The phrase Bush tax cuts refers to changes to the United States tax code passed originally during the presidency of George W. Bush and extended during the presidency of Barack Obama, through:
 Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA)
 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA)
 Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
 American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (partial extension)

While each act has its own legislative history and effect on the tax code, the JGTRRA amplified and accelerated aspects of the EGTRRA.  Since 2003, the two acts have often been spoken of together, especially in terms of analyzing their effect on the U.S. economy and population and in discussing their political ramifications. Both laws were passed using controversial Congressional reconciliation procedures.

The Bush tax cuts had sunset provisions that made them expire at the end of 2010, since otherwise they would fall under the Byrd Rule. Whether to renew the lowered rates, and how, became the subject of extended political debate, which was resolved during the presidency of Barack Obama by a two-year extension that was part of a larger tax and economic package, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. In 2012, during the fiscal cliff, Obama overcame the sunset provisions and made the tax cuts permanent for single people earning less than $400,000 per year and couples making less than $450,000 per year, but did not stop the sunset provisions from applying to higher incomes, under the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

Before the tax cuts, the highest marginal income tax rate was 39.6 percent.  After the cuts, the highest rate was 35 percent. Once the cuts were allowed to sunset for high income levels (single people making $400,000+ per year and couples making $450,000+ per year), the top income tax rate returned to 39.6 percent.

Implications for the Alternative Minimum Tax

The 2001 act and the 2003 act significantly lowered the marginal tax rates for nearly all U.S. taxpayers.  One byproduct of this tax rate reduction was that it brought to prominence a previously lesser known provision of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).  The AMT was originally designed as a way of making sure that wealthy taxpayers could not take advantage of "too many" tax incentives and reduce their tax obligation by too much.  It is a parallel system of calculating a taxpayer's tax liability that eliminates many deductions.  However the applicable AMT rates were not adjusted to match the lowered rates of the 2001 and 2003 acts, causing many more people to face higher taxes.  This reduced the benefit of the two acts for many upper-middle income earners, particularly those with deductions for state and local income taxes, dependents, and property taxes.

The AMT exemption level aspects of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as the sunsetting year of capital gains and dividends, were among the tweaks made to the tax code in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005.

CBO Scoring
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has consistently reported that the Bush tax cuts did not pay for themselves and represented a sizable decline in revenue for the Treasury:
 The CBO estimated in June 2012 that the Bush tax cuts of 2001 (EGTRRA) and 2003 (JGTRRA) added approximately $1.5 trillion total to the debt over the 2002–2011 decade, excluding interest.
 The CBO estimated in January 2009 that the Bush tax cuts would add approximately $3.0 trillion to the debt over the 2010–2019 decade if fully extended at all income levels, including interest.
 The CBO estimated in January 2009 that extending the Bush tax cuts at all income levels over the 2011–2019 period would increase the annual deficit by an average of 1.7% GDP, reaching 2.0% GDP in 2018 and 2019.

Debate over effect of cuts

There was and is considerable controversy over who benefited from the tax cuts and whether or not they have been effective in spurring sufficient growth. Supporters of the proposal and proponents of lower taxes say that the tax cuts increased the pace of economic recovery and job creation. Further, proponents of the cuts asserted that lowering taxes on all citizens, including the rich, would benefit all and would actually increase receipts from the wealthiest Americans as their tax rates would decline without resort to tax shelters. Opponents argued the tax cuts on the wealthy were simply of the trickle down variety. The Wall Street Journal editorial page states that taxes paid by millionaire households more than doubled from $136 billion in 2003 to $274 billion in 2006 because of the JGTRRA.

A report published by staff at conservative public policy think tank The Heritage Foundation claimed that the 2001 cuts alone would result in the complete elimination of the U.S. national debt by fiscal year 2010.

The Heritage Foundation concluded in 2007 that the Bush tax cuts led to the rich shouldering more of the income tax burden and the poor shouldering less; while the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has concluded that the tax cuts have conferred the "largest benefits, by far on the highest income households." CBPP cites data from the Tax Policy Center, stating that 24.2% of tax savings went to households in the top one percent of income compared to the share of 8.9% that went to the middle 20 percent. The underlying policy has been criticized by Democratic Party congressional opponents for giving tax cuts to the rich with capital gains tax breaks.

Statements by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist that these tax cuts effectively "paid for themselves" have been disputed by the CBPP, the U.S. Treasury Department and the CBO. Economist Paul Krugman wrote in 2007: "Supply side doctrine, which claimed without evidence that tax cuts would pay for themselves, never got any traction in the world of professional economic research, even among conservatives." Since 2001, federal income tax revenues have remained below the 30-year average of 8.4% of GDP with the exception of 2007, and did not regain their year 2000 dollar peak until 2006, though reasons for regaining previous levels are not given (see chart at right).

Some policy analysts and non-profit groups such as OMBWatch, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Tax Policy Center have attributed much of the rise in income inequality to the Bush administration's tax policy. In February 2007, President Bush addressed the rise of inequality for the first time, saying "The reason is clear: We have an economy that increasingly rewards education and skills because of that education."

Critics state that the tax cuts, including those given to middle and lower income households, failed to spur growth.  Critics have further stated that the cuts also increased the budget deficit, shifted the tax burden from the rich to the middle and working classes, and further increased already high levels of income inequality.  Economists Peter Orszag and William Gale described the Bush tax cuts as reverse government redistribution of wealth, "[shifting] the burden of taxation away from upper-income, capital-owning households and toward the wage-earning households of the lower and middle classes."  Supporters argued that the tax brackets were still more progressive than the brackets from 1986 until 1992, with higher marginal rates on the upper class, and lower marginal rates on the middle class than established by either the Tax Reform Act of 1986 or the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990.

