Richard Van Slater (May 19, 1951 – October 18, 2018) better known by his ring name "Dirty" Dick Slater, was an American professional wrestler who wrestled in the 1970s, 1980s, and mid-1990s for various promotions including Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Slater began wrestling with Mike Graham at Robinson High School, in Tampa, Florida. He attended the University of Tampa with Paul Orndorff. From there he began wrestling in Championship Wrestling from Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling.  He worked as a booker in Knoxville, Tennessee after Ron Fuller sold his promotion to Jim Barnett. He wrestled in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (later World Championship Wrestling), where he appeared on the first Starrcade. He also worked in Mid-South Wrestling Association, where he was managed by Dark Journey. Slater made some trips to the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. He wrestled briefly in the World Wrestling Federation as a babyface under a "Rebel" gimmick, but soon returned to WCW. He wrestled there until receiving his back injury that ended his career.

In June 2004, Slater was convicted for the stabbing of his former girlfriend Theresa Halbert.  He was sentenced to one year of house arrest and two years of probation. He blamed the incident on influence from painkillers.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1968-1972)
Slater began wrestling in 1968 with Mike Graham at Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida. Eddie Graham purchased a wrestling mat for his high school and started a high school wrestling program there. He wrestled for an organization called the AAU, a program that trained young wrestlers to go to the Olympics. Slater went to the University of Tampa where he played football in addition to wrestling (among his teammates was John Matuszak and Paul Orndorff). He had a chance to play football for the Miami Dolphins but declined the opportunity, deciding to wrestle instead. After going to a National AAU meet, he was approached by Mike Graham, who asked him if he wanted to become a professional wrestler; Slater decided to go to the Sportatorium in Tampa to train as a professional wrestler. There, he was trained by Jack Brisco, Bob Roop, Hiro Matsuda, and Bill Watts. Slater also became good friends with Dick Murdoch around this time. Slater began working for Championship Wrestling from Florida, which was run by Eddie Graham.  He stayed there for three years and won the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (with Dusty Rhodes, Stan Vachon, Toru Tanaka, and Johnny Weaver) and the NWA Florida Television Championship.

Georgia Championship Wrestling (1972–1983)
After leaving CWF, Slater worked in California alongside The Von Brauners, Moondog Mayne, Pat Patterson, and Ray Stevens. From there, he went to Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada (traveling with Moondog Mayne frequently). Slater then went to Georgia Championship Wrestling, an organization he credits with putting him on the map. He worked there for 8 years, winning the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship four times, as well as the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship and NWA Macon Tag Team Championship with Bob Orton, Jr. During the time period he also won the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship and a number of Florida titles. Slater commented that after winning the Missouri Heavyweight Title, he was in the mix to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion, but would attribute his not winning it to "politics".

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1983–1985)
In 1983, Slater was working in Knoxville, Tennessee for Ron Fuller when Jim Barnett approached Slater with the idea of booking a television show in Atlanta for Ted Turner. At the same time, Jim Crockett was buying out Jim Barnett; thus, Slater started working for Crockett. Around the same time, Dusty Rhodes (one of Slater's many tag team partners) became a booker for Crockett. Slater teamed up with Bob Orton, Jr., and began a feud with Ric Flair where they attacked with an aided piledriver in an attempt to end his career. The team collected a bounty from Harley Race, the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion for apparently ending Flair's career. Flair would return and attack Slater and Orton.  While Flair would go on to fight Race at Starrcade for the championship, Orton and Slater were placed in a tag team match with Mark Youngblood and Wahoo McDaniel, who sought retribution on Slater and Orton for attacking their friend Flair.  At the event, Slater and Orton were victorious over Youngblood and McDaniel after Orton superplexed Youngblood.

Slater has said that Crockett ran one of the hardest promotions to work for; in addition to wrestling for Crockett, Slater was also booking three other promotions, Bill Watts', Joe Blanchard's, and Paul Boesch's. For a time in Mid-Atlantic, Slater was managed by Gary Hart.  While in Mid-Atlantic, Slater won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship, the NWA Television Championship and the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship He also independently declared himself the true NWA World Heavyweight Champion during Flair's title reign, creating his own belt, and was involved in another program with Flair.

Mid-South Wrestling Association (1985–1986)
In 1985, Slater left Mid-Atlantic and went to Mid-South Wrestling (run by Bill Watts). He has said that the move was because he was tired of the promotion and the multiple bookings he did. In Mid-South, Slater took on his controversial valet of Dark Journey, whom he first saw dancing at a strip club; he eventually asked her to be his valet. His relationship with her caused a great deal of legitimate heat (due to her being African-American). While in Mid-South, Slater engaged in a lengthy feud with Jake Roberts (who would DDT Dark Journey in one of their matches); Slater would also win the Mid-South North American Championship, the Mid-South Television Championship, and the UWF World Television Championship.

