Bagalkot district, officially Bagalakote(), is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The district headquarters is located in the town of Bagalakote. The district is located in northern Karnataka and borders Belgaum, Gadag, Koppal, Raichur and Bijapur. The new Bagalakote district was carved out of Vijayapura in 1997 via Government of Karnataka directive Notification RD 42 LRD 87 Part III. The bifurcated Bagalkot district consists of ten taluks — Badami, Bagalakote, Bilagi, Guledgudda, Rabkavi Banhatti, Hunagund, Ilkal, Jamakhandi and Mudhol, Teradal.

The Ghataprabha River, Malaprabha River and Krishna River flow through the district. Kudalasangama lies at the point of confluence of the rivers Krishna and Malaprabha and is famous for being the samadhi of Basavanna.

Like most districts in India, Bagalkot is headed by a Deputy Commissioner, with various Tahalsidars heading individual taluks in the district.

Origin

Stone inscriptions identify Bagadige as the ancient name of Bagalkot. According to legend, the area was gifted by the mythological Rāvana, lord of Lanka, to his musicians. Other taluks in Bagalkot also have mythological origins. Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, was named after an asura king who, according to the Mahābhārata, ruled the area along with his brother Ilvala. Legend has it that both asuras were vanquished by the sage Agasthya. The northwestern taluk of Jamkhandi derives its name from the Chalukya temple dedicated to Jambukeshwara, a form of the Hindu deity Shiva. The town of Aihole, formerly the capital of the Chalukyan Empire of Banavasi was previously known as Ayyavole and Aryapura meaning Noble city. The western taluk of Mudhol was traditionally known as Muduvollal, literally Lovely town. The ancient town of Pattadakal was previously known as Raktapura, red town, and later as Pattadakal Kisuvoval.

The Greek astronomer Ptolemy previously identified many towns in the district of Bagalkot. Pattadakal was referred to as Petrigal, while Badami was known as Badiamaioi.

Divisions

Bagalkot district is divided into ten taluks; each taluk is further subdivided into hoblis and villages and habitations. There are 21 hoblis in the district:

 Badami taluk: Badami, Kerur Kulageri
 Bagalkot taluk: Bagalkot, Kaladgi, Vidyagiri, Sitimani, Navanagar, Neelanagar
 Bilgi taluk: Anagwadi, Bilgi
 Hungund taluk: Amingad, Hungund, Karadi
 Jamkhandi taluk: Jamkhandi, Savalagi
 Terdal taluk: Terdal
 Rabkavi Banhatti taluk
 Ilkal taluk:Ilkal.Aminagada.Karadi
 Mudhol taluk: Lokapur, Mudhol, Mahalingpur
 Guledgudda taluk

History
Over 191 Middle Palaeolithic localities have been discovered in the Kaladgi basin of the district. The discovery of settlements in the village of Lakhamapura near the Malaprabha valley yielded the identification of quartzitic artefacts such as handaxes and cleavers. A pre-Chalukyan brick temple was discovered at the foothills of Bachinagudda, in Pattadakal, where an idol depicting the bust of Chaturmukha Shiva was discovered. Evidence of megalithic habitation was also discovered at the foothills of Bachinagudda, as were Marahathi and Satavahana coins of a later period.

The first documented evidence of the existence of Bagalkot district dates back to the 2nd century CE, when the taluks of Badami, Indi and Kalkeri were mentioned in the works of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. In the 6th century CE, the Hindu Chalukya rulers ruled over much of present South India. The Chalukyan king Pulakeshin I established Bagalkot as his administrative headquarters; the district retained its prominent status until the Chalukyan empire was sacked by the Rashtrakutas in 753 CE. The Chinese explorer Hieun-Tsang visited Badami and described the people as "tall, proud,...brave and exceedingly chivalrous". He estimated the kingdom to be approximately 1,200 mi in circumference.

The period of rule of the Chalukyas of Badami, whose kingdom stretched from modern Karnataka to Maharashtra and Gujarat, was a highlight of Bagalkot's history. Chalukya king Pulakeshin II further consolidated the empire by battling with the Kadambas, Gangas, Mauryas of the Konkan, Gurjaras and Emperor Harshavardhana, whom he vanquished on the banks of the Narmada river Accounts of war were inscribed on stone structures in the town of Aihole, now located in the taluk of Hungund. The Kalyani Chalukyas, descendants of the Badami Chalukyas, conquered the area before the dawn of the 10th century CE. Their rule was interspersed with wars against the Cholas and Hoysalas. The Kalyani Chalukyas moved their capital from Badami to Kalyani, in the present day district of Bidar. Akkadevi, sister of the Kalyani Chalukya Jayasimha II ruled in the area for more than 40 years from 1024 CE. During the course of her rule of the area, then known as Kisukadu, seventy villages from Bagalkot district were added to her administration. The Chola king Vīrarajendra seized the area by defeating Someshvara I at Koodalasangama. By the 11th century CE, all of Karnataka including Bagalkot fell into the dominion of the Hoysala Empire, first consolidated by Veera Ballala and later subordinated to the Sinda kings.

The Yadavas of Deogiri annexed Bagalkot in 1190 CE and ruled until approximately the thirteenth century. The Deccan invasion by the Muslim Khalji dynasty, led by Ala ud din Khalji in 1294 brought an end to the rule of the Yadavas. In the 14th century, much of this territory was overrun by Muhammad Taghlaq. That the Taghlaqs were undisputed overlords of this territory cannot be established since Harihara, first king of the Vijayanagara Empire, is supposed to have possessed territories as far north as Kaladgi in 1340 and because a fort was built under permission from Harihara in Badami during that period. In the late 15th century, the Adil Shahi dynasty founded by Yusuf Adil Shah established an independent state with Bijapur as its capital. It is from this time that Bagalkot's history is homogeneous to that of Bijapur's. In 1818, after having lost their kingdom to the British, the Maratha Peshwas of Satara were crowned underlords of the kingdom. With the failing of their brief reign which ended in 1948, the district passed into the hands of the British Raj and was incorporated into the dominion of the Bombay Presidency.

India gained independence from the British in 1947; thereafter, the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 allowed for the creation of a Mysore State, renamed Karnataka in 1971, and for Bijapur (and therefore Bagalkot) to be included in its dominion. A separate district of Bagalkot was carved out from the existing Bijapur district in 1997.

Geography

The district of Bagalkot is situated entirely on the North Karnataka Plateau, which is part of the larger Deccan Plateau. Located in north-central Karnataka, Bagalkot is surrounded by Belgaum District to the west, Bijapur District and Kalaburagi district to the north and north-east, Raichur District to the east and Koppal District, Gadag District and Dharwad District to the south-east, south and south-west respectively. It is positioned at  and covers an area of 6593 km2. Bagalkot district has ten taluks — Bagalkot, Ilkal,  Badami, Hunagunda, Mudhol, Jamkhandi, Bilgi, Rabkavi Banhatti, Terdal, Guledgudda. The average elevation in this area reaches approximately 610 m. Owing to its elevated geographical location, the district undergoes a temperate climate in accordance with established Indian meteorological norms. The region maintains a warm and dry climate year-round, with precipitation being moderate yet relatively sparse, particularly in the eastern expanse of the district. The average rainfall in Bagalkot district is approximately 662 mm annually. The months of September and December account for about 52% of the total annual rainfall.

The total extent of forest area of Bagalkot division is 83,893 hectares which constitute about 12.76 of its geographical area of 6,575 Km². The division is spread over six taluks, viz., Bagalkot, Badami, Hungund, Bilagi, Mudhol and Jamkhandi. Bagalkot town is the divisional headquarters. The division has two sub-divisions, namely, Bagalkot and Jamkhandi, and comprises six ranges, namely, Badami, Bagalkot, Hungund, Bilagi, Jamkhandi and Mudhol. The division has in all 32 sections and 57 beats. Bagalkot division has one Wildlife Sanctuary, namely, Yadahalli Wildlife Sanctuary, which is situated in the forests of Bilagi and Mudhol taluks to protect the Chinkara (Indian Gazelle). The Sanctuary covers an area of 9,636 hectares. The Krishna River, Ghataprabha River and Malaprabha River flow through the region but are non perennial. Soil in the area can be categorised as either the majority black or minority red. Black soil retains moisture and is often used for the cultivation of cotton. Rabi and jowar are primarily cultivated in Bagalkot, as are groundnut, cotton, maize, bajra, wheat, sugarcane and tobacco. The district is also rich in mineral wealth. The village of Kaladgi, located 24 km from the town of Bagalkot, harbours copper. Iron ore also exists in the southern part of the district. Like much of Karnataka, the gneiss is the most common rock family. Common rock types in the region include greenstone, quartzite, sandstone and limestone. The management of the water supply to agricultural areas within the district is overseen by the Upper Krishna Project. Bagalkot has not been affected by major seismic activity due to it being located in the stable Zone II.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Bagalkot district has a population of 1,889,752, roughly equal to the nation of Lesotho or the US state of West Virginia. This gives it a ranking of 249th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of  . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 14.46%. Bagalkot has a sex ratio of 984 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 69.39%. 31.64% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 16.89% and 5.14% of the population respectively.

Bagalkot is the second largest district in the Belgaum Division and the 15th most populous district in Karnataka. With over 1,651,892 inhabitants (of which 28.97% were urban), Bagalkot accounts for over 18% of the total population of the Belgaum Division. Bagalkot has 6 taluks, comprising a total of 18 hoblis and 627 villages. Of the 6 taluks, two are categorised as "More Backward Taluk" and one as "Most Backward Taluk". The district has 163 Gram Panchayats and 12 urban agglomerations. Bagalkot, with a decadal growth rate of about 19% is one of the ten fastest growing districts in Karnataka.

Over 86% of the population in the district is Hindu, while 11% of the population is Muslim. Jains account for a little over 1% of the population, while Christians account for 0.17%. Communal tensions are fairly uncommon in Bagalkot.