Economist Simon Johnson wrote in 2010: "The U.S. government doesn’t take in much tax revenue—at least 10 percentage points of GDP less than comparable developed economies—and it also doesn’t spend much except on the military, Social Security and Medicare. Other parts of government spending can be frozen or even slashed, but it just won’t make that much difference. That means older Americans are going to get squeezed, while our ability to defend ourselves goes into decline. Just because there’s a bipartisan consensus on an idea, such as tax cuts, doesn’t mean it makes sense. Today’s tax cutters have set us up for tomorrow’s fiscal crisis and real damage to U.S. national security."

A The Washington Post article takes a different view, saying that data showed the biggest contributor to the disappearance of projected surpluses was increased spending, which accounted for 36.5 percent of the decline in the nation's fiscal position, followed by incorrect CBO estimates, which accounted for 28 percent. The Bush tax cuts (along with some Obama tax cuts) were responsible for just 24 percent.

The New York Times stated in an editorial that the full Bush-era tax cuts were the single biggest contributor to the deficit over the past decade, reducing revenues by about $1.8 trillion between 2002 and 2009. However, a 2006 article asserted that there was a "surprising jump" in tax revenue that was "curbing" the deficit.

CBO estimated in June 2012 that the Bush tax cuts (EGTRRA and JGTRRA) added about $1.6 trillion to the debt between 2001 and 2011, excluding interest. A 2006 Treasury Department study estimated that the Bush tax cuts reduced revenue by approximately 1.5% GDP on average for each of the first four years of their implementation, an approximately 6% annual reduction in revenue relative to a baseline without those tax cuts. The study did not extend the analysis beyond the first four years of implementation.

Debate over continuation of cuts

Most of the tax cuts were scheduled to expire December 31, 2010.  Debate over what to do regarding the expiration became a regular issue in the 2004 and 2008 U.S. presidential elections, with Republican candidates generally wanting the cut rates made permanent and Democratic candidates generally advocating for a retention of the lower rates for middle-class incomes but a return to Clinton-era rates for high incomes.  During his presidential election campaign, then candidate Obama stated that couples with incomes less than $250,000 would not be subjected to tax increases.  This income level later became a focal point for debate over what defined the middle class.

In August 2010, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that extending the tax cuts for the 2011–2020 time period would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt, comprising $2.65 trillion in foregone tax revenue plus another $0.66 trillion for interest and debt service costs.

The non-partisan Pew Charitable Trusts estimated in May 2010 that extending some or all of the tax cuts would have the following impact under these scenarios:
 Making the tax cuts permanent for all taxpayers, regardless of income, would increase the national debt $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years.
 Limiting the extension to individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples earning less than $250,000 would increase the debt about $2.2 trillion in the next decade.
 Extending the tax cuts for all taxpayers for only two years would cost $561 billion over the next 10 years.

The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has estimated the 10-year revenue loss from extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts beyond 2010 at $2.9 trillion, with an additional $606 billion in debt service costs (interest), for a combined total of $3.5 trillion.

In late July 2010, analysts at Deutsche Bank said letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those earning more than $250,000  would greatly slow economic recovery. However, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said allowing the expiration would not cause such a slowing. The Obama administration proposed keeping tax cuts for couples making less than $250,000 per year. Economist Mark Zandi predicted that making the Bush tax cuts permanent would be the second least stimulative of several policies considered.  Making the tax cuts permanent would have a multiplier effect of 0.29 (compared to the highest multiplier of 1.73 for food stamps).

Extension of Bush tax cuts

The issue came to a head in late 2010, during a lame-duck session of the 111th Congress.
The Slurpee Summit was a White House meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Congressional leaders that occurred on November 30, 2010. The name "Slurpee Summit" is a reference to an analogy Obama used while campaigning for the 2010 midterm elections. It was the first such meeting in the wake of the November midterm election in which Republicans took control of the House and gained six seats in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Obama apologized during the meeting for not making a greater effort to reach out to Republican lawmakers during his first two years in office, and appointed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Office of Management and Budget chief Jack Lew to help Republicans and Democrats hammer out an agreement on extending the Bush tax cuts. In return, all 42 Republican Senators pledged to block all legislation until the tax matter was settled.

Congressional Democrats offered two attempts to extend the sunsetting Bush-era rates for "middle income" families but allow their expiration for "high income" people.  The first proposal had a cutoff at $250,000, while the second raised the dividing line to $1 million.  Both proposals were able to pass in the House, but on December 4, 2010, both fell short of the 60 votes required to avoid a filibuster.

On December 6, 2010, President Barack Obama announced a compromise tax package proposal had been reached, centered around a temporary, two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts.  In particular, the framework included key points such as:
 Extending the 2001/2003 income tax rates for two years. Also, reforming the AMT to ensure an additional 21 million households will not face a tax increase. These measures are intended to provide relief to more than 100 million middle-class families and prevent an annual tax increase of over $2,000 for the typical family.
 Additional provisions designed to promote economic growth.  $56 billion in unemployment insurance, an approximate $120 billion payroll tax cut for working families, about $40 billion in tax cuts for the hardest hit families and students, and 100 percent expensing for businesses during 2011.
 Estate tax adjustment.  Rates would be 35 percent after a $5 million exemption.

