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Privacy Policy
Conexus Financial Pty Ltd [ABN 51 120 292 257], (referred to as "Conexus", "us", "we" or "our"), is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information that we collect and complying with the Privacy Act 1988(Cth) ("the Privacy Act") and other applicable international legislation regarding data protection and privacy. This privacy policy ('Privacy Policy") applies to all persons who interact with us, including those who are advertisers, subscribers to our goods or services and registered and unregistered users of Conexus services ('Services") and your use of all websites owned or operated on behalf of Conexus, including those available via: www.conexusfinancial.com.au, www.professionalplanner.com.au, www.investmentmagazine.com.au and www.top1000funds.com (collectively referred to as "Sites") This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information and the choices available to you regarding collection, process, access, and how to update, correct and delete your personal information. By submitting personal information to us, you agree to our use of your personal information as described herein, so please read this Privacy Policy carefully.
If you are in the European Union or United Kingdom the Controller of your personal data is Conexus Financial Pty Ltd [ABN 51 120 292 257] of Level 3, 1 Bligh Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.
This privacy policy will not directly address issues surrounding personal information and its collection and use in the course of journalism, but where applicable to its publications, Conexus complies with the Australian Press Council Privacy Standards at http://www.presscouncil.org.au/privacy-principles.
The Sites are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children
1. What is your personal information?
Personal Information includes information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable from the information or opinion. In summary, personal information is any information about you that can be linked to you. It does not include data where identity has been removed (anonymous data)
2. What personal information do we collect and hold?
Personal Information. We collect information through all our Services including digital services subscription, advertising services, events, websites, mobile sites, applications ("apps"), and widgets, competitions and customer surveys (collectively, the "Services"). We collect the personal information needed to provide the Services and for our business operations. The personal information collected, used stored or transferred may consist of your name, address, telephone number, email address, job information, user name, unique site access id, login data , browser type and version, time zone and location, operating system and device you use to access the contact information, job applications if you are seeking employment, details of services you have used or enquired about, or profile data ( username password, your interests , preferences feedback and survey responses) and marketing and communication data preferences in receiving marketing and other information.
Sensitive Information. Sensitive information is a specific category of personal information. Such information includes information related to racial or ethnic origin, religion or other beliefs, membership of a trade union or a profession or trade association, health information, biometric data, criminal record and the like. We do not usually collect sensitive information about you and If we do, we will get your specific consent prior to the collection and use of this information. We ask that you do not send us, and you do not disclose, any sensitive personal information on or through our Services, or otherwise, unless expressly requested.
We collect some information that is anonymous data, if it is linked to you it will be treated as personal information
3. How do we collect and hold your personal information?
We collect your personal information directly from you or via the Sites, in order for you to use our Services unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so.
Where we collect personal information, we will only process it to:
- perform a contract with you, or
- where we have legitimate interests to process the data and they are not overridden by your rights, or
- in accordance with a legal obligation, or
- where we have your consent.
If you do not wish to provide personal information to us, then you do not have to do so, however, it may affect your use of the Sites or any products and Services offered on it.
If you have given consent to our use of your personal information, you are entitled to withdraw this consent at any time and if you have not provided express consent you can object to our data processing. Please see Section 9 Your Rights. Please be aware, however, that in some circumstances the withdrawal of your consent or objection may result in our also not being able to provide some services to you.
4. What information do we collect?
Registration Information is the information you provide to us in the course of registering for or acquiring our Services, for example, to create an account, become a subscriber, become an advertiser, post comments, receive a newsletter, attend an event or enter a competition. Where possible, as required by law, you may have the option of interacting with us anonymously (for example when browsing our digital products as a casual user) or using a pseudonym. We will usually make it clear whenever this is an option.
Public Information and Posts consist of comments or content that you post to the Services and the information about you that accompanies those posts or content, which may include a name, user name, comments, likes, tweets, status, profile information and picture(s). Public Information and Posts are always public, which means they are available to everyone and may be displayed in search results on external search engines.
Information from Third Party Social Media. If you access or log-in to our Services through a third party social media service, or connect our Services to a third party social media service, the information we collect may also include your user ID and/or user name associated with that social media service, any information or content you have permitted the third party social media service to share with us, such as your profile picture, email address, followers or friends lists, and any information you have disclosed in connection with that social media service.
Activity Information – Cookies and Other Technologies. Our website uses Cookies so when you access and interact with our Sites and Services, we may collect certain information about those visits. For more information please refer to our Cookie Policy
Information from Other Sources. We may supplement the information we collect for legitimate business and commercial purposes with solicited personal information from other sources, such as commercially available sources, websites and data providers, as well as information from our business partners or affiliated companies in Australia or internationally.
Information in relation to employment/engagement with us. When you apply for a job or contract with us we may collect certain information from you or from any recruitment consultant, your previous employers and others who may be able to provide information to assist us in deciding whether or not to make you an offer of employment or engage you under a contract. We also collect personal information about individuals who are, or are employed by, our suppliers (including service and content providers), contractors, dealers, agents and corporate customers.
Collection of Personal Financial Information by a Payment Service. In some cases, we use an unaffiliated payment service to allow you to purchase a product or make payments ("Payment Service"). If you wish to purchase a product or make a payment using a Payment Service, you will be directed to a Payment Service webpage. Any information that you provide to a Payment Service will be subject to the applicable Payment Service's privacy policy, rather than this privacy policy. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, any Payment Service's use of information collected through any Payment Service.
Linked Services. The Sites and Services may also be linked to sites operated by unaffiliated companies, and may carry advertisements or offer content, functionality, newsletters, competitions or applications developed and maintained by unaffiliated companies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of unaffiliated companies, and once you leave the Conexus Services or click an advertisement you should check the applicable privacy policy of the other service
5. How do we use your personal information?
To provide our Services. We use the information we collect from and about you for primary purpose of providing our Services and features to you, including:
- to fulfil necessary administrative functions associated with these Services (for example billing, credit and account management) and to provide you with customer support and to respond to inquiries;
- to enter into contracts with you or third parties and for marketing and client relationship purposes;
- to measure and improve your experience with both online and off-line Services through research and data analysis by us and our service providers, to deliver content we believe you are likely to find relevant and interesting, including advertising and marketing messages;
- where your information is contained within an advertisement which we publish for you, we may also use your information for publication of that same advertisement in other media, in accordance with the terms and conditions applicable to the initial publication of the advertisement;
- to allow you to comment on content and participate in surveys or competitions. If you are a competition winner, we may disclose your information to relevant regulatory authorities and publish your details in accordance with the competition terms;
- to allow social sharing functionality. If you log in with or connect a social media service account with the Services and your personal information is contained in a user generated post or in a communication to an editor or journalist. if we choose to publish comment/correspondence in any media, we may share your user name, picture, tweets and likes, as well as your activities and comments with other Services users and with your friends associated with your social media service. We may also share the same information with the social media service provider and the use of that shared information will be governed by the social media service's privacy policy. If you do not want your personal information shared in this way, please do not connect your social media service account with your Services account and do not participate in social sharing on the Services. If you have linked any of your social media accounts to your account for any Services, you can cancel that link by changing your account settings.