World Wrestling Federation (1986–1987)
Slater wrestled briefly for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a babyface using a Southern "Rebel" gimmick. He debuted in WWF on the July 26, 1986 episode of Championship Wrestling by defeating The Gladiator. While in the WWF, Slater had one match with Jake Roberts; however, this being 1980s WWF TV (where no mention was ever made of a wrestler's past) his Mid-South feud with Roberts was ignored, in that match aired on a December 13, 1986 episode of WWF Superstars Slater cleanly pinned Roberts but decision was reversed by referee Danny Davis when Roberts put his foot on the rope after the three count. Slater was then disqualified for hitting the referee. Slater defeated Mike Sharpe at The Big Event and was squashed by Don Muraco in two minutes on the Saturday Night's Main Event VIII. Shortly after his match with Muraco, the WWF began to use him as a jobber. His last televised appearance in WWF was on the May 4, 1987 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, where he lost to Butch Reed.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1987–1990)
After departing WWF, Slater toured All Japan Pro Wrestling on numerous occasions between 1987 and 1990. He teamed with Tommy Rich to participate in the 1988 Real World Tag League for the vacant World Tag Team Championship but the duo lost all of their matches in the tournament. On May 13, 1989, Slater and Danny Spivey unsuccessfully challenged Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu for the World Tag Team Championship. Later that year, Slater formed a tag team with Joel Deaton. The duo participated in the 1990 Real World Tag League to crown the new World Tag Team Champions and won only two matches by defeating the teams of Doug Furnas and Ricky Santana and Mighty Inoue and Rusher Kimura.

American Wrestling Association (1987)
Slater had a brief run in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) where he was supposedly a bodyguard for AWA champion Curt Hennig.

World Championship Wrestling (1989–1996)

J-Tex Corporation and The Hardliners (1989–1991)
Slater returned to Jim Crockett Promotions, then renamed World Championship Wrestling on the August 26, 1989 episode of World Championship Wrestling as a member of J-Tex Corporation, facing Sting in a match, which he lost by disqualification after his J-Tex teammates Terry Funk and The Great Muta attacked Sting. The group primarily feuded with Ric Flair and Sting. He replaced an injured Terry Funk to team up with The Great Muta at Clash of the Champions VIII in a losing effort against Ric Flair and Sting. The match ended in a disqualification after Terry Funk placed a plastic bag over Ric Flair's head. Slater was fired by WCW. However, he would come back to WCW for the final portion of his career in 1991.

Slater returned to WCW in the summer of 1991 and formed a tag team with Dick Murdoch called The Hardliners. Hardliners debuted as a team on Clash of the Champions XV, by attacking Steiner Brothers, Hiroshi Hase and Masahiro Chono after an IWGP Tag Team Championship match between the two teams. Hardliners' first match as a team took place on the June 29 episode of WorldWide by defeating enhancement talents Mike Jackson and Tim Parker. Hardliners began a rivalry with Steiner Brothers but Scott suffered an injury and they wrestled Rick and his different tag team partners throughout the summer of 1991. Hardliners participated in a tournament for the vacated World Tag Team Championship, in which they wrestled The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) to a double count-out in the first round on the July 27 episode of World Championship Wrestling. The team disbanded in the fall of 1991 and Slater competed in the Florida-based International Championship Wrestling Alliance (ICWA) for the rest of 1991.

United States Tag Team Champion (1992)
On the July 4 episode of Saturday Night, Slater returned to WCW television by teaming with Greg Valentine to defeat Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Big Josh. Slater would then form an alliance with Valentine and The Barbarian. Later that night, Slater and Barbarian challenged The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes) to a match for the United States Tag Team Championship, which took place on the July 12 episode of Main Event, with Slater and Barbarian defeating Fabulous Freebirds to win the United States Tag Team Championship and becoming the final holders of the title as it was retired on July 31. At Clash of the Champions XX, Slater and Valentine lost to the team of Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton. Slater and Valentine competed in the tag team division for the rest of 1992 before splitting up and Slater began competing as a singles competitor.

Stud Stable (1993–1996)

Slater returned to WCW in 1993 as the injured Paul Orndorff's replacement against Ron Simmons in a match at Clash of the Champions XXIII, which Slater lost. Slater mainly competed as an enhancement talent for the rest of 1993 and most of 1994. On the December 3, 1994 episode of Saturday Night, Slater replaced Terry Funk in Col. Robert Parker's group Stud Stable. Slater was placed in a tag team with Stud Stable teammate Bunkhouse Buck and the group started a feud with Harlem Heat because of a love/hate relationship between Parker and the Heat's manager, Sister Sherri. Slater and Buck faced Harlem Heat in a losing effort at The Great American Bash. On the July 22 episode of Saturday Night, Slater and Buck defeated Harlem Heat to win the World Tag Team Championship due to an interference from Col. Rob Parker. After winning the titles, Slater and Buck feuded with teams such as Nasty Boys and Stars n Stripes. At Clash of the Champions XXXI, Slater, Buck and Parker lost a match to Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri, resulting in Harlem Heat getting a title shot at Slater and Buck's World Tag Team Championship at Fall Brawl, where Slater and Buck dropped the titles back to Harlem Heat. Parker then dumped Slater and Buck for Sister Sherri.