Obama said, "I'm not willing to let working families across this country become collateral damage for political warfare here in Washington.  And I'm not willing to let our economy slip backwards just as we're pulling ourselves out of this devastating recession. ... So, sympathetic as I am to those who prefer a fight over compromise, as much as the political wisdom may dictate fighting over solving problems, it would be the wrong thing to do. ... As for now, I believe this bipartisan plan is the right thing to do.  It’s the right thing to do for jobs.  It’s the right thing to do for the middle class.  It is the right thing to do for business.  And it’s the right thing to do for our economy. It offers us an opportunity that we need to seize." According to Kori Schulman (2010), Director of Online Engagement for the Whitehouse media team, the agreement has three accomplishments: “working families will not lose their tax cut, focused on high impact job creation measures, and does not worsen the medium-and-long-term deficit.”

Administration officials like Vice President Joe Biden then worked to convince wary Democratic members of Congress to accept the plan, notwithstanding a continuation of lower rates for the highest-income taxpayers.  The compromise proved popular in public opinion polls, and allowed Obama to portray himself as a consensus-builder not beholden to the liberal wing of his party.  The bill was opposed by some of the most conservative members of the Republican Party as well as by talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and some groups in the Tea Party movement.  It was also opposed by several leading potential candidates for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election, including Mitt Romney, typically on the grounds that it did not make the Bush tax cuts permanent and that it would overall increase the national deficit.

In an interview during these debates, former President Bush said, "I wish they would have called it something other than the 'Bush tax cuts'. There'd probably be less angst amongst some to pass it." He argued strongly for maintaining the rates: "I do believe it's very important to send the signal to our entrepreneurs and our families that the government trusts them to spend their own money. And I happen to believe lower taxes is what stimulates economic growth and what we need now in our country is economic growth."

On December 15, 2010, the Senate passed the compromise package with an 81–19 vote, with large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans supporting it.  Near midnight on December 16, the House passed the measure on a vote of 277–148, with only a modest majority of Democrats but a large majority of Republicans voting for the package. Before that, an amendment put forward by Democratic Representative Earl Pomeroy and the progressives among the Democratic caucus to raise the estate tax, which was the ultimate sticking point of the deal for them and the cause of a minor revolt among those against it, failed on a 194–233 vote.  The Washington Post called the approved deal "the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade." President Barack Obama signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, on December 17, 2010.

Fiscal cliff

The "fiscal cliff" refers to December 31, 2012, the date of the expected implementation of government spending reductions and expiration of a large number of tax cuts, many of which were the tax cuts enacted under George W. Bush and extended by President Obama. In a report released in May 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) In addition to the government spending reductions and tax cuts, increases in costs from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act were slated to take effect, as well. The CBO predicted that these policy changes could lead to reduced economic growth, significant enough to be considered a recession, although the 2013 deficit would be cut roughly in half and the debt trajectory over the next decade would be significantly improved.

The increase in tax rates that was due to occur had been described by Republicans including House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell as the largest in U.S. history, although the U.S. would be returning to Clinton-era tax rates. According to the Associated Press, the increase would be the second largest after the tax increase of 1942, if population growth, increased pay and the size of the economy are taken into account.

Based on figures from the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation, federal taxes would have increased by a total of $423 billion in 2013, if the tax cuts had been allowed to expire. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimated that for 83% of households in the U.S., there would be an average tax increase of $3,701 and The Heritage Foundation stated that those impacted by the tax cut expiry are primarily in the middle- and low-income groups, with its research finding that families would experience an average tax increase of $4,138.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the expiration of the Bush income tax rates (i.e., returning to Clinton-era rates) would have affected higher income families more than lower income families. The Bush tax cuts reduced income taxes for those earning over $1 million by $110,000 per year on average during the 2004–2012 period. The tax cuts made the tax system less progressive. From 2004 through 2012, the tax cuts increased the after-tax income of the highest-income taxpayers by a far larger percentage than they did for middle- and low-income taxpayers. During 2010 for example, the tax cuts increased the after-tax income of people making over $1 million by more than 7.3%, but increased the after-tax income of the middle 20% of households by just 2.8%

A report from the CBO concluded that extending the tax cuts and spending policies would lead to federal debt increasing from 73% in 2012 to over 90% of U.S. gross domestic product by 2022, but that the debt-to-GDP ratio would decline to 61% in 2022 if the tax cuts expired and scheduled spending cuts took place. The CBO concluded that The explosive path of federal debt under the alternative fiscal scenario underscores the need for large and timely policy changes to put the federal government on a sustainable fiscal course. Policymakers will need to increase revenues substantially above historical levels as a percentage of GDP, decrease spending significantly from projected levels, or adopt some combination of those two approaches. In fact, the current laws that underlie CBO's baseline projections provide for significant changes of those kinds in coming years; many other approaches to constraining future deficits are possible as well.  CBO's term "alternative scenario" refers to extending the tax cuts and preventing scheduled automatic spending cuts, while "baseline scenario" refers to allowing the tax cuts to expire and the spending cuts to take place, as provided for by laws in effect in June 2012.

The expiration of the tax rate cuts was opposed by Republicans including those on the House Ways and Means Committee, which attempted to produce a bill providing for a one-year extension that would ensure that federal tax rates for all income levels, capital gains, dividends and estate taxes would remain the same. The bill would have also retained tax credits including the child tax credit but would propose ending the current payroll-tax cut. The Democratic-majority Senate was in favor of extending the tax cuts only on that portion of household income below $250,000 per year.