Kannada, the state language of Karnataka, is the most widely spoken language in the district by 86.07% of the population. Urdu is the second largest language, spoken by 9.30% of the population. Marathi and Lambadi are spoken by 1.48% and 1.47% of the population respectively.

The literacy rate of the district is 57.3%, higher than national levels (52%) but lower than the mean literacy rate of the state (66.6%). Bagalkot ranks 22nd out of the 27 districts in Karnataka for adult literacy. The population density of Bagalkot is approximately 251 persons per square kilometer. Housing conditions in the district were identified as above average, per India's 2001 national census. About 96% of the houses surveyed were recorded as either "Good" or "Livable". Mass media (radio, transistor, television) penetration was about 67%.

Primary workers constitute about 43% of the district's population. Of these, 65% work in agriculture related activities. The sex ratio of the district is 980 per 1000 males, considerably higher than the national average — 927. The district's Net Domestic Income is US$ 5.8 billion. The per capita income of the district is about US$350 annually.

Education
Bagalkot has a number of educational institutions, including Basaveshwara Vidya Vardhaka Sangha and Sakri Sangha. A number of colleges are affiliated with Rani Channamma University, Belgaum, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Ramanagara. Basaveshvara Engineering College (BEC) was established in 1963. S Nijalingappa Medical College, P.M. Nadagouda Memorial Dental College & Hospital, HSK (Hanagal Shree Kumareshwar) Hospital and Research Centre, Bagalkot is affiliated with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

The University of Horticultural Sciences (UHS) is headquartered in Navanagar, Bagalkot with its constituent colleges spread across the state.

Bagalkot houses the Krishi Vignan Kendra.

Economy
Agriculture is the largest employer in Bagalkot, with over 65% of the working population engaged in it; approximately 80% of female workers in Bagalkot are engaged in agriculture. Like most of north Karnataka, Bagalkot is very rich in black soil which is conducive to the cultivation of cotton. Bagalkot's economy was valued at US$5.6 billion, making it the 12th largest economy in Karnataka. The approximate per capital income is US$360. The chief crops cultivated are rabi and jowar, as well as groundnut, cotton, maize, bajra, wheat, sugarcane and tobacco. Jowar is largely cultivated because it can be grown during rainy seasons as well as during the winters. The crop also is the chief supply of food for the people. Pulses are also grown in the region, primarily tuvar daal, gram, kulthi, and mūng daal. Castor oil, linseed and sesamum are also grown in Bagalkot. Water supply for irrigation includes reservoirs such as the Kendur reservoir, which is six miles from Badami and the Muchkundi reservoir, which is 4 miles from Bagalkot. Famine due to lack of adequate rains is quite common in Bagalkot. A famine that struck the region in 1901 inflicted considerable financial loss to the agricultural industry in Bagalkot. The district has the fifth highest farmer suicide rate in Karnataka. Efficient water management techniques and government sops have only marginally mitigated the repercussions of the drought stricken district.

See also
 List of villages in Bagalkot district

References

External links

Official website of Bagalkot
ASI Protected monuments of Bagalkot
Bagalkot: Home to Chalukyan culture
Bagalkot in the news

Districts of Karnataka
Tourism in Karnataka
1997 establishments in Karnataka
Belgaum division

Bagalkot district


Wade Thomas Miller (born September 13, 1976) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros (–), Boston Red Sox (), and Chicago Cubs (–). He batted and threw right-handed. Miller attended Brandywine Heights High School in Topton, Pennsylvania. He is currently Alvernia University's pitching coach, a position he assumed in 2012.

Career
Miller was drafted out of Alvernia University (Reading, PA) by the Houston Astros, in 1996. He won 45 games in a three-year period for the Astros. Miller was one of the best young pitchers in the National League (NL) before injuring the rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder in 2004.

Miller went 16–8 with 183 strikeouts and a 3.40 earned run average (ERA) in . A year later, he was close behind at 15–4, 144, 3.35, and tied the club record with a 12-game winning streak over the summer. Miller then pitched through right forearm pain in , but still was 14–13, 161, 4.13, and led his team in starts (33) and innings (187.1).

In 2004, Miller was 7–7 with 74 strikeouts and a 3.35 ERA in 15 starts before going on the disabled list in June with a season-ending rotator cuff injury. The Astros believed he was playing hurt with shoulder and elbow injuries much of the year before, but Miller never complained about them.

A free agent before the 2005 season, Miller was signed by the Boston Red Sox. He started the year on the disabled list. The acquisition paid off well when Miller was activated on May 8, while starters Curt Schilling and David Wells spent time on the DL. Miller finished the 2005 campaign with a record of 4–4 and a 4.95 ERA.

On January 23, , the Chicago Cubs signed Miller to a one-year, $1 million contract, with $1 million more in incentives. He made his first start of the 2006 season on September 9. Overall, Miller made five starts in 2006, finishing with a record of 0–2 with a 4.57 ERA. He filed for free agency after the season.

On November 9, 2006, Miller signed an incentive-laden, $1.5 million one-year extension to stay with the Cubs under new manager Lou Piniella. However, after three unsuccessful starts where he compiled a 10-plus ERA, Miller was once again placed on the DL in July 2007. He was placed on waivers granting his unconditional release from the Cubs in August .

On March 7, 2009, Miller agreed to a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. He retired from baseball, following that season.

In a nine-year MLB career, Miller compiled a 62–46 record with 749 strikeouts and a 4.10 ERA in  innings pitched.

After baseball
Miller was inducted into the Reading Baseball Hall of Fame on July 21, 2011.

See also
 Houston Astros award winners and league leaders

References

External links

Alvernia Golden Wolves baseball players
Baseball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Red Sox players
Houston Astros players
Chicago Cubs players
Major League Baseball pitchers
1976 births
Living people
Auburn Doubledays players
New Orleans Zephyrs players
Wilmington Blue Rocks players
Pawtucket Red Sox players
Peoria Chiefs players
West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players
Iowa Cubs players
Tennessee Smokies players
Gulf Coast Astros players
Gulf Coast Blue Jays players
Greenville Bombers players
Quad Cities River Bandits players
Kissimmee Cobras players
Jackson Generals (Texas League) players
Las Vegas 51s players

Wade Miller


Bagata Territory is an administrative region in the Kwilu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The headquarters are in the town of Bagata. The territory is divided into five sectors: Kidzweme, Kwango-Kasai, Kwilu-Ntobere, Manzasay and Wamba-Fatunda.

The Kasai River flows along the northern boundary of the territory. The Kwilu River crosses the territory, flowing in a northwesterly direction past the town of Bagata towards the city of Bandundu, where it joins the Kwango River shortly before that stream enters the Kasai.

References

Territories of Kwilu Province

Bagata Territory


Gyeong Dae-seung (Hangul: 경대승, Hanja: 慶大升) (1154 – 4 August 1183) was the third of many military dictators who ruled during the late period of the Goryeo. Unlike his predecessors, General Gyeong was determined to fix Goryeo's problems and help the people prosper. His popularity with the people aroused the jealousy of King Myeongjong of Goryeo. His military dictatorship over Goryeo signified a brief period of peace within the war-ravaged kingdom.

Background
General Gyeong Dae-Seung was born to Gyeong Jin into the Cheongju Gyeong clan in the year 1154. At the time of his birth, the warrior-class of the nation was highly undermined and deprived of the luxuries that its civilian and scholar counterparts were able to see excessively. The young Gyeong began his military training at the age of 15, and served under the regimes of both Yi Ui-bang and Jeong Jung-bu. When his father died, he took charge of his household and began helping the poor, and made the decision of using the private army, Tobang that his father had built.

Dictator
In 1179, the young General Gyeong led a revolt against the current-reigning dictator Jeong Jung-bu, killing his son and son-in-law in the process of overthrowing the regime. At the age of 26, Gyeong had overthrown the powerful Jeong military regime and had become the undisputed military dictator of Goryeo. The greatest help to Gyeong was his lifelong friend General Kim Ja-Gyuk, who wanted to put Gyeong on the Imperial throne. Gyeong did not allow such things to overcome his original purpose for taking power. Gyeong Dae-seung became very popular among the people and received the name, "Righteous, young general." Emperor Myeongjong became jealous of Gyeong's popularity and power, and rejected the young general as merely another bloodthirsty barbaric warrior who was greedy for power. Despite efforts to restore peace, Gyeong was faced with assassination attempts, the most notable being an attempt by his friend Kim Ja-Gyuk to poison him. This attempt failed and Gyeong was the military dictator of Goryeo for five years until he became ill (possibly tuberculosis) that eventually killed him.

Death and aftermath
Gyeong Dae-seung died in August 1183. With the death of Gyeong, Yi Ui-bang's former lieutenant Yi Ui-min returned to Kaesong and took power over Goryeo, undoing Gyeong's legacy.

Popular culture
 Portrayed by Park Yong-woo in the 2003-2004 KBS TV series Age of Warriors.

See also
Jeong Jung-bu
Goryeo

References

1154 births
1183 deaths
Goryeo Buddhists
Korean generals
Regents of Korea
Leaders who took power by coup
People from Cheongju

Gyeong Dae-seung


Argaw Bedaso (born 5 April 1934) is a longtime Ethiopian traditional singer who has won praise for his Gurage songs. His most popular song is titled "Alem Bire". He has been performing since 1957 and despite his age still performs and is active in the Ethiopian music scene.

In his early days, Argaw Bedaso was a deacon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, related to Coptic Christianity.

He claims his resiliency and good health is due to his interest in exercising, and he promotes running for health.

Argaw Bedaso has had eighteen children, ten of them from one mother. Four of his children have died. Argaw's first wife died only after a year of marriage and he has been with his current wife for forty five years.

External links
 Appearance by Argaw Bedaso as Guest Host on Radio Fana

20th-century Ethiopian male singers
1934 births
Living people
Amharic-language singers

Argaw Bedaso


Iris West-Allen is a fictional character, a supporting character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She has been the main love interest and later wife of Barry Allen, the alter ego of the Silver Age version of the superhero The Flash, and the aunt and grandmother, respectively, of the Modern Age variations of the characters Wally West and Bart Allen.