Slater and Buck continued to perform in the tag team division without Parker. At World War 3, Slater participated in the inaugural namesake match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, which Randy Savage won. After continuing to lose matches, Buck eventually abandoned Slater during a match against The American Males on the March 2, 1996 episode of Saturday Night, leading to Slater losing the handicap match to American Males, thus marking the end of Stud Stable. On the March 30 episode of Saturday Night, Slater unsuccessfully challenged Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Rough n Ready (1996)
Slater reunited with Col. Robert Parker in mid-1996. At Slamboree, Slater and Earl Robert Eaton defeated Alex Wright and Disco Inferno in a Lethal Lottery match and then defeated Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet in the second match of the Lethal Lottery to qualify for the Battlebowl battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash. Diamond Dallas Page won the Battlebowl to earn the title shot. Shortly after, Slater formed a tag team with Mike Enos called Rough 'n' Ready. The two began teaming with each other on the July 6 episode of Saturday Night, where they were paired with VK Wallstreet against Lex Luger, Sting and Randy Savage in a losing effort. Rough n Ready lost the majority of their matches but received five opportunities against Harlem Heat for the World Tag Team Championship on WCW television during the next two months but failed to win the title. In Gainesville, Georgia, Slater blew out two vertebrae during a match. The back injury ended his wrestling career and his run with Enos.

Personal life
Slater had three brothers, George, Russell and Carl Slater. He had four half-sisters, Nancy, Donna, Sandra and Catherine Slater. He had one daughter. By 2003, Slater was largely confined to a wheelchair after a number of back surgeries. In June 2004, Slater was convicted of attacking his then-girlfriend, Theresa Halbert. On December 27, 2003, it was reported that Slater had stabbed Halbert with a butcher's knife.  Slater claimed that the night before the incident, he had received "a shot of morphine and two forty milligram Oxycontins" at an emergency room, related to his numerous back injuries.  In an interview with Mid-Atlantic Gateway, Slater said that "It was all drug related ... most of it all. I mean, I couldn't tell you what happened ... if I didn't know what happened...I really don't know what actually took place, other than I was ... I woke up in Intensive Care in the hospital. I had gone to the hospital by ambulance the night before ... ". On June 10, 2004, Slater was sentenced to one year of house arrest and two years of probation.  He was also sentenced to keep away from Halbert and pay more than $18,000 restitution.

Before coming to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Slater was involved in an incident where Wahoo McDaniel shot him. Slater, McDaniel, Tommy Rich, and André the Giant were at a bar in Atlanta when someone in the bar made a comment about Rich's wife, which angered Rich and McDaniel. The man who had commented about Rich's wife got a knife, and seeing that, McDaniel got out a gun. André and Slater went out to the parking lot and watched the altercation; while they were watching McDaniel pistol-whip the man, the gun went off and Slater was hit by the bullet in the leg. Slater told the police that a sniper had shot him; he would return to the ring in just three weeks. Slater was also famous for an altercation in a bar in Tampa, Florida with John Matuszak, which Slater won.

Death
WWE released a statement on October 18, 2018, announcing that Slater had died. Wrestling trainer and close friend Les Thatcher acknowledged that Slater had died on his Twitter account. His death was also confirmed by on-screen adversary Ric Flair, who paid tribute on YouTube. According to the NWA's Twitter account, Slater died due to heart complications.

Championships and accomplishments
 All Japan Pro Wrestling
 Champion Carnival Technical Award (1979)
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Outstanding Performance Award (1980) – with Ricky Steamboat
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fair Play Award (1980) – with Ricky Steamboat
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Technique Award (1982) – with Harley Race
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Excite Award (1990) – with Joel Deaton
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Florida version) (1 time)
NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Dusty Rhodes (1), Stan Vachon (1), Toru Tanaka (1), and Johnny Weaver (1)
NWA Florida Television Championship (2 times)
NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (4 times)
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) – with Killer Karl Kox
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
NWA Macon Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bob Orton Jr.
NWA Macon Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bob Orton Jr.
International Wrestling Association of Japan
IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling / World Championship Wrestling
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA Television Championship (2 times)
WCW United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Barbarian
NWA (Mid-Atlantic)/WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Dusty Rhodes (1) and Bunkhouse Buck (1)
Mid-South Wrestling Association / Universal Wrestling Federation
Mid-South North American Championship (2 times)
Mid-South Television Championship (1 time)
UWF World Television Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI ranked him # 153 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (3 times)
NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Jerry Blackwell (1) and Paul Orndorff (1)
Southwest Championship Wrestling
SCW Southwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
SCW Southwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bob Sweetan
SCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bruiser Brody
St. Louis Wrestling Club
NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
United States Wrestling Association
USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Council
WWC Television Championship (2 times)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Worst Tag Team (1995) with Bunkhouse Buck