American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012

On January 1, 2013, the Bush Tax Cuts expired. However, on January 2, 2013, President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which reinstated many of the tax cuts, effective retroactively to January 1. The 2012 Act did not repeal the increase in the highest marginal income tax rate (from 35% to 39.6%) which had been imposed on January 1 as a result of the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts.

See also

 Economic policy of Barack Obama
 Economic policy of the George W. Bush administration
 Economists' statement opposing the Bush tax cuts
 Taxation in the United States

References

External links
 EGTRRA's impact on tax revenue and summary of changes, via irs.gov
 Special Report: Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA), Professor John Wachowicz at the University of Tennessee
 Effective Federal Tax Rates Under Current Law, 2001 to 2014, by the Congressional Budget Office
 Fact Sheet on the Framework Agreement on Middle Class Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance, The White House

United States federal taxation legislation
Presidency of George W. Bush
Presidency of Barack Obama


Dennis Morgan (1908–1994) was an American actor and singer.

Dennis Morgan  may also refer to:

Dennis Morgan (American football) (1952–2015), former American football running back
Dennis Morgan (songwriter) (born 1952), songwriter and music publisher


The fictional characters from the anime and manga series Dragonaut -The Resonance- are designed by Makoto Uno and the dragon and mechanical designs done by Junya Ishigaki. Nihon Ad Systems (NAS) developed the anime series with Gonzo studio as its co-producer.

Main

Jin Kamishina is an 18-year-old boy who, two years prior, lost his family (his parents and younger sister) in a space shuttle accident. He was the only known survivor, who mysteriously had no major injuries, despite falling from a high altitude. To make matters worse, the ISDA had also reported that the shuttle incident was due to pilot error (Jin's father, the pilot, being blamed). Since then, he has lived a solitary existence, being shunned by people, and feeling as though he was all alone in the world.  However, this all changed after he meets Toa, who becomes the first person in two years that he connects with. It is also later revealed that Toa was the one who saved Jin from falling to his death during the shuttle incident, and that, at that time, he also underwent a successful Resonance with her. However, Toa also reveals that she too was the one responsible for the space shuttle accident, which killed Jin's family and the others. Despite this, Jin still continues to protect her.

In the manga, Jin's character is drastically different compared to his anime counterpart. When dragons invaded Earth, his family was killed in the destruction of Tokyo two years prior to the story's beginning. Due to this, he seemingly becomes cold-hearted and vengeful, showing no mercy when destroying invading dragons. He is considered to be one of the most dangerous of the Dragonauts when he actualizes with his partner Toa, whom he often insults (albeit, in a seemingly comedic nature). He is also shown to have some athletic abilities of his own. Despite his stoic attitude, he strives to protect mankind with the power [Toa] he has gained.

Toa is a mysterious girl who, two years after the space shuttle accident, saves Jin from a dragon who was feeding on a woman in its semi-transformed state (half humanoid, half dragon). Toa is shown to have remarkable athletic abilities, extraordinary strength, and accelerated healing capabilities, even showing to be able to heal others as well; all of which are attributed to the fact that she is a dragon from Thanatos. In her Dragon Form, she is immensely powerful; she is able to take on more than two other dragons at a time. She is referred to as the "Album" by the ISDA, who wishes to capture her in order to retrieve information on the original dragons from Thanatos.
She calls Thanatos 'mother', and her mission on Earth is revealed to be the retrieval of the Earth-made dragons possessed by the ISDA.

She later admits to being one of the three dragons that collided with the space shuttle that day, which killed Jin's family (plus everyone else on it). She got the name "Toa" after retrieving half of a bracelet that belonged to Jin's sister, Ai. Before the accident, the bracelet had "To Ai" engraved on it, but now it only reads "To A", which is where she got her name from.
She also bears a relatively bright "stigmata", which signifies her impending death; the brighter it glows, the closer she is to death. However, her stigmata disappears in the final episode.

Toa is a Barrier-Type dragon. In her Communicator (human) Form, she can create a shield strong enough to repel a fully actualized dragon. In her Dragon Form, she mainly disables her opponents by locking them in barrier spheres.

In the manga, she is part of the Dragonauts and is partnered with Jin, with whom she had Resonated with two years ago right after hatching from her egg. Though she possesses all the abilities as her anime counterpart, she is shown to be very klutzy, which often infuriates Jin. Despite Jin's seemingly cold attitude towards her, she remains very loyal to him.

Gio is a dragon from the ISDA who is assigned to be Kazuki Tachibana's "partner" after Kazuki successfully resonated with Gio's dragon egg form. However, despite being Kazuki's partner, Gio does not take orders from him, showing more concern for Toa, whom he states he was born to protect. Due to this, he is considered to be a failed experiment. His attachment to Toa seems to stem from the fact that he awakened early to Toa's cry when she first actualized in the series. After Toa runs away he assists Jin in finding her eventually ending up on Mars.
During a battle on Mars after seeing Akira killed and Machina falling to her death, his energy drastically increased while in his dragon form, and he created an explosion that caused the planet to burn; a phenomenon that can still be seen from Earth even a year later. During the time skip he lived with Toa and Jin and got a job. He seems to have developed an interest in cooking. Later, when he returns from his brief visit to Thanatos, his personality seems to have shifted, as he attacks his former comrades, and claims to be Thanatos's successor. However, he had only done this in order to ensure that Toa does not die. He would once again help his friends stop Thanatos, and in the end, he leaves Earth. Where he went to, is unknown.

