The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall is a 2011 British concert film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera, which in turn was based on the 1910 French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the musical, three special performances on Saturday 1 October 2011 at 7.30pm and Sunday 2 October 2011 at 1.30pm and 7.00pm were filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, the third of which was screened live worldwide on 2 October 2011. For further releases, footage from all three performances was edited together.

Production

Idea
To mark the milestone of 25 years, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh planned a special 3-day production to take place at London's Royal Albert Hall in October 2011. Designer Matt Kinley initially planned to hold a concert-style production not unlike the Les Misérables 25th anniversary concert at the O2 Arena, but Mackintosh made it clear the show would be fully staged, as both he and Lloyd Webber felt it would not work unless it was the whole show. As a result, the event was planned as a full show.

Royal Albert Hall
Designing the staged show at the Royal Albert Hall was a daunting task, as the space (or lack thereof) was not an easy one to translate a proscenium show into. As a concert hall rather than a theatre, many of the show's elements (such as the chandelier, which instead of falling, exploded) had to be toned down and simplified: the Royal Albert Hall was simply not capable of accepting a show the size of The Phantom of the Opera, or at least not the full original. The balconies of the hall were used to build uprights to form an opera house proscenium with boxes on each side. The orchestra was elevated on a platform and backed by a screen which the opera sets were projected onto, with LED screens on the lower portions of performance stage.

Live streaming
Tickets for the three performances sold out within five hours of going on sale. In order to enable more people to see the production, the final performance was relayed live to cinemas around the world via Fathom Events.

Plot

Prologue
In 1905 Paris, France, during an auction hosted by the defunct Opéra Populaire, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny purchases a music box an unknown woman told him about, noting it appears just as she described it. The auctioneer presents a restored chandelier as the next item up for bid, noting its connection to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never fully explained." As the mammoth fixture comes to life, the theatre's former grandeur returns ("Overture").

Act I
In 1881, the Opéra Populaire's retiring owner, Lefevre, interrupts rehearsals for the grand opera Hannibal to introduce the company to his successors, Richard Firmin and Gilles André ("Hannibal Rehearsal"). When a falling backdrop barely misses resident soprano Carlotta Giudicelli, everyone blames "The Phantom of the Opera," who has troubled them for the past three years. The new managers attempt to downplay the situation, but Carlotta refuses to perform and walks out. As Lefevre departs, Meg Giry, the daughter of ballet mistress Madame Giry, claims her friend Christine Daaé has been taking singing lessons from an unknown teacher and can sing in Carlotta's place. André identifies the name as the same as a prominent deceased violinist, who Christine reveals was her father. The managers, realising that they have no other alternative, let Christine audition and find themselves dazzled by her exceptional voice. That night, Christine makes a triumphant stage début, during which Raoul de Chagny, the Opéra's new patron, recognises her from his youth ("Think of Me").

Following the performance, Christine reveals to Meg that her teacher is an invisible angel her father told her about in stories ("Angel of Music"). She then receives a surprise visit from Raoul in her dressing room, where they reminisce about their first meeting and their time as playmates. Christine tells him about her lessons with the Angel of Music, to which he responds by indulging in what he assumes are fantasies and inviting her to dinner ("Little Lotte"). The moment he leaves to fetch his hat, Christine hears a jealous voice condemn Raoul for intruding. Believing it to be the Angel, she begs him to show himself to her. A ghostly, partially masked face appears in her mirror, revealing that the Phantom has been masquerading as the Angel of Music, and commands her to walk through it ("The Mirror (Angel of Music [Reprise])"). The two descend into the Opéra's cellars and take a gondola across a subterranean lake to the Phantom's lair ("The Phantom of the Opera"). Once there, the Phantom tells Christine he has chosen her to sing his music. She becomes overwhelmed and faints, prompting the Phantom to carry her to a bed ("The Music of the Night").

Sometime later, as the Phantom composes at his organ, Christine wakes and, overcome with curiosity, sneaks up behind him and tears off his mask ("I Remember"). He flies into a rage, declaring she will be his prisoner, but then expresses his yearning to live an ordinary life and experience love ("Stranger Than You Dreamt It"). Christine returns his mask to him, and he decides to take her back to the Opéra. Meanwhile, chief stagehand Joseph Buquet tells Meg and the other chorus girls to beware of the Phantom's Punjab lasso, to which Madame Giry offers an ominous warning ("Magical Lasso").

In the managers' office, Raoul interrupts André and Firmin as they compare dispatches from the Phantom, asking them if they sent him a message warning him not to see Christine again. Carlotta then enters with her lover Ubaldo Piangi in tow and accuses Raoul of sending her a threatening letter. Finally, Madame Giry arrives with another dispatch from the Phantom: unless Christine plays the lead in the new production of Il Muto, a disaster "beyond imagination" will occur ("Notes"). The managers assure Carlotta she is and always will be the star ("Prima Donna").

That night, Carlotta appears in the leading role while Raoul watches the performance from Box Five, which usually is kept empty for the Phantom's use. The Phantom causes chaos by reducing the diva's voice to a frog-like croak after she refers to Christine as a "little toad." After Firmin announces Christine will take her place, the chorus performs a ballet from the opera's third act to keep the audience entertained. Further mayhem ensues, however, when Buquet's corpse suddenly drops from the rafters, hanging from the Punjab lasso ("Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh").

Christine and Raoul flee to the roof, where she tells him about the Phantom and her journey to his lair ("Why Have You Brought Me Here?/Raoul, I've Been There"). Despite his scepticism, Raoul sees she believes her fear to be real and makes a vow to love and protect her no matter what happens, which she reciprocates ("All I Ask of You"). The Phantom, having eavesdropped on their conversation, vows revenge and destroys the chandelier during the curtain call ("All I Ask of You [Reprise]").

Act II
Six months later, during a New Year's Eve masked ball, the Phantom appears in costume as the Red Death and announces he has written an opera entitled Don Juan Triumphant. He demands that the company produce it with Christine, now secretly engaged to Raoul, as the leading female role, warning that dire consequences will occur if anyone fails to obey his instructions. He then vanishes in a blinding flash of light but not before declaring Christine belongs to him ("Masquerade/Why So Silent"). As the guests panic, Raoul confronts Madame Giry, claiming that she knows about the Phantom. She reveals the Phantom is a terrifyingly disfigured prodigy she saw years before at a traveling fair, where he was kept on display in a locked cage until he escaped.

As the managers reluctantly prepare to produce Don Juan, Carlotta accuses Christine of orchestrating the entire affair, to which Christine responds by defending herself. Madame Giry arrives with a dispatch bearing cutting instructions for Carlotta, Piangi, and the managers and ominous directions for Christine. When she finishes reading it, Raoul, knowing of the Phantom's obsession with his fiancée, decides to use the premiere to capture him and bring an end to his reign of terror. He begs a reluctant Christine to help, but she refuses ("Notes/Twisted Every Way").

Following a disastrous rehearsal session, Christine visits her father's grave, where she expresses her longing for his guidance and her understanding she must move on from his death ("Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again"). The Phantom appears under the guise of the Angel of Music and attempts to cause the weary Christine to succumb to his influence as Raoul arrives to rescue her ("Wandering Child"). When Raoul breaks the hypnotic spell at the last minute, the Phantom begins creating pillars of fire to taunt him. The couple flees the cemetery as the enraged Phantom sets it ablaze, declaring war upon them both. ("Bravo, Monsieur").

Don Juan Triumphant premieres with Christine and Piangi in the lead roles and armed policemen standing guard. During a duet, Christine realises that she is singing with the Phantom ("Don Juan Triumphant/The Point of No Return"). When he expresses his love for her, mimicking's Raoul vow of devotion, she tears off his mask and exposes his face to the audience. The Phantom proceeds to spirit Christine offstage as the Opéra descends into chaos over the discovery of Piangi's garrotted corpse. While an angry mob forms and vows vengeance, Madame Giry tells Raoul how to find the Phantom's lair ("Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer").

In the lair, after finding herself forced into a wedding dress, Christine tells the Phantom she is afraid not of his physical appearance but of his bestial inner nature. Raoul reaches the lair's entrance and begs the Phantom to spare her. He responds by trapping him in the Punjab lasso and threatens to kill him unless Christine promises to stay with him ("The Point of No Return [Reprise]"). Both men vie for her as she struggles to make a decision. Finally, she expresses her sadness over the life the Phantom has lived and shows him compassion for the first time in his life with a kiss.

The Phantom, realising he cannot compel Christine to love him, sets the couple free. He yells for them to leave and swear never to reveal his existence to anyone. Christine gives him back his ring as he tells her he loves her. Christine tearfully exits with Raoul but not before turning back for one last look. Hearing the angry mob closing in, the Phantom huddles on his throne beneath his cloak just as Meg enters. She approaches the throne and pulls it away, finding only the Phantom's mask ("Finale").

Grand Finale
Following the bows, Andrew Lloyd Webber delivers a speech to the audience before bringing out both the Royal Albert Hall and the original creative team, the original leads from the London and Broadway productions, and the original London cast, including Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Brightman then sings "The Phantom of the Opera" with Colm Wilkinson, Anthony Warlow, Peter Jöback, and John Owen-Jones. Karimloo joins the four Phantoms in singing "The Music of the Night," along with both casts and creative teams.

Cast
 Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom of the Opera
 Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé
 Hadley Fraser as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny
 Wendy Ferguson as Carlotta Giudicelli
 Barry James as Monsieur Richard Firmin
 Gareth Snook as Monsieur Gilles André
 Liz Robertson as Madame Giry
 Daisy Maywood as Meg Giry
 Wynne Evans as Ubaldo Piangi
 Nick Holder as Joseph Buquet
 Earl Carpenter as The Auctioneer
 Garðar Thór Cortes as Passarino
Principal understudies Simon Shorten and Katie Hall play the Phantom and Christine in "The Phantom of the Opera" sequence when they walk on a lowering walkway that simulates a descent to the Phantom's underground lair. In the DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital download release of the concert, a footage of Boggess as Christine singing the song on the walkway was shot on one rehearsal and added in the film's final cut.

