 'Stars' logo appears. The 1995 pinball table Mary Shelley's Frankenstein includes a version. A cover version performed by WaveGroup Sound was featured in the video game Guitar Hero as one of five tracks in its sixth and highest difficulty tier, referred to in-game as "Face Melters".

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

External links
A second-by-second analysis by Chuck Klosterman

1972 songs
1973 singles
1970s instrumentals
The Edgar Winter Group songs
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Rock instrumentals
Music based on novels
Songs about Frankenstein's monster
Epic Records singles
Music based on science fiction works
Art rock songs

Frankenstein (instrumental)


Electric Dreams is a 1984 British American science fiction romantic comedy movie directed by first time director Steve Barron and starring Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, Maxwell Caulfield, Bud Cort, Don Fellows, Giorgio Moroder. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Other websites

1984 romantic comedy movies
1984 science fiction movies
British science fiction movies
British romantic comedy movies
American science fiction movies
American romantic comedy movies
MGM movies
Movies directed by Steve Barron
Movies set in San Francisco
Movies about artificial intelligence
Movies about computing
Movies about technological impact

Electric Dreams (movie)


is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his roles as Kousuke Kitamura (Ivory) in TV Tokyo's drama Happy Boys and Keisuke Nago/Kamen Rider Ixa in TV Asahi's tokusatsu series Kamen Rider Kiva. Also, he is one of PureBoys, though on March 21, 2008 he announced his graduation from the group alongside colleagues Yukihiro Takiguchi and Masei Nakayama. This graduation was made official on March 31, 2008; the "graduation ceremony" was on March 28, 2008 during the PureBoys' weekly school-themed internet broadcast show. He graduated from Nihon University. In 2016, he launched his apparel brand "StarLean". On March 31, 2017, he left the talent agency Box Corporation to retire from the entertainment business, but from 2018, he is affiliated with the talent agency G-Star.Pro.

Filmography

TV
Happy! 2 (TBS, 2006)
Happy Boys (TV Tokyo, 2007) as Kousuke Kitamura (Ivory)
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e / Ikemen Paradise (Fuji TV, 2007) as Hikaru Yao
Hontou ni Atta Kowai Hanashi Summer Special 2007 (FujiTV, 2007)
Tadashii Ouji no Tsukurikata (TV Tokyo, 2008) as Tamon Sakura [ep. 12]
Kamen Rider Kiva  (TV Asahi, 2008) as Keisuke Nago/Kamen Rider Ixa
Mei-chan no Shitsuji (Fuji TV, 2009) as Roppongi
Buzzer Beat! (Fuji TV, 2009) as Yoichi Oze

Movie
The Death Game Park(2010)
Madafakutori (lead role) as Akira
Ongakubito (2010)
Takumi-kun Series: Soshite Harukaze ni Sasayaite (2007) as Giichi Saki (Gii)
Kamen Rider Kiva: The King of Hell Castle (2008) as Keisuke Nago/Kamen Rider Ixa
Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Gaim & Wizard: The Fateful Sengoku Movie Battle (2013) as Kiva Army Warlord

Stage
7Cheers!~Tobe! Jibun To Iu Daichi Kara~ [with PureBOYS] (October 3–8, 2007)
Masked Rider Kiva Live&Show @Zepp Tokyo [with Kiva cast] (August 7, 2008)
Masked Rider Kiva Christmas Live&Show: Holy Fang Party [with Kiva cast] (December 25, 2008)

CD
"Happy Boys Image Collection 3 ~In the Future~" as Ivory (Kousuke Kitamura), 2007
"Kampai Je T'aime" [with PureBOYS], 2007
"Fight for Justice ~Individual-System NAGO ver.~" as Keisuke Nago, 2008
"Inherited-System Masked Rider IXA Tribute Album" as Keisuke Nago, 2008
"Don't lose yourself" as Keisuke Nago, 2008
"IXA-cise" as Keisuke Nago, 2008
"IXA-cise2 (Body rhythm Edit.)" as Keisuke Nago, 2009
"Kato Keisuke Pieces of Dream"

Photobooks
 Aqua (Fuso Publishing Inc., released July 18, 2007)
 PureBOYS 1st photo collection (Goma Books, released November 16, 2007)
 Kamen Rider Kiva Character Visual Guide "Prelude", 2008
 Gekijouban Kamen Rider Kiva Official Photobook, July 2008
 Kamen Rider Kiva Character Visual Guide "Concerto", August 2008

CM
 Intelligence, "an" and "in love byte" Version (2007)
 Kao (Face) "Men's Biore" (2008)
 DataCardDass Kamen Rider Battle Ganbaride (2009)

External links
 Official agency profile

1988 births
Living people
Japanese male television actors

Keisuke Katō


Robert Duncan Luce (May 16, 1925 – August 11, 2012) was an American mathematician and social scientist, and one of the most preeminent figures in the field of mathematical psychology. At the end of his life, he held the position of Distinguished Research Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California, Irvine.

