Trixie Friganza (born Delia O'Callaghan; November 29, 1870February 27, 1955) was an American actress. She began her career as an operetta soubrette, working her way from the chorus to starring in musical comedies to having her own feature act on the vaudeville circuit.

She transitioned to film in the early 1920s mostly playing small characters that were quirky and comedic. She retired from the stage in 1940 due to health concerns. She spent her last years teaching drama to young women in a convent school and when she died she left everything to the convent. She became a highly sought after comic actress after the success of The Chaperons (she played "Aramanthe Dedincourt") and is best known for her stage roles of Caroline Vokes (or Vokins?) in The Orchid, Mrs. Radcliffe in The Sweetest Girl in Paris, for multiple roles in The Passing Show of 1912, and her run as a vaudeville headliner. During the height of her career, she used her fame to promote social, civic, and political issues of importance, such as self-love and the Suffragist movement.

Early life
Friganza was born in Grenola, Kansas, to a mother Margaret Friganza of Spanish descent and an Irish father Cornelius O'Callaghan, and was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She had two younger sisters, and along with their mother, these four women were a tightly knit unit growing up. She was educated at St. Patrick's School in Cincinnati, beginning what would become a lifelong allegiance to the Catholic Church. When asked by a reporter why she took the name Friganza she replied, "I didn't marry it"; Friganza, in fact, is her mother's maiden name (Margaret Jane Friganza), which she both liked and found to be suitable for the stage. A friend and colleague of hers by the name of Digby Bell (of the Digby Bell Opera Co.), christened her "Trixie" early on and the name stuck, for she had never been fond of the name Delia.

She began working at a young age (12 or 13) in order to help support her family, securing a cash girl position at Pogue's store, and earning $3 per week. When she was age 16, she was promoted to the handkerchief counter at Pogue's and her salary went up to around $4.50–$5.00 per week, which was a substantial increase in income for her. It was her boyfriend at the time who encouraged her not to waste her talents as a singer and actress and to venture onto the stage where she could double or triple her current salary.

Motivated by the desire to provide more for her family, and the responsibility she must have felt due to being the oldest of the three daughters, she auditioned for a chorus girl position in The Pearl of Pekin''' (1889). She got the part but in order to avoid any embarrassment to her mother and family (stage careers for women were not considered reputable at the time) she opted to begin performing once the production moved up to Cleveland, Ohio.

Her mother was inconsolable and devastated at her daughter's decision to take to the stage. She notified Cleveland authorities who brought Trixie before a Cleveland judge to justify her decision to work in theater. She presented such a compelling and rational case for this career move (she had to prove to the judge that she was neither "silly" nor "stage-struck", that this was a business move) that the judge granted her clemency and telegraphed her mother saying that Trixie was doing the right thing. She remained on stage in some form or another for the next fifty years.

Personal life
Friganza was civic minded and socially attuned. She aligned herself with women's suffrage and the promotion of a positive female body image. On October 28, 1908, Trixie attended a women's suffrage rally at New York City Hall where she delivered a speech for women's rights. She donated money to the cause and repeatedly went on record as an advocate for women's rights, equality and independence. Her own personal life is consistent with those ideals; having taken her mother's maiden name and refusing to leave her career in spite of marriage, she defied society's proprieties and norms, modeling what Susan Glenn calls "New Woman".

Younger women were concerned with sexual freedom and equality, and demonstrated this by experimenting with "public behavior and new gender roles" (Glenn 6). Friganza used her celebrity status to promote and further the rights of women as well as other causes such as promoting the arts to the economically disenfranchised. Newspapers noted that many performances in which she was involved held performances for orphans and children from lower income families.

Although Friganza used her occasional single status to sing songs (like "No Wedding Bells for Me") and make jokes about being desperate for a man, she had many beaus. Her first marriage was to an unknown man in the late 1890s and newspapers reported that she was divorced from this "John Doe" in September 1899. Her second marriage, which took place during the summer of 1901, was to a Dr. Barry, the physician hired aboard the steamship Bohemian, upon which the cast sailed from Boston. The wedding was held at Stermin's Hotel and those in attendance were fellow actors and cast members of Belle of Bohemia. She and the doctor were divorced several years later, though the exact date is unknown. On August 20, 1909, tabloids reported that Friganza was to be engaged to Nat M. Wills, but nothing more was said of this and she did not in fact marry the man. Her third marriage, taking place in New York on March 10, 1912, was to her manager, Charles A. Goettler. She filed for a divorce in the summer of 1914 on the grounds of "failure to provide" and "cruelty". Records do not indicate that she was ever married again. During all of her marriages she never changed her name and was adamant about continuing her career in show business. None of the relationships yielded any children for her.

Later life
Trixie Friganza suffered from arthritis beginning in the 1930s and because of it by 1940 could no longer work in Hollywood or on stage. In 1940 she turned over all of her assets and money to the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, a convent and school in La Canada Flintridge, California. She taught drama there as long as she could until her health prevented her from doing so. She reportedly had a room in the institution that overlooked the city of Pasadena where every year she would watch the football games at the Rose Bowl stadium.

At the age of 79, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she confessed to enjoying watching TV a great deal saying "that's where vaudeville has gone – into television" (Slide, Encyclopedia… pg. 199). She correctly identified the many comic and dramatic tropes borrowed from the stage and incorporated into American cinema and television. Despite her popularity, theatrical achievements and record of stage and cinematic productions, she died of arthritis in relative obscurity in Flintridge at age 84 on February 27, 1955. She bequeathed all her possessions to the academy and left a legacy to the American public.

Theatre career (1889–1917)
Trixie toured with many theatre companies in the coming years working her way from roles in the chorus to more prominently featured roles with speaking parts. Part of her success can be attributed to her constant willingness to step in and take over roles when others fell ill or could not appear. These instances provided her an opportunity to demonstrate her ability and ingenuity. She impressed agents, audiences and other actors alike with her stellar singing voice and ability to command audiences with her humorous interpretation of characters.

She worked mainly with musical comedies, however, she did perform in a few dramatic productions, opting to return to comedic performance relatively soon thereafter. Below is a list in chronological order of the productions with which she was involved. Supplementary information (roles; theatre company; additional cast members; theatre technicians; directors; producers; personal statements or experiences), when available, is provided. (dates placed in italics are guesstimated based on the chronology of her performances, meaning the performance likely took place in that year but research did not provide a hard date to confirm this)
 Pearl of Pekin' – 1889
 The Tar and the Tartar – 1890 – Carlton Opera Co.
 Understudied for Laura Joyce Bell and took her part when she was unable to appear.
 Jupiter (comic opera) – 1891 – Carlton Opera Co.
 Role of "Ganymede"
 George Odell in the Annals of the New York Stage, said of Trixie "The attendant Ganymede of Trixie Friganza, in later years a very heavy maiden, amuses me."
 The Mascot (comic opera) – 1892–1894 – Digby Bell Opera Co.
 Presented at Palmer's Theater in NYC running from July 18th – October 1st
 Role of "Frederic, Prince of Pisa"
 Also starring Henry E. Dixey
 Prince Kam or A Trip to Venus (musical comedy) – 1893–1894
 Role of "Isis"
 Written by C.A. Byrne and Louis Harrison
 Bill available from the Park Theatre (Robinson Locke Collection, New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts)
 One Christmas Night (drama) – 1894
 The Little Trooper – 1894
 Chorus role along with Della Fox
 Opened at the Casino in New York, August 30
 The Little Joker (comedy) – 1894–1895
 Written by Carrie W. Colburn
 Offered the lead role of "Kate" by Colburn who saw her performing in the chorus and wanted her to star in her play, which became T.F's first starring role on stage.
 Fleur de Lis – 1895
 Performed with Della Fox
 Production opened at the Palmer's Theater in New York City
 A Trip to Chinatown – 1896–1897
 Role of the "Widow" (principal)
 La Poupee – 1897
 Role of "Henry" (boy's part– principal)
 Performed with Anna Held
 Show opened in Lyrie, New York, October 9
 The Man in the Moon – 1898–1899 Role in the front row of the chorus
 The Country Sport – 1898–1899 Role in the chorus
 Understudied for Kate Davis and got to play the principal when she fell ill
 The Casino Girl – 1900
 Opened in Casino, NY; had a chorus role
 The Belle of Bohemia – 1900–1901
 Role of "Mrs. Muggins" (principal)
 First appearance in London at the Apollo in this role – February 21, 1901
 The Whirl of the Town – 1901
 Role of "Samanthy Brown"
 Performed with Henry E. Dixey and Madge Lessing
 Opened in London, September 11, 1901
 The Rounders – 1901 One of the four daughters (principal)
 The Girl From Paris – 1901–1902
 Role of "Julie Bonbon" (principal); Show toured back in the U.S. and in Montreal
 The Belle of New York – 1902
 Role of "Salvation Army girl"
 When asked to kick a tambourine as the character does in the German translation of the play, she "refused to stultify her artistic conscience in that way"
 The Chaperons (musical comedy) – 1902
 Role of "Aramanthe Dedincourt" (principal)
 Director Frank L. Perley; music by Isidore Witmark; book and lyrics by Frederic Ranken
 Opened in New York, NY on June 5th
 Performed with Walter Jones, Eddie Redway, Lou Middleton, Harry Conor, Eva Tanguay, and May Boley
 F.C. Havenmeyer, a wealthy 71-year-old man, followed the production around the country showering the female actresses with gifts from Tiffany's, T.F. included.
 Sally in Our Alley – 1903
 Role of "Sally" (principal)
 Played at McVicker's Theater
 The Darling of the Gallery Gods – 1903
 Role of "Whoa San" (principal)
 The Dress Parade – 1903
 Role of "DuBarry" (principal)
 Opened in Crystal Gardens, New York, June 22nd
 The Prince of Pilsen – 1903
 Role of "Mrs. Madison Crocker" (principal)
 Opened on Broadway, New York, July 4, 1903 and in Shaftesbury, London, May 14, 1904
 Wears a gown covered with roses which was her "invention."
 The Sultan of Sulu – 1904 Role of the "Widow"
 Higgledy-Piggledy – 1905 – Joe Weber's All Star Co. or Joe Weber Music Hall Stock Co.
 Role of "Mimi de Chartreuse" (principal)
 Opened in Weber's M.H., New York, February 13
 The Girl From Paris – 1906
 Revived role of "Julie Bonbon" (principal)
 Opened in Manhattan Beach, New York, July 21st
 Twiddle-Twaddle – 1905
 Role of "Matilda Grabfelder" (principal)
 Opened at Joe Weber's Theatre
 The Three Graces – 1906 – Kohl & Castle
 Opened at the Chicago Opera House and went on tour
 His Honor the Mayor – 1906
 Role of "Katrinka" (principal)
 Performed with Harry Kelly
 The Orchid – 1906–19077
 Role of "Caroline Vokes" (or Vokins?) (principal)
 Performed with Eddie Foy
 Opened in Herald Square Theatre, New York, April 8
 The Girl from Yama – 1907
 Role of "The Girl from Yama" (principal)
 The American Idea (musical comedy) – 1908
 Role of "Mrs. Waxtapper (principal)
 Written by George M. Cohan
 Costarring George Beban
 First public performance at the Star Theatre in Buffalo, New York, September 7
 Opened in New York, New York, October 5
 The Sweetest Girl in Paris (musical comedy) – 1910–1911
 Role of "Mrs. Ned Radcliffe (principal)
 Opened at the Chicago LaSalle Opera House, August 8 and went on tour
 The Passing Show of 1912 – 1912–1913 – Winter Garden Co.
 Roles of "Keokuk," "Julia Scream," and "Nancy Sikes"
 Opened in Winter Garden, New York, July 22 and went on tour
 A Parody of Oliver Twist Town Topics (musical comedy) – 1915
 Role of "Albany Dayline"
 Conceived of and staged by Ned Wayburn
 Canary Cottage – 1916–1917
 Role of "Blanche Moss"

