American Beauty is a 1999 American drama movie directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, an advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, played by Mena Suvari. Annette Bening stars as Lester's materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, and Allison Janney also feature. Academics have described the movie as a satire of American middle-class notions of beauty and personal satisfaction; further analysis has focused on the film's explorations of romantic and paternal love, sexuality, materialism, self-liberation, and redemption.

Ball began writing American Beauty as a play in the early 1990s, partly inspired by the media circus that accompanied the Amy Fisher trial in 1992. He shelved the play after deciding that the story would not work on stage. After several years as a television screenwriter, Ball revived the idea in 1997 when attempting to break into the movie industry. The rewritten script had a cynical outlook influenced by Ball's frustrating tenures writing for several sitcoms. Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen took the script for American Beauty to the fledgling DreamWorks studio, which bought it for $250,000, outbidding several other production bodies. DreamWorks financed the $15 million production and served as its North American distributor. American Beauty marked acclaimed theater director Mendes' movie debut; courted after his successful productions of the musicals Oliver! and Cabaret, Mendes was nevertheless only given the job after twenty others were considered and several A-list directors reportedly turned down the opportunity.

Spacey was Mendes' first choice for the role of Lester, though DreamWorks urged him to consider better-known actors. Similarly, the studio suggested several actresses for the role of Carolyn until Mendes offered the part to Bening without the studio's knowledge. Filming took place between December 1998 and February 1999 on sound stages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California and on location in Los Angeles. Mendes' dominant directorial style was deliberate and composed; he made extensive use of static shots and slow pans and zooms to generate tension. Cinematographer Conrad L. Hall complemented Mendes' style with peaceful shot compositions to contrast with the turbulent on-screen events. During editing, Mendes made several changes that softened the cynical tone of Ball's script.

Released in North America on September 17, 1999, American Beauty was acclaimed by critics and audiences; it was the best-reviewed American film of the year and grossed over $350 million worldwide. Reviewers praised most aspects of the production, with particular emphasis on Mendes, Spacey and Ball; criticism tended to focus on the familiarity of the characters and setting. DreamWorks launched a major campaign to increase American Beauty's chances of Oscar success; at the 2000 ceremony the movie won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Spacey), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. The movie was nominated for and won many other awards and honors, mainly for directing, writing and acting.

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1999 comedy-drama movies
1999 LGBT movies
1990s satirical movies
American comedy-drama movies
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American satirical movies
BAFTA Award winners
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English-language movies
Golden Globe Award winning movies
LGBT comedy-drama movies
Midlife crisis movies
Movies about dysfunctional families
Movies about suburbia
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Movies directed by Sam Mendes
Adultery in movies

American Beauty (movie)


The Meleager Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure style. He was active in the first third of the 4th century BC. The Meleager Painter followed a tradition started by a group of slightly earlier artists, such as the Mikion Painter. He is probably the most important painter of his generation. He painted a wide variety of vase shapes, including even kylikes, a rarity among his contemporaries.

His conventional name is derived from several vases depicting hunters, including Atalante and her lover Meleagros. Colonette kraters and bell kraters by him normally bear Dionysiac motifs. Like other painters of his time, he liked to paint figures wearing oriental garb. The tondos inside his kylikes are often framed by wreaths. They mostly depict groups of deities or individual gods. The outsides of kylikes and the paintings on the backs of other vases by him are often of inferior quality.

Bibliography
John D. Beazley. Attic Red Figure Vase Painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
John Boardman. Rotfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Die klassische Zeit, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1991 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Band 48), besonders, p. 176 .

External links

Works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Works at the Getty Museum

4th-century BC deaths
Ancient Greek vase painters
Anonymous artists of antiquity
People from Attica
Year of birth unknown

Meleager Painter


Qazi Muhammad (1893-1947) was the Nationalist and Religious Kurdish leader and the Head of Republic of Mahabad (Republic of Kurdistan), the second modern Kurdish state in the Middle East (after Republic of Ararat). He acted as the president of the Russian backed Republic of Mahabad, in Kurdistan of Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) in 1946. He was also the founder of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran. A year later, the Kurdish national movement (Komeley Jiyanewey Kurd) that he helped organize was crushed by Iran's central government. The Iranian military court sentenced him to death, and he was hanged in Chuwarchira Square in the center of city of Mahabad at   March 30 1947. Mustafa Barzani, the father of nationalist Kurdish movement in Iraqi Kurdistan (Southern Kurdistan), was the defence minister in his cabinet. One of his sons Ali Qazi is today an active member in the Kurdish movement.

Literature
Archie Roosevelt, Jr., "The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad" ,Middle East Journal, no. 1 (July 1947), pp. 247–69

1893 births
1947 deaths
History of Iran
Kurdish politicians

Qazi Muhammad


Diogenes Laërtius was a historian. He wrote a history of Greek philosophy, in ten volumes. Very little is known about him as a person. Probably he lived in the 3rd century BC. The last philiosopher found in this work is a student of Sextus Empiricus. Sextus Empiricus lived in the 2nd century. Diogenes Laertius does not list many Roman philiosphers. He also does not talk about Middle Platonism, which must have been popular during that time.

Ancient Greek philosophers
3rd-century BC births

Diogenes Laërtius


Shrek the Musical is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, along with elements of its sequels: Shrek 2, Shrek Forever After and William Steig's 1990 book Shrek!. After a trial run in Seattle, the original Broadway production opened in December 2008 and closed after a run of over 12 months in January 2010. It was followed by a tour of the United States which opened in 2010, and a re-vamped West End production from June 2011 to February 2013.

A high definition filming of the Broadway production, shot by RadicalMedia, was released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on October 15, 2013 in North America and December 2, 2013 in the United Kingdom. The digital version of the film was made available on Netflix beginning in December 2013.

History

Development
Lindsay-Abaire and Jason Moore (director) began working on the show in 2002, with Tesori joining the team from 2004. A reading took place on August 10, 2007, with Stephen Kramer Glickman in the role of Shrek, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Princess Fiona, Robert L. Daye Jr. as Donkey and Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad.

Seattle premiere (2008)
The musical premiered in an out-of-town tryout at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. Previews began August 14, 2008, with an opening night of September 10. The tryout ran through September 21, and played to generally favorable reviews, being cited as one of the few movie-to-stage adaptations "with heart". The principal cast included Brian d'Arcy James as Shrek, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Sieber as Lord Farquaad, Chester Gregory II as Donkey, John Tartaglia as Pinocchio and Kecia Lewis-Evans as the Dragon.

During previews, "I Could Get Used to This" was replaced by "Don't Let Me Go," and "Let Her In" became "Make a Move". Also during previews, a brief reprise of "Who I'd Be" was sung after Shrek overhears Fiona's misleading comment about being with a hideous beast, which led into "Build a Wall". This was cut and "Build a Wall" was placed after "Morning Person (Reprise)". "Build a Wall" was later cut during previews, but re-instated towards the end of the run.

Broadway production (2008–10)
After extensive changes were made, the show began previews on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre on November 8, 2008, with the official opening on December 14. The cast included d'Arcy James as Shrek, Foster as Fiona, Sieber as Farquaad and Tartaglia as Pinocchio. Daniel Breaker took over the role of Donkey, as the creative team thought Chester Gregory II did not fit the part. The Dragon was voiced by company members Haven Burton, Aymee Garcia and Rachel Stern, instead of a soloist. Kecia Lewis-Evans, who played Dragon in Seattle, was offered a part in the show's ensemble but declined. Ben Crawford was the standby for Shrek, until he replaced d'Arcy James for the final months of performances.

The song "I'm a Believer", which was originally played as the audience left the theatre, was added to the score on October 2, 2009, and sung by the entire company at the end of the performance.

The Broadway production of the show received a total of twelve Drama Desk Award and eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and acting awards for d'Arcy James, Foster and Sieber.  At the Tony Awards, the entire cast performed a section of "Freak Flag" for the opening number medley; later on, d'Arcy James, Foster and Breaker introduced Sieber and company, who performed "What's Up Duloc?".

The Broadway production closed on January 3, 2010, after 441 performances and 37 previews. At the time, it was one of the most expensive musicals to open on Broadway, at an estimated $25 million, and despite generally good reviews, it failed to recoup its initial investment. The show was then extremely modified for the national tour.

US national tours
A national tour of North America began previews at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago, on July 13, 2010, with opening night on July 25. Rob Ashford is the co-director, as the Broadway creative team revised changes. The production marked the debut of an all-new Dragon, voiced off-stage by a single vocalist, with four puppeteers controlling the movements of the new 25-foot puppet.. On the subject, set designer Tim Hatley stated "The biggest change [will be] the dragon. It will be a different creature from the puppet/soul trio on Broadway [but] I think we've finally gotten it right". The tour also features a new opening, new songs and improved illusions, from those on Broadway.

Many changes made for the tour include a new song sung by the dragon entitled "Forever", replacing "Donkey Pot Pie".

The original touring cast featured Eric Petersen as Shrek, Haven Burton as Princess Fiona, Alan Mingo Jr. as Donkey, and David F.M. Vaughn as Lord Farquaad. Carrie Compere played the Dragon, with Blakely Slaybaugh as Pinocchio. Todd Buonopane was originally cast in the role of Lord Farquaad, but was replaced by Vaughn before opening.
 The tour played its final performance at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles on July 31, 2011, ahead of a non-equity tour in September.

A second tour of North America, featuring a Non-Equity cast, launched September 9, 2011, at the Capitol Theatre in Yakima, Washington. Merritt David Janes appeared as Lord Farquaad. The tour officially opened in Portland, Oregon on September 13, 2011. The tour ran in the U.S. through April 29, 2012, with the final show in Springfield, Missouri, before playing Asia.

The second non-equity tour began October 5, 2012, in Anchorage, Alaska, ending on April 7, 2013, in Reno, Nevada.

West End production (2011–13)
A newly revised scaled-down version began performances in the West End at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, on May 6, 2011. Nigel Lindsay headlined as Shrek, Richard Blackwood as Donkey, Nigel Harman as Lord Farquaad and Amanda Holden as Princess Fiona. Landi Oshinowo played the Dragon, with Jonathan Stewart as Pinocchio. The official opening night took place on June 14, 2011. Most critics were positive about the production, and in particular praised Harman's performance, branding him "hysterically funny".