Education and career
Luce received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1945, and PhD in Mathematics from the same university in 1950 under Irvin S. Cohen with thesis On Semigroups.

He began his professorial career at Columbia University in 1954, where he was an assistant professor in mathematical statistics and sociology. Following a lecturership at Harvard University from 1957 to 1959, he became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1959, and was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Professorship of Psychology in 1968. After visiting the Institute for Advanced Study beginning in 1969, he joined the UC Irvine faculty in 1972, but returned to Harvard in 1976 as Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Psychology and then later as Victor S. Thomas Professor of Psychology. In 1988 Luce rejoined the UC Irvine faculty as Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Sciences and (from 1988 to 1998) director of UCI's Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences.

Contributions
Contributions for which Luce is known include formulating Luce's choice axiom formalizing the principle that additional options should not affect the probability of selecting one item over another, defining semiorders, introducing graph-theoretic methods into the social sciences, and coining the term "clique" for a complete subgraph in graph theory.

Recognition
In 1966, Luce was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Luce was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972 for his work on fundamental measurement, utility theory, global psychophysics, and mathematical behavioral sciences. He received the 2003 National Medal of Science in behavioral and social science for his contributions to the field of mathematical psychology. In 2004, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

Books by Luce
  Paperback reprint, Dover, New York

References

External links

Archival collections
Guide to the R. Duncan Luce Papers. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Other
 Luce's web page with publications.
 Science journal's summary of his work.
 Biography of R. Duncan Luce from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

1925 births
2012 deaths
American social scientists
American cognitive scientists
Game theorists
Mathematical psychologists
National Medal of Science laureates
Fellows of the Econometric Society
Fellows of the Society of Experimental Psychologists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
University of California, Irvine faculty
MIT School of Engineering alumni
Columbia University faculty
Harvard University faculty
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Members of the American Philosophical Society

R. Duncan Luce


For about three years, the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart kept a pet starling. The starling is remembered for the anecdote of how Mozart came to purchase it, for the funeral commemorations Mozart provided for it, and as an example of the composer's affection in general for birds.

Purchase
The first record of the starling is the entry Mozart made in his expense book when he bought it on 27 May 1784:

Starling bird 34 Kr.That was beautiful!The music Mozart jotted down in the book is fairly close to the opening bars of the third movement of his Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453, which Mozart had completed a few weeks earlier (12 April). Presumably, Mozart taught the bird to sing this tune in the pet store, or wherever it was that he bought it.

According to Mozart's transcription, the starling incorrectly inserted a fermata on the last beat of the first full measure, and sang G instead of G in the following measure. Correcting for those, the tune would have been:

Mozart probably was not joking when he made the transcription, because starlings are known to have a very strong capacity for vocal mimicry.

To the ears of West and King, many elements of Mozart's A Musical Joke'' (1787) also "bear the vocal autograph of a starling".

Demise
The bird Mozart brought home lived as a pet in his household for three years and died on 4 June 1787. Mozart buried the creature in the garden with (as contemporary biographers observed) considerable ceremony. The notes taken by Georg Nikolaus von Nissen (the second husband of Mozart's wife Constanze) for purposes of writing his biography of the composer described the ceremonies thus:

When a bird died, he arranged a funeral procession, in which everyone who could sing had to join in, heavily veiled – made a sort of requiem, epitaph in verse.

The same event is described by Franz Niemetschek, who had also interviewed Constanze:

He often wrote verse himself; mostly only of a humorous kind. [fn.:] This was the case, among others, at the death of a much-loved starling, which he had given a proper gravestone in his hired garden, and on which he had written an inscription. He was very fond of animals, and – particularly – birds.

Mozart's funeral poem is translated by Robert Spaethling into vernacular English as follows.

West and King note, based on their extensive experience, that starling pets interact closely with their human keepers, often causing their owners to bond with them. Thus, Mozart's expression of sorrow, though comic, is likely to have been quite sincere. Spaethling offers further background:

Mozart's poem on the death of his beloved pet bird ... is humorous, bittersweet, and self-reflective at a time of great loss and grief. His father had passed away, a close friend had died young, and he himself was deeply involved with Don Giovanni, his darkest comedy.

Other birds
There is evidence that the starling Mozart acquired in 1784 was hardly the only pet bird whose company he enjoyed.

