Are You Experienced is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in May 1967, the album was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album features Jimi Hendrix's innovative approach to songwriting and electric guitar playing which soon established a new direction in psychedelic and rock music as a whole.

After struggling to earn a living on the R&B circuit as a backing guitarist, Hendrix signed a management and production contract in 1966 with former Animals member Chas Chandler and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. Chandler brought Hendrix to London and recruited members for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, a band designed to showcase the guitarist's talents. In late October, after having been rejected by Decca Records, the Experience signed with Track, a new label formed by the Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Are You Experienced and its preceding singles were recorded over a five-month period from late October 1966 through early April 1967. The album was completed in 16 recording sessions at three London locations, including De Lane Lea Studios, CBS Studios, and Olympic Studios.

Released in the UK on May 12, 1967, Are You Experienced spent 33 weeks on the British charts, peaking at number two. The album was issued in the US on August 23 by Reprise Records, where it reached number five on the US Billboard Top LPs chart, remaining on the chart for 106 weeks, 76 of those in the Top 40. The album also spent 70 weeks on the US Billboard Hot R&B LPs chart, where it peaked at number 10. The US version contained some of Hendrix's best known songs, including the Experience's first three singles, which, though omitted from the British edition of the LP, were top ten hits in the UK: "Purple Haze", "Hey Joe", and "The Wind Cries Mary". Hendrix was unhappy with the cover artwork for the UK edition, and solicited photographer Karl Ferris to create a more "psychedelic" cover for the US release.

In the decades since its release, Are You Experienced has continued to receive acclaim. It was voted number 63 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000. Rolling Stone ranked Are You Experienced 30th on its 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2010, the magazine placed four songs from the US version of the album on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time": "Purple Haze" (17), "Foxy Lady" (153), "Hey Joe" (201), and "The Wind Cries Mary" (379). In 2005, the album was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Writer and archivist Reuben Jackson of the Smithsonian Institution wrote: "it's still a landmark recording because it is of the rock, R&B, blues ... musical tradition. It altered the syntax of the music ... in a way I compare to James Joyce's Ulysses."

Background

By May 1966, Jimi Hendrix was struggling to earn a living playing the R&B circuit as a back-up guitarist. During a performance at one of New York City's most popular nightspots, the Cheetah Club, he was noticed by Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Shortly after, Hendrix relocated to the city's Greenwich Village and began a residency at the Cafe Wha? fronting his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames.  Keith recommended Hendrix to Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and producer Seymour Stein. They failed to see Hendrix's musical potential, and rejected him. She then referred him to Chas Chandler, who was leaving the Animals and interested in managing and producing artists. Chandler liked the Billy Roberts song "Hey Joe", and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist. Impressed with Hendrix's live version of the song with his band, he brought him to London on September 24, 1966, and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery.

Immediately following Hendrix's arrival in London, Chandler began recruiting members for a band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, designed to showcase the guitarist's talents. Hendrix met the guitarist Noel Redding at an audition for the New Animals, where Redding's knowledge of blues progressions impressed Hendrix. Chandler asked Redding if he wanted to play bass guitar in Hendrix's band; Redding agreed. Chandler then began looking for a drummer and soon after, he contacted Mitch Mitchell through a mutual friend. Mitchell, who had recently been fired from Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, participated in a rehearsal with Redding and Hendrix where they bonded over their shared interest in rhythm and blues. When Chandler phoned Mitchell later that day to offer him the position, he readily accepted. In late October, after having been rejected by Decca Records, the Experience signed with Track, a new label formed by the Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp.

Recording
Are You Experienced and its preceding singles were recorded over a five-month period from October 23, 1966 to April 4, 1967. The album was completed in 16 recording sessions at three London locations, including De Lane Lea Studios, CBS, and Olympic. Chandler booked many of the sessions at Olympic because the facility was acoustically superior and equipped with most of the latest technology, though it was still using four-track recorders, whereas American studios were using eight-track.

Chandler's budget was limited, so in an effort to reduce expenditures he and Hendrix completed much of the album's pre-production work at their shared apartment. From the start, Chandler intentionally minimized the creative input of Mitchell and Redding. He later explained: "I wasn't concerned that Mitch or Noel might feel that they weren't having enough—or any—say ... I had been touring and recording in a band for years, and I'd seen everything end as a compromise. Nobody ended up doing what they really wanted to do. I was not going to let that happen with Jimi." When the Experience began studio rehearsals, Hendrix already had the chord sequences and tempos worked out for Mitchell, and Chandler would direct Redding's bass parts.

October to December 1966
Chandler and the Experience found time to record between performances in Europe. They began on October 23, recording "Hey Joe" at De Lane Lea Studios, with Chandler as producer and Dave Siddle as engineer. The song featured backing vocals by the Breakaways. Soon after the session began, Chandler asked Hendrix to turn his guitar amplifier down, and an argument ensued. Chandler commented: "Jimi threw a tantrum because I wouldn't let him play guitar loud enough ... He was playing a Marshall twin stack, and it was so loud in the studio that we were picking up various rattles and noises." According to Chandler, Hendrix then threatened to leave England, stating: "If I can't play as loud as I want, I might as well go back to New York." Chandler, who had Hendrix's immigration papers and passport in his back pocket, laid the documents on the mixing console and told Hendrix to "piss off". Hendrix laughed and said: "All right, you called my bluff", and they got back to work. Redding wrote in his diary that they completed two songs during the October 23 session, but the second one has never been positively identified. Author Sean Egan speculated that it might have been Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" or Wilson Pickett's "Land of a Thousand Dances". Chandler decided that they should use an Experience original for the B-side of the single, so he encouraged Hendrix to start writing; he composed his first Experience song, "Stone Free", the following day. Chandler, in an effort to minimize studio expenses, purchased rehearsal time at the Aberbach House in London. He abandoned this practice after realizing how quickly the group could learn songs while warming up in the studio. On November 2, 1966, the Experience returned to De Lane Lea to continue work on their first single. During the session, they recorded "Stone Free" and a demo version of "Can You See Me". This marked the first time that the Experience recorded a song that was eventually included on the original UK release of the album.

Chandler had been dissatisfied with the sound quality at De Lane Lea, so he took the advice of Kit Lambert and booked time at CBS Studios. On December 13, 1966, after taking a five-week break from recording while they performed in Europe, the Experience reconvened at CBS. Assisted by engineer Mike Ross, the band were especially productive during the session, recording instrumentation and vocals for "Foxy Lady" and basic instrumental tracks for "Love or Confusion", "Can You See Me", and "Third Stone from the Sun". Ross recalled the impact of Hendrix's Marshall stacks: "It was so loud you couldn't stand in the studio ... I'd never heard anything like it in my life." When Ross asked Hendrix where he would like the microphone placed Hendrix replied: "Oh, man, just put a mic about twelve feet away on the other side of the studio. It'll sound great." Ross agreed, and with a Neumann condenser mic he recorded Hendrix's guitar playing in a large room that, according to Ross, "was absolutely vital to the uniquely powerful Experience sound." Ross noted that input from Mitchell and Redding was minimized, and he asserted that Chandler was clearly "the one in charge" of the sessions. The band played together live at CBS; the lead and backup vocals were overdubbed. Despite his dwindling finances, Chandler encouraged the Experience to record numerous takes of a song, affording them the luxury of repeated attempts at a satisfactory recording. With a live instrument track as the foundation of the recordings, they eschewed the common practice of piecing together parts of several takes to make one continuous piece. After the December 13 recording session, the band made their television debut, on Britain's Ready Steady Go!

On December 15, 1966, finishing touches were made on the four rhythm tracks that were recorded the previous session. Although Chandler enjoyed working at CBS and he appreciated the high quality of the recordings they made there, he ended his professional connection with the studio after a disagreement between him and owner Jake Levy over his failure to make payment. Chandler had planned to pay Levy for the sessions after the album was completed, but Levy demanded payment upfront. Chandler viewed this as an unreasonable expectation, and he vowed that he would never again do business with CBS. The fifth and final song recorded there was "Red House". As stereophonic sound was not yet popular among music fans, these recordings were all monaural mixes; Ross explained: "back then ... mono was king. All the effort went into the mono." He estimated that they spent no more than 30 minutes mixing any one track.

The first Experience single, with "Hey Joe" as the A-side and "Stone Free" as the B-side, was released in the UK on December 16, 1966. Track Records was not yet operational, so their distributor, Polydor Records, issued the single with their logo. It reached number six on the UK chart in early 1967. On December 21, 1966, Chandler and the Experience returned to De Lane Lea with Dave Siddle as engineer. They recorded two alternate versions of "Red House" and began work on "Remember"; both tracks were significantly re-worked in April 1967 at Olympic Studios.

January to April 1967

January
After a three-week break from recording while they played gigs in England, including a December 29 appearance on Top of the Pops, the Experience reconvened at De Lane Lea on January 11, 1967. As "Hey Joe" was gaining chart momentum in the UK, they began working on their second single, which featured Hendrix's second songwriting effort, "Purple Haze", as its A-side. The track presented a more complex arrangement than the band's previous recordings, and required four hours of studio time to complete, which Chandler considered extravagant. The session was the first time that he and the group had experimented with guitar effects. Acoustic engineer Roger Mayer introduced Hendrix to the Octavia, an octave-doubling effect pedal, in December 1966, and he first recorded with the effect during the guitar solo of "Purple Haze". When Track Records sent the master tapes for "Purple Haze" to Reprise for remastering, they wrote on the tape box: "Deliberate distortion. Do not correct."

