Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes is a hack and slash video game with RPG elements. It was published by Atari Interactive and developed by the subsidiary's Hunt Valley development studio, exclusively for Xbox in 2003. It is set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe and is playable solo or with up to four players. Players take on the role of four reincarnated heroes brought back to life to fight their former nemesis, a wizard named Kaedin.

Gameplay
Up to four players can play, each of whom can control one of four characters: a dwarf cleric, an elf wizard, a halfling rogue, and a human fighter.  Players can join and quit the game at any time.  The characters can be a mixed group of varying levels, and when a character levels up, the player can delay the process of distributing new points and skills until after any current combat or action sequences complete.  The game has four difficulty levels: easy, normal, hard, and nightmare, the latter of which can only be played after completing the game on the hard setting.  The game also features a large variety of monsters from the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manuals, including red dragons, yuan-tis, and fire giants.

Plot
One hundred and fifty years before the present, the wizard Kaedin had opened four portals leading to different planes of existence. He harnessed power of the four planes to create "Planar Gems," each with the same power as the planes they came from. He then created a fifth Gem to control the four Planar Gems and entrusted a beholder to protect it. Beholders are long-lived, and this one still protects it to this day. Kaedin became more powerful and malevolent with the four Planar Gems, and conquered town after town. The Kingdom of Baele called for its best and brightest, and four souls answered the call (your characters in the game). They traveled to Kaedin's castle and killed him. As Kaedin died, he cast a final spell that killed the four heroes. With Kaedin dead, the heroes were buried with full honors and the Gems were banished to the planes where they remain. Castle Baele was built over the site of the four portals and Kaedin's body is thrown into an unmarked grave.

One hundred and fifty years later, a group of evil clerics sought to channel the dead wizard's power, but Kaedin revived and killed them all. Now a group of good clerics revives the four heroes to go after Kaedin. The four go through the crypts and fight the Bulette. After heading out into the swamps, They find a shadowy rogue who gives you information on the castle and whom to contact there. At the end of the swamps, they enter Castle Baele.

Upon arriving at Castle Baele, the four travel to the shoppe and chat with Rik, the shopkeeper. He informs the four that they need to get the Planar Gems. Although, you need to attain certain keys first. The four head to the Dragon's Tankard to talk with the rogues (of which one is Lidda, featured in the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook, the halfling rogue). She gives the heroes the key to the Great Hall in exchange for killing all of the Trolls in the marketplace, and the heroes go there. After clearing out the Great Hall, the heroes return to Rik and he tells them that they must collect the four Scepters to open the portals to the first plane. After clearing out the Treasury, Barracks, Church of Pelor and the Dungeons, the four return to Rick with the four scepters.

After attaining the scepters, the four kill the beholder guarding the Gem of Winds (the fifth Gem Kaedin made) and take it back to Rik. He explains how to open the first portal, and the heroes go to the Wilds and kill the Yuan-Ti. They fight to the top of the trees and then to a bluff where they fight an Yrthak. After defeating the Yrthak the heroes take the Gem of Nature, which opens the portal to the Forge. This is a hot and fiery level full of clockwork soldiers and workers (with some Fire Elementals and Fire giants as well). The four fight their way to a red dragon and defeat it. They claim the Gem of Fire and open the portal to the Frostbound. Upon arriving, the heroes come to a sorceress who wants some Ice Golems dead.  Working their way through barbarians, frost wolves and killing the Ice Golems, the heroes make their way to the Frost Worm's Lair; and they kill the Frost Worm and take the Gem of Ice, which opens the portal to Bone Necropolis. The heroes discover that Rik is missing, and Lidda supposes that he got wise to the situation and moved on.  After fighting many undead in the Bone Necropolis, the four come across the Bone Bridge and defeat many more undead foes.  In the Bone Temple, the heroes come up against very powerful creatures.  The heroes are tested, but come out victorious. In the inner sanctum the four come across a Lich, which they defeat with their upgraded ancestral weapons and claim the Gem of Death.

Upon returning to the Shoppe, the heroes find they now must travel to Kaedin's flying castle.  The heroes find out that Rik is actually Kaedin. He laughs and mocks the four, as they decide to follow him and end this once and for all. They fight many beasts and pull many levers until they face Kaedin the first time. He flees further into the castle, where the four find him in another tower and fight him until he leaves a second time. Upon fighting him the third time, he uses the Gems to call upon the power stored in them.  Because the four actually possess the real Gems, they can defeat Kaedin and destroy the Gems leaving Baele in peace, and the heroes help to rebuild the Castle and help the surrounding communities.

Characters
There are four playable characters in the game:
 Human Fighter-He is from Castle Baele originally, after losing his father in the Far North on the island of Axion. He arrived in Baele as Kaedin rose to power, and helped defeat the wizard the first time (and losing his life in the process). 150 years after, he was resurrected by the dwarven clerics to battle Kaedin again.
 Elf Wizard-Raised in Baele, this elf trained with the staff and magic. She accepted the call to kill Kaedin when the head of her Guild called, "If your power be equal to Kaedin, bring yourself forward." 150 years later she steps forward again to kill Kaedin once and for all.
 Dwarf Cleric-He was raised in mountain halls, and trained as a Cleric of Moradin. He went to Baele seeking a drink after clearing out some evil dwarves and heard about an evil wizard named Kaedin conquering town after town. He decided it was Moradin's Will to kill this wizard. 150 years later, Moradin's Clerics raised him from the dead to seek out Kaedin and kill him again.
 Halfling Rogue-Orphaned at the age of 5, this rogue was left in the care of the Seven Stars Crew, a feared gang of rogues. She was trained, and then helped a wizard of some renown to attain some amulets. 10 years later she found out that the same wizard had destroyed her village. Kaedin was his name, and she left for Baele to exact revenge. 150 years later, her conviction to kill the wizard is still as strong as ever.

Each hero has a unique ancestral weapon which lost its power when Kaedin placed a curse upon it. Throughout the game, players collect Soul Shards to upgrade the weapon's power. Heroes all have some unique abilities which can be leveled up as the game progresses.

Development
Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes was announced by Infogrames prior to E3 2002 on May 16 as a multi-platform title for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox for a Fall 2002 release window, although no developer was announced for who would be working on the project. In August, the company announced that the title would now be released in March 2003.

In January 2003, the title's website was launched, and in February, it was re-announced for a June release. In April, it was revealed by IGN that pre-orders and listings for the PlayStation 2 version were being removed from various game store websites like GameStop, hinting that the game may become a console exclusive. This was officially confirmed in May by the now-rebranded Atari at E3 2003, where they announced that the game would only be released for the Xbox, and that the PS2 and GCN versions were cancelled. The game was once again delayed, this time for a fall release.

Reception

GameSpot compared the game to the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series and rated it with a score of 6.6/10 (fair). According to GameSpy, "Heroes wasn't a terribly deep or rich experience, but for mindless arcade hacking, this was a pretty good choice for Xbox owners." Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes has an aggregate score of 74% on GameRankings.

References

External links

 IGN Review (8.3)

2003 video games
Atari games
Cancelled GameCube games
Cancelled PlayStation 2 games
Cooperative video games
Dungeons & Dragons video games
Hack and slash games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games designed by Brenda Romero
Video games developed in the United States
Video games featuring female protagonists
Video games set in castles
Xbox games
Xbox-only games

Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes


The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritage List were created and by 2007 the Register had been replaced by these and various state and territory heritage registers.

Places listed on the Register remain in a non-statutory archive and are still able to be viewed via the National Heritage Database.

History

The register was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission, after which the register was maintained by the Australian Heritage Council. 13,000 places were listed.

The expression "national estate" was first used by the British architect Clough Williams-Ellis, and reached Australia in the 1970s. It was incorporated into the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975 and was used to describe a collection of buildings and sites that were worthy of preservation for a variety of reasons. It covered natural environments as well as European history and Aboriginal culture.

Process of listing
Anyone could suggest that a certain site should be listed on the Register of the National Estate. A nomination form was provided and was then submitted to an expert group for evaluation. If a place was accepted for listing, the nomination was declared in the Commonwealth Gazette and newspapers. The Heritage Council eventually made a decision after the public has had time to comment and raise possible objections. The listing, if it took place, was based on an assessment of the values of the nominated place, whether "aesthetic, historic, scientific, or social significance, or other special value".

A listing on the Register required that a Commonwealth Minister or authority should not take any course of action that would adversely affect the listed subjects unless there was no alternative; in the latter case, the Minister was obliged to take steps to minimise any effect on the listed subject. The listing did not impose any legal obligations on private owners, companies, State governments or local governments. The Australian Heritage Council had to be consulted if any government wanted to take a course of action that might have an adverse effect on a listed subject. The Council itself could not make decisions on a proposed course of action; such decisions were made by the Federal Minister or the relevant authority contemplating the course of action.

Criteria
Evaluation of nominated places was based on the following criteria:

Criterion A
Its importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia's natural or cultural history
A.1 Importance in the evolution of Australian flora, fauna, landscapes or climate.
A.2 Importance in maintaining existing processes or natural systems at the regional or national scale.
A.3 Importance in exhibiting unusual richness or diversity of flora, fauna, landscapes or cultural features.
A.4 Importance for association with events, developments or cultural phases which have had a significant role in the human occupation and evolution of the nation, State, region or community.

Criterion B
Its possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Australia's natural or cultural history
B.1 Importance for rare, endangered or uncommon flora, fauna, communities, ecosystems, natural landscapes or phenomena, or as a wilderness.
B.2 Importance in demonstrating a distinctive way of life, custom, process, land-use, function or design no longer practised, in danger of being lost, or of exceptional interest

Criterion C
Its potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Australia's natural or cultural history
C.1 Importance for information contributing to a wider understanding of Australian natural history, by virtue of its use as a research site, teaching site, type locality, reference or benchmark site.
C.2 Importance for information contributing to a wider understanding of the history of human occupation of Australia.