Vaudeville career (1906–1932)
Trixie Friganza easily made the transition from musical comedy to vaudeville though her first vaudeville appearance is a contested matter. The newspaper, Brooklyn Eagle claims that her debut was at Keeney's Theatre, May 6, 1905, whereas the Encyclopedia of Vaudeville lists her first appearance at the Hammerstein's Theatre in New York City, in the summer of 1906. Regardless, from that time forward she shuttled back and forth between the theatre and the vaudeville stage until 1912–1913 when she began working primarily within the vaudeville circuit. Her fame as a comic actress buoyed her success and she soon became a headliner, given top billing in the shows.

During her career she appeared at B. F. Keith's Palace Theatre in New York no fewer than ten times, headlining five times from April 1924 through April 1929. Records from the Theatre documented performers' success by rating their reception, applause, counting the number of laughs received and how they finished. Records from appearances during the week ending April 28, 1918, indicate that the audience's response to Trixie Friganza was huge, where she elicited a total of 29 laughs, second only to Charlie Chaplin's motion picture A Dog's Life. In 1919, she toured with an act called At a Block Party, which featured songs and witty repartee representative of an actual city block party. Frederick James Smith, writing for the Dramatic Mirror (February 8, 1919) called her show "a vigorous comedy act" (Slide, Selected Vaudeville Criticism, pg. 88). During one appearance at the Palace, Variety called her act, "My Little Bag O' Trix," "a riotous hit" (March, 1920). Other one-woman shows included the "Trixie Friganza Road Show" (1921) and numerous others that she performed untitled.

She performed many successful acts, many of which revolved around her plus-sized figure, which she described as the "perfect forty-six", and the trials and tribulations of love (Slide, Encyclopedia of Vaudeville, pg. 199). She was an advocate for being plump, topping the scales herself at 180 lbs, and went as far as suggesting that her success as a comic correlated directly to her mass. On July 21, 1915, the Dramatic Mirror reported successful completion of a 75-week tour on the Keith vaudeville circuit; during this time, she never missed a performance, never was late or was involved in any altercations with the stage or house manager.

In 1929, Trixie made a 10-minute Vitaphone short titled "My Bag o'Trix" as seen on TCM and available in the Warner Bros. DVD of The Jazz Singer. The first minute of the picture is lost to nitrate decomposition, but the entire Vitaphone soundtrack survives, preserving a glimpse of what must have been part of her vaudeville act of the time.

Filmography

 Mind Over Motor (1923)
 The Charmer (1925)
 Proud Flesh (1925)
 The White Desert (1925)
 The Coming of Amos (1925)
 The Road to Yesterday (1925)
 Borrowed Finery (1925)
 The Waiter from the Ritz (1926) (not released)
 Monte Carlo (1926)
 Almost a Lady (1926)The Whole Town's Talking (1926)
 A Racing Romeo (1927)
 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928)
 Thanks for the Buggy Ride (1928)
 My Bag o'Trix (1929) (short)
 Free and Easy (1930)
 Strong and Willing (1930) (short)
 The Unholy Three (1930) (uncredited)
 Myrt and Marge (1933)
 Wanderer of the Wasteland (1935)
 Silks and Saddles (1936)
 A Star is Born (1937)
 How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (1937)
 If I Had My Way (1940) cameo role in Bing Crosby film

Written works
During her career, Trixie Friganza published articles and poems in newspapers, some of which still exist today in the Robinson Locke Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Those still available (mostly on microfilm) are listed below accompanied by a short description of content.
 "Ballad" – From the "Trixie Ballads," published in 1903 in an unknown newspaper
 "Comediennes Chosen By Weight" – April 1907, Newspaper Article
 This article written by Trixie argued that in the future female comics would be selected not based on reputation, rather on their excess pounds. She recognized the value of having thin actresses play leading dramatic and romantic roles, but if any woman would succeed in comedy it would be the larger lady of the two.
 "Six Trixie Friganza Tricks Which Make Women Laugh" – May 16, 1909, Chicago Tribune The article derived from an interview in which the reporter quoted T.F. at length, her dialogue comprising over 70% of the text. In it she shares her desire to play to women's sense of humor, encouraging their laughter, and the theatrical strategies necessary to do so.
 "These Stories" – June 26, 1910, published in an unknown newspaper
 A collection of humorous short anecdotes, most of which seem to derive from real life experiences and place the woman as the humorist or satirist.
 "Bromides" – February 3, 1915, poem in New Jersey Star
 The poem documented the internal questions and worries of a stage actor.

Nicknames
 "The Cincinnati Girl"
 "The Perpetual Flapper" dubbed this by The Billboard in 1931
 "The Champagne Girl"

References

 Glenn, Susan. Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism. Cambridge, Mass. & London, England: Harvard UP, 2000.
 Odell, George C.D. Annals of the New York Stage, Vol. 15: 1891–94. New York, NY: Columbia UP, 1949. (Chapter I & VII)
 Robinson Locke Collection of Theatrical Scrapbooks, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center, Volume 220 (Microfilm).
 Slide, Anthony. Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Westport, Connecticut & London: Greenwood Press, 1994, pp. 198–99.
 Slide, Anthony (Ed.). Selected Vaudeville Criticism''. Metuchen, New Jersey & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1988, 88.

External links

 B.F. Keith's ledger for Theatre in Indianapolis: Aug. 29th– June 14, 1925
 American Variety Stage 1870–1920
 Trixie Friganza portrait as a young woman (with hour glass figure) University of Louisville Macauley Theater Collection

1870 births
1955 deaths
19th-century American singers
19th-century American women singers
American stage actresses
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
American people of Irish descent
American people of Spanish descent
Actresses from Cincinnati
Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles)
Actresses from Greater Los Angeles
Vaudeville performers
20th-century American actresses

Trixie Friganza


The Midnight Charter is a young adult fantasy novel by David Whitley. It is the first novel in the Agora Trilogy, and the author's debut novel. It was nominated for the 2010 Carnegie Medal, but lost to Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

Concept
The book is set in a fantasy world called Agora, which is governed by an extreme form of capitalism. Anything can be bought and sold - including thoughts, ideas, emotions and ultimately people. Children are traded by their parents, and only on their twelfth birthday are they allowed to become traders themselves.

There is no money in Agora. Instead, people are ranked according to their reputation. It only takes a small rumour or wrongdoing to send even the most powerful merchant down to the bottom, where they normally become "debtors". With nothing left to trade, they are stuck at the bottom, with no means to climb back up the social hierarchy.

Agora is surrounded by walls. Nobody enters the city, and nobody leaves the city. The city itself is split into twelve districts, all named after Zodiac signs. The Director of Receipts watches over the city, and his Receivers police it.

Plot summary
The novel starts with Mark in a delirious, dream-like state because he suffers from a deadly fever. He has been sold by his father to Dr Theophilus in the hope that he will treat Mark. While he is being treated, he meets Lily, a servant to the doctor's grandfather, Count Stelli, the city's greatest astrologer. She helps him adjust to his new life. Mark is soon cured of the terrible fever and will soon leave Count Stelli's tower with Dr Theophilus and become his assistant. But Mark does not want to go and brokers a deal with Lily; he will stay and serve the Count and she will leave the horrid tower and learn about medicine with the doctor.

While Lily and Dr Theophilus struggle to survive, Mark is taught how to be an astrologer by the Count. Soon, with the aid of Mr Snutworth, Mark plans to overthrow the old Count and become the greatest astrologer himself. In the meantime, Lily comes up with a shocking idea; provide free accommodation, medical care and food to debtors and those in need of it. She, Dr Theophilus and two others start an almshouse.

Mark manages to overthrow the Count and soon becomes a powerful astrologer himself, living in high society. On numerous occasions, Lily asks Mark for his support of the almshouse, but he declines, stating that he and his reputation would be at stake. With the aid of Mr Snutworth, Mark soon becomes the most powerful person in all of Agora, bar the Director.

Both Mark and Lily are being watched by the Director, and while Mark is pondering marrying Cherubina, he orders Snutworth to betray Mark and take his power. Snutworth has known what he must do all along, and Mark soon falls from power and becomes a debtor. He is put in prison pending investigation. Snutworth replaces Mark as astrologer.

While in prison, Lily is summoned to the Director of Receipts. The Director tells her about the Midnight Charter that was made by the founders of Agora, and gives her a choice; be banished from Agora, and take Mark with her, or else. She decides to leave Agora, and before Mark knows what is happening, he and Lily are dumped outside the city walls, with no way back in. Mark is furious with Lily, as he had only newly discovered that his father was a prison warden and he wanted to spend more time with him.

Characters
Mark: a twelve-year-old boy who replaces Count Stelli as Agora's greatest astrologer
Lily: a twelve-year-old girl who began the Almshouse
Dr Theophilus: grandson of Count Stelli, works as a doctor, helps Lily run the almshouse
Count Stelli: an old man, Agora's greatest astrologist
Mr Snutworth: assistant to Mark after overthrowing the Count
Director of Receipts: ruler of the entire city of Agora

Critical reception
The Midnight Charter was nominated for the 2010 Carnegie Medal.

In the United States, The Midnight Charter received a generally very positive critical response. The School Library Journal said that The Midnight Charter was "exciting and gripping from the first heart-stopping line". Publishers Weekly went on to say that "readers will be buoyed by every small triumph that cannot be recorded in an account book". On Goodreads, it received an average rating of 3.58/5, from 72 ratings.