At age 14, Mozart wrote home from Naples to his sister Nannerl in Salzburg (19 May 1770) when he was on a journey with his father Leopold:

Write me, how is Mr. Canary? Does he still sing? Does he still pipe? Do you know why I am thinking of the canary? Because there is one in our anteroom that makes the same little sounds as ours.

A later letter, written by Nannerl to her mother at home in Salzburg as she visited Munich in 1775 with Wolfgang and Leopold, indicates other birds in Mozart's childhood home:

Thank God we are quite well. I hope that Mamma too is very well. A propos, are the canary, the tomtits, and the robin redbreast still alive, or have they let the birds starve?

A sad tale from 1791 is told by Mozart's biographer Hermann Abert, concerning another canary that might been a successor to the starling, being in Mozart's family when the composer lay on his deathbed.

It was with great reluctance that he agreed to have his pet canary removed, first to the adjacent room, then even further away, because he could no longer bear the sound of its singing.

See also
 List of individual birds

Notes

References

Sturnidae
Starling
Individual perching birds
Bird sounds

Mozart's starling


Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization that delivers scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural biodiversity to attain global food- and nutrition security, working with partners in low-income countries in different regions where agricultural biodiversity can contribute to improved nutrition, resilience, productivity and climate change adaptation.

Bioversity International is a member of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.

The organization is highly decentralized, with about 300 staff working around the world with regional offices located in Central and South America, West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Central and South Asia, and South-east Asia. In the summer of 2021 headquarters was moved to the Aventine Hill near the FAO in Rome, Italy,

In 2019, Bioversity International joined with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (as the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT) to "deliver research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people's lives".

Background
Bioversity International is a research-for-development organization focused on safeguarding and using agricultural biodiversity to help meet challenges such as adaptation to climate change and increased sustainable production.

The organization takes the view that diversity offers opportunities not only through breeding (of plants and of animals) but also by delivering many other benefits. Some are direct, such as the better nutrition and greater sustainability that come with locally adapted crops. Others are indirect, like the ecosystem services delivered by healthy populations of pollinators, biological control agents, and soil microbes. Agricultural biodiversity will also be absolutely essential to cope with the predicted impacts of climate change, not simply as a source of traits but as the underpinnings of more resilient farm ecosystems.

Governance
Bioversity International is governed by a Board of Trustees, including one Trustee nominated by the host country (Italy) and one nominated by FAO. The Board also appoints the Director General who manages the operation of the various programs. The current Director General is Juan Lucas Restrepo.

History
In 2014, Bioversity International marked 40 years of operations. Bioversity International was originally established by the CGIAR as the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) in 1974. In October 1993, IBPGR became the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and in 1994 IPGRI began independent operation as one of the centers of the CGIAR. At the request of the CGIAR, in 1994 IPGRI took over the governance and administration of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP). In 2006, IPGRI and INIBAP became a single organization and subsequently changed their operating name to Bioversity International. Bioversity International still maintains the world's largest banana gene bank, the Bioversity International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre, that is hosted at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) in Leuven, Belgium, and manages ProMusa - a platform that shares knowledge about bananas and plantains. In 2002, the Global Crop Diversity Trust was established by Bioversity International on behalf of the CGIAR and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, through a Crop Diversity Endowment Fund.

Publications
Bioversity International and its predecessors have published occasional papers under the title Issues in Genetic Resources. In 2017, the organization published Mainstreaming Agrobiodiversity In Sustainable Food Systems - Scientific Foundations for an Agrobiodiversity Index, a book that put the spotlight on the importance of agrobiodiversity as the foundation of our food supplies.

Notable former member Board of Trustees

 Prof. Emeritus Chin Hoong Fong, IBGR (1987-1992), Honorary Fellow (1997-2018)

Notes

External links

 Global Crop Diversity Trust
 European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources

Agricultural research institutes
International research institutes
International environmental organizations
Biodiversity
Plant genetics
Sustainable agriculture
Environmental organizations established in 1974
Agricultural organisations based in Italy
Organisations based in Rome

Bioversity International


Alexandra Gamlemshaug Andresen (born 23 July 1996) is a Norwegian heiress. She became the world's youngest billionaire at age 19 in 2016 and held the position of youngest billionaire on the Forbes list for three consecutive years. As of 2020, Andresen is the world's second-youngest billionaire and her net worth is estimated at US$1.1 billion.

Early life
Andresen is the daughter of Norwegian industrialist Johan H. Andresen Jr., owner of Ferd AS, who in 2007, transferred ownership stakes of 42.2% each to Alexandra and her sister Katharina (even though their father insists that he will not force his daughters to take part in the family company if they do not want to).