Home media
The production was recorded live and later released on Blu-ray, DVD, CD and digital download. The initial releases were in the UK on 14 November 2011. The digital download format was released three days earlier on 11 November. The North American release followed on 7 February 2012.  The production was also aired as free viewing for all during the COVID-19 pandemic on 18–19 April 2020 via The Shows Must Go On channel on YouTube as part of a series of weekly musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was aired again in November due to popular demand. The production can also be rented or bought on Google Play, Amazon's Prime Video, and BroadwayHD.

References

External links

2011 films
2010s musical films
2011 romantic drama films
2010s thriller films
British romantic drama films
British thriller films
Concert films
Films about opera
Films based on musicals
Films based on The Phantom of the Opera
Films set in 1905
Films set in London
Films set in 1881
Films set in 1882
Films shot in London
British musical drama films
British romantic musical films
Royal Albert Hall
Universal Pictures films
Films based on adaptations
Musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber
2010s musical drama films
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
Filmed stage productions
2010s English-language films
Films directed by Nick Morris
2010s British films


Friends of the Don East (FODE) is a non-governmental organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are an environmental group whose goal is to preserve and protect natural areas in the Don River watershed.

History
FODE was created in 1993 in the pre-amalgamation borough of East York. The group's original name was "Friends of the Don East York". The name was shortened in 1998 after amalgamation eliminated East York as a separate municipality. The group was modelled after the Task Force to Bring Back the Don, which at the time was limited to the area within the borders of the old city of Toronto.

As a non-governmental organization, they lobbied East York Council to be more environmentally aware, especially with respect to the East York Official Plan and other planning issues. On environmental issues, they opposed the building of the Leslie Street extension. During this time, they persuaded the TRCA to designate Crothers' Woods, which lay directly in the path of the planned extension, as an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA). The plan was to extend Redway Road, and is now part of a plan to build a bus-only road as part of the Don Valley Transportation Master Plan.

In 2004, FODE attained charitable status. While this limits their ability to perform advocacy work—Canadian charities are not supposed to be politically active—it does allow the organization to raise funds more easily.

Governance
FODE is governed by a board of directors. The first chair was Stephen Peck, who stayed until 1999. He resigned to focus more attention on his business advocating for green roofs.

Programs
Another Yard for the Don encouraged homeowners to grow native plants and   create pesticide-free zones.

Another program, called Trees Count, used an urban-forest initiative called Neighbourwoods to perform a survey of street trees.  The survey highlighted the problem of streets lined with trees planted at the same time.  Those trees, being of equal age, might die around the same time—leaving local streets without their leafy canopy. The survey also recommended places where new trees could be grown.

Taylor-Massey Project

One of the group's ongoing projects has been the restoration of the Taylor-Massey Creek watershed. Some of their naturalization projects include the Goulding Estate on Dawes Road and parts of Warden Woods.

In 2003, FODE started  the Taylor Massey Project. The project's main goal was to highlight issues and concerns that affect the entire watershed. FODE created a web-based portal that divides the watershed into 12 parts called reaches. Each reach was described using a series of aerial photos. Another project goal was to create a walking trail along the entire length of Taylor-Massey Creek.

The project intends to improve the poor water quality of the creek and the environment of the surrounding area, raise awareness of watershed issues in neighbouring communities, and create a trail along the length of the creek.

, the main volunteers who had founded the TMP and taken the group out of FODE group submitted a 49-page plan for rehabilitating the watershed, Reach by Reach, to the City of Toronto.  The five-year,  plan called for bike and walking trails, additional forest cover, regeneration of four degraded reaches, and the creation of community steward groups.  The plan was the first comprehensive community-organized watershed regeneration plan in Ontario.

Activities
FODE hosts tree planting events and neighbourhood park cleanups. They also hold walks and bicycle rides that highlight the natural areas in the lower Don watershed, and sponsor workshops that assist local communities to engage in sustainable-living practices. FODE produces a biannual newsletter, At the Forks—a reference to the Forks of the Don, the confluence of the East and West Branches of the Don, as well as Taylor-Massey Creek.

References

External links
Friends of the Don East website

Charities based in Canada
Environmental organizations based in Ontario
Organizations based in Toronto

Friends of the Don East


Edwin Hawley Dyer (October 11, 1899 – April 20, 1964) was an American left-handed pitcher, manager and farm system official in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1922 to 1944 and 1946–1950. In , Dyer's first season at the helm of the Cardinals, the Redbirds defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a thrilling National League season that featured the first postseason playoff in baseball history, then bested the favored Boston Red Sox in a seven-game World Series. He was the second rookie manager to win a World Series and first since Bucky Harris in 1924.

Early life, college career

Edwin Hawley Dyer was born October 11, 1899, in Morgan City, Louisiana, the fourth of seven children of Joseph M. and Alice Natalie Dyer. Baseball encyclopedias give his birth date as 1900, but his son Eddie Jr. says he subtracted a year from his age when he entered professional ball. U.S. census and military draft records confirm this. He was an outstanding football, baseball and track and field athlete as part of the Morgan City High School, Class of 1917.

His father owned a general store and a lumber yard and served as mayor of Morgan City, but lost it all during a recession before World War I and moved his family to Houston, Texas where an oil boom was just beginning. Dyer earned an athletic scholarship to Rice Institute and lettered in three sports (football, baseball, track), winning the Southwest Conference championship in the broad jump and earning a berth on the All-SWC football team in 1920. He was the Owl's football captain in 1921. He was also All-SWC in each of his three years of varsity baseball (1919, 1920, 1921). He pitched a no-hitter against Baylor's Ted Lyons, later a Hall of Fame pitcher for the White Sox. Dyer left school two credits short of graduation in 1922 when Branch Rickey gave him a $2,500 bonus to sign with the Cardinals. The money paid off his father's debts and put his youngest brother, Sammy, through one year of college. In 1936, Dyer completed requirements for his bachelor's degree from Rice.

Playing career with St. Louis Cardinals

The ,  Dyer was a versatile player, playing outfield and first base in addition to pitching. He made his debut with the Cardinals on the mound on July 8, 1922, and pitched twice in relief before he was farmed out to Syracuse, at the highest minor-league level.

The next spring Rickey sent him to Houston, then to Wichita Falls, both in the Texas League, to play the outfield. When he didn't hit, he became a full-time pitcher.

On September 9, 1923, in Dyer's first start as pitcher, he pitched a complete-game shutout of the Chicago Cubs, winning 3–0.

In 1924 he stuck with the Cardinals, but posted a 4.61 ERA and an 8–11 record, dividing his time between starting and relieving for the sixth-place club. The next year he lowered his ERA to 4.15, pitching primarily in relief. Rickey moved into the front office and the Cardinals' star second baseman, Rogers Hornsby, became manager in 1925. He and Dyer did not get along. According to one account, Dyer told Hornsby, "I'll never play on this club as long as you're the manager." That earned him a return ticket to Syracuse in 1926, while the Cardinals won their first World Championship.

In 1927 Dyer pitched once for St. Louis before he headed to Syracuse again. He won six games in a row, but on June 30 he hurt his arm in his first loss. That finished his pitching career.

He appeared for the Cardinals in 129 games over all or parts of six seasons (1922–1927) — although 1924 and 1925 were his only full seasons in the majors — splitting 30 pitching decisions with an earned run average of 4.78, and batting .223 in 157 at bats with two home runs and 13 runs batted in.

Minor league manager and executive

From 1928 on, Dyer managed in the Cardinals' farm system, continuing his playing career as an outfielder through 1933. He completed his Rice degree in 1936 and coached freshman football there (during baseball's off-season) for several years. In addition, Dyer served as business manager or club president of the teams he managed, and in 1938 he supervised all of the Cardinal farm teams in the Southern and Southwestern United States.

The most important of these was Dyer's hometown Houston Buffaloes, the Cardinals' club in the Class A1 Texas League. He took over as the Buffaloes' manager from 1939 to 1941 and led them to three consecutive first-place finishes and one league playoff championship, averaging 102 victories.

During much of the wartime period that followed, Dyer was director of the entire Cardinals farm system, although he left that post in the midst of the 1944 season to tend to his oil, real estate and insurance businesses in Houston.

Major league manager

At the war's end, and with the Cardinals in need of a manager upon Billy Southworth's departure for the Boston Braves, Dyer returned to baseball and his first Major-League managing assignment in 1946. The Cardinals were a powerhouse, having won three straight NL pennants from 1942 to 1944 and finished second in 1941 and 1945, but 1946 was an extremely challenging season for Dyer and his team. He had to blend returning war veterans and young players with Southworth's wartime club, and lost three key players — undefeated left-handed pitcher Max Lanier, second baseman Lou Klein and relief pitcher Fred Martin — to the marauding Mexican League.

Dyer also had to deal with the Cards' implacable foes, the Dodgers of Leo Durocher, back at full strength after the war. Led by pitchers Howie Pollet and Harry Brecheen, and the hitting and leadership of future Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter, the Cardinals made up a five-game All-Star Break deficit, won 14 of their 22 regular-season games with the Dodgers, and were tied with Brooklyn for the pennant on the season's final day. The Cards then swept the Dodgers in a best-of-three playoff behind the pitching of Pollet and Murry Dickson.

In the 1946 World Series, the Redbirds faced what would be the only World Series in which Ted Williams would play. The Red Sox had breezed to the American League pennant by 12 games and featured 20-game winners Dave Ferriss and Tex Hughson. Idle during the NL playoffs, Boston played an exhibition game against an AL "all-star" team in an effort to tune up for the Fall Classic. Williams was struck on the elbow by a pitch, and when the Series began, he was ineffective. Brecheen won three games, the Cardinals played inspired baseball, and in the deciding seventh game, Slaughter scored from first on a double (often mistakenly remembered as a single) by Harry Walker, a shocking feat.  His was the winning run in the game and the Series.