See also

The Children of the Lost
David Whitley

References

External links
David Whitley's official website

2009 British novels
Young adult fantasy novels
British young adult novels
British fantasy novels
Novels by David Whitley
Puffin Books books

The Midnight Charter


General Dimitrios Grapsas () is a Greek military officer, who served as the Chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff from August 2007 to August 2009.

Biography
General Grapsas was born in 1948 in Ypati in the Phthiotis prefecture. He was admitted to the Hellenic Military Academy in 1967, from which he graduated in 1971 as a Second Lieutenant (Armour).

In the following years he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (1971), captain (1978), major (1983), lieutenant colonel (1989), and colonel (1995). During that time he served successively in the following units and formations:

Commander of the D' Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (Δ' Επιλαρχία Αναγνωρίσεως – Δ' ΕΑΝ)
Chief of Staff of the 96 Military Command (96 Στρατιωτική Διοίκηση – 96 ΣΔΙ)
First Assistant Chief of Staff of the Higher Military Command of the Interior and the Islands  (Ανωτάτη Στρατιωτική Διοίκηση Εσωτερικού και Νήσων – ΑΣΔΕΝ)

He attained the rank of brigadier general in 1999 and received command of the XXV Armored Brigade (XXV Τεθωρακισμένη Ταξιαρχία). Following that, he served as Chief of Staff in D' Army Corps (Δ' Σώμα Στρατού), and as a Director of the Training Division of the HAGS (ΔΕΚΠ/ΓΕΣ). In 2002, he was appointed as the director of the Training and Doctrine Staff Directorate of the HAGS. In 2003, having been promoted to major general, he received command of the 12th Mechanized Infantry Division (12η Μ/Κ ΜΠ). In 2004, he was promoted to lieutenant general and was assigned as B' Deputy Chief of the HAGS (Β' Υπαρχηγός ΓΕΣ). In 2005, he became commander of the Higher Military Command of the Interior and the Islands (ΑΣΔΕΝ) and held the post until his appointment to chief of staff of the Hellenic Army General Staff (Α/ΓΕΣ) on 28 February 2006. In August 2007 he was assigned Chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας- ΓΕΕΘΑ) after the resignation of Panagiotis Chinofotis and promoted to general. He held this post until 6 August 2009, when he was replaced by Air Chief Marshal Ioannis Giagkos.

Medals and decorations
General Grapsas has been decorated with the following distinctions: the Grand Cross of the Order of The Phoenix (Μεγαλόσταυρος του Τάγματος του Φοίνικα), the Grand Commander of the Order of Honour (Ανώτερος Ταξιάρχης του Τάγματος της Τιμής), Medal of Military Merit 1st Class (Mετάλλιο Στρατιωτικής Αξίας Α΄ Τάξεως), Chief of General Staff Commendation Medal (Διαμνημόνευση Αρχηγίας Γ.Ε.ΕΘ.Α), Chief of the Army Commendation Medal (Διαμνημόνευση Αρχηγίας Γ.Ε.Σ), Commendation Star of Merit and Honour (Αστέρας Αξίας και Τιμής), Commendation Medal of Merit and Honour (Διαμνημόνευση Αξίας και Τιμής), Major Unit Command Commendation Medal 1st Class (Διαμηνμόνευση Ηγεσίας Σχηματιμού-Μεγάλης Μονάδος Α΄ Τάξεως, Army Meritorious Command Medal 1st Class (Διαμνημόνευση Ευδοκίμου Διοικήσεως Α΄ Τάξεως), Staff Officer Service Commendation Medal 1st Class (Διαμνημόνευση Υπηρεσιών Αξιωματικού Επιτελούς Α΄ Τάξεως). Additionally he was awarded the United States Of America Medal of the Commander of the Legion of Merit.

References

External links
Biography at NATO official website

1948 births
Living people
People from Ypati
Hellenic Army generals
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Commanders of the Legion of Merit
Chiefs of the Hellenic Army General Staff
Chiefs of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff
20th-century Greek military personnel
21st-century Greek military personnel

Dimitrios Grapsas


Astilleros Argentinos Río de La Plata S.A. (mostly known for its acronym ASTARSA, which can be roughly translated as Argentine Shipyards of Río de la Plata) was an Argentine shipyard. Its core business was building and repairing ships and locomotives. It also manufactured pipes, industrial machinery, and tractors. It went out of business in 1994.

History
In the 1920s the Sociedad Colectiva Hansen y Puccini, predecessor of Astarsa, was founded. The first ship over 1000 tons launched in Argentina was built by Astarsa for Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF).

The shipyard was located in the city of Tigre, north of Greater Buenos Aires, on the Luján River. It had a peak of 1,500 naval and metallurgic workers.

Although Astarsa's main line of business was shipbuilding, the company also acted as sub-contractor for several railway manufacturers, producing and repairing diesel locomotives for EMD, Werkspoor and Alsthom, in addition to doing major repairs to diesel and steam locomotives for state-owned railway company Ferrocarriles Argentinos. Between 1976 and 1991 Astarsa manufactured 267 locomotives under General Motors license for the Argentine market, also exporting models to South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

In the early 1970s, Astarsa produced industrial machinery under licence from the American company Caterpillar. During the 1970s, Astarsa workers spoke out against frequent accidents in the factory which had caused several deaths, and ended up going on strike in 1973.  On 24 March 1976, when the military dictatorship headed by Jorge Videla overthrew the government of Isabel Perón, the Argentine Army took the Astarsa factory and other shipyards in the area, kidnapping 60 workers, 16 of whom are still missing.

The decreasing activity of the Argentine merchant navy since the 1980s and the privatisation process started in the 1990s were some of the causes that led Astarsa to close down. In 1994 the company ceased operations, abandoning locomotives (new and under repair) within its shop. By 1997, the company declared bankruptcy and the factory was in the process of being sold by 2000.

See also
 List of shipyards of Argentina
 Transport in Argentina
 Rail transport in Argentina

Bibliography
 "Complicidad patronal-militar en la última dictadura argentina: Los casos de Acindar, Astarsa, Dálmine Siderca, Ford, Ledesma y Mercedes Benz" by Verónica Basualdo, article published in Engranajes magazine n° 5, March 2006
 La industria naval en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Industria Centro de Estudios para la Producción (2005)
 La industria naval en la Argentina by Aurelio González Climent - Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, pp. 68–72 (1956)
 "Pensar los setenta desde los trabajadores" by Federico Lorenz - Políticas de la memoria, pag. 19-23 (2004)
 "Los trabajadores navales de Tigre. La militancia sindical en un contexto de enfrentamiento militar". ''Lucha Armada en la Argentina n° 2, pag. 72-87 (2005)

References

Defense companies of Argentina
Shipyards of Argentina
Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Argentina
Argentine companies established in 1927
Defunct manufacturing companies of Argentina

Astarsa


The Seaboard Football League was an American football  minor league that operated from 1971 to 1974.  It folded during the 1974 season as a result of the founding of the World Football League, which deprived the league of talent.

Some of the more notable Seaboard Football league alumni include Vince Papale, who went on to the WFL's Philadelphia Bell and later the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles; Joe Klecko, who  "was never paid a penny" for his time and used the opportunity to earn a college scholarship and propel himself into a professional career; wide receiver Jack Dolbin, who later appeared in Super Bowl XII for the Denver Broncos; and King Corcoran, the career minor-league quarterback who would also go on to play for the Bell in the WFL. While players (such as Klecko) could play as amateurs, most players were paid a sum of $50 per game; a starting quarterback could make as much as $600 per game.

During the 1972 season, after the folding of the Atlantic Coast Football League, the Seaboard Football League was the second-highest ranking professional football league in the United States, behind only the NFL. The NFL played an interleague exhibition match against an SFL team in 1972, when the New York Jets rookies defeated the SFL's Long Island Chiefs 29–3 the last such game against other pro league (In 1974 the Houston Oilers rookie squad would play a preseason game vs the semi-pro San Antonio Toros). The league dropped to third-tier after the Hartford Knights left for a revived ACFL and the league picked up teams from the semi-pro Empire Football League for play in 1973.

The league was founded with eight teams in 1971, five of which came from the Interstate Football League, two from the Mason-Dixon Football League, and one independent.  The teams played a 14-game season, with all games taking place on Saturday nights.  In 1972, the Hartford Knights of the ACFL joined the league, going undefeated and winning the championship then returned to the reincarnated ACFL for its 1973 season.  The Seaboard League again had eight franchises, but played a ten-game season.  After the ACFL folded, the Bridgeport Jets and the New England Colonials  joined the Seaboard League, which fielded six teams in 1974, only two of which (the Jets and Wilkes-Barre Barons) would survive to season's end.

Championship games
The following championship games took place in the Seaboard Football League:
1971 Schuylkill Coal Crackers 13, Hagerstown Bears 0
1972 Hartford Knights 17, Chambersburg Cardinals 7
1973 Chambersburg Cardinals 31, Albany Metro Mallers 12
1974 Wilkes-Barre Bullets 20, Bridgeport Jets 9

Teams
The following teams played in the Seaboard Football League:
Albany Metro Mallers (NY) (1973)
Aston (PA) Knights (1972–73) / Ridley Township (PA) Knights (1971) (known as the "Green Knights" to distinguish them from the Hartford Knights in 1972)
Tri-Cities (NY) Jets (1973)
Boston Colonials (1974)
Bridgeport Jets (1974)
Bucks County (CT) Steelers (1973)
Chambersburg Cardinals (PA) (1971–74)
Conshohocken (PA) Steelers (1971–72)
Frederick (MD) Falcons (1971)
Hagerstown (MD) Bears (1971–73)
Hartford Knights (1972)
Long Island (Freeport, NY) Chiefs (1972)
Portsmouth (VA) Bucks (1972)
Reading (PA) Coal Crackers (1972)
Schuylkill County Coal Crackers (Pottsville PA) (1971)
Lackawanna County (PA) Eagles (1973–74)
Valley Forge (PA) Minutemen (1974)
Washington (PA) Generals (1971)
Westminster (MD) Chargers (1971)
Wilkes-Barre (PA) Bullets (1974)
Wyoming Valley (PA) Giants (1973)

References

External links
Long Island Chiefs complete record
Empire Football League history

Defunct American football leagues in the United States
Semi-professional American football

Seaboard Football League


Malcolm Danare (born June 15, 1962) is an American actor, known for his role of Caesar in the 1985 film Heaven Help Us and Dr. Mendel Craven in the 1998 film Godzilla and its animated series followup. He is also known for voicing Kipling in Monster High and voicing Tiny of Ever After High.