On January 11, 1967, the Experience worked on their third A-side, "The Wind Cries Mary", a song that marked their first use of overdubbing in lieu of retakes as a method of achieving a satisfactory track. Chandler explained: "There were five guitar overdubs all linking in together to sound like one guitar." The song, which Redding and Mitchell had not yet heard before that day, was completed during the session. Chandler had decided that they should discard the rough version of "Third Stone from the Sun" from December 13 and re-record the song; they completed a basic track for the piece, but were unable to achieve a finished master. The group managed to produce an acceptable live recording of the basic track for "Fire" after seven takes. Next, they attempted Hendrix's newly written ballad, "The Wind Cries Mary". Without the benefit of rehearsals, the band recorded the song in one take, to which Hendrix added several guitar overdubs; Chandler estimated that they spent approximately 20 minutes on the completed rhythm track. According to Chandler, by this time Redding and Mitchell had begun to complain about their limited input. Chandler explained that financial considerations influenced the creative dynamic: "[They] were sort of fighting the fact that they had no say during recording sessions ... they were starting to come up with suggestions, but ... We didn't need to be arguing with Noel for ten minutes and Mitch for five ... We just couldn't afford the time."

Between January 12 and February 2, 1967, the Experience took a break from recording while they played 20 dates in England, including a second appearance on Top of the Pops, on January 18. Chandler was dissatisfied with the sound quality of the January 11 recordings and frustrated by the large number of noise complaints that they had received from people living and working near De Lane Lea. He explained: "There was a bank above the studio ... and it was at the time when computers were just coming in ... we would play so loud that it would foul up the computers upstairs." Brian Jones and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones encouraged Chandler to try Olympic Studios, which was considered the top independent London studio. Despite the growing chart success of their first single, Chandler's money problems persisted. Olympic required advance payment for studio time, but Polydor had not yet released any funds to Track for disbursement. When Chandler went to Polydor asking for relief they responded by guaranteeing him a line of credit at Olympic.

February

With his budget concerns alleviated, Chandler booked time at Olympic, where on February 3, 1967, he and the Experience met sound engineer Eddie Kramer. During Kramer's first session with the group, he deviated from the standard recording method that they had been using at CBS and De Lane Lea, which was to record bass and drums in mono on two tracks. He instead recorded Mitchell's drums on two tracks in stereo, leaving the remaining two tracks available for Redding's bass and rhythm guitar parts played by Hendrix. Kramer's unorthodox approach, which was inspired by Hendrix's complaints regarding the limitations of four-track recordings, captured the live sound of the band using all four available tracks. Kramer and Chandler then pre-mixed and reduced the first four tracks down to two, making two more tracks available for lead guitar overdubs and vocals. This method satisfied both Hendrix's perfectionism and Chandler's desire to reduce the number of takes required for a satisfactory rhythm track, thus minimizing their expenses. Another change instigated by Kramer was the use of a mixture of close and distant microphone placements when recording Hendrix's guitar parts whereas, during previous sessions, the microphones had been placed about twelve feet away from Hendrix's amplifiers. In addition to the usual choices, Kramer used Beyerdynamic M 160 ribbon microphones, which were typically not used to record loud music.

During the February 3, 1967, session at Olympic, the Experience improved the January 11 master tape of "Purple Haze" by re-recording the vocal and lead guitar parts, and adding another Octavia guitar overdub, which was sped-up and panned at the end of the song. The group reconvened at Olympic on February 7, continuing their work on "Purple Haze" by recording Hendrix's rhythm guitar and vocal parts, as well as Redding's background vocals. They spent time overdubbing ambient background sounds by playing tapes through a set of headphones that were held near a microphone, creating an echo effect as the headphones were moved closer; they completed a final mix of "Purple Haze" the following day. During the session, they worked on the De Lane Lea master tape of "Fire", replacing everything except Redding's bass line, which he double-tracked in an effort to accentuate the recording's lower frequencies. Kramer placed the second bass line on a dedicated track and blended Redding's original bass line with Mitchell's newly recorded drum part. They also recorded Mitchell and Redding's backing vocals. "Foxy Lady" was also reworked on February 8; Redding recorded a new bass line and Hendrix and Mitchell added overdubs to their existing parts. After recording backing vocals by Redding and lead vocals from Hendrix, Kramer prepared the song's final mix.

Hendrix was not as confident a singer as he was a guitarist, and because he strongly disliked anyone watching him sing he asked the engineers at Olympic to construct a privacy barrier between him and the control room. This created problems when the studio lights were low, and the engineers were unable to see him, making his visual cues and prompts difficult to communicate. As was the case at De Lane Lea, Hendrix's penchant for using multiple amplifiers at extreme volume drew criticism and complaints from the people living and working near to the studio. Olympic tape operator George Chkiantz recalled: "Sometimes, it got so loud we'd turn the [control booth] monitors off and there was really very little difference." Chkiantz noted that reactions to Hendrix's music were not always positive: "I seem to recall a lot of musicians, a lot of people, saying, 'I can't see what all the fuss is about myself', or 'I don't know how you listen to all that noise; I'd be scared to work with him' ... Chas was convinced that he was on to something. Not everyone was convinced that Chas was right." Another issue that complicated the sessions were the large number of female fans who would show up at the studio wanting to watch the Experience record. As a habit, Hendrix would indiscriminately tell people where they would be on any given day, which led to large groups of fans following him everywhere. Olympic employees were tasked with keeping them under control and at a safe distance so as to not unduly burden the recording process. Chkiantz commented: "It was extraordinary. I worked with the Stones. I worked with the Beatles. I worked with Led Zeppelin. I was not as jumpy; it was not as difficult as with Hendrix. It was something of an open house. Hendrix was not difficult at all, but I personally would have preferred not to have loads of girls lurking in the woodwork."

On February 20, 1967, the Experience continued working on Are You Experienced, but scheduling conflicts at Olympic led Chandler to book time at De Lane Lea. During the session they recorded "I Don't Live Today", which featured a manual wah effect that predated the pedal unit. They managed to complete a working master by the end of the day, though Hendrix eventually recorded a new lead vocal at Olympic.

March and April
The Experience took a week break from recording while playing gigs in England, and returned to De Lane Lea on March 1, 1967, to attempt a studio recording of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". Although the song had long been a staple of the group's live show, they failed to achieve an acceptable basic track, owing mostly to Mitchell's inability to keep consistent time during the session.

The second Experience single, "Purple Haze"/"51st Anniversary", was released on March 1. It entered the UK singles chart on the 23rd, peaking at number three. During that month, the band took another long break from recording while they played gigs in Belgium, Germany, and the UK, including appearances on the UK television show Dee Time and the BBC radio show Saturday Club. Scheduling conflicts at Olympic led Chandler to book a March 29 session at De Lane Lea. On this date the band worked on another newly written Hendrix composition, "Manic Depression"; they finished a rough mix by the end of the session that was later rejected in favor of a re-mix completed at Olympic. On April 3, the Experience returned to Olympic, adding overdubs and completing final mixes on several unfinished masters. During the eight-hour session, the band recorded three new songs, including "Highway Chile", "May This Be Love", and "Are You Experienced?". As the album's title track featured backwards rhythm guitar, bass, and drums, replication of the beat caused Mitchell some consternation when attempting the song live. Chandler completed final mixes for "I Don't Live Today", "Are You Experienced?", and "May This Be Love" before the end of a session that Kramer described as "very organized."

In an effort to free up space for Hendrix's lead vocals, further reduction mixing was completed for "Are You Experienced?" during a session at Olympic on April 4, 1967. With the title track complete, the Experience shifted their focus to the January 11 rough demo of "Third Stone from the Sun". Chandler decided that they should discard the original De Lane Lea tape and record a new version of the song. During the session, Kramer prepared a reduction mix of "Highway Chile", which made two tracks available for Hendrix's lead guitar and vocal overdubs. Though stereo and mono mixes were completed for the song, Chandler preferred the mono version, which he paired with "The Wind Cries Mary" for release as the group's third UK single. A reduction mix was prepared for "Love or Confusion", and Hendrix took advantage of the newly vacant tracks by adding lead guitar and vocals. A final mix was completed before the end of the session. On April 5, Chandler participated in a mastering session at Rye Muse Studios for "Highway Chile" and "The Wind Cries Mary", during which preparations were made so that Track could begin manufacturing records. On the 10th, he and the Experience returned to Olympic, spending the bulk of the session on editing dialogue segments for "Third Stone from the Sun", which were then slowed down and mixed into the song. Kramer concentrated his efforts on the song's complicated mix: "The song was like a watercolor painting ... each track was composed of four, fairly dense composite images."

After the April 10, 1967, recording session, the Experience spent the next two weeks playing shows and attending promotional appearances in England, including a spot on the BBC television program Monday Monday and BBC2's Late Night Line-Up. Chandler, Hendrix, and Kramer completed the final mixing of Are You Experienced at Olympic by 3 a.m. on April 25. Chandler had agreed to audition the finished LP for Polydor's head of A&R, Horst Schmaltze, at 11 a.m., so after a few hours of sleep he prepared a suitable acetate demo and traveled to Polydor. Chandler recalled: "As Horst started to put the needle on the record, I broke out in a cold sweat, thinking ... when he hears this, he's going to order the men in white coats to take me away ... Horst played the first side through and didn't say a word. Then he turned the disk over and played the other side. I started thinking about how I was going to talk my way out of this. At the end of the second side, he just sat there. Finally, he said, 'This is brilliant. This is the greatest thing I've ever heard.'" Horst immediately became an ardent supporter of the album and the band, championing the marketing and distribution of their debut LP.