She is the great-granddaughter of Johan H. Andresen, great-great granddaughter of Johan Henrik Andresen and Anton Klaveness, and great-great-great granddaughter of Nicolai Andresen. Johan Henrik was the brother of Nicolay August Andresen, and the uncle of Nils August Andresen Butenschøn.

Career
Andresen has won multiple awards and honors in horse dressage competitions, and has modeled several times for equestrian clothing company KingsLand.

References

1996 births
Living people
Female billionaires
Norwegian billionaires
Norwegian dressage riders
Norwegian female equestrians

Alexandra Andresen


Larry Dane Brimner (born November 5, 1949) is an American teacher, presenter, and writer of more than 150 children's books. They have ranged from fantasy-style stories for young children to non-fiction books for older children. Many of his books have civil rights themes; his book We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, in the "older children" category, in 2008. This was followed by Birmingham Sunday, which received the Orbis Pictus Honor Book Award in 2011 from the National Council for Teachers of English and the Eureka! Gold Award from the California Reading Association. His 2011 title, Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene "Bull" Connor, was given the Carter G. Woodson Book Award (The National Council for the Social Studies) and named a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book (The Association for Library Service to Children/American Librarian Association). More recently, Brimner has turned to the migrant children he once taught with the publication of STRIKE! The Farm Workers' Fight for Their Rights (Calkins Creek Books), which received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews.

Background
Brimner was born in St. Petersburg, Florida at St. Anthony's Hospital. The hospital nuns beseeched his mother to name him. Not a Roman Catholic, his mother didn't understand the urgency. Finally, however, she relented, naming him Larry Dane. When a nun returned later with paperwork that indicated his name had been recorded as Lawrence Dane, his mother—who didn't suffer fools or mince words—gave the nun such a tongue lashing that she retreated out of the room and down the hall. His name recorded to reflect his mother's wishes, he has been Larry Dane ever since and has spent a lifetime explaining that he is no Lawrence. His father was a military officer and Brimner spent much of his childhood on Kodiak Island in Alaska. There was no television and only sporadic radio, and so his parents read to him a lot. By the age of four, he was living in a rural suburb of San Diego, California, where his father had been reassigned to command a ship. Brimner entered a momentary life of crime when he and a neighbor boy stole some apples from the orchard next door. Trouble and a spanking followed, and he decided crime was not for him. He attended San Diego State University, graduating in 1971 with a B.A. degree in British Literature. He earned an M.A. degree from San Diego State University in 1981. From 1974 to 1984, he was a writing and composition teacher at El Centro Union High School in El Centro, California, a desert farming community east of San Diego. He then went on to lecture at San Diego State University from 1984 to 1992  in the College of Education while pursuing a doctorate degree, before deciding to turn his attention to writing full-time. He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1985. He often visits schools to encourage and motivate young people to discover the sheer wonder waiting between a book's covers. He has been a visiting author or an author-in-residence at schools on three continents. He also speaks at conferences of educators or of his fellow writers.

Published work
Brimner's first book was BMX Freestyle (1987) which received a Children's Choice award from the International Reading Association. At least three other of his books have won this award: Snowboarding (1998) and The Official M&M's Book of the Millennium (2000) and The Littlest Wolf (2002). Recent awards include the Teachers' Choice Award, Eureka! Silver Award, the Jane Addams Honor Book Award, the Norman A. Sugarman Award and Honor for Biography (Cleveland Public Library), Best Book for the Teen Age (New York Public Library), Best Children's Books of the Year List (Bank Street College), Junior Library Guild Selection, and others.

While in college, Brimner became aware that he was attracted to other men. He was unable to find objective information about gay issues, and under pressure from his parents, he went to a psychiatrist and underwent electroshock treatments. These experiences led to his 1995 book for gay and lesbian teenagers, Being Different, which he did as a favor to his editor, E. Russell Primm.

As of 2014, Cats!, an early-reader he did for Children's Press/Scholastic Library, has sold more than 300,000 copies and is still in print. A picture book about yuletide friendships, Merry Christmas, Old Armadillo, is a perennial favorite. It received a starred review from School Library Journal. Seeing two elderly women on their Harley Davidson motorcycles spawned Nana's Hog. Cory Coleman, Grade 2, a chapter book, looks back at an event from his childhood, as does Elliot Fry's Good-bye. Although he loves the tightness of the picture book format, it is his nonfiction, especially his social justice nonfiction, for which he is known.

Brimner lives in San Diego, California, but keeps a small writing studio in Tucson, Arizona.

See also

References

External links

1949 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American writers
21st-century American writers
American children's writers
Carter G. Woodson Book Award winners
American gay writers
Living people
San Diego State University alumni
Writers from St. Petersburg, Florida

Larry Dane Brimner


The Very Best of Johnny Mathis is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in the UK in 2006 by Sony BMG and peaked at number six on the UK albums chart that same year. This collection has nine of his 17 UK singles chart entries, including his number-one solo version of "When a Child Is Born" and his number-three duet with Deniece Williams, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late".