 Criterion DIts importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of: (i) a class of Australia's natural or cultural places; or (ii) a class of Australia's natural or cultural environmentsD.1 Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the range of landscapes, environments or ecosystems, the attributes of which identify them as being characteristic of their class.
D.2 Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the range of human activities in the Australian environment (including way of life, philosophy, custom, process, land use, function, design or technique).

 Criterion EIts importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community or cultural groupE.1 Importance for a community for aesthetic characteristics held in high esteem or otherwise valued by the community.

 Criterion FIts importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular periodF.1 Importance for its technical, creative, design or artistic excellence, innovation or achievement.

 Criterion GIts strong or special associations with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasonsG.1 Importance as a place highly valued by a community for reasons of religious, spiritual, symbolic, cultural, educational, or social associations.

 Criterion HIts special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Australia's natural or cultural history'H.1 Importance for close associations with individuals whose activities have been significant within the history of the nation, State or region.

End of the register
The Register of the National Estate was frozen in February 2007.
In 2003 the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975, which had established the RNE, was repealed. In its place the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 provided for a new system of heritage protection for nationally significant places. In 2006 the EPBC Act and the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003'' were amended to freeze the RNE, and to allow five years to phase out statutory references to the RNE. As a result of these changes:

On 1 January 2004, the Australian Heritage Council took over responsibility for the RNE from the former Australian Heritage Commission.
On 19 February 2007, the database was frozen; no more additions or removals of places were allowed.
On 19 February 2012, all references to the RNE were removed from the legislation.

In February 2012, the Register was replaced by the Australian National Heritage List for places of outstanding heritage value for Australia and the Commonwealth Heritage List for heritage places that are owned or controlled by the Commonwealth of Australia, together with a collection of state and territory heritage registers that most were in existence for many years. The RNE is maintained on a non-statutory basis as a publicly available archive and educational resource.

See also
 List of heritage registers
 Annie Forsyth Wyatt

References

Attribution
This article incorporates text from Criteria for the Register of the National Estate published by the Commonwealth of Australia 2018 under CC-BY-4.0 licence, accessed on 3 September 2018.

External links

Search the Register

Nature conservation in Australia
Heritage registers in Australia
1976 establishments in Australia
2012 disestablishments in Australia

Register of the National Estate


1770, otherwise known as Mummy 1770 or Mummy No. 1770, was an ancient Egyptian female mummy. The specimen was found in a sarcophagus by Rosalie David, and was approximately 13 or 14 years old at the time of her death. The mummy's legs were not present, and were replaced by wooden planks. Her feet also consisted of sandals filled with mud and reeds, with the tips being substituted for toes. The fingernails and reed tips had golden coverings, which suggested that she lived in a wealthy family.

Death
It was discovered that Mummy 1770 had a calcified male guinea worm in her abdominal wall. Her legs were amputated, one above, one below the knee. It is possible that an unsuccessful treatment of the dracunculiasis was the cause of death. However, it is not known whether her legs were amputated because of this. It is known that mummy 1770 died a few weeks after her surgery.

Facial reconstruction
When the sarcophagus was unwrapped in 1975 by the Manchester Mummy team, including Dr. Rosalie David, believed they may be able to attempt a forensic facial reconstruction. Her skull was incomplete and in many pieces, in order to reconstruct, the team put the skull together, made a plaster cast, and filled the gaps with wax. To create the face, wooden pegs were drilled into the cast, at the precise depth of tissue. Then wax was added to the cast over the pegs, slightly covering them. After the wax was added, glass eyes and a wig were added to the cast. Mummy 1770 was reconstructed twice, one was the 1975 version, the other was a modified version, with darker skin and make up.

References

External links

University of Manchester

Ancient Egyptian mummies
Ancient Egyptian women
Egyptian amputees
Egyptian people with disabilities

1770 (mummy)


Zinc arsenide is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is Zn3As2. It has zinc and arsenide ions.

Zinc arsenide is a gray solid. It reacts with acids to make arsine gas. It is toxic like all arsenic compounds. It is made by heating arsenic with zinc.

Related pages
Aluminium arsenide
Antimonide

Zinc compounds
Arsenic compounds

Zinc arsenide


Penola Catholic College is a regional Catholic secondary college in the north-western region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college is co-educational, and teaches years 9 to 12 (students aged roughly 15 to 18). The school follows the Josephite tradition (love, understanding and acceptance of others).

History
Penola Catholic College was established in 1995 and is set on 27 acres over two campuses.  Three former schools were combined into  two campuses, Sancta Sophia College at Glenroy and Therry and Geoghegan Colleges at Broadmeadows.  The College name, Penola Catholic College, was chosen for the strong connection between Broadmeadows campus with Saint Mary MacKillop Sisters of St Joseph who established a foundling home on the site in 1901.  Mary MacKillop opened her first school in 1866 in the small town of Penola, in the southeastern part of South Australia.  Together with Fr Julian Tenison Woods, Mary MacKillop founded the order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.  From 1901 until the late 1980s, the Sisters of St Joseph ministered to the local community and lived on this site.

College Emblem
The tree trunk on the emblem represents the cross and points to the life of Christ and is a model for the members of Penola Catholic College.  The three Colleges from which Penola Catholic College has sprung is represented by the three leaves.  The three leaves also symbolize the spiritual, physical and intellectual growth potential of members of the College.  The tree also reminds us of the Penola, or the native aboriginal origin.  The name Penola gives a unifying feeling of security, protection and care for its members.

College Governance
The Association of Canonical Administrators of Penola Catholic College is governed and conducted by the Parish Priests of the Member Parishes.
The current members of the College Board are as follows:
Mrs. Joanne Grindrod - Chairperson
Mrs. Annmaree Angelico - Deputy Chairperson
Mr Peter-Damien McKinley - President of the Association of Canonical Administrators
Mr. Christopher Blake - Principal and Executive Officer
Miss Nicole Allan - Staff representative
Mr. Stuart Harrison - Staff representative
Mrs. Teresa Mattei – Parent representative
Mrs. Diane Rufus – Parent Representative
Mrs. Vivien Miles – Parent Representative
Mr. Ray Turner - Parent Representative
Mr. Matthew O'Rourke – Honorary Financial Consultant
Miss Danielle Ciavarella – College Captain
Mr. Charlton Pereira – College Captain
Mrs. Jennifer Vinten – Business Manager
Mrs. Sue Delaney – Secretary

College Facilities
The grounds and facilities on both campuses have undergone significant transformations since the college was established in 1995.
The College will continue to guide this development in the years ahead using the Building Master Plan they have in place.  A Performing Arts Centre, Digital Language Laboratory and Hospitality Centre on the Broadmeadows Campus are just a few recent additions to the College.  There are also refurbished classrooms and outdoor sporting facilities.  The Glenroy campus is undergoing a refurbishing program including a new outdoor recreation facility that was constructed recently.  The Broadmeadows site has many historical buildings including the original homestead "Kerrsland" that was constructed in 1880.  There are some buildings that still stand from St. Joseph's Babies Home including the magnificent St. Joseph's Chapel completed in 1924.

Houses
The college has what is known as a House Group System. Students are divided into six House Groups.  They compete for House points in debate, sports and other extra-curricular activities. The six House Groups are:
Mackillop – named after Mary MacKillop, represented by the colour orange.
Nolan – named after Sister Livinus Nolan, long serving Victorian Catholic school educator and member of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Nolan is represented by the colour purple.
Geoghegan – named after one of three colleges amalgamated to form the College, and is represented by the colour green.
Smyth – named after Thomas Smyth, founding Principal of Penola Catholic College and is represented by the colour blue.
Therry – named after one of three colleges amalgamated to form the College and is represented by the colour gold.
Sancta Sophia – named after one of three colleges amalgamated to form the College and is represented by the color red.

Schools in Australia
1995 establishments
Buildings and structures in Melbourne
1990s establishments in Australia

Penola Catholic College


Nils Erik "Dubbel-Nisse" Nilsson (8 March 1936 – 24 June 2017) was a Swedish ice hockey forward and footballer. Between 1954 and 1967 he played 205 international matches and scored 131 goals, which is the second-best scoring result, behind that of Sven Tumba.

Career
Nilsson won the world title in 1957 and 1962, finishing second in 1963 and 1967 and third in 1958 and 1965. He competed at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics, and finished in fourth, fifth and second place, respectively. He was the best forward of the 1960 tournament and was selected to the all-star team at the 1962 World Championships.

In 2002, he was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

Nilsson won only one national title, in his last season (1969). Yet he was awarded the Goldpucken award in 1966 as the best Swedish player and the Rinkens riddare award in 1967 for sportsmanlike behavior, and was selected to the Swedish all-star team in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1965 and 1967.

Nilsson also played football with Djurgårdens IF, IK Göta and Karlstad BK, and won the national title with Djurgården in 1959. After retiring from competitions he worked as a product developer with Jofa, a Swedish manufacturer of sporting equipment.

Death
Nilsson died in Stockholm, Sweden on 24 June 2017 at the age of 81.

References

Other websites
 Nils Nilsson . sports-reference.com
 Nisse Nilsson. Swedish Olympic Committee

1936 births
2017 deaths
Swedish ice hockey centres
Swedish Olympic silver medalists

Nils Nilsson (ice hockey player)


Abdul Azeez Kolawole Adeyemo (June 14, 1941 – March 12, 2002), popularly known as 'Alhaji how are you', was a Nigerian and prominent Yoruba politician. He was born in Ado-Ekiti the Ekiti State capital to Sir. Rufai Adeyemo & Princess Adebolarin Agunsoye. Growing up as a Catholic during the British colonial era, he later converted to Islam. He became a politician early in his career. He joined the Western Region campaign of Egbe Omo Oduduwa founded by Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo. He was also a front-line member of Action Group political party which later metamorphosed into Unity Party of Nigeria. His main legacy was to secure democracy and good governance in post independent Nigeria.