On television, she has appeared in various adaptations in other media; the character has been portrayed by Paula Marshall in the 1990 CBS television series and by Candice Patton in the 2014 The CW television series along with appearances in other Arrowverse shows. In the DC Extended Universe feature films, she was portrayed by Kiersey Clemons in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and The Flash (2023).

Publication history
Created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, the character made her first appearance in Showcase #4 (October 1956).

Fictional character biography
Iris West works as a reporter for Picture News, based in Central City, and is the fiancée of Barry Allen, who is secretly the Flash. Prior to Barry becoming the Flash, Iris often chides Barry for his frequently being late due to his repeatedly being lost in thought at work as a forensic scientist, a tendency which continues even after he becomes a high-speed superhero. When Iris and Barry marry, Iris learns that, not only is Barry the city's heroic speedster, but her nephew, Wally West, is Kid Flash. She is not told by Barry, but discovers her husband's secret on their wedding night when Barry talks in his sleep. She reveals this to him on their first wedding anniversary. During this time, the couple discovers that Iris was born in the 30th century.

After years as a prominent presence in the Flash's life and in Central City, She was killed by Professor Zoom during a costume party. Zoom vibrated his hand into Iris's head, solidifying it just enough to kill her. Years later, Barry killed Zoom while trying to prevent him from murdering his new fiancée, Fiona Webb. However, Iris did not stay dead for long as Iris' biological parents, the Russells (with the help of a future Flash, John Fox), sent then-infant Iris to the past, where she was adopted by Ira West, her "death" causing a paradox that was resolved after the Russells placed her consciousness into a new body. Barry is reunited with Iris in her time, however, the couple knows that if Barry returns to the past, he will die in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. They are able to spend a month together in the 30th century, until Barry is kidnapped by the Anti-Monitor and returns to 1985.

During their time in the future, they conceive the Tornado Twins, Don and Dawn. Don marries the descendant of Professor Zoom, Meloni Thawne, hoping to end the feud between the two families. They have a son, Bart, whose powers manifest at an early age and cause him to age at an accelerated rate. Dawn marries Jeven Ognats of Aarok and has a daughter, Jenni. Her powers eventually manifest when she witnesses her father being tortured, and she becomes XS of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Don and Dawn die saving 30th century Earth from an invasion by the Dominators.

Iris takes Bart to the past to enlist the aid of her nephew (by then, Wally had taken the mantle of the Flash) in saving her grandson. After Bart's accelerated aging slows down, he takes the name of Impulse. Iris disappears for a while, feeling out of place in the 20th century. She contacted Johnny Quick at a country diner and tried to warn him of his upcoming battle with Savitar, but he did not heed her. Afraid to change the future by giving vital information about the present, Iris refused to go into the details of how Savitar could be defeated, but finally Linda Park and Jenni Ognats convinced her to tell them the key to Savitar's defeat, which was to give him what he wanted: to be one with the Speed Force.

Iris again disappeared. This time she is kidnapped by Polaris and Abra Kadabra and forced to write everything she knew about the future so that they could have a "roadmap into tomorrow" for their plan of world conquest.

After this incident, Iris went someplace where no one would find her so that she could concentrate on writing the book The Life Story of the Flash, which was published by Keystone Press in 1997.

Some time later, Iris returns to adopt the child of Wally's ex-girlfriend, officer Julie Jackman, upon her death, having befriended the girl during her time in the present. While in the future, Iris learnt that the child, Josh Jackman, was destined to become a great hero and was believed to be Wally's illegitimate child; however, it turns out that in reality, the child is Mark Mardon's, who had a one-night-stand with Julie after Wally dumped her. Realizing that what was told in the future was wrong, Iris decided to come out of hiding and reconnect with her grandson and nephew.

One Year Later

A mysterious hooded figure enlists the help of Zoom to attack Bart while he confronts Captain Cold, and later reveals herself as Iris. Her plan is to somehow put her grandson, who, by then, had taken up the Flash mantle, out of commission for a week to protect him from a future she is determined to change; however, her plan is corrupted by Bart's clone "brother" Inertia and a weakened Bart is beaten to death by the Rogues.

In Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #1, Iris has since moved to her old home in Central City where she is seen tearfully looking over photographs of her late husband, when a disembodied voice calls her name: her late husband, Barry Allen. Iris spends some time as part of a Darkseid-resistance cell operating out of the Hall of Justice alongside Black Lightning, Green Arrow, the Ray, Linda Park and her two children. Soon after, Iris is corrupted by the Anti-Life Equation but Barry is able to break its hold over her by kissing her & enveloping her in the Speed Force. Iris starts crying at the sight of Barry, who reassures her everything will be okay.

After the return of her husband, Iris is shown fully returning to her life alongside the rest of the Flash family. Still overjoyed by the return of Barry, she does not get much time to spend with him, as Barry is still mentally scarred from his deathly ordeal and staunchly refuses to stop and enjoy even a moment of "normal" life. She is also shown to be much younger than she previously had appeared (she was depicted as a middle-age woman after the events of Crisis), about the same age as when Barry first met her. It is later implied by the resurrected Professor Zoom that Iris's rejuvenation is a side effect of close contact to her husband's Speed Force since Final Crisis. She resumes her career as a crime reporter at Central City.

The New 52
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Iris is not married to Barry, but they still know each other because of their respective occupations. It is hinted that Iris has a romantic attraction to Barry. She is accidentally trapped in the Speed Force by Turbine, but is freed by Barry's alter-ego. Later issues confirm that she is in love with Barry. Barry does not yet reciprocate Iris' affections, though he hints at it when he's forced to take on the role of the Black Racer and goes to Iris for help.

DC Rebirth
During the DC Rebirth events, when Iris and Wally West II were attacked by Eobard Thawne, Iris had glimpses of her pre-Flashpoint life with Barry, including them as husband and wife and had a family in the other timeline, and learning that he is the Flash in the process. Knowing that Barry is indirectly responsible for the alteration of their lives through time-travel and kept it a secret from her, Iris now distrusts Barry. She also kills Thawne after he lost his powers in retaliation of him hurting Wally II after Barry rescued them, though Thawne later again resurrected from his death. She later appears at the cemetery where Barry asks her for her forgiveness for lying to her. She forgives him, because she is curious about the Flash. He takes her to the Watchtower. She is interested in other secrets Barry is keeping from her.

Since the Flash Family defeated Grodd and stop the Negative Speed Force from spreading Central City, both she and Barry have rekindled their romances with each other. She is subsequently re-introduced to the pre-Flashpoint Wally West, swiftly regaining her memories of him when she sees him, simultaneously inspiring Wally's own memories of those he has forgotten. She is later brought to trial in the 25th century for Eobard Thawne's murder. She and Barry later have Wally to be taken care of in the rehabilitation center called the Sanctuary, in which she is so happy about Wally being a better hero today. During her romance with Barry, she begins to remember their marriage, and beginning to put pieces together about the new forces that appear in Central City.

Other versions

The New Frontier
In The New Frontier universe, Iris West is a reporter and engaged to crime forensic Barry Allen. During the Cold War and the rise of McCarthyism, Iris wrote her article "Washington Declares War On Mystery Men" on the current events following the death of Hourman and the social bias against masked vigilantes. In 1957, Iris was interviewing Ted "Wildcat" Grant in Las Vegas. While on a phone call with Barry Allen, Captain Cold appeared and froze Iris's hand that was on the phone. Barry heard everything that happened and traveled to Las Vegas as The Flash. In the process he freed an unconscious Iris and stopped Captain Cold. A year later in 1958, after Barry had retired from crime fighting and the subsequent appearance of the Centre, Iris had known for some time that her husband was the Flash and did not reveal this until she convinced him to become a hero once again.

Amalgam Comics
In the Amalgam universe, Iris was combined with Marvel's Roxanne Simpson to form Iris Simpson. When Iris became married to Blaze Allen, her life and soul were taken by the Night Spectre, which threw Blaze into a depression until he bonded with the demon Etrigan to become Speed Demon. Her soul was eventually freed by Blaze and her nephew Wally, who became the third Speed Demon.

Flashpoint
In the Flashpoint miniseries (an event prior to the New 52 relaunch, when an alternate timeline was created by the Flash), Iris West is unmarried and in a relationship with someone called "John" at the Central City Citizen, where she works. Later Iris is seen with her nephew and cameraman, Wally West, covering a battle between Citizen Cold and Mister Freeze. Iris was invited to dinner by Citizen Cold. When she asks him for an interview, he is interrupted by his emergency calls. Later, Citizen Cold is injured during his battle with the Rogues and while collapsing in his car, confronts Iris. Iris then brings him to her home. After he recovers, he gives her a key to his penthouse, and an offer to join him when he leaves Central City. When Citizen Cold returns home, Iris learns from Pied Piper, that Citizen Cold is a criminal and murdered her nephew. Citizen Cold attacks Pied Piper, but Iris uses one of his own weapons to freeze him in a block of ice, just as he had Wally. Afterwards, Iris visits her nephew's grave along with her husband John.

Injustice: Gods Amongst Us
In the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel series, Barry met with Iris sometime after Superman killed the Joker where she expressed her disapproval of Superman's actions. She's convinced that Flash would not do the same if he was in Superman's scenario (where Iris would be murdered instead of Lois), and tells Barry to not condone Superman's actions and to promise her that he will stand up to Superman if he goes down the wrong path. Five years later, Barry goes to see Iris after Superman lashes out at him for letting Batman get away, where it's shown that they've broken up as Iris is upset with Barry for breaking his promise and supporting Superman. Later, Flash sees Iris being arrested by Girder and King Shark for treason against the Regime from joining a Central City Insurgent group. Flash tries to defend them from the two villains and ends up killing King Shark in the process. Iris is disgusted by Barry's actions and offers to arrest herself just to not deal with Barry. Barry talks with her, and she tells him that her faith in him was shattered five years ago when she was undercover in Australia where she witnessed Superman and Wonder Woman brutally beat and cripple a rebellious hero named Galaxor while Flash did nothing to help the young man (who committed suicide shortly afterwards though that later turns out to be a myth). Iris ultimately rejects Barry and tells him that he's not the man she thought he was. Iris and the rest of her group afterwards are arrested by Flash and Girder, and was set to stand trial for her actions.