The show was nominated for a total of four awards at the 2012 Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical, Best Actor for Lindsay and Supporting Actor for Harman, as well as Best Costume Design for Tim Hatley. Harman won the award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his performance as Lord Farquaad. The ensemble cast performed "Freak Flag" at the awards.

Kimberley Walsh, of UK pop group Girls Aloud, took over the role of Princess Fiona on October 5, 2011, after Holden announced her pregnancy. Dean Chisnall and Neil McDermott took over from Lindsay and Harman as Shrek and Lord Farquaad respectively on February 29, 2012. Carley Stenson later took over as Princess Fiona from May 23, 2012.

The London production of the show came to an end after 715 performances, on February 24, 2013. Producers announced their plans to tour Shrek across the UK in 2014.

Brazilian production (2012-2014)
Its professional Brazilian production premiered at November 2012 at Teatro João Caetano in Rio de Janeiro. After, it took place in São Paulo in 2013, before touring around the country. The principal characters were played by Diego Luri as Shrek, Sara Sarres (Rio) and Giulia Nadruz (São Paulo) as Princess Fiona, Rodrigo Sant´anna as Donkey, Marcel Octavio (Rio de Janeiro) and Felipe Tavolaro (São Paulo) as Lord Farquaad, Camila Braunna as the Dragon, and Lucas Drummond (Rio) and Marcelo Ferrari (São Paulo) as Pinocchio.

UK and Ireland tours
The UK and Ireland tour began at the Grand Theatre, Leeds on July 23, 2014, before touring across the UK and Ireland. Dean Chisnall repeated his West End performance as Shrek, under the direction of Nigel Harman, who originated the role of Lord Farquaad in the West End. A full company announcement was made in February 2014, with Chisnall to be joined by Legally Blonde star Faye Brookes as Princess Fiona, Gerard Carey as Lord Farquaad, Idriss Kargbo as Donkey, Candace Furbert as Dragon and Will Haswell as Pinocchio. A cast change for the tour took place July 8, 2015, with ensemble member Bronté Barbé taking over the role of Princess Fiona from Brookes. The tour concluded at The Lowry, Salford on February 20, 2016.

The UK and Ireland tour continued at the Edinburgh Playhouse in December 2017. Nigel Harman once again directed the tour which ran until January 2019. The full cast was announced in November 2017 with The X Factor star Amelia Lily and Call the Midwife actress Laura Main sharing the role of Princess Fiona, alongside Samuel Holmes as Lord Farquaad, Stefan Harri as Shrek and Marcus Ayton as Donkey.

A brand new production directed by Sam Holmes and Nick Winston and designed by Phillip Witcomb will begin a UK and Ireland tour beginning at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth in July 2023, running until April 2024. It will star Antony Lawrence as Shrek, Joanne Clifton as Princess Fiona, James Gillan as Lord Faquaad, and Brandon Lee Sears as Donkey.

Australian tour (2020)
The musical had its professional Australian premiere at the Sydney Lyric at the start of the year 2020, before touring Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane. The principal characters, consisting of Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey, Lord Farquaad, the Dragon, Pinocchio, and Gingy, are all portrayed by Ben Mingay, Lucy Durack, Nat Jobe, Todd McKenney, Caleb Vines, Marcia Hines, and Manon Gunderson-Briggs respectively at the start of this tour.

International productions
There have been various international productions which are all non-replica's of the Broadway or West End staging. Countries staging the musical are: Israel (2010), Gdynia, Poland (2011–13), Madrid, Spain (2011–12), Paris, France (2012), São Paulo, Brazil (2012), Italy (2012), Netherlands (2012), Mexico, Spain (2014), Berlin, Germany (2014–15) and Argentina (2015-16).

Synopsis of the Broadway production

Act I
Two ogre parents send their seven-year-old son Shrek out of their house and into the world to make his living. They warn him that because of his looks, he will be shunned by the world, and an angry mob will be the last thing he will see before he dies. Some years later, an embittered, grown up Shrek is living contentedly alone in a swamp ("Big, Bright, Beautiful World"). However, his solitude is disrupted when a refugee caravan of fairytale creatures show up on his property. They explain of their banishment from the Kingdom of Duloc, by order of the evil Lord Farquaad, who sentenced them into penal transportation for being freaks, under penalty of death if they ever return ("Story of my Life"). Although hesitant, Shrek decides to travel to see Farquaad and try to regain his swamp, along with getting the Fairytale Creatures their homes back, with much encouragement from Pinocchio and the gang ("The Goodbye Song").

Along the way, Shrek rescues a talkative Donkey from some of Farquaad's guards. In return for rescuing him, and offering his friendship, Donkey insists on tagging along to show Shrek the way to Duloc, to which he reluctantly agrees ("Don't Let Me Go").

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Duloc, Farquaad is torturing The Gingerbread Man into revealing the whereabouts of other Fairytale Creatures that are still hiding in his Kingdom so he can have them arrested as well. Just as Gingy was going to reveal what he knows, the Captain of the guards arrives and announces that they have found the Magic Mirror. Farquaad asked the mirror if Duloc was the most perfect kingdom of them all. The mirror told him that he's not truly a king yet, but he can become one if he marries a princess. For this episode of "This Is Your Wife" (a parody of The Dating Game), the mirror introduces three different princesses for Lord Farquaad to choose from: Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona; at the suggestion from his henchman, Thelonious, Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who is currently trapped in a castle surrounded by lava and guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Accepting this as a task, Farquaad decides to marry her to become king, and rushes out to plan a raffle to see which knight would be worthy enough to embark on a quest to retrieve Fiona before the Mirror can tell him what happens to her at night. The Mirror then shows the audience the story of Fiona's childhood.

A seven-year-old Fiona dreams of the brave knight who, as her storybooks tell her, will one day rescue her from her tower and end her mysterious curse with "True Love's First Kiss". As she grows into a teenager, and then a headstrong woman, she becomes a little bit stir-crazy, but she never loses her faith in her fairytales ("I Know It's Today").

Shrek and Donkey arrive in Duloc where Farquaad expresses his love for his kingdom, accompanied by his cheerful cookie-cut army of Duloc Dancers ("What's Up Duloc?"). They approach Farquaad, with him being impressed by Shrek's size and appearance. Farquaad demands that Shrek must rescue Fiona, and in return, he will give Shrek the deed to his swamp.

The two unlikely friends set off to find Fiona, with Shrek becoming increasingly annoyed with Donkey as time progresses ("Travel Song"). After crossing the rickety old bridge and arriving at the castle, Shrek sets off alone to rescue Fiona while Donkey encounters Dragon who initially wants to eat him, but then decides to spare him by keeping him for herself after Donkey manages to charm her ("Donkey Pot Pie"/"Forever"). When Shrek finds Fiona, his lack of interest in playing out her desired, romantic rescue scene annoys her, and he drags her off by force ("This is How a Dream Comes True"). The two of them reunite with Donkey, and all three attempt to escape while being chased by the angry Dragon and her skeleton minions. Shrek traps Dragon and they get to a safe point.

Fiona then insists that Shrek reveal his identity and is shocked that her rescuer is an ogre and not the Prince Charming her stories indicated. Shrek explains that he is merely her champion; instead, she is to marry Farquaad. The trio begin their journey back to Duloc, but Fiona becomes apprehensive as the sun begins to set. She insists that they rest for the night and that she spend the night alone in a nearby cave. Donkey and Shrek remain awake, with Donkey asking Shrek who he would be, if he did not have to be an ogre anymore. As Shrek opens up to Donkey on who he would wish to be, it is revealed that Fiona transforms into an ogress after sunset, as part of her curse, and as she stands apart, alone, and listens, she empathizes with Shrek's feelings ("Who I'd Be").

Act II
The next day, Princess Fiona rises early and sings with a bluebird and dances with a deer (before making the bird explode and throwing the deer off a cliff). She assists the Pied Piper in his rat-charming duties ("Morning Person"). Shrek brings down her mood by attempting to give subtle hints about her groom-to-be ("Men of Farquaad's stature are in short supply", "He's very good at small talk", etc.) and mocking her tragic childhood circumstances. The two begin a contest of trying to one-up each other to outdo the others' backstory, but end up revealing their respective pasts ("I Think I Got You Beat"). Both admit to being thrown out by their parents; this connection, as well as bonding over a love of disgusting bodily noises, kindles friendship.

Back in Duloc, Lord Farquaad was in his bathtub planning his wedding, and he reveals his own sordid heritage after The Magic Mirror insists that Farquaad should invite his father, but Farquaad refuses, explaining how he abandoned him in the woods as a child ("The Ballad of Farquaad").

As Shrek and Fiona's newfound camaraderie grows into love, Donkey insists, with the help of the Three Blind Mice from his imagination, that Shrek should gather his courage and romantically engage Fiona ("Make a Move"). Shrek, finally beginning to come out of his caustic, protective shell, tries to find the words to explain his feelings to Fiona ("When Words Fail").

While Shrek is out finding a flower for Fiona, Donkey discovers that Fiona turns into an ogress at night, and she confesses that she was cursed as a child, which is why she was locked away in the tower. Only a kiss from her true love will return her to her proper form, and she asks Donkey to promise never to tell. Shrek arrives near the end of the conversation and misunderstands Fiona's description of herself as an ugly beast, and thinks she is talking about him. Hurt by her presumed opinion, Shrek storms off.

The next day, transformed back to her human form, Fiona decides to tell Shrek about her curse ("Morning Person (Reprise)"). When she tries to explain, Shrek rebuffs her with his "ugly beast" overhearing, causing Fiona in turn to misunderstand. Then Farquaad arrives to claim Fiona and tells Shrek he has cleared the swamp of the Fairytale Creatures, and now belongs to Shrek again. While not very impressed with Farquaad, Fiona agrees to marry him and insists that they have the wedding before sunset. As Farquaad and Fiona ride back to Duloc, Donkey tries to explain the misunderstanding to Shrek (who is too angry and upset to listen), and Shrek rejects him as well, declaring that he will return to his swamp alone and build a wall to shield himself from the world ("Build a Wall").