Track listing

 "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late"  performed with Deniece Williams  (Nat Kipner, John Vallins) – 2:59
 "A Certain Smile" (Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:47
 "I'm Stone in Love with You" (Anthony Bell, Thom Bell, Linda Creed) – 3:30
 "Misty" (Johnny Burke, Erroll Garner)  – 3:34
 "Gone, Gone, Gone" (L. Russell Brown, Lisa Hayward) – 3:32
 "Chances Are" (Robert Allen, Al Stillman) – 3:03
 "It's Not for Me to Say" (Robert Allen, Al Stillman) – 3:05
 "Friends in Love" performed with Dionne Warwick  (Bill Champlin, David Foster, Jay Graydon) – 4:03
 "Maria" (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim) – 3:45
 "My Love for You" (Abner Silver, Sid Wayne) – 3:07
 "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" (Burton Lane, Alan Jay Lerner) – 2:49
 "Prelude to a Kiss" (Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills) – 2:52
 "The Twelfth of Never" (Jerry Livingston, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:28
 "Wild Is the Wind" (Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington) – 2:26
 "Un-Break My Heart" (Diane Warren) – 5:00
"You're All I Need to Get By"  performed with Deniece Williams  (Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson) - 2:40
 "Someone" (William J. Tennyson, Jr.) – 2:58
 "When a Child Is Born" (Ciro Dammicco, Fred Jay) – 3:41
 "Feelings" (Morris Albert, Loulou Gasté) – 3:28
 "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" (Bart Howard) – 3:51
 "The Look of Love" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:45
 "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" (Francis Lai, Carl Sigman) – 2:46

Personnel

Johnny Mathis – vocals

References

2006 albums
Johnny Mathis compilation albums
Columbia Records compilation albums

The Very Best of Johnny Mathis


Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (born 19 April 1957) is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is currently the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market value. With an estimated net worth of $91.2 billion as of August 2023, he is the richest person in Asia and 13th richest in the world. Sometimes characterized as a plutocrat; he has attracted both fame and notoriety for reports of market manipulation, political corruption, cronyism, and exploitation. Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019, under the "Titans" section.

Early life
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 19 April 1957 in the British Crown colony of Aden (present-day Yemen) into a Gujarati Hindu family to Dhirubhai Ambani and Kokilaben Ambani. He has a younger brother Anil Ambani and two sisters, Nina Bhadrashyam Kothari and Dipti Dattaraj Salgaonkar.

Ambani lived only briefly in Yemen because his father decided to move back to India in 1958 to start a trading business that focused on spices and textiles. The latter was originally named "Vimal" but later changed to "Only Vimal". His family lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai until the 1970s. The family's financial status slightly improved when they moved to India but Ambani still lived in a communal society, used public transportation, and never received an allowance. Dhirubhai later purchased a 14-floor apartment block called 'Sea Wind' in Colaba, where, until recently, Ambani and his brother lived with their families on different floors.

Education
Ambani attended the Hill Grange High School at Peddar Road, Mumbai, along with his brother and Anand Jain, who later became his close associate. After his secondary schooling, he studied at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He then received a BE degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology.

Ambani later enrolled for an MBA at Stanford University but withdrew in 1980 to help his father build Reliance, which at the time was still a small but fast-growing enterprise. His father felt that real-life skills were harnessed through experiences and not by sitting in a classroom, so he called his son back to India from Stanford to take command of a yarn manufacturing project in his company.

Ambani has been quoted as saying that he was influenced by his teachers William F. Sharpe and Man Mohan Sharma because they are "the kind of professors who made you think out of the box."

Career
In 1981 he started to help his father Dhirubhai Ambani run their family business, Reliance Industries Limited. By this time, it had already expanded so that it also dealt in refining and petrochemicals. The business also included products and services in the retail and telecommunications industries. Reliance Retail Ltd., another subsidiary, is also the largest retailer in India. Reliance's Jio has earned a top-five spot in the country's telecommunication services since its public launch on 5 September 2016.

As of 2016, Ambani was ranked as the 36th richest person in the world and has consistently held the title of India's richest person on Forbes magazine's list for the past ten years. He is the only Indian businessman on Forbes' list of the world's most powerful people. As of October 2020, Mukesh Ambani was ranked by Forbes as the 6th-wealthiest person in the world. He surpassed Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group, to become Asia's richest person with a net worth of $44.3 billion in July 2018. He is also the wealthiest person in the world outside North America and Europe. As of 2015, Ambani ranked fifth among India's philanthropists, according to China's Hurun Research Institute. He was appointed as a Director of Bank of America and became the first non-American to be on its board.