In other media

Television
 Iris West appears in The Flash (1990), portrayed by Paula Marshall. This version is a computer graphic artist.
 Iris West appears in Young Justice, voiced by Nicole Dubuc. This version is a reporter for the Galaxy Broadcasting System (GBS).
 Iris West appears in The Flash (2014), portrayed by Candice Patton. This version is African-American, a trait which other portrayals of the character would adopt. Her Earth-2 counterpart, who is a detective, appears as well.

Film
 Iris West appears in Justice League: The New Frontier, voiced by Vicki Lewis. This version is aware of Barry Allen's secret identity, having deduced it herself.
 Iris West appears in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, voiced by Jennifer Hale. In the alternate Flashpoint timeline, she is uninvolved with Barry Allen, and married and had a child with someone else.
 Iris West appears in Justice Society: World War II, voiced by Ashleigh LaThrop. This version is African-American.
 Zoe Kazan was going to portray Iris West in Justice League: Mortal but the project was cancelled.

DC Extended Universe
 Kiersey Clemons was cast as Iris West in Justice League, though her scenes were cut. Her scenes were later restored in the director's cut Zack Snyder's Justice League, in which Barry Allen uses his speed to save her from a traffic accident.
 Clemons reprised her role in The Flash (2023), which is a part of the DC Extended Universe.

Novels
Iris Allen is featured in the Justice League novel Flash: Stop Motion written by Mark Shultz.

References

DC Comics female characters
Comics characters introduced in 1956
DC Comics metahumans
Fictional reporters
Fictional writers
Fictional photographers
Characters created by Carmine Infantino
Characters created by Joe Kubert
Characters created by Robert Kanigher
Flash (comics) characters

Iris West


Goodwin Farm Complex is a historic home and farm located near Bells, Chatham County, North Carolina.  The complex was established during the period 1850–1860. The main house consists of the original combined log cabin and detached kitchen in a one-story triple-A frame house, with a two-story section added about 1900.  Also on the property are late-19th century agricultural outbuildings.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Houses completed in 1900
Houses in Chatham County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Chatham County, North Carolina

Goodwin Farm Complex


R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) is a toy robot accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was launched in July 1985 as the  in Japan, and October 1985 as R.O.B. in North America. Its short lifespan yielded only two games in the Robot Series: Gyromite and Stack-Up.

Following the North American video game crash of 1983, Nintendo alleviated that fearful retail market by rebranding its Japanese Famicom video game console as the Nintendo Entertainment System—a new platform focused on R.O.B. to further reclassify the system as a uniquely sophisticated toy experience instead of simply as a video game console. Computer Entertainer called R.O.B. "the world's only interactive robot".

The NES's extensive marketing plan immediately and successfully centered on R.O.B., with the October 1985 test market launch in Manhattan, New York. This was Nintendo's debut in the North American video game console market, which eventually revitalized the entire video game industry. R.O.B. was quietly discontinued a few years later, and is now remembered as a successful Trojan Horse of marketing. He is a cameo or playable character in many Nintendo games such as the Super Smash Bros. series.

History

Development

The new Nintendo of America subsidiary, having already successfully bet its own launch upon its conversion of its failed Radar Scope (1980) arcade game cabinets into the successful new Donkey Kong (1981) arcade game, wanted to debut in the home video game console market using the Japanese parent company's successful Famicom system. But the entire American video game industry, which had been devastated by the video game crash of 1983, first needed a relaunch.

Following the crash, many retailers had lost confidence in the Atari-led video game market even while the toy market was strong. With a high volume of low quality products and dead-inventory shovelware, some retailers and industry critics considered video gaming to be a passing fad altogether. Therefore, Nintendo spent much of 1984 re-conceiving its Family Computer (Famicom) platform from Japan to be portrayed in America not as a traditional video game console, but as a new kind of sophisticated entertainment experience.

Nintendo saw the industry's overwhelming trend away from game consoles and toward home computers, but its prototype of a lavish Famicom-based home computer and multimedia package called Advanced Video System (AVS) was poorly received at the January 1985 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, so that was redesigned into a cost-reduced toy motif. The Famicom's whimsical appearance was again rebranded with a serious naming and industrial design language similar to the AVS, called the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The NES is based on a console called the "Control Deck", which is shaped like high-tech videophile equipment with a front-loaded and door-enclosed cartridge port in the style of the modern VCR instead of a typically top-loaded "video game console".

The Family Computer Robot, a recent niche entry in the Famicom's aftermarket accessory lineup in Japan on July 26, 1985, is a mechanized toy robot with working arms and crude eyesight, resembling "a cross between E.T. and R2-D2". It was designed and patented by veteran Nintendo designer Gunpei Yokoi. Used as a functional companion for playing select video games within a custom playset, it was recolored for the NES and was thrust forth as essential to the NES's new identity as a futuristic, robot-powered experience. The Milwaukee Journal said, "The key to the NES is the interactive robot ... You no longer have to fight only the aliens on the screen; you have a robot to contend with as well." Computer Entertainer called it "the world's only interactive robot", because no other video game system or home computer package ever had one, greatly distinguishing the NES to retailers and consumers alike.

Nintendo of America staff received the first R.O.B. shipment from Japan, initially thrilled with anticipation while unboxing and using the robot. Howard Phillips remembered, "The technology was so cool! [...] like voodoo magic [...] But then his actual motion was just hysterically slow." Nintendo marketing executive Gail Tilden recalled, "That thing was definitely like watching grass grow. It was so slow, and to try and stand there and sales-pitch it in person and try to make it exciting; you had to have the eyes lined up just right or it wouldn't receive the flashes. It was kind of a challenge." Product designer Don James laughed, "[Gyromite] was hard as hell! [...] So you really had to think two or three moves ahead to allow him to do what he was going to do. But it's cool to look at, right? [...] It was a really neat, unusual little device. And it was fun to play! But again, like Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, I wouldn't want to do it for 40 hours." Tasked with all of the NES's naming and branding, the sole marketing staff member Gail Tilden said the name was "originally going to be OTTO, which was a play on the word 'auto'", but she settled on Robotic Operating Buddy, or R.O.B.

As the centerpiece of the new NES platform, R.O.B. was revealed at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in June 1985. Nintendo's brochure for attracting distributors shows a prototypical hybrid between AVS and NES with R.O.B., saying, "The future of home entertainment is staring you in the face. Our new video robot is the first of a long line of winners to come from Nintendo." and that R.O.B. is the "star of a new Entertainment System that's programmed to make you rich". The robotic persona reportedly "worked like a charm" to drive intrigued visitors to Nintendo's booth, but nobody signed up to be a distributor of the upcoming NES.

IGN reflected that "[R.O.B.] might have been the key to getting the system into players' hands, and once they had players, Nintendo was convinced the rest would be easy."

Release
Nintendo anticipated that R.O.B.'s flair for futurism, personality, and physicality was so crucial to the success of the NES, that the toy was featured prominently in much of the advertising media of the system and its game library, even more than any particular game and even with only one robot game. The robot was portrayed as a bridge between the player and the game. The retail floor displays were each topped with a huge R.O.B. head model, and the launch party centered on a colossal robot replica with many small silver-plated robot models. The toy robot is the highlighted accessory within the first and most premium NES consumer product offering, the Deluxe Set boxed bundle of Control Deck, R.O.B., Zapper light gun, Gyromite, and Duck Hunt.

The NES was launched as the Deluxe Set, in the October 1985 test market of New York City, then in further test markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, and finally nationwide. The NES's design language with R.O.B. and the Zapper, recategorized the retailers' perception of the NES from a video game to a toy. This bypassed the crashed video game stigma and launched it more safely from the toy sections of retail stores next to established hit robot toys like Transformers, Voltron, Go-Bots, Teddy Ruxpin, and Lazer Tag.

Soon in 1985 came the second and final entry in the Robot Series, Stack-Up, packaged separately along with its own physical game pieces. The NES was soon sold much more popularly in the form of only the Control Deck and Super Mario Bros. — without R.O.B. Optionally, Gyromite was repackaged separately, and R.O.B. was repackaged separately for . In the following few years, R.O.B. and the two-game Robot Series were quietly discontinued.

Hardware

The patent underlying the R.O.B. product was filed by Gunpei Yokoi as "photosensing video game control system", with the same optical electronics as a Zapper, and likewise only functions correctly with a cathode ray tube (CRT) television and not an LCD. Games can send six distinct commands to R.O.B. by flashing the screen. The test feature within Gyromite and Stack-Up sends an optical flash that should activate R.O.B.'s red light.

Games
Only two officially licensed games were published for R.O.B., which comprise Nintendo's Robot Series: Gyromite and Stack-Up. Computer Entertainer reported Nintendo's supposed plans as stated prior to CES June 1985, for four more nondescript Robot Series games, but they were never released.

Gyromite

The Gyromite retail package consists of the following items: two claws for R.O.B.'s hands; two heavy spinning tops called gyros; two red and blue trays upon which the gyros will rest, causing buttons to be pressed on the second NES controller; one spinner motor for accelerating the gyros; and two black trays upon which the gyros are stored when not in use. The Direct game mode is a feature used to learn how to use R.O.B. or to play with R.O.B. without playing the game. Gyromite is a puzzle platform video game in which main character Professor Hector must collect dynamite before the time runs out, with his path blocked by several red and blue pillars and by dinosaur-like creatures called Smicks. Hector cannot jump, so he can only collect dynamite by descending upon it. He can collect radishes that attract the Smicks when dropped. In Game A, the commands are made by pressing START and then pushing the direction in which to move R.O.B., and using the A and B buttons to open and close his arms. If R.O.B. places a gyro on the red or blue button, it pushes the A or B button on the second NES controller, moving the pillar of the corresponding color. If both buttons need to be pressed at the same time, the gyros are placed in a spinner so that they will stay balanced on the button without R.O.B. holding it. Game B has the same controls, except that START does not need to be pressed to make R.O.B. accept a command.