Meanwhile, the Fairytale Creatures are on their way to a landfill which is to be their new home, since they were forced to relocate from the swamp. After dealing with the fact that Shrek broke his promise to them, however, Gingy rants that Farquaad's treatment of them is intolerable; just because they are freaks does not mean they deserve to be hated, so he rallies most of the other fairytale creatures into staging a coup d'état against Farquaad's rule. Unfortunately, a bitter Pinocchio (remembering they are not allowed back to Duloc) who doesn't want his friends to get killed, suggests that they should just keep going and wait until everything gets better, all the while wishing to be a real boy. Exasperated by Pinocchio's turndown, Gingy convinces him to join the protest, inspiring him to accept who he is, as all of them have accepted who they are. They gather new confidence and strength in themselves, as they declare that they'll raise their "Freak Flag" high against their tormentors ("Freak Flag"). Now realizing that they have become something more than friends, and have become a family, Pinocchio now leads his gang back to Duloc to overthrow Farquaad once and for all.

Shrek has returned to his once again private swamp, but he misses Fiona. Donkey shows up attempting to seal off his half of the swamp with stone boulders, which Shrek rebuffs. In turn, Donkey angrily berates Shrek for his reclusive and stubborn habits, even to the point of driving off Fiona. An angered Shrek reveals he heard her talking about a hideous creature the night before, and Donkey retorts that they were not talking about him, but of "someone else". When a confused Shrek inquires who it was, Donkey, wanting to keep his promise, and still cross with Shrek, refuses to talk. When Shrek apologizes and extends his friendship, Donkey forgives him. The two then go back to Duloc, where Shrek objects to this marriage before Farquaad can kiss Fiona, and Fiona convinces him to let Shrek speak with her. Shrek finally finds the words to express his feelings for Fiona, and he declares his love for her ("Big Bright Beautiful World (Reprise)"). However, his declaration of love is mocked by Farquaad. Caught between love and her desire to break the curse, Fiona tries to escape the event. Just then, the Fairytale Creatures storm into the wedding and protest their banishment. They are also accompanied by Grumpy, one of the Seven Dwarfs, who reveals that he is Farquaad's father, and he kicked Farquaad out at the age of 28 when he wouldn't move out of the basement, revealing Farquaad is a freak as well. During the scuffle, the sun sets, causing Fiona to turn into an ogress in front of everyone. Leading to Shrek to realize that Fiona was referring to herself when she was talking to Donkey. Farquaad, furious and disgusted over the change, orders for Shrek to be drawn and quartered along with the Fairytale Creatures and Fiona banished back to her tower. As Farquaad proclaims himself the new King, Shrek whistles for the Dragon, who has now escaped the castle (and is the reason Shrek and Donkey got to the wedding just in time). Dragon then crashes through the window with Donkey and incinerates Farquaad with her fiery breath.

With Farquaad dead, Shrek and Fiona admit their love for each other and share true love's first kiss. Fiona's curse is broken, and she takes her true form: an ogress. At first, she is ashamed of her looks, but Shrek declares that she is still beautiful. The two ogres begin a new life together (along with Donkey, Dragon, and the Fairytale Creatures) as everyone celebrates their liberation against Farquaad's rule ("This Is Our Story"). In the end, Shrek and Fiona (in association with Donkey and Dragon) host their post-wedding party ("I'm A Believer").

Musical numbers

Broadway

 Act I
 "Overture" – Orchestra
 "Big Bright Beautiful World" – Mama Ogre, Papa Ogre, Shrek
 "Story Of My Life" – Pinocchio, Elf, Peter Pan, Ugly Duckling, Fairy Godmother, Sugar Plum Fairy, Three Pigs, Wicked Witch, Mama Bear, Mad Hatter, Big Bad Wolf, Humpty Dumpty, White Rabbit, Three Bears, Fairytale Creatures
 "Story Of My Life (Tag)" – Elf, Fairy Godmother, Pinocchio, Big Bad Wolf, Fairytale Creatures≠
 "The Goodbye Song" – Elf, Fairytale Creatures≠
 "Don't Let Me Go" – Donkey*
 "Regiment" – Guards≠
 "I Know It's Today" – Young Fiona, Teen Fiona, Fiona
 "What's Up, Duloc?" – Lord Farquaad, Duloc Performers
 "What's Up, Duloc? (Reprise)" – Lord Farquaad, Duloc Performers≠
 "Travel Song" – Donkey, Shrek
 "Donkey Pot Pie" – Dragon, Donkey, Knights
 "This Is How A Dream Comes True" – Fiona, Dragon
 "Who I'd Be" – Shrek, Fiona, Donkey

 Act II
 "Entr'acte" – Orchestra≠
 "Morning Person" – Fiona, Bluebird
 "I Think I Got You Beat" – Fiona, Shrek
 "The Ballad Of Farquaad" – Lord Farquaad, Guards
 "Air Guitar Crossover" – Fiona, Shrek≠
 "Make A Move" – Donkey, Three Blind Mice
 "When Words Fail" – Shrek
 "Morning Person (Reprise)" – Fiona
 "The Arrival Of Farquaad" – Lord Farquaad
 "Build A Wall" – Shrek
 "Freak Flag" – Gingy, Mama Bear, Pinocchio, Three Pigs, Humpty Dumpty, Papa Bear, Elf, Wicked Witch, Mad Hatter, Big Bad Wolf, Fairytale Creatures
 "Wedding Procession" – Choir≠
 "Big Bright Beautiful World (Reprise)" – Shrek
 "Cathedral Sunset/Transformation" – Crowd≠
 "Beautiful Ain't Always Pretty" – Shrek≠
 "Finale" – Fiona, Shrek, Donkey, Mama Bear, Pinocchio, Gingy, Fairytale Creatures
 "I'm a Believer" – Shrek, Three Pigs, Fiona, Young Fiona, Donkey, Full Company≠ (as of October 2, 2009)

≠ Not included on the original Broadway cast recording. "I'm a Believer" and "Forever", however, was recorded later and released as a single as it was not in the show when the cast recording was made.

Changes
An Overture and Entr'acte were added following the Seattle run, along with the song "Build a Wall" which was originally "More To The Story." This song was cut prior to the West End production opening.
"This Is Our Story" or "Finale" replaced "I Smell a Happy Ending" following the Seattle run, whilst "What Happens to Love?" and "More To The Story" were cut.
Beginning with the first North American tour, a new song was written for Dragon, "Forever." This was then performed in all subsequent productions, replacing "Donkey Pot Pie."
"Don't Let Me Go" was cut from the West End production, although an alternative version reinstated for the UK Tour.

US tour

 Act I
 "Overture" – Orchestra
 "Big Bright Beautiful World" – Mama Ogre, Papa Ogre, Queen Lillian, King Harold, Shrek, Happy People/Angry Mob
 "Story Of My Life" – Pinocchio, Elf, Peter Pan, Ugly Duckling, Sugar Plum Fairy, Three Pigs, Wicked Witch, Mama Bear, Elf, Big Bad Wolf, Humpty Dumpty, Fairytale Creatures
 "Story Of My Life (Tag)" – Elf, Ugly Duckling, Pinocchio, Big Bad Wolf, Fairytale Creatures≠
 "The Goodbye Song" – Baby Bear, Fairytale Creatures≠
 "Don't Let Me Go" – Donkey
 "Regiment #1" – Guards≠
 "Regiment (Reprise)" – Guards≠
 "What's Up, Duloc?" – Lord Farquaad, Duloc Performers
 "What's Up, Duloc? (Reprise)" – Lord Farquaad, Duloc Performers≠
 "I Know It's Today" – Young Fiona, Teen Fiona, Fiona
 "Travel Song" – Donkey, Shrek
 "Forever" – Dragon, Donkey, Knights
 "This Is How A Dream Comes True" – Fiona, Dragon
 "Who I'd Be" – Shrek, Fiona, Donkey

 Act II
 "Entr'acte" – Orchestra≠
 "Morning Person" – Fiona, Bluebird
 "I Think I Got You Beat" – Fiona, Shrek
 "The Ballad Of Farquaad" – Lord Farquaad, Guards
 "Air Guitar Crossover" – Fiona, Shrek≠
 "Make A Move" – Donkey, Three Blind Mice
 "Make A Move (Tag)" – Donkey, Three Blind Mice≠
 "When Words Fail" – Shrek
 "Morning Person (Reprise)" – Fiona
 "The Arrival Of Farquaad" – Lord Farquaad
 "Build A Wall" – Shrek
 "Freak Flag" – Gingy, Sugar Plum Fairy, Pinocchio, Three Pigs, Ugly Duckling, Papa Bear, Fairy Godmother, Wicked Witch, Big Bad Wolf, Humpty Dumpty, Mama Bear, Fairytale Creatures
 "Wedding Procession" – Choir≠
 "Big Bright Beautiful World (Reprise)" – Shrek
 "Cathedral Sunset/Transformation" – Crowd≠
 "Beautiful Ain't Always Pretty" – Shrek≠
 "Finale: This Is Our Story" – Fiona, Shrek, Donkey, Mama Bear, Pinocchio, Gingy, Fairytale Creatures
 "I'm a Believer (Encore)" – Shrek, Three Pigs, Fiona, Young Fiona, Donkey, Dragon, Full Company≠ (as of October 2, 2009)

≠ Not included on the original Broadway cast recording. "I'm a Believer" and "Forever", however, was recorded later and released as a single as it was not in the show when the cast recording was made.

Casts

Broadway (2008-10) replacements
Shrek: Ben Crawford, Eric Petersen (u/s)
Farquaad: Ben Crawford (u/s)
Pinocchio: Robb Sapp

West End (2011-13) replacements
Shrek: Dean Chisnall, Bradley Jaden (u/s)
Fiona: Kimberley Walsh, Carley Stenson
Farquaad: Neil McDermott

Instrumentation
The Orchestra includes one bass guitar player, one trumpeter, one trombonist, two guitar players, one drummer, two violinists, two reed players, one horn player, two keyboard players, a cello player, and a percussion player. The guitar players double on ukulele, mandolins, electric guitars, and acoustic guitars. The trumpeter doubles on a flugelhorn and a piccolo trumpet. The trombonist doubles on tenor and bass trombones. The bass player doubles on the upright bass, the electric bass, and the 5-string bass guitar. The first reed doubles on alto sax, clarinet, flute, and piccolo. The second reed doubles on soprano sax, baritone sax, tenor sax, flute, bass clarinet, and clarinet.