Through Reliance, he also owns the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians and is the founder of the Indian Super League, a football league in India. In 2012, Forbes named him one of the richest sports owners in the world. He resides at the Antilia, one of the world's most expensive private residences with its value reaching $1 billion.

Timeline

1980s–1990s
In 1980, the Indian government under Indira Gandhi opened PFY (polyester filament yarn) manufacturing to the private sector. Dhirubhai Ambani applied for a license to set up a PFY manufacturing plant. Obtaining the license was a long-drawn-out process requiring a strong connection within the bureaucratic system because the government, at the time, was restricting large-scale manufacturing, making the importation of yarn for the textiles impossible. In spite of stiff competition from Tatas, Birlas and 43 others, Dhirubhai was awarded the license, more commonly addressed as License Raj. To help him build the PFY plant, Dhirubhai pulled his eldest son out of Stanford in 1981, where he was studying for his MBA, to work with him in the company. Ambani did not return to his university program, as he was in charge of Reliance's vertical integration, from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, which the yarns were made from. After joining the company, he reported daily to Rasikbhai Meswani, then executive director. The company was being built from scratch with the principle of everybody contributing to the business and not heavily depending on selected individuals. Dhirubhai treated him as a business partner allowing him the freedom to contribute even with little experience. This principle came into play after Rasikbhai died in 1985 along with Dhirubhai suffered a stroke in 1986 when all the responsibility shifted to Ambani and his brother. Mukesh Ambani set up Reliance Infocomm Limited (now Reliance Communications Limited), which was focused on information and communications technology initiatives. At the age of 24, Ambani was given charge of the construction of Patalganga petrochemical plant when the company was heavily investing in oil refinery and petrochemicals.

2000s–present
On 6 July 2002, Mukesh's father died after suffering a second stroke, which elevated tensions between the brothers as Dhirubhai had not left a will for the distribution of the empire in 2004. Their mother intervened to stop the feud, splitting the company into two, Ambani receiving control of Reliance Industries Limited and Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited, which was later approved by the Bombay High Court in December 2005.

Ambani directed and led the creation of the world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, which could produce 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) in 2010, integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port, and related infrastructure. In December 2013 Ambani announced, at the Progressive Punjab Summit in Mohali, the possibility of a "collaborative venture" with Bharti Airtel in setting up digital infrastructure for the 4G network in India. On 18 June 2014, Mukesh Ambani, while addressing the 40th AGM of Reliance Industries, said he will invest Rs 1.8 trillion (short scale) across businesses in the next three years and launch 4G broadband services in 2015.

Ambani was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 for engineering and business leadership in oil refineries, petrochemical products, and related industries. In February 2016, Ambani-led Jio launched its own 4G smartphone brand named LYF. In June 2016, it was India's third-largest-selling mobile phone brand. The release of the service Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, commonly known as Jio, in September 2016 was a success, and Reliance's shares increased. During the 40th annual general meeting of RIL, he announced bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 which is the country's largest bonus issue in India, and announced the Jio Phone at an effective price of ₹0. As of February 2018, Bloomberg's "Robin Hood Index" estimated that Ambani's personal wealth was enough to fund the operations of the Indian federal government for 20 days.

In February 2014, a First Information Report (FIR) alleging criminal offences was filed against Mukesh Ambani for alleged irregularities in the pricing of natural gas from the KG basin. Arvind Kejriwal, who had a short stint as Delhi's chief minister and had ordered the FIR, has accused various political parties of being silent on the gas price issue. Kejriwal has asked both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi to clear their stand on the gas pricing issue. Kejriwal has alleged that the Centre allowed the price of gas to be inflated to eight dollars a unit though Mukesh Ambani's company spends only one dollar to produce a unit, which meant a loss of Rs. 540 billion to the country annually.

In August 2022, Ambani announced a $25bn plan for launching 5G mobile internet services in the next two months. High-speed internet will be launched in major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai and then in the rest of the country by the end of 2023.