Stack-Up

Stack-Up comes with five trays, five different colored circular blocks, and two claws worn by R.O.B. for grabbing the blocks. Again, the player controls Professor Hector. In the Direct game mode, the player makes the block stack match with the one shown on screen by moving Hector to the button that corresponds to the desired movement. In Memory, the player makes a list of commands to recreate the displayed block setup, and then R.O.B. executes the list. In Bingo, the player makes the shown block stack, where the color of the block does not matter. There are two enemies: one causes the player to lose a life, and the other makes R.O.B. perform undesired actions.

Aftermarket
In 2014, independent game developer Retrozone produced a limited release NES cartridge titled 8-Bit X-Mas 2014. The title screen features R.O.B. character graphics, and interacts with the toy by making it dance to Christmas music.

Reception
In January 1986, an independent research firm commissioned by Nintendo delivered a survey of 200 NES owners, showing that the most popular given reason for buying an NES was because children wanted the robot—followed by good graphics, variety of games, and the uniqueness and newness of the NES package. The creation and marketing of R.O.B. as a "Trojan Horse" after the video game crash of 1983 was placed fifth in GameSpy's twenty-five smartest moves in gaming history. Yahoo! ranked R.O.B. as one of the craziest video game controllers and noted the unfortunate fact that the peripheral only worked with two games.

By 1987, the two-year-old R.O.B. and Robot Series had received none of Nintendo's promised updates while the rest of the NES's library had exploded with classic flagship franchise-building hits like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. In 1987, Mark Seeley of Crash! magazine visited a toy fair in England to observe a playthrough of Gyromite with R.O.B., saying of the struggling demonstrator that he had "never seen anything so complicated and difficult in all my life". In July 1987, Family Computing magazine advocated buying the much cheaper and more entertaining setup of the Control Deck and Super Mario Bros. instead of R.O.B., saying, "Anyone who has seen a Nintendo ad on television would think that R.O.B. is the heart of the system. Not so. R.O.B. is an ingenious idea [but] while R.O.B. is a cute little guy, there isn't much you can do with him. ... [N]either [of his two games] generates much excitement."

In 2018, Owen S. Good of Polygon remembered his childhood experience with the vintage R.O.B. and assessed the setup as "a novel, if almost Rube Goldberg-esque way of 'playing' with its users ... that quickly got dull".

Historian Chris Kohler was unimpressed with the product's long-term entertainment value. "As video game controller peripherals go, R.O.B. was a particularly gimmicky one. Once the novelty of controlling a robot's arms and spinning a glorified top had worn off, usually within days or even hours, R.O.B. got in the way of enjoyment. He required battery replacements too often, and it was immediately apparent that the maze barriers in Gyromite could be turned on and off just as easily by tapping the A and B buttons on a standard controller, which was all that R.O.B.'s complicated motions ended up doing."

In retrospect, Kohler considered R.O.B.'s discontinuation to now be immaterial because the product's whole existence has ultimately amounted to "merely a Trojan Horse to get NES systems into American homes". He said "The gambit worked like a charm, and nobody missed R.O.B. or the Zapper once players realized that games played with the standard video game controller, like Super Mario Bros. were much more fun."

Legacy
After many failures, the late addition of R.O.B. gave a key product distinction to the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System, reclassified the platform as a toy, and served as a Trojan Horse to enable the platform's successful launch. This, in turn, secured the survival of Nintendo of America and revitalized the entire video game industry. A followup promotional poster from Nintendo simply pictured R.O.B. and said, "They said reviving the video game market wasn't humanly possible. It wasn't."

R.O.B. has made cameo appearances in many video games, such as StarTropics (1990) for NES, F-Zero GX (2003), the WarioWare series, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2015, 3DS), and the Star Fox series.

R.O.B. is an unlockable character in Mario Kart DS, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, each of which refers to R.O.B. as male. In Brawls adventure mode, The Subspace Emissary, R.O.B. plays a major role in the plot. As part of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, R.O.B. has two Amiibo figurines, uniquely produced in both the gray and white NES color scheme and the red and white Famicom color scheme.

R.O.B. is the avatar for TASBot, a tool-assisted speedrun software bot for video games.

See also

 HERO, a programmable robot series for home computers from 1982 to 1995
 Topo, a programmable robot series for home computers from 1983 to 1984
 Short Circuit, the 1986 sci-fi film starring the robot Johnny Five
 WALL-E, the 2008 sci-fi film starring the titular robot
 Transformers

Notes

References

1985 robots
Fictional characters introduced in 1985
Japanese inventions
Nintendo antagonists
Nintendo characters
Nintendo Entertainment System accessories
Nintendo protagonists
Nintendo toys
Robot characters in video games
Robots of Japan
Super Smash Bros. fighters
Toy robots
Fictional martial artists in video games
Fictional sole survivors
Video game sidekicks
Fictional racing drivers

R.O.B.


Giovanni Pichler (Born 10 January 1734 in Naples; died 25 January 1791 in Rome) was a German-Italian artist in engraved gems.

Biography
Giovanni Pichler was born on 10 January 1734 in Naples, where his father, the Tyrolean gem-engraver, Anton Pichler, had settled. He was the brother of Luigi Pichler, who also became a gem-engraver. In 1743 his father moved to Rome. Giovanni was educated by his father in classical methods, and apprenticed to Domenico Corvi

He cut, after 15 years, a Hercules in Combat with the Nemean Lions, a generally admired piece. His gems, both recessed and embossed, are of outstanding clarity and sharpness and he was one of the most sought after engravers of his age, leaving him with a prolific 379 pieces to his name. He also worked in pastel painting.

In 1790 he produced a catalogue of 200 examples of his work.

Johann Joseph (Giuseppe) Pichler, stepbrother of Giovanni and Luigi Pichler, born in 1760 in Rome, was a skillful lapidary.

Giovanni Pichler died on 25 January 1791 in Rome. A portrait bust of Pichler by the sculptor, Christopher Hewetson is conserved in the Musei Capitolini, Rome.

References

Literature
 I. Bignamini, C. Hornsby, Digging And Dealing In Eighteenth-Century Rome (2010), p. 316-317
 G. Tassinari, 'I ritratti dei viaggiatori del Grand Tour sugli intaglio ed i cammei di Giovanni Pichler', in Bolletino del Centro Interuniversitario di ricerche sul viaggio in Italia; 26:1 (2005), p. 11-79
 G. Seidmann, 'The Grand Tourist's favourite souvenirs: cameos and intaglios', in RSA Journal (1996), p. 63-66
 Hermann Rollett: Die drei Meister der Gemmoglyptik Antonio, Giovanni und Luigi Pichler: eine biographisch-kunstgeschichtliche Darstellung (1884. Vienna)
 Catalogo d'impronti cavati da gemme incise dal Cavaliere Giovanni Pichler ... (1790)

Italian artists
German artists
Italian people of Austrian descent
Italian people of German descent
18th-century Neapolitan people
Engraved gem artists
1734 births
1791 deaths

Catholic engravers

Giovanni Pichler


In computing, single program, multiple data (SPMD)  is a term that has been used to  refer to computational models for exploiting parallelism where-by multiple processors cooperate in the execution of a program in order to obtain results faster.

The term SPMD was introduced in 1983 and was used to denote two different computational models:

 by Michel Auguin (University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis) and François Larbey (Thomson/Sintra), as a "fork-and-join" and data-parallel approach where the parallel tasks ("single program") are split-up and run simultaneously in lockstep on multiple SIMD processors with different inputs, and
 by Frederica Darema (IBM), where "all (processors) processes  begin executing the same program... but through synchronization directives ... self-schedule themselves  to execute different instructions and act on different data"  and enabling MIMD parallelization of a given program, and is a more general approach than data-parallel and more efficient than the fork-and-join for parallel execution on general purpose multiprocessors.

The (IBM) SPMD is the most common style of parallel programming and can be considered a subcategory of MIMD in that it refers to MIMD execution of a given ("single") program. It is also a prerequisite for research concepts such as active messages and distributed shared memory.

SPMD vs SIMD
In SPMD parallel execution, multiple autonomous processors simultaneously execute the same program at independent points, rather than in the lockstep that SIMD or SIMT imposes on different data. With SPMD, tasks can be executed on general purpose CPUs. In SIMD the same operation (instruction) is applied on multiple data to manipulate data streams (a version of SIMD is vector processing where the data are organized as vectors). Another class of processors, GPUs encompass multiple SIMD streams processing.  Note that SPMD and SIMD are not mutually exclusive; SPMD parallel execution can include SIMD, or vector, or GPU sub-processing. SPMD has been used for parallel programming of both message passing and shared-memory machine architectures.

Distributed memory
On distributed memory computer architectures, SPMD implementations usually employ message passing programming. A distributed memory computer consists of a collection of interconnected, independent computers, called nodes. For parallel execution, each node starts its own program and communicates with other nodes by sending and receiving messages, calling send/receive routines for that purpose. Other parallelization directives such as Barrier synchronization   may also be implemented by messages. The messages can be sent by a number of communication mechanisms, such as TCP/IP over Ethernet, or specialized high-speed interconnects such as Myrinet and Supercomputer Interconnect. For distributed memory environments, serial sections of the program can be implemented by identical computation of the serial section on all nodes rather than computing the result on one node and sending it to the others, if that improves performance by reducing communication overhead.

Nowadays, the programmer is isolated from the details of the message passing by standard interfaces, such as PVM and MPI.

Distributed memory is the programming style used on parallel supercomputers from homegrown Beowulf clusters to the largest clusters on the Teragrid, as well as present GPU-based supercomputers.