References

External links

1951 births
2018 deaths
American male professional wrestlers
American shooting survivors
NWA/WCW World Television Champions
NWA/WCW/WWE United States Heavyweight Champions
Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida
Professional wrestlers from Florida
20th-century professional wrestlers
WWC Television Champions
NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions
NWA Florida Tag Team Champions
NWA Florida Television Champions
NWA Southern Heavyweight Champions (Florida version)
NWA Brass Knuckles Champions (Florida version)
NWA United States Tag Team Champions (Florida version)
WCW World Tag Team Champions
NWA/WCW United States Tag Team Champions
NWA Macon Heavyweight Champions
NWA Macon Tag Team Champions
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champions
NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions
Stud Stable members
IWA World Heavyweight Champions (IWA Japan)

Dick Slater


The official flag of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972 was a red cross on a white field defaced with a crowned six-pointed star with a red hand in the centre. The flag was the official flag of the Executive Committee for Northern Ireland  (the government of Northern Ireland) between 1921 and 1972. This government went out of existence in 1972 and since that time the United Kingdom has not used the flag. The British Government uses the flag of the United Kingdom. Sometimes, sports teams use the flag to represent Northern Ireland.

This flag is known as the Ulster Banner, or more commonly the Northern Ireland flag or Ulster flag. It is not the same as the flag of Ulster.

Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Flags of the United Kingdom

Flag of Northern Ireland


Lew Johnson (–1910) was an African-American owner and business manager of blackface minstrel troupes composed of African-American performers. His career began in the mid-1860s and spanned 25 years. Johnson is the only black minstrel-troupe owner to have enjoyed any consistent success (others, such as Charles Hicks, were constantly fluctuating between success to failure). This was due to his keeping well away from the lucrative markets dominated by white owners. He primarily toured in the Midwestern and Western United States, playing countless one-nighters in rural settlements. The people in these areas could be racist (perhaps more than in the East), which made the itinerant lifestyle a hard one for Johnson and his minstrels. Johnson made a brief venture into the Eastern market in 1886, but his troupe fared poorly and fled back west.

Johnson's troupes had between six and twenty members, with an average of twelve. None became famous (though they were popular where they played). This allowed him to change their names to keep up with trends. Troupes he owned and managed include:

 Lew Johnson's Minstrels (1866)
 Lew Johnson's Plantation Minstrels (1870)
 The Plantation Minstrel Slave Troupe (1875)
 Bishop's Female Georgia Minstrels (1879, as manager)
 Lew Johnson's Original Tennessee Jubilee Singers (1881)
 Lew Johnson and William Smallwood's Colored Combination (1881)
 The Black Baby Boy Minstrels (1886)
 The Refined Colored Minstrels and Electric Brass Band (1890)

Notes

References

Toll, Robert C. (1974). Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Watkins, Mel (1994). On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Signifying—The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor that Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Blackface minstrel managers and producers
African-American businesspeople
1840s births
1910 deaths
19th-century American businesspeople
20th-century African-American people

Lew Johnson


Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgian cartoonist, playwright, comic strip artist, painter, comedian, comedic singer and television producer, known for the absurd nature of his work. He created various comic strip characters, but "Bert" is the most well known. He also writes the scenarios for Herr Seele's comic strip, Cowboy Henk.

Early life and education
Luc Zeebroek was born on 5 May 1956 in Nieuwpoort in Belgium.

Kamagurka studied Art in Bruges and later performed studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. However, he quit school before he would graduate.

During a schooltrip in Paris Kamagurka decided to visit to the editorial building of the magazine Hara Kiri on his own. Only twenty years old, he ended up going there every two weeks to stay there for three days. Kamagurka still believes this to be his true education and the foundation of the rest of his career.

Career
In 1972 he made his debut as cartoonist in De Zeewacht. Three years later he became the regular cartoonist at the weekly magazine HUMO, where he introduced cartoons inspired by the absurd and shocking comics and cartoons of Robert Crumb, Roland Topor and the controversial French magazine Hara Kiri. In those first years the magazine received dozens of angry readers' letters from people who didn't understand or enjoy his work, which they deemed "too vulgar". This transformed him into a cult artist. He remains the house cartoonist of Humo to this day, despite other cartoonists being published as well.

Since the 1980s he also made a few cartoons with Herr Seele, with whom he also made several radio ("Studio Kafka", "Kamagurkistan") and televisions shows (like "Lava", "Johnnywood", "Wees blij met wat je hebt" and "Bob en George"). Since 1981 they also make the comic Cowboy Henk, with Kamagurka writing the jokes and Seele making the drawings.