Music and lyrics

According to Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro, the music on Are You Experienced incorporates a variety of music genres from rhythm and blues to free jazz; author Peter Doggett noted its "wide variety of styles", while journalist Chris Welch said "each track has a different personality". Musicologist Gilbert Chase asserted that the album "marked a high peak in hard rock", and music critic Jim DeRogatis characterized the LP and its preceding singles as "raw, focused psychedelic rock". A contemporary review published in Newsweek in October 1967 identified the influence of soul music on the Experience and the album. In 1989, Hit Parader magazine ranked it number 35 in a list of the top 100 heavy metal albums. In 2006, writer and archivist Reuben Jackson of the Smithsonian Institution wrote: "it's still a landmark recording because it is of the rock, R&B, blues ... musical tradition. It altered the syntax of the music ... in a way I compare to, say, James Joyce's Ulysses."

Included on the UK edition of Are You Experienced were two tracks that represented the music Hendrix had played in the US before the formation of the Experience: the blues track "Red House" and the rhythm and blues song "Remember". The album's psychedelic title track, which author Sean Egan described as impressionistic, featured the post-modern soundscapes of backwards guitar and drums that pre-date scratching by 10 years. Musicologist Ritchie Unterberger considers the lyrics to "I Don't Live Today" to be more at home in a gothic rock setting than in psychedelia, however; he describes the music as being "played and sung with an ebullience that belies the darkness of the lyrics." The song's tribal rhythms served as a platform for Hendrix's innovative guitar feedback improvisations. Whereas "Fire" is a funk and soul hybrid driven by Mitchell's drumming, "May This Be Love" and "The Wind Cries Mary" are soft ballads that demonstrate Hendrix's ability to write thoughtful lyrics and subtle melodies. The influence of raga rock can be heard in his sitar-like guitar solo on "Love or Confusion". "Can You See Me" is an uptempo rocker that features Hendrix's double tracked vocals and his use of a one-note bend in the style of Hank Marvin. Although "Hey Joe" is a folk song, and the only cover on the album, it would become one of Hendrix's most requested tracks.

The UK edition of Are You Experienced opened with "Foxy Lady", a track that, with the exception of a few overdubs, was recorded in one session at CBS. Hendrix wrote the song about Heather Taylor, a London socialite who later married the Who's Roger Daltrey. It begins with the fade-in of an F note that Hendrix is bending-up to F sharp while applying generous finger vibrato. Using his guitar's control knob, he slowly increases volume until an audio feedback loop develops and he slides into the song's implied dominant seventh sharp ninth chord.  Hendrix used a combination of natural amplifier overdrive and fuzz box effects units to create the song's razor-sharp guitar tone. Its blues–inspired solo—his fourth since arriving in England—used pentatonic scales while showcasing his innovative approach to melody; by exploiting the increased sustain created by overdriving his amplifiers, he moved seamlessly between the middle and high registers with a fluid, singing tone. Author Peter Doggett compared its slow beat to Memphis soul; David Stubbs described the track as a prototype for heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath.

Although the lyrics to "Purple Haze", which opened the US edition of Are You Experienced, are often misinterpreted as describing an acid trip, Hendrix explained: "[It] was all about a dream I had that I was walking under the sea." He speculated that the dream may have been inspired by a science fiction story about a purple death ray. Redding stated that Hendrix had not yet taken LSD at the time of the song's writing, which was after a gig in London on December 26, 1966. The first draft of the lyrics was exceedingly long, so Chandler and Hendrix reduced its length to something appropriate for mainstream pop music. It opens with a guitar/bass harmony in the interval of a tritone that was known as the diabolus in musica during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. The Catholic Church prohibited medieval composers of religious music from using the tritone, or flattened fifth, because as musicologist Dave Whitehill wrote: "to play it was like ringing Satan's doorbell." In the opinion of the author Ritchie Unterberger, the opening riff has "become a permanent part of rock's vocabulary." Whereas Rolling Stone described the song as the beginning of late-1960s psychedelia, the authors Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek identified Hendrix's use of R&B, funk, and soul elements in the track.

In 1967, Hendrix told the journalist Keith Altham that "Third Stone from the Sun" is about a visiting space alien who, upon evaluation of the human species, decides that people are not fit to rule Earth, destroys their civilization, and places the planet in the care of chickens. The song is composed of two contrasting sections, one that features a jazzy guitar melody played in the style of Wes Montgomery over a straightforward rock tempo, and another that showcases Hendrix's free-form mixolydian mode guitar lines with a jazz beat. The track contains no proper vocals, instead using spoken words played at half-speed to invoke images of interstellar space travel. In addition to jazz elements, Unterberger identified Hendrix's use of surf music motifs in the track that are reminiscent of earlier works by the Ventures, a group from the Pacific Northwest that Hendrix would have heard during his childhood.

Hendrix described "Manic Depression" as "ugly times music"; during a live performance he explained the meaning of the lyrics: "It's a story about a cat wishing he could make love to music instead of the same old everyday woman." The song is unusual in that it's written in triple meter, or  time, which is the time signature commonly associated with a waltz; most rock music is written in . Although his delivery is rock oriented, Mitchell's drumming on the track is reminiscent of Elvin Jones's fluid jazz patterns. Musicologist Andy Aledort noted Hendrix's "dramatic use of chromaticism" during the song's opening bars and the "heavily vibratoed unison bends" that presage what he described as one of Hendrix's best guitar solos.

"The Wind Cries Mary" is the first ballad recorded by the Experience; Hendrix wrote the lyrics after an argument with his girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, whose middle name is Mary. She explained: "I smashed plates on the floor, [and] he swept them up. He locked me in the bathroom for absolutely ages and ... eventually Chas's girlfriend Lotta let me out ... I ran out to get a taxi and was standing under the traffic lights, and I had red hair and a red dress. I went back after I'd cooled down and he'd already written it." The song featured a chord progression inspired by Curtis Mayfield and lyrics that reflected Hendrix's admiration of Bob Dylan. "Stone Free" expressed Hendrix's desire to preserve his personal freedom, demurring the concepts of conformity and long-term relationships. He revisited this theme in "51st Anniversary" and "Highway Chile". Omitted from the American version of the album, "Red House" did not see an official release in the US until the 1969 compilation Smash Hits. An unusual feature of the recording is that it does not include a bass guitar track; Redding instead played rhythm guitar with his equalization set strongly in favor of bass tones. It is Hendrix's only original twelve-bar blues.

Album cover
Chris Stamp designed the cover of the UK version of Are You Experienced, which featured a picture of Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding by Bruce Fleming. The image shows Hendrix wearing a long dark cape while standing over Mitchell and Redding, striking what Egan described as a "Dracula-esque pose". Chandler contacted Fleming based on the photographer's previous work with the Hollies, the Dave Clark Five, and the Animals. The photo shoot took place in February after Fleming had attended several recording sessions and Experience gigs. Chandler made a point of requesting that the band member's faces be clearly visible in the photograph; Fleming explained: "[Album covers] got much more esoteric as time went on, but to establish the artist we had to get their faces across so the kids would recognize them." He took monochrome and color shots of the band; Track selected an image from the latter group. Fleming had indicated which picture he preferred they use, marking the shot with a cross, but after the album's release he realized that they had selected another, less desirable image. According to Fleming, the shot that he chose was "more sinister; more interesting". Stamp hired graphic artist Alan Aldridge to design the sleeve's psychedelic lettering. Track inexplicably put only the album's title on the cover, omitting the band's name; Polydor issued the release throughout Europe with Hendrix's name printed at the top in matching font. The cover art's combination of dull green and brown tones, juxtaposed with the jocular nature of the subject's pose, created a weak overall visual impression; Stamp commented: "It's not a great cover at all. Hopefully, we made up for that in all the other covers."

Hendrix disliked the UK cover of Are You Experienced, so arrangements were made for a photo shoot with graphic designer Karl Ferris. Hendrix wanted "something psychedelic", so he requested Ferris because he appreciated the photographer's sleeve-work on the Hollies' June 1967 release Evolution. During a meeting with the band, Ferris told Hendrix that he wanted to hear more of their music from which to draw inspiration. They accommodated his request by allowing him to attend several sessions for their second album, Axis: Bold as Love. Ferris brought home tapes from the sessions, which along with Are You Experienced he listened to intently. His first impression of the music was that it was "so far out that it seemed to come from outer space", which inspired him to develop a backstory about a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth." With this concept in mind, he took color photographs of the band at Kew Gardens in London, using a fisheye lens which was then popular in Mod sub-culture. Ferris used what Egan described as "an infrared technique of his own invention which combined color reversal with heat signature", further enhancing the exotic nature of the image. Ferris was an experienced fashion photographer, and his interest in the finer details of his covers led him to choose the band's wardrobe. After seeing Hendrix with his hair combed away from the scalp, Ferris requested that he wear it that way during the photo shoot. Hendrix's girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, trimmed his hair to improve its symmetry, forming an afro that became the basis of a homogenized Experience image. Redding and Mitchell liked Hendrix's new hairstyle, so Ferris hired a hairdresser to style their hair in a similar fashion. After purchasing clothing for Redding and Mitchell at the boutiques on King's Road—Hendrix wore clothes from his wardrobe, including a psychedelic jacket with a pair of eyes printed on the front which had been given to him by a fan—the Experience travelled to Kew Gardens. In an effort to focus on Hendrix's hands, Ferris shot the band at a low angle. The daylight faded soon after their arrival at the garden, so they returned the following day for a second shoot, which was not needed; the image selected for the US cover of Are You Experienced was the first shot taken the previous day. Ferris chose the cover's yellow background and its surreal lettering, and he intended for a textured gatefold jacket that Reprise, as a cost-saving measure, did not approve.