Shared memory
On a shared memory machine (a computer with several interconnected CPUs that access the same memory space), the sharing can be implemented in the context of either physically shared memory or logically shared (but physically distributed) memory; in addition to the shared memory, the CPUs in the computer system can also include local (or private) memory. For either of these contexts, synchronization can be enabled with hardware enabled primitives (such as compare-and-swap, or fetch-and-add. For machines that do not have such hardware support, locks can be used and data can be "exchanged" across processors (or, more generally, processes or threads) by depositing the sharable data in a shared memory area. When the hardware does not support shared memory, packing the data as a "message" is often the most efficient way to program (logically) shared memory computers with large number of processors, where the physical memory is local to processors and accessing memory of another processor takes longer. SPMD on a shared memory machine can be implemented by standard processes (heavyweight) or threads (lightweight).

Shared memory multiprocessing (both symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and non-uniform memory access, NUMA) presents the programmer with a common memory space and the possibility to parallelize execution. With the (IBM) SPMD model the cooperating processors (or processes) take different paths through the program, using parallel directives (parallelization and synchronization directives, which can utilize compare-and-swap and fetch-and-add operations on shared memory synchronization variables), and perform operations on data in the shared memory ("shared data"); the processors (or processes) can also have access and perform operations on data in their local memory ("private data"). In distinction, with fork-and-join approaches, the program starts executing on one processor and the execution splits in a parallel region, which is started when parallel directives are encountered; in a parallel region, the processors execute a parallel task on different data. A typical example is the parallel DO loop, where different processors work on separate parts of the arrays involved in the loop. At the end of the loop, execution is synchronized (with soft- or hard-barriers), and processors (processes) continue to the next available section of the program to execute. The (IBM) SPMD has been implemented in the current standard interface for shared memory multiprocessing, OpenMP, which uses multithreading , usually implemented by lightweight processes, called threads.

Combination of levels of parallelism
Current computers allow exploiting many parallel modes at the same time for maximum combined effect. A distributed memory program using MPI may run on a collection of nodes. Each node may be a shared memory computer and execute in parallel on multiple CPUs using OpenMP. Within each CPU, SIMD vector instructions (usually generated automatically by the compiler) and superscalar instruction execution (usually handled transparently by the CPU itself), such as pipelining and the use of multiple parallel functional units, are used for maximum single CPU speed.

History
The acronym SPMD for "Single-Program Multiple-Data" has been used to describe two different computational models for exploiting parallel computing, and this is due to both terms being natural extensions of Flynn's taxonomy.The two respective groups of researchers were unaware of each other's use of the term SPMD to independently describe different models of parallel programming.

The term SPMD was proposed first in 1983 by Michel Auguin (University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis) and François Larbey (Thomson/Sintra) in the context of the OPSILA parallel computer and in the context of a fork-and-join and data parallel computational model approach. This computer consisted of a master (controller processor) and SIMD processors (or vector processor mode as proposed by Flynn). In Auguin's SPMD model, the same (parallel) task ("same program") is executed on different (SIMD) processors ("operating in lock-step mode"  acting on a part ("slice") of the data-vector. Specifically, in their 1985 paper (and similarly in) is stated: "we consider the SPMD (Single Program, Multiple Data) operating mode. This mode allows simultaneous execution of the same task (one per processor) but prevents data exchange between processors.  Data exchanges are only performed under SIMD mode by means of vector assignments.  We assume synchronizations are summed-up to switchings (sic) between SIMD and SPMD operatings (sic) modes using global fork-join primitives").

Starting around the same timeframe (in late 1983 – early 1984), the SPMD term was proposed by Frederica Darema (at IBM at that time, and part of the RP3 group) to define  a different SMPD computational model that she proposed, as a programming model which in the intervening years has been applied to a wide range of general-purpose high-performance computers (including RP3 - the 512-processor IBM Research Parallel Processor Prototype) and has led to the current parallel computing standards. The (IBM) SPMD programming model assumes a multiplicity of processors which operate cooperatively, all executing the same program but can take different paths through the program based on parallelization directives embedded in the program; and specifically as stated in "all processes participating in the parallel computation are created at the beginning of the execution and remain in existence until the end", (the processors/processes) "execute different instructions and act on different data", "the job(work) to be done by each process is allocated dynamically", that is the processes "self-schedule themselves to execute different instructions and act on different data", thus self-assign themselves to cooperate in execution of serial and parallel tasks (as well as replicate tasks) in the program.  The notion process was used as a generalization of the term processor in the sense that multiple processes can execute on a processor (to for example exploit larger degrees of parallelism for more efficiency and load-balancing). The (IBM) SPMD model was proposed by Darema as an approach different and more efficient than the fork-and-join that was pursued by all others in the community at that time; it is also more general than just "data-parallel" computational model and can encompass fork&join (as a subcategory implementation). The original context of the (IBM) SPMD was the RP3 computer (the 512-prosessor IBM Research Parallel Processor Prototype), which supported general purpose computing, with both distributed and (logically) shared memory. The (IBM) SPMD model was implemented by Darema and IBM colleagues into the EPEX (Environment for Parallel Execution), one of the first prototype programming environments. The effectiveness of the (IBM) SPMD was demonstrated for a wide class of applications, and in 1988 was implemented in the IBM FORTRAN, the first vendor-product in parallel programming; and in MPI (1991 and on),  OpenMP (1997 and on), and other environments which have adopted and cite the (IBM) SPMD Computational Model.

By the late 1980s, there were many distributed computers with proprietary message passing libraries. The first SPMD standard was PVM. The current de facto standard is MPI.

The Cray parallel directives were a direct predecessor of OpenMP.

References

External links
Parallel job management and message passing
Single Program Multiple Data stream
SPMD
Distributed-memory programming

Parallel computing
Flynn's taxonomy

Single program, multiple data


Llyn Crafnant is a lake that lies in a valley in Wales where the northern edge of the Gwydir Forest meets the lower slopes of the Carneddau mountains and, more specifically, the ridge of Cefn Cyfarwydd. The head of the valley offers a profile of crags which are silhouetted at sunset. The Forest Park guide (2002) states that "the (view along Llyn Crafnant) is one of the most breathtaking views in all Snowdonia". The summits include Crimpiau 475 metres (1,558 feet), and Craig Wen 548 metres (1,798 feet) which provide views to Moel Siabod and the Ogwen Valley, and Snowdon. Further up is Creigiau Gleision. At  it is the best part of a mile long, although it was clearly once much longer - its southern end shows the evidence of centuries of silting. Jehu's survey (see references) recorded a maximum depth of .

Crafnant takes its name from "craf", an old Welsh word for garlic, and "nant", a stream or valley.

The lake can be reached by car only from Trefriw in the Conwy valley, though many visitors walk there from the village or from the neighbouring lake of Llyn Geirionydd, which runs parallel to it, but a mile distant, the two being separated by Mynydd Deulyn – "mountain of the two lakes". The lake can also be reached on foot from Capel Curig.

There is a Natural Resources Wales car park with toilets, which is reached just before the lake itself, and the lakeside cafe (open from Easter until late summer) offers car parking for patrons. The lake is a popular fishing spot, and is kept stocked with brown trout and rainbow trout. From the cafe, it is possible to hire boats for fishing or for pleasure. Private boating and swimming are not permitted.

The lake is a reservoir and was dammed at its northern end in 1874, but the dam itself is barely visible as the outflow plunges down steeply from it. By the outflow is an obelisk, erected in 1896 by the inhabitants of Llanrwst which commemorates "the gift to that town of this lake with  of land" by Richard James. The lake is leased to the owners of what is now the cafe.

In the upper part of the valley there is no mains water connection and during the particularly dry summer of 2006 many properties were without water.

The River Crafnant ("Afon Crafnant" in Welsh) joins the River Conwy at Trefriw, but not before some of it has been diverted to pass through the Trefriw Woollen Mills to generate hydro-electricity for the machinery.

Cornel, a large property in  on the southern banks of the lake, is owned and operated by the Welsh Scout Council.

Areas around the lake have been used for location shots in Hollyoaks, Tomb Raider II, the 1981 fantasy movie Dragonslayer, and the lake also appeared briefly in the 1966 film Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment.

Gallery

References

Further reading
 The Lakes of North Wales by Jonah Jones, Whittet Books Ltd, 1987
 The Lakes of Eryri by Geraint Roberts, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 1985
 Bathymetrical Survey of the Lakes of Snowdonia, by T.J. Jehu, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1902

Trefriw
Crafnant
Crafnant

Llyn Crafnant


Martin Britt (born 17 January 1946) is an English former footballer. He played as a centre forward for West Ham United from 1961 to 1966 before injury ended his career whilst playing for Blackburn Rovers.

Career

West Ham United
Spotted playing youth team football, for Essex and London schoolboys, by West Ham chief scout, Wally St Pier, Britt signed for West Ham in 1961. He won three England youth team caps and played in both legs of the 1963 Youth Cup final against Liverpool. Britt made his full debut for West Ham in May 1963 against Blackburn Rovers. Finding opportunities limited behind strikers Johnny Byrne and Geoff Hurst he still managed four goals from eleven appearances in season 1963–64. Serious injury then struck when during a training session he suffered what was thought to be cruciate ligament damage but later proved to be a chipped bone in the knee joint. Failing to make a single appearance the following season he did score three goals from 14 appearances the next season; mostly aided by using his left leg and avoiding jumping using his damaged right leg.

Blackburn Rovers
Finding his selection chances still limited Britt fell out with manager Ron Greenwood and, despite still carrying a bad injury to his right knee, he transferred to Blackburn Rovers in 1967 for £25,000. He made just eight appearances for Blackburn  before an exploratory operation discovered a broken knee and resulted in a piece of bone being removed from his knee. He would not play another game and retired from injury aged only 21.
Understandably annoyed Blackburn felt they had been ripped-off and that Britt's injury had not been fully revealed to them before his transfer. After a disagreement between the two clubs Blackburn gained some of Britt's transfer fee back.
Unable to play he remained at Blackburn for eighteen months in a coaching capacity.