The 1946 world championship was Dyer's high-water mark as Cardinal manager. The following season, Brooklyn upset the balance of power in the National League by boldly breaking the color line. In May 1947, the Cardinals became embroiled in a hotly denied rumor that they planned to strike, rather than permit Jackie Robinson on a Major League diamond — although Dyer was not implicated in the rumor. More damaging, for the next decade, the Cardinals would lag behind most of the other NL clubs in signing African-American players. Overall, the Cardinals reverted to bridesmaid status, finishing second from 1947 to 1949, although they trailed the Dodgers by only one game in . With the team's legendary farm system struggling without its founder — Branch Rickey, the very man who brought Robinson to Brooklyn — the Cardinals' quarter-century of baseball dominance was coming to an end. In 1950, they fell to fifth and Dyer stepped down as manager at the end of the season.

During his five years as St. Louis manager, the Cardinals won 446 games and lost 325 for a .578 winning percentage.

Later life
Dyer preferred to manage his thriving Houston-area businesses rather than seek another managing job in baseball. He suffered a stroke in January 1963, and died in Houston in April of the following year at the age of 64.

References

External links

Eddie Dyer – Baseballbiography.com

1899 births
1964 deaths
Austin Kangaroos football coaches
Baseball managers
Baseball players from Louisiana
Elmira Red Wings players
Greensboro Patriots players
Houston Buffaloes managers
Houston Buffaloes players
Minor league baseball executives
Major League Baseball farm directors
Major League Baseball pitchers
People from Morgan City, Louisiana
Rice Owls baseball players
Rice Owls football players
Rice Owls men's track and field athletes
Rochester Red Wings managers
St. Louis Cardinals players
St. Louis Cardinals managers
Scottdale Scotties players
Springfield Cardinals players
Springfield Red Wings players
Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players
Topeka Jayhawks players
Wichita Falls Spudders players
Dy

Eddie Dyer


The biological species concept gives an explanation of how species form (speciation). A biological species is a group of individuals that can breed together (panmixia). However, they cannot breed with other groups. In other words, the group is reproductively isolated from other groups.
"The words 'reproductively isolated' are the key words of the biological species definition". Ernst Mayr.p273

According to Ernst Mayr, a new species forms when an existing species splits. A similar idea had been suggested in the 19th century by Moritz Wagner. Dobzhansky described the role of reproductive isolation in the formation of new species. Once a species lives in two different areas, the geographical isolation makes breeding between the groups reduce or stop. Each group develops features which make breeding between them work less well. Eventually, each group becomes a 'good' biological species, because the two species do not reproduce with each other even when they are together.

This is still considered the most common reason for species splitting, and has the technical name of allopatric speciation. It is contrasted with sympatric speciation where speciation takes place even though all the members live in the same area.

Its role in taxonomy
The biological species is the main reason for classifying living things, but applying it in practice is not easy. Good examples of this are the following:

"Lack of mating, sterility or inviability in inter-strain crosses has never been taken on its own as good evidence of separate species, including even Dobzhansky's own studies of sibling Drosophila species".

"The biological species concept has no bearing on asexual organisms, and has severe limitations in its application to other organisms. Endless time and effort can be expended on discussing the species concept, and devising yet further modifications and variations on proposed specific definitions. Such debates have great merit in encouraging more objective reasoning about evolution and taxonomy but, in the meantime, human predation and destruction of habitat continue to erase the subject species. Time is against us... Different species concepts produce [groups of subspecies], so it is futile to contemplate a definitive taxonomic system".

What this is saying is that, in practice, the biological species concept is not sufficient by itself to decide on the classification of animals.

Historical developments

John Ray
In 1686 John Ray introduced a non-evolutionary biological concept. To him, species were distinguished by always producing the same species, and this was fixed and permanent, though considerable variation was possible within a species.

The idea of a species as a physical type of organism had a long history. This survives as the concept of a type specimen in taxonomy. It was the way Linnaeus worked in his binomial classification, and is still useful for amateur naturalists today.

Charles Darwin
In the Origin, Charles Darwin said that species were labels which experts gave on the basis of their observations.
"... I look at the term species as one arbitrarily given for the sake of convenience to a set of individuals closely resembling each other...".

But twenty years before, he had a much better idea. He thought of species as maintained by reproductive isolation. He even says "Hence species may be good ones and differ scarcely at all in any external character". Here he quotes the two sibling species of leaf warbler discovered in England by Gilbert White in 1768. At this early stage in his career, Darwin came very close to the modern biological species concept.p266

Modern era
In the last 70 years two ideas have dominated the way professional biologists think about species.

The first is the population genetics concept. This is where a species is seen as a group which can mate together even though they are all to some extent different. It amounts to saying that a species is a gene pool.

The second is the use of DNA sequence analysis to show whether similar-looking species are genetically different from each other. This is especially useful when it is not practical to do breeding experiments.

Sibling species
Sibling species are often called cryptic (hidden) species because their differences can only be seen by analysing their DNA. They are very common in the marine environment.

Many cryptic species exist in all habitats. In the marine bryozoan Celleporella hyalina, DNA sequence analysis was used to show that more than ten ecologically distinct species that had been diverging for many millions of years.

Evidence from the identification of cryptic species means that older estimates of global species richness are too low. For example, mitochondrial DNA research suggests there are at least 11 genetically distinct populations of giraffes. Similarly, the Amazonian frog Eleutherodactylus ockendeni is at least three different species which diverged over 5 million years ago.

References

Evolutionary biology

Biological species concept


William S. Fischer (born March 5, 1935, Shelby, Mississippi) is an American keyboardist, saxophonist, arranger, and composer.

Fischer worked early in his career with blues and R&B musicians, playing in the 1950s with Ray Charles, Guitar Slim, Big Joe Turner, and Muddy Waters. He took a bachelor's degree at Xavier University in 1956 and a master's in Colorado College in 1962, after which he returned to Xavier as a teacher. He also studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Performance in 1965–66. From 1967 to 1975, he taught in New York public schools.

He worked extensively as an arranger and session musician for jazz and popular music recordings, working with Joe Zawinul, Herbie Mann, and Les McCann in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he was associated with Yusef Lateef, Roberta Flack, Gene Ammons, and Junior Mance among others. He led his own group in the 1970s (which recorded an album in 1970) and recorded with Roland Kirk in 1977 and with Pharoah Sanders in 1982.

References

American jazz pianists
American male pianists
American jazz composers
People from Shelby, Mississippi
1935 births
Living people
Jazz musicians from Mississippi
21st-century American pianists
American male jazz composers
21st-century American male musicians

William S. Fischer


A cricket or saddle is a ridge structure designed to divert water on a roof around the high side of a large penetration, typically a skylight, equipment curb, or chimney. In some cases, a cricket can be used to transition from one roof area to another. On low-slope and flat roofs with parapet walls, crickets are commonly used to divert water to the drainage, against or perpendicular to the main roof slope.

The pitch of a cricket is sometimes the same as the rest of the roof, but not always. For Steep-slope roofs, it is most common to have the cricket pitch to be equal to or less than the main roof, however for low-slope or flat roofs, it is more common to see the cricket be at least 50% greater slope than the roof, to minimize ponding. Smaller crickets (on steep-slope roofs only) are covered with metal flashing, and larger ones can be covered with the same material as the rest of the roof.

References

Roofs

Cricket (roofing)


Dean Thomas (born 4 January 1973) is a motorcycle racer from Australia.  He won his home country's Supersport championship in 1995 after two other top 5 championship finishes, and was 4th in the Australian Superbike Championship series a year later; however, for 1997 he headed for the United Kingdom to race.  He came 4th in the country's Supersport series that year, the first of 4 successive top-6 championship finishes highlighted by a run of 11 front-row starts out of 12 in 2000, and a victory as a European Supersport wild card. For 2001 he raced in Supersport World Championship, and struggled on largely unfamiliar circuits. He was 16th overall, and tellingly took his best result of 6th at Phillip Island.

British Superbike Championship 2002-2006
He first raced in the British Superbike series in 2002 for the Dienza Performance team, finishing 11th overall in a season hampered by several oil leaks. In 2003 he stepped back down to Supersport, but returned to BSB for 2004 on a Ducati. He came 7th overall, again qualifying better than he raced on occasion. A pair of 4th place finishes at Oulton Park were a highlight.  Fittingly, in the final round he qualified 7th and finished both races in 7th.

He moved to the Hawk Kawasaki team for 2005, noting that the bike is  "very different to the Ducati where you have to be very fierce with the throttle... on the Kawasaki you have to be much smoother, which I'm learning quickly."  He was 6th overall, finishing every race with a best result of 4th. The first half of 2006 was less encouraging, until a huge crash at Snetterton left him with fractured ribs and a punctured lung, missing several races. For 2007 he raced a Samsung-backed Suzuki.

Beyond Racing
In 2008, he did not race, instead managing the career of Yamaha R1 Cup rider Sam Warren.

Career statistics

British Superbike Championship

References
 Official site

Australian motorcycle racers
Living people
British Superbike Championship riders
Supersport World Championship riders
1973 births
People from the Mid North Coast
Racing drivers from New South Wales
People from Port Macquarie

Dean Thomas (motorcyclist)


Lipót Óváry, also known in English as Leopold Óváry (31 December 1833, Veszprém - 4 April 1919, Budapest) was a Hungarian historian and custodian of the Hungarian state archives. He took part in the Hungarian struggle for liberty in 1848 and in the Italian war of independence in 1859. After the political troubles had been settled he devoted himself to the study of history, in which he soon achieved distinction. In 1876 he was appointed assistant custodian of the state archives, in 1904 chief custodian; and in 1892 he was elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. A knighthood of the Order of the Crown of Italy was conferred upon him.