Malcolm Danare had never been in front of a camera before he played the role that earned him a Golden Globe nomination. This debut role was Poteete in Paramount Pictures' movie The Lords of Discipline, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer. Danare's next film for Paramount was the iconic Flashdance.

Malcolm went on to star and co-star in a diverse collection of films: Mel Brooks's Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Walter Hill's Crossroads, Amy Heckerling's European Vacation, Michael Dinner's Heaven Help Us (aka Catholic Boys), Bob Clark and Mark Herrier's Popcorn, and John Carpenter's horror classic Christine. Malcolm also co-starred in Columbia Pictures' Godzilla and its animated television series.

From 2004 to 2006, Malcolm recurred in the hit CBS series CSI: Miami playing the villain Ned Ostroff.

In 2008, Malcolm wrote the critically acclaimed play, In Heat.

In 2014, Malcolm starred in Smothered, a horror farce directed by John Schneider. He co-starred in American Justice, a crime drama, and The Martini Shot, a wacky comedy.

In addition to acting, Danare has also recently discovered he has a knack for producing. He produced several films set to be released in 2016: The Summerland Project, a futuristic science fiction piece; The Taker, a modern-day horror film; and WTF (World Thumb-Wrestling Federation), a comedy spoof. He also co-starred in the latter two.

As a voiceover actor, Malcolm currently plays Kipling in the hit cartoon series Monster High. He is also the voice of Tiny in Nickelodeon's Ever After High.

Filmography

Film
The Lords of Discipline (1983, as Poteete)
Flashdance (1983, as Cecil)
Christine (1983, as Moochie Welch)
Heaven Help Us (1985, as Caesar)
European Vacation (1985, as The Froeger's Son)
The Curse (1987, as Cyrus)
Popcorn (1991, as Bud)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993, as Inept Archer)
Independence Day (1996, as Intellectual on Roof)
Godzilla (1998, as Dr. Mendel Craven)
Monster High: Escape from Skull Shores (2012, as Kipling)
True Bromance (2012, as Gary)
Ever After High (2013, as Tiny)
WTF - World Thumb Wrestling Federation (2016, as Jakob Rozenbaum)
The Taker (2016, as Conner)
Amelia 2.0 (2017, as Adam)
Smothered (2014, as Self)
American Justice (2014, as Stuckey)
The Martini Shot (2014, as Alexander Balthazar)
Chastise (2021, as Professor Mooch)
Beverly Hills Broke (2020, as Marty Stern)
Bullet Shot (2019, as Alexander Balthazar)
Dog and Pony Show (2018, as Wally the Horse)
Deadly Draw (2022, as Emory Bodkin)

Television
Father Dowling Mysteries (1989, 1 episode, as Ted)
Knight & Daye (1989, 1 episode, as Jeremy)
Godzilla: The Series (1998–2000, 40 episodes, as Dr. Mendel Craven)
CSI: Miami (2004–06, 2 episodes, as Ned Ostroff)

References

External links

1962 births
Living people
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Male actors from Greater Los Angeles
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors

Malcolm Danare


John Patrick Thomas Pentland (born 20 September 1969) is an Irish-born rock guitarist and a member of the Canadian rock band Sloan. All four members of Sloan write, produce, and sing their own songs, but Pentland primarily plays lead guitar for most songs. He occasionally plays rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards in the studio, and occasionally plays drums live. Pentland is one of the band's two main singers, as he sings lead on at least a third of the band's songs, including many of their singles on their third to fifth albums, plus back-up/harmony vocals on most of their other songs.

Pentland was born in Newtownards, Northern Ireland, UK. He emigrated to Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia in 1975 with his father (Richard), mother (Patricia) and sister (Danielle). In 1977, Pentland's father's work saw them moving to Montego Bay, Jamaica, for eighteen months. Returning to Nova Scotia in 1979, they settled in Middle Sackville (outside Halifax), where Pentland remained until he moved out of the family home in 1991.

Pentland attended Sackville High and Millwood High. After graduating, he attended The University of King's College, entering the school's journalism program. Pentland left the program in his second year, and eventually graduated with a BA in history, of which he claims to have retained very little knowledge.

It was during high school that Pentland became serious about playing music, guitar in particular. His father had played in rock bands—or show bands, as they were known—in Northern Ireland throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. This influenced Pentland to follow in his father's footsteps. He had learned recorder in grade school, and played saxophone in his junior high school band, but he eventually settled on guitar as his main instrument.

Pentland's first group was a hard rock band, Prosecutor, which came together in the fall of 1984. They covered Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, plus a few originals influenced by those bands. The intended band name was actually Persecutor. Prosecutor played two shows, both in the spring of 1985—one in the local recreation centre that they rehearsed in, and the second on the lawn outside a local music store. By this time, however, Pentland had moved away from the hard rock sound of the band, becoming more interested in harder metal, having discovered bands like Motorhead, Venom, and the first two Metallica records.

Through this music, he became exposed to punk rock, especially American hardcore. Several trips back to Northern Ireland had also exposed him to The Sex Pistols and post-punk bands like The Cure, early Cult, and The Jesus and Mary Chain. By 1986, Pentland had formed a hardcore band with Cliff Gibb (later of Weasel Faced Judge, Thrush Hermit, Cool Blue Halo, Doug Mason), John Johnson (later of The Donner Party Reunion), and Scott Hiltz, called The Ripping Convulsions. The name was shortened to the Convulsions by their first gigs—several house parties in the suburbs of Halifax. The group recorded two tapes featuring songs written primarily by Pentland and Johnson, and performed a handful of shows in the Halifax punk scene, before disbanding in the summer of 1987. Pentland, Gibb, and Johnson formed a noisecore outfit in the fall of 1987, recording one song under the name Toxic Waste.

Reflecting their growing interest in American alternative guitar bands such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and Pixies, Pentland and Gibb formed Happy Co. with Melanie Rusinak (later of Tag (JALE), Chaz Rules, Cool Blue Halo, Black Pool) in late 1987. Rusinak's father had taught Pentland saxophone in junior high school. Happy Co. marked the first time that Pentland took on lead vocals, as well as becoming the main songwriter. Again, Happy Co. played a handful of gigs in the Halifax scene, which by then included Kearney Lake Road, composed of future Sloan members Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson. Happy Co. continued on into 1990, adding Brad Baxter (formerly of Dread Scott, which included Ben Ross—who would go on to replace Gibb in Thrush Hermit) on second guitar, but eventually ended when the members decided to devote more time to finishing their various post-secondary pursuits.

In January 1991, Pentland was approached by Chris Murphy to join a new band he had started with Jay Ferguson called Sloan. The new band, rounded out by drummer Andrew Scott, quickly compiled a setlist of original songs, and played their first show at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, two weeks after Pentland joined.

The band is currently active, recording and touring with all four original members.

Pentland has written for several music publications and dabbled in blogging, with revealing entries about the band's performances and tours. He has also contributed a song to the children's show Role Play, and performed music for several television commercials.

In 2005, Pentland began releasing electronic/ambient music online under the name Destroy Tomorrow 666. He has been a resident DJ in several prominent Toronto clubs. He also revealed that he was asked to join the Doughboys (Canadian band) in the mid-1990's though he passed on the opportunity.

Pentland lives in Toronto. He has three children.

Notes

External links
Sloan official website
Never Hear the End of It album launch website
Being There Magazine feature
Sloan message board

1969 births
Living people
People from Newtownards
Musicians from County Down
Expatriates from Northern Ireland in Canada
Rock guitarists from Northern Ireland
Canadian rock guitarists
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian rock singers
Canadian male singers
Canadian male songwriters
Canadian indie rock musicians
Canadian alternative rock musicians
Musicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia
Murderecords
Sloan (band) members
20th-century guitarists from Northern Ireland
21st-century guitarists from Northern Ireland
20th-century male musicians from Northern Ireland
21st-century male musicians from Northern Ireland
Male guitarists from Northern Ireland

Patrick Pentland


Děpold I (also Děpolt, modern English Theobald) was the second son of Duke Vladislav I of Bohemia and brother of Duke and later King of Bohemia Vladislav II.

In 1145, he joined the other territorial dukes of Bohemia, Conrad II of Znojmo, Vratislaus II of Brno, and Otto III of Olomouc, to attack Jindřich (Henry) Zdík, bishop of Olomouc, and chase him from his diocese. For this, Děpold was excommunicated. Subsequently, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome for atonement.

In 1147, while his elder brother Vladislav II went on the Second Crusade as far as Byzantium, Děpold governed Bohemia. He ruled with a strong hand and prevented a seizure of power by the young Soběslav. In 1153, he married Gertrude, daughter of Albert the Bear, Margrave of Brandenburg. Afterwards, he joined his brother-in-law in military campaigns. In 1158, he went with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa into Italy and was present at the siege of Milan. He would be the leader of several subsequent Bohemian expeditions to Italy. In 1167, he was joined by his nephew Frederick in leading a large force on behalf of King Vladislav. On that expedition, many noblemen died of an epidemic (possible plague or malaria), including Rainald of Dassel and Welf VII. Děpold was also among them.

Děpold and Gertrude had:
Děpolt II (Theobald)
Hedwig

References

Sources

1167 deaths
Přemyslid dynasty
Bohemian princes
Year of birth unknown

Děpold I of Jamnitz


Mick Grant (born 10 July 1944) is an English former professional motorcycle road racer and TT rider. A works-supported rider for Norton, Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki, he is a seven-time winner of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race on various makes, including 'Slippery Sam', a three-cylinder Triumph Trident. The son of a coal miner, the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Yorkshireman from Wakefield, was a sharp contrast to the brash, playboy image presented by Londoner Barry Sheene during the 1970s.

Race career
Grant began his racing career as a privateer, entering his first Manx Grand Prix in 1969 on a Velocette 500 cc, and his first TT in the following year, again using the Velocette and placing 18th in the Junior (350 cc) class on a Lee-sponsored Yamaha TD2.

Later supported by businesses including Clive Padgett, heading Padgetts of Batley, on TD2 250 cc and TR2 350 cc Yamahas, and Brian Davidson of John Davidson Group on TZ Yamahas, he was equally versatile on either two- or four-stroke machines.

He quickly became a works Norton rider alongside Peter Williams and Phil Read, part of the first Norton factory team since the Norton race-shop was disbanded in 1962, headed by ex-racer Frank Perris. In 1972, he teamed with Dave Croxford to win the Thruxton 500 endurance race on a 745 cc Norton Commando, and finished second to Williams in the 1973 F750 TT.