Kamagurka also paints and performs theater throughout Flanders and The Netherlands.

He has made music since the beginning of the 80s with singles as "Constant Degoutant", "Marjoleintje", "Een klein leger, maar een dik leger" (1981) and one censured by national radio "Weg met Boudewijn. Leve Fabiola" (Translation: "Boudewijn go home! Long live Fabiola!"). They called themselves Kamagurka en de Vlaamse Primitieven. In 2000 he released a new album called: "Oh Sabrina, wat heb je met mijn snor gedaan?" with singles like the title song and "Nee, mijn lief: je bent niet te dik." He has also designed album covers for Raymond van het Groenewoud and his own albums.

In 1985 he received the Geuzenprijs for his entire oeuvre.

Since from 2002 he made weekly guest contributions to De Laatste Show. In 2005 he also created a theater production with Jules Deelder: "Kamadeeldra".

Since 2006 he has been making segments for the TV show "Man bijt Hond" with the weekly shorts De grens.

Paintings
During the Kamalmanak project he started to make short movies for the digital Dutch site NRC TV. While filming one of these short films he invented a new art movement called Accidentalism ("Accidentally made"). He created a portrait of an unknown person, as he saw him/her with his own eye. Afterwards he asked people on camera which person this man or woman on the painting resembled, and strange enough each time there was someone who could proof the likeness by showing a photo.

In 2008 Kamagurka did a project called Kamalmanak, in which he painted daily a painting, in total 366, because 2008 was a leap-year. It is also the title of the book in which these paintings are pictured. The project was sponsored by business man Marc Coucke, member of the management of the company Omega Pharma. Coucke is an art lover and a big fan of Luc Zeebroek. In these paintings Kamagurka tries to look at the world with an amount of absurd humor. He was inspired by various art movements, such as cubism and pop-art. His intention was to make his international breakthrough.

After this he kept painting in the same style, but with the slight difference that he kept doing it every day, but didn't necessarily finish a painting each time. He made a series he called "Veluxart", because the theme he painted was always close to a roof window. He painted a number of comic book characters (such as Tintin, The Smurfs, Batman) and cartoon characters (Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Popeye, Fred Flintstone, Mijnheer de Uil) in a style he nicknamed Neo-cubism. He tried to imagine how Picasso, Georges Braque or Juan Gris would have treated these subjects.

Another series were the "Spiegeleipaintings" (Fried egg paintings: a chicken upon the yolk of a fried egg). He continued with this theme and changed the chicken by i.e. three crosses on the Golgotha or by drawing another fried egg.

He also made an official portrait of Queen Beatrix with a beard stubble. This is, according to the painter, because "a queen changes into a king if you wait long enough." In other paintings, he's strongly influenced by Piet Mondriaan or Peter Paul Rubens or he uses the theme of another painter to make an own original work, such as "Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe" by Édouard Manet, which he transformed into "Déjeuner sous l'herbe".

Trivia
 Since 1978 he has won without interruption the annual trophy for "Best Graphic Artist", elected by the readers of the magazine HUMO. In 2010 he was beaten for the first time by Jonas Geirnaert. He ended number 4 in the top-10.
 In the comic strip series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen in the album  "De Smaragdgroene Pletskop"  a colonel appears with the name "Kamagurka" (line 71).
 The group Osdorp Posse sampled a part of Kamagurka's Kamiel Kafka performances in their song "Sam Sam" from their album "Tegenstrijd" (2003).
 Since his youth Kamagurka is a fan of the football squad KV Oostende, in which he's in the board of directors. He designed the clubs' mascot. In 2009 he got a stadium prohibit of three months because he had entered the playing field during the game in March 2009.

Honours and awards
  Bronzen Adhemar (1978)
  Louis Paul Boonprijs (1978)
  Humo's Pop Poll - Best Cartoonist (1978->2010)
  Geuzenprijs (1985)
  Stripschapprijs (1993)
  Press Cartoon Prize Belgium (2001)
  Sondermann Bernd-Pfarr-Sonderpreis (2009)
  Angoulême Prize for Inheritance (2014)
  Inktspotprijs (2021)

References

External links

1956 births
Living people
20th-century Belgian painters
21st-century Belgian painters
Belgian comics writers
Belgian comics artists
Belgian male comedians
Belgian comedy musicians
Belgian comic strip cartoonists
Belgian editorial cartoonists
Belgian experimental musicians
Belgian radio presenters
Belgian television presenters
Belgian male singers
Belgian surrealist artists
Flemish television writers
Male television writers
Underground cartoonists
People from Nieuwpoort, Belgium
Album-cover and concert-poster artists
Charlie Hebdo people
Raw (magazine)
Dutch-language singers of Belgium
Winners of the Stripschapsprijs
-->

Kamagurka


Speakable items is part of the speech recognition feature in the classic Mac OS and macOS operating systems.  It allows the user to control their computer with natural speech, without having to train the computer beforehand.  The commands must be present in the Speakable items folder though but can be created with something as simple as a shortcut, AppleScript, keyboard command, or Automator workflows.