The original Broadway orchestration included an additional trumpet, an additional trombone/tuba, two more violinists, one more cellist, and two more reed players, and an additional acoustic bass player. In this orchestration, the first reed doubles on piccolo, flute, and recorder. The second reed doubles on oboe, English horn, clarinet, and alto sax. The third reed doubles on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, and tenor sax. The fourth reed doubles on clarinet, bassoon, and baritone sax.

Recordings
The original Broadway cast recording was recorded on January 12, 2009, and was released on March 24, 2009, by Decca Broadway Records. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Cast Albums chart and #88 on the Billboard 200. "I'm a Believer" was not featured on the initial recording as it was only added to the show on October 2, 2009. It was later included as part of a Highlighted Cast Recording, released on November 17, 2009. On December 4, 2009, when the Grammy Award nominees were announced, the cast recording was nominated for Best Musical Show Album.

"Donkey Pot Pie" (which is included on the original Broadway cast recording) was cut from future productions, replaced by "Forever." The song became available on iTunes in 2011. It was recorded during a live performance of the national tour in Chicago, and features Carrie Compere (Dragon) and Alan Mingo Jr. (Donkey).

The original London cast recorded a single of "I'm a Believer" for promotional purposes.

An original Spanish-language cast recording featuring the Madrid cast was recorded between August and September 2011, and released in September. The Spanish album includes later added songs "Forever" and "I'm a Believer", as well as different orchestrations to the Broadway recording and the arrangements made for the national tour.

Reception
The musical has received generally positive reviews from critics. Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times: "'Shrek,' for the record, is not bad....  As the title character, a misanthropic green ogre who learns to love, the talented Mr. James is... encumbered with padding and prosthetics....  As the evil, psychologically maimed Lord Farquaad, the very droll Christopher Sieber is required to walk on his knees, with tiny fake legs dangling before him — an initially funny sight gag that soon drags". He praises Sutton Foster as "an inspired, take-charge musical comedian....  Ms. Foster manages both to make fun of and exult in classical musical-comedy moves while creating a real, full character at the same time."

Variety noted that the production had a reported budget of $24 million.  Any "theme-park cutesiness is offset by the mischievous humor in David Lindsay-Abaire's book and lyrics. The production's real achievement, however, is that the busy visuals and gargantuan set-pieces never overwhelm the personalities of the actors or their characters. The ensemble is talented and the four leads, in particular, couldn't be better."

The Associated Press said that "the folks at DreamWorks have done their darndest to make sure we are entertained at Shrek the Musical, the company's lavish stage adaptation of its hit animated movie. For much of the time, they succeed, thanks to the talent and ingratiating appeal of the show's four principal performers. The show's massive sets and colorful costumes (both courtesy of Tim Hatley) are so visually eye-catching that they often distract from what's going on with the story and score. Composer Jeanine Tesori has written attractive, eclectic, pop-flavored melodies that range from a jaunty 'Travel Song' to a gutsy duet called 'I Got You Beat' for Shrek and Fiona that revels in rude noises."  The review also noted that Lindsay-Abaire's lyrics are often fun and quite witty.

USA Today gave the show three and a half stars out of four, writing: "Shrek, which draws from William Steig's book about a lovable ogre and the DreamWorks animated movie that it inspired, is nonetheless a triumph of comic imagination with a heart as big and warm as Santa's. It is the most ingeniously wacky, transcendently tasteless Broadway musical since The Producers, and more family-friendly than that gag-fest."  The review also noted, however, that "Like other musical adaptations of hit films, Shrek... leans heavily on winking satire.  There are the usual nods to more fully realized shows, from Gypsy to A Chorus Line, and Jeanine Tesori's blandly ingratiating score doesn't feature any songs you're likely to be humming 20 years from now."

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Original London production

Home media
In October 2009, Jeffrey Katzenberg said that a performance of the Broadway production had been recorded for a potential DVD release. However, due to the national tour and West End productions running considerably longer, the idea was put on-hold. On July 19, 2013, following the closure of the national tour and West End productions, Amazon.com confirmed that the filmed performance would be available for instant viewing on September 17, 2013. It also became available "in HD for playback on Kindle Fire HD, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Roku or other HD compatible devices" beginning October 15, 2013. The home video release is also available on Netflix Streaming as of January, 2014. A DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download was also released on that day. The performance is an edit of several live performances as well as a performance shot without an audience. The original principal cast appear, as well as various alumni across the show's Broadway run. Also, it keeps the song "Donkey Pot Pie" instead of the replacement, "Forever." It grossed $543,288 in home sales.

References

External links
 Production site for West End

 Shrek the Musical at the Music Theatre International website

Musicals by Jeanine Tesori
2008 musicals
Broadway musicals
West End musicals
Fantasy theatre
Musicals based on animated films
Musicals based on multiple works
Musicals based on books
Musicals set in fictional countries
Musicals set in castles
Musicals by David Lindsay-Abaire
Plays featuring puppetry
Tony Award-winning musicals
Musicals set in swamps

Shrek the Musical


Oneirology (; from Greek ὄνειρον, oneiron, "dream"; and -λογία, -logia, "the study of") is the scientific study of dreams.

Current research seeks connections between dreaming and current knowledge about how the brain works, as well as understanding of how the brain works during dreaming as pertains to memory formation and mental disorders. The study of oneirology can mean from dream interpretation in that the aim is to quantitatively study the process of dreams instead of analyzing the meaning behind them.
Oneirology is about dreams and how they work. Most dreams happen in the REM [rapid eye movement] phase of their sleep. Dreams can have a good chance of coming true. Lucid dreaming is when the dreamer gains some control over their dream.

Related pages
 Rapid eye movement

More readings
 Aserinsky, E. and N. Kleitman. 1953. "Regularly Occurring Periods of Eye Motility and Concomitant Phenomena during Sleep." Science 118: 273-274.
 Dement, W.C. and N. Kleitman. 1957. "The Relation of Eye Movements during Sleep to Dream Activity: An Objective Method for the Study of Dreaming." Journal of Experimental Psychology 53: 339-346.
 Domhoff, G. William. 2003. The Scientific Study of Dreams. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
 Gackenbach, Jayne and Stephen LaBerge, Eds. 1988. Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. New York: Plenum Press.
 Hadfield, J. A. 1969. Dreams and Nightmares. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.
 Hobson, J. Allan. The Dreaming Brain. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers.

Sleep
Psychology

Oneirology


William Paget, 5th Baron Paget (13 September 1609 –  19 October 1678) was an English peer. He was born at Beaudesert House, Staffordshire, England to William Paget, 4th Baron Paget and Lettice Knollys.

Career
He was a Parliamentarian with land in Buckinghamshire. At the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1641, he was made the Parliamentarian Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. However the following year he swapped sides to become a Royalist under King Charles I and so was dismissed from that role and replaced by Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton.

Family
On 28 June 1632 Paget married Lady Frances Rich, daughter of Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland and Isabel Cope. From 1637 to 1643 they lived at 43 King Street, Covent Garden.
William and Frances had ten children:
William Paget, 6th Baron Paget (10 February 1637 – 25 February 1713) married (1) Frances Pierrepont (2) Isabella Irby
Henry Paget (born c. 1643) married (1) 29 March 1684 Mary O'Rorke, daughter of Hugh O'Rorke and Joan Reynolds, (2) Mary or Anne Sandford, or vice versa, and had by Mary O'Rorke:
Brigadier General Thomas Paget (died 1741), Governor of Menorca, married Mary Whitcombe; their daughter Caroline Paget (died 7 February 1766) married in 1737 Sir Nicholas Bayly, 2nd Baronet
Thomas Paget (born c. 1645)
Isabella Paget (born c. 1647)
Lettice Paget (born c. 1649) married Richard Hampden
Elizabeth Paget (born c. 1651)
Frances Paget (born c. 1653) married Rowland Hunt
Penelope Paget (born c. 1655) married Philip Foley. They are ancestors of Charles Darwin.
Diana Paget (born c. 1657 died 1707) married Henry Ashhurst
Anne Paget (born c. 1659)

References
thepeerage.com Accessed March 3, 2009
family search.org Accessed March 3, 2009

Paget, William, 5th Baron
Paget, William, 5th Baron
Paget, William Paget, 5th Baron
Paget, William Paget, 5th Baron
Paget, William Paget, 5th Baron
William
Barons Paget

William Paget, 5th Baron Paget


Jason Michael Baker (born May 17, 1978) is a former American football punter. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He played college football at Iowa. He has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, and Carolina Panthers.

Early years
Baker attended Wayne High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana and lettered in football and baseball.  In football, he won second-team All-Conference honors as a senior.

College career
Baker played college football at the University of Iowa.  When he graduated, he left as the Hawkeyes' all-time leader in punts and punting yards, with 272 punts for 11,304 yards.  He was named special teams MVP of the 1997 Sun Bowl for his performance in Iowa's loss against Arizona State University, after registering eight punts for 391 yards.  He also made honorable mention All-Big 10 honors as a senior in 2000. He majored in business administration.

Professional career
He was not drafted by any team, and was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles in April 2001 before being waived a short while later, not having appeared in any regular season games for them.  He was then picked up by the San Francisco 49ers, and was their regular punter during the 2001 NFL season.  Unfortunately, he was released the next year, and signed again by the Eagles.  He played several games for them before being released again at the end of the season.  He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs before the 2003 season, and was their regular punter for the whole season, averaging a respectable 39.5 yards per punt.  Baker then had a bizarre season in 2004.  He was waived by Kansas City, then re-signed two weeks later, then waived  a week after that.  He was then picked up by the Indianapolis Colts, played with them for 5 weeks, then Indianapolis waived him and he was picked up by the Denver Broncos, who he finished the season with.  He played for Denver in the AFC wild card game against his former team, Indianapolis.  After the season, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers with a 2006 draft pick for Pro Bowl punter Todd Sauerbrun.  Baker eventually won the punting job, after battling with Tom Rouen and Steve Cheek during training camp and the preseason.  He played the rest of his seven seasons in Carolina, where he averaged 44.0 yards per punt in 112 games, set most of the franchise records, twice led the league in punts, and was a Pro Bowl alternate multiple times but never attended. The Panthers rewarded him with a contract making him the highest paid punter in the NFL prior to the 2007 season. Baker is one of the fastest running punters in the NFL. He managed to surprise the Seahawks' Leon Washington in a game on December 5, 2010, tripping up the prematurely celebrating Washington to save a touchdown.