Óváry's writings had considerable political influence, especially those attacking the anti-Hungarian Romanian propaganda in Italy. His chief works include: Nápolyi Történelmi Kutatások (Budapest, 1874); III. Pál Pápa s Farnese Sándor Bibornok Magyarországra Vonatkozó Diplomácziai Levelezései (ib. 1879); Oklevéltár Bethlen Gábor Diplomácziai Összeköttetéseinek Történetéhez (ib. 1886); Zsigmond Királly és az Olasz Diplomaczia (ib. 1889); A Magyar Anjouk Eredete (ib. 1893); La Questione Dacoromana e lo Stato Ungherese (Rome, 1894; German ed., Budapest, 1894; French ed., Paris, 1894). Óváry embraced Christianity.

References

1833 births
1919 deaths
Hungarian Jews
19th-century Hungarian historians
Historians of Hungary

Leopold Óváry


Pleaseeasaur (pronounced Please-ee-uh-saur) is an American comedic musical act made of JP Hasson (formerly in We're Not From Idaho and Touch Me Zoo, both with Joe Genaro of The Dead Milkmen). The music is high energy camp style humor. The live performance usually includes Hasson in many costumes, each of which coincides with the song, along with multimedia animations of related images on a large screen. Many songs are commercials for fake companies such as "No Prob Limo", "Pizza Brothers and Sons, Inc." and "Action City News."

Eventually garnering the attention of executives at Comedy Central, who in 2006 released what was essentially a greatest hits CD/DVD titled The Amazing Adventures of Pleaseeasaur featuring music videos directed by artist TH3 and a cartoon adventure, animated by the team from the Adult Swim series Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo.

Pleaseeasaur toured internationally during its 12 years, most often with alternative comedian Neil Hamburger as well as with such notable acts as: The Black Heart Procession, Boredoms, Buckethead, Man or Astro-Man?, The Melvins, Pinback, The Presidents of the United States of America as well as others.

Pleaseeasaur disbanded in 2009. Hasson is now touring internationally in support of his new project, JP Incorporated, for which there is a new album titled An Album of Distinction, released by Comedy Central consisting of 24 fictitious TV theme songs.

Discography

DVDs
 The Amazing Adventures Of Pleaseeasaur (DVD) Comedy Central (2006)
 Action Spectacular (DVD) imputor? Records (2005)

Albums
 The Amazing Adventures Of Pleaseeasaur (CD) Comedy Central (2006)
 The Yellow Pages imputor? Records (2004)
 Pleaseeasaur Int'l Airport V8 Records Australia (2003)
 As Seen On TV  imputor? Records (1999)
 Faites Fondre Le Chardon Trezieme (self-released cassette) (1995)

EPs
 Neil Hamburger/Pleaseeasaur - "Souvenir Record" (tour only 7" with cover art by Mark Mothersbaugh) Million Dollar Performances (2008)
 Beef Flavored Island Razler Records (2001)

External links
  J.P. Hasson's Official Website
 Official website
 Pleaseeasaur Page at Comedy Central
 Pleaseeasaur page @ imputor?
 Pleaseeasaur @ Last.fm

American comedy musical groups

Pleaseeasaur


Timila, thimila or paani, (Malayalam: തിമില) is an hour-glass shaped drum used in Kerala, South India. Usually, the instrument is made of wood. It is often used with religious ceremonies. Sometimes four different percussion instruments (one of them the Timila), and a trumpet are grouped. Such a group is called  Panchavadyam.

Drums

Timila


Majorian (Latin: Iulius Flavius Valerius Maiorianus, c. 420 - 7 August 461) Was a Western Roman emperor from 1 April 457 - 2 August 461. Majorian was a skilled general and was probably the last hope for the survival of the crumbling Western Roman Empire as he was able to reconquer much of southern gaul and much of Hispania back under Roman Control. In 7 August 461, Majorian was deposed by a germanic roman general Ricimer and was killed.

During his reign, Majorian was able to secure several succesful campaigns in Gaul and Hispania reconquering much of both provinces and bringing it back under Roman Control. In 460 Majorian went to Hispania and ordered to build as massive fleet for preperations for an invasion of Africa, but before he was able to put his plans into action, his redied fleet was burned most of it destroyed and only leaving a few warships in a good state. After the incident, Majorian abandons his plans for a possible reconquest of Africa and instead focused on retaking Gaul and Hispania instead.

420s births
460s deaths
5th-century Roman emperors

Majorian


Robert Michael "Mike" Walker (born September 14, 1948) is the former United States Under Secretary of the Army (1997-1998).

Biography
Walker was born in Martin, Tennessee, in 1948.  He attended Martin High School until 1965 and graduated from DeKalb County High School in Smithville, Tennessee in May 1966.  Walker then attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville until January 1969, but did not earn a degree. He also studied at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1969.  From 1969-76, Walker worked as a staff assistant to Rep. Joe L. Evins (D–Tenn. 4).

Walker joined the staff of  Senator Jim Sasser (D–Tenn.) in 1977. He also served as an enlisted soldier in the Tennessee Army National Guard and District of Columbia Army National Guard in the 1970s.

From 1978-93, Walker served as a professional staff member of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations and staff director of the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction.

In 1993, President of the United States Bill Clinton named Walker Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Logistics and Environment) and Walker held this office 1993-97.

In 1997, President Clinton nominated Walker as United States Under Secretary of the Army, and he subsequently held this office from November 13, 1997 through October 15, 1998.  He was Acting United States Secretary of the Army from January 2, 1998 through July 2, 1998.

In 1998-1999, he was Deputy Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He then served as Acting Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Memorial Affairs, United States Department of Veterans Affairs from December 1999 until September 2000, at which point he was appointed as the first Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Memorial Affairs in the Department of Veterans Affairs, taking up his duties on September 2000.

In February 2001, Walker joined Plexus Scientific Corporation, serving as a senior vice president and later as chairman.

Walker has lectured at the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

Walker married Romy Pettersen.

References

1948 births
Living people
People from Martin, Tennessee
University of Tennessee alumni
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Clinton administration personnel
Assistant Secretaries of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment
United States Under Secretaries of the Army
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials

Robert M. Walker


Starlight is a children's fantasy novel, the fourth book in Erin Hunter's bestselling Warriors: The New Prophecy series. The hardback was released on 4 April 2006 and in paperback on 27 March 2007.

Development and publication
Starlight was written by Erin Hunter, a pseudonym for three women: series editor Victoria Holmes and authors Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry, who take turns writing installments of the series. The book was released on 4 April 2006 in hardcover. Starlight has been released as a paperback. It was also the first of the Warriors series to be released as an audiobook.

Plot summary
The four Clans of warrior cats, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan and WindClan, discover a lake which serves as their new home, replacing their old home which is destroyed by humans. The Clans temporarily set up camp by the lakeshore and decide that, the next day, they sort out their respective territories and look for a Gathering place to hold their monthly meetings under a truce. During a meeting, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, calls up Squirrelpaw, his daughter who is an apprentice, and promotes her to the status of warrior, giving her the warrior name Squirrelflight. The next day, the leaders call upon the four remaining cats that go on the journey to the sun-drown-place in Midnight, Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, Crowfeather, and Tawnypelt, as well as Mistyfoot of RiverClan to explore around the lake and find camps for each Clan.

The cats come across a location that seems ideal for RiverClan's fishing lifestyle. Continuing on, they find a coniferous forest which seems to suit ShadowClan. Desperate to prove herself by finding ThunderClan a camp, Squirrelflight runs ahead and accidentally falls down a large circular stone hollow. She recovers and realizes that it is a perfect place for a well-sheltered ThunderClan camp.  The cats later cross a moorland which Crowfeather thinks suits WindClan's lifestyle of chasing rabbits. The five cats return and announce their findings to all of the other cats. The Clans decide to leave for their new camps the next day.

After the Clans move into their new camps, Barkface, the WindClan medicine cat, goes to Firestar and tells him that Tallstar, leader of WindClan, is dying. Firestar asks Brambleclaw to follow him as well as Onewhisker of WindClan, at Tallstar's request. Tallstar tells them that he does not wish for Mudclaw, the WindClan deputy, to lead WindClan, and wishes to switch to Onewhisker as deputy. He dies soon after telling the cats. The next morning, Firestar and Onewhisker announce this to the other Clans, much to Mudclaw's anger. Onewhisker appoints Ashfoot as his deputy, although he has not yet received his nine lives and leader name from StarClan, the cats' ancestors. The medicine cats worry about whether there is another Moonstone (a sacred stone in the old territory which they can communicate with StarClan, their warrior ancestors) for Onewhisker to visit for his leadership ceremony.

During Gatherings and times when the Clans are together, Brambleclaw spends more time with his half-brother Hawkfrost, which does not sit well with Squirrelflight. Brambleclaw has a dream in which he sees Tigerstar, his evil dead father, and Hawkfrost. Tigerstar praises Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost for their courage during the change in territory and tells them that he has great plans for them. There is also tension erupting in WindClan, which seems to be divided in two groups consisting of Mudclaw's supporters and Onewhisker's supporters.

One night, Spottedleaf, a former ThunderClan medicine cat, now deceased, goes to Leafpaw, a ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice, and tells her to follow her. Leafpaw's friend Sorreltail accompanies Leafpaw, and the two of them go far up on ThunderClan's territory near the border with WindClan. Spottedleaf takes Leafpaw to her destination: a pool of water which reflects the stars and moonlight. Leafpaw sees all of the cats of StarClan and realizes this could be the replacement for the Moonstone. Bluestar, former leader of ThunderClan, tells her that this place, the Moonpool, is where medicine cats come to share tongues with StarClan. She goes back to tell Cinderpelt, ThunderClan's medicine cat, and the two of them tell all of the other medicine cats. Later, during the half-moon, Leafpaw receives her full medicine cat name, Leafpool.