History

Speakable items was first introduced as part of Apple's speech recognition software PlainTalk in 1993.  Originally available only on Quadra AV models, it was later integrated with the System 7.1.2 release of the Macintosh system software.

With the release of Mac OS X v10.4 it was featured as #12 on their list of features. In OS X Mountain Lion, Speakable Items has been relocated to the Accessibility panel in System Preferences.

Automation

Mac OS X v10.4 added Automator workflows which can also be used as Speakable items.

If a workflow is saved as an application and put in the Speakable items folder it becomes available to the speech recognition software. The words the computer will recognize to execute the command will be the name of the saved Automator application. Some words might have to be misspelt for the computer to know the proper pronunciation. (For example, the computer best recognizes "Les Misérables" as Lay Mizzer Ob).

Because Automator is made to comply with AppleScript applications only, most third party or non AppleScript applications, such as Limewire or Final Cut Studio apps will not work with speakable items, unless you configure commands only with "define a keyboard command": in which you'll just select "this application only" after making a keyboard command.

Problems
While Speakable Items is useful, as well as innovative, recognition gets hard and distorted some times.

 In Macs without dual beamforming microphones (pre-2012), background noise interferes with recognition, and limits the usefulness of the "listening continuously" option.
 Sometimes the pronunciation the computer understands varies from the proper pronunciation. This usually happens with custom commands.
 The Speakable items folder also has the abilities to open applications that are blocked by Parental Controls without an administrators permission. This is achieved by copying and application and placing within the folder and opening it from there. However this does not bypass applications from an unidentified developer, if the Applications Downloaded From: App Store or App Store and Identified Developers setting is checked.

See also
Speech recognition
List of speech recognition software

References

External links
Mac OS X: Speech - How to add items to Speakable Items
OS X Mountain Lion: Create spoken commands

MacOS

mr:स्पीकेबल आयटेम्स

Speakable items


Cabo Rojo (Spanish for "Red Cape") (21°47'N 97°35'W) is a barrier of quartzite sand deposited adjacent to the coast of the Mexican state of Veracruz, about  south of the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas. It encloses the brackish lagoon called Laguna de Tamiahua. It is located in the municipalities of Ozuluama de Mascareñas and Tamiahua.

As one of the few protruding features on this part of the coast, it may be regarded as the
boundary between the western coasts of the Bay of Campeche and the Gulf of Mexico proper, and is frequently used by the authorities as a breakpoint for tropical cyclone warnings and watches.

Rojo
Landforms of Veracruz

Cabo Rojo (Mexico)


Dražen Erdemović (born 25 November 1971) was a soldier who fought during the Bosnian War for the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and was later sentenced for his participation in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

Background
Erdemović was born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia to a Croat mother and a Serb father. During the Bosnian War, he was mobilized into the VRS 10th Sabotage Detachment, a part of the Army of Republika Srpska.

Srebrenica
In July 1995, Erdemović and his unit were sent to Branjevo military farm in the village of Pilica, north of Zvornik. After the VRS forces took over Srebrenica on 11 July, the Serbs began to send male Bosniaks to various locations for execution. One of those places was the farm in Pilica, 15 kilometers from the border with Serbia, where Erdemović and the 10th Sabotage Detachment were tasked with executing about 1,200 Bosniak men and boys between the ages of approximately 17 and 60 years, who had surrendered to the members of the Bosnian Serb police or army near Srebrenica.

On 16 July, the prisoners were bused to the farm and gunned down in groups of ten. Erdemović allegedly resisted the order, but was then told that he either shot them, or hand his gun to another, and join those to be killed. After the murders were over the victims were buried in mass graves. While it is unknown exactly how many people were personally killed by Erdemović, he estimated it was around 70 men and boys.

After the massacre, Erdemović returned home, but reportedly felt guilt-ridden over the crimes he had committed. Fellow soldiers of the 10th Sabotage put pressure on him not to say anything, including a Serbian soldier, Stanko Savanović. One evening, while meeting in an undisclosed bar, Savanović shot Erdemović, wounding him badly in the torso. In early 1996, Erdemović sought out an ABC field reporter and testified on camera about what happened at Srebrenica. Several days later, he was arrested and charged with war crimes in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Trial
The Erdemović case was significant in the Tribunal being it was the first application of the defence of duress, claiming that his life had been threatened and that he had no choice. It was found that it did not absolve him of guilt, but could be a mitigating factor in his sentencing. On 29 November 1996, Erdemović was sentenced to ten years in prison, convicted of murder as a crime against humanity. He was the first person to enter a guilty plea at the Tribunal, He was the only member of the 10th Sabotage Detachment to actually be tried for the war crimes, while the rest remained on the Tribunal's most wanted list.