's NFL off-season, Jason Baker still held at least three Panthers franchise records, including:
 Punts: career (570), playoff game (7 on 2006-01-22 @SEA; with Todd Sauerbrun and Brad Nortman)
 Punt Yards: career (25,064)

References
 Additional Career statistics/player information: Pro Football Reference.com

External links
Carolina Panthers bio

1978 births
American football punters
Carolina Panthers players
Denver Broncos players
Indianapolis Colts players
Iowa Hawkeyes football players
Kansas City Chiefs players
Living people
Philadelphia Eagles players
Players of American football from Fort Wayne, Indiana
San Francisco 49ers players

Jason Baker


Sensible Train Spotting is a video game by Sensible Software for the Amiga computer. It is Sensible Software's last Amiga game and was available only on an Amiga Power cover disk from issue 53, dated September 1995. Because of this, it is not nearly as famous as some of Sensible Software's earlier releases, such as Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder.

Sensible Train Spotting is the world's first ever computerized train spotting simulator. The game takes place at a railway station, with a view looking over the train platforms. Various trains pass through, each bearing a unique ID number. At the bottom of the screen is a checklist of train ID numbers, each of which must be selected by the player as the corresponding train appears. This must be done against a time limit, and attempting to record an incorrect number will result in a penalty. When all trains in the checklist have been spotted, the game moves on to the next level.

Controversy
Eight years later in 2003, a PC games company called Demon Star released another train spotting simulator, called Train Tracking. The company claimed their game was the first ever train spotting simulator, although the gameplay is nearly identical to Sensible Train Spotting. British game journalist and former Sensible Software employee Stuart Campbell reacted to this by buying a fully registered copy of Train Tracker and making it freely downloadable from his web site, daring Demon Star to take legal action.

References

External links
 Sensible Train Spotting at the Hall of Light

1995 video games
Amiga games
Amiga-only games
Sensible Software games
Train simulation video games
Trainspotting
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Single-player video games

Sensible Train Spotting


Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan) is a race car driver and businessman. His non-racing business interests are real estate development, principally developing office buildings for institutions and Government Agencies.

Prior to his involvement in motor racing, he received his Business Degree from Michigan State University. In 1985 he founded the successful Rocketsports Racing team that has competed in the Trans-Am series, Champ Car World Series and The International Motorsports Association. As a driver he has won five drivers championships and nine manufacturers championships while holding the Trans Am record for wins, poles, top three finishes and prize monies won. With 31 Trans Am wins, the most in series history, eclipsing the record held by Mark Donohue and 11 IMSA wins. He has run a number of different manufacturers including Oldsmobile, Ferrari, Ford, Nissan, Chevrolet, and most recently Jaguar. Previous to this he was involved in NHRA Drag Racing, successfully driving many Plymouth and Dodge vehicles. In 2009 he formed RSR Racing with his sons Anthony and John Gentilozzi.

He teamed up with three other drivers to win the 1994 24 Hours of Daytona, his biggest win as a driver. He and Scott Pruett won the GTS class at the 2002 Daytona 24 hour event.  He has fielded Champ Cars for rookie of the year Timo Glock, Alex Tagliani, Mario Dominguez, Antonio Pizzonia and 2004 Star Mazda series champion Michael McDowell, while running three Trans-Am cars for himself, Hollywood advertising executive/racer Tomy Drissi and that year's series champion Klaus Graf of Germany and Television star Craig T. Nelson.

Gentilozzi and fellow Champ Car owners Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven purchased the assets of Champ Car following a financially difficult 2003 season. Judge Frank Otte ruled in favor of the trio, known as Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, over rival bidder Tony George, the chairman/CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League.  In 2008, the series was merged with the Indy Racing League.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

References

1950 births
Rolex Sports Car Series drivers
Trans-Am Series drivers
Michigan State University alumni
Living people
Racing drivers from Michigan
Sportspeople from Lansing, Michigan
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
24 Hours of Daytona drivers
American Le Mans Series drivers

Rocketsports Racing drivers

Paul Gentilozzi


A list box is a  graphical control element that allows the user to select one or more items from a list contained within a static, multiple line text box. The user clicks inside the box on an item to select it, sometimes in combination with the  or  in order to make multiple selections. "Control-clicking" an item that has already been selected, unselects it.

A list box is called select or select1 in the XForms standard.  Select is used for allowing the user to select many items from a list whereas select1 only allows the user to select a single item from a list.

HTML
In web forms, the HTML elements  and  are used to display a listbox:
<select multiple>
  <option>List item 1</option>
  <option>List item 2</option>
  <option>List item 3</option>
  <option>List item 4</option>
  <option>List item 5</option>
  <option>List item 6</option>
</select>

See also
Drop down list - Like a list box, but not permanently expanded to show the elements of the list.
Combo box - Like a drop down list, but users also can make entries not on the list.
Scrollbar

References

Graphical control elements

List box


The Reich President (German: Reichspräsident) was the president (head of state) of the German Reich during the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and Nazi Germany (1933-1945).

The Reich President was the successor of the German emperor. He had more power than the current Federal President (Bundespräsident).

The Reich President was elected for a seven-year term by the German people, and could be re-elected. He was the head of the army, appointed and relieved the Reich Chancellor (Reichskanzler), and could also send away the Reichstag.

The Reich President was supposed to exercise the legislative power with the Reichstag but due to the instable situation of the Weimar Republic, he was often bypassing the Reichstag by using special legislation. This was the case during the early years of the Reich Presidency and especially in the early 1930s. During the Hitler period the Reichstag was just show.

Presidents

Weimar Republic:
 Friedrich Ebert (1919-1925, SPD, died in office)
 Hans Luther (1925, no political party, acting)
 Walter Simons (1925, no political party, acting)
 Paul von Hindenburg (1925-1933, no political party, re-elected in 1932)

Nazi Germany:
 Paul von Hindenburg (1933-1934, no political party, died in office)
 Adolf Hitler (1934-1945, NSDAP, killed himself)
 Karl Dönitz (1945, NSDAP, imprisoned)

Presidential Standards

References
Presidents and Assemblies, Chapter 4. Matthew Soberg Shugart, John M. Carey. Cambridge University Press. 1992.

Reich President


Kenneth Charles "Jethro" Burns (March 10, 1920 – February 4, 1989) was an American mandolinist and one-half of the comedy duo Homer and Jethro with Henry D. "Homer" Haynes.

Biography

Burns was born in Conasauga, Tennessee, on March 10, 1920.  His family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee when he was three. In 1936, he auditioned for a talent contest at Knoxville radio station WNOX where he met Henry Haynes, also 16. The two formed a duo and WNOX program director Lowell Blanchard gave them the stage names Homer and Jethro after forgetting their names on the air.

Burns was drafted into the US Army and served in Europe during World War II and reunited with Haynes, who had served in the Pacific, in Knoxville in 1945. By 1947, the duo moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and were working at WLW on the station's Midwestern Hayride. They signed with King Records, where they worked as a house band and recorded singles on their own, and two years later signed with RCA Records. The pair were fired along with other stars by new management at WLW in 1948, and after a brief tour, they moved to Springfield, Missouri, and performed on KWTO with Chet Atkins, the Carter Family and Slim Wilson.

In 1949, they moved to Chicago and played at the Chicago Theatre. Between shows, they would go to WLS to appear live on National Barn Dance.  While performing on WLS, Burns met and married his wife, Lois Johnson, who he called Gussie. Her twin sister Leona was married to Atkins.

In 1959, they won a Grammy for the best comedy performance in 1959 for "The Battle of Kookamonga", a parody of Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans".

Burns was a highly-influential mandolin stylist, preferring clean single-note jazzy melodies and sophisticated chords over the dominant bluegrass stylings of Bill Monroe, and since he performed mostly in a country music setting, introduced many country mandolinists to sophisticated jazz harmonies and improvisational techniques, as well as standards from the songbooks of Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt and Cole Porter.

By the 1970s, Burns' influence had spread to a younger generation of bluegrass and "new-acoustic" musicians, most notably New Grass Revival mandolinist Sam Bush.  His participation in Norman Blake/Tut Taylor/Sam Bush/Butch Robins/Vassar Clements/David Holland/Jethro Burns, an independently released album produced by promoter Hank Deane, was reportedly at Bush's suggestion. During that same decade, Burns' acquaintance with bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman led to Burns' writing a number of music/humor columns in the Grisman-published journal Mandolin World News.  Grisman also produced a 1978 duet album on Kaleidoscope Records, Back to Back, featuring Burns and Western swing electric mandolinist Tiny Moore.  Although Burns and Moore were approximately the same age and were among the few of their generation to make their reputations playing jazz and swing mandolin, the two had never met prior to the production of the album, its liner notes report.

After Haynes died in 1971, Burns's regular musical partner was guitarist Ken Eidson, with whom he co-authored an influential mandolin method tome (Mel Bay's Complete Jethro Burns Mandolin Book, still in print), and they continued to perform as Homer and Jethro.  After the partnership ended, Burns continued to play, most notably with Chicago folk singer Steve Goodman. He appeared on several of Goodman's albums and also toured nationally with him. At times he appeared in the Million Dollar Band on TV's Hee Haw with Atkins and swing fiddler Johnny Gimble. He also became a master teacher of mandolin jazz.

He died in 1989 from prostate cancer in Evanston, Illinois.