Leaving football he later started his own successful textile business.

References

External links
 West Ham stats

1946 births
Living people
People from Leigh-on-Sea
English men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
West Ham United F.C. players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
English Football League players
Footballers from Essex

Martin Britt


Mr. Natural is the twelfth album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, recorded for the Blue Note label in 1964 but not released until 1980 as LT 1075, and performed by Turrentine with Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw, Elvin Jones and Ray Barretto.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Ken Dryden awarded the album 3 stars and states "Although long out of print and an unlikely candidate to be reissued on CD, this rewarding session is well worth seeking, even if Blue Note founder Alfred Lion had second thoughts about it and set it aside".

Track listing
 "Wahoo" [aka "Stanley's Blues"] (Duke Pearson) - 9:02
 "Shirley" (Stanley Turrentine) - 10:46
 "Tacos" (Lee Morgan) - 6:32
 "My Girl Is Just Enough Woman For Me" (Dorothy Fields, Albert Hague) - 6:33
 "Can't Buy Me Love" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) - 6:48

Personnel
 Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone
 Lee Morgan - trumpet (1-3 & 5)
 McCoy Tyner - piano
 Bob Cranshaw - bass
 Elvin Jones - drums
 Ray Barretto - conga (1-3)

Production
 Alfred Lion - producer
 Rudy Van Gelder - engineer

Charts

References

1980 albums
Stanley Turrentine albums
Blue Note Records albums
Albums produced by Alfred Lion
Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio

Mr. Natural (Stanley Turrentine album)


Tiglath-Pileser I (; from the Hebraic form of , "my trust is in the son of Ešarra") was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian period (1114–1076 BC). According to Georges Roux, Tiglath-Pileser was "one of the two or three great Assyrian monarchs since the days of Shamshi-Adad I". He was known for his "wide-ranging military campaigns, his enthusiasm for building projects, and his interest in cuneiform tablet collections". Under him, Assyria became the leading power of the Ancient Near East, a position the kingdom largely maintained for the next five hundred years. He expanded Assyrian control into Anatolia and Syria, and to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. From his surviving inscriptions, he seems to have carefully cultivated a fear of himself in his subjects and in his enemies alike.

The beginning of Tiglath-Pileser's I reign, laid heavy involvement in military campaigns, as suggested from translated texts from the Middle Assyrian period. The texts were believed to be "justification of war."  Although little literary text is available from the time of Tiglath-Pileser I, there is evidence to show that the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I inspired the act of recording information, including that of his military campaigns. Toward the end of Tiglath-Pileser's reign literary texts took the form of "summary texts" which served as a vessel for as much information about his reign as possible, with the intent to be handed down to his successor.

Campaigns
The son of Ashur-resh-ishi I, he ascended to the throne in 1115 BC, and became one of the greatest of Assyrian conquerors. Tiglath-Pileser I referred to himself as "unrivalled king of the universe, king of the four quarters, king of all princes, lord of lords… whose weapons the god Assur has sharpened and whose name he has pronounced eternally for control of the four quarters… splendid flame which covers the hostile land like a rain storm". Alongside this view of himself, he emphasized the brutality of his  takeover of numerous lands, and was the first Assyrian king to claim hostages, occasionally children, as a political instrument against conquered peoples.

His first campaign was against the Mushku in 1112 BC, who had occupied certain Assyrian districts in the Upper Euphrates; then he overran Commagene and eastern Cappadocia, and drove the Hittites from the Assyrian province of Subartu, northeast of Malatia.

In a subsequent campaign, the Assyrian forces penetrated into the mountains south of Lake Van and then turned westward to receive the submission of Malatia. In his fifth year, Tiglath-Pileser attacked Comana in Cappadocia, and placed a record of his victories engraved on copper plates in a fortress he built to secure his Cilician conquests.

The Arameans emerged in a region which was largely under the domination of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC) and quickly posed a threat to the Assyrian polity which was largely located west of the Euphrates. In order to nullify this threat, Tiglath-Pileser I performed many campaigns in Aramean territory, although the numerous campaigns that the Assyrian records recorded that he took indicate that Assyrian military campaigns were unsuccessful at exercising power or dominance over the Arameans. Some scholars believe that the Arameans took Nineveh in this time. In the 11th century BC, Assyria fell into decline which may have been caused by the incursions of the emerging Arameans, allowing the Arameans to establish a string of states across the Levant and make notable expansions into Assyrian territory in this time such as in the Khabur Valley. For the time being, Assyria was unable to expand east of the Euphrates.

The control of the high road to the Mediterranean was secured by the possession of the Hittite town of Pitru at the junction between the Euphrates and Sajur; thence he proceeded to Gubal (Byblos), Sidon, and finally to Arvad where he embarked onto a ship to sail the Mediterranean, on which he killed a nahiru or "sea-horse" (which A. Leo Oppenheim translates as a narwhal) in the sea.

The general view is that the restoration of the temple of the gods Ashur and Hadad at Assyrian capital of  Assur was one of his initiatives. It is also believed he was one of the first Assyrian kings to commission parks and gardens with foreign trees and plants.

The latter part of his reign seems to have been a period of retrenchment, as Aramaean tribesmen put pressure on his realm. He died in 1076 BC and was succeeded by his son Asharid-apal-Ekur. The later kings Ashur-bel-kala and Shamshi-Adad IV were also his sons.

Annals and texts
Tiglath-Pileser's I inscriptions from his "fifth year annals" varied in form, from inscriptions on prisms to cuneiform inscriptions on tablets. A.0.87.i (or RIMA 2) was inscribed on a multiple 8-sided prisms and included 6 military campaigns that Marco De Odorico affirms as easily identifiable given that "the subdivision of paragraphs by horizontal lines... as well as the introduction begin with 'in my succession year'".

Considering that much of Tiglath-Pileser I's reign involved military campaigns, it is unsurprising that most of his literary texts would include such information as "Altogether I conquered 42 lands and their rulers from the other side of the Lower Zab in distant mountainous regions to the other side of the Euphrates, people of Hatti, and the Upper Sea in the west – from my accession year to my fifth regnal year."  Tiglath-Pileser I's prism was essentially a year-by-year layout of his military campaigns, and today is considered one of the world's first-preserved annals.

Returning from the campaigns
Tiglath-Pileser I's annals contain military campaign documentation, as well as other information such as what Tiglath-Pileser I would bring back in an early form of tribute, from the various locations he showed military strength over. Once returned from a successful war campaign Tiglath-Pileser I is said to have had statues of the various animals he had come into contact with as well as hunted. From the translated annals text, it is said that Tiglath-Pileser I had "2 nāhirū (horse of the sea)  sculptures, 4 burhiš sculptures, 4 lions constructed of basalt, 2 bull colossi made of alabaster, 2 burhiš sculptures made of white limestone and had them set up at the gates in the City of Ashur"

These statues were mainly used to decorate the "royal entrance", a practice that was taken up by Tiglath-Pileser I's son Aššur-bel-kala after his father's passing. In addition to erecting statues of animals his people had never seen, Tiglath-Pileser I returned from some war campaigns with the living animals themselves, including calves of wild bulls as well as elephants.

See also

 Tiglath-Pileser II
 Tiglath-Pileser III

References

Bibliography

Attribution:

Further reading

External links
 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. Babylonian and Assyrian Literature. Project Gutemberg.
 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, Babylonian and Assyrian Literature, at Internet Archive
 Prism of Tiglat Pileser I, at the British Museum.
Assyrian origins: discoveries at Ashur on the Tigris: antiquities in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Tiglath-Pileser I

12th-century BC Assyrian kings
11th-century BC Assyrian kings
12th-century BC births
1076 BC deaths
Year of birth unknown
Late Bronze Age collapse

Tiglath-Pileser I


Empress Lu (陸皇后, personal name unknown) was briefly an empress of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty in 710.  Her husband was Emperor Shang (Li Chongmao).

Very little is known about her.  It is known that when Li Chongmao was the Prince of Wen under his father Emperor Zhongzong, she was the Princess of Wen.  In 710, after Emperor Zhongzong's sudden death—a death that traditional historians believed to be a poisoning carried out by Emperor Zhongzong's wife Empress Wei and daughter Li Guo'er the Princess Anle—Li Chongmao was made emperor, although Empress Wei retained power as empress dowager and regent.  Princess Lu was created empress.  Less than a month later, Emperor Zhongzong's sister Princess Taiping and nephew Li Longji the Prince of Linzi rose in rebellion and killed Empress Dowager Wei and Li Guo'er.  Emperor Shang was subsequently reduced back to princely rank, and Li Longji's father Li Dan the Prince of Xiang became emperor (as Emperor Ruizong).  Nothing further was mentioned about Empress Lu, although presumably she became Princess of Wen again.  It is not known whether she survived Li Chongmao, who died in 714 without a son, whether by her or any other consort.

References
 New Book of Tang, vol. 5.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 209.

Tang dynasty empresses

Empress Lu (Tang dynasty)


Vassily Ivanchuk, born 18 March 1969, is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.

Chucky, as he is affectionately known, has been a leading player in the world since 1988, at times reaching the second spot on the FIDE list, but has never won the World Chess Championship. Ivanchuk has often had erratic results. Since 2007 his world ranking has ranged from twelfth to second, before dropping to 30th in July 2009.

He was the 2007–2008 World Blitz Chess champion.
He won Amber blindfold and rapid chess championship in 1992 and 2010.

Character

Chucky has been described by Viswanathan Anand as the most eccentric player in the chess world. Anand gave his view on Ivanchuk like this:

"He's someone who is very intelligent ... but you never know which mood he is going to be in. Some days he will treat you like his long-lost brother. The next day he ignores you completely.

The players have a word for him. They say he lives on 'Planet Ivanchuk'. (Laughs) ... I have seen him totally drunk and singing Ukrainian poetry and then the next day I have seen him give an impressive talk.

For a while he was trying to learn Turkish. Don't ask me why ... Every day is a surprise with him".