Background and political life

A clergy, a painter, a successful business man, and an orator who assumed his first political office in the Second Republic as a Member of Parliament on October 1, 1979, when Alhaji Shehu Shagari was sworn in as the first civilian President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The government was later removed from power on New Year's Eve 1983 by Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

Alhaji A.A.K Adeyemo played a significant role as a Campaign Manager in the victory of the short lived government of Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, Governor of old Ondo State  from 1991 to 1993 under the umbrella of the Social Democratic Party (Nigeria). He later served in that administration as the Ondo State Parliamentary Co-ordinator & Liaison Officer. The biggest problem that clogged the wheel of Nigeria's ride to social, economic and political self-actualization was epitomised by Military President Ibrahim Babangida's annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential polls won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola in a free and fair election. The annulment coupled with the dissolution of the political parties invariably led to the demise of the civilian government in all individual states across the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Once again, the Nigerian dream of a democratic sovereignty to which 'how are you' remained absolutely committed was cut short in a carapace of indifference and cynicism; justice was debased to tokenism and cynical symbolism.

Elder statesman

Alhaji Adeyemo was also a renowned leader of the PAN Yoruba Elders Consultative  Forum popularly known as 'Afenifere'. He was also instrumental in the creation of Ekiti State in October 1996. Following the restoration of democracy in the late 1990s shortly after the sudden and mysterious death of the military dictator General Sani Abacha, Alhaji Adeyemo continued to be politically active and assumed the status of a 'Godfather' owing to his sphere of influence across the political terrain and oligarchy. This was demonstrated by his unquestionable role in the political aspiration of Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo as first Governor elect, Ekiti State, under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (Nigeria), in 1999.

A shortlist of his political alliances includes Samuel Adekunle Ajasin JP, Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, Alhaji Baba Gana Kingibe, Chief Olu Falae, General Adeyinka Adebayo, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua, Olusegun Kokumo Agagu, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, Pa Abraham Adesanya, T.Y Danjuma, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Otunba Reuben Famuyibo, Adebayo Adefarati, Ebenezer Babatope, and Chief Bola Ige amongst others.

Demise

'Alhaji how are you' died in hospital on March 12, 2002, after being rushed to hospital following a protracted high blood pressure resulting from a long-standing cardiovascular disease.

References

Yoruba politicians
Nigerian former Christians
1941 births
2002 deaths
Converts to Islam from Roman Catholicism
Nigerian Muslims
Nigerian Ahmadis
People from Ekiti State

Abdul Azeez Kolawole Adeyemo


Poplar is an area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east of Charing Cross. Poplar gets its name from the black poplar tree, a large and locally rare species.

History
Mordern Poplar was originally known as the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar in 1900, this included Limehouse, Blackwall and the Isle of Dogs areas. In 1965, it merged with the Metropolitan Boroughs of Stepney and Bethnal Green to form the new London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Transport
Poplar is served by Poplar DLR station on the Docklands Light Railway.

For the tree, see Populus.

Areas of London

Poplar, London


Barsoomian is the constructed language of the fictional Barsoomians, the sapient humanoid inhabitants of Mars in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was developed from Burroughs' examples and descriptions by Paul Frommer for the 2012 film John Carter of Mars; Frommer also created the Na'vi language for Avatar.

Spoken Barsoomian has mostly lexical words, with the equivalent of grammatical words such as prepositions and pronouns conveyed telepathically. There are few inflections, and word order is fixed to verb–subject–object.  Possession is indicated by juxtaposing the object with the possessor, as in Malay.  There is a word that makes direct object definite, as in Hebrew.  The vocabulary is relatively simple, with little poetic language.

Some inflection is found in the pronouns.  For the object, the initial consonant is suffixed:  tu "I", tut "me"; ki "he", kik "him".  To form the plural, the consonants are voiced: du "we", dud "us", gi "they".

The effect of the language is staccato. There are ten vowels, five long and five short, transcribed short a e i o u and long aa ey ee oa oo; diphthongs are ao (as in how) and ay (as in high). Consonants are similar to English (b d j g, p t  k, v z, f  s h, r l, m n, w y), with the addition of the velar fricatives ch  and gh . Consonants, both voiced and unvoiced, may also be long or short.

In the books it is mentioned that Barsoomian is the only language spoken on the entire planet of Barsoom. Therefore, there never are any language barriers between different people from Barsoom, no matter what country or city on the planet they originate from. Written versions of Barsoomian however can differ greatly between different cities.

References

External links
A blog on the original Barsoomian language
Blogs on Frommer Barsoomian

Constructed languages
Fictional alien languages
Barsoom
Verb–subject–object languages
Constructed languages introduced in the 1890s

Barsoomian language


Charles Frederick Worth (Bourne, Lincolnshire, 13 October 1825 – Paris, 10 March 1895), widely considered the Father of Haute Couture, was an English fashion designer of the 19th century, whose works were produced in Paris. The Parisien Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture was his conception. It has the legal authority to decide who may use the term haute couture.

Career
Worth made his mark in the French fashion industry. He worked at several prosperous London drapery shops before moving to Paris in 1846. He was hired by Gagelin and Opigez, well-known Parisian drapers. While working in their shop, he married one of the firm's models, Marie Vernet. Worth made a few simple dresses for his wife and customers started to ask for copies of the dresses as well.

Worth, by now a junior partner in the firm, urged his partners to expand into dressmaking, but they hesitated. Worth found a rich Swede, Otto Bobergh, who was willing to bankroll the venture and opened the dressmaking establishment of Worth and Bobergh in 1858. Worth was soon patronized by the French Empress Eugénie, and after that by many titled, rich, and otherwise notable women. He also dressed actresses such as Sarah Bernhardt and singers such as Nellie Melba. Many of his customers travelled to Paris from other countries, coming from as far away as New York and Boston.

He removed excessive ruffles and frills and used rich fabrics in simple, but flattering, outlines. He is credited as the first designer to put labels onto the clothing he manufactured.
Worth gave his customers luxurious materials and exact fit. Rather than let the customer dictate the design, as had previously been dressmaking practice, four times a year he displayed model dresses at fashion shows. This was the start of the fashion show as we know it.

His patronesses would pick a model, which would then be sewn in fabrics of their choice and tailored to their figure. Worth was sufficiently fashionable that he had to turn away customers. This only added to his fame. He completely revolutionized the business of dressmaking. He was the first of the couturiers, dressmakers considered artists rather than mere artisans.

Worth and Bobergh shut down during the Franco-Prussian War and re-opened in 1871, without Bobergh, as the House of Worth. Worth took his sons, Gaston and Jean-Philippe, into his business and the couture house continued to flourish after his death in 1895.

The great fashion dynasty finally came to an end in 1952 when Charles Frederick Worth's great-grandson, Jean-Charles (1881–1962), retired from the family business. In 1954, the House merged with Paquin. Then in 1956 it was closed.

Perfume
Worth was one of the first couture houses to give its name to a luxury perfume. In 1924 Les Parfums Worth launched the first fragrance, Dans La Nuit and Rene Lalique, the world renowned glass-maker, designed the bottle. Between the wars, the House produced five perfumes: Dans La Nuit (1924), Vers le Jours (1925), Sans Adieu (1929), Je Reviens (1932), and Vers Toi (1934).

Je Reviens remains the most famous of Worth's perfumes. The perfume became a favoured gift from soldiers to their sweethearts during WWII. The top London store Harrods offers the perfume in its classic blue ridged bottle, which dates back to the perfume's original launch.

Revival of the House of Worth
The House of Worth has re-emerged. Dilesh Mehta (perfumes) and Martin McCarthy (fashion) recently combined their intellectual properties for Worth perfume and apparel. This meant, for the first time since the 1920s, the House is reunited and restored.

The House of Worth resumed in January 2010 with a revival couture collection by Giovanni Bedin. The spring/summer collection was unveiled in Paris at Les Salons France-Amêriques and the winter collection in Milan. Bedin's exquisite corsets and tutus with clouds of tulle and antique lace echo Worth's ideas. Customers include Scarlett Johansson, Kylie Minogue and Charlize Theron.

Le Prêt-a-Porter
The spectacle of couture is just one aspect of the restored House of Worth. Complementing this is a presentation of Le Prêt-a-Porter (ready-to-wear). Worth's Je Reviens perfume will be relaunched, followed in 2011 by the House of Worth's lingerie and accessories, such as couture jewelry and made-to-measure gloves.

References

1825 births
1895 deaths
British fashion designers
People from Lincolnshire
Paris
French fashion houses
English businesspeople

Charles Worth


Mansa Musa (about 1280 – about 1337) was the ninth emperor (mansa) of the Mali Empire during the 14th century. He became emperor in 1312. He was the first African ruler to be famous in all of Europe and the Middle East.

Historians say he was the richest person to have ever lived. Today, his wealth would be worth about US $900 billion.

Mansa Musa was the great nephew of Sundiata Keita, who started the Mali Empire. He is famous for his Hajj (1324–5). His caravan may have had 60,000 people carrying supplies and bags, 500 slaves each carrying a gold staff, and 80 to 100 camels each carrying 300 pounds of gold dust. On his journey, he is said to have given out millions of dollars worth of gold. He gave out so much gold in Cairo that the price of gold went down and stayed low for many years. Mansa Musa stopped in many places on his way to Mecca for his Hajj. These placed include Timbuktu and Gao. He stopped every Friday at a destination and left enough gold for a mosque to be built.

Mansa Musa made Timbuktu a center of trade, culture and of Islam, which also helped increase the spread of Islam throughout Western Africa. He was a devoted Muslim, and built many schools based on the teachings of the Qur'an. He sent students to Islamic universities in northern Africa.

After his Hajj, European cartographers began to draw Mansa Musa on maps. As the empire of Mali fell apart, Mansa Musa's reputation did as well; he was no longer drawn as a noble king on maps.  Instead, artists drew him to look uncivilized. He was drawn as a parody of European royalty and a normal person with a crown.

Mansa Musa was married to Inari Kunate.

References
 "Mansa Musa." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
 MacDonald, Kevin C. "Mansa Musa." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013. Web.  4 Dec. 2013.
 Kane, Ousmane. "Musa, Sultan of Mali." Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Ed. Richard C. Martin. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004.Biography in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.