In 1974, Grant was the chosen  rider for the then-new, UK-based Boyer Kawasaki Racing Team, based on two air-cooled triples. Stan Shenton, head of motorcycle business Boyer of Bromley, previously having a long background of racing Triumphs, was Team principal. They were one of a selected network of regional Kawasaki dealers, part of a controlled expansion and roll-out to establish a UK dealer-network. As part of the development process, Grant's racing included Ontario, California in late 1974.

In 1975, Grant completed the first-ever 120 mph lap of the North West 200 circuit. Also in 1975, it was Grant who finally broke Mike Hailwood's absolute TT lap record for the Isle of Man Snaefell mountain course, set in 1967 on a 500 Honda, raising the average-speed of one lap to 109.82 mph on a Kawasaki KR750 two-stroke triple entered by the Boyer team and Stan Shenton. Although Grant failed to finish the race, retiring at the Gooseneck with a broken chain caused by a mis-aligned rear wheel spindle, he won the 500 cc Senior TT race. In 1977, Grant raised the lap record to 112.77 mph, again on a 750 cc Kawasaki.

Grant raced in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing circuit in 1977 for the Kawasaki factory team alongside teammate Barry Ditchburn and the following year with Kork Ballington and Gregg Hansford. In 1979, Honda chose Grant to help develop their exotic oval-cylindered NR500, unfortunately with disappointing results. Grant also won the Macau Grand Prix in 1977 on the Kawasaki KR750 and again in 1984, riding a Heron-Suzuki.

He usually raced with number 10 and carried the initials JL on his helmet, even after retirement from competition, as a tribute to his early sponsor – mechanic, fabricator and frame-builder Jim Lee of the 'Dalesman' marque.<ref>Motor Cycle 19 August 1966, p.207 Orpin's latest flyer by David J Dixon. "The new frame, built specially for Peter Williams by ace welder Jim Lee of Leeds..." Accessed and added 26 December 2014</ref>

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

Points system from 1969 onwards:

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

1944 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Wakefield
People from Seamer, Scarborough
British motorcycle racers
English motorcycle racers
British Superbike Championship riders
Isle of Man TT riders
250cc World Championship riders
350cc World Championship riders
500cc World Championship riders
Place of birth missing (living people)

Mick Grant


Merocrine (or eccrine) is a term used to classify exocrine glands and their secretions in the study of histology. A cell is classified as merocrine if the secretions of that cell are excreted via exocytosis from secretory cells into an epithelial-walled duct or ducts and then onto a bodily surface or into the lumen.

Merocrine is the most common manner of secretion. The gland releases its product and no part of the gland is lost or damaged (compare holocrine and apocrine).

The term eccrine is specifically used to designate merocrine secretions from sweat glands (eccrine sweat glands), although the term merocrine is often used interchangeably.

Examples

 Certain sweat glands

References

External links

 Secretory Diagram

Exocrine system

Merocrine


Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk band Wasted Youth, and Scott Weiland (lead vocalist) formerly of Stone Temple Pilots.  The band formed in 2002 and was active until 2008, when Weiland left the band abruptly to rejoin Stone Temple Pilots.

In 2004, the band achieved commercial success with their debut album, Contraband. Despite positive reviews, some critics initially described Velvet Revolver as a mere combination of Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses, and criticizing them for a "disconnection" between Weiland and the rest of the band. With their single "Slither", they won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The band released Libertad in 2007, driven by the release of the single "She Builds Quick Machines", and embarked on a tour with Alice in Chains.

In April 2008, Weiland was fired from Velvet Revolver and reunited with Stone Temple Pilots. Velvet Revolver was put on indefinite hiatus and in November of that year, requested to be released by their record label RCA Records to allow themselves "complete freedom to go through whatever process it would take to accomplish" replacing Weiland.

Although Velvet Revolver worked on new material and auditioned new singers following Scott Weiland's departure, the band has not released any new material and only performed publicly once since 2008, when they reunited with Weiland for a one-off reunion show on January 12, 2012, at a benefit concert. This proved to be their last performance together before Weiland's death on December 3, 2015. Slash and McKagan later rejoined Guns N' Roses in 2016.

History

Foundations (2001–2002)
Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum were members of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. However, disagreements with singer Axl Rose resulted in Slash leaving the band in 1996 and McKagan departing in 1997 shortly before Sorum was fired. Following their departures the trio focused on separate projects, with Slash reforming Slash's Snakepit and McKagan reforming 10 Minute Warning as well as recording his second solo album, while Sorum rejoined the Cult.

By 2001, Slash's Snakepit had disbanded for the second time. Slash began working with the Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and an unnamed bassist on a new project: writing the music for what would become "Fall to Pieces". McKagan reformed Loaded, previously his band for the tour in support of Beautiful Disease, with Geoff Reading. McKagan also added both Mike Squires and Jeff Rouse to the lineup. Following a tour of Japan in 2002, former Zilch, Wasted Youth, Electric Love Hogs, and Dave Navarro guitarist Dave Kushner joined Loaded in place of Mike Squires.

Formation (2002–2003)
When musician Randy Castillo died from cancer in 2002, Slash, McKagan, and Sorum performed at a benefit concert to raise money and commemorate Castillo, with Josh Todd and Keith Nelson of Buckcherry as well as B-Real and Sen Dog of Cypress Hill. Recognizing that their musical relationship was still intact, the trio began rehearsing with Todd and Nelson, working on material that would become "Dirty Little Thing", but eventually decided against forming a group with them. During a Loaded show at West Hollywood's Viper Room, McKagan re-introduced Dave Kushner to Slash, who were previously friends in junior high and high school. Kushner was invited to jam with the group and was soon invited to join with Slash, stating that "Dave brought a cool vibe to what [they] were doing. There was no deliberation; that was it, it was a perfect fit." Their former Guns N' Roses bandmate Izzy Stradlin also joined them for two weeks, eventually suggesting that "Duff and [Stradlin] will sing and [they] will just do a club tour in a van." Slash states in his autobiography that it was hard to tell if Stradlin was serious or kidding. After auditioning Kelly Shaefer of Atheist and Neurotica, Stradlin left the group.

While Shaefer's audition was unsuccessful, the quartet continued auditioning for a lead singer. VH1 filmed the recruitment process, which was referred to as the temporary name "The Project". The resulting documentary was aired as VH1 Inside Out: The Rise of Velvet Revolver. A number of lead singers auditioned for the band, including Stephen Shareaux, of Kik Tracee, Steve Ludwin, of Carrie and Little Hell, Todd Kerns, formerly of Age of Electric, Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row, Shawn Albro of U.P.O., and Travis Meeks of Days of the New. Myles Kennedy, formerly of the Mayfield Four, declined an invitation from Sorum to audition. Ian Astbury of the Cult and Mike Patton of Faith No More also declined audition offers. The band were also interested in auditioning Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, who had become friends with McKagan after attending the same gym. Weiland once played on the same bill as Kushner, and was in rehab at the same time as Sorum. Weiland was sent two discs of material, and felt that the first disc "sounded like Bad Company gone wrong." When he was sent the second disc, Weiland was more positive, comparing it to Core-era Stone Temple Pilots, though he turned them down because Stone Temple Pilots were still together.

When Stone Temple Pilots disbanded in 2003, the band sent Weiland new music, which he took into his studio and added vocals. This music eventually became the song "Set Me Free". Weiland was still unsure whether or not he wanted to join, despite delivering the music to the band himself and performing at an industry showcase at Mates. They recorded two songs with producer Nick Raskulinecz, a recorded version of "Set Me Free" and a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money", for the soundtracks to the movies Hulk and The Italian Job, respectively. Weiland joined the band soon after. "Set Me Free" managed to peak at number 17 on the Mainstream Rock Chart without any radio promotion or a record label.

It was prior to a screening of The Hulk at Universal Studios that the band chose a name. After seeing a movie by Revolution Studios, Slash liked the beginning of the word, eventually thinking of Revolver because of its multiple meanings; the name of a gun, subtext of a revolving door which suited the band as well as the name of a Beatles album. When he suggested Revolver to the band, Weiland suggested back Black Velvet Revolver, liking the idea of "something intimate like velvet juxtaposed with something deadly like a gun." They eventually arrived at Velvet Revolver, announcing it at a press conference and performance showcase at the El Rey Theatre while also performing the songs "Set Me Free" and "Slither" as well as covers of Nirvana's "Negative Creep", Sex Pistols' "Bodies", and Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy".

Contraband and mainstream success (2003–2005)

Prior to the recording of their debut album, Weiland took material that the band had previously written to his studio, Lavish, in Toluca Lake. With engineer Doug Grean, Weiland rearranged the music to fit his vocals, eventually coming out with the songs "Big Machine" and "Dirty Little Thing". The band worked on new material for songs such as "You Got No Right", "Slither", "Sucker Train Blues", and "Do It for the Kids", among others. It was during this time that Weiland was arrested at the parking lot of his studio for drug possession. Upon release from jail, he wrote lyrics to material he was given previously, writing the lyrics to the song "Fall to Pieces". Velvet Revolver soon began recording their debut album. Initially, they recorded "Slither" with producer Bob Ezrin at Henson Studios, but were dissatisfied with the result. After recording "Headspace" with Josh Abraham, the band liked the track enough to do the rest of the album with him.

Velvet Revolver soon gained major label attention with Warner Bros. and Chrysalis. RCA and Elektra were also interested in signing the band. They eventually signed with RCA Records. They recorded their album at NRG Recording Studios, while Slash recorded his guitar parts at a smaller studio on the southern corner between Highland Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. During recording, Weiland could only work for three hours a day due to a court order mentioning that he was to stay in a halfway house. The marketing campaign for Velvet Revolver in the run-up to the release of the first album was profiled as part of the Frontline program The Way the Music Died, which included interviews with the band members and producers.

The resulting album, titled Contraband, was released on June 8, 2004. Helped by the success of the single "Slither", it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling over 250,000 copies in the first week. Contraband went on to sell four million copies worldwide, 2.9 million of which were sold in the United States, and was certified 2× platinum by the RIAA. Both "Slither" and "Fall to Pieces" managed to peak at number one on the Mainstream Rock Chart as well as number 56 and 67 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. "Slither" also peaked at number one on the Modern Rock Chart and number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. The album's third single, "Dirty Little Thing", peaked at number eight on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Critically, the album was generally well received. Despite being praised for its hedonism and maturity, critics noted a disconnection between "singer and band". Velvet Revolver won the Kerrang! Award for Best International Newcomer in 2004, and the following year they won the Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy Award for "Slither". They also received a nomination for Rock Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards while "Fall to Pieces" was nominated for a Song of the Year/Rock Radio Radio Music Award. They recorded a new song entitled "Come On, Come In" for the movie Fantastic Four in 2005, which peaked at number 14 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. "Fall to Pieces" then re-entered the charts, peaking at number twenty-five on the Adult Top 40 the same year.