To allow service and content providers to assist us in providing and managing the Services. We may make your information available to certain third-party service and content providers, such as providers of data cloud services, website hosting service providers, debt collection services and direct marketing services, who help us manage or provide the Services. We require these service and content providers to comply with relevant privacy and data protection laws and not to use personal information which we provide for any purpose other than the specific service they are providing to you and/or us. The Sites are hosted by Flywheel an American company within a secure Singapore data centre. We use a number of other third parties to also process personal information on our behalf. These third parties have been carefully chosen and all of them comply with relevant privacy and data protection laws. These third parties are mostly based in the USA and are U. S Privacy Shield compliant.
To provide co-branded services and features. We may offer co-branded services or features, such as competitions or other promotions together with a third party ("Co-Branded Services"). These Co-Branded Services may be hosted on the Services or on the third party's service. By virtue of these relationships, we may share the information you submit in connection with the Co-Branded Service with the third party. The third party's use of your information will be governed by the third party's privacy policy. We will advise you when this is occurring, or obtain your express consent to share your personal information in these circumstances.
To deliver relevant advertisements. We and our advertisers may use the information we collect from and about you to deliver relevant ads to you when you use the Services or another service. Most advertising is delivered using Google DoubleClick and by using these services, third-party vendors, including Google, may show our ads on sites across the Internet. If you wish to obtain more information about how your previous usage of the Internet may be used to determine the ads that you see when you use the Services, go to Cookie Policy
To contact you. We may periodically send promotional materials or notifications which we believe might be of interest to you. Promotional materials may include invitations to participate in various activities (such as surveys), events or special offers.
To share with business partners. Where you have expressly consented to this, we may share your information with business partners to permit them to send you marketing communications consistent with your choices. Where we share your information with our related companies, they may use your information, in the same way as we can, under this Privacy Policy.
We do not sell, distribute or otherwise make personal information commercially available to any party, except as described in this Privacy Policy or with your prior permission. We may have to share your personal information with:
- A law enforcement agency, or other government agency, is exercising its legal authority and has asked us to provide access to that information;
- Our auditors, professional advisers and insurers;
- Third parties to whom we may chose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. Any new owner of our business may use your personal information in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy;
- Investigators if the information is required to help identify any abuse or attempt to abuse or compromise the integrity or security of the Sites or any web sites connected to them; or
- Another third party if a customer lawfully instructs us to do so.
6. How do we protect your information?
We take the security of the personal information we hold very seriously. Policies and Procedures are in place to safeguard it from loss, misuse and improper disclosure. We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical measures to safeguard personal information in our control against loss, theft, unauthorized use, disclosure or modification. We also have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so, if you are based in the UK or European Economic Area notification will be made within 72 hours of the breach.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Sites; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your personal information, we will use strict procedures and security features, in line with the standards set out in under applicable privacy laws, to try to prevent unauthorised access.
7. Do we disclose your personal information to anyone outside Australia?
We may disclose information to our business partners, customers, service providers and other third party suppliers located overseas for some of the purposes listed above. These overseas entities may be located in United States of America, Singapore, United Kingdom and Japan. Some of the Services are hosted in and managed outside of Australia and in dealing with us, you consent to having any personal information accessible from or transmitted outside of Australia. Cross-border disclosure of personal information by Conexus or our business partners or third-party suppliers will occur in compliance with data transfer requirements of applicable laws and regulations. Where personal information from the European Economic Area or UK is transferred to third-party vendors engaged by us to process such personal information on our behalf who are located in countries that are not recognized by the European Commission as offering an adequate level of personal data protection, such transfers are covered by alternate appropriate safeguards, specifically standard data protection clauses adopted by the European Commission.
8. Direct Marketing
We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our products and services that we consider might be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including email, mail and SMS in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). You consent to receiving direct marketing communications and information from us. However, at any time you may opt out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us (see details below) or by using opt out facilities provided in the marketing communications and then we will ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.
9. Your rights?
You have a range of rights over your personal information and we will endeavour to respect any requests to exercise them.
- Access. You may request access to the information we hold about you by making a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the Privacy Officer as out lined in section 10 of this Privacy Policy. Once we have confirmed your identity, we will comply with an SAR free of charge within 30 days, unless we deem the request unfounded or excessive. In this event, we will explain why we have decided not to action your request.
- Correction. You may request that we correct the information we hold on you when it is incorrect, out of date, or incomplete. Please inform us of any changes to your personal information.
- Erasure. You may request that we destroy, delete or discontinue using your personal information when it is no longer necessary for the purpose we originally collected it.
- Transfer. You may request the transfer of your personal data to you or a third party.
- Restriction. You may request that we stop processing your information when you contest its accuracy or the lawfulness of the processing.
- Withdrawing consent. Whenever you have given us your consent to use your information, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw your consent.
- Legitimate interests. In cases where we are processing your information on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We will do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your information.
We will let you know if we cannot delete your personal information or give you access to it for legal or other reasons.
10. How long do we hold your personal Information
You should be aware that we will hold your personal information on our systems for the longest of the following periods:
- As long as necessary to maintain our ongoing business relationship, or as needed to provide you with the products, services or information which you are entitled to or can otherwise reasonably expect to receive from us;
- For as long as necessary for the purpose for which we collected it or for which you supplied it to us in accordance with any product or service relevant activity or process;
- Any retention period that is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve disputes, to enforce our agreements; or
- The end of the period in which litigation or investigations might arise in respect of our business relations or other interactions with you.