Release

Europe

The third Experience single, "The Wind Cries Mary" backed by "Highway Chile", was released in the UK on May 5, 1967, while "Purple Haze" occupied the number three spot in the charts. The management's decision to release the single while the previous one was still present in the UK charts was unorthodox, as was the choice of "The Wind Cries Mary", which differed greatly from "Purple Haze". Stamp recalled: "We did that on purpose ... We wanted musically to show who this person was." Egan wrote: "It alerted the public to the fact that the so-called Wild Man of Borneo was capable of songs of delicacy and sensitivity." "The Wind Cries Mary" reached number six in the UK in May.

Track Records released Are You Experienced in the UK on May 12, 1967. It entered the charts on May 27, where it spent 33 weeks, peaking at number two. It remained in the charts long enough that it was still present when the Experience released their second album, Axis: Bold as Love. The album, which was released in the UK without the first three singles, was prevented from reaching the top spot by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In France and the Benelux countries, Hendrix's recordings were released by Barclay Records in a distribution deal secured by Jeffery.

North America
Although popular in Europe at the time, the Experience's first US single, "Hey Joe", failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release on May 1, 1967. The group's fortunes improved when Paul McCartney recommended them to the organizers of the Monterey Pop Festival. He insisted that the event would be incomplete without Hendrix, whom he called "an absolute ace on the guitar", and he agreed to join the board of organizers on the condition that the Experience perform at the festival in mid-June. During the climax of the festival, which was filmed by D. A. Pennebaker for the documentary Monterey Pop, Hendrix burned and smashed his guitar on stage for dramatic effect.

After the show-stealing performance, Reprise Records agreed to distribute Are You Experienced. However, despite the increased awareness that the Experience's performance at Monterey provided, the second Experience single, "Purple Haze" / "The Wind Cries Mary", released in the US on August 16, 1967, stalled at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100. Although the single performed poorly in the US charts, its presence on underground FM radio stations, which were transitioning from easy listening and classical music formats to album cuts, significantly aided sales of the LP. Reprise allocated a $20,000 promotional budget for the LP, which was an unprecedented amount for an unproven artist. Released in the US on August 23 by Reprise, Are You Experienced reached number five on the Billboard Top LPs chart. The album remained on Billboards album chart for 106 weeks, 76 of those in the Top 40. The North American edition of Are You Experienced featured a new cover by Karl Ferris and a new track list, with Reprise omitting "Red House", "Remember", and "Can You See Me", and including the first three A-sides omitted from the UK release: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary".

Reception and legacy

Are You Experienced was an immediate commercial success, selling more than one million copies within seven months of its release. Reviewing the album in 1967, Melody Maker praised its artistic integrity and the Experience's varied use of tempo. NME Keith Altham said it is "a brave effort by Hendrix to produce a musical form which is original and exciting". However, not all contemporary writers gave the LP a favorable review; in November 1967, Rolling Stone Jon Landau wrote that although he considered Hendrix a "great guitarist and a brilliant arranger", he disapproved of his singing and songwriting. He criticized the quality of the material and described the lyrics as inane: "Above all this record is unrelentingly violent, and lyrically, inartistically violent at that."

Many music critics have since named Are You Experienced as one of the greatest rock and roll debut albums. According to Associated Press writer Hillel Italie, it was among the notable debuts in a year that marked rock music's transition into the album era. Journalist Ritchie Unterberger described it as "one of the definitive albums of the psychedelic era", while author Chris Smith said the release was "a landmark in a summer of landmark albums". Noe Goldwasser, the founding editor of Guitar World magazine, called it "a veritable textbook of what a musician can do with his instrument" and "the measure by which everything ... in rock and roll has been compared since." According to music journalist Charles Shaar Murray, the album "completely changed notions of what a guitar could sound like, or indeed, what music could sound like", while The Miami Herald credited Are You Experienced with introducing acid rock, classic rock, and the guitar aesthetic of heavy metal. Critic Robert Christgau called it a "bombshell debut" in his review for Blender and said its songs were innovative for how they utilized three-minute pop structures as a medium for Hendrix's unprecedentedly heavy and turbulent guitar and loud, powerful hooks, which greatly appealed to young listeners.

Rolling Stone includes the album and several songs on various "best of" lists, such as:
 500 Greatest Albums of All Time – No. 30, calling it an "epochal debut", and praising Hendrix's "exploitation of amp howl", and characterizing his guitar playing as "incendiary ... historic in itself". (2020)
 500 Greatest Songs of All Time – "Purple Haze" (No. 17), "Foxy Lady" (No. 153), "Hey Joe" (No. 201), and "The Wind Cries Mary" (No. 379). (2011)
 Best Debut Albums of All Time – No. 3, crediting it as the LP "that established the transcendent promise of psychedelia", stating: "Every idea we have of the guitarist as groundbreaking individual artist comes from this record." (2013)
Additionally, Mojo magazine listed Are You Experienced as the greatest guitar album of all time in 2013. In 2005, Are You Experienced was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The album was also included in "A Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings—published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)—and in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing
Since the first release of Are You Experienced in 1967, there have been six different track listings. Since 1997, compact disc editions in the US and UK feature 17 tracks, including all songs that appeared on either the original UK/international edition of the album or the original North American edition, as well as the Experience's first three singles ("Hey Joe" b/w "Stone Free", "Purple Haze" b/w "51st Anniversary", and "The Wind Cries Mary" b/w "Highway Chile").

Original UK and international edition
The original UK Track album did not list running times for the songs. Instead, they are taken from the original international Polydor edition. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix.

Original North American edition
The listings are taken from the original US Reprise album. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix, except where noted.

CD releases
Are You Experienced was first issued on the Compact Disc Digital Audio or CD format in 1985 by Polydor Records (Track's successor) in Europe and Reprise in the US.  These early CDs essentially copied the original LP record albums and used the same tracks, sequencing, and cover art as their 1967 counterparts.  Both were reissued with minor changes in 1989–1991 and the Reprise release CD sleeve included "Digital re-mastering by Joe Gastwirt, assisted by Dave Mitson using the Sonic Solutions NoNoise System, under the supervision of Are You Experienced? Ltd."

In 1993, Alan Douglas, who managed Hendrix's recording catalogue, reached an agreement with MCA Records for the future releases of Hendrix material.  He also announced plans for new reissues of the three Experience albums: "Everything in the present catalogue is a budget release... They're all 25-year-old packages.  I want to take it high-level... with all these new elements".  Along with new artwork and liner notes, the MCA reissue was remastered with only one track selection and order for both the European and America markets.  The 17-track CD included the first three Experience British singles (both A-sides and B-sides), followed by the 11 songs as they appeared on the Track/Polydor UK album release.

The 1993 Douglas reissues were short-lived; in 1997, his tenure as the overseer of Hendrix's catalogue was taken over by Experience Hendrix (the Hendrix family-controlled company).  By April 1997, a new reissue was released, which restored the original artwork and sequencing for both the US and UK releases. However, both reissues included an additional six tracks, which provided the same 17 tracks (all the original singles and album tracks) in the UK and US, although in a different order.  Since 1997, these have been the official authorized CD versions of the original albums.  In 2010, Sony's Legacy Recordings became the exclusive distributor for the recordings managed by Experience Hendrix.

Personnel
Jimi Hendrix Experience
 Jimi Hendrix – guitars, vocals; piano on "Are You Experienced?"
 Noel Redding – bass guitar (except on "Red House"); backing vocals on "Foxy Lady," "Fire," and "Purple Haze"; rhythm guitar on "Red House"
 Mitch Mitchell – drums; percussion on "Stone Free" and "Can You See Me"; backing vocals on "Fire"

Additional personnel
 The Breakaways – backing vocals on "Hey Joe"
 Chas Chandler – producer
 Dave Siddle – engineering on "Manic Depression", "Can You See Me", "Love or Confusion", "I Don't Live Today", "Fire", "Remember", "Hey Joe", "Stone Free", "Purple Haze", "51st Anniversary", and "The Wind Cries Mary"
 Eddie Kramer – engineering on "The Wind Cries Mary", "Are You Experienced?", and "Red House"; additional engineering on "Love or Confusion", "Fire", "Third Stone from the Sun", and "Highway Chile"
 Mike Ross – engineering on "Foxy Lady", "Red House", and "Third Stone from the Sun"

Charts

Certifications

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

 Documentaries

External links
 Are You Experienced at Acclaimed Music (list of accolades)

1967 debut albums
Albums produced by Chas Chandler
Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios
Barclay (record label) albums
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
MCA Records albums
Polydor Records albums
Reprise Records albums
The Jimi Hendrix Experience albums
Track Records albums
United States National Recording Registry albums
United States National Recording Registry recordings

Are You Experienced


Murray McEachern (August 16, 1915 – April 28, 1982) was a Canadian jazz trombonist and alto saxophonist, perhaps best known for having played trombone for Benny Goodman from 1936 to 1937. McEachern is also remembered for playing both the trombone and alto saxophone for the Casa Loma Orchestra from 1937 to 1941.