Velvet Revolver toured extensively for nineteen months in support of Contraband. They toured both the United States and Europe twice, while also performing in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. They performed at Live 8 and various festivals including Download Festival, as well as Ozzfest. It was during the tour that the band members, with the exception of Kushner, began to relapse on alcohol and drugs. Though they managed to get clean in time for the recording of their new album, Slash felt that "[the band] lost [Weiland]" and "thought the overall spirit of everything was declining at that point."

Libertad and departure of Scott Weiland (2005–2008)

Weiland announced in 2005 that Velvet Revolver's next album would be titled Libertad and would be a concept album. When they started writing material, they decided against the concept idea. Initially, the band started working with producer Rick Rubin on the album. However, due to his methods, such as having a crew to do the work and engineering while only popping in occasionally, and due to the fact that he was also working with other bands at the same time, they decided against continuing with Rubin. At the suggestion of Weiland, Velvet Revolver began working with Brendan O'Brien. Slash stated that O' Brien "brought more than just discipline to the equation, he brought a musicality that stems from the fact that he plays guitar, bass and drums. At any given moment he could play along [with the band] and it really helped the process."  While writing for the album, Weiland believed that his bandmates were going to reunite with Guns N' Roses when the band's manager was talking to Axl Rose about switching management companies, and were not going to record their second album. He was later convinced by the band that this was not the case.

Following the completion of the album, Velvet Revolver performed for and inducted Van Halen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Weiland and Slash speaking on the band's behalf, on March 12, 2007. The band played a medley of "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" and "Runaround". Shows in South America with Aerosmith followed in April. They released the EP Melody and the Tyranny on June 1 to serve as a precursor to the release of their new album, which featured two songs from Libertad, a cover of Talking Heads song "Psycho Killer" and a video documentary about the making of Libertad as well as a live video of the band performing "Do It for the Kids".

Libertad was released on July 3, 2007, peaking at number five on the Billboard 200. The album's first single "She Builds Quick Machines" peaked at 74 on the Hot Canadian Digital Singles. The second and third singles, "The Last Fight" and "Get Out the Door", both peaked at number 16 and 34 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, respectively. Critical reception to the album was mixed. Though some critics praised the album and felt that Libertad gave the band an identity of their own, outside of the Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots comparisons, others described the album as "bland" and noted that the band have still to gel with them "play[ing] to their strengths instead of finding a collective sound."

In support of Libertad, Velvet Revolver toured North America with Alice in Chains from August 2007 to October. They also performed at the Virgin Festival, Gods of Metal, and Download in 2007. A November tour of Japan was canceled after they were denied visas, and in 2008, a tour of Australia was postponed, due to health issues, and later canceled following Weiland's decision to voluntarily enter a rehab facility. On November 21, 2007, Weiland was arrested after crashing his car while driving on an L.A. highway. He was charged with driving under the influence of drugs with a prior conviction and later released on $40,000 bail. Velvet Revolver then toured both the US and the UK, as well as some European shows, on the Rock n' Roll as It Should Be tour from January 24 to April 1, 2008. They also played at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival on March 8 the same year. It was during the tour that Weiland "got back into his old ways", which started to take their toll on the rest of the band with the cancellation of the Australian tour seen as the "final blow".

On the UK tour, the band members never spoke with Weiland, with the exception of a few arguments around the stage. Tensions came to a head during Velvet Revolver's Glasgow show on March 20, 2008, where Weiland announced to the crowd that it was the band's last tour, unaware that the other band members were already planning on firing him. After Sorum posted a message about the show on his website, Weiland issued a statement through Blabbermouth.net in response, saying he "made many attempts to remain cordial with the members of [Velvet Revolver], but mainly, the likes of [Sorum]" and that "[the band] were a gang. But ego and jealousy can get the better of anyone." Slash later stated that it would not be Velvet Revolver's last tour. Weiland's departure was announced on April 1. Weiland also departed the cover band Camp Freddy, which also featured Sorum, and reunited with Stone Temple Pilots, before being fired in 2013.

Search for a new singer and solo careers (2008–2015)

After Weiland's departure, the band began recording and searching for a new singer. The search was sporadic with the band spending some time auditioning singers, then turning into solo projects, returning to the band, then abandoning it again. Several names were rumored to be auditioning for the band through the years. Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge) was strongly rumored  due to his collaborations with Slash; Lenny Kravitz, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, Steve Isaacs formerly of Skycycle and the Panic Channel, Royston Langdon of Spacehog, Donovan Leitch of Camp Freddy, Ours singer Jimmy Gnecco and Scars on Broadway guitarist Franky Perez, as well as previous auditionee Sebastian Bach. Ex-Slash's Snakepit lead vocalist Rod Jackson was rumoured to audition, but Slash stated that he would not collaborate with Jackson again, citing his poor work ethic and unreliability. Kushner later revealed that Perez was officially hired by the band as vocalist for a brief time in 2008.

Slash, McKagan, and Sorum all contributed to the song "Kissed It" for the Macy Gray album The Sellout, which was released on June 22, 2010. Despite not featuring Kushner, the trio were credited as Velvet Revolver on the album. The band released their first concert DVD on November 16, 2010, entitled Live In Houston, which was filmed June 18, 2004, at the Verizon Wireless Theater while the band was touring in support of Contraband. Slash, McKagan and Sorum made a performance at the Road Recovery benefit concert on September 13 with a guest appearance from Kushner.

Velvet Revolver reunited for a one-off performance with Scott Weiland at a benefit concert for the late John O'Brien, on January 12, 2012. Following a benefit show for the Road Recovery in 2011 with the other Velvet Revolver members, each one agreed to a one-off reunion before Kushner invited Weiland, who also agreed. Kushner also stated it was then unknown what Velvet Revolver's plans were for the future after the reunion show; "I know everyone's got other commitments, but I think everyone's like, 'Let's get this thing done and get through this and then we'll see.'"

In April 2012, Weiland remarked that he would like to reunite permanently with Velvet Revolver, saying that "if Maynard James Keenan can do it with A Perfect Circle and Tool, then there's no reason why I shouldn't go and do it with both bands". Further in May in an interview with ABC Radio Weiland said that he had reunited with the band permanently for a tour and an album, which was denied a few days later by Slash in an interview with 93X.

On May 12, 2014, in an interview at the MusiCares benefit concert, Slash told journalist Lucas H. Gordon that he "think[s] [they're] gonna audition a singer" in the future. However, he also stated that he would be touring with his solo band "for the next year and a half."

On June 29, 2014, in an interview to Totalrock radio, Duff McKagan talked to Hayley Leggs in Clisson France about the subject of a new lead vocalist for Velvet Revolver and revealed that there had been at least one audition for the role of lead vocalist, but said that the person that they auditioned did not properly impress the remaining members of the band. He also ruled himself out of being the band's lead vocalist.

On December 3, 2015, Weiland was found dead on his tour bus around 9 pm, one day before he was to perform in Minnesota with his band the Wildabouts, which ended the possible reunion. Both Slash and McKagan rejoined Guns N' Roses in 2016.

Musical style
Velvet Revolver's first album Contraband was described by Johnny Loftus of AllMusic as an "updated version of Guns N' Roses swagger behind Scott Weiland's glammy, elastic vocals." David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "[a]nyone expecting Use Your Illusion III, though, will be in for a slight buzzkill" and that "[t]he songs suggest the pop grunge of Weiland's old band more than the careening overdrive of GN'R." A number of reviewers made some comparisons to the members previous bands, with PopMatters reviewer David Powell stating that "Contraband is a pretty good record of unpretentious rock and roll that suffers from inevitable comparison with the best efforts of its parent bands." He went on to state that while Velvet Revolver's "heritage is evident on most of the songs", Contraband "improves with repeat listening, which is encouraging." Velvet Revolver's second album Libertad saw the band's style change with the presence of producer Brendan O'Brien, noted by AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Erlewine also stated that "too often, there are concessions between Weiland and the others during the course of a song." Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly stated that Libertad "feels both comfortingly familiar and vaguely exotic." Songs such as "Let it Roll" and "She Mine" have seen some comparisons to the Doors, the Rolling Stones and the Stooges, as noted by San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Jaan Uhelszki. The New York Post commented that "Slash's guitar riffs throughout this new record are as aggressive as a caged cat" and "
singer Scott Weiland's vocals are crisp and controlled yet passionate."

Members
Slash – lead guitar, talkbox (2002–2012)
Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals (2002–2012)
Matt Sorum – drums, percussion, backing vocals (2002–2012)
Dave Kushner – rhythm guitar (2002–2012)
Scott Weiland – lead vocals, keyboards (2003–2008, 2012; died 2015)

Discography

Studio albums
Contraband (2004)
Libertad (2007)

Awards and nominations

Velvet Revolver have received one Grammy Award. The band won the Grammy when "Slither" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2005. The song "Fall to Pieces" received a nomination for Song of the Year/Rock Radio Radio Music Award in 2005. The band won the Best International Newcomer Kerrang! Award in 2004 while they were nominated for a Rock Artist of the Year Billboard Music Award in 2005.

Billboard Music Awards
The Billboard Music Awards were awarded annually by Billboard magazine.

|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 2005 || Velvet Revolver || Rock Artist of the Year ||

Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

|-
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2005 || "Slither" || Best Hard Rock Performance ||
|-
| "Fall to Pieces" || Best Rock Song ||
|-
|  Contraband || Best Rock Album ||

Kerrang! Awards
The Kerrang! Awards are awarded annually by Kerrang! Magazine.

|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 2004 ||  Velvet Revolver || Best International Newcomer ||

Radio Music Awards
The Radio Music Awards were awarded annually honoring the most successful songs on mainstream radio.

|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 2005 ||  "Fall to Pieces" || Song of the Year/Rock Radio ||

References

External links

2002 establishments in California
American alternative metal musical groups
Grammy Award winners
Guns N' Roses
Hard rock musical groups from California
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 2002
Musical groups disestablished in 2008
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Musical groups from Orange County, California
RCA Records artists
Rock music supergroups

Velvet Revolver


The Ghost of St. Michael's is a 1941 British comedy-thriller film, produced by Ealing Studios.

Will Hay, the film's star, replaced his sidekicks, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott, from his previous film Where's That Fire? with comedian Claude Hulbert. Hay and Hulbert would act together again in My Learned Friend two years later.