Erdemović appealed and his sentence was later reduced by ICTY to five years in 1998, accepting that he committed the offences under threat of death had he disobeyed the order. Credit was given for time served since 28 March 1996. On 13 August 1999, he was granted early release. Upon serving his sentence in a Norwegian prison, Erdemović entered the Tribunal Court's witness protection program and testified at the trial of Slobodan Milošević.I wish to say that I feel sorry for all the victims, not only for the ones who were killed then at that farm, I feel sorry for all the victims in the former Bosnia and Herzegovina regardless of their nationality. I have lost many very good friends of all nationalities only because of that war, and I am convinced that all of them, all of my friends, were not in favour of a war. I am convinced of that. But simply they had no other choice. This war came and there was no way out. The same happened to me. Because of my case, because of everything that happened, I of my own will, without being either arrested and interrogated or put under pressure, admitted even before I was arrested in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, I admitted to what I did to this journalist and I told her at that time that I wanted to go to the International Tribunal, that I wanted to help the International Tribunal understand what happened to ordinary people like myself in Yugoslavia... in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia I admitted to what I did before the authorities, judicial authorities, and the authorities of the Ministry of the Interior, like I did here. My lawyer, when he first arrived here, he told me, "Dražen, can you change your mind, your decision? I do not know what can happen. I do not know what will happen." I told him because of those victims, because of my consciousness, because of my life, because of my child and my wife, I cannot change what I said to this journalist and what I said in Novi Sad, because of the peace of my mind, my soul, my honesty, because of the victims and war and because of everything. Although I knew that my family, my parents, my brother, my sister, would have problems because of that, I did not want to change it. Because of everything that happened I feel terribly sorry, but I could not do anything. When I could do something, I did it.

In the media

The story of Erdemovic's trial in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia forms the basis of the 2005 play A Patch of Earth, written by Kitty Felde and collected in the anthology The Theatre of Genocide: Four Plays about Mass Murder in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, and Armenia (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008).

References

Sources
Germinal Civikov - Srebrenica. Der Kronzeuge, Promedia Verlag, Vienna. 2009,

External links
ICTY case information sheet
Trial Watch : Drazen Erdemovic

1971 births
Bosnian genocide perpetrators
Bosnia and Herzegovina people imprisoned abroad
Bosnia and Herzegovina whistleblowers
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted of war crimes
Living people
People convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
People from Tuzla
Prisoners and detainees of Norway

Dražen Erdemović


A Doll's House (also translated from Danish as A Doll House) is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879. The play is set in a Norwegian town circa 1879.

List of characters

Nora Helmer – wife of Torvald, mother of three, represents the 19th-century wife, but leaves her family at the end of the play.
Torvald Helmer – Nora's husband, a newly promoted bank manager, who loves his wife but their marriage does not make her happy.
Dr. Rank – a rich family friend. He is terminally ill.
Kristine Linde – Nora's old school friend, widowed, is looking for a job.
Nils Krogstad – an employee at Torvald's bank and single father.
The Children – Nora and Torvald's children: Ivar, Bobby and Emmy (in order of age).
Anne Marie – Nora's former nanny, who gave up her own daughter to "strangers" when she became, as she says, the only mother Nora knew.  She now cares for Nora's children.
Helene – the Helmers' maid
The Porter – delivers a Christmas tree to the Helmer household at the beginning of the play.

References

19th-century plays
Norwegian literature
1870s works

A Doll's House


Hylidae is a family of tree frogs. Some of the Hylids are semi-aquatic, and others are terrestrial frogs.

Characteristics
Most hylids have forward-facing eyes that gives them binocular vision. These hylids are arboreal species, meaning they live in trees. Non-arboreal species do not have any of these advantages. The Cyclorana species are burrowing frogs. They spend most of their time underground. Hylids will eat insects and other invertebrates. Larger species can eat small vertebrates.

Hylids lay their eggs in ponds. Some lay their eggs in puddles that in holes inside trees. Others lay their eggs on plants, if water is near. The tadpoles will drop from the plants and into the pond when they hatch. In South America, female hylids carry the eggs on their backs until they hatch.

Species
The European tree frog (Hyla arborea) lives in middle and Southern Europe. They can also be found in Asia and North Africa. These species are noisy during rainstorms. Many Hylidae live in North America, for example Hyla versicolor (Grey Tree Frog) and Hyla cinerea (American Green Tree Frog). The spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) can also be found in the eastern United States. The spring peeper makes loud noises during the spring and summer.