11. How You Can Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer at: Email: email@example.com
Mail: Privacy Officer, Conexus Financial, Level 3, 1 Bligh St, Sydney, NSW 2000
Telephone: +61 2 9221 1114
Our Privacy Officer will contact you within a reasonable time after receipt of your request or complaint, to discuss your concerns and outline options regarding how they might be resolved.
Complaints. If you think we have breached the Privacy Act or other applicable privacy laws, you may complain to us by contacting us as outlined in this section above. When you contact us, please include your email address, name, address, and telephone number and clearly describe your complaint. We will respond to your complaint as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 5 business days, by making contact with you to inform you whether we have accepted your complaint, need further information or do not think we are in breach. We will also inform you of the next steps in resolving your complaint. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, or at any other time, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the applicable supervisory authority for data protection issues.
General information about privacy may be found via:
http://www.privacy.gov.au and http://www.oaic.gov.au
We may change this privacy policy from time to time and all personal information held by us will be governed by the most recent version of our privacy policy. Any updated versions of this policy will be posted on the Site.


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The Master Agreement on Apportionment is 50!
2019 marks 50 years of collaborative water management in the Canadian Prairie region
In the Canadian Prairie region, runoff from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains flows east to feed major rivers in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba before emptying into Hudson Bay. But rivers, lakes and aquifers do not conform to provincial boundaries.
For 50 years, the Master Agreement on Apportionment (MAA) has allowed the three Prairie Provinces to collaboratively set goals for the management of important transboundary waters, and to equitably share water resources.
An Evolving Mandate for Sharing and Protecting Water
"The most significant interjurisdictional water management arrangement in Canada is the Master Agreement on Apportionment."
1986 Pearse Inquiry on Federal Water Policy
Runoff from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is the major water supply for the large southern rivers of the Prairie Provinces. These rivers flow eastward across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to empty into the Hudson Bay (see map of rivers and monitoring sites). The ownership of the waters of a river system flowing through several jurisdictions can give rise to water use problems because water use within one province may impact another province.
To ensure water resources are shared fairly, the Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and the Government of Canada created the Prairie Province Water Board in 1948. In 1969, the four governments changed how the Prairie Provinces Water Board operated by signing the Master Agreement on Apportionment (MAA). This Agreement established an intergovernmental framework to manage transboundary waters. The MAA is administered today by Environment and Climate Change Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, (Saskatchewan) Water Security Agency, and Manitoba Environment, Climate and Parks. The purpose of the MAA is to apportion or share water equitably between the Prairie Provinces and to protect transboundary surface water quality and groundwater aquifers.
From the PPWB Charter, the mission of the Board is:
- To ensure that transboundary waters are protected and equitably apportioned and protected in accordance with the Master Agreement on Apportionment;
- To provide a forum for exchange of information in order to prevent and resolve transboundary water management conflicts; and
- To promote cooperation in transboundary water management.
Page last modified: 22 March 2023 12:55

subset: commoncrawl


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Robert Kotick's mother dates his compulsive capitalism to toddlerhood, when young Bobby sold her ashtray to a friend who had come over for a playdate. He netted $3. After that the moneymaking ideas never stopped pouring out. By junior high Kotick had his own business cards and ran an array of ventures: delivering sandwiches, restringing tennis rackets, selling wallets. He first made the pages of FORBES at the age of 20, after he started a software company to take on
When Kotick stumbled across his umpteenth new business idea--buying a bankrupt videogame maker--it seemed a perfect mismatch. Gaming fanatics like Atari's Nolan Bushnell and
Yet Bobby Kotick would go on to turn a bankrupt company into the biggest and most valuable videogame publisher in the world. Over the course of his 18-year tenure shares in Activision have risen fortyfold. The Santa Monica, Calif. company, with $3 billion in revenue, is worth $12.3 billion, double the market value of the industry's perennial leader, Electronic Arts.
Metadata: Activision's Winning Plays
Somehow, a chief executive blind to the beauty of videogames developed an unmatched eye for spotting hits. Activision Blizzard, as the company is now called, owns a peerless collection of widely beloved and extremely profitable games. They include the bestselling family entertainment videogame (Guitar Hero), the bestselling massively multiplayer game (World of Warcraft), the bestselling war simulation (Call of Duty) and many others.
Just as in Hollywood, successful executives in the videogame industry are ultimately judged for their ability to back the right creative talent. Movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, an old pal of Kotick's, marvels at his friend's knack for green-lighting winners. To understand today's videogame industry, Katzenberg suggests, you first need to unravel the mystery of its most unlikely success--a man he fondly calls "a crazy, ambitious, funny lunatic."
Kotick, now 45, traces his ascent to the lessons he learned as a teenage hustler trying to escape the tedium of suburban Long Island, New York. He happily recalls his most profitable high school business venture, renting out Manhattan nightspots like Studio 54 on off nights and throwing parties for underage kids. The hardworking Kotick found the hedonism of his customers--his fellow teenagers--befuddling. "I could never understand how you could spend hundreds of dollars buying cocaine or pot. I worked too hard for my money. I saved it. I still have it," he says.
Instead he spent his spare time hanging outside with the bouncers taking head counts and dreaming up wholesome cross-selling opportunities, such as bringing in ice cream carts to the clubs. He left for college confident in his ability to understand his customers, whether or not he shared any of their passion for his products.
Kotick arrived at the University of Michigan intending to study art history and literature. Soon he was skipping class to cook up new ventures from his dorm room with a computer wizard named Howard Marks. First the duo tried to outdo dot-matrix printers by installing chips in electric typewriters. Next Marks began writing software to create a cheap graphical user interface--this at a time before either Windows or the Macintosh had made the idea popular. Kotick's role: Figure out how to make money.
While Kotick sometimes disdained socializing (he once skipped his own birthday party, Marks recalls), he could be a natural charmer when talking business. As a sophomore he flew to the Cattle Baron's
The 19-year-old Kotick strolled up to casino mogul Steve Wynn at the ball; a day later Kotick flew home on Wynn's private jet, landing a commitment for $300,000 in startup capital for his software venture. (That company, ahead of its time, failed two years later after Apple introduced the Macintosh, but Wynn would remain an ally.)