Typical of comedies made during the war, it has an anti-Nazi plot.

Plot
An ineffectual science teacher William Lamb (Will Hay) is hired by a school normally located in middle England (St Michael's) recently transferred because of World War II evacuation policy to the remote Dunbain Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Posing as (amongst many other things) an Old Etonian, Lamb settles down into his new surroundings and becomes acquainted with the various local Scottish traditions and legends that abound and strikes up a friendship with one of the other masters, Hilary Tisdaile (Claude Hulbert).

However, shortly after his arrival an ancient curse returns to Dunbain Castle. The sound of bagpipes signals the death of a member of staff. Two die and Lamb is initially regarded as a suspect. With his friend appointed as the new headmaster (and the next potential victim), Lamb must solve the mystery of the mysterious murders with the assistance of mischievous know-all schoolboy Percy Thorne (Charles Hawtrey). A Nazi spy ring proves to be behind the killings, and is defeated by a British agent hidden amongst the staff.

In one of the more memorable scenes Lamb is trapped inside a secret room with the ceiling slowly descending upon him. They hide under an iron table but the legs start to bend.

Mrs Wigmore (who has proved to be the traitor) tries to shoot her way to escape but the bullets bounce off the suit of armour which Tisdaile is wearing.

At the very end of the film Hay can be heard breaking character and calling the character Tisdaile "Claude", the actor's real name. This may have been intentional as Hay had just told the cinema audience that it was "all clear" and that they could all go home.
Note that Charles Hawtrey was 26 years old when he portrayed Percy Thorne.

Cast

Will Hay – William Lamb
Claude Hulbert – Hilary Tisdaile
Charles Hawtrey – Percy Thorne
Raymond Huntley – Mr Humphries
Felix Aylmer – Dr Winter
Elliott Mason – Mrs Wigmore
John Laurie – Jamie MacLeod, the headmaster's assistant
Hay Petrie – Procurator Fiscal
Roddy Hughes – Amberley
Derek Blomfield – Sunshine
Brefni O'Rorke – Sergeant Macfarlane
Manning Whiley - Stock
Charles Mortimer - Sir Ambrose
Clive Baxter - Ritzy
David Keir - Dr Ritchie

External links

1941 films
1940s comedy thriller films
1940s spy thriller films
British black-and-white films
Ealing Studios films
Films directed by Marcel Varnel
Films set in Scotland
British World War II films
World War II films made in wartime
British comedy thriller films
Films produced by Michael Balcon
1941 comedy films
Films set in castles
Films set in schools
Films set on islands
Films about Nazis
1940s British films

The Ghost of St. Michael's


Dianna Hutts Aston (born August 12, 1964) is an American author specializing in books on science and nature, especially for children. She attended the University of Houston to study Journalism and Political Science. She has gained acclaim in literary and science circles for her 'poetic' style. She collaborates with illustrators that produce bright colorful images. She has appeared as an expert guest on NPR's Science Friday. Among her many awards and citations, she has been a finalist and winner of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books several times. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama chose her book "The Moon Over Star" to read to a Washington DC classroom in February 2009.

In addition to her writing, Aston has initiated social outreach programs: The Oz Project for disadvantaged Mexican children, SOS Message in a Bottle Project and This is America for victims of violent crimes. Aston makes her home in Port Aransas, Texas.

Bibliography

References

American children's writers
American science writers
Writers from Houston
1964 births
Living people
People from Port Aransas, Texas

Dianna Hutts Aston


The Centre of the Earth is a purpose-built environmental education centre in Birmingham, England, run by the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country.

Location
It is 1.5 km away from Birmingham City Centre and was opened in 1993, and is claimed to be the first such purpose built centre in an urban setting in Europe. The centre is set in landscaped grounds (originally a council yard), providing a resource for learning and play. The Soho Loop of the BCN Main Line Canal is adjacent, and the centre has its own wharf, which has been recently restored.

Building

The architect for the timber-framed building, which demonstrates the sustainable use of natural resources, was David Lea. Keith Hall, a founding member of the Association for Environment Conscious Building, built the centre. The building and its grounds are easily accessible to people with limited mobility.

Activities
The centre is used as a base for a range of educational activities including:

 Activities for Primary and Secondary schools.
 Training for teachers, community, youth and play workers
 Workshops for students in higher education and teacher training.
 Afterschool activities and study support for children of different ages.
 Demonstrations of habitat creation in small urban spaces.
 A venue for meetings, workshops and training days
 A place to enjoy and study urban wildlife

References

External links
 Official website

Museums in Birmingham, West Midlands
Nature centres in England

Centre of the Earth


Bard is a conversational generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Google, based initially on the LaMDA family of large language models (LLMs) and later PaLM. It was developed as a direct response to the rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT, and was released in a limited capacity in March 2023 to lukewarm responses, before expanding to other countries in May.

LaMDA had been developed and announced in 2021, but was not released to the public. OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 and its subsequent popularity caught Google executives off-guard and sent them into a panic, prompting a massive and unprecedented level of response in the ensuing months. After mobilizing its workforce, the company scrambled to launch Bard in February 2023, with the chatbot taking center stage during the 2023 Google I/O keynote in May.

Background
In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot based on the GPT-3 family of large language models (LLM). ChatGPT gained worldwide attention following its release, becoming a viral Internet sensation. Alarmed by ChatGPT's potential threat to Google Search, Google executives issued a "code red" alert, reassigning several teams to assist in the company's artificial intelligence (AI) efforts. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, was widely reported to have issued the alert, but Pichai later denied this to The New York Times. In a rare and unprecedented move, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who had stepped down from their roles as co-CEOs of Alphabet in 2019, were summoned to emergency meetings with company executives to discuss Google's response to ChatGPT.

Earlier in 2021, the company had unveiled LaMDA, a prototype LLM, but did not release it to the public. When asked by employees at an all-hands meeting whether LaMDA was a missed opportunity for Google to compete with ChatGPT, Pichai and Google AI chief Jeff Dean stated that while the company had similar capabilities to ChatGPT, moving too quickly in that arena would represent a major "reputational risk" due to Google being substantially larger than OpenAI. In January 2023, Google sister company DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis hinted at plans for a ChatGPT rival, and Google employees were instructed to accelerate progress on a ChatGPT competitor, intensively testing "Apprentice Bard" and other chatbots. Pichai assured investors during Google's quarterly earnings investor call in February that the company had plans to expand LaMDA's availability and applications.

History

Announcement
On February 6, 2023, Google announced Bard, a conversational generative artificial intelligence chatbot powered by LaMDA. Bard was first rolled out to a select group of 10,000 "trusted testers", before a wide release scheduled at the end of the month. Bard is overseen by product lead Jack Krawczyk, who described the product as a "collaborative AI service" rather than a search engine, while Pichai detailed how Bard would be integrated into Google Search. Reuters calculated that adding ChatGPT-like features to Google Search could cost the company $6 billion in additional expenses by 2024, while research and consulting firm SemiAnalysis calculated that it would cost Google $3 billion. The technology was developed under the codename "Atlas", with the name "Bard" in reference to the Celtic term for a storyteller and chosen to "reflect the creative nature of the algorithm underneath".

Multiple media outlets and financial analysts described Google as "rushing" Bard's announcement to preempt rival Microsoft's planned February 7 event unveiling its partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its Bing search engine in the form of Bing Chat, as well as playing "catch-up" to Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told The Verge: "I want people to know that we made them dance." Tom Warren of The Verge and Davey Alba of Bloomberg News noted that this marked the beginning of another clash between the two Big Tech companies over "the future of search", after their six-year "truce" expired in 2021; Chris Stokel-Walker of The Guardian, Sara Morrison of Recode, and analyst Dan Ives of investment firm Wedbush Securities labeled this an AI arms race between the two.

After an "underwhelming" February 8 livestream in Paris showcasing Bard, Google's stock fell eight percent, equivalent to a $100 billion loss in market value, and the YouTube video of the livestream was made private. Many viewers also pointed out an error during the demo in which Bard gives inaccurate information about the James Webb Space Telescope in response to a query. Google employees criticized Pichai's "rushed" and "botched" announcement of Bard on Memgen, the company's internal forum, while Maggie Harrison of Futurism called the rollout "chaos". Pichai defended his actions by saying that Google had been "deeply working on AI for a long time", rejecting the notion that Bard's launch was a knee-jerk reaction. Alphabet chairman John Hennessy acknowledged that Bard was not fully product-ready, but expressed excitement at the technology's potential.

A week after the James Webb debacle, Pichai asked employees to dedicate two to four hours to dogfood testing Bard, while Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan encouraged employees to correct any errors Bard makes. 80,000 employees responded to Pichai's call to action. In the following weeks, Google employees roundly criticized Bard in internal messages, citing a variety of safety and ethical concerns and calling on company leaders not to launch the service. Seeking to prioritize keeping up with competitors, Google executives decided to proceed with the launch anyway, overruling an unsympathetic risk assessment report conducted by its AI ethics team. After Pichai suddenly laid off 12,000 employees later that month due to slowing revenue growth, remaining workers shared memes and snippets of their humorous exchanges with Bard soliciting its "opinion" on the layoffs. Google employees began testing a more sophisticated version of Bard with larger parameters, dubbed "Big Bard", in mid-March. In 2023, Bard introduced new integrations with Gmail, Docs, and Drive, allowing users to opt-in for Bard to fetch information directly from these platforms, enhancing its utility.

Launch
Google opened up early access for Bard on March 21, 2023, in a limited capacity, allowing users in the U.S. and UK to join a waitlist. Unlike Microsoft's approach with Bing Chat, Bard was launched as a standalone web application featuring a text box and a disclaimer that the chatbot "may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn't represent Google's views". Three responses are then provided to each question, with users prompted to submit feedback on the usefulness of each answer. Google vice presidents Sissie Hsiao and Eli Collins framed Bard as a complement to Google Search and stated that the company had not determined how to make the service profitable. Among those granted early access were those enrolled in Google's "Pixel Superfans" loyalty program, users of its Pixel and Nest devices, and Google One subscribers.

Bard is trained by third-party contractors hired by Google, including Appen and Accenture workers, whom Business Insider and Bloomberg News reported were placed under extreme pressure, overworked, and underpaid. Bard is also trained on data from publicly available sources, which Google disclosed by amending its privacy policy. Shortly after Bard's initial launch, Google reorganized the team behind Google Assistant, the company's virtual assistant, to focus on Bard instead. Google researcher Jacob Devlin resigned from the company after claiming that Bard had surreptitiously leveraged data from ChatGPT; Google denied the allegations. Meanwhile, a senior software engineer at the company published an internal memo warning that Google was falling behind in the AI "arms race", not to OpenAI but to independent researchers in open-source communities. Pichai revealed on March 31 that the company intended to "upgrade" Bard by basing it on PaLM, a newer and more powerful LLM from Google, rather than LaMDA. The same day, Krawczyk announced that Google had added "math and logic capabilities" to Bard. Bard gained the ability to assist in coding in April, being compatible with more than 20 programming languages at launch. Microsoft also began running advertisements in the address bar of a developer build of the Edge browser, urging users to try Bing whenever they visit the Bard web app. Google is working to integrate Bard into its ChromeOS operating system and Pixel devices.