Other websites

 History Channel: Mansa Moussa: Pilgrimage of Gold
 Al-Umari's description of Mansa Musa's 1324 visit to Cairo
 Sondiata and Mansa Musa on the Web  web directory
 African Legends page
 African Events Mansa Musa page
 Mansa Musa , from Black History Pages

1280 births
1337 deaths

Malian emperors

Mansa Musa


An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Unlike temporary and mobile funfairs and carnivals, amusement parks are stationary and built for long-lasting operation. They are more elaborate than city parks and playgrounds, usually providing attractions that cater to a variety of age groups. While amusement parks often contain themed areas, theme parks place a heavier focus with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects.

Amusement parks evolved from European fairs, pleasure gardens, and large picnic areas, which were created for people's recreation. World's fairs and other types of international expositions also influenced the emergence of the amusement park industry.
Bakken ("The Hill") in Klampenborg, Denmark, Wurstelprater in Vienna, Austria, and Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark are the three oldest operating amusement parks in the world. Lake Compounce opened in 1846 and is considered the oldest, continuously operating amusement park in North America.

History

Origins
The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions: traveling or periodic fairs, pleasure gardens, and exhibitions such as world fairs. The oldest influence was the periodic fair of the Middle Ages - one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England from 1133. By the 18th and 19th centuries, they had evolved into places of entertainment for the masses, where the public could view freak shows, acrobatics, conjuring and juggling, take part in competitions and walk through menageries.

A wave of innovation in the 1860s and 1870s created mechanical rides, such as the steam-powered carousel (built by Thomas Bradshaw, at the Aylsham Fair), and its derivatives, notably from Frederick Savage of King's Lynn, Norfolk whose fairground machinery was exported all over the world; his "galloping horses" innovation is seen in carousels today. This inaugurated the era of the modern funfair ride, as the working classes were increasingly able to spend their surplus wages on entertainment.

The second influence was the pleasure garden. An example of this is the world's oldest amusement park, Bakken ("The Hill"), which opened in mainland Europe in 1583. It is located north of Copenhagen in Klampenborg, Denmark.

Another early garden was the Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661 in London. By the late 18th century, the site had an admission fee for its many attractions. It regularly drew enormous crowds, with its paths often noted for romantic assignations; tightrope walkers, hot air balloon ascents, concerts and fireworks providing amusement. Although the gardens were originally designed for the elites, they soon became places of great social diversity. Public firework displays were put on at Marylebone Gardens, and Cremorne Gardens offered music, dancing, and animal acrobatics displays.

Prater in Vienna, Austria, began as a royal hunting ground which was opened in 1766 for public enjoyment. There followed coffee-houses and cafés, which led to the beginnings of the Wurstelprater as an amusement park.

The concept of a fixed park for amusement was further developed with the beginning of the world's fairs. The first World fair began in 1851 with the construction of the landmark Crystal Palace in London, England. The purpose of the exposition was to celebrate the industrial achievement of the nations of the world and it was designed to educate and entertain the visitors.

American cities and businesses also saw the world's fair as a way of demonstrating economic and industrial success. The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, Illinois was an early precursor to the modern amusement park. The fair was an enclosed site, that merged entertainment, engineering and education to entertain the masses. It set out to bedazzle the visitors, and successfully did so with a blaze of lights from the "White City." To make sure that the fair was a financial success, the planners included a dedicated amusement concessions area called the Midway Plaisance. Rides from this fair captured the imagination of the visitors and of amusement parks around the world, such as the first steel Ferris wheel, which was found in many other amusement areas, such as the Prater by 1896. Also, the experience of the enclosed ideal city with wonder, rides, culture and progress (electricity), was based on the creation of an illusory place.

The "midway" introduced at the Columbian Exposition would become a standard part of most amusement parks, fairs, carnivals, and circuses. The midway contained not only the rides, but other concessions and entertainments such as shooting galleries, penny arcades, games of chance, and shows.

Trolley parks and pleasure resorts

Many modern amusement parks evolved from earlier pleasure resorts that had become popular with the public for day-trips or weekend holidays, for example, seaside areas such as Blackpool, United Kingdom and Coney Island, United States. In the United States, some amusement parks grew from picnic groves established along rivers and lakes that provided bathing and water sports, such as Lake Compounce in Connecticut, first established as a picturesque picnic park in 1846, and Riverside Park in Massachusetts, founded in the 1870s along the Connecticut River.

The trick was getting the public to the seaside or resort location. For Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, on the Atlantic Ocean, a horse-drawn streetcar line brought pleasure seekers to the beach beginning in 1829. In 1875, a million passengers rode the Coney Island Railroad, and in 1876 two million visited Coney Island. Hotels and amusements were built to accommodate both the upper classes and the working class at the beach. The first carousel was installed in the 1870s, the first roller coaster, the "Switchback Railway", in 1884.

In England, Blackpool was a popular beachside location beginning in the 1700s. It rose to prominence as a seaside resort with the completion in 1846 of a branch line to Blackpool from Poulton on the main Preston and Wyre Joint Railway line.  A sudden influx of visitors, arriving by rail, provided the motivation for entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and a rapid cycle of growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s.

In 1879, large parts of the promenade at Blackpool were wired. The lighting and its accompanying pageants reinforced Blackpool's status as the North of England's most prominent holiday resort, and its specifically working class character. It was the forerunner of the present-day Blackpool Illuminations. By the 1890s, the town had a population of 35,000, and could accommodate 250,000 holidaymakers. The number of annual visitors, many staying for a week, was estimated at three million.

In the final decade of the 19th century, electric trolley lines were developed in many large American cities. Companies that established the trolley lines also developed trolley parks as destinations of these lines. Trolley parks such as Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Park, or Reading's Carsonia Park were initially popular natural leisure spots before local streetcar companies purchased the sites, expanding them from picnic groves to include regular entertainments, mechanical amusements, dance halls, sports fields, boat rides, restaurants and other resort facilities.

Some of these parks were developed in resort locations, such as bathing resorts at the seaside in New Jersey and New York. A premiere example in New Jersey was Atlantic City, a famous vacation resort. Entrepreneurs erected amusement parks on piers that extended from the boardwalk out over the ocean. The first of several was the Ocean Pier in 1891, followed later by the Steel Pier in 1898, both of which boasted rides and attractions typical of that time, such as Midway-style games and electric trolley rides. The boardwalk also had the first Roundabout installed in 1892 by William Somers, a wooden predecessor to the Ferris Wheel. Somers installed two others in Asbury Park, New Jersey and Coney Island, New York.

Another early park was the Eldorado Amusement Park that opened in 1891 on the banks of the Hudson River, overlooking New York City. It consisted of 25 acres.

Modern amusement parks

The first permanent enclosed entertainment area, regulated by a single company, was founded in Coney Island in 1895: Sea Lion Park at Coney Island in Brooklyn. This park was one of the first to charge admission fee to get into the park in addition to sell tickets for rides within the park.

In 1897, Sea Lion Park was joined by Steeplechase Park, the first of three major amusement parks that would open in the Coney Island area. George Tilyou designed the park to provide thrills and entertainment. The combination of the nearby population center of New York City and the ease of access to the area made Coney Island the embodiment of the American amusement park. Coney Island also featured Luna Park (1903) and Dreamland (1904). Coney Island was a huge success and by the year 1910 attendance on days could reach a million people. Fueled by the efforts of Frederick Ingersoll who borrowed the name, other "Luna Parks" were quickly erected worldwide and opened to rave reviews.

The first amusement park in England was opened in 1896 - the Blackpool Pleasure Beach by W. G. Bean. In 1904, Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machine was introduced; he had designed an early aircraft powered by steam engines that had been unsuccessful and instead opened up a pleasure ride of flying carriages that revolved around a central pylon. Other rides included the 'Grotto' (a fantasy ride), 'River Caves' (a scenic railway), water chutes and a tobogganing tower.

Fire was a constant threat in those days, as much of the construction within the amusement parks of the era was wooden. In 1911, Dreamland was the first Coney Island amusement park to completely burn down; in 1944, Luna Park also burned to the ground. Most of Ingersoll's Luna Parks were similarly destroyed, usually by arson, before his death in 1927.

The Golden Age

During the Gilded Age, many Americans began working fewer hours and had more disposable income. With new-found money and time to spend on leisure activities, Americans sought new venues for entertainment. Amusement parks, set up outside major cities and in rural areas, emerged to meet this new economic opportunity. These parks served as a source of fantasy and escape from real life. By the early 1900s, hundreds of amusement parks were operating in the United States and Canada. Trolley parks stood outside many cities. Parks like Atlanta's Ponce de Leon and Idora Park, near Youngstown, OH, took passengers to traditionally popular picnic grounds, which by the late 1890s also often included rides like the Giant Swing, Carousel, and Shoot-the-Chutes. These amusement parks were often based on nationally known parks or world's fairs: they had names like Coney Island, White City, Luna Park, or Dreamland. The American Gilded Age was, in fact, amusement parks' Golden Age that reigned until the late 1920s.

The Golden Age of amusement parks also included the advent of the kiddie park. Founded in 1925, the original Kiddie Park is located in San Antonio, Texas, and is still in operation . The kiddie parks became popular all over America after World War II.

This era saw the development of new innovations in roller coasters that included extreme drops and speeds to thrill the riders. By the end of the First World War, people seemed to want an even more exciting entertainment, a need met by roller coasters. Although the development of the automobile provided people with more options for satisfying their entertainment needs, the amusement parks after the war continued to be successful, while urban amusement parks saw declining attendance. The 1920s is more properly known as the Golden Age of roller coasters, being the decade of frenetic building for these rides.