The next day, Mistyfoot rushes into ThunderClan camp and says that Mudclaw and Hawkfrost have been meeting at night. She then says that Hawkfrost and a patrol went out at dawn that day and had not returned, and she suspects that they have gone to attack Onewhisker's followers in WindClan. Firestar assembles a patrol to accompany him to fight, and sure enough, a battle starts on WindClan territory. Leafpool is left behind with a couple of other ThunderClan warriors in the camp. Two ShadowClan warriors invade and almost kill Leafpool when Crowfeather comes to her rescue. Crowfeather confesses he loves her, and she realizes she loves him too. During the battle, Brambleclaw fights Mudclaw. Although Mudclaw has the advantage over Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost saves Brambleclaw. Mudclaw claims that he and Hawkfrost had an agreement: Mudclaw would take over and make Hawkfrost the deputy, despite the fact that Hawkfrost is from RiverClan. Hawkfrost denies this when lightning suddenly strikes a tree, crushing Mudclaw and making a bridge to an island, making it the new Gathering place.

Critical reception
Starlight was successful in gaining a good reception among critics. A reviewer for School Library Journal called the novel "a fine rendition". A Children's Literature reviewer commented that the viewpoints of the characters were "cleverly written". AudioFile praised the narrator of the audiobook version of Starlight.

References

2006 American novels
American fantasy novels
Warriors (novel series)
Novels about cats
HarperCollins books
2006 children's books

Starlight (novel)


Capital punishment in Gabon was officially abolished for all crimes in 2010. Gabon's last execution took place in 1985. Prior to abolition, Gabon was classified as de facto abolitionist, or "abolitionist in practice," due to the length of time since their last execution.

History

Last execution
Gabon's last execution took place at dawn on 11 August 1985, when Alexandre Mandja Ngokouta was put to death. Ngokouta, a captain in the Gabonese Air Force who joined a sociopolitical religious group associated with the Celestial Church of Christ that was concerned with the unrest generated by a recent economic crisis, attempted to stage a coup d'état against Gabon's president Omar Bongo. Ngokouta's coup attempt ultimately proved unsuccessful, as the French secret service thwarted the attempt. Ngokouta was arrested and convicted by a court-martial of attempting to overthrow the government; the verdict was announced in very early August 1985. He was promptly executed by firing squad in Libreville approximately one week after his conviction. Two of his alleged accomplices were sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment and hard labor. One was sentenced to five years in prison. Two were acquitted. Overall, six military men were accused of involvement in the coup attempt. The last execution in Gabon was the first and only execution for treason during Bongo's administration.

Abolition
Prior to abolition, Gabon had an ongoing moratorium on executions since Ngokouta's death in 1985. On 13 September 2007, Gabon's Council of Ministers voted to ban the death penalty, a decision which garnered praise from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, who released a statement declaring, "This decision reinforces the growing movement towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide." At the time, Arbour invited Gabon to consider becoming a party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which commits its signatories to completely abolishing the death penalty within their borders.

In 2007, Gabon was also the official presenting country of the United Nations resolution for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Just under three years later, on 15 February 2010, Gabon, under the government of new president Ali Bongo Ondimba, put the death penalty up for vote before their parliament, resulting in the country formally and completely removing capital punishment from their legislation. They did not publicly announce their abolition of the death penalty until 14 February 2011, when they made an official announcement through anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain. Gabon's abolition made them the 96th country in the world, and the 16th in Africa, to abolish capital punishment. Gabon's decision to abolish the death penalty was largely met with praise, with the Secretary of Hands Off Cain, Sergio D'Elia, calling the move part of Gabon's "enormous progress regarding human rights," while the president of the International Federation for Human Rights, Souhayr Belhassen, heralded the decision as one that opened up the opportunity for more humanitarian progress in other retentionist African countries, such as Mali and Benin.

The death penalty was replaced with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. Under Gabonese law, those convicted of crimes formerly punishable by death are required to spend at least 30 years in prison before release or parole eligibility. The abolition of the death penalty was also accompanied with the abolition of forced penal labor as a punishment in the military code.

Gabon acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 2 April 2014.

References

Gabon
Law of Gabon

Capital punishment in Gabon


Douglas Bennett (September 13, 1918 – June 28, 2008) was a Canadian sprint canoeist who competed from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s. He won a silver medal in the C-1 1000 m event at 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Prior to becoming a canoeist, Bennett played for the Royal Montreal Hockey Club in 1937. He took up canoeing when his swimming career did not pan out. Winning several canoeing championships for Canada between 1934 and 1939, he qualified for the 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo that were subsequently cancelled. In 1947, Bennett was named Montreal's Sportsman of the Year after winning Canada's C-1, C-2, and C-4 national championships. Following the 1948 games, Bennett retired and went to work for Bell Canada's engineering department though he would continue canoeing for exercise.

Bennett was a native of Saint Lambert, Quebec.

References
Sports-reference.com profile

1918 births
2008 deaths
Canadian male canoeists
20th-century Canadian engineers
Canadian ice hockey players
Canoeists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Olympic canoeists for Canada
Olympic silver medalists for Canada
Sportspeople from Quebec
People from Saint-Lambert, Quebec
Sportspeople from Montérégie
Olympic medalists in canoeing
Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Ice hockey people from Quebec
Anglophone Quebec people

Douglas Bennett (canoeist)


Friedrich Oskar Ruge (24 December 1894 – 3 July 1985) was an officer in the German Navy and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. He served as the first commander (Inspector of the Navy) of the post-war German Navy.

Early life and military career
Friedrich Ruge was the son and grandson of German educators. Joining the Imperial German Navy as a cadet in March 1914, he was soon a participant in the 1914, 1915, and 1916 Baltic Sea operations. In 1917 and 1918, he sailed with the destroyer raids in the North Sea and English Channel.

After the armistice, Ruge was an officer aboard the destroyer , interned at Scapa Flow and in June 1919, he played a role in the scuttling of the German Fleet.

Returning to Germany to continue his naval career in the service of the new Weimar Republic, for the next two decades he concentrated on mines and mine warfare. From 1921 to 1923, he commanded a minesweeper.

After studies at Berlin Institute of Technology from 1924 and 1926, Ruge was appointed to the minesweeper . From 1928 to 1932, he had staff roles associated with mine and torpedo warfare, and in September 1932 became commanding officer of the 1st Half-Flotilla of minesweepers. Ruge returned to staff duties in 1934. In the UK during the 1930s he met a British ex-sailor at a regatta, Lt Aubrey Grey, whose ship, , was sunk in 1917 by the , the ship that Ruge had been serving on. The V100 was the ship that rescued Grey from the water after the sinking and the pair became friends after meeting, their friendship only interrupted by World War II. On 1 June 1937, Ruge was appointed Führer der Minensuchboot (FdM), (Commander of Minesweepers).

World War II
In August 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, Ruge's command was split into two parts, FdM West covering the North Sea and FdM Ost operating in the Baltic Sea. Ruge took command of FdM Ost, which provided minesweeping and escort support to the German Invasion of Poland in September–October 1939. On 17 October 1939, with naval operations against Poland complete, Ruge transferred to command of FDM West. He was a part of the North Sea-English Channel operations during 1940. From 1940 to 1943, he was stationed in France, rising through the upper ranks to become Vice Admiral in 1943. Sent to Italy in 1943, he served as Senior German Naval Officer until mid-summer. He was appointed as Naval Advisor to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in November 1943 to supervise the defense of northern France from the predicted Allied invasion. He had no faith in land mines and artillery shells struck underwater, but the marine mines he wanted weren't available. In August 1944, he became the Kriegsmarine's Director of Ship Construction, a position in which he served till the end of World War II.

Post-war

At the end of World War II, Ruge became a POW. In 1946, he started a new life as a translator, writer and educator in Cuxhaven. He was one of four Flag Officers who made up the Naval Historical Team at Bremerhaven, sponsored by the United States Navy. He entered politics as a political independent to the Cuxhaven Town Council.

In 1950, Ruge was part of a select group of former Wehrmacht high-ranking officers invited by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer to take part in the conference to discuss West Germany's rearmament. The conference resulted in the Himmerod memorandum that contributed to the creation of the myth of the "clean Wehrmacht".

During the early 1950s, he advised as to how the navy could be restructured in the new Bundesmarine, as detailed in Searle's Wehrmacht Generals. Called out of retirement when Germany became a part of NATO, Ruge was appointed Inspector of the Navy (a position similar to the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations), a post he occupied until 1961.

Afterward, he became a member of the faculty at the University of Tübingen, eventually becoming an associate professor on 21 July 1967 there. He was a guest lecturer at many universities, including the U.S. Naval War College at Newport.

Admiral Ruge was one of the umpires for the 1974 Sandhurst wargame on Operation Sea Lion.

He died in 1985.

Literary works
Ruge was the author of several books, including The Soviets as Naval Opponents, 1941-1945, written for Annapolis Naval Institute in 1979, and Rommel in Normandy, written in 1959.

Quoted at Normandy:
Utilization of the Anglo-American air forces is the modern type of warfare, turning the flank not from the side but from above.

In the movie The Longest Day (1962), he played himself, and was a consultant to the film.