Board memberships
 Member of Board of Governors Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
 Chairman, managing director, Chairman of Finance Committee and Member of Employees Stock Compensation Committee, Reliance Industries Limited
 Former chairman, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited
 Former vice-chairman, Reliance Petroleum
 Chairman of the board, Reliance Petroleum
 Chairman and Chairman of Audit Committee, Reliance Retail Limited
 Chairman, Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC
 Former Director, Member of Credit Committee and Member of Compensation & Benefits Committee, Bank of America Corporation
 President, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Awards and honors

Stock manipulation and penalty
For manipulating shares of Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL), Reliance Industries was fined Rs. 950 crores (9.5 billion), split into 447 crores (4.47 billion) in retracted gains and 500 crores (5 billion) in interest in 2007. In April 2006, RPL went public as a Reliance subsidiary for Rs. 60 per share. The market crashed by 30% after it floated at roughly Rs. 100, and RPL was back at 60. By Securities and Exchange Board of India directive, RIL carried out an organised operation with the help of its agents to obtain unauthorised profits from the trading of its formerly listed unit, RPL, which was combined with the former in 2009.

Personal life

He married Nita Ambani in 1985 and they have two sons, Akash and Anant, and a daughter, Isha, who is Akash's twin. They met after his father attended a dance performance which Nita took part in and thought of the idea of arranging a marriage between the two.

They live in Antilia, a private 27-storey building in Mumbai, which was valued at US$1 billion and was the most expensive private residence in the world at the time it was built. The building requires a staff of 600 for maintenance, and it includes three helipads, a 160-car garage, private movie theatre, swimming pool, and fitness centre.

In 2007, Ambani gifted his wife a $60 million Airbus A319 for her 44th birthday. The Airbus, which has a capacity of 180 passengers, has been custom-fitted to include a living room, bedroom, satellite television, WiFi, sky bar, Jacuzzi, and an office.

Ambani was titled "The World's Richest Sports Team Owner" after he purchased the IPL cricket team Mumbai Indians for $111.9 million in 2008.

Mukesh Ambani is a strict vegetarian and teetotaler.

During the fiscal year ending 31 March 2012, he reportedly decided to forgo nearly ₹240 million from his annual pay as chief of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). He elected to do this even as RIL's total remuneration packages to its top management personnel increased during that fiscal year. Mukesh Ambani holds a 50.4% stake in the company. This move kept his salary capped at ₹150 million for the fourth year in a row.

In early 2019, a court in Mumbai held his younger brother, Anil Ambani, in criminal contempt for non-payment of personally guaranteed debt Reliance Communications owed to Swedish gearmaker Ericsson. Instead of jail time, the court gave Anil a month to come up with the funds. At the end of the month, Mukesh bailed out his younger brother, paying the debt.
In 2021, he was the subject of a bomb scare when a green Mahindra Scorpio SUV packed with explosives was found near a Mumbai skyscraper housing Ambani. In 2023, he received a death threat via email.

References

External links

 Profile at Reliance Industries
 Profile at Forbes
 Profile at Bloomberg L.P.

1957 births
Mukesh
Businesspeople from Mumbai
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Engineering
Gujarati people
Hill Grange High School alumni
Indian billionaires
Indian businesspeople in the oil industry
Indian businesspeople in telecommunications
Indian Hindus
Indian industrialists
Indian Premier League franchise owners
Institute of Chemical Technology alumni
Living people
Reliance Industries people
Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
University of Mumbai alumni
Victims of bomb threats
Centibillionaires
Businesspeople from Gujarat

Mukesh Ambani


is a Japanese politician and a former Governor of Niigata Prefecture. Prior to entering politics, Yoneyama worked as a radiology researcher at the University of Tokyo Hospital and was also trained as a lawyer.

Early life and education
Ryuichi Yoneyama was born in Yunotani, Niigata (now Uonuma, Niigata), as ; he changed his surname to Yoneyama when he entered middle school after his father was adopted into his mother's family. Yoneyama graduated from the prestigious Nada High School in 1986, ranking fifth among his cohort. He then took the common first-stage exam for admission into the University of Tokyo and obtained 960 out of 1000 available points, the highest among his peers who had applied to the university. His high marks enabled him to enroll into the University's School of Medicine, where he graduated and obtained his doctor license in May 1992.
After graduation, he worked for 3 years in the University of Tokyo Radiology Research Institute.

In 1997, Yoneyama took and passed a bar exam. He cited the arrogance of the university's law students as his motivation for taking the exam. He also took up some modules from the university's School of Economics and Medicine between 1998 and 2000 without officially enrolling into any degree. Yoneyama obtained a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 2003. Whilst working towards his PhD, he had several attachments at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences and Harvard University, and did research at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His experience in medical research led him to be appointed into a lectureship in healthcare policy at the university's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.

Political career

First forays into politics
Yoneyama was recruited by the Liberal Democratic Party to become their candidate for the Niigata 5th district in the 2005 general election. Despite the party doing well across the country in the election, he was defeated by the longtime incumbent and popular former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. He had a rematch with Tanaka in the 2009 election. Despite increasing his share of votes, Yoneyama was unable to overcome the Democratic Party of Japan landslide sweeping the country in the election.