In England, Dreamland Margate opened in 1880 with Frederick Savage's carousel the first amusement ride installed. In 1920 the Scenic Railway rollercoaster opened to the public with great success, carrying half a million passengers in its first year. The park also installed other rides common to the time including a smaller roller coaster, the Joy Wheel, Miniature Railway, The Whip and the River Caves. A ballroom was constructed on the site of the Skating Rink in 1920 and in 1923 a Variety Cinema was built on the site. Between 1920 and 1935 over £500,000 was invested in the site, constantly adding new rides and facilities and culminating in the construction of the Dreamland Cinema complex in 1934 which stands to this day.

Meanwhile, the Blackpool Pleasure Beach was also being developed. Frequent large-scale investments were responsible for the construction of many new rides, including the Virginia Reel, Whip, Noah's Ark, Big Dipper and Dodgems. In the 1920s the "Casino Building" was built, which remains to this day. In 1923, land was reclaimed from the sea front. It was at this period that the park moved to its  current location above what became Watson Road, which was built under the Pleasure Beach in 1932. During this time Joseph Emberton, an architect famous for his work in the amusement trade was brought in to redesign the architectural style of the Pleasure Beach rides, working on the "Grand National" roller coaster, "Noah's Ark" and the Casino building to name a few.

Depression and post-World War II decline

The Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II during the 1940s saw the decline of the amusement park industry. War caused the affluent urban population to move to the suburbs, television became a source of entertainment, and families went to amusement parks less often.

By the 1950s, factors such as urban decay, crime, and even desegregation in the ghettos led to changing patterns in how people chose to spend their free time. Many of the older, traditional amusement parks closed or burned to the ground. Many would be taken out by the wrecking ball to make way for suburb and housing and development. In 1964, Steeplechase Park, once the king of all amusement parks, closed down for good. The traditional amusement parks which survived, for example, Kennywood, in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, and Cedar Point, in Sandusky, Ohio, did so in spite of the odds.

Mid-Century Comeback

Inspired by the layout of Tivoli Gardens theme park in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1951, Walt Disney came up with the idea of having an amusement park next to the studios in Burbank. The park would have been called Mickey Mouse Park, built across the street with a western area featuring a steam driven paddleboat, a turn of the century town, and a midway. It was rejected by the Burbank city council in fear of a carnival atmosphere. In 1952, he created WED Enterprises to design the park, which was now to be built in Anaheim, and in 1953, was able to convince the bankers on funding the park with the help of a studio artist, Herb Ryman, by making an aerial drawing of Disneyland. By July 1954, construction had started with a deadline of one year. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955, and two months after the park opened, it welcomed its one millionth guest. Because of the financial success of Disneyland, the amusement industry was reinvigorated . What became Busch Gardens Tampa opened in 1959 as a garden and bird sanctuary. Six Flags Over Texas opened in 1961, themed to the six different countries that ruled over Texas. In 1964, Universal Studios Hollywood opened to the public with a studio tour of their backlot that had multiple adventure scenes and became a proper theme park. That same year, SeaWorld San Diego opened and displayed many varieties of aquatic and marine life.

Initially meant to house Walt Disney's dream idea, EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow), Disney executives decided to settle on building the park first in Walt Disney World and the city later. After six years of construction, Walt Disney World opened to the public on October 1, 1971. Meant to be a larger east coast version of Disneyland, it had copies of most of the attractions from Disneyland (except for Liberty Square and the Hall of Presidents), yet it was financially the most ambitious project Walt Disney Productions had ever undertaken, and succeeded once the holiday crowds came in during Thanksgiving. In 1982, Walt Disney Productions opened the second Walt Disney World park, EPCOT Center, based on Walt Disney's futurist ideals and World Fairs. Like a World's Fair, the park would display the latest technologies in an area called Future World, and the cultural pavilions in World Showcase.

The 1990s

In 1987, Disney announced that it would open its third Disney World park, Disney-MGM Studios in 1989, which would have a working backlot. However, Universal knew that its Californian backlot tour would not work as a standalone attraction next to Disney World (especially now as Disney built one in Disney-MGM). So it divided up the segments of its California tour into individual attractions, such as Jaws, Disaster!, and Kongfrontation. Disney-MGM Studios opened it on May 1, 1989, with two major attractions: The Backlot Tour and The Great Movie Ride. The concept for the park started out as an EPCOT pavilion, but was turned into a park as a "half day" attraction—a complement to the rest of the resort. The rest of the park was themed to 1930s Hollywood and featured lost parts of Hollywood like the Brown Derby. Universal Studios Florida opened on June 7, 1990 (delayed by one year) to great fanfare, but the primary attractions were experiencing severe technical difficulties. All three of the park's major attractions (Jaws, Disaster!, and Kongfrontation) were not working and suffered major technical difficulties. Disaster! and Kongfrontation were fixed by the end of June, but Jaws had to be rebuilt and reopened three years later. However, Universal learned from opening day and started conducting exit surveys and special ticket deals.

In 1992, Disney opened its first European park, Euro Disneyland, outside of Paris, France, designed to be like the Magic Kingdom in Florida, yet it caters to the European tastes through changes, including removing Tomorrowland and replacing it with Discoveryland, themed to the great futuristic thinkers of European culture such as H.G. Wells and Jules Vernes. A recession in the French economy and the immense public backlash against the park led to financial hardship, putting the park into debt. However, this did not stop Disney from expanding Disney-MGM Studios with the Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, in 1994, and building their fourth Walt Disney World park, Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The 2000s
In the early 90s after the opening of Universal Studios Florida, Universal sought to build a second theme park, one aimed more towards children and their families. Universal acquired the theme park rights to many properties including Marvel and Dr. Seuss to build the park around. In 1999, Universal Studios opened Universal Studios Islands of Adventure under the new resort name Universal Studios Escape. The park was allegedly designed by former Disney Imagineers who left after the financial disaster of Disneyland Paris. In the late 80s, the Oriental Land Company (the owners and operators of Tokyo Disneyland resort which opened in 1983) wanted a second park. None of the current non-Magic Kingdom parks satisfied the Japanese, but one concept thrown away for Disneyland's second gate inspired a new one: DisneySea. Tokyo DisneySea is themed after stories based on the ocean and nautical adventure. It was constructed at a cost of ¥335 billion and opened on September 4, 2001. The park's two signature attractions are a modernized version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and Journey To The Center of The Earth.

In the early 90s, Micheal Eisner wanted to make Disneyland in the image of Walt Disney World's resort style. Plans were made for multiple hotels (such as one based on the Grand Floridian Hotel) and a new west coast version of EPCOT, called WESTCOT. WESTCOT never came to be due to local opposition from residents, rising costs, and the financial fallout of Disneyland Paris. After a corporate retreat in Colorado, Disney executives decided to make a park themed to California so that guests could experience all of California within the confines of the Disneyland Resort and would be built across from Disneyland on its 100-acre parking lot. Disney's California Adventure would be the largest disaster Disney ever created because unlike Disneyland, it would be set in the modern day and spoof modern-day California with its cheap, insincere, and flat backdrops. The park would be adult focused, sell fine food, and serve alcohol. When the park opened on February 8, 2001, it received a chilly reception for its lack of attractions, poor environment (for example, Hollywood Studios Backlot was themed to a modern-day movie backlot of modern-day Hollywood), and overemphasis on retail and dining. When John Hench (an original Imagineer who worked with Walt and was a chief creative executive at Imagineering since Imagineering was founded) was asked for his opinion on the park, he reportedly said, "I preferred the parking lot."

Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris was the second Disneyland Paris park. Disney had to build a second park or risk losing the land to the French government. The park opened March 16, 2002, with only three rides and California Adventure style theming. However, Hong Kong Disneyland was higher quality than the other black sheep, but still lacked the number of attractions that was needed, just like California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park. It opened on September 12, 2005, with only four lands, and had exorbitant wait times on opening day for everything from rides to food.

In the early 2000s, the Harry Potter book series written by J.K Rowling had become a pop culture phenomenon. Universal and Disney entered a bidding war over the theme park rights to the books, but Disney seemed to have won after Rowling signed a letter of intent with Disney. However, Rowling was disappointed with Disney's small-scale plans to install an omnimover attraction themed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class with one shop and one restaurant in the former submarine lagoon at Magic Kingdom. She was also displeased with the lack of creative control she had and exited the deal. She went to Universal next and was also displeased with the initial plan to redress the Islands of Adventure's Lost Continent area. To remedy this, J.K Rowling wrestled creative control from Universal and forced them to make the land a full scale, realistic re-creation of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts without being a refurbishment of an existing area. The project was announced in 2007 and in 2010 the land was opened to the public and made Universal Orlando a must visit destination.

Today, there are over 475 amusement parks in the United States, ranging from mega-parks and those that are operated by Warner Bros., Disney, Six Flags and NBCUniversal.

Amusement and theme parks today

The amusement park industry's offerings range from immersive theme parks such as Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, the Disneyland Resort and Universal Orlando Resort to thrilling coaster parks such as the Six Flags parks and Cedar Fair parks. Countless smaller ventures exist across the United States and around the world. Simpler theme parks directly aimed at smaller children have also emerged, such as Legoland.

Examples of amusement parks in shopping malls exist in West Edmonton Mall, Pier 39 and Mall of America.

Family fun parks starting as miniature golf courses have begun to grow to include batting cages, go-karts, bumper cars, bumper boats and water slides. Some of these parks have grown to include even roller coasters, and traditional amusement parks now also have these competition areas in addition to their thrill rides.

In 2015, theme parks in the United States had a revenue of  and theme parks in China had a revenue of , with China expected to overtake the United States by 2020.

Other types of amusement park

Educational theme parks

Some parks use rides and attractions for educational purposes. There are also Holy Land USA and the Holy Land Experience, which are theme parks built to inspire Christian piety. Dinosaur World entertains families with dinosaurs in natural settings, while the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks also offer educational experiences, with each of the parks housing several thousand animals, fish and other sea life in dozens of attractions and exhibits focusing on animal education.

Created in 1977, the Puy du Fou is a much-celebrated theme park in Vendée, France. It is centered around European, French and local history. It received several international prizes.