When he plays, Ivanchuk rarely looks at the board. Instead he stares at the ceiling and at the walls with a blank stare (although this is not uncommon with top players who calculate without looking at the board). His playing style is unpredictable and highly original, making him a threat to any chess player, although it sometimes also leads to quick losses.

After a string of unsuccessful games culminated in his elimination at the early stages of the 2009 Chess World Cup, Ivanchuk announced, in a highly emotional interview, his retirement from professional chess. However, he soon recanted this decision.

References

1969 births
Living people
Ukrainian chess players
Chess grandmasters

Vassily Ivanchuk


PC Data was an American market research and point of sale tracking firm founded in 1991 and based in Reston, Virginia. Its founder, Ann Stephens, had worked previously as the head researcher for the Software Publishers Association. Initially, the firm tracked only the United States' computer software market, but later expanded to include hardware sales and, in 1999, Internet traffic. By 1996, The Washington Post described PC Data as "the preeminent tabulator of facts and figures of the monthly sales of consumer software in the United States". Its coverage of the United States retail software sales market had grown to 80% by September 1998.

In March 2001, The NPD Group purchased PC Data's point-of-sale research branch and merged it with its Intelect Market Tracking division. Following a legal settlement with the rival company Jupiter Media Matrix regarding patent infringement, PC Data ceased Internet traffic research and closed later in March. Firms NetValue and ComScore purchased the remainder of PC Data's Internet research branch.

References

External links
Official website (archived)

Market research companies of the United States
Companies based in Reston, Virginia
Marketing companies established in 1991
Companies disestablished in 2001

PC Data


Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg is a 1992 autobiography written by actor Barry Williams with Chris Kreski and a foreword by Robert Reed.

Synopsis
In Growing Up Brady, Williams discusses his childhood, the production of the 1969–1974 ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch, his relationship with co-star Maureen McCormick, disputes between series star Robert Reed and creator-producer Sherwood Schwartz, and various Brady Bunch spin-offs. An episode guide to the series is also included, as well as three negative critiques from Reed of the episodes "The Impractical Joker" and "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor" (both 1971), and "The Hair-Brained Scheme" (the series finale from 1974, in which Reed refused to appear).

Two editions of the book exist: the first edition details his Brady co-stars attending his 1990 wedding to Diane Martin; that marriage ended in divorce two years later; the second edition, published several years later, replaces the references to Martin with his impressions of the feature films The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel, and reflections on Reed's death in 1992 due to cancer and the subsequent media frenzy over the news that Reed had been diagnosed as HIV positive (misreported as AIDS) prior to his death. A third edition was printed in 2000.

Adaptations
The book was adapted into a made-for-television film called Growing Up Brady that aired May 21, 2000 on the NBC network. It starred Michael Tucker as Sherwood Schwartz, Daniel Hugh Kelly as Robert Reed/Mike, Rebeccah Bush as Florence Henderson/Carol, Adam Brody as Williams/Greg, Kaley Cuoco as Maureen McCormick/Marcia, Kaitlin Cullum as Eve Plumb/Jan, Raviv Ullman as Christopher Knight/Peter, Scott Michael Lookinland as Mike Lookinland/Bobby, Carly Schroeder as Susan Olsen/Cindy, and Suanne Spoke as Ann B Davis/Alice.

References

External links

1992 non-fiction books
The Brady Bunch
Show business memoirs
HarperCollins books

Growing Up Brady


Kaigetsudō Ando (壊月堂安度, ), also known as Ando Yasunori, was a Japanese painter and the founder of the Kaigetsudō school of ukiyo-e art. Though influential and prolific, it is probable that many of the works attributed to him were painted by his disciples. He is a rarity among major ukiyo-e artists in that he made only paintings and never woodblock prints.

Ando lived in the Suwa-chō district of Asakusa in Edo (modern Tokyo) near Sensō-ji temple, and on a major road which led to the Yoshiwara north of the city. Principally active from 1700–1714, some scholars have surmised that his early training may have been in ema, wooden votive tablets sold at Shinto shrines. A distinctive element of his style is the sense of emptiness around his figures, an element which fits well with the medium of the ema; this theory is supported by the idea of his location on the main road, where a great number of pilgrims and travelers would have passed daily.

Some scholars dismiss this theory, but it is nevertheless evident that Ando was closely connected to the trends of popular culture, art, and literature at the time. His style shows influences of the father of ukiyo-e painting, Hishikawa Moronobu, and his disciples, as well as influences from book illustrators such as Yoshida Hanbei.

Ando's particular focus was on the bijinga (images of beautiful women), and in his time he and his studio nearly monopolized the production of images of the courtesans of the Yoshiwara, Edo's pleasure district. His style is especially distinguished by the elaborate, and often brilliantly colorful, patterns on the courtesan's kimono. These were truly images of the latest fashions, or perhaps of the artist's own fashion ideas, just as much as they were images of the women. It has also been said that his women had an austerity and aloofness that placed them above pure representations of sexuality, the Edo period equivalent of "pin-ups".

As the founder of a school, it should come as no surprise that his style was fresh, new and innovative, and quite distinctive. This style would be continued by his direct disciples (some of whom were his sons or other direct relations), often so closely that paintings done by them have come to be misattributed to Ando.

Kaigetsudō Ando's career came to an end in 1714, with the so-called "Ejima-Ikushima affair". It is not entirely clear how he was involved in this scandal which revolved around a high ranking court lady and a kabuki actor (who held a very low status in society, along with all actors and entertainers). All those involved were banished from Edo.

References
 Lane, Richard. (1978).  Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ;  OCLC 5246796

External links

Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art, a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Kaigetsudō Ando (see index)

1670s births
1743 deaths
Ando
Ukiyo-e artists

Kaigetsudō Ando


Lion-Peugeot is a formerly independent French auto-maker. It is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of the established Peugeot car business, began to produce automobiles at Beaulieu near Valentigney.

In 1910, the two family auto-makers Automobiles Peugeot and Lion-Peugeot merged to form the business Société des Automobiles et Cycles Peugeot, but the merged business continued to use the Lion-Peugeot name for smaller models inherited from the formerly independent business until 1916.

Background
To understand why there were two Peugeot automobile businesses it is necessary to refer to a family disagreement that culminated, in 1896, in Armand Peugeot leaving the family business which was called, at that stage, "Les Fils de Peugeot Frères" (The Sons of Peugeot Brothers).  Eugène and Armand Peugeot, who were related to each other as second cousins, had recently taken over control of the successful Peugeot metal-working business specialising in certain types of industrial and domestic components and tools. (More than a century later, the Peugeot museum displays an impressive range of nineteenth century coffee grinders). The Peugeot company was an early participant in the automobile manufacturing business, their first petrol/gasoline car being produced in 1890 and gaining national publicity in 1891 through participation in the Paris–Brest–Paris cycle marathon.

Participation in the auto-business required investment on a scale that would commit the company to a major change of direction, away from products with which it had a proven track record. The company had been producing bicycles since 1882 which in the 1890s may very well have been seen as a safer investment than powered motor vehicles. Eugène Peugeot opposed the necessary scale of investment in automobile making, and 1896 his cousin split away, to form Automobiles Peugeot. The cousins signed an agreement that gave Armand's business the sole right to manufacture Peugeot automobiles, the corollary of which was that the residual Peugeot business, under Eugène, would stay out of the powered vehicle business.

Despite the agreement between the Peugeot cousins, the residual business under Eugène Peugeot continued to produce bicycles, tricycles and quadricycles, some with motors and some without.  Relations with Armand evidently were not cordial.

Reconciliation
By 1905, control over the residual Peugeot business had passed to the three sons of Eugène, Robert Peugeot (1873 – 1945), Pierre Peugeot (1871 – 1927) and Jules Peugeot (1882 – 1957).   Relations between the new Peugeot generation and their cousin  Armand, whose "Automobiles Peugeot" business was enjoying great success, became less confrontational with Eugène no longer so active in the business.   An agreement was entered into to regularise relations between the two companies.   The company previously controlled by  Eugène agreed to pay a million francs annually to Armand Peugeot, and in return, Armand agreed to the company manufacturing cars independently of his own "Automobiles Peugeot" business.   These cars started to be sold in 1906, badged as "Lion-Peugeots":  the first of them was the Lion-Peugeot Type VA.

During the ensuing decade, Lion-Peugeot automobiles were produced and sold in reasonable quantities with several models breaking through the 1,000 units threshold.   While the Peugeot Bébé, launched in 1904 by "Peugeot-Automobiles" before the reconciliation, continued its own successful career, new model investment by the "Peugeot-Automobiles" now concentrated on mid-range and larger cars, leaving the "Lion-Peugeot" business to build a Peugeot presence in the small car sector.   This pattern was sustained during the remaining years of peace after the two businesses merged in 1910, until the termination of the "Lion-Peugeot" brand in 1916, by which time war-time economic conditions had for the time being effectively put an end to passenger car manufacturing in France.

Robert Peugeot and his brothers evidently felt none of their father's hostility to Armand, and it seems to have been the death of Eugène in 1907 that opened the way for the reunification of the two Peugeot automobile businesses.   Armand's own only son had died in 1896, and his lack of a direct male heir may have encouraged him to respond positively to his junior kinsmens' promptings.   The merger of the two businesses took place formally in 1910, although in terms of the way the model ranges came together, the merger took place progressively over several years.   In 1916, demand for passenger cars having collapsed, the plant that had produced the Lion-Peugeots was closed, and after the war small models again became fully integrated into the Peugeot range.   However, the first decade after the war saw France greatly impoverished, and it would be some years before automobile production would again become a profitable activity for Peugeot which had, prudently as matters turned out, retained a solid presence in the bicycle business.

Lion-Peugeot Cars

Sources and further reading

Notes
 Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: Die große Automobil-Enzyklopädie, BLV, München 1986,
 Wolfgang Schmarbeck: Alle Peugeot Automobile 1890–1990, Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 1990.

Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905
Peugeot
Car manufacturers of France
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France
French brands
Companies based in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
French companies established in 1905

Lion-Peugeot