Honors
In 2001, Burns and Haynes as Homer and Jethro were posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Discography

As leader
 S'Wonderful: 4 Giants of Swing (1976)
 Jethro Burns (Vivid Sound, 1977)
 Back to Back (Kaleidoscope, 1980)
 Tea for One (Kaleidoscope, 1982)
 Old Friends (Rebel, 1983)
 Jethro Live (Flying Fish, 1990)
 Swing Low, Sweet Mandolin (Acoustic Disc, 1995)
 Bye Bye Blues (Acoustic Disc, 1997)
 The Puritan Sessions (Acoustic Disc, 1998)

As co-leader and sideman
As Homer and Jethro
 1960 Homer & Jethro at the Country Club
 1962 Playing It Straight
 1963 Ooh, That's Corny!
 1968 Cool Cool Christmas

With Steve Goodman
 1975 Jessie's Jig & Other Favorites
 1976 Words We Can Dance To
 1983 Artistic Hair
 1983 Affordable Art
 1987 Unfinished Business
 2006 Live at the Earl of Old Town

With others
 1958 I'll Sail My Ship Alone, Moon Mullican
 1975 Norman Blake/Tut Taylor/Sam Bush/Butch Robins/Vassar Clements/David Holland/Jethro Burns
 1976 S'Wonderful: 4 Giants of Swing
 1978 Bruised Orange, John Prine
 1978 Joe in Chicago, Joe Venuti
 1979 Back to Back, Tiny Moore
 1979 Rhapsody for Banjo, Larry McNeely
 1985 Late as Usual, Sam Bush
 1987 Buddies of Swing, Peter Ostroushko
 1993 Freight Train Boogie, The Delmore Brothers
 1994 Jazz from the Hills, Country All Stars
 1996 DGQ-20, David Grisman Quintet
 1996 Rose Marie, Slim Whitman
 1996 The Last Letter, Rex Griffin
 2002 Hillbilly Bebop, Hank Penny
 2005 Keep on the Sunny Side: Her Life in Music, June Carter Cash
 2006 Blue Suede Shoes: Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight, Pee Wee King
 2007 The Early Years 1946–1957, Chet Atkins

References

General sources
Homer and Jethro biography at Britannica.com

.

External links

Lessons given by Jethro Burns and recorded by his students.
David Grisman and Don Stiernberg Discuss Jethro Burns Legacy

1920 births
1989 deaths
Deaths from cancer in Illinois
Deaths from prostate cancer
American country singer-songwriters
Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee
Million Dollar Band (country music group) members
Country musicians from Tennessee
20th-century American singer-songwriters
American bluegrass mandolinists
American country mandolinists
American jazz mandolinists
American comedy musicians
Grammy Award winners
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
20th-century American comedians
United States Army personnel of World War II

Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns


Alison Jean Lester  (born 17 November 1952) is an Australian author and illustrator who has published over 25 children's picture books and two young adult novels; The Quickstand Pony and The Snow Pony. In 2005 Lester won the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year for her children's book, Are We There Yet?: A Journey around Australia. Her books have been published worldwide.

Early years and education
Alison Lester was born in Foster, Victoria, Australia. She grew up on a farm overlooking the sea. She was educated at St Margaret's School in Berwick, Victoria, where she stayed as a boarder. She achieved a higher diploma in teaching at The Melbourne Teacher's College, where she trained as a secondary arts and crafts teacher.

Career
Lester taught for a while before starting a family and writing. She was also an illustrator for 5 years. Her first book was published in 1986.

Lester lives and works in South Gippsland, Victoria. She has a gallery and bookshop in Fish Creek.

She visits primary schools as a guest speaker. Her picture books mix imaginary worlds with everyday life, encouraging children to believe in themselves and celebrate the differences that make themselves special.

1979–2008

1979, began illustrating children's books

1985, wrote first book, Clive Eats Alligators

1985–2004, writing and illustrating. Exhibitions at
 Books Illustrated
 Fremantle Children's Literature Centre
 Des Bunyon Gallery
 Dromkeen
 Season's Gallery
 McClelland Gallery

1993, guest speaker at IBBY conference, Manila

1996, received Writers Project Grant from the Australia Council to research the Spanish Riding school in Vienna

1999, writer in residence at Tanglin Trust School, Singapore

2001, guest speaker at Story Lines Festival, Auckland

2002, visiting author at the Bologna Book Fair, Italy, sponsored by the Australia Council

2004, guest speaker, [Simmons College], Boston, United States

2004, visiting author to Seoul, [Korea] for Children's Book Week

2004, visiting author, schools in [Tokyo]

2005, traveled to Antarctica as an Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow for the Kids Antarctic Art project.

2005, workshops and exhibition of Are We There Yet? in Japan as part of the Asialink literature touring program with the Aichi expo

2005, photographer on tourist ship to Ross Sea region of Antarctica

2006, Are We There Yet? illustrations exhibited in Taipei

2006, first painting for the Kid's Antarctic Art project exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

2007, visual artist on two voyages to Peninsula region of Antarctica.

2007, Kid's Antarctic Art exhibition opens at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

2007, photographer and writer on voyage around Spitsbergen in the Arctic.

2008, Kids Antarctic Art exhibited at Melbournestyle, South Melbourne, featuring selected works as larger canvasses.

Books
Lester has written a series of picture books about seven children and their favourite things. This series of books is very popular among young children. The books have been published in many different languages. The titles are: When Frank Was Four, Tessa Snaps Snakes, Rosie Sips Spiders, Clive Eats Aligators, Ernie Dances To The Didgeridoo and Celeste Sails to Spain.

Some of her other well known books include; Imagine, The Journey Home, "Kissed by the Moon", Noni the Pony, and Magic Beach. Both The Quicksand Pony and The Snow Pony became best-sellers in Australia..

Awards and recognition
Lester's books have received many honours. Her picture book, Clive Eats Alligators was commended in the Australian Picture Book of the Year Awards 1986, Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo was short-listed in 2000 for the same award and her experience-based picture book, The Journey Home, was honoured by the judges in 1990. Her novel, The Quicksand Pony, was named a CBCA Notable Book in 1997.
 Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book for Are We There Yet? A Journey Around Australia in 2005.
 Inaugural Australian Children's Laureate for Australian Children's Literature Alliance from 2011 to 2013.
 Awarded the Dromkeen Medal in 2016.
Winner of the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature valued at $60,000.
 Lester became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Australia Day Honours.
 Children's Book of the Year Award: Early Childhood for Trick's Bad Day in 2019.

References

External links
 Official website

1952 births
Living people
Australian children's book illustrators
Australian children's writers
Australian women children's writers
Australian women illustrators
Writers who illustrated their own writing
People from Foster, Victoria
Members of the Order of Australia
Writers from Victoria (state)

Alison Lester


History: A Novel () is a novel by Italian author Elsa Morante, generally regarded as her most famous and controversial work. Published in 1974, it narrates the story of a partly Jewish woman, Ida Ramundo, and her two sons Antonio (nicknamed "Ninnarieddu", "Ninnuzzu" or "Nino") and Giuseppe ("Useppe") in Rome, during and immediately after the Second World War.

The Italian title La Storia can be translated as either "History" or "The Story"; the ambiguity is lost in translation.

Summary
Each of the novel's eight sections is prefaced by a precis of macro-historical events that actually took place in the year of the fictional Ramundos' life in the subsequent section, usually from an anarchist or Marxist perspective. The narrator frequently interrupts this fictional narrative to note how her own research verifies the subjective accounts of the characters; from these interruptions it is clear the narrator must be a character in the novel, but which character is never revealed.

Ida Ramundo's mother was secretly Jewish, but subject to epilepsy, bouts of violence, and paranoia, eventually drowning herself in a poorly-planned escape to Palestine when Mussolini's fascist race laws were announced. Ida acquired her mother's timidity thereafter, scarcely protesting when a young German soldier asks to come to her apartment, then rapes her in her teenage son's bed while she suffers an epileptic seizure in January 1941. This rape results in a pregnancy and another son, who is called Useppe (his own mispronunciation of his name) for the rest of the book. Her other son, Nino, becomes increasingly delinquent, and soon runs away from home first to join the army, then to join the resistance, only occasionally returning to visit his mother and half-brother. In early 1943, their apartment is bombed while Ida and Useppe are grocery shopping, killing their beloved dog Blitz, and forcing them to live in a refuge shelter with a huge extended family for the rest of the war. There they meet a man claiming to be a deserter named Carlo Vivaldi, but actually a Jewish anarchist philosopher/poet named Davide Segre. In October, Ida and Useppe witness the stock cars of people rounded up from the Jewish ghetto and being taken to concentration camps.

Though Nino is affectionate toward his undersized and precocious brother, his actions to him are not protective. He promises to visit frequently to bring money and toys while the family is starving physically and emotionally, but rarely does. During one of his infrequent visits, he takes him to his guerrilla camp for the day, where in the course of a few hours, the three-year-old Useppe watches Nino participate in a raid that kills three German soldiers, and rides home on a pack mule that is also carrying a hidden cache of grenades. With the retreat of the Nazis in late 1944 and the arrival of American forces, the narrative shifts from emphasizing the physical dangers of war to the psychological dangers of the post-war period, as the characters are exposed to increasingly horrifying images and stories of atrocities in the papers, and half-Jewish Ida is nearly paralyzed by racial paranoia and survivor's guilt. Nino continues to violently oppose the new governments, and is eventually killed fleeing the police while smuggling illegal guns into the country.

The last quarter of the book takes place in 1947. Ida is so paranoid that she is barely able to attend her job as a first grade teacher, let alone teach effectively, and fears to seek medical help for Useppe and his increasing depression and epileptic attacks. Useppe, after throwing violent fits when forced to attend school, now spends his days exploring the forests on the outskirts of Rome with his dead brother's Maremma sheepdog Bella. There they meet 13-year-old boarding-school runaway Pietro Scimò, who survives off food, trinkets, and movie tickets given to him by "some faggots", and who tells them stories of fearsome pirates that live across the river from his abandoned hut. Useppe and Bella also frequently visit Davide, who is suffering schizophrenia-like symptoms after torture at the hands of the SS, and guilt for savagely killing an SS officer himself when he was briefly with Nino's guerrillas. In the longest section of the book, Useppe and Bella listen uncomprehendingly while Davide, self-medicating with morphine, expounds his anarchist philosophy to an indifferent audience in a San Lorenzo tavern. Waiting by the river for Scimò, Useppe suffers a seizure and falls in, but Bella rescues him from drowning. Going by Davide's apartment to visit, Useppe sees him in the early stages of a fatal overdose. Finally, again returning to the river Useppe believes a group of children are the pirates Scimò warned him about, begins to fight them, but then suffers a massive seizure. The children run off, and Bella runs back to Rome to fetch Ida. He is able to walk back home with them, but the next morning suffers a series of ultimately fatal seizure while Ida is at school. Racing home to find him already dead, Ida realizes that all human history and government is just a list of different methods for people to get away with murdering each other, before falling into a catatonic stupor in which she remains until her death nine years later.