Updates
Bard took center stage during the annual Google I/O keynote in May 2023, with Pichai and Hsiao announcing a series of updates to Bard, including the adoption of PaLM 2, integration with other Google products and third-party services, expansion to 180 countries, support for additional languages, and new features. In a stark contrast to previous years, the Google Assistant was barely mentioned during the event. The expanded rollout did not include any nations in the European Union (EU), possibly reflecting concerns about compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation. Those with Google Workspace accounts also gained access to the service. Google attempted to launch Bard in the EU in June, but was blocked by the Irish Data Protection Commission, who requested for a "data protection impact assessment" from the company. In July, Google launched Bard in the EU and Brazil, added support for dozens of new languages, and introduced multiple new personalization and productivity features. An invite-only chatroom ("server") on Discord was created in July, consisting of users who heavily use Bard. Over the next few months, the chatroom was flooded with comments questioning the usefulness of Bard.

Reflecting on Bard's launch in an interview with Wired in September, Pichai acknowledged that Google had been "cautious" to release LaMDA because of "the responsibility that comes with getting it right", complimenting OpenAI for ChatGPT's launch and firing back at Nadella's comment about making Google dance. Google released a major update to the chatbot later that month, integrating it into many of its products through "extensions", adding a button to fact-check AI-generated responses through Google Search, and allowing users to share conversation threads. Google also introduced the "Google-Extended" web crawler as part of its search engine's robots.txt indexing file to allow web publishers to opt-out of allowing Bard to scan them for training. Online users later discovered that Google Search was indexing Bard conversation threads on which users had enabled sharing. Google stated that this was an error and quickly moved to rectify the leaks.

In October, during the company's annual Made by Google event in which it announced the Pixel 8 series and the Pixel Watch 2, Hsiao unveiled "Assistant with Bard", an upgraded version of the Google Assistant which was deeply integrated with Bard, following in the footsteps of Amazon's approach with Alexa.

Reception
Bard received mixed reviews upon its initial release. James Vincent of The Verge found Bard faster than ChatGPT and Bing Chat, but noted that the lack of Bing-esque footnotes was "both a blessing and a curse", encouraging Google to be bolder when experimenting with AI. His colleague David Pierce was unimpressed by its uninteresting and sometimes inaccurate responses, adding that despite Google's insistence that Bard was not a search engine, its user interface resembled that of one, which could cause problems for Google. Cade Metz of The New York Times described Bard as "more cautious" than ChatGPT, while Shirin Ghaffary of Vox called it "dry and uncontroversial" due to the reserved nature of its responses.

The Washington Post columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler found Bard a mixed bag, noting that it acted cautiously but could show Internet-influenced bias. Writing for ZDNet, Sabrina Ortiz believed ChatGPT and Bing Chat were "more capable overall" in comparison to Bard, while Wired journalist Lauren Goode found her conversation with Bard "the most bizarre" of the three. After the introduction of extensions, The New York Times Kevin Roose found the update underwhelming and "a bit of a mess", while Business Insider Lakshmi Varanasi found that Bard often leaned more into flattery than facts.

In a 60 Minutes conversation with Hsiao, Google senior vice president James Manyika, and Pichai, CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley found Bard "unsettling". Associate professor Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was underwhelmed by Bard's artistic ineptitude. The Times later conducted a test with ChatGPT and Bard regarding their ability to handle tasks expected of human assistants, and concluded that ChatGPT's performance was vastly superior to that of Bard. NewsGuard, a tool which rates the credibility of news articles, found that Bard was more skilled at debunking known conspiracy theories than ChatGPT.

See also
 Tay (chatbot)
 Poe (chatbot)
 Ernie Bot

References

External links

 White paper

2023 software
Chatbots
Google software
Virtual assistants

Bard (chatbot)


Iridium is the 77th element on the periodic table. Its symbol is Ir and its atomic number is 77.

Chemistry
Iridium is a metal. Like other metals in the platinum group, Iridium is a rare and expensive "noble metal" and is a transition metal. It looks like platinum and is found in asteroids and comets. It is exceptionally hard-wearing.

Iridium deposits are used to identify relative dates of collisions of foreign bodies. Iridium can fold and bend just like aluminum, and remains very shiny. Most iridium is found in the Americas, though some is mined in Myanmar, South Africa, and Russia. Iridium melts at 2410 °C, and boils at 4130 °C. It is the most corrosion-resistant metal.

Iridium is not needed in the body. It is used for the tips of pens. The main uses of iridium are the metal itself and its alloys.

History
A man named Smithson Tennant first found it in the year 1803 and is was named after Iris in Greek mythology. Smithson Tennant found it in the remains when he left crude platinum in a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.

Transition metals

Iridium


José Joaquín Araiza Vázquez (23 March 1900 – 27 September 1971) was a Mexican chess master.

In 1926 in Mexico City, Araiza took second place, behind Carlos Torre.  In 1928, he tied for twelfth/fourteenth place in The Hague (Amateur World Championship; Max Euwe won).  In 1930, he took eleventh place in San Remo (Alexander Alekhine won).  In 1930, he took eighth place in Nice (Savielly Tartakower won).

In 1932, he took eleventh in Pasadena (Alekhine won).  In 1932 in Mexico City Araiza organized and played in the first international tournament held in Mexico, taking third place behind Alekhine and Isaac Kashdan.  In 1934, he took eighth place in Chicago (Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine won). In 1934, he took thirteenth place in Syracuse (Reshevsky won).  In 1934/35, he took fourth place in Mexico City, behind Fine, Herman Steiner and Arthur Dake.  In 1945, he tied for ninth/tenth place in Hollywood (Reshevsky won).

References

External links

1900 births
1971 deaths
Mexican chess players
20th-century chess players

José Joaquín Araiza


Hoheit tanzt Walzer (Her Highness Dances the Waltz) is an operetta in three acts by Leo Ascher to a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald, with a plot loosely based on Oscar Straus' 1907 operetta Ein Walzertraum. It premiered on 24 February 1912 at the Raimund Theater in Vienna. The work also appeared in a version with an extended plot under the title Hochzeitswalzer in Zürich in 1937.

Reception
Hoheit tanzt Walzer was Leo Ascher's most successful work. The premiere at the Raimund Theatre, where Betty Fischer created the role of the Princess Marie, was followed by a run of 500 performances, with more than 2 500 performances over the next ten years. However, it could not establish itself in the contemporary operetta repertoire.

Roles
Dominik Gaudenzdorf, librarian
Lisi, his daughter
Plunderer, a rich inn–keeper
Peperl Geschwandtner, music teacher (buffo)
Aloisius Strampfl, (tenor)
Sali, maid at the Gaudenzdorfs
Princess Marie (soprano)
Mrs von Kalesch, court lady
Prince Victor Bogumil
Princess Creszentia Luise
Count Bendl, master of ceremonies
Guests, courtiers, servants, musicians

Plot
Time and place: Vienna and environs, beginning of the 19th century

In short:
Lisi falls in love with Aloisius, but they have no future for the lack of money. Peperl lends them money to open an inn, but the jealous Plunderer schemes to the couple's business failure. Princess Marie visits the inn incognito and falls in love with Peperl, a musician. The Princess gets found out, but her patronage turns the inn's fortune. Sadly, forced by court protocol, the Princess has to marry Prince Victor. She makes the best of the situation by appointing Peperl as music teacher to her younger siblings and making him Hofkapellmeister (conductor of the court orchestra).

Act 1
Room at the Gaudenzdorfs

Dominik Gaunzendorf celebrates the 25th year in his occupation. He is anxious to see his daughter Lisi well married, preferably to the rich inn–keeper Plunderer. But Lisi is in love with the poor Aloisius Strampfl. Strampfl wants to buy the inn The Silver Pretzel, but has no money. The music teacher Peperl Geschwandtner is a good friend of the couple, and he lends them the money for a deposit, hoping the enterprise might further his ambition to be appointed as Hofkapellmeister.

Plunderer arrives at the festivities and is arrogantly confident of obtaining Lisi in marriage. But Geschwandtner teases him about his prospects, and Lisi tells him outright she does not like him. His misery is complete when Strampfl, now an inn–keeper himself, gains Lisi as his bride.

The young couple see a rosy future, but Geschwandtner receives a message that his appointment will not be forthcoming.

Act 2
The inn The Silver Pretzel

The young couple has no luck with The Silver Pretzel; the competition across the road, Plunderer's inn The Golden Ox, is too successful with its orchestra, so much so that Geschwandtner has to work as waiter in The Silver Pretzel. But soon he manages through clever newspaper advertisements to lure increasing numbers of eligible young ladies and gentlemen into The Silver Pretzel.

By chance, Princess Marie—tired of the rigid court life—appears incognito at The Silver Pretzel. Geschwandtner takes her to be a domestic and falls in love with her. The Princess enjoys the situation enormously and secretly orders the orchestra from The Golden Ox to come and play. She and Geschwandtner join the throng of waltzing couples.

When the court carriage arrives to drive the Princess home, her incognito is lifted, much to Geschwandtner's surprise. As a consequence of the noble visit, the inn's reputation is greatly enhanced and future customer numbers are secured.

Act 3
Ante-room in the castle of Princess Marie near Vienna

It is the wedding day of Princess Marie; following court protocol, she is to marry Prince Victor Bogumil. She reflects with sadness how much happier a marriage to the plain but sincere Geschwandtner would be, but they both know that society conventions will not allow it. However, she contributes to his fortune by making him the music teacher of her younger siblings, and appointing him to the post of Hofkapellmeister. Geschwandtner should be blissfully happy, now that his life–long ambition as a musician has been fulfilled, but he remains of course sad.

Notable arias
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Movie/TV adaptations
Her Highness Dances the Waltz (1926)
Her Highness Dances the Waltz (1935)
 (A Czech-language version of the same film)
 (A French-language version of the same film)

Bibliography

References

, Anton Würz (ed.), Stuttgart 1962

External links

German-language operettas
1912 operas
Operas set in Austria
Operas

Hoheit tanzt Walzer