Decorations
 Iron Cross (1914)
 2nd Class (26 August 1917)
 1st Class (2 March 1918)
 Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
 Wehrmacht Long Service Award 2nd to 4th class (2 October 1936)
 German Olympic Games Decoration 2nd class (21 December 1936)
 Sudetenland Medal
 Clasp to the Iron Cross
 2nd Class (17 September 1939)
 1st Class (2 October 1939)
 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 October 1940 as Kapitän zur See and commodore leader of the Minensuchboote West
 Minesweeper War Badge (15 February 1940)
 Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
 Legion of Merit, Commanders Cross (1961)
 Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (28 September 1961)

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

 The Citadel Archives: Friedrich Ruge Collection
 Bundesarchiv: www.argus.bundesarchiv.de

1894 births
1985 deaths
Sportspeople from Leipzig
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Vice admirals of the Kriegsmarine
Bundesmarine admirals
Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit
Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom
Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I
Reichsmarine personnel
Military personnel from the Kingdom of Saxony
Naval Historical Team members
Himmerod meeting participants
Vice admirals of the German Navy
Chiefs of Navy (Germany)
German military writers
Military personnel from Leipzig

Friedrich Ruge


Elaine of Corbenic is a legendary character in the King Arthur stories. She and Lancelot are the parents of Galahad. She is the daughter of King Pelles. Pelles sent Elaine to have a son with Lancelot, who would then be named Galahad. Galahad later retrieved the Holy Grail to heal Pelles from a sickness. Queen Guinevere was angry with Lancelot for having a son with Elaine, so she said that she never wanted to see him again. Lancelot went mad with despair, so Elaine used the Holy Grail to heal him.

Arthurian legend
Characters in written fiction

Elaine of Corbenic


"Let's keep the Goan tradition and culture alive, worldwide"

Ai Dispedir Korunk Tuka

I wish you goodbye (farewell)

Type: Mando

Source: Lourdinho Barreto.

Musical form: Ternary

Literary form: Monologue

Translated by Lourenço de Noronha, Vienna,

Ai dispedir korunk tuka anjea,

Wishing you goodbye, my angel,

Sangun-nezo kallzak bhogta tem mhojea.

I cannot express what I feel in my heart.

Sogllem vhid' bhettoilolem tuka,

I have devoted my whole life to you,

Punn hatant poddlim môg nasloleachea.

But I (female) have now fallen into the hands of a loveless one.

Chusmo / Refrain:

Borvanso dhor tum mhojea utrancho,

Have confidence in my words,

Novean ekvott zatolo mhunn amcho.

There will be a fresh union of ours.

Khoxe bhair sacrament hanvem zoddlo (or zoddillo).

Unwilling I accepted the Sacrament.

Vetam moga aichean tuka soddun,

I am going, my love, leaving you alone from today.

Koslem noxttem zait amchem fortun,

How unfortunate may be our misfortune,

Jurament dilolo uddouncheak moddun. (Chusmo)

To break the vow which we made. (Refrain)

Ful tum mhojea mogan umellolem.

You are the flower which blossomed in my love.

Kalliz mogach ujean khotkhot'talem,

(translation: ?)

Vóch tum tondd korun hanstem,

Going with a smiling face,

Gue ho beij kalliz korun ugttem. (Chusmo)

Take this kiss with an open heart. (Refrain

The Mando

The mando is a dance song from Goa in Konkani. Although it is popular among all the social stratas of the Konkani-speaking peoples and many of the composers have remained anonymous, it should not be classified as a folk song. It is an art song composed for particular occasions. There have been many attempts to explain the origin of the word mando. One of them refers to the mand which was traditionally an open space of about 100 sq.m. where religious ceremonies were held and folk dances were performed. The text form of the mando is based on that of the traditional Konkani song ovi, which was usually sung at weddings

Most of the the traditional mandos, which gained the term "classical", were composed in the 19th century. The polka and the valsavina (Vienna Waltz) with its three-four rhythm seem to have found their way to Goa. The mando was originally composed and danced by the Brahmin aristocracy of Goa, mainly of Salcete, whose spacious mansions had a big hall for festive occasions. A memorable moment in the history of the family was the
bridal mando. The mando reflects the tranquil and leisurely character of this aristocracy. The Goan woman in the mando reflects the ideals and virtues then ascribed to her, namely self-sacrifice, piety and motherhood.

As a dance the mando is a square type (double file), men facing the women. When the partners come face to face in the centre, they retreat to the starting point, then move forward again crossing to the opposite side. The men then flick their handkerchiefs while the women open their fans. All in all, it is a stately and leisurely dance. The melody of the mando is slow in movement, with a soft and languishing atmosphere.

Polleiat

Goemche Mandde

Sondorbh

Konknni
Mandde
Romi panam

Ai Dispedir Korunk Tuka - Mando


The Long and the Short and the Tall (released as Jungle Fighters in the US and Canada) is a 1961 British war film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Richard Todd, Laurence Harvey and Richard Harris. The film, which is based on a 1959 play with the same name, by Willis Hall, takes place in 1942 during the Malayan Campaign.

The title comes from the second line of the First World War song "Bless 'Em All", which became very popular during the Second World War following recordings from singers such as Vera Lynn.

Plot
During the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942, a seven-strong British sonic deception unit on a short jungle exercise hides from the rain in a hut at an abandoned tin mine. The men constantly bicker, often provoked by the bullying Corporal Johnstone or the forever mocking Bamforth. While Sergeant Mitchem and Corporal Johnstone are reconnoitering, Lance-Corporal Macleish ("Mac"), provoked,  beats up Bamforth. Tension rises as they fail to make radio contact with their base and pick up a Japanese broadcast, indicating that they are nearby. A Japanese scout appears: Johnstone grabs him and tells Taff to stab him. Taff cannot kill him in cold blood and, before Bamforth does, the returning Mitchem says they must take him back for interrogation.

Mitchem places Bamforth in charge of the prisoner, who Bamforth names Tojo. Bamforth realises Tojo is just another soldier, bonding over pictures of Tojo's family. Johnstone, enraged, tries to destroy the pictures but Bamforth, his frustrations boiling over, beats him up, risking a court martial. Mitchem sends Mac and Smudge to reconnoiter. They see a small patrol sending two soldiers to find Tojo. Knowing this endangers their patrol, Mac kills one but the other escapes. Mac and Smudge return to warn the patrol which tries to radio base to warn them, even though it may reveal their position. A taunting Japanese broadcast accelerates their decision to flee for their base.

They head for home. Mitchem now realises that the prisoner is a liability rather than as asset and Johnstone keeps offering to kill him. The group, temporararily blocked by a flash flood, take a break in the mine canyons and Bamforth is sent to keep watch. Johnstone spots Mac and Tojo enjoying a cigarette, and cruelly points out that the cigarettes are British, and Tojo must have stolen them from a British soldier he had killed. This affects the men who turn on Tojo. Johnstone sadistically rips up Tojo's cherished family photos and Mac searches and slaps him. Upon hearing the commotion, Bamforth returns and explains he gave Tojo the cigarettes. The men are ashamed and try to make amends by gathering and returning Tojo's possessions. Johnstone maliciously says that Tojo's cigarette case was made in Birmingham. As the men again grow hostile, Bamford responds that Tojo could have traded for it, forcing the youngest member (Whittaker) to admit that he does this.

The flood is receding and Mitchem asks Whittaker to make a last attempt to contact base before they leave. They plan to abandon the mules, blow up the special equipment and kill the prisoner Tojo. Bamforth is alone in protesting against killing Tojo and appeals for support from the other men without success. The radio responds to Whittaker's efforts but only a Japanese message can be heard. Tojo approaches him, trying in Japanese to explain the message. Panicking about the Japanese broadcast and ashamed from his unveiling as a looter, Whittaker mistakes Tojo's movements and shoots him dead with a machine gun. The radio crackles into life again and a Japanese accented English announces that the patrol is surrounded and demands their surrender. Whittaker's firing will have further alerted the Japanese.

Mitchem with Bamforth forms a rear guard to allow the others led by Johnstone to escape. The rear guard are soon defending against the main Japanese force. As the main group emerge, a Japanese sniper dispatches Taff and Mac. Although Whittaker is cut off, Johnstone tells Smudge they must return to Mitchem. As they flee, Smudge is also killed.

Mitchem is shocked to see the superficially injured Johnstone back alone but is shot by a sniper. As the Japanese close in, Johnstone implores Bamforth to surrender. Bamforth however shoots at the explosives. The explosion kills many attackers but also causes a rockfall, killing Bamforth. Johnstone strides forward and, taking a white scarf from a dead Japanese soldier, surrenders. Whittaker is found cowering under a bush by Japanese soldiers and is also taken by the Japanese and is shouted at and mocked just as the British treated Tojo.

Cast
 Richard Todd as Sgt. Mitchem
 Laurence Harvey as Pte. Bamforth
 Richard Harris as Cpl. Johnstone
 Ronald Fraser as L/ Cpl. Macleish
 David McCallum as Pte. Whitaker
 John Meillon as Pte. Smith
 John Rees as Pte. Evans
 Kenji Takaki as Tojo

Production
Roy Ward Baker wanted to make the film at Rank but the company would not authorise the purchase of the rights. Associated British bought the film rights in April 1959. The film was shot at Elstree Studios in 1960, where Richard Todd had starred in The Dam Busters a few years earlier. Todd loathed making the film, as he didn't get along with Laurence Harvey, In an interview many years later, he said, "I didn't enjoy working with Laurence Harvey... I took it for granted that they would cast Peter O'Toole, who was marvellous on stage, but they said they wanted a 'name'". Richard Harris later claimed Todd would stand on top of mounds of dirt to seem as tall as his co-stars. Leslie Norman was also unhappy he had to cast Laurence Harvey instead of Peter O'Toole. He felt Laurence Harvey and Richard Harris "let the film down... Harris because he resented Laurence Harvey, despised him and they didn't get on with Richard Todd". Norman says "I was very pleased with my side of the film in the end. It was all made in a studio, we never set foot outside for a month. I asked to go on location, but a jungle's pretty claustrophobic, for sure".

Reception

Box office
According to Kine Weekly, the 12 most popular films at the British box office in 1961 were, in order, Swiss Family Robinson, The Magnificent Seven, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 101 Dalmatians, Polyanna, The Rebel, The Sundowners, Whistle Down the Wind, Butterfield 8, Carry On Regardless, The Parent Trap and The Long and the Short and the Tall.