Critical reception

When Elsa Morante published La Storia in 1974, it hit Italy like a storm, quickly becoming the most talked about book of the year.
In the first year, it sold, in Italy alone, a record 800,000 copies (at a time when a successful novel rarely sold more than 100,000 copies). La Storia became one of the few best-sellers written by a living author in the turbulent 1970s. It met with harsh criticism from leftist reviewers, who took issue with its stridently anti-establishmentarialist themes, though more sympathetic reviewers have said it "embodies the ideal literary work" of mid-20th century disillusionment.

In popular culture
La storia, a motion picture based on the novel, directed by Luigi Comencini and starring Claudia Cardinale, was produced in 1986.

References

1974 novels
20th-century Italian novels
Novels set during World War II
Novels set in Rome
Giulio Einaudi Editore books

History (novel)


Lake Chelan Dam officially known as the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project is located approximately  north of the city of Wenatchee in Chelan County. The dam is located at the lower or southeasterly end of  long Lake Chelan, and is within the limits of the city of Chelan. The powerhouse is located near the community of Chelan Falls. The reservoir has  of usable water storage. The 10-year average generation for the Project is 365,000 megawatt hours.

History
The Chelan River has a history of dam development for navigation, power generation, and water supply. In 1894, floodwaters pushed the lake level  above the old (pre-project) high-water mark. The future spillway segment of the dam was calculated and built to avoid a recurrence of such flooding. The dam was built to raise the level of Lake Chelan and completed in 1892. It was constructed to provide water for south Chelan real estate and navigation to the city of Chelan. It washed out during June of that year, only to be replaced by another structure built by the newly formed Chelan Water Power Company in 1893. The larger and stronger dam was designed to raise the lake level enough to allow steamships to land at Chelan. Nevertheless, this structure lasted only a year before washing out in a massive flood in June 1894. In early 1899, M.M. Kingman purchased the Chelan Water Power Company and built another dam, for power generation. The turning on of lights was celebrated in Chelan during May 1903. The Chelan Water Power Company was purchased by the Chelan Electric Company in 1906. It was then purchased by Spokane-based Washington Water Power Company in 1925. A year later, Washington Water Power received a 50-year federal license to construct the existing dam and powerhouse. The first generating unit was placed in commercial operation in September 1927, followed by the second unit 11 months later.

The Chelan County Public Utility District purchased the Lake Chelan Hydro Project from Washington Water Power (now Avista Corp.) in July 1955, with the proceeds of a $21 million bond issue. All of the power generated by the Project is available for Chelan County homes and businesses.

The Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Power Plant  historic district, comprising the dam, the water conveyance system, the surge tank and the power plant about  southwest of the dam, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Description
The dam is a steel-reinforced concrete gravity structure. It is  high and  long. It contains eight spillway bays. When the spillway gates are open, water is discharged down the normally dry Chelan River channel. Water to power the turbine generators is delivered through an underground penstock connecting the dam and the powerhouse. It delivers water from the dam at the southeasterly end of Lake Chelan to the powerhouse at Chelan Falls, a vertical drop of nearly . This steel and concrete tunnel is approximately  in length. The only visible portion of the tunnel is a  high surge tank constructed on the hill above the plant to absorb hydraulic momentum of the water in case of load rejection.

The powerhouse is located at Chelan Falls. It is  long,  wide and  high. Besides the two generating units, the powerhouse contains a Control Room, shop facilities, switching equipment, crane, and communications equipment. Water traveling down the power tunnel is directed against two turbines rated at 24 megawatts each. The turbines rotate at 300 revolutions per minute. The original turbines were replaced in 1985 and 1986. The turbines are connected to the generators by steel shafts. They provide a combined peaking capability of 58 megawatts. The original generators were rewound in 1951 and 1952. After passing around and through the turbine blades, water is discharged into the tailrace located on the east side of the powerhouse where it flows into the Columbia River.

See also

List of dams in the Columbia River watershed
Rocky Reach Dam
Rock Island Dam

References

External links
Lake Chelan Hydro Project Dam owner: Chelan County Public Utility District

Buildings and structures in Chelan County, Washington
Dams in Washington (state)
Hydroelectric power plants in Washington (state)
United States local public utility dams
Dams completed in 1927
Energy infrastructure completed in 1927
National Register of Historic Places in Chelan County, Washington
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state)

Lake Chelan Dam


ConCarolinas is a three-day-long science fiction convention held once each year in Charlotte, North Carolina, hosted by ConCarolinas, Inc., a non-profit corporation.

It hosts a variety of fandom related events and functions. Guests generally include a variety of authors, artists, costumers and media celebrities.  Group guests generally include SG-Operations, the 501st Stormtroopers, KAG (Klingon Assault Group), and Society for Creative Anachronism.  Games (LARPs, role-playing games, etc.) are also featured.

History
2000-2001: The Genesis - After failing to get WorldCon to come to Charlotte, a group of individuals headed up by Irv Koch, calling themselves the South East Convention Fandom, Inc. (SECFI), rallied support for a general science fiction convention in Charlotte. SECFI called upon experience from Cons like StellarCon, MACE, Roc of Ages, Babtrek and many more. Most of these people eventually became the first ConCom of ConCarolinas, with Fred Grimm as the Chairman and Ron McClung as Vice Chairman.  At this time, the winged panther was chosen for a mascot.

ConCarolinas: The Prequel: May 2002- with Con Chair: Fred Grimm and Vice Chair Ron McClung, ConCarolinas started as a two-day event. The guest list was small and consisted mostly of local writers and artists such as Jeanne Foguth, dgk goldberg, Keith Bailey, and Gary Griffin. Events at this Con were meant to be teasers for what was to come in 2003, including primarily gaming - RPGs, RPGA, board games and card games.

ConCarolinas 2003: May 30 – June 1.  (Con Chair: Ron McClung, Vice Chair: Matt Holmquist) - The First 3-day ConCarolinas featured David Weber as their first Writer Guest of Honor, plus Karen Taylor as a Featured Writer Guest. Other guests included d.g.k. goldberg, Stephen Euin Cobb, Mary M Buckner, Elaine Corvidae, and Andy Duncan. Programming was expanded to have 3 rooms of panels all weekend. The Rocky Horror Picture Show by F5 Productions joined ConCarolinas for the first time.  Several outdoor SCA events were planned as well as a wide range of literary and fandom panels.

ConCarolinas 2004: June 4–6: (Con Chair: Ron McClung, Vice Chair: Matt Holmquist) - CC2004 had Writer Guest of Honor Alan Dean Foster and Artist Guest of Honor Joe Corroney. David Weber returned as Special Guest and other guests included author Davey Beauchamp, Walter H. Hunt, Tee Morris and Tony Ruggiero.

ConCarolinas 2005: June 3–5 (Con Chair: Ron McClung, Vice Chair: Jonathan Wilson) - CC2005 featured media guests for the first time in the con history. Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead, Devil's Rejects), David Franklin (Farscape), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th) and Bill Blair (Star Trek, Babylon 5) were the media guests at CC2005. Writer Guest of Honor was Greg Keyes. David Weber returned and was joined by his friend and co-writer John Ringo.

ConCarolinas 2006: June 2–4 (Con Chair: Ron McClung, Vice Chair: David Laws) - CC2006's Writer Guests of Honor was Spider Robinson and his wife, Jeanne, and Media Guest of Honor was Tony Amendola (Master Bra'Tac of Stargate SG-1). Gaming Guest of Honor was Peter Schweighofer. They also included more filking with music special guests Boogie Knights.

ConCarolinas 2007: June 1–3 (Con Chair: Tony Lone Fight, Vice Chair: Frank Parker) - Guests included Writer Guest of Honor Barbara Hambly, Writer Special Guest Robert Buettner, as well as Media Guest of Honor Bodie Olmos (Battlestar Galactica). Kelly Lockhart of Southern Fandom Resource Guide as their Fan Guest of Honor, the Geek Comedy Tour, and the Pirate Ball hosted by the Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast.

ConCarolinas 2008: May 30 - June 1 (Con Chair: Frank Parker, Vice Chair: Ron McClung) - Guests included Gary Jones from Stargate SG-1 and Suzie Plakson, as well as Mike Resnick as our Literary Guest of Honor. Faith Hunter and David B. Coe were their literary special guests. Programming expanded with Paranormal tracks, and a Zombie Walk. Other guests included James Maxey, Mike Pederson, Edmund R. Schubert, Amy H. Sturgis, Ph.D., Robert V Aldrich, Gail Z. Martin, Steve Cross, and Stuart Jaffe, along with veterans Stephen Euin Cobb, and Davey Beauchamp.

ConCarolinas 2009: May 29–31 (Con Chair: Frank Parker, Vice Chair: Ron McClung) - Literary Guest of Honor Katherine Kurtz, Artist Guest of Honor Alan Welch. Additional Author guests included: Tony Ruggiero, Michael J. Sullivan, David B. Coe, Faith Hunter, Edmund R. Schubert

From 2002 until 2008, ConCarolinas was held at the Marriott Executive Park Hotel in Charlotte, NC. In 2009, the convention moved to the Hilton Charlotte University Place. In 2008, ConCarolinas won its bid for the 2010 DeepSouthCon and hosted it June 4–6, 2010, out of their new hotel.

ConCarolinas 2010: (Con Chair: Ron McClung, Vice Chair: Frank Parker) held at the Charlotte Hilton University Place.  ConCarolinas hosted DeepSouthCon and awarded the Phoenix Award to Author GOH, Jerry Pournelle, and the Rebel Award to Fan GOH and Founder of the 501st Legion, Albin Johnson. Other guests included Ed Beard, Bill and Brenda Sutton.