Casting about for other software ventures in 1990, Kotick stumbled across Activision, a company with a sorry balance sheet but a storied history. A group of four disgruntled programmers at Atari had founded Activision after they discovered that their games had taken in $60 million in revenue for Atari while they each earned $20,000 a year. The dissident game designers broke off and began writing hit games for the Atari system on their own. Atari sued them for theft of trade secrets but eventually the parties settled, agreeing to fixed royalty rates and legitimizing the new business of writing games for other companies' hardware.
Sumner's Fall
Building a Blockbuster
A Look At Activision Videogames
Activision's victory proved Pyrrhic. Copycat businesses flooded the market with games, and by the time Kotick entered the picture Activision seemed doomed. In 1991 it had $30 million in debt against $2 million in assets.
Kotick engineered a deal to fully pay off the company's senior creditors in a prepackaged bankruptcy while persuading other creditors to swap their claims for equity. With an investment of only $440,000, Kotick, Wynn, Marks and a fourth partner named Brian Kelly wound up owning a third of the company. Kotick, the new chief executive, held 9% of the stock.
Kotick had been studying the business model of a game-writing success story, Electronic Arts. That company's founder, Trip Hawkins, was an early Apple employee who designed his new company to keep programmers happy. Electronic Arts, as its name promised, promoted software as art and game designers as artists. Hawkins put the designer's name on the game package, like a rock band's on an album cover.
By the mid-1990s games had grown too complicated for any single person to write alone and too expensive to self-finance. Operating much like a Hollywood movie studio, EA brought creative people together and provided them with financing and distribution muscle. EA bargained with consolemakers such as
By the time Kotick took over Activision in 1991, EA had started to shift its focus from the artistry of programmers. Instead it built lucrative franchises around the company's own brands, including sports titles such as John Madden Football. The company also embarked on a controversial program to merge its autonomous groups of programmers into regional offices, stripping them of their identities.
When Kotick looked at EA he saw a booming company riven by fights between passionate game designers and spreadsheet-driven managers. He figured he could do it better.
He moved Activision to Los Angeles, keeping only the name and 8 of 150 employees. He raised $5 million from Wynn, Edward Lampert (the private equity capitalist and an old high school classmate) and the Sheas (a rich couple he met while on vacation in Thailand). The following year he raised $40 million in a stock offering. His pitch to gamemakers was that he would be more fun to work for than the alternative. "ea has tried to commoditize development," he told them. "We won't absorb you into a big Death Star culture."
In an industry full of passionate gamers, Kotick stood apart: the guy who never picked up a joystick. (He vaguely recalls enjoying the arcade hit Defender as a teenager. In college he abandoned playing videogames for good.) Still, despite his personal dislike for using his own product, he was determined to make his mark by catering to the needs of deeply passionate game designers. Kotick set out to create a studio system that gave enormous latitude to the gamers dreaming up new hits. Between 1997 and 2003 he bought nine studios and provided seed money for Activision alumni to start others. The studios kept their names and, often, their own headquarters.
To make sure the games would sell, Kotick hired
Kotick gave his divisions individual income statements and bonus pools and made them pay for special services like emergency hiring or a tech backup team that Activision keeps in reserve. Studio heads got a share of the profits, or losses, on their own franchises and got to control much of what went into their games.
Sumner's Fall
Building a Blockbuster
A Look At Activision Videogames
In 1999 Activision's Neversoft studio released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The game was a breakthrough, shredding the monotony of sports games by letting players roam a virtual skateboarder's paradise, pulling tricks at their leisure. The game became Activision's first hit franchise; now in its eighth sequel, Tony Hawk has brought in $1.6 billion.
Other successes soon followed. Kotick gave startup money to a group of developers disenchanted with their contract work for Electronic Arts. That group founded the Infinity Ward studio and created Call of Duty, a savage World War II game and Kotick's second monster franchise. In 2006 Kotick agreed to pay $100 million for the company that owned Guitar Hero, which soon proved an even bigger smash.
Kotick pumped money into a beefed-up sequel backed by a national advertising campaign. The Guitar Hero franchise launched a new category of videogame: the kind that adults want to play at a party. Guitar Hero requires players to use a plastic guitar instead of a standard videogame controller, making it far more accessible to novices. The Guitar Hero franchise has now taken in $2 billion.
By 2006 there was only one type of game Kotick had failed to build or buy for Activision, the wildly lucrative category of "massively multiplayer" games. Online players pay a monthly subscription fee, typically around $15, to enter worlds where they build characters over months or years, interact with each and share their accomplishments. By contrast, selling a console game like Call of Duty brings a single $40 shot of revenue.
In November 2006 Kotick got a call from an emissary of Jean-Bernard Lévy, the new chief of Vivendi. The French entertainment conglomerate's own videogame arm had struggled to produce hits--with one giant exception. A California studio that Vivendi owned made World of Warcraft, the dominant multiplayer online game. With 11 million subscribers and $1.1 billion in annual sales, Warcraft is probably the most profitable videogame ever created.
Lévy wanted to use Warcraft to gain control of Activision, and keep Kotick on to work for him. Since a straight-up merger of Activision and Vivendi's game division wouldn't give French control of the new entity, Lévy insisted on kicking in cash--$2 billion--to get to a 52% ownership stake in the new company. If Kotick wanted Warcraft, he would have to surrender control of the firm he had spent over 18 years building.
Kotick agonized over whether to cede control of Activision, recalls Katzenberg: "It's his baby. He lives it, breathes it." Eli Broad, another billionaire pal of Kotick's, told him to do the deal. Still Kotick continued to fret, worried he would give away too much.
While staying independent seemed like an obvious choice, Kotick worried that Activision was beginning to face the same challenges that dogged EA during its glory days. Many of the company's hit franchises are showing their age, and the frequent sequels risk provoking gamer burnout. (This year Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, the eighth sequel in as many years, flopped with players and critics. "Creativity gives way to complacency," snapped one reviewer. )
ea, meanwhile, is taking to its new role as the industry's underdog with gusto. Its new skateboarding game, Skate It, uses the
Kotick met Mike Morhaime, the creative genius behind Warcraft, to talk over the proposed merger. Morhaime described the far reaches of the Warcraft empire. He told Kotick how the average player spends 11 hours a week playing. In China, where rampant copying has eaten away at the profits of any Western media company trying to enter the market, customers at 160,000 Internet cafes spent $150 million last year on Warcraft time by the minute, protecting the revenue from easy piracy.