Family-owned theme parks

Some theme parks did evolve from more traditional amusement park enterprises, such as Knott's Berry Farm. In the 1920s, Walter Knott and his family sold berries from a roadside stand, which grew to include a restaurant serving fried chicken dinners. Within a few years, lines outside the restaurant were often several hours long. To entertain the waiting crowds, Walter Knott built a Ghost Town in 1940, using buildings relocated from real old west towns such as the Calico, California, ghost town and Prescott, Arizona. In 1968, the Knott family fenced the farm, charged admission for the first time, and Knott's Berry Farm officially became a theme park. Because of its long history, Knott's Berry Farm currently claims to be "America's First Theme Park." Knott's Berry Farm is now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, may be the true oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States, open since 1846. Santa Claus Town, which opened in Santa Claus, Indiana, in 1935 and included Santa's Candy Castle and other Santa Claus-themed attractions is considered the first themed attraction in the United States: a precursor to the modern day theme park. Santa Claus Land (renamed Holiday World in 1984) opened in 1946 in Santa Claus, Indiana, and many people will argue that it was the first true Theme Park despite Knott's history. In the 1950s the Herschend family took over operation of the tourist attraction, Marvel Cave near Branson, Missouri. Over the next decade they modernized the cave, which led to large numbers of people waiting to take the tour. The Herschend family opened a recreation of the old mining town that once existed atop Marvel Cave. The small village eventually became the theme park, Silver Dollar City. The park is still owned and operated by the Herschends and the family has several other parks including Dollywood, Kentucky Kingdom and Wild Adventures.

Regional parks

The first regional amusement park, as well as the first Six Flags park, Six Flags Over Texas was officially opened in 1961 in Arlington, Texas. The first Six Flags amusement park was the vision of Angus Wynne Jr. and helped create the modern, competitive amusement park industry. In the late 1950s, Wynne visited Disneyland and was inspired to create an affordable, closer, and larger amusement park that would be filled with fantasy. He followed in the steps of Disney and had subdivisions within the park that reflected different lands. The subdivisions included the Old South and other sections that referenced Wynne's background. By 1968, the second Six Flags park, Six Flags Over Georgia, opened, and in 1971, Six Flags Over Mid-America (now Six Flags St. Louis) opened near St. Louis, Missouri. Also in 1971 was the opening of the Walt Disney World resort complex in Florida. In 1991 Warner Bros. in partnership with Village Roadshow, opened their own Warner Bros. Movie World. It is the only Movie-Related theme park in Australia. Warner Bros. continued their theme park ventures and opened Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi in UAE and Parque Warner Madrid in Spain.

Admission prices and admission policies

Amusement parks collect much of their revenue from admission fees paid by guests attending the park. Other revenue sources include parking fees, food and beverage sales and souvenirs.

Practically all amusement parks operate using one of two admission principles:

Pay-as-you-go
In amusement parks using the pay-as-you-go scheme, a guest enters the park at little or no charge.  The guest must then purchase rides individually, either at the attraction's entrance or by purchasing ride tickets (or a similar exchange method, like a token).  The cost of the attraction is often based on its complexity or popularity.  For example, a guest might pay one ticket to ride a carousel but four tickets to ride a roller coaster.

The park may allow guests to purchase a pass providing unlimited admissions to all attractions within the park for a specified duration of time.  A wristband or pass is then shown at the attraction entrance to gain admission.

Disneyland opened in 1955 using the pay-as-you-go format. Initially, guests paid the ride admission fees at the attractions.  Within a short time, the problems of handling such large amounts of coins led to the development of a ticket system that, while now out of use, is still part of the amusement-park lexicon. In this new format, guests purchased ticket books that contained a number of tickets, labeled "A", "B" and "C." Rides and attractions using an "A-ticket" were generally simple, with "B-tickets" and "C-tickets" used for the larger, more popular rides. Later, the "D-ticket" was added, then finally the "E-ticket", which was used on the biggest and most elaborate rides, like Space Mountain. Smaller tickets could be traded up for use on larger rides so that for example two or three A-tickets would equal a single B-ticket. Disneyland, as well as the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, abandoned this practice in 1982.

Pay-one-price

An amusement park using the pay-one-price scheme will charge guests a single admission fee.  The guest is then entitled to use most of the attractions (usually including flagship roller coasters) in the park as often as they wish during their visit. A daily admission pass (daypass) is the most basic fare on sale, also sold are season tickets which offer holders admission for the entire operating year (plus special privileges for the newest attractions), and express passes which gives holders priority in bypassing lineup queues for popular attractions.

Pay-one-price format parks also have attractions that are not included in the admission charge; these are called "up-charge attractions" and can include Skycoasters or go-kart tracks, or games of skill where prizes are won.

All Warner Bros. Theme Parks (Warner Bros. Movie World, Warner Bros. World, Parque Warner Madrid) follow this scheme.

When Angus Wynne, founder of Six Flags Over Texas, first visited Disneyland upon its opening in 1955, he noted that park's pay-as-you-go format as a reason to make his park pay-one-price.  He thought that a family would be more likely to visit his park if they knew, up front, how much it would cost to attend.

Rides and attractions

Mechanized thrill rides are a defining feature of amusement park attractions. Early rides include the carousel, which originally developed from cavalry training methods first used in the Middle Ages. By the 19th century, carousels were common in parks around the world. Another such ride which shaped the future of the amusement park was the roller coaster. The origins of roller coasters can be traced back to 17th-century Russia, where gravity-driven attractions, which at first only consisted of individual sleds or carts riding freely down chutes on top of specially constructed snow slopes with piles of sand at the bottom for braking, were used as winter leisure activities.  These crude and temporarily built curiosities, known as Russian Mountains, were the beginning of the search for even more thrilling amusement park rides. The Columbian Exposition of 1893 was a particularly fertile testing ground for amusement rides and included some that the public had never seen before, such as the world's first Ferris wheel, one of the most recognized products of the fair. In the present day, many rides of various types are set around a specific theme.

Parks contains a mixture of attractions which can be divided into several categories.

Flat rides
Flat rides are usually considered to be those that move their passengers in a plane generally parallel to the ground.

There is a core set of flat rides which most amusement parks have, including the Enterprise, Tilt-A-Whirl, Gravitron, chairswing, swinging inverter ship, twister, and top spin. However, there is constant innovation, with new variations on ways to spin and throw passengers around appearing in an effort to keep attracting customers. Manufactures such as Huss and Zamperla specialise in creating flat rides among other amusement attractions.

Roller coasters

Amusement parks often feature multiple roller coasters of primarily timber or steel construction. Fundamentally, a roller coaster ride is one in which a specialized railroad system with steep drops and sharp curves, passengers sit and are restrained in cars, usually with two or more cars joined to form a train. Some roller coasters feature one or more inversions (such as vertical loops) which turn the riders upside down. Over the years there have been many roller coaster manufacturers with a variety of types of roller coasters.

Manufacturers today include:
 Bolliger & Mabillard
 Gerstlauer
 The Gravity Group
 Great Coasters International
 Intamin
 Mack Rides
 Maurer AG
 Premier Rides
 Rocky Mountain Construction
 S&S - Sansei Technologies
 Vekoma
 Zamperla
 Zierer

Railways

Amusement park railways have had a long and varied history in American amusement parks as well as overseas. Some of the earliest park trains were not really trains; they were trolleys, which brought park patrons to the parks on regular rail lines from the cities to the end of the rail lines where the parks were located. As such, some older parks, such as Kennywood in Pennsylvania, were referred to as trolley parks. The earliest park trains that only operated on lines within the park's boundaries, such as the one on the ridable miniature Zephyr Railroad in Dorney Park, were mostly custom-built. A few parks trains (such as the Disneyland Railroad, Walt Disney World Railroad, and Dollywood Express) operate using locomotives that had working careers on common carrier railways. Amusement park railways tend to be narrow gauge, meaning the space between their rails is smaller than that of  railroads. Some specific narrow gauges that are common on amusement park railroads are  gauge,  gauge,  gauge, and  gauge.

Past and present manufacturers include:
Allan Herschell Company
Brookville Equipment Corporation
Cagney Brothers
Chance Rides
Crown Metal Products
Custom Fabricators
Custom Locomotives
Doppelmayr Garaventa Group
Hurlbut Amusement Co.
Katiland Trains
Miniature Train Co. (MTC)
National Amusement Devices Co. (NAD)
Ottaway
Sandley
Severn Lamb
Tampa Metal Products
Train Rides Unlimited
Western Train Co.

Water rides

Amusement parks with water resources generally feature a few water rides, such as the log flume, bumper boats, rapids and rowing boats. Such rides are usually gentler and shorter than roller coasters and many are suitable for all ages. Water rides are especially popular on hot days.

Dark rides

Overlapping with both train rides and water rides, dark rides are enclosed attractions in which patrons travel in guided vehicles along a predetermined path, through an array of illuminated scenes which may include lighting effects, animation, music and recorded dialogue, and other special effects.

Haunted houses

A haunted house is an attraction that intends to scare its guests for its thrill factor. It usually is overlapped with dark rides. Most open in the Halloween season but some are year-round. Most include actors, lighting, darkness, fog and animatronics.

Ferris wheels

Ferris wheels are the most common type of amusement ride at state fairs and county fairs in the US.

Transport rides
Transport rides are used to take large numbers of guests from one area to another, as an alternative to walking, especially for parks that are large or separated into distant areas. Transport rides include chairlifts, monorails, aerial trams, and escalators.

Ocean Park Hong Kong is well known for its  cable car connecting the Lowland and Headland areas of the park, and for having the world's second longest outdoor escalator in the Headland. Both transportation links provide scenic views of the park's hilly surroundings and, while originally intended for practicality rather than thrills or enjoyment, have become significant park attractions in their own right.

Food
There are food stands at amusement parks which serve a variety of food and beverages. They offer snack items like cotton candy, ice cream, fried dough, funnel cake, candy apples or caramel apples and french fries. Meal items may include pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken. Beverages may include soda, coffee, tea, and lemonade. Junk food items like deep fried candy bars, the deep-fried Twinkie, Dippin' Dots ice cream, the blooming onion, and "deep-fried butter on-a-stick" are some of the delicacies that can be found at food stands. Local and regional specialties, along with ethnic foods, are often available such as Empanadas and Tacos.