ConCarolinas continues as an annual convention with events held June 3–5, 2011, June 1–3, 2012, May 31-June 2, 2013. May 30 through June 1, 2014, and May 29–31, 2015.

The next ConCarolinas is scheduled to be held June 2 - 4, 2023.

References

Science fiction conventions in the United States
Culture of Charlotte, North Carolina
Tourist attractions in Charlotte, North Carolina
Conventions in North Carolina
Recurring events established in 2002

ConCarolinas


The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting (IAMPETH) (pronounced "I am Peth") is an international association for practicing and preserving the arts of calligraphy, engrossing and penmanship. IAMPETH was founded in 1949.

IAMPETH maintains an archive of works of past masters (viewable, in person, only to members during the Annual Conference) in addition to online instruction guides on lettering styles such as Copperplate, Spencerian script, Illuminated manuscript production (engrossing) and others. A portion of the organization's collection has been digitally preserved and is available on their Internet Archive profile. An annual conference is held each year during the months of July or August in a US city. The convention consists of various classes, banquets, and demonstrations.

In 2017 IAMPETH introduced a new Certificate Program, replacing the Master Penman Program which was discontinued in 2015. This program allows all members who have been with the organization for three or more years to submit work to be considered for Certificate of Proficiency, Certificate of Excellence, and finally a  Master Penman's Certificate. Current application requirements and associated costs are viewable by members only.

IAMPETH is composed of members from various countries. Dues range from $25 to $55 USD. Membership occasionally closes, temporarily, prior to the Annual Conference.

IAMPETH Goals
Practice and teach the arts of calligraphy, engrossing and fine penmanship
Restore the teaching of penmanship in schools
Improve the handwriting of young people
Preserve and share with others the rich tradition of American Penmanship.
Practice make progress

See also

 Penmanship
 Cursive
 Calligraphy
 Illuminated manuscript (engrossing)

References

External links
 IAMPETH official Website

Calligraphy organizations, societies, and schools
Manuscript illuminators
Penmanship
Writing
1949 establishments in New York (state)


In quantum mechanics, the position operator is the operator that corresponds to the position observable of a particle.

When the position operator is considered with a wide enough domain (e.g. the space of tempered distributions), its eigenvalues are the possible position vectors of the particle.

In one dimension, if by the symbol  we denote the unitary eigenvector of the position operator corresponding to the eigenvalue , then,  represents the state of the particle in which we know with certainty to find the particle itself at position .

Therefore, denoting the position operator by the symbol  in the literature we find also other symbols for the position operator, for instance  (from Lagrangian mechanics),  and so on we can write  for every real position .

One possible realization of the unitary state with position  is the Dirac delta (function) distribution centered at the position , often denoted by .

In quantum mechanics, the ordered (continuous) family of all Dirac distributions, i.e. the family

is called the (unitary) position basis (in one dimension), just because it is a (unitary) eigenbasis of the position operator  in the space of distributions dual to the space of wave-functions.

It is fundamental to observe that there exists only one linear continuous endomorphism  on the space of tempered distributions such that

for every real point . It's possible to prove that the unique above endomorphism is necessarily defined by

for every tempered distribution , where  denotes the coordinate function of the position line defined from the real line into the complex plane by

Introduction

In one dimension for a particle confined into a straight line the square modulus

of a normalized square integrable wave-function

represents the probability density of finding the particle at some position  of the real-line, at a certain time.

In other terms, if at a certain instant of time the particle is in the state represented by a square integrable wave function  and assuming the wave function  be of -norm equal 1,

then the probability to find the particle in the position range  is

Hence the expected value of a measurement of the position  for the particle is the value

where:
 the particle is assumed to be in the state ;
 the function  is supposed integrable, i.e. of class ;
 we indicate by  the coordinate function of the position axis.

Additionally, the quantum mechanical operator corresponding to the observable position  is denoted also by  and defined  for every wave function  and for every point  of the real line.

The circumflex over the function  on the left side indicates the presence of an operator, so that this equation may be read:

The result of the position operator  acting on any wave function  equals the coordinate function  multiplied by the wave-function .

Or more simply:

The operator  multiplies any wave-function  by the coordinate function .

Note 1. To be more explicit, we have introduced the coordinate function

which simply imbeds the position-line into the complex plane. It is nothing more than the canonical embedding of the real line into the complex plane.

Note 2. The expected value of the position operator, upon a wave function (state)  can be reinterpreted as a scalar product:

assuming the particle in the state  and assuming the function  be of class  which immediately implies that the function  Is integrable, i.e. of class .

Note 3. Strictly speaking, the observable position  can be point-wisely defined as

for every wave function  and for every point  of the real line, upon the wave-functions which are precisely point-wise defined functions. In the case of equivalence classes  the definition reads directly as follows

for every wave-function .

Basic properties

In the above definition, as the careful reader can immediately remark, does not exist any clear specification of domain and co-domain for the position operator (in the case of a particle confined upon a line). In literature, more or less explicitly, we find essentially three main directions for this fundamental issue.

 The position operator is defined on the subspace  of  formed by those equivalence classes  whose product by the imbedding  lives in the space  as well. In this case the position operator  reveals not continuous (unbounded with respect to the topology induced by the canonical scalar product of ), with no eigenvectors, no eigenvalues, consequently with empty eigenspectrum (collection of its eigenvalues).
 The position operator is defined on the space  of complex valued Schwartz functions (smooth complex functions defined upon the real-line and rapidly decreasing at infinity with all their derivatives). The product of a Schwartz function by the imbedding  lives always in the space , which is a subset of . In this case the position operator  reveals continuous (with respect to the canonical topology of ), injective, with no eigenvectors, no eigenvalues, consequently with void eigenspectrum (collection of its eigenvalues). It is (fully) self-adjoint with respect to the scalar product of  in the sense that  for every  and  belonging to its domain .
 This is, in practice, the most widely adopted choice in Quantum Mechanics literature, although never explicitly underlined. The position operator is defined on the space  of complex valued tempered distributions (topological dual of the Schwartz function space ). The product of a temperate distribution by the imbedding  lives always in the space , which contains . In this case the position operator  reveals continuous (with respect to the canonical topology of ), surjective, endowed with complete families of eigenvectors, real eigenvalues, and with eigenspectrum (collection of its eigenvalues) equal to the real line. It is self-adjoint with respect to the scalar product of  in the sense that its transpose operator  which is the position operator on the Schwartz function space, is self-adjoint:  for every (test) function  and  belonging to the space .

Eigenstates

The eigenfunctions of the position operator (on the space of tempered distributions), represented in position space, are Dirac delta functions.

Informal proof. To show that possible eigenvectors of the position operator should necessarily be Dirac delta distributions, suppose that  is an eigenstate of the position operator with eigenvalue . We write the eigenvalue equation in position coordinates,

recalling that  simply multiplies the wave-functions by the function , in the position representation. Since the function  is variable while  is a constant,  must be zero everywhere except at the point . Clearly, no continuous function satisfies such properties, and we cannot simply define the wave-function to be a complex number at that point because its -norm would be 0 and not 1. This suggest the need of a "functional object" concentrated at the point  and with integral different from 0: any multiple of the Dirac delta centered at . Q.E.D.

The normalized solution to the equation

is
 or better

Proof. Here we prove rigorously that

Indeed, recalling that the product of any function by the Dirac distribution centered at a point is the value of the function at that point times the Dirac distribution itself, we obtain immediately

Q.E.D.

Meaning of the Dirac delta wave. Although such Dirac states are physically unrealizable and, strictly speaking, they are not functions, Dirac distribution centered at  can be thought of as an "ideal state" whose position is known exactly (any measurement of the position always returns the eigenvalue ). Hence, by the uncertainty principle, nothing is known about the momentum of such a state.

Three dimensions

The generalisation to three dimensions is straightforward.

The space-time wavefunction is now  and the expectation value of the position operator  at the state  is

where the integral is taken over all space. The position operator is

Momentum space

Usually, in quantum mechanics, by representation in the momentum space we intend the representation of states and observables with respect to the canonical unitary momentum basis

In momentum space, the position operator in one dimension is represented by the following differential operator

where:
 the representation of the position operator in the momentum basis is naturally defined by , for every wave function (tempered distribution) ;
  represents the coordinate function on the momentum line and the wave-vector function  is defined by .

Formalism in L2(R, C)

Consider, for example, the case of a spinless particle moving in one spatial dimension (i.e. in a line). The state space for such a particle contains the L2-space (Hilbert space)  of complex-valued and square-integrable (with respect to the Lebesgue measure) functions on the real line.

The position operator in ,

is pointwise defined by:

for each pointwisely defined square integrable class  and for each real number , with domain

where  is the coordinate function sending each point  to itself.

Since all continuous functions with compact support lie in D(Q), Q is densely defined. Q, being simply multiplication by x, is a self-adjoint operator, thus satisfying the requirement of a quantum mechanical observable.

Immediately from the definition we can deduce that the spectrum consists of the entire real line and that Q has purely continuous spectrum, therefore no discrete eigenvalues.

The three-dimensional case is defined analogously. We shall keep the one-dimensional assumption in the following discussion.

Measurement theory in L2(R, C)

As with any quantum mechanical observable, in order to discuss position measurement, we need to calculate the spectral resolution of the position operator

which is

where  is the so-called spectral measure of the position operator.

Since the operator of  is just the multiplication operator by the embedding function , its spectral resolution is simple.

For a Borel subset  of the real line, let  denote the indicator function of . We see that the projection-valued measure

is given by  i.e., the orthogonal projection  is the multiplication operator by the indicator function of .

Therefore, if the system is prepared in a state , then the probability of the measured position of the particle belonging to a Borel set  is

where  is the Lebesgue measure on the real line.

After any measurement aiming to detect the particle within the subset B, the wave function collapses to either

or

where  is the Hilbert space norm on .

See also

 Position and momentum space
 Momentum operator
 Translation operator (quantum mechanics)

References

Quantum mechanics

Position operator