Kotick's reluctance began to fade. What if he could sell Activision's other games to China the way Blizzard did, putting Guitar Hero into all those Internet cafes and charging by the minute?
The more Kotick learned about the power of the Warcraft franchise, the more enchanted he became. Activision's board officially signed off on the merger in 2007, and the deal creating Activision Blizzard closed the following July. Kotick was left with control of 2% of the combined companies' stock, shares now worth $135 million.
Sumner's Fall
Building a Blockbuster
A Look At Activision Videogames


text:
After upgrade to 13.10 my DNS resolving fails. It seems the DNS servers which I get by DHCP (LAN) are not used.
I could temporary solve the problem by adding nameserver 184.108.40.206
to /etc/resolv.conf
. But then the intranet hosts still can not be resolved.
When clicking on the Connection Information menu item on the network indicator, the Primary DNS and the Secondary DNS are set correctly. But my computer seams not to use them.
So my questions:
- What should I put into
, if anything? - How to find out, which name servers my computer is querying?
- Where to look next, to find out, why name servers received by DHCP are not used?


text: 1 ============================= 2 NO-MMU MEMORY MAPPING SUPPORT 3 ============================= 4 5The kernel has limited support for memory mapping under no-MMU conditions, such 6as are used in uClinux environments. From the userspace point of view, memory 7mapping is made use of in conjunction with the mmap() system call, the shmat() 8call and the execve() system call. From the kernel's point of view, execve() 9mapping is actually performed by the binfmt drivers, which call back into the 10mmap() routines to do the actual work. 11 12Memory mapping behaviour also involves the way fork(), vfork(), clone() and 13ptrace() work. Under uClinux there is no fork(), and clone() must be supplied 14the CLONE_VM flag. 15 16The behaviour is similar between the MMU and no-MMU cases, but not identical; 17and it's also much more restricted in the latter case: 18 19 (*) Anonymous mapping, MAP_PRIVATE 20 21 In the MMU case: VM regions backed by arbitrary pages; copy-on-write 22 across fork. 23 24 In the no-MMU case: VM regions backed by arbitrary contiguous runs of 25 pages. 26 27 (*) Anonymous mapping, MAP_SHARED 28 29 These behave very much like private mappings, except that they're 30 shared across fork() or clone() without CLONE_VM in the MMU case. Since 31 the no-MMU case doesn't support these, behaviour is identical to 32 MAP_PRIVATE there. 33 34 (*) File, MAP_PRIVATE, PROT_READ / PROT_EXEC, !PROT_WRITE 35 36 In the MMU case: VM regions backed by pages read from file; changes to 37 the underlying file are reflected in the mapping; copied across fork. 38 39 In the no-MMU case: 40 41 - If one exists, the kernel will re-use an existing mapping to the 42 same segment of the same file if that has compatible permissions, 43 even if this was created by another process. 44 45 - If possible, the file mapping will be directly on the backing device 46 if the backing device has the BDI_CAP_MAP_DIRECT capability and 47 appropriate mapping protection capabilities. Ramfs, romfs, cramfs 48 and mtd might all permit this. 49 50 - If the backing device device can't or won't permit direct sharing, 51 but does have the BDI_CAP_MAP_COPY capability, then a copy of the 52 appropriate bit of the file will be read into a contiguous bit of 53 memory and any extraneous space beyond the EOF will be cleared 54 55 - Writes to the file do not affect the mapping; writes to the mapping 56 are visible in other processes (no MMU protection), but should not 57 happen. 58 59 (*) File, MAP_PRIVATE, PROT_READ / PROT_EXEC, PROT_WRITE 60 61 In the MMU case: like the non-PROT_WRITE case, except that the pages in 62 question get copied before the write actually happens. From that point 63 on writes to the file underneath that page no longer get reflected into 64 the mapping's backing pages. The page is then backed by swap instead. 65 66 In the no-MMU case: works much like the non-PROT_WRITE case, except 67 that a copy is always taken and never shared. 68 69 (*) Regular file / blockdev, MAP_SHARED, PROT_READ / PROT_EXEC / PROT_WRITE 70 71 In the MMU case: VM regions backed by pages read from file; changes to 72 pages written back to file; writes to file reflected into pages backing 73 mapping; shared across fork. 74 75 In the no-MMU case: not supported. 76 77 (*) Memory backed regular file, MAP_SHARED, PROT_READ / PROT_EXEC / PROT_WRITE 78 79 In the MMU case: As for ordinary regular files. 80 81 In the no-MMU case: The filesystem providing the memory-backed file 82 (such as ramfs or tmpfs) may choose to honour an open, truncate, mmap 83 sequence by providing a contiguous sequence of pages to map. In that 84 case, a shared-writable memory mapping will be possible. It will work 85 as for the MMU case. If the filesystem does not provide any such 86 support, then the mapping request will be denied. 87 88 (*) Memory backed blockdev, MAP_SHARED, PROT_READ / PROT_EXEC / PROT_WRITE 89 90 In the MMU case: As for ordinary regular files. 91 92 In the no-MMU case: As for memory backed regular files, but the 93 blockdev must be able to provide a contiguous run of pages without 94 truncate being called. The ramdisk driver could do this if it allocated 95 all its memory as a contiguous array upfront. 96 97 (*) Memory backed chardev, MAP_SHARED, PROT_READ / PROT_EXEC / PROT_WRITE 98 99 In the MMU case: As for ordinary regular files. 100 101 In the no-MMU case: The character device driver may choose to honour 102 the mmap() by providing direct access to the underlying device if it 103 provides memory or quasi-memory that can be accessed directly. Examples 104 of such are frame buffers and flash devices. If the driver does not 105 provide any such support, then the mapping request will be denied. 106 107 108============================ 109FURTHER NOTES ON NO-MMU MMAP 110============================ 111 112 (*) A request for a private mapping of a file may return a buffer that is not 113 page-aligned. This is because XIP may take place, and the data may not be 114 paged aligned in the backing store. 115 116 (*) A request for an anonymous mapping will always be page aligned. If 117 possible the size of the request should be a power of two otherwise some 118 of the space may be wasted as the kernel must allocate a power-of-2 119 granule but will only discard the excess if appropriately configured as 120 this has an effect on fragmentation. 121 122 (*) The memory allocated by a request for an anonymous mapping will normally 123 be cleared by the kernel before being returned in accordance with the 124 Linux man pages (ver 2.22 or later). 125 126 In the MMU case this can be achieved with reasonable performance as 127 regions are backed by virtual pages, with the contents only being mapped 128 to cleared physical pages when a write happens on that specific page 129 (prior to which, the pages are effectively mapped to the global zero page 130 from which reads can take place). This spreads out the time it takes to 131 initialize the contents of a page - depending on the write-usage of the 132 mapping. 133 134 In the no-MMU case, however, anonymous mappings are backed by physical 135 pages, and the entire map is cleared at allocation time. This can cause 136 significant delays during a userspace malloc() as the C library does an 137 anonymous mapping and the kernel then does a memset for the entire map. 138 139 However, for memory that isn't required to be precleared - such as that 140 returned by malloc() - mmap() can take a MAP_UNINITIALIZED flag to 141 indicate to the kernel that it shouldn't bother clearing the memory before 142 returning it. Note that CONFIG_MMAP_ALLOW_UNINITIALIZED must be enabled 143 to permit this, otherwise the flag will be ignored. 