In 2011, he started working as lawyer specialising in cases of medical malpractice. He recontested the Niigata-5th seat in the 2012 election as a member of the Japan Restoration Party (JRP), this time finishing third. In the 2013 House of Councillors election, the JRP fielded him as their candidate for the Niigata at-large district, finishing fourth behind the three incumbent Councillors. Yoneyama would follow the party in its two subsequent mergers, first into the Japan Innovation Party and later into the Democratic Party.

Governor of Niigata
Three-term Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida announced in 2016 that he was not running for another term in that year's election. This triggered a scramble among the major parties to find candidates for the coveted position. Niigata was not spared by the strong anti-nuclear sentiments sweeping across the country, particularly due to the presence of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in the prefecture. The power plant was run by TEPCO, the same company running the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The pro-nuclear camp spearheaded by the LDP supported the candidate of Mayor of Nagaoka Tamio Mori. In order to avoid splitting their votes, the opposition decided to coalesce towards one candidate for an election. Yoneyama was selected as the opposition's unity candidate, garnering the support of the SDP, LP and JCP. His candidacy was supported by the full force of opposition politicians, including DP president Renho, DP deputy president Kenji Eda, Niigata Councillor Naoki Kazama and newly-elected Councillor Yuko Mori (not related to Tamio). Yoneyama won the 16 October election by a 6% margin and was elected to public office for the first time in his career. His election was hailed as a major victory of the anti-nuclear power movement at that time.

Yoneyama pursued a very cautious approach towards restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant during his time in office. He established a nuclear advisory committee early on his term to review the power plant's safeguards and the prefecture's nuclear disaster preparedness. Despite the reactor restart being approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, Yoneyama strongly opposed TEPCO's effort for an immediate restart of the plant and declined to give the necessary authorisation for any operational resumptions. His strong opposition pitted him against the pro-nuclear Abe administration, who threatened to cut Niigata's 1.2 billion yen (about $10.6 million) worth of grants if the reactors were not restarted. He also occasionally criticised government ministers like Taro Aso.

In April 2018, reports surfaced that Yoneyama had been paying women he met in dating sites. Yoneyama admitted that the allegations were true. He confessed to paying money to the women to simply win their favours, but acknowledged that it could create the impression of buying sex. He submitted his resignation on 18 April and left office on 27 April. His resignation triggered an early gubernatorial election in June 2018 and the nuclear debate was expected to heavily feature in the campaign.

Yoneyama said that he hoped his nuclear policies would be continued by his successor. He also ruled out returning to politics in the short term.

Member of the Diet

In the 2021 election Yoneyama ran as an independent candidate in the Niigata 5th district and won a seat in the House of Representatives. Defeating his predecessor in the office of Governor, Hirohiko Izumida.

Personal life
On May 10, 2020, Yoneyama married Yuzuki Muroi. His political idol is former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. Tanaka is also incidentally the father of Makiko Tanaka, whom he fought against in several elections.

References

External links

Governors of Niigata Prefecture
Politicians from Niigata Prefecture
Democratic Party of Japan politicians
University of Tokyo alumni
1967 births
Living people
Japanese radiologists
21st-century Japanese lawyers

Ryuichi Yoneyama


In physics, the line of action (also called line of application) of a force () is a geometric representation of how the force is applied. It is the straight line through the point at which the force is applied in the same direction as the vector .

The concept is essential, for instance, for understanding the net effect of multiple forces applied to a body. For example, if two forces of equal magnitude act upon a rigid body along the same line of action but in opposite directions, they cancel and have no net effect. But if, instead, their lines of action are not identical, but merely parallel, then their effect is to create a moment on the body, which tends to rotate it.

Calculation of torque
For the simple geometry associated with the figure, there are three equivalent equations for the magnitude of the torque associated with a force  directed at displacement  from the axis whenever the force is perpendicular to the axis:

where  is the cross-product,  is the component of  perpendicular to ,  is the moment arm, and  is the angle between  and

References

Force
A

Line of action


A public inquiry (or tribunal of inquiry) is an official review ordered by a government body.

It is used in many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada. The idea is also used in many other countries, perhaps not with the same title. It is an expression of democracy, that in some cases people and groups should be able to have their voice heard directly. The issues at stake may be of a local kind, or special to a particular group of people.

A public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission. A public inquiry accepts evidence, conducts its hearings in public and deals with a specific occurrence. Interested members of the public and organisations may make oral  or written submissions, and listen to oral evidence given by other parties.

Research on the effects of public inquiries suggests they may not do much to change people's minds. However, it is normal for a public enquiry to be about some controversy. That is the point of the exercise.

References

Public speaking
Democracy
Government

Public inquiry