References

External links
The Long and the Short and the Tall at the British Film Institute

1961 films
1961 war films
British war films
British black-and-white films
1960s English-language films
Pacific War films
World War II prisoner of war films
1958 plays
British plays
British films based on plays
Films set in 1942
Films set in Myanmar
Films shot at Associated British Studios
Films directed by Leslie Norman
Films produced by Michael Balcon
Films with screenplays by Wolf Mankowitz
1960s British films

The Long and the Short and the Tall (film)


The Anchitheriinae are an extinct subfamily of the Perissodactyla family Equidae, the same family which includes modern horses, zebras and donkeys. This subfamily is more primitive than the living members of the family.  The group first appeared with Mesohippus in North America during the middle Eocene and thrived until the late Miocene.  The subfamily continued in Eurasia with the genus Sinohippus until the early Pliocene, when it finally became extinct. This subfamily are considered browsers with their more ancestral low-crowned molars, in contrast with the modern, specialized grazer species of modern Equinae.

References
 Paleobiology Database
 Horse Phylogeny

Prehistoric horses
Eocene first appearances
Zanclean extinctions
Fossil taxa described in 1869

Anchitheriinae


Anne Jellicoe, née Anne William Mullin (1823–1880) was a noted Irish educationalist best known for the founding of the prestigious Alexandra College, which became a force in women's education under her management.

Early life
She was born on 23 March 1823 at Mountmellick, County Laois to William and Margaret Mullin (née Thompson), and had one brother John William Mullin. Her father was a Quaker schoolmaster who ran his own school for boys, with emphasis on higher learning, including English, history, the classics, and higher mathematics. Anne married John Jellicoe, a flour miller on 28 October 1846 in Mountmellick and moved to Clara, County Offaly two years later.

Educational work
There is no record of where Jellicoe was educated as a child. She was active in charitable works from an early age. Johanna Carter, who was a teacher at a school for girls in the village, became a role model for Jellicoe. Carter provided vocational training for girls at her school and invented Mountmellick Embroidery, proving to Jellicoe that work could liberate women. In Clara she set up an embroidery and lace school to provide employment for young girls. She not only encourage the women to create products for market, she also encouraged them to cultivate their minds and become independent. The Catholic church didn't agree with this type of education. So much so that the parish priest came to the school and broke it up. The school continued to flourish until 1856, even without the support of the church.

The Jellicoes moved to Dublin in 1858 where she helped revive Cole Alley Infant School for poor children of all religions run by the Quakers. With support of the Dublin Statistical Society, established in 1847 to tackle social problems, Jellicoe developed observation and research techniques that she used to investigate prisons, slums and workplaces in Dublin. She was asked to present a paper at the 1861 meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science on the conditions of women working in factories in Dublin. She collected data on wages, working conditions and advancement opportunities. She concluded that women employed in these institutions were helpless working in insecure positions. She spoke to pillars of society on the importance of educating the working class by establishing infants schools and evening schools for older girls.

On 19 August 1861 Jellicoe, along with Barbara Corlett, founded the Dublin branch of London-based Society for Promoting the Employment of Women to educate women for work outside the home. The response to the Society was overwhelming. In the first couple of years over 500 women registered for classes with the Society. Jellicoe quickly found that the gentlewomen attending the courses thought working for wages was taboo and social suicide. This prompted her to found a new employment society Queen's Institute. The classes provided by the Institute focused on practical skills such as bookkeeping, secretarial skills and sewing-skills that would result in employment. Potential employers began to show an interest in Institute graduates, most prominently the Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company, which provided equipment and its head engineer as a teacher.

Jellicoe's work with the Institute led her to realise that women must be educated before they could be trained. She was widowed in 1862, and using her £3000 inheritance, she financed a more permanent home for the Queen's Institute. In 1866, with the help of Archbishop Richard Chenevix Trench, she founded Alexandra College, Dublin, the first women's college in Ireland to aim at a university type education. The college was named in honour of the then Princess of Wales. The college offered advanced education for women with classes offered in Greek, Latin, Algebra, Philosophy and Natural Sciences among others. Her foundation of the Governess Association of Ireland followed in 1869 and Alexandra School, a secondary school attached to Alexandra College, was founded in 1873.

Publications
'Woman's supervision of women's industry' (1861) Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science
'Visit to the female convict prison at Mountjoy, Dublin' (1862) Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science

Death and legacy

The Jellicoes had no children, and John died in 1862. Anne died suddenly in Birmingham whilst visiting her brother on 18 October 1880 aged 57 and she is buried at the Friends' burial-ground at Rosenallis. The Queen's Institute did not last long after her death, closing its doors in 1881. There are two portraits of Anne in Alexandra College, and a memorial tablet to both John and Anne in the Chapel of Mt Jerome cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin. There is a plaque dedicated to Anne at the site of the Queen's Institute, which is now Buswells Hotel, erected by the National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology.

References

1823 births
1880 deaths
Irish educators
People from Mountmellick
Irish expatriates in England
19th-century Irish educators
19th-century Irish women educators

Ann Jellicoe (educationalist)


Recess is a general term for a period in which a group of people are temporarily dismissed from their duties.

In education, recess is the American and Australian term (known as break or playtime in the UK), where students have a mid morning snack and play before having lunch after a few more lessons. Typically ten to thirty minutes, in elementary school where students are allowed to leave the school's interior to enter its adjacent outside park where they play on equipment such as slides and swings, play basketball, tetherball, study, make up any missing assignments or talk. Many middle and high schools also offer a recess to provide students with a sufficient opportunity to consume quick snacks, communicate with their peers, visit the restroom, study, and various other activities.

Importance of play in child development
During recess, children play, and learning through play has been long known as a vital aspect of childhood development. Some of the earliest studies of play began with G. Stanley Hall, in the 1890s.  These studies sparked an interest in the developmental, mental and behavioral tendencies of babies and children. Current research emphasizes recess as a place for children to "role-play essential social skills" and as an important time in the academic day that "counterbalances the sedentary life at school."  Play has also been associated with the healthy development of parent-child bonds, establishing social, emotional and cognitive developmental achievements that assist them in relating with others, and managing stress.

Although no formal education exists during recess, sociologists and psychologists consider recess an integral portion of child development, to teach them the importance of social skills and physical education. Play is essential for children to develop not only their physical abilities, but also their intellectual, social, and moral capabilities. Via play, children can learn about the world around them. Some of the known benefits of recess are that students are more on task during academic activities, have improved memory, are more focused, develop a greater number of neural connections, and that it leads to more physical activity outside of the school setting.
Psychomotor learning also gives children clues on how the world around them works as they can physically demonstrate such skills. Children need the freedom to play to learn skills necessary to become competent adults such as coping with stress and problem solving. Through the means of caregiver's observations of children's play, one can identify deficiencies in children's development. While there are many types of play children engage in that all contribute to development, it has been emphasized that free, spontaneous play—the kind that occurs on playgrounds—is the most beneficial type of play.

Recess is key in the development of children. Studies have shown that recess plays a large role in of how children develop their social skills. During recess, children usually play games involving teamwork. On the playground, children use many leadership skills – they educate other children about games to play, take turns, and learn to resolve conflicts while playing these games. The leadership skills promoted throughout recess are how children are able to continue to play the games. Along with developing social skills, recess helps with the development of children's brains. Recess gives the children's brains a chance to "regroup" after a long day of class.  Also, the physical activity actually leads to the development of the brain. Brain research has shown a relationship between physical activity and the development of the human brain. Another study supports these findings from the brain research. A school system that dedicated one third of their school day to nonacademic activities – such as recess and physical education – led to improved attitudes and fitness, and improved test scores despite spending less time in the classroom.

Social development
Problem solving is an integral part in child development and free play allows for children to learn to problem solve on their own. Teachers and caregivers can scaffold problem solving through modeling or assisting when a confrontation occurs. Although play should involve adults, adults or caregivers should not control the play because when adults control the play, the children can lose their creativity, leadership, and group skills. Adults should let children create and follow agreed upon rules and only intervene if a serious conflict arises. Problem solving encourages children to compromise and cooperate with each other.  The conflict resolution process helps children to attain a vast range of social and emotional skills such as empathy, flexibility, self-awareness, and self-regulation. This vast range or capabilities is often referred to as "emotional intelligence" and is essential to building and maintaining relationships in adult life. Teachers can also view recess as a time to observe children's social and cognitive development skills and be able to develop different activities in the classroom that reflect the children's interests and development. Recess at its core is a social experience for children and as such, plays a significant part in the development of language. Children's intentionality with language during recess is tied closely to navigating the social landscape of the playground. Even as early as preschool, children use language to make group decisions and establish authority or a standing in the social setting of the playground. One researcher states that children use language to "invoke play ideas as their own possessions to manage and control the unfolding play," which engages a bidding war for group leadership. When viewing recess through a language perspective, the individual experience of the playground can vary depending on a willingness to follow other's ideas, and the development of language to modify play as it unfolds.

Indoor recess
Depending on the weather (rain, large amounts of snow, and sometimes in extreme heat or extreme cold), recess might be held indoors. Therefore, it should include creative activities that promote movement of moderate-to-vigorous intensity, whether in a gym or a classroom. Allowing the students to finish work, play any board games or other activities that take more than one to play; this helps to encourage group activity, and some games are also educational. Or, they might play educational computer games or read books. It also may contribute to do something non-educational, to help unwind and de-stress from the daily workload. Sometimes, some classes might watch a film or a TV program.