144 145 uClibc uses this to speed up malloc(), and the ELF-FDPIC binfmt uses this 146 to allocate the brk and stack region. 147 148 (*) A list of all the private copy and anonymous mappings on the system is 149 visible through /proc/maps in no-MMU mode. 150 151 (*) A list of all the mappings in use by a process is visible through 152 /proc/<pid>/maps in no-MMU mode. 153 154 (*) Supplying MAP_FIXED or a requesting a particular mapping address will 155 result in an error. 156 157 (*) Files mapped privately usually have to have a read method provided by the 158 driver or filesystem so that the contents can be read into the memory 159 allocated if mmap() chooses not to map the backing device directly. An 160 error will result if they don't. This is most likely to be encountered 161 with character device files, pipes, fifos and sockets. 162 163 164========================== 165INTERPROCESS SHARED MEMORY 166========================== 167 168Both SYSV IPC SHM shared memory and POSIX shared memory is supported in NOMMU 169mode. The former through the usual mechanism, the latter through files created 170on ramfs or tmpfs mounts. 171 172 173======= 174FUTEXES 175======= 176 177Futexes are supported in NOMMU mode if the arch supports them. An error will 178be given if an address passed to the futex system call lies outside the 179mappings made by a process or if the mapping in which the address lies does not 180support futexes (such as an I/O chardev mapping). 181 182 183============= 184NO-MMU MREMAP 185============= 186 187The mremap() function is partially supported. It may change the size of a 188mapping, and may move it[*] if MREMAP_MAYMOVE is specified and if the new size 189of the mapping exceeds the size of the slab object currently occupied by the 190memory to which the mapping refers, or if a smaller slab object could be used. 191 192MREMAP_FIXED is not supported, though it is ignored if there's no change of 193address and the object does not need to be moved. 194 195Shared mappings may not be moved. Shareable mappings may not be moved either, 196even if they are not currently shared. 197 198The mremap() function must be given an exact match for base address and size of 199a previously mapped object. It may not be used to create holes in existing 200mappings, move parts of existing mappings or resize parts of mappings. It must 201act on a complete mapping. 202 203[*] Not currently supported. 204 205 206============================================ 207PROVIDING SHAREABLE CHARACTER DEVICE SUPPORT 208============================================ 209 210To provide shareable character device support, a driver must provide a 211file->f_op->get_unmapped_area() operation. The mmap() routines will call this 212to get a proposed address for the mapping. This may return an error if it 213doesn't wish to honour the mapping because it's too long, at a weird offset, 214under some unsupported combination of flags or whatever. 215 216The driver should also provide backing device information with capabilities set 217to indicate the permitted types of mapping on such devices. The default is 218assumed to be readable and writable, not executable, and only shareable 219directly (can't be copied). 220 221The file->f_op->mmap() operation will be called to actually inaugurate the 222mapping. It can be rejected at that point. Returning the ENOSYS error will 223cause the mapping to be copied instead if BDI_CAP_MAP_COPY is specified. 224 225The vm_ops->close() routine will be invoked when the last mapping on a chardev 226is removed. An existing mapping will be shared, partially or not, if possible 227without notifying the driver. 228 229It is permitted also for the file->f_op->get_unmapped_area() operation to 230return -ENOSYS. This will be taken to mean that this operation just doesn't 231want to handle it, despite the fact it's got an operation. For instance, it 232might try directing the call to a secondary driver which turns out not to 233implement it. Such is the case for the framebuffer driver which attempts to 234direct the call to the device-specific driver. Under such circumstances, the 235mapping request will be rejected if BDI_CAP_MAP_COPY is not specified, and a 236copy mapped otherwise. 237 238IMPORTANT NOTE: 239 240 Some types of device may present a different appearance to anyone 241 looking at them in certain modes. Flash chips can be like this; for 242 instance if they're in programming or erase mode, you might see the 243 status reflected in the mapping, instead of the data. 244 245 In such a case, care must be taken lest userspace see a shared or a 246 private mapping showing such information when the driver is busy 247 controlling the device. Remember especially: private executable 248 mappings may still be mapped directly off the device under some 249 circumstances! 250 251 252============================================== 253PROVIDING SHAREABLE MEMORY-BACKED FILE SUPPORT 254============================================== 255 256Provision of shared mappings on memory backed files is similar to the provision 257of support for shared mapped character devices. The main difference is that the 258filesystem providing the service will probably allocate a contiguous collection 259of pages and permit mappings to be made on that. 260 261It is recommended that a truncate operation applied to such a file that 262increases the file size, if that file is empty, be taken as a request to gather 263enough pages to honour a mapping. This is required to support POSIX shared 264memory. 265 266Memory backed devices are indicated by the mapping's backing device info having 267the memory_backed flag set. 268 269 270======================================== 271PROVIDING SHAREABLE BLOCK DEVICE SUPPORT 272======================================== 273 274Provision of shared mappings on block device files is exactly the same as for 275character devices. If there isn't a real device underneath, then the driver 276should allocate sufficient contiguous memory to honour any supported mapping. 277 278 279================================= 280ADJUSTING PAGE TRIMMING BEHAVIOUR 281================================= 282 283NOMMU mmap automatically rounds up to the nearest power-of-2 number of pages 284when performing an allocation. This can have adverse effects on memory 285fragmentation, and as such, is left configurable. The default behaviour is to 286aggressively trim allocations and discard any excess pages back in to the page 287allocator. In order to retain finer-grained control over fragmentation, this 288behaviour can either be disabled completely, or bumped up to a higher page 289watermark where trimming begins. 290 291Page trimming behaviour is configurable via the sysctl `vm.nr_trim_pages'. 292


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Metagenomics1 – the study of the genomes of many microbes in an environment simultaneously -has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the hidden yet incredibly important world of microorganisms. This potential has been highlighted by a series of recent metagenomic-based studies [1-8] as well as multiple government reports [9] including in particular the recent National Academy of Sciences report "The New Science of Metagenomics – Revealing the Secrets of our Microbial Planet." The great potential of metagenomics comes with enormous challenges in the analysis of the data2. These challenges include the fragmentary nature of sequence data, the sparse sampling of genomes, populations and communities and the unknown phylogenetic diversity and ecological structure of the communities being sampled [7]. Methods designed for analysis of single organism genomes simply do not work well on data sets sampled from complex ecological communities. To develop new methods, the NAS report suggested (and we agree) that integrated approaches involving interdisciplinary teams of researchers are needed in which the researchers both ask scientific questions and develop new data analysis tools.