Biography

McEachern studied the violin at the Toronto Conservatory of Music as a boy, and played his first concert recital at Massey Hall at age 12. As a teenager Murray studied both the saxophone and clarinet, playing with Lucio Agostini and also appearing on CRBC with Percy Faith. Over time McEachern became proficient on several instruments, including the trombone, bass and trumpet.

In 1936, he went to Chicago in search of work, and got a break as soloist on trombone for Benny Goodman's big band. He also worked with the Jack Hylton orchestra and then with the Casa Loma Orchestra (led by Glen Gray) from 1937-41. In 1941, McEachern joined the Paul Whiteman orchestra and shortly after began entertaining U.S. troops during World War II. In 1947, he worked with the Phil Moore orchestra.

McEachern did studio work in his later career for Hollywood films, including solo performances in The Glenn Miller Story, Paris Blues and The Benny Goodman Story.

A successful recording artist as leader, McEachern also toured Europe in 1972 and briefly worked with the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1973 and was owner/director of the Tommy Dorsey orchestra from 1974-77. In the 1960s he was also in the Morey Amsterdam Orchestra for the Morey Amsterdam Show on Television Station KTLA in Los Angeles.

Select discography
 "Murray McEachern...and friends" (Klavier)
 "Music for Sleepwalkers Only" (Key)
 "Caress" (Cap)
 "Warm Trombone" (Dot)

with Anita O'Day and Billy May:
 Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart (Verve)

with Benny Goodman:
 "Benny Goodman Performance Recordings" (MGM)

with Phil Moore:
 "Phil Moore - Concerto For Piano And Orchestra - Concerto For Trombone And Orchestra" (Discovery)

References

External links
 Murray McEachern recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

1915 births
1982 deaths
Canadian jazz trombonists
Canadian jazz saxophonists
Male saxophonists
Musicians from Toronto
Duke Ellington Orchestra members
20th-century American musicians
20th-century saxophonists
20th-century trombonists
Canadian male jazz musicians
20th-century Canadian male musicians

Murray McEachern


Dover Heights is a coastal, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dover Heights is 9 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. Its postcode is 2030.

Location

Dover Heights borders Vaucluse to its north, North Bondi to its south and Rose Bay to its west and has the Pacific Ocean to its east.

Dover Heights is a mainly residential suburb. Many of the suburb's properties have views of Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Some properties have both harbour and ocean views. Dudley Page Reserve has panoramic views over Sydney Harbour and is a popular site for sunsets and picnics. The Dover Heights Coastal Reserves are part of the Bondi to Watsons Bay Cliff Walk and have stunning ocean views.  The Dover Heights Coastal Reserves are formed by the contiguous Weonga Reserve, Rodney Reserve and Raleigh Reserve.

The suburb is considered to be the most affluent within the Waverly Local Government Area, and amongst the most affluent suburbs in Australia. This is reflected in property prices - like nearby suburbs Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill, median house prices are above A$6.4 million. The ATO's 2014-2015 taxation statistics listed Dover Height's postcode, 2030 as the second richest in Australia with an average taxable income of $185,684.  Dover Heights shares the 2030 postcode with the neighboring suburbs of Rose Bay North, Vaucluse & Watsons Bay.

History

Dover Heights is believed to have been named for its cliffs along the Pacific Ocean which resembled those found at Dover, in Kent, England. The first mention of Dover Heights appeared in municipal records in 1886. The area was first used for market gardens.

In 1830 land in the area was owned by Daniel Cooper (1785–1853), a partner in the firm Cooper and Levey, who owned the Waterloo Stores. The retailing emporium was located on the corner of George Street and Market Street in the city, on the site that was later occupied by Gowings Brothers retailers until 2006. The Dover Heights area was subdivided in 1913.

Population
At the 2016 census, there were 3,802 residents in Dover Heights. 53.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were South Africa 14.8% and England 3.6%. 75.0% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Russian 3.1% and Hebrew 2.7%. The most common responses for religion were Judaism 48.5%, No Religion 16.6% and Catholic 11.0%.  According to the demographic community profile of id.com.au created from the 2016 census, Dover Heights is the suburb with the highest Jewish population by percent in Australia.

The median weekly household income was $3,031 and 50.3%	of households had a weekly income of more than $3,000. Housing costs were high in Dover Heights with the median monthly mortgage payment being $4,000.

Architecture
With both cliff top and city views, Dover Heights has a number of homes of architectural interest which have received awards

The Butterfly House – 197 Military Road, Dover Heights - designed by award-winning architect Ed Lippmann

Moebius House –  - 129 Military Road, Dover Heights - designed by architect Tony Owen

Light House – 10 Wentworth Street, Dover Heights - designed by architect Peter Stutchbury

Winner of the Wilkinson Award by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 2015

The Cliff House –   8 Wentworth Street, Dover Heights

The Wave Dover Heights – 185 /185A Military Road - designed by architects Paul Brough & Andre Baroukh

Winner of the 2015 Master Builders Association Award of Australia - National Medium Density – 2 to 5 Dwellings

Winner of the 2015 Master Builders Association NSW Award For Town House / Villas / Dual Occupancy Over $1,000,000The Holman House  – 20 Hunter Street, Dover Heights

Winner of the Wilkinson Award by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 2005

Other properties of architectural note:

1 George Street – Dover Heights

21 Hunter Street – Dover Heights

57 Eastern Ave, Dover Heights

12 Douglas Parade, Dover Heights

Radio Astronomy

During the Second World War, Rodney Reserve, at the Dover Heights clifftop, was used by the Royal Australian Air Force for coastal defence radar. The CSIRO further used the site for pioneering experimentation in radio astronomy related to galactic radio emissions, with a team including John Gatenby Bolton first observing solar emissions in 1945.  The site primarily made use of Yagi antennas.  The first radio source they identified with something that could be seen was in the constellation Taurus, and named Taurus A, which is in fact the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant (the remains of an exploding star) first reported by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054.

References

The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia

Further reading
 Bolton, J. "Radio astronomy at Dover Heights," Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 4, 349-358 (1982).
 CSIRO, "Radio astronomy at Dover Heights"
 Orchiston, W. & B. Slee, "Ingenuity and Inititative in Australian Radio Astronomy: The Dover Heights 'Hole-in-the-Ground' Antenna," Jour. Astron. History & Heritage 5, 21-34 (2002).
 Stanley, G. J., "Recollections of John G. Bolton at Dover-Heights and Caltech," Australian Journal of Physics 47, 507-16 (1994).
 Wild, J.P. & V.R. Radhakrishnan, "Heights John Gatenby Bolton 1922-1993," Historical Records of Australian Science 10–4, 381-391 (1995).

External links

Suburbs of Sydney
Waverley Council

Dover Heights


Bak is an online, bilingual (English and Turkish), visual arts magazine, first published on 1 January 2006. Published monthly, it features interviews with well-known graphic designers, illustrators, painters, film directors, photographers, 3D artists and sculptors and selected artworks from thousands of contributors all over the world. It is accessible on mobile platforms through its mobile edition.

Features
The magazine is published in its two official languages (English and Turkish). It has an editorial aim of distributing works by enthusiasts to encourage sharing of ideas, interviewing globally well-known artists for expanding knowledge, and to fill the gap in the number of free-to-read, online, arts magazines. It has offices in Los Angeles and Istanbul.

Issues
Each Bak issue has an individual theme. The contributors from all around the world submit their artworks related to that theme and the selected ones are picked for publication. Bak has 17 released issues so far, with the themes 'Wrong', 'White', 'Old', '2050', 'Game', 'Road', 'Dream', 'Me', 'Night', 'Why', 'Contrast', 'Red', 'Fear', 'Two', 'Love', 'City' and 'Face'.

Interviews
Bak published 150 special interviews in 17 issues. Among the hosted artists, there are several world famous names such as Brad Holland, Chaz Maviyane Davies, Eugenio Recuenco, Gerard Huerta, Gottfried Helnwein, Jack Unruh, Jill Greenberg, Joseph Kosinski, Kent Williams, Lukas Moodysson, Oleg Stavrowsky, Si Scott, Tom Muller and Vince Frost.

Awards
In 2007, Bak was awarded runner-up in the 6th Altin Orumcek Awards, in Online Magazine category.

References

External links
 The Bak English Edition Web site
 The Bak Turkish Edition Web site

2006 establishments in Turkey
English-language magazines
Magazines established in 2006
Magazines published in Istanbul
Monthly magazines published in Turkey
Online magazines
Turkish-language magazines
Visual arts magazines

BAK (magazine)


The plantcutters are a group of passerine birds in the cotinga family, Cotingidae. They were previously in their own family, Phytotomidae. The three plantcutters are all placed in the genus Phytotoma.

These are robust birds of open woodland, scrub and farmland in southern and western South America. They resemble finches, and are among the few primarily folivorous birds, though they also take some fruits, berries and flowers. The common name is a reference to their stubby bills with fine serrations along the cutting edge – an adaptation for cutting plant material.

They are sexually dichromatic, with males having black wings with white patches, and at least partially rufous underparts. The plumage of the females is greyish-white or brownish-white with dense dark streaking throughout.

These pair-living birds lay 2 - 4 brown-spotted green eggs in a tree nest. Only the female incubates, but both sexes participate in the nest-building and feeding of the chicks. The chicks are fed almost exclusively with insects.