See also
 Family entertainment center
 Miniature park
Beverly Park

References

External links

Interactive map of the world's theme parks

Children's entertainment

Amusement park


Dynamy, Inc. is a "residential internship program" in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as an experiential educational organization based in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Programs
Dynamy strives to challenge, support, and empower young adults from 17-22 to find their mission in life during a gap year. The group provides programs of internship and mentoring that help participants gain confidence, leadership skills and a sense of responsibility to their fellow man. Dynamy tried to start a branch in Santa Rosa, California in 2005-2006, but it never opened.

Dynamy Internship Year
A nine-month residential commitment that includes the following elements:
 An 18-day wilderness experience conducted by Outward Bound where each person learns to adapt to a new environment, makes friends and gains self-confidence.
 (3) 9-week unpaid internships chosen from 200 possibilities in business, government, social service, charitable organizations, etc.

 Independent living (with other interns) where each person learns the normal routines and responsibilities of adulthood in Dynamy-owned apartments.
 Service to the community is an important part of life; interns work with Dynamy staff to organize and execute projects that make a difference.
 The Seminar option permits interns to earn 12 hours of college credit at Clark University by participating in reading, writing and weekly discussions.
 Advisors and individual interns meet frequently for one-on-one discussions about decisions, successes, goals, experiences and problems. Weekly meetings with the entire intern group are also held.

Most participants have graduated from high school, but college freshmen and sophomores can benefit. More than 85% of the individuals who complete the Internship continue their education, with many seeking an advanced degree.

Dynamy Youth Academy
The program, founded in 1989, is limited to 60 low income students (15 incoming freshmen each year) from the Worcester public schools. The individuals selected typically have one or more of the following characteristics:
 Immigrants, socially isolated, low income
 Non-English speaking homes or multi-lingual
 First generation college potential
 Parents did not graduate from high school

Those chosen will participate in a four-year after school leadership and enrichment course of action designed to provide support and motivation to finish high school and continue their education. Activities include most of those included in the Dynamy internship. Full scholarships to the Colleges of Worcester Consortium are available to academy graduates.  The academy was formerly the John S. Laws Institute.

Funding
Dynamy relies on financial support from private individuals, organizations, corporations and foundations. Beginning in 2006, the academy program in Worcester was partially funded by the United Way of Central Massachusetts. Alumni, parents and friends are especially important, both for monetary gifts and to share the Dynamy vision with others.

References

Education in Worcester, Massachusetts
Organizations based in Worcester, Massachusetts
Organizations established in 1969
Charities based in Massachusetts
Charities for young adults
Community-building organizations
Internship programs
1969 establishments in Massachusetts

Dynamy


Brokpa is a tribe in a remote area of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan.

This tribe is described by many great historians, including Strabo, Herodotus and others.

History
Historically these people are known as Minaro people. They lived from the 1st century BC in Deosai region. In the 19th century BC they migrated to the rest of Ladakh region.

Gilgit-Baltistan
Pakistani tribes

Brokpa


A Nice Pair is a compilation album by Pink Floyd, re-issuing their first two albums—The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets—in a new gatefold sleeve. The album was released in December 1973 by Harvest and Capitol in the United States and the following month in the United Kingdom by Harvest and EMI. It reached number 36 in the US Billboard album charts, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in March 1994.

Release history and track variations
There are a few differences between the US and UK issues on the first disc of this compilation. In the US Harvest Records and its distributor Capitol Records reconstructed their edition from tapes that had been previously altered for the debut 1967 US album Pink Floyd (the original U.S. title for Piper) and other recordings, which were cut from the UK version. As explained in a note on the back cover of the US edition of A Nice Pair, songs dropped from the US 1967 Pink Floyd album, "Flaming", "Astronomy Domine" and "Bike", are restored for this re-issue.

However, some of the restored songs appear in versions that are different from the UK Piper release: the eight-minute live Ummagumma recording of "Astronomy Domine" replaces the original four-minute studio recording; "Interstellar Overdrive" fades out slightly early (as it did on the US debut album) and adds a few seconds of silence before "The Gnome", rather than using a segue between these songs as found on the UK version; and "Flaming" is an alternate mix and edit which previously appeared on a US single, and the only track to appear on this album in mono. In later pressings, the correct stereo version of "Flaming" was restored, while the other songs continued to appear in the versions described here.  The US version of this album was also released in Canada.

Cover art
The cover is by Hipgnosis, who designed many other Pink Floyd covers, and consists of four grids of nine small images, including some proposed but previously unused album cover designs. Several images depict a well-known phrase or saying in the form of a visual pun; for instance, the centre right-hand panel on the front depicts "a fork in the road", while the bottom right represents "a fine kettle of fish". Another picture presents two puns on the album title: a nice pear, and an image of a woman's pair of breasts; the latter is censored with a black bar on some copies, while other US copies opted to cover it with a purple and white sticker over the shrink wrap. Initial copies had a picture of a Mr. W.R. Phang's dental surgery on the cover (a genuine business photographed in Hammersmith, west London), but Dr. Phang objected because NHS dentists were not permitted to advertise, and the picture was replaced with one of a gargling monk. US editions from the 1980s restored both the nudity and the W.R. Phang photo. Other photos illustrate "laughing all the way to the bank", and "nip in the air", through the (insensitive) use of a levitating Japanese person. The selection of band photos on the inside cover also varies, with some copies including a photo of a shirtless, disturbed-looking Syd Barrett from The Madcap Laughs cover photo session, while others replace it with a photo of a smiling Barrett sitting by a car.

The album was the band's next US release after The Dark Side of the Moon, and introduced new fans to the earlier psychedelic sound of the Syd Barrett period of Pink Floyd, which contrasted greatly to the style of their more recent work. Following the worldwide re-issue of the original two albums on CD, including the original UK version of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, A Nice Pair is now out of print.

Track listing
All songs by Syd Barrett, except where noted.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Side 1

Side 2

A Saucerful of Secrets
Side 1

Side 2

Cassette versions in the UK feature Piper on side one and Saucerful on side two.  For the US versions, "Bike" was moved to the beginning of side two, due to the longer running length of "Astronomy Domine" on this version.

United States release

The US 8-track version alters the running order more radically.
Program 1
"Astronomy Domine"
"Lucifer Sam"
"Matilda Mother"
"Flaming"
"Pow R. Toc H."
Program 2
"Interstellar Overdrive"
"The Gnome"
"Chapter 24"
"The Scarecrow"
"Bike"
Program 3
"Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk"
"Let There Be More Light"
"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
"Corporal Clegg"
"Jugband Blues"
Program 4
"A Saucerful of Secrets"
"See Saw"
"Remember a Day"

Personnel
Pink Floyd
Syd Barrett – guitars, lead vocals on British version of "Astronomy Domine", "Lucifer Sam", "Matilda Mother", "Flaming", "Pow R. Toc H.", "The Gnome", "Chapter 24", "The Scarecrow", "Bike", and "Jugband Blues"
David Gilmour – guitars, kazoo, vocals, lead vocals on American version of "Astronomy Domine", "Let There Be More Light", and "Corporal Clegg"
Nick Mason – drums, percussion, kazoo, vocals, lead vocals on "Corporal Clegg"
Roger Waters – bass guitar, percussion, vocals, lead vocals on "Pow R. Toc H.", "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk", "Let There Be More Light", and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
Richard Wright – Farfisa and Hammond organs, piano, tack piano, electric piano, Mellotron, harmonium, cello, vibraphone, celesta, xylophone, violin, tin whistle, vocals, lead vocals on British and American versions of "Astronomy Domine", "Matilda Mother", "Remember a Day", "See-Saw", "Let There Be More Light", and "Corporal Clegg"

Additional personnel
Peter Jenner – intro vocalisations on British and American version of "Astronomy Domine"
Norman Smith – drums and backing vocals on "Remember a Day" and drum roll on "Interstellar Overdrive", producer
The Salvation Army (The International Staff Band) on "Jugband Blues"

Cover design
 Sleeve design by Hipgnosis
 Graphics by Richard Evans
 Illustrations by Colin Elgie, Bob Lawrie

Charts and certifications

Charts

Certifications

References

Albums produced by Norman Smith (record producer)
Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis
Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson
Pink Floyd compilation albums
1974 compilation albums
Capitol Records compilation albums
Harvest Records compilation albums
EMI Records compilation albums

A Nice Pair


LSD: Dream Emulator is a video game made for the first PlayStation. The video game was released in Japan during the year 1998 and it is a hard to get this video game with a small number of copies made. The game was made by Osamu Sato in the year 1998. He also made other video games, but they are also hard to get. The game was inspired by a dream diary that was written by a woman called Hiroko Nishikawa, she worked in a company called Asmik Ace Entertainment. This game can only be played by one person.

PlayStation games
1998 video games

LSD: Dream Emulator


A Mary garden is a small sacred garden enclosing a statue or shrine of the Virgin Mary, who is known to many Christians as the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady, or the Mother of God. In the New Testament, Mary is the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Mary gardens are most common to those Christian denominations which hold the Virgin Mary in special esteem, particularly Roman Catholics and Anglicans.

History

The practice originated among monasteries and convents in medieval Europe. During the Middle Ages, people saw reminders of Mary in the flowers and herbs growing around them.

Modern revival
The first such garden open to the public in the United States was founded in 1932 at St. Joseph's Church, Woods Hole, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This garden was founded by Frances Crane Lillie, a summer resident of Woods Hole.

Inspired by the St. Joseph's Mary Garden in Woods Hole, Edward A. G. McTague and John S. Stokes, Jr. founded "Mary's Gardens" of Philadelphia in 1951 as a project to research flowers identified with Mary, and make available seeds and plant source information for starting Mary gardens. They also initiated a series of articles in religious publications to encourage the planting of Mary gardens.