Despite initially finding Jin to be a nuisance, he later forms a bond with him due to their shared feelings for Toa. After realizing how Jin and Toa feel for each other, he takes a supportive role, and tries to protect the two from danger. However, he still has lingering feelings for Toa, resulting in him feeling isolated from the two.

Gio is a sword type dragon. He is able to create a black sword while in his Communicator form. His finishing attack as a dragon is a passing slash with a sharp horn that he extends.

His name is derived from his code-number, "G10", which Kazuki misread as "Gio".

In the manga, he makes his first appearance as Kazuki's dragon partner.

International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA)

Kiril is the leader of the D-Project, and is the man in charge of finding ways to destroy Thanatos.

Sakaki is a soldier working for the ISDA as the Dragonauts' military commander. He had been the one that suggested the use of dragons in destroying Thanatos, and believes that the D-Project should go public. He remains to work for the ISDA even after it falls under Gillard command, believing all dragons are a threat to Earth's safety. Despite this, he uses a dragon, who looks like his deceased daughter, to capture other dragons. Though he considers her to be a tool, he sometimes shows concern for her, even admitting his love for her when she chooses to stay by his side.
He witnessed the death of his wife (Martina) and daughter (Laura), who were on the same shuttle flight as Jin's family.

Laura

Laura is Sakaki's dragon counterpart, often calling him her father. She initially remains hidden in Sakaki's apartment, but works with him to capture other dragons a year later. Though he treats her like a tool, she remains completely loyal to him. She wears a mechanical suit for battle, and possesses the stigmata,
She is revealed to be "Raum", the final original dragon from Thanatos. She apparently lost connection with her original dragon form after completing a Resonance with Sakaki, which is why she only battles in a mechanical suit. Her original form was the dragon encased in the giant tube at the ISDA, but that is destroyed by Nozaki.

Lindworm Unit

Raina is the leader of the Lindworm Unit, having joined them in order to test his potential, which was encouraged by Jin's father, who had recommended Raina for the D-Project. He is also a Dragonaut whose partner is Howlingstar. He and Howlingstar defects from the ISDA after it falls under Gillard command.

He is the ISDA's public representative, and is quite popular with girls, often receiving presents when he appears in public.

Howlingstar is Raina's dragon partner and the leader of the Communicators in the Lindworm Unit. He is the most energetic of his fellow Communicators and often likes to show off his skills.
He is a spear type dragon. He can create a massive spear as his weapon of choice. In his dragon form, he is red colored with his wings forming two half-cones, that he can combine to make his finishing move, a high speed charge that pierces through the enemy.

Akira is a Dragonaut for the Lindworm Unit. She has a close relationship with her dragon partner, Machina, whom she believes to be the ideal woman that is the exact opposite of her, and who also acts more like an older sister towards Akira. However, she has always been hesitant to love Machina, as the latter is a dragon, but after meeting Jin, she realizes that the relationship between dragon and human can become much more. Due to this, she often helps Jin, even to the point of betraying the Lindworm Unit. However, she still considers its members to be her comrades, and does not let her betrayal get in the way of helping them when need be. She is killed by Garnet in episode 16.

When she dies in the anime at the hands of Garnet, Machina encases both herself and Akira in ice. Later, they both merge with Thanatos as part of its soul, though they both seem to lose their real identities. At the end of the series, Thanatos leaves Earth in peace and when the dragonauts are overjoyed that they saved the world, the spirits of Akira and Machina are seen as they smile at each other knowing that humans and dragon can coexist, and with that their spirits flew away.

In the manga, Akira is the newest member of the Dragonauts, being the latest to complete a Resonance. She also expresses a direct liking for Jin, clashing with both Toa and Sieglinde.

Machina is Akira's dragon partner, who acts like a big sister towards Akira, correcting her speech and keeping her in check. She states that she follows Akira because she wants to, not because Akira is her master. When Akira dies, Machina goes berserk in response, but later encases herself and Akira in ice, though merges with Thanatos as part of its soul a year later. When Thanatos leaves Earth to be in peace, Akira and Machina's spirits are seen as the two of them smile at each other as they knew that humans and dragons can live in peace, and with that their spirits flew away.

Machina is a water type dragon. She has the ability to manipulate water when in her Communicator form. In her dragon form, she can attack with liquid whips and also with concentrated balls of water, along with unleashing countless ice crystals from her wings. These attacks seem particularly effective against fire-type elements.

Sieglinde is the heir to the Baumgard family fortune, and is a child prodigy, having entered college at the age of nine. She is chosen to become a Dragonaut for the Lindworm Unit, and her dragon partner is Amadeus, who is named after her now-deceased dog. Due to her studies, she has been lonely since her youth, and she considered her dog to be her only friend before it died. She and Amadeus defects from the ISDA after it falls under Gillard command.
Despite her seemingly cold attitude, she considers some members of the unit to be her family, and lives in the ISDA facilities. She seems to have feelings for Jin.

In the manga, Sieglinde is transferred from America to the Dragonauts team in Japan.

Amadeus is Sieglinde's dragon partner, who seems to act more like her butler. Despite his elderly looks, he is a competent fighter and cares deeply for Sieglinde, constantly worrying for her safety.
His name is based on the name of Sieglinde's now-deceased dog, and his appearance is similar to Sieglinde's grandfather. His name and appearance might also be a reference to legendary Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

He is a gravity type dragon. He is able to unleash large bursts of gravity in his Communicator form. He has a bulky form as a dragon resembling a bomber, which does not hinder his ability to fly, and he attacks with bursts of gravity waves.