Species

References

 Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2004). Plantcutters (Phytotoma). pp. 73–74 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Christie, D. A. eds. (2004). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cotingas to Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Cotingidae

Plantcutter


The canton of Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez is an administrative division of the Vendée department, western France. It was created at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez.

It consists of the following communes:

L'Aiguillon-sur-Vie
Brem-sur-Mer
Bretignolles-sur-Mer
La Chaize-Giraud
Coëx
Commequiers
Le Fenouiller
Givrand
Landevieille
Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie
Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez
Saint-Maixent-sur-Vie
Saint-Révérend

References

Cantons of Vendée

Canton of Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez


WinPT or Windows Privacy Tray is frontend to the Gnu Privacy Guard (GnuPG) for the Windows platform. Released under GPL, it is compatible with OpenPGP compliant software.

WinPT represents a collection of user interface tools designed to ease the use of asymmetric encryption software. Based on GnuPG, and OpenPGP-compatible, WinPT is intended for Windows users to use for everyday message signing, verification, encryption and general key management.

If installation defaults are used, WinPT will then reside in the task bar tray, and on the right-click menu within Windows Explorer. A Start menu item includes launchers for a GPG commandline (console), WinPT tray, and documentation.

, latest version (1.5.3 Beta) is only compatible with GnuPG 1.4.x and not with the most recent version 2.0.x.

WinPT is included in the GnuPT installer (that includes the latest version of GnuPG 1.4.x, WinPT 1.4.3 stable and WinPT latest beta.)

History
On April 4, 2007, the project's author, Timo Schulz, announced that development on WinPT has been suspended for an indefinite period.

However, on October 27, 2008, Schulz announced a new version 1.30, described as a bug fix release.

On December 14, 2009, Timo Schulz announced that WinPT is discontinued due to lack of resources.

On January 19, 2012, Timo Schulz announced work on a new release and asked the community to contact him in regards to further development past future revision 1.5 if they are interested.

On October 21, 2012, Timo Schulz announced that the project had a new dedicated website.

See also
 GNU Privacy Guard
 Gpg4win
 PGP
 Public-key cryptography
 Cryptography

References

External links
 WinPT website
 GnuPT website
 Gnu Privacy Guard

OpenPGP
Cryptographic software

WinPT


The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk.

On 8 July 2011, the Voortrekker Monument was declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resource Agency.

History

The idea to build a monument in honour of the Voortrekkers was first discussed on 16 December 1888, when President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic attended the Day of the Covenant celebrations at Danskraal in Natal. However, the movement to actually build such a monument only started on 4 April 1931 when the Sentrale Volksmonumentekomitee (SVK; Central People's Monuments Committee) was formed to bring this idea to fruition.

Construction started on 13 July 1937 with a sod-turning ceremony performed by the chairman of the SVK, Advocate Ernest George Jansen, on what later became known as Monument Hill. On 16 December 1938 the cornerstone was laid by three descendants of some of the Voortrekker leaders: Mrs. J.C. Muller (granddaughter of Andries Pretorius), Mrs. K.F. Ackerman (great-granddaughter of Hendrik Potgieter) and Mrs. J.C. Preller (great-granddaughter of Piet Retief).

The monument was inaugurated on 16 December 1949 by Prime Minister D. F. Malan. The total construction cost of the monument was about £ 360,000, most of which was contributed by the South African government.

A large amphitheatre, which could seat approximately 20,000 people, was erected to the north-east of the monument in 1949.

Main features

The Voortrekker Monument is 40 metres high, with a base of 40 metres by 40 metres. The building shares architectural resemblance with European monuments such the Dôme des Invalides in France and the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Germany but also contains African influences. The two main points of interest inside the building are the Historical Frieze and the Cenotaph.

Historical Frieze
The main entrance of the building leads into the domed Hall of Heroes. This massive space, flanked by four huge arched windows made from yellow Belgian glass, contains the unique marble Historical Frieze which is an intrinsic part of the design of the monument. It is the biggest marble frieze in the world. The frieze consists of 27 bas-relief panels depicting the history of the Great Trek, but incorporating references to every day life, work methods and religious beliefs of the Voortrekkers. The set of panels illustrates key historical scenes starting from the first voortrekkers of 1835, up to the signing of the Sand River Convention in 1852. In the centre of the floor of the Hall of Heroes is a large circular opening through which the Cenotaph in the Cenotaph Hall can be viewed.

Cenotaph
The Cenotaph, situated in the centre of the Cenotaph Hall, is the central focus of the monument. In addition to being viewable from the Hall of Heroes it can also be seen from the dome at the top of the building, from where much of the interior of the monument can be viewed. Through an opening in this dome a ray of sunlight shines at twelve o'clock on 16 December annually, falling onto the centre of the Cenotaph, striking the words 'Ons vir Jou, Suid-Afrika' (Afrikaans for 'We're for you, South Africa'), a line from 'Die Stem van Suid-Afrika'. The ray of light symbolises God's blessing on the lives and endeavours of the Voortrekkers. 16 December 1838 was the date of the Battle of Blood River, commemorated in South Africa before 1994 as the Day of the Vow.

The Cenotaph Hall is decorated with the flags of the different Voortrekker Republics and contains wall tapestries depicting the Voortrekkers as well as several display cases with artefacts from the Great Trek. Against the northern wall of the hall is a niche with a lantern in which a flame has been kept burning ever since 1938. It was in that year that the Symbolic Ox Wagon Trek, which started in Cape Town and ended at Monument Hill where the Monument's foundation stone was laid, took place.

Other features
Visitors to the monument enter through a black wrought iron gate with an assegai (spear) motif.

After passing through the gate one finds oneself inside a big laager consisting of 64 ox-wagons made out of decorative granite. The same number of wagons were used at the Battle of Blood River to form the laager.

At the foot of the monument stands Anton van Wouw's bronze sculpture of a Voortrekker woman and her two children, paying homage to the strength and courage of the Voortrekker women. On both sides of this sculpture black wildebeest are chiselled into the walls of the monument. The wildebeest symbolically depicts the dangers of Africa and their symbolic flight implies that the woman, carrier of Western civilisation, is triumphant.

On each outside corner of the monument there is a statue, respectively representing Piet Retief, Andries Pretorius, Hendrik Potgieter and an "unknown" leader (representative of all the other Voortrekker leaders). Each statue weighs approximately 6 tons.

At the eastern corner of the monument, on the same level as its entrance, is the foundation stone.

Under the foundation stone is buried:
A copy of the Trekker Vow on 16 December 1838.
A copy of the anthem "Die Stem".
A copy of the land deal between the Trekkers under Piet Retief and the Zulus under king Dingane.

German links
According to Alta Steenkamp, the masonic subtext of the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) in Leipzig, Germany, is reflected in the Voortrekker Monument because the architect, Gerard Moerdijk, had used the geometric order and spatial proportions of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal. This Germanisation of the Voortrekker Monument occurred after Moerdijk's initial design had caused a public outcry in the South African press for its resemblance to an Egyptian temple. In Moerdijk's initial design, the monument consisted of a causeway linking two Egyptian obelisks.

Finalising his design of the Voortrekker Monument, Moerdijk visited Egypt in 1936, including the Karnak Temple Complex in Thebes. In Thebes, the pharaoh Akhenaten, Nefertiti's husband, had erected three sun sanctuaries, including the Hwt-benben ('mansion of the Benben'). The most prominent aspect of Moerdijk's monument is the annual mid noon sun illumination of the Benben stone, the encrypted cenotaph.

In the years preceding World War II, several Afrikaner nationalists travelled to Germany for academic, political and cultural studies. In 1928 Moerdijk visited Germany, and viewed the Amarna bust of Nefertiti on public display in Berlin. By 1934 Chancellor Hitler had decided that Germany would not return the Amarna bust of Nefertiti to Egypt. He instead announced the intention to use the Amarna bust as the central show piece of the thousand years Third Reich, in a revitalised Berlin to be renamed Germania. Likewise Moerdijk's thousand years monument with Amarna sun symbol at its centre, became Afrikaner nationalists' centre show piece of their capital Pretoria.

Round floor opening
  Looking from the sky dome downwards, a chevron pattern on the floor of the Hall of Heroes, radiates outwards like 32 sun rays. In Moerdijk's architecture, the natural sun forms the 33rd ray through the floor opening. Moerdijk said the chevron pattern on the floor depicts water, as does the double chevron hieroglyph from the civilisation of ancient Egypt. Moerdijk stated that all roads on the terrain of building art lead back to ancient Egypt. Based on Moerdijk's reference to the watery floor of the Hall of Heroes, as well as his statements about ancient Egypt, the floor opening may be identified with the watery abyss, as in the creation theology of ancient African civilisation. Rising out of this watery abyss, was the primeval mound, the Benben stone, to symbolise a new creation.

Religious sun ray
Gerard Moerdijk was the chief architect of 80 Protestant churches in South Africa. Moerdijk adhered to Reformed church tradition and thus his Renaissance trademark, the Greek-cross floorplan, always focused on the pulpit and preacher. In Protestant theology, the word of God is central. Moerdijk created a similar central focus in the Voortrekker Monument, but in vertical instead of horizontal plane, and in African instead of European style.

The monument's huge upper dome features Egyptian backlighting to simulate the sky, the heavenly abode of God. Through the dome a sun ray penetrates downwards, highlighting words on 16 December at noon.