Description
The statue of Mary, sometimes holding the Infant Christ, is central to the garden. Select flowers, shrubs, and trees associated with the legends about Mary are planted in the garden. Such plants may include laurel trees, strawberries, ladyslippers, lilies of the valley, peonies, violets, irises and roses, all of which are identified as symbolic and significant in the story of Mary as recounted in the Bible and other Christian stories. Gardens may have benches and a facility for lighting votive candles.

It demonstrates devotional commitment through the spiritual practice of designing, building and maintaining the garden and for the attendance, contemplation, and prayers of visitors. Mary gardens are similar to the Zen meditation gardens found in the Buddhist tradition, with the exception that a Mary Garden pays homage to a person, the Virgin Mary, whereas a meditation garden in the East Asian traditions does not focus on a person.

Flowers associated with Mary
More than 30 flowers and herbs are connected to legends about Mary's life.

 Lily
 Columbine
 Lavender
 Madonna lily
Marigold
Violet
Irises were used in Mary gardens. The blade-shaped foliage denotes the sorrows which 'pierced her heart.'

An effort has been made by the Saint Kateri Conservation Center as well as by the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) to identify plants indigenous to the Eastern and Midwestern US that can be used in a Mary Garden.

Gallery

See also
Catholic devotions
Anglican devotions
Sacramentals
Hortus conclusus

References

External links
John Stokes and Mary's Gardens Collection, select digitized records of John Stokes' organization, Mary Gardens. University of Dayton Libraries.
John Stokes and Mary's Gardens Collection Finding Aid, finding aid for the John Stokes and Mary's Gardens collection. Marian Library. University of Dayton Libraries.

Anglican Mariology
Gardens in religion
Marian devotions
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
Catholic Mariology

Mary garden


Dimitris (Mimis) Androulakis () (born 24 November 1951 in Agios Nikolaos, Crete) is a Greek author and politician.

He was elected MP:
 With SYN in 1989
 With PASOK in 2004 by the Statewide list, in 2007, 2009 and 2012 for Athens B constituency

As a student in the National Technical University of Athens, he was actively involved in the antidictatorial struggle and took part in the Athens Technical University uprising as a member of the organizational students' committee.

He was deputy member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece until 1991 when he resigned to join Synaspismos. He stopped his active involvement in politics in 1993 and appeared again in 2004 after accepting George Papandreou's offer to join PASOK's lists.

He has written 11 novels and many political books. His book Mν (in Greek read as "mi eis ti(n) ni" alluding to the word "mouni" -"pussy" in Greek) which portrays Jesus Christ as a philanderer who finds it hard to resist Mary Magdalene triggered the Greek Orthodox Church's reactions and several copies of the book were set on fire in Thessaloniki by Christians who found the book's contents offensive.

References

External links
Personal homepage

1951 births
Living people
People from Agios Nikolaos, Crete
Politicians from Crete
Greek MPs 1989–1990
Greek MPs 2004–2007
Greek MPs 2007–2009
Greek MPs 2009–2012
Greek writers
Coalition of Left, of Movements and Ecology politicians
Communist Party of Greece politicians
PASOK politicians
National Technical University of Athens alumni
Greek MPs 2012 (May)
Greek MPs 2012–2014
Writers from Crete
Greek critics of Christianity
Greek atheists

Mimis Androulakis


Connie and Carla is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Michael Lembeck and starring Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, and David Duchovny. The screenplay was written by Vardalos.

The film was shot in Vancouver and featured a number of local drag queens including Joan-E, Justine Tyme, Carlotta Gurl, Summer Clearance, Devana Demille, Seemore Illusion and Helena Handbag.

Plot
Connie and Carla are two performers whose lifelong friendship and co-obsession with musical theater have brought nothing but career dead ends. Despite this, they continue their optimism, hosting a variety act at an airport lounge. After accidentally witnessing a mafia hit in Chicago, they go on the run, landing in Los Angeles. After being fired from a beauty salon, they pose as drag queens and audition to host a drag revue at a gay club called "The Handlebar."

Because they sing their own songs (a rarity for queens), they are hired, and their variety show (at first titled What a Drag (Pun Intended!) then later re-titled Connie and Carla and the Belles of the Balls after they add a few friends to the act) becomes a hit.

Things are going smoothly but they make a pact not to let men interfere with their life. This causes conflict when Connie falls for Jeff, the straight brother of Robert, one of their drag queen friends. As the show gets bigger, they convince the club owner, Stanley, to convert it into a full dinner theater, and eventually their popularity threatens to expose them.

On the official opening night of the dinner theater, the mob killers catch up with them. With the help of their drag queen friends, and to great applause from the audience (who think it is part of their act), Connie and Carla take them down.

They ultimately confess their real identities to the audience and are accepted for who they are. Connie reveals herself to Jeff, who arrives after the chaos. He accepts her and becomes her boyfriend.

Cast
 Nia Vardalos as Connie
 Toni Collette as Carla
 David Duchovny as Jeff
 Stephen Spinella as Robert / Peaches
 Dash Mihok as Mikey, Carla's boyfriend
 Robert John Burke as Rudy, the sadistic crime boss
 Nick Sandow as Al, Connie's on-again-off-again-right-now-off boyfriend
 Boris McGiver as Tibor, Rudy's gullible henchman
 Alec Mapa as Lee / N'Cream
 Christopher Logan as Brian / Patty Melt
 Robert Kaiser as Paul
 Ian Gomez as Stanley, the club owner
 Chelah Horsdal as the Botoxed Friend
 Debbie Reynolds as herself
 Greg Grunberg as Studio tour guide
 Veena Sood as Mrs. Morse

Musicals referenced or featured
The following is a list of musicals referenced or featured in the film (in the order of which they are presented in the film): Barbra Streisand and Debbie Reynolds were mentioned several times before Reynolds herself appeared and performed with Connie and Carla.
 Oklahoma! – Connie and Carla perform "Oklahoma!" as young girls in their school lunchroom and in the airport lounge and "I Cain't Say No" during their audition at "The Handlebar," the gay club where they eventually become successful.
 Jesus Christ Superstar – Connie and Carla perform "Superstar" in the airport lounge and "Everything's Alright" during their first performance at The Handlebar.
 Yentl – Connie and Carla perform "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" in the airport lounge.
 Cats – Connie and Carla perform "Memory" in the airport lounge.
 The Rocky Horror Show – Peaches 'n' Creme perform "The Time Warp" at The Handlebar.
 Cabaret – Connie and Carla perform "Maybe This Time" at their audition at The Handlebar.
 Evita – Connie and Carla perform "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" at their audition at The Handlebar.
 Mame – Interludes during the picture with the character Tibor seeing several performances of Mame at different venues across the country.
 South Pacific – "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair", is part of Connie and Carla's performance in What a Drag (Pun Intended!) at The Handlebar. They also sing "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" at the end of the film with the rest of the main cast.
 Funny Girl – Connie and Carla sing "Don't Rain on My Parade", part of their performance in What a Drag (Pun Intended!) at The Handlebar.
 Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Producers, Say Goodnight, Gracie, Never Gonna Dance, Gypsy, Chicago, Mamma Mia!, Long Days Journey into Night, "Master Harold"...and the Boys, Avenue Q, Man of La Mancha, and Hairspray – Billboards for these shows are shown.
 Gypsy, Rent, and Hairspray – At this point in the film, these are mentioned by Tibor, Hairspray, of which, he got a matinée ticket, though no songs from the shows are sung. The theater productions of Rent, Hairspray, and Mamma Mia! became semi-successful movie musicals shortly after this film.
 Gypsy – "Let Me Entertain You" is performed by Connie, Carla, and the Belles of the Balls.
 Hair – Connie says the guys should enter from the back of the house on "Good Morning Starshine".
 The Music Man – Debbie Reynolds says they should enter from the back of the house on "Seventy-Six Trombones".
 Grease – Debbie Reynolds, Connie, Carla, and the Belles of the Balls sing "There Are Worse Things I Could Do".
 A Chorus Line – Connie and Carla sing "What I Did for Love".
 Guys and Dolls – Connie mentions "the Guys and Dolls tribute."

Reception

Box office
The film had a budget of $27 million, and grossed $8,085,771 domestically, and $3,255,245 in foreign release, making $11,341,016 worldwide. The film grossed $3,254,940 during its opening weekend, opening at number 13 in the 4/16-18 weekend box office. The film has been released on DVD and incorrectly has the runtime at 1 hour, 48 minutes.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 44% critic score based on reviews from 122 critics. The site's consensus states: "The two female leads, as well as energitic musical numbers, enliven an otherwise silly reworking of Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot."

See also
 List of American films of 2004
 Drag queen
 Faux queen – Women who dress as drag queens

References

External links

2000s American films
2000s buddy comedy films
2000s crime comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s female buddy films
2004 films
2004 comedy films
2004 LGBT-related films
American buddy comedy films
American crime comedy films
American female buddy films
American LGBT-related films
Cross-dressing in American films
Drag (entertainment)-related films
Fictional duos
Films directed by Michael Lembeck
Films produced by Roger Birnbaum
Films produced by Tom Hanks
Films scored by Randy Edelman
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Chicago
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in Vancouver
Films with screenplays by Nia Vardalos
LGBT-related buddy comedy films
Mafia comedy films
Spyglass Entertainment films
Transgender-related films
Universal Pictures films

Connie and Carla


Tilopa (Prakrit; Sanskrit: Talika or Tilopada, 988–1069) was a tantric practitioner and mahasiddha. He was born in either Chativavo (Chittagong), Bengal or Jagora, Bengal into the Brahmin (priestly) caste. He had several teachers and meditated a lot under their guidance: Saryapa, Lawapa, Indrabhuti, Matanga, Nagarjuna . Finaly he reached Mahamudra or state of complete enlightement. Tilopa is regarded as founder of Kagyu lineage of Vajrayana Buddhism. His main student is Naropa.

Buddhism

Tilopa