Recess data
The debate surrounding recess has been around for decades and is still happening today. Some people believe that recess is important, while others argue that eliminating recess will lead to better academic achievement. Educators, parents, and experts are debating the importance of recess and play time in the school day. Data shows that recess has many benefits for students.  These benefits include increased health, increased test scores, increased attention and social abilities, as well as better behavior. This is because during this physical activity, students produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in memory and problem-solving. Also, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) advocates for unstructured play, including recess. NAEYC recommends play as a way for children to decrease stress and develop socially. But, about 40% of school districts in the United States are doing away with recess.  Studies show that this lack of free and unstructured play during recess may contribute to the rise in childhood obesity, anxiety and depression among children, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes
Childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes are also a major concern as United States youth do not get the physical outlet needed not only for their cognitive development but for their physical health. Statistics show that children are getting 50% less physical exploration and activity than decades before. Research has shown that spending 60 minutes a day doing physical activity can prevent childhood obesity. The U.S. Health and Human Services department also has a guideline for 60 minutes a day of physical activity. But, research has shown that only very few children actually meet this national guideline. Failure to meet this guideline and exercise daily is leading to harmful health issues for children. Recess can be an outlet for students to get some of this physical activity and aid in preventing childhood obesity and diabetes.

Timing of recess
Another important aspect of recess to consider is what time of day it should be implemented. Traditionally schools have recess after lunch. But, in 2002, the Recess before Lunch (RBL) movement was founded. A health team in Montana created a study on four schools that made this schedule adjustment. After this study, many schools have started adapting the recess before lunch schedule. Research suggests that having recess before lunch can improve the nutrition and behavior of elementary students.

Effects on classroom behavior
According to the American Heart Association, the CDC reported that there is a link between physical activity and academic performance in 2010. Some benefits to recess include students being more attentive, better academic performance and better behavior.  Many different studies show recess as being beneficial to students in the classroom. One of the goals of recess is to help students release excess energy and be refreshed focused upon return to the classroom. According to a 2009 study, children who received daily recess were reported to behave better within the classroom. After a long time in the classroom, students may become restless and disengaged. Studies show that after recess students become more attentive and engaged in classroom discussions. This is because recess gave students a necessary break from the rigorous classroom and learning setting. A 2017 study of fifth graders suggested that 25 minutes of recess could increase students' time on task. Also, recess can reduce the risk of students falling asleep during learning time by its physical aspect allows students' bodies to oxygenate and stay awake.

Restriction of recess as disciplinary action
In many schools around the country recess is taken away from students as disciplinary action. In 2013, researchers form the University of Chicago Illinois found that 68 percent of school districts had no policy or law prohibiting educators to take away physical activity from students. Because of this, many educators and administrators take away recess as a punishment. A Gallup poll conducted in 2009 revealed that 77 percent of principals say that they have taken away recess from students. Oftentimes students serve punishments such as completing late work or talking to the principal regarding behavioral issues during their recess times. However, by taking away recess, students are unable to release any excess energy that they may have. Releasing this excess energy can lead to better behavior and academic performance. Although taking away recess as disciplinary action seems to be the decision in many schools, researchers are coming up with alternatives for the elimination of recess. Some of these alternatives include positive reinforcement which rewards children for positive behavior rather than taking away things for negative behavior. In this situation, every child is guaranteed recess.

International recess

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, high school (11–16 or 18) students traditionally do not have 'free periods' but do have 'break' which normally occurs just after their second lesson of the day (normally referred to as second period). This generally lasts for around 20 minutes. During break, snacks are sometimes sold in the canteen (U.S. cafeteria) and students normally use this time to socialize or finish off any homework or schoolwork that needs to be completed. Once break is finished, students go to their next class. Lunchtime commences one or two lessons later and usually lasts around 45–60 minutes. This system is more or less the same in junior schools (7–11) in the UK and Ireland and in high schools (14–18) in the U.S., but infant schools (4 or 5–7) normally add another break time towards the end of the day.

In Australia, New Zealand, and Canada "lunch-break", "recess", or play-lunch is generally a break between morning and mid-morning classes. It is followed after mid-morning classes by a more lengthy break, lunchtime. Thus, the structure of the school-day consists of three lesson blocks, broken up by two intervals: recess and lunch respectively. There must be at least an hours worth of "recess" or "free period" a week.

The average school day in Japan is eight hours but the time in the classroom is no different compared to the U.S.: time spent out of the classroom is what makes the day longer.  A quarter of the day is spent in non-academic activities. A typical day contains the same amount of instructional time as children in the U.S. but a long enough lunch break to go home and eat with their family.  This gives the students time to soak in their morning lesson and prepare for the afternoon session.  Students who do not go home read for their pleasure or interact with other students.  When the school day is over the majority of the students do not go home, but rather stay after school for clubs and other activities.  The benefits of having a longer break and several non-academic clubs after school is that the students interact with one another and tend to have fewer physical symptoms related to stress, as well as better relationships with their classmates.

Some schools in Beijing, China allow children to spend an hour or two to socialize or to step out of the classroom per day. Some schools do not have a dedicated recess period, instead allowing a ten-minute break per class session.  For lunch, students either pack or buy from the school's lunch area. After lunch time there is a quiet period. During this period, children may read at their desks or play by themselves. Meanwhile, a few students are chosen to help clean up from lunch, which may be perceived as a coveted assignment. Schools implementing a no-recess policy may not even have a playground, while schools allowing recess may have multiple playgrounds or basketball courts.

Finnish students rank near the top in terms of academic testing and knowledge, and their students receive over an hour of recess everyday, regardless of the weather.  In Finland schools consider recess to be an essential part of the school day, and this element of their curriculum is attracting international attention.

In Spain, all primary, middle and high schools allow a recess time for its students.

In Wales, pupils are expected to do only one hour of PE per fourteen days.

United States

In the United States, recess policies are largely dependent on the school district, and vary from state to state and from school to school. Most states do not have a recess policy.  However, it is recommended that schools provide 150 minutes per week for physical activity in elementary schools and 225 minutes per week in middle and high school. The point where recess ends in a child's education is largely dependent on the school district, though by many standards it is removed when the child enters middle school. However, in college, students usually have free periods, which are similar in spirit, although usually one studies or talks with one's friends during such times rather than playing games, which are made difficult by the lack of a playground.

Common recess activities

Recess is a common part of the school day for children around the world, but it has not received much attention from scholars. The research that has been conducted occurred mostly in the United States and the UK. Of the fifty states in the United States, only fifteen have policies that recommend or require daily recess or a physical activity break, and one (Oklahoma) has no policy, but it is recommended by the State Board of Education.

Certain activities have emerged as playground favorites, including: jump rope, Chinese jump rope, four square, hop scotch, basketball, soccer, hula hoops, chase, wall ball, and playing on the playground equipment. These activities have been classified into chase games, ball games, and jumping/verbal games.  Other categories to consider would be general play and equipment related play.

Chase games: tag, chase, hide and go seek
Ball games: four square, basketball, wall ball, soccer, kick ball
Jumping/verbal games: jump rope, Chinese jump rope, hop scotch, hula hoops, chanting/clapping/rhyming games, Duck Duck Goose
General play: make believe or fantasy play, solitary play
Equipment related play: swings, slides, climbing, monkey bars, tetherball

Games and play both occur on playgrounds, so it is important to differentiate between the two when discussing activities in which children engage at recess. One way to view their uniqueness is to look at the function of their rules.  Games, such as basketball, have concrete rules that result in penalties when broken.  Play rules, on the other hand, are flexible and can change at the discretion of the players. There are times though when kids will bend the concrete rules of some games to make new versions of these games that may or may not be remembered in future times of play.

Recess activities run the gamut from simple to complex.  Children's gender and age affects their recess recreation choices. The youngest children in elementary schools (kindergarten through second grade) prefer the simplest activities such as chase, kickball, jump rope, and unstructured games. As the school year progresses, it has been observed that chase games diminish and ball games increase. By the time children are in upper elementary school (grades three through five), they prefer sports and social sedentary behavior like talking.

References

External links

Educational time organization
Play (activity)
Privileged motions
School terminology

Recess (break)


The Temple of the Five Concubines (), known also by alternative names including the Temple of the Five Noble Ladies, is a temple in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan. It was built in front of the tomb of the five concubines of Zhu Shugui, the Ming Prince of Ningjing, who killed themselves in 1683 to accompany him in death. It is registered as a first-class historic site by the Republic of China government.

In 1683, the Qing Dynasty forces invaded Taiwan and defeated the Kingdom of Tungning, prompting  Zhu Shugui to commit suicide. Rather than be left to an uncertain and inglorious fate in the hands of the Qing, the concubines elected to end their own lives as well. The names of the five concubines were Lady Yuan, Lady Wang, Xiugu, Sister Mei and Sister He; their full names are unknown.

References

Chinese concubines
Taoist temples in Tainan
National monuments of Taiwan

Temple of the Five Concubines


Luna E-8-5 No.402, also known as Luna Ye-8-5 No.402, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1969C, was a Soviet spacecraft under Luna programme which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It was a  Luna E-8-5 spacecraft, the first of at least eleven to be launched. It was intended to perform a soft landing on the Moon, collect a sample of lunar soil, and return it to the Earth. It was, along with Luna 15, one of two unsuccessful missions which had been launched by the Soviet Union in a last-ditch attempt to upstage the Apollo 11 landing under Moon race.

Luna E-8-5 No.402 was launched at 04:00:07 UTC on 14 June 1969 atop a Proton-K 8K78K carrier rocket with a Blok D upper stage, flying from Site 81/24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The upper stage failed to ignite, and consequently the spacecraft failed to achieve orbit. Prior to the release of information about its mission, NASA correctly identified that it had been an attempted sample return mission. However, they believed that a previous attempt had been made, using a spacecraft launched on 30 April, which had also been lost in a launch failure. They designated that attempt was Luna 1969B. No Luna spacecraft or Proton rocket was launched on that date.

References

Luna programme
Sample return missions
Missions to the Moon
Spacecraft launched in 1969
1969 in the Soviet Union

Luna E-8-5 No. 402