The sky oriented words: "US FOR YOU SOUTH AFRICA", are Moerdijk's focus point. These words are taken from an anthem, Die Stem: "We will live, we will die, we for thee South-Africa". The same anthem ends: "It will be well, God reigns."

Thus the sun ray simulates a connection between the words on the Cenotaph and the heavenly abode above, a communication between God and man.

The actual sun ray itself forms a 33rd sun ray shining onto the stone in the midst of floor opening.

Heavenly vow

In Moerdijk's biblical theology, God communicates in two ways: through scripture and nature. Moerdijk merges both methods, by using the sun in his simulation.

The Vow of the Trekkers was commemorated on 16 December as the Day of the Vow. On 16 December, the appearance of an illuminating sun disc on the wording of the Cenotaph stone, transform their meaning as per the Philosophers Stone of the alchemists.

Instead of man below making an earthly vow, the sun shifts the focus upwards to the trinitarian god of the Trekkers, as it is God who communicates through Moerdijk's sun architecture, making Himself a heavenly vow with the words: WE – as in GOD – FOR THEE SOUTH-AFRICA.

Thus God in the trinitarian tradition of the Trekkers, speaks a vow within the sun disc illuminating the words on the Cenotaph.

The Trekker belief that God was for South Africa originates from the 9–16 December 1838 vow of Trekker leader Andries Pretorius at Blood River, who at around the same time made military and political alliances with Christian Zulus like prince Mpande.

Egyptian origin
Moerdijk was an outspoken supporter of ancient Egyptian architecture.

Moerdijk referred to Africa's greatness as imparted by ancient Egyptian constructions at the inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument.

Before his Voortrekker Monument proposal was accepted, Moerdijk and Anton van Wouw had been working in alliance for many years on their "dream castle" project: a modern African-Egyptian Voortrekker Temple in South-Africa. Van Wouw and Frans Soff had earlier employed the Egyptian obelisk, a petrified ray of the African Aten, as central motif for the National Women's Monument in Bloemfontein, South Africa, itself likewise inaugurated on the Day of the Vow, 16 December 1913.

Whilst finalising the design of the Voortrekker Monument in 1936, Moerdijk went on a research trip to Egypt. There he visited the Karnak Temple Complex at Thebes, where an African Renaissance had flourished under Pharaoh Akhenaten, Nefertiti's husband.

The open air temples of Akhenaten to the Aten incorporated the Heliopolitan tradition of employing sun rays in architecture, as well as realistic wall reliefs or friezes.

Moerdijk also visited the Cairo Museum, where a copy of the Great Hymn to the Aten is on display, some verses of which remind of Psalm 104.

Moerdijk's wife Sylva related that he was intimately acquainted with ancient Egyptian architecture, and was strongly influenced architecturally by his visit to Egypt.

Architectural purpose

The architect, Gerard Moerdijk, stated that the purpose of a building had to be clearly visible. The aspect of the sun at mid-noon in Africa, was during Nefertiti's time known as Aten. In Egyptian hieroglyphics, Aten was written as a sun dot enclosed by a circle.

The Aten-hieroglyph is depicted in the Voortrekker Monument when the sun shines through an aperture in the top dome.

Likewise, looking downwards from the top dome walkway, the round floor opening is seen to encircle the sun disc illumination.

Moerdijk's message as implied by the wall frieze: by exodus out of the British Cape Colony, God created a new civilisation inland.

In order to give thanks to this new creation of civilisation, Moerdijk, recalling Abraham of old, outwardly designed the Voortrekker Monument as an altar.

Monument complex
In the years following its construction, the monument complex was expanded several times and now includes:
 An indigenous garden that surrounds the monument.
 Fort Schanskop, a nearby fort built in 1897 by the government of the South African Republic after the Jameson Raid. It is currently a museum and was added to the monument complex in June 2000.
 The Schanskop open-air amphitheatre with seating for 357 people that was officially opened on 30 January 2001.
 A garden of remembrance.
 A nature reserve was declared on 3.41 km2 around the monument in 1992. Game found on the reserve include Zebras, Blesbok, Mountain Reedbuck, Springbok, Black Wildebeest and Impala.
 A Wall of Remembrance that was constructed near the monument in 2009. It was built to commemorate the members of the South African Defence Force (SADF) who died in service of their country between 1961 and 1994.
 An Afrikaner heritage centre, which was built in order to preserve the heritage of the Afrikaans-speaking portion of South Africa's population and their contribution to the history of the country.

See also
 Great Trek
 Völkerschlachtdenkmal

References

External links

Official Site of the Voortrekker Monument
Blood river Vow Committee (in Afrikaans) – Official Site
360 degree Virtual Tour of Voortrekker Monument on Visit Pretoria

Afrikaner culture in Pretoria
Monuments and memorials in South Africa
Buildings and structures completed in 1949
Museums in Pretoria
Great Trek
Cenotaphs in South Africa
South African heritage sites
History museums in South Africa
History of Pretoria
Anton van Wouw
20th-century architecture in South Africa

Voortrekker Monument


Vicki Hanson FACM FRSE FBCS, is an American computer scientist noted for her research on human-computer interaction and accessibility and for her leadership in broadening participation in computing.

She was named the Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 2018 having served as its President from 2016 to 2018.

Hanson was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2020 for contributions to the design of accessible systems and for leadership in the computer science and engineering community.

Education
In 1974 Hanson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Colorado. At the University of Oregon she graduated with a Master of Arts degree in cognitive psychology in 1976, going on to complete her Ph.D in 1978.

Career and research
Dr. Hanson was a Distinguished Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology within the HCI and Accessibility research groups. She was also Professor and Chair of Inclusive Technologies at the University of Dundee where she led multiple efforts related to inclusion of older adults and individuals with disabilities. From 1986 to 2009 she was a Research Staff Member and Manager at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center in New York, founding the Accessibility Research Group in 2000.

She is Past Chair of SIGACCESS and was Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing. She has served on Fellows Committees for ACM and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and has been active in conference organizing and program committees for ASSETS, CHI, and several other ACM conferences. She was elected as ACM President for a two-year term in 2016.

Hanson's interest in supporting disabled populations began at the University of Colorado where she focused on communication disorders, majoring in psychology along with speech pathology and audiology. In graduate school at the University of Oregon, her scope broadened to include psycholinguistics and applied cognitive psychology. These threads converged during her postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Studies at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and later at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Connecticut, where she conducted research on American Sign Language (ASL) and the acquisition of reading by deaf children and adults. In this work, she demonstrated the degree to which reading success among the profoundly and prelingually deaf was coupled to the existence and use of phonological mental representations, representations that were formed without the benefit of ever having heard spoken language.

Joining the Research staff at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in 1986, Hanson began developing educational applications for the deaf and others. Her first application, HandsOn demonstrated how computer technology could provide a bilingual educational experience for deaf children. Combining ASL and English, it allowed a student's skill in ASL to bootstrap the acquisition of skill in English. The technology was, for its time, state of the art, involving an object-oriented application environment, coupled to random-access laser disks, all driven by a simple touch screen user interface, and was deployed at numerous schools for deaf children in the United States and Canada. It was recognized in 1992 as a National Merit Winner in the Johns Hopkins National Search for Computing to Assist Persons with Disabilities. Recently it has been rebuilt using streaming Internet video and conventional browser technologies, allowing it to be used by a much larger audience.

In 2000 IBM formed a Worldwide Accessibility Center and Hanson took on the management of the newly formed Accessibility Research Group. A primary output of this effort was Web Accessibility Technology (for Internet Explorer) and accessibilityWorks (for Firefox), browser extensions that allowed people with visual, motor, and cognitive disabilities to modify Web content on the fly to meet their needs. Initially tested with older adults through SeniorNet and other organizations serving older adults, it was subsequently deployed in 26 countries through numerous non-profit organizations. In 2003, the National Disabilities Council named it Product of the Year. In 2004, it received the Best New Ability Research Award from the New Freedom Foundation and the Applied Research da Vinci award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In 2006 it brought IBM recognition as the Goodwill Partner of the Year, and in 2008 it received Lighthouse International's Corporate Visionary award. In 2011, accessibilityWorks was donated to the Global Inclusive Infrastructure project as a key open source component. Later work included the world's first fully accessible 3D virtual world.

In 2009 Hanson joined the School of Computing at the University of Dundee in Scotland as Professor and Chair of Accessible Technology. Working with Newcastle University, she launched the Social Inclusion Through the Digital Economy (SiDE) project aimed at ensuring that all people, regardless of age or disability, were not left behind as the world became more digitally linked. The success of this effort motivated a broadening of the work in the BESiDE project, targeting both technology and architectural design aspects of the Built Environment of older adult care homes.

In 2011, Hanson accepted an appointment at the Rochester Institute of Technology as a Distinguished Professor where she built a team to continue research in support of the disabled and older adults. In 2018, she was named Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of ACM.

Awards and honors
Hanson was named an ACM Fellow in 2004, a Fellow Chartered Information Technology Professional of the British Computer Society in 2008, a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2009, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2013. She received the ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award in 2008, the Women of Vision ABIE Award for Social Impact in 2013, and the ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility in 2014. Hanson was awarded on Honorary Doctorate from Newcastle University in 2017 as part of the 60th anniversary of computing at the University.
She was elected to the ACM SIGCHI Academy in 2017 and the National Academy of Engineering in 2020.