The word "tree frog" is a popular term for many Hylidae. For example, Hyla versicolor is the name of the changeable tree frog, Trachycephalus lichenatus is the name of the lichened tree frog, and Trachycephalus marmoratus is the marbled tree frog. However, the name "tree frog" is not unique to this family. "Tree frog" is used more often for many species in Rhacophoridae.

Taxonomy

The Hylidae family is divided into the following subfamilies and genera:
Hylidae
 Subfamily Pelodryadinae (Austro-Papuan tree frogs)
 Litoria
 Nyctimystes
 Pelodryas
 Subfamily Phyllomedusinae (Leaf frogs)
 Agalychnis
 Cruziohyla
 Hylomantis – Rough Leaf Frogs
 Pachymedusa – Mexican Leaf Frogs
 Phasmahyla – Shining Leaf Frogs
 Phrynomedusa – Colored Leaf Frogs
 Phyllomedusa
 Subfamily Hylinae
 Acris – Cricket Frogs
 Anotheca – Spiny-headed Treefrogs
 Aparasphenodon – Casque-headed Frogs
 Aplastodiscus – Canebreak Treefrogs
 Argenteohyla – Argentinian Frogs
 Atlantihyla - Stream Frogs
 Boana – Gladiator Frogs
 Bokermannohyla
 Bromeliohyla
 Charadrahyla
 Corythomantis – Casque-headed Treefrog
 Dendropsophus
 Duellmanohyla – Brook Frogs
 Ecnomiohyla – Fringed Treefrogs or Marvelous Frogs
 Exerodonta
 Hyla – Common Treefrogs
 Hyloscirtus
 Isthmohyla
 Itapotihyla
 Lysapsus
 Megastomatohyla
 Myersiohyla
 Nyctimantis – Brown-eyed Treefrogs
 Osteocephalus – Slender-legged Treefrogs
 Osteopilus – Cuban Treefrogs
 Phyllodytes – Heart-tongued Frogs
 Plectrohyla – Spike-thumb Frogs
 Pseudacris – Chorus Frogs
 Pseudis – Swimming Frogs
 Ptychohyla – Stream Frogs
 Scarthyla – Madre de Dios Treefrogs
 Scinax – Snouted Treefrogs
 Smilisca – Burrowing Frogs
 Sphaenorhynchus – Lime Treefrogs
 Tepuihyla – Amazon Treefrogs
 Tlalocohyla
 Trachycephalus – Casque-headed Treefrogs
 Triprion – Shovel-headed Treefrogs
 Xenohyla

References

 This article incorporates text from the Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921).

Other websites

 Amphibian Species of the World

 http://www.tolweb.org/Hylidae
 AmphibiaWeb - Hylidae
 http://www.floridanature.org/family.asp?family=Hylidae
 Region 4 - Home
 Welcome livingunderworld.org - Hostmonster.com

Frogs

Hylidae


Paul Hopkins (born July 12, 1968) is a Canadian actor. He is also a theatre producer and director.

Career
As an actor, he is known for his portrayal of Michael "Mouse" Tolliver in the TV miniseries More Tales of the City (1998) and its follow-up Further Tales of the City (2001). These miniseries were sequels to Tales of the City (1993), which starred Marcus D'Amico in the role of Mouse. Paul is also known for his portrayal of Karl in the Canadian TV series Vampire High (2001–2002) and Jim Bouchard on 19-2.

Between 2004 and 2005, Hopkins spent two seasons with the Stratford Festival of Canada, where he was a member of the Birmingham Conservatory of Classical Theatre Training.

In 2007, he became the artistic director and producer of Repercussion Theatre, Montreal's touring Shakespeare-in-the-Park company, a position he held until 2015. During his tenure he oversaw over 200 presentations seen by over 70,000 people throughout Greater Montreal and the province of Quebec. These presentations included seven Shakespeare-in-the-Park tours, two co-productions with the Montreal Baroque Festival (Macbeth in Hell: A Cabaret! and Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen), Shakespeare Unplugged,  and, in collaboration with Centaur Theatre's Wildside Festival, Repercussion Theatre presented Raoul Bhaneja's Hamlet Solo and Teaching Hamlet by Keir Cutler.

While at Repercussion Theatre, Hopkins conceived innovative ways to create strong community ties and loyal audiences. Since 2010, approximately 100 local youth were featured in cameo roles in the summer productions and children's workshops were added, resulting in pre-show vignettes performed by the young participants that were introduced to Shakespeare and live theatre in a fun, interactive way. Repercussion Theatre also became a research partner in a five-year project called Early Modern Conversions, Religions, Cultures, Cognitive Ecologies led by McGill University's Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas (IPLAI).

In 2013, Hopkins' efforts were recognized when he was named one of three finalists for the Christopher Plummer Award of Excellence in Classical Theatre by the Shakespeare Globe Centre of Canada.

Filmography

References

External links

Official site

1968 births
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male television actors
Canadian male voice actors
Living people
Male actors from Ottawa

Paul Hopkins (actor)