Here we propose building exactly such an integrated, interdisciplinary effort, bringing together three labs with different relevant areas of expertise including statistics (to deal with the sparse sampling), comparative genomics (because the data is genomic in nature), evolutionary biology (to assess phylogenetic and genomic diversity), and ecological theory (to examine community structure).
The research we propose covers three major topics considered of fundamental importance in metagenomic studies3: biodiversity, evolutionary dynamics, and statistical measures. Our proposed work should lead to novel insights into microbial ecology and evolution. In addition, at the core of all of our work is the development of novel mathematical, statistical and computational methods for analyzing metagenomic data. Since these methods will be of use to the research community at large, we propose to work closely with the CAMERA team to the methods broadly available through the CAMERA database.
1 We use the term metagenomics to refer to shotgun sequencing DNA from environmental samples.
2 The NAS report identifies five challenges in metagenomics: need for interdisciplinary teams, role of government, methods development, complexities of data analysis and need for databases.
3 In the NAS report they identify four key questions: how can we find new functions; how diverse is life; how do microbes evolve; and what role do microbes play in the health of their hosts.
Principal investigators
Jonathan Eisen Evolutionary and comparative genomics, metagenomics, phylogenetics
Katherine Pollard Statistical and computational genomics
Jessica Green Applied and theoretical ecology, microbial community structure
Proposed research areas
- Metagenomic based characterization of microbial biodiversity
- Guidelines and weightings for using different gene families in metagenomic based diversity assays
- Searching for novel phylogenetic types in metagneomic data
- Metagenomic analysis of community phylogenetic structure
- Estimating biodiversity from metagenomic samples
- Metagenomic studies of microbial evolutionary dynamics
- Molecular evolutionary dynamics of gene families
- Population genomics
- Statistical metagenomics: Correlation analysis of sequence data and metadata
Though each of these projects can be considered separate activities, they are highly interdependent and the interdisciplinary nature of the labs involved is critical for the success of the project. For example, we propose to use phylogenetic analysis to search for new types of organisms and genes (project 1.2 led by Eisen). The results of this phylogenetic analysis will also be used to assess the phylogenetic structure of communities (project 1.3 led by Green) and to study evolution of gene families across environments (project 2.2 led by Pollard). Similarly, the statistical methods developed for comparative metagenomics (project 3 led by Pollard) will be used in the population genomic studies (project 2.1 led by Eisen) as well as in the development of biodiversity estimators (project 1.4 led by Green). To achieve this integration we plan to have active feedback between each of the PIs and each of the projects. To do this we propose a management plan that will help guide these interactions. We believe that by taking this integrated approach – both in terms of the research topics and by combining separate fields of study, we will not only make important scientific discoveries about microbial communities but we will also build and develop novel methods and approaches of great utility to the metagenomics community.
1. Yooseph, S., et al., The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition: Expanding the Universe of Protein Families. PLoS Biol, 2007. 5(3): p. e16.
2. Rusch, D.B., et al., The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition: Northwest Atlantic through Eastern Tropical Pacific. PLoS Biol, 2007. 5(3): p. e77.
3. Denef, V.J., et al., Implications of Strain- and Species-Level Sequence Divergence for Community and Isolate Shotgun Proteomic Analysis. J Proteome Res, 2007.
4. Tyson, G.W., et al., Community structure and metabolism through reconstruction of microbial genomes from the environment. Nature, 2004. 428(6978): p. 37-43.
5. DeLong, E.F., et al., Community genomics among stratified microbial assemblages in the ocean's interior. Science, 2006. 311(5760): p. 496-503.
6. DeLong, E.F., Microbial community genomics in the ocean. Nat Rev Microbiol, 2005. 3(6): p. 459-69.
7. Casas, V. and F. Rohwer, Phage metagenomics. Methods Enzymol, 2007. 421: p. 259-68.
8. Delwart, E.L., Viral metagenomics. Rev Med Virol, 2007. 17(2): p. 115-31.
9. Pennisi, E., Metagenomics. Massive microbial sequence project proposed. Science, 2007. 315(5820): p. 1781.


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Cinder Cones
Cinder cones are simple volcanoes which have a cone shape and are not very big. Compare the size of this volcano to the strato-volcano in this image.
They are usually made of piles of lava, not ash. During the eruption, blobs ("cinders") of lava are blown into the air and break into pieces that fall into a pile around the opening to the volcano. The pile forms an oval-shaped small volcano, as shown in this picture.
Famous cinder cones include Paricutin in Mexico. Another well known cinder cone is in the middle of Crater Lake.


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Nasa has discovered the smallest known planet outside our solar system which is slightly larger than the moon and orbits its sun like host star every 13 days.
Nasa's Kepler space telescope detected the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to the sun in a new planetary system. The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from earth in the constellation Lyra. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.
The moon-size planet and its two companion planets were found by scientists with Nasa's Kepler mission to find earth-sized planets in or near the "habitable zone," the region in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.
However, while the star in Kepler-37 may be similar to our sun, the system appears quite unlike the solar system in which we live.
Astronomers think Kepler-37b does not have an atmosphere and cannot support life as we know it. The tiny planet almost certainly is rocky in composition.