Kazuki was Jin's best friend from before the accident. The two had promised to go into space together, resulting in their admission into the astronaut training program, but the shuttle accident caused Jin to leave the program.
Kazuki now works for the ISDA as part of the Dragonauts after his successful Resonance with Gio. In order to fulfill their promise, he tries to get Jin to join, ignorant of Jin's trauma of the shuttle accident.
However, after seeing Jin fly off with Gio, he felt betrayed and starts to feel some anger and resentment towards Jin. He partners up with another Communicator named Widow, who lost her original partner, in order to retrieve Gio himself. He eventually cuts his hair to a more wild and crazed look to reflect his rage. He constantly acts rashly and violently in his attempts to retrieve Gio, whom he considers to be an object that belongs to him. Later, during a battle with Jin and Gio, he receives a scar between his eyes.
After the ISDA falls under Gillard command, he remains with them, and works with Widow in order to capture other dragons. However, after Widow's death, he comes to realize his true feelings, and reconciles with Jin after a brief altercation.

In the manga, he is introduced as a Dragonaut, whose dragon partner is Gio.

Amagi is a member of the Lindworm Unit and is partnered with Spirytus. He becomes unstable in the second episode, causing Spirytus to go mad, which in turn causes Spirytus to eat Amagi.

Spirytus is Amagi's dragon partner. When Amagi becomes unstable, he goes mad, causing him to eat Amagi while in his dragon form, and is thus reluctantly killed by Howlingstar. Before losing complete control, Spirytus had begun to feed on humans in his semi-transformed state and was revealed to be the so-called serial killer plaguing the city.

Vritra Unit

Itsuki is the leader of the Vritra Unit. Her dragon partner is Otohime and she is also apparently acquainted with Raina. She has a younger brother in the same unit named Yuuya.

Otohime is Itsuki's dragon partner. She bears a striking resemblance to Itsuki, with the only differences being the color of their hair, their clothing, and that Itsuki has markings under her eyes. Yuuya addresses both of them as "nee-san" which is Japanese for 'older sister'.

Yūya is a member of the Vritra Unit and also Itsuki's younger brother. Though he looks forward to fighting beside his sister, he has yet to complete a Resonance or find a dragon partner.

When the fourth original dragon from Thanatos appears and destroys the Vritra Unit's space station, he is the first to come in contact with it, but his survival is uncertain as he seemingly appears to have died in the destruction of the station.

Researchers

Kasuga is the head of the D-Project's research group. He is credited to being the man responsible for the rapid advancement in dragon research for the past two years.

He is later revealed to be the third original dragon, but clashes with the fourth original dragon, after the latter realizes Kasuga has sided with humans. He had been sent to Earth to retrieve the Earth-born dragons, but suffered from guilt over the lives he had taken when he collided with the shuttle two years ago. Yuuri, who later recognizes his dragon form as the same one she saw two years ago, calls him . Kasuga had apparently completed a Resonance with her at that time, and is very protective of her. He considers the Earth-made dragons his "children", and his top priority is to see the remaining eggs hatch safely. After the one-year time skip, he is revealed to possess the stigmata. In the end of the anime, he sacrifices himself, blowing up massive numbers of dragons due to the anti-Thanatos factor he absorbed earlier, and allowing Jin, Toa, and Gio to enter Thanatos.

Yūri is a scientist who studies dragons and was part of the original team that discovered the first dragon egg on the ocean floor. She is entirely devoted to researching more about the original dragons, and especially wants to examine Toa since she is an original dragon. After the one-year time skip, she travels with Kasuga in a submarine in order to evade the ISDA.

Nanami is Yuuri's research assistant. She is seemingly close to Yuuri, and has a very lively personality. She is later revealed to be a spy for the Gillard military, but she continues to worry over Yuuri.

In an attempt to save Earth, she later tries to free Toa, but fails and dies when she is shot in the back by Garnet.

Operators
These are the operators of the ISDA base:

Their voices are also used in next episode previews and in entertaining skits. Their voice actors have their own internet radio show called the .

Gillard New Emirates

Asim is the second Prince of Gillard, having received his title after the death of the previous prince, and the commander of the Gillard military. He acts on his own selfish desires, caring little for others. He is initially interested in Gio, but later takes more interest in Toa, finding her power and origins more exciting. He later dies with Garnet in a huge explosion created by Gio, however, the two reappear a year later as part of Thanatos' soul.
Fifteen years prior to the story's beginning, Asim had resonated with Garnet's dragon egg.

Garnet is a major in the Gillard military, who is mainly after the secret behind the Resonance process. She does not let her feelings get in the way of her duties, and is revealed to be a dragon who had resonated with Asim fifteen years ago. She and Asim are later engulfed in an explosion created by Gio, and are presumed dead, though is shown to have merged with Thanatos a year later. It is suspected that Garnet was complicit in the death of Asim's Older Brother. Possibly on orders from the younger prince himself.

She is extremely skilled with a katana, which she always carries with her ever since she visited Japan.

Others

A reporter working with Yuuri Kitajima, often gathering information for her. He seems to have had a past relationship with Yuuri, who is often annoyed with his advances. Kō also appears to be gathering information for Raina. He later helps Jin, claiming that it is for the sake of someone very dear to him. It is later revealed that he is working for an unknown agency.

In the official Dragonaut site, a whole section is dedicated to his reports of each episode's story (which are written in his point of view; revealing some information not shown in the episodes).