References

Rochester Institute of Technology faculty
NAE
ACM
Fellows of the British Computer Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
American computer scientists
Living people
University of Oregon alumni
1951 births
Presidents of the Association for Computing Machinery
University of Colorado alumni
American women computer scientists
SIGACCESS award winners
American women academics
21st-century American women

Vicki L. Hanson


In mathematics, more specifically measure theory, there are various notions of the convergence of measures. For an intuitive general sense of what is meant by convergence of measures, consider a sequence of measures μn on a space, sharing a common collection of measurable sets. Such a sequence might represent an attempt to construct 'better and better' approximations to a desired measure μ that is difficult to obtain directly. The meaning of 'better and better' is subject to all the usual caveats for taking limits; for any error tolerance ε > 0 we require there be N sufficiently large for n ≥ N to ensure the 'difference' between μn and μ is smaller than ε. Various notions of convergence specify precisely what the word 'difference' should mean in that description; these notions are not equivalent to one another, and vary in strength.

Three of the most common notions of convergence are described below.

Informal descriptions
This section attempts to provide a rough intuitive description of three notions of convergence, using terminology developed in calculus courses; this section is necessarily imprecise as well as inexact, and the reader should refer to the formal clarifications in subsequent sections. In particular, the descriptions here do not address the possibility that the measure of some sets could be infinite, or that the underlying space could exhibit pathological behavior, and additional technical assumptions are needed for some of the statements. The statements in this section are however all correct if  is a sequence of probability measures on a Polish space.

The various notions of convergence formalize the assertion that the 'average value' of each 'sufficiently nice' function should converge:

To formalize this requires a careful specification of the set of functions under consideration and how uniform the convergence should be.

The notion of weak convergence requires this convergence to take place for every continuous bounded function .
This notion treats convergence for different functions f independently of one another, i.e., different functions f may require different values of N ≤ n to be approximated equally well (thus, convergence is non-uniform in ).

The notion of setwise convergence formalizes the assertion that the measure of each measurable set should converge:

Again, no uniformity over the set  is required.
Intuitively, considering integrals of 'nice' functions, this notion provides more uniformity than weak convergence. As a matter of fact, when considering sequences of measures with uniformly bounded
variation on a Polish space, setwise convergence implies the convergence   for any bounded measurable function .
As before, this convergence is non-uniform in

The notion of total variation convergence formalizes the assertion that the measure of all measurable sets should converge uniformly, i.e. for every  there exists N such that  for every n > N and for every measurable set . As before, this implies convergence of integrals against bounded measurable functions, but this time convergence is uniform over all functions bounded by any fixed constant.

Total variation convergence of measures
This is the strongest notion of convergence shown on this page and is defined as follows. Let  be a measurable space. The total variation distance between two (positive) measures μ and ν is then given by

Here the supremum is taken over f ranging over the set of all measurable functions from X to [−1, 1]. This is in contrast, for example, to the Wasserstein metric, where the definition is of the same form, but the supremum is taken over f ranging over the set of measurable functions from X to [−1, 1] which have Lipschitz constant at most 1; and also in contrast to the Radon metric, where the supremum is taken over f ranging over the set of continuous functions from X to [−1, 1]. In the case where X is a Polish space, the total variation metric coincides with the Radon metric.

If μ and ν are both probability measures, then the total variation distance is also given by

The equivalence between these two definitions can be seen as a particular case of the Monge-Kantorovich duality.  From the two definitions above, it is clear that the total variation distance between probability measures is always between 0 and 2.

To illustrate the meaning of the total variation distance, consider the following thought experiment. Assume that we are given two probability measures μ and ν, as well as a random variable X. We know that X has law either μ or ν but we do not know which one of the two. Assume that these two measures have prior probabilities 0.5 each of being the true law of X. Assume now that we are given one single sample distributed according to the law of X and that we are then asked to guess which one of the two distributions describes that law. The quantity

then provides a sharp upper bound on the prior probability that our guess will be correct.

Given the above definition of total variation distance, a sequence μn of measures defined on the same measure space is said to converge to a measure μ in total variation distance if for every ε > 0, there exists an N such that for all n > N, one has that

Setwise convergence of measures
For  a measurable space, a sequence μn is said to converge setwise to a limit μ if

for every set .

Typical arrow notations are  and .

For example, as a consequence of the Riemann–Lebesgue lemma, the sequence μn of measures on the interval [−1, 1] given by μn(dx) = (1+ sin(nx))dx converges setwise to Lebesgue measure, but it does not converge in total variation.

In a measure theoretical or probabilistic context setwise convergence is often referred to as strong convergence (as opposed to weak convergence). This can lead to some ambiguity because in functional analysis, strong convergence usually refers to convergence with respect to a norm.

Weak convergence of measures
In mathematics and statistics, weak convergence is one of many types of convergence relating to the convergence of measures. It depends on a topology on the underlying space and thus is not a purely measure theoretic notion.

There are several equivalent definitions of weak convergence of a sequence of measures, some of which are (apparently) more general than others. The equivalence of these conditions is sometimes known as the Portmanteau theorem.

Definition. Let  be a metric space with its Borel -algebra . A bounded sequence of positive probability measures  on  is said to converge weakly to a probability measure  (denoted ) if any of the following equivalent conditions is true (here  denotes expectation or the  norm with respect to , while  denotes expectation or the  norm with respect to ):

  for all bounded, continuous functions ;
  for all bounded and Lipschitz functions ;
  for every upper semi-continuous function  bounded from above;
  for every lower semi-continuous function  bounded from below;
  for all closed sets  of space ;
  for all open sets  of space ;
  for all continuity sets  of measure .

In the case  with its usual topology, if  and  denote the cumulative distribution functions of the measures  and , respectively, then  converges weakly to  if and only if  for all points  at which  is continuous.

For example, the sequence where  is the Dirac measure located at  converges weakly to the Dirac measure located at 0 (if we view these as measures on  with the usual topology), but it does not converge setwise. This is intuitively clear: we only know that  is "close" to  because of the topology of .

This definition of weak convergence can be extended for  any metrizable topological space. It also defines a weak topology on , the set of all probability measures defined on .  The weak topology is generated by the following basis of open sets:

where

If  is also separable, then  is metrizable and separable, for example by the Lévy–Prokhorov metric. If  is also compact or Polish, so is .

If  is separable, it naturally embeds into  as the (closed) set of Dirac measures, and its convex hull is dense.

There are many "arrow notations" for this kind of convergence: the most frequently used are , ,  and .

Weak convergence of random variables

Let  be a probability space and X be a metric space. If  is a sequence of random variables then Xn is said to converge weakly (or in distribution or in law) to the random variable X: Ω → X as  if the sequence of pushforward measures (Xn)∗(P) converges weakly to X∗(P) in the sense of weak convergence of measures on X, as defined above.

Comparison with vague convergence
Let  be a metric space (for example  or ). The following spaces of test functions are commonly used in the convergence of probability measures.

   the class of continuous functions  each vanishing outside a compact set.
  the class of continuous functions  such that
  the class of continuous bounded functions

We have . It is well known that  is the closure of  with respect to uniform convergence.

Vague Convergence
A sequence of measures  converges vaguely to a measure  if for all ,  .

Weak Convergence
A sequence of measures  converges weakly to a measure  if for all ,  .

In general, these two convergence notions are not equivalent.

In a probability setting, vague convergence and weak convergence of probability measures are equivalent assuming tightness. That is, a tight sequence of probability measures  converges vaguely to a probability measure  if and only if  converges weakly to .

The weak limit of a sequence of probability measures, provided it exists, is a probability measure. In general, if tightness is not assumed, a sequence of probability (or sub-probability) measures may not necessarily converge vaguely to a true probability measure, but rather to a sub-probability measure (a measure such that ). Thus, a sequence of probability measures  such that  where  is not specified to be a probability measure is not guaranteed to imply weak convergence.

Weak convergence of measures as an example of weak-* convergence
Despite having the same name as weak convergence in the context of functional analysis, weak convergence of measures is actually an example of weak-* convergence. The definitions of weak and weak-* convergences used in functional analysis are as follows:

Let  be a topological vector space or Banach space.
 A sequence  in  converges weakly to  if   as  for all . One writes  as .
 A sequence of converges in the weak-* topology to  provided that  for all . That is, convergence occurs in the point-wise sense. In this case, one writes  as .

To illustrate how weak convergence of measures is an example of weak-* convergence, we give an example in terms of vague convergence (see above). Let  be a locally compact Hausdorff space. By the Riesz-Representation theorem, the space  of Radon measures is isomorphic to a subspace of the space of continuous linear functionals on . Therefore, for each Radon measure , there is a linear functional  such that  for all . Applying the definition of weak-* convergence in terms of linear functionals, the characterization of vague convergence of measures is obtained. For compact , , so in this case weak convergence of measures is a special case of weak-* convergence.

See also

 Convergence of random variables
 Lévy–Prokhorov metric
 Prokhorov's theorem
 Tightness of measures

References

Measure theory
Measure, Convergence of

Convergence of measures


LATIN (always referenced in upper case) was a cooperation scheme among 13 newspapers in Latin America which was organized by Reuters and lasted from 1970 until 1981. It was not a news agency per se, but rather a permanent exchange mechanism. In 1975, The New York Times revealed that LATIN was used by the CIA to in covert operations of counterinformation and influencing public opinion in Latin America.

Today, similar schemes are carried through the Periódicos Asociados Latinoamericanos and Grupo de Diarios América.

Notes

Latin American media
Newspaper associations

LATIN