Kepler-37c, the closer neighbouring planet, is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring almost three-quarters the size of earth. Kepler-37d, the farther planet, is twice the size of earth.
"Even Kepler can only detect such a tiny world around the brightest stars it observes," said Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
"The fact we've discovered tiny Kepler-37b suggests such little planets are common, and more planetary wonders await as we continue to gather and analyse additional data," said Lissauer in a Nasa statement.
Kepler-37's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, although it is slightly cooler and smaller. All three planets orbit the star at less than the distance Mercury is to the sun, suggesting they are very hot, inhospitable worlds. The estimated surface temperature of this smoldering planet, at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit, would be hot enough to melt the zinc in a penny. Kepler-37c and Kepler-37d, orbit every 21 days and 40 days, respectively.
"We uncovered a planet smaller than any in our solar system orbiting one of the few stars that is both bright and quiet, where signal detection was possible," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California, and lead author of the new study published in the journal Nature.
"This discovery shows close-in planets can be smaller, as well as much larger, than planets orbiting our sun," he said.


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I first made the hanger out of the 18 gauge wire. The wire really needs to be securely wrapped around the jar. Here is how I did mine.
This is the handle. Figure how tall you want yours, making sure you leave enough length to be able to twist back up. |
Add caption |
Tie off this ends by working them inside each other. Don't worry about it looking a little ugly. You will be covering this up later with your accents. |
After the wrap is complete, you can then twist the ends of the handles back up around itself. |
Here is what it looks like at this point. |
Look closely. This image was taken after I had placed the green, jingle bells and the tie off for the bow. You can see the little wire that I bent out to hold them in place. |
Day 21


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1970s: Out of the Closet
Emergence of political movements demanding an end to discrimination and violence against gays and lesbians. States begin repealing laws that criminalized homosexual behavior.
Stonewall riot in Greenwich Village (1969) launches modern gay-rights movement. First meeting of "Parents and Friends of Gays" (1972); goes national as PFLAG (1981). American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder (1973). Kathy Kozachenko, elected to Ann Arbor city council, first openly gay or lesbian person elected to public office in the United States (1974). Gay activist Harvey Milk, elected to San Francisco board of supervisors, murdered alongside Mayor George Moscone in City Hall (1978). First March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights (1979) draws more than 100,000 people.
Metropolitan Community Church, now a denomination of 300 Christian congregations serving gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, founded in Los Angeles (1968). UUA opens Office of Gay Concerns (1975) after three General Assembly resolutions; some UU ministers begin performing same-sex ceremonies. General Convention of the Episcopal Church declares homosexuals "have a full and equal claim . . . upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church" (1976).
1980s: AIDS and National Attention
AIDS becomes a major calamity in the gay and bisexual community, but doesn't become a mainstream news story until actor Rock Hudson's death from AIDS in 1985.
Named "AIDS" (1982); Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) discovered (1983); by 1992, AIDS kills 229,205 in the United States. Berkeley, Calif., passes domestic partnership bill granting equal benefits to long-term same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples (1984). Becky Smith and Annie Afleck first openly lesbian couple granted legal, joint adoption of a child (1986). Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) upholds Georgia's sodomy law, a devastating setback for gay rights. ACT UP founded (1987), rejuvenating gay, lesbian, and bisexual activism. Second March on Washington draws more than 200,000; introduces AIDS Memorial Quilt (1987). Denmark first nation to legalize same-sex unions (1989).
First same-sex "celebration of commitment" performed by a Quaker congregation (1981); some Quaker meetings extend "marriage" to same-sex couples (1986). UUA General Assembly affirms ministers who perform same-sex "services of union" (1984). General Synod of the United Church of Christ encourages all UCC churches to become "Open and Affirming" (1985); "reconciling church" movements begin in the United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian USA, and other mainline Protestant denominations, although none receives full denominational support. UUA begins "Welcoming Congregation" program (1989).
1990s: Political Advances and Defeats
Gay rights moves into mainstream American politics; gay culture makes inroads into mainstream consciousness. Backlash follows.
Gay rights legislation passes in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin (1992). The 1993 March on Washington draws several hundred thousand people. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" becomes law after President Clinton's vow to end discrimination in the military falters (1993). Minnesota passes anti-discrimination law protecting transsexual and transgender people along with gay and lesbian people (1993). Hawaii Supreme Court rules (1993) that denying a wedding license on the basis of gender may violate equal protection rights; legislature restricts marriage to a man and a woman in response (1994). Federal Defense of Marriage Act (1996). Supreme Court rules in Roemer v. Evans (1996) that Colorado cannot prohibit local gay rights ordinances, a major legal victory. San Francisco enacts domestic partner registration (1996). The full AIDS quilt—the size of 43 football fields—displayed on the Washington Mall (1996). Matthew Shepard murdered in Wyoming (1998). Vermont Supreme Court rules that the state must grant same-sex couples the same rights as married couples (1999); the state enacts "civil union" legislation the next year.
Angels in America wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama (1992); Tom Hanks wins Academy Award for his depiction of a gay lawyer dying of AIDS in Philadelphia (1993); Roseanne kiss (1994); Ellen (1994–1998), Will & Grace (1998–present) introduce gay leading characters on TV.
UUA General Assembly calls for legal recognition of same-sex marriage (1996); Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform Judaism) supports right of same-sex couples "to share fully and equally in the rights of civil marriage" (1996).
2000s: Gay Marriage on the Horizon
Netherlands first country to extend marriage to same-sex couples (2001); Belgium follows (2002); Canadian provinces British Columbia and Ontario begin marrying same-sex couples (2003).
California (Sept. 2003) and New Jersey (Jan. 2004) enact domestic-partner laws; Ohio becomes 38th state to ban same-sex marriage (Feb. 2004). Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that same-sex couples cannot constitutionally be excluded from marriage (Nov. 2003); legislature debates amending constitution to ban same-sex marriage (Feb., March 2004). In February, San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and sues the state for recognition, prompting several other mayors and county officials in the United States to issue licenses or simply marry same-sex couples without licenses; mayors of Chicago, Salt Lake City express support for idea of same-sex marriage; President Bush reacts by supporting U.S. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. On May 17, the first legally recognized wedding licenses will be granted to same-sex couples in Massachusetts.
Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire elects the Rev. Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, as bishop (2003).