A woman who meets Kazuki after he gets beat up by a group of thugs. She is revealed to be a Communicator, and allows Kazuki to pilot her in order for him to retrieve Gio. She seems to have lost someone very dear to her, thus she partners with Kazuki because she feels that he has also lost someone who was very important to him. Though Kazuki treats her coldly, her only desire is to see to Kazuki's happiness. After the one-year time skip, she disappears once she reveals herself to be dying.

Like a spider, Widow can shoot fiber strands from her fingertips which can either ensnare targets or cut objects to pieces. She also has the ability to put someone to sleep with her nails.

The fourth original dragon sent to Earth from Thanatos. His introduction is a violent one, as he destroys the ISDA's L-3 space station in his first few moments in Earth's orbit. He has no mercy for humans, but his top priority seems to be the destruction of the Earth-made dragons. He is able to take Communicator form, but who exactly he resonated with is unknown. However, the only known direct human contact he had before taking his Communicator form was with Yuuya. Later, it appears that Ostrum dies in an explosion caused by the Type-X warhead. However, he is revealed to have lived in the final episode, but then dies after he is defeated by Gio.

Ostrum is a fire type dragon. He is able to create bursts of flames, and is also able to incapacitate his opponents with blinding lights. As an original dragon, he is an extremely formidable opponent, and is capable of overpowering the entire Lindworm Unit.
Thanatos is shown to be able to produce billions of dragons resembling Ostrum.

Manga only characters

Belurum is a dragon that hatched at the same time as Toa, and calls her his sister. He is able to take Communicator form after completing a Resonance with Jin's sister Ai, whom he claims to have killed, directly after hatching. However, Ai had actually died because when she reacted fearfully of Belurum, she tried to reach for Jin, but instead was touched by a dragon egg's tentacle, dying as a result. Due to this, he came to think it was his fault, soon turning that guilt into a hatred for all humans, wanting their complete destruction, especially humans with Resonances; he believes that they will end up abandoning their dragon partners. He seems to have the ability to be able to disrupt the connection between an artificially made dragon and their partners, and to also make those dragons do his bidding.

See also
List of Dragonaut -The Resonance- episodes

References

Dragonaut -The Resonance-


Gaetano Matteo Pisoni (July 18, 1713 – March 4, 1782) was an Italian architect born at Ascona, who worked in a somewhat chilly academic Late Baroque manner that lies on the cusp of the latest Baroque classicising manner and Neoclassical architecture. Pisoni is known especially for two small cathedrals built in an uncompromising Italian manner that makes each of them stand out in its urban context. One is St Aubin's Cathedral (built 1751-1767), in Namur, Belgium. The other is the larger St. Ursus' Cathedral (built 1763-1773), in Solothurn, Switzerland; it was completed by Pisoni's nephew and collaborator, Paolo Antonio Pisoni (1738-1804). The churches have similar interiors, of an unrelieved white, with rich architectural members and a richly sculptured frieze that runs entirely round.

The cathedral chapter at Namur, intent on rebuilding their aged and cramped cathedral, which had recently been damaged in a flood, turned to Pisoni in part because was he was at work in Brussels, effecting alterations in the palace of the governor, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, and thus had a local reputation. Pisoni died at Locarno. Gaetano Matteo Pisoni also built the St Jean's collegiate church in Liège Collégiale Saint-Jean-en-l'isle de Liège, with an exceptional plan making of this church a unique and remarkable element of the Belgian architectural heritage.

Notes

References
Paul Philippot, Denis Coekelberghs, Pierre Loze, Dominique Vautier.  L'architecture religieuse et la sculpture baroques dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège 1600-1770 2003. Cultural context for Pisoni's St Aubin Cathedral.

Architects from Ticino
1713 births
1782 deaths
People from Ascona


Isho Shiba (born 18 September 1986 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Assyrian-Canadian boxer.

He is an ethnic Assyrian and was born in Baghdad, Iraq. He currently resides in Hamilton, Canada. He trains at McGrorys Boxing club in Hamilton. He is a six time Canadian Champion. Shiba was 2006 Rookie of the Year and 2006 Athlete of the Year. He has appeared in the Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games. He has also been in some AIBA World Boxing Championships and Summer Olympic Games qualifiers.

Boxing career
Shiba started boxing when he was around 11 years old and has been boxing since 1997 with the same coaches at the same boxing club, McGrory's Boxing Club in Hamilton.

He was a junior boxer for six years and won two Junior Canadian Championships. The first championship that Isho won was in February 2004 in Quebec. "It was a great feeling to win after all the hard work and dedication." The second championship was in February 2005 in Brantford, Ontario.

In January 2006, Shiba became a senior boxer. The first senior championship he participated in was the Ontario Championships. In November 2005, he won a gold medal in the Ontario Championships.

In January 2006, Shiba went to the Canadian Championships in St. Catharines, Ontario, as a 54 kg boxer. He competed against a four-time Canadian Champion and defeated him to become the new champion. He won the award for 2006 Best Rookie of the year and also 2006 Best Athlete of the year.

Shiba travelled to Iraq in March 2012 to fight for the Iraqi national team. He stayed at a training camp in Baghdad, Iraq. The Iraqi Olympic Association could not finalise his papers in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics Qualifiers in Kazakhstan so he was not able to compete there.

Personal life
Shiba stated in an interview that his heroes are Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, and his longtime coach Vinnie Ryan.

Shiba is an Assyrian. He left Iraq at a young age due to the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s. His family ran to Turkey and stayed in a refugee camp for several months until fleeing to Greece for a year until they were accepted into Canada in 1989. His parents, Isho Shiba Sr. and Polin, are both from the villages in the Barwari Region of Northern Iraq in the Dohuk Governorate.

References

Living people
Sportspeople from Baghdad
Canadian people of Assyrian descent
1986 births
Iraqi emigrants to Canada
Canadian male boxers
Boxing people from Ontario
Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada
Boxers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Pan American Games competitors for Canada
Boxers at the 2007 Pan American Games
Lightweight boxers


Zen master is a somewhat vague English term that arose in the first half of the 20th century, sometimes used to refer to an individual who teaches Zen Buddhist meditation and practices, usually implying longtime study and subsequent authorization to teach and transmit the tradition themselves.

China
Until the Tang Dynasty, the term "Chánshī" (禅师; Dhyana Master) was regularly used for a monk who was a master of chan, or meditation, versus those who specialized in Dharma (scriptural teachings) and Vinaya (discipline and moral precepts). This included several important figures who were later not considered to be part of the "Chán school" per se, such as Tiantai Master Zhiyi.

In contemporary China, the term "Chán" (禪), being simply one of many terms for forms of meditation, is not limited to the Chan school alone. The majority of lay people are not formally tied to a particular "school" of Buddhist practice. For monastics, most Chan practitioners receive transmission into certain Chan lineages, most commonly either the Lingji or Caodong lineage, which are the most dominant Chan lineages in modern Chinese Buddhism. Some senior practitioners may also have received transmission from lineages of other Buddhist schools, such as Tiantai and Huayan, in addition to Chan. Many temples belong to the Chan school in name, but also embrace and integrate teachings and practices from other Chinese Buddhist traditions, including those of Tiantai, Pure Land, Huayan, Tangmi, and Yogacara schools, often under the umbrella term "Chinese Buddhism" (中國佛教). This has been the norm for the past 1000 years, since the Song Dynasty.

While there are no official organizations to regulate the use of honorary titles, "chánshī" is used as a title of respect for an adept, typically a monk, who specializes in Chán. "Chánzōng Dàshī" (禅宗大師; Great Master of the Chán School) is a similar and more specific honorary term, though rather rare. The same is true for the simple title "Dàshī" (大師; Great Master) which is rarely used to address a Dharma teacher (and any master of a specific craft or trade); the term is often bestowed posthumously by followers and students, although there are some exceptions (e.g. Hsing Yun).

The more common term when addressing a Buddhist master is "Shīfu" (師父; Master), which is also used for any monk or nun as a matter of respect. Strictly speaking, this term, which includes the relational term for "father" (父), refers more to one's own teacher or preceptor.  The term "Făshī" (法師; Dharma teacher) is more generic, and is used both by lay Buddhists and also by Buddhists monastics themselves. The general term "Lǎoshī" (老師; Teacher) is also used to address a master as one's teacher, but this term is a general one, so much so that it is used for a teacher of any subject.

Japan

There is no standard official title for "Zen Master" across the various Zen traditions in Japan. Various titles may be used:
 "Shike" is used for a select group of people, both in Rinzai and Soto, who are qualified to supervise the training of priests-to-be in the sodos, the training halls.
 "Rōshi" ("old teacher") is traditionally an honorific title given to older monks and Zen teachers in Japan, though both "sensei" and "roshi" have come to denote official or semi-official ranks within some Zen schools in Japan, the United States and Europe.
 "Sensei" (simply "teacher") is often applied in addressing the Zen teacher or "master".
 "Oshō", "virtuous monk/priest" is used for trainees who have acquired a basic level of priesthood.

Sōtō
In Sōtō Zen, the title "Dai-Osho" is the highest priestly rank in a clear monastic hierarchy. It is only surpassed by "Zenji" which is only applied to Dōgen and Keizan (the founders of the school), and to the current or former abbots of the two head temples of the sect. To supervise training monks, further qualifications are required:

Rinzai
In Rinzai too, further training is needed to be qualified as a supervisor. The common transmission does not include inka shōmei. Ideally inka shōmei is "the formal recognition of Zen's deepest realisation", but practically it is being used for the transmission of the "true lineage" of the masters (shike) of the training halls. Training halls are temples which are authorised for further training after being qualified as a temple priest.

According to roshi Sokun Tsushimoto, the title of roshi is equivalent to Zen master and shike:

There are only about fifty to eighty of such inka shōmei-bearers in Japan:

According to roshi Sokun Tsushimoto,

The shike is not married. The shike...

The shike is also the head of the sect (subschool of the Rinzai-school, with its own head temple). They appoint and dismiss the priests, and appoint the titles in the ranking system. Yet, "the position as abbot [at Myōshinji] is based on election, each elected period lasting four years".

Women
Mugai Nyodai (1223 – 1298 CE), of Japan, was the first female Zen master in Japan.

Korea
Sunim is the Korean title for a Buddhist monk or Buddhist nun of any tradition, and does not denote any specific rank or qualification. It is considered respectful to refer to senior monks or nuns in Korea as , and this polite way of expressing the title can also denote some sort of realization on the part of the individual being addressed. In most Korean temples, a middle-aged monk assumes the role of a , who serves administrative functions. The eldest  is typically seen as a symbolic leader of the younger .

In Korean Soen, Inka (In'ga) typically refers to the private acknowledgement of dharma transmission from a teacher to their student. "Transmission" is used to refer to the public ceremonial version of the same acknowledgement. Both are considered equal in authority and "realization". A monk with either In'ga or the public "transmission" is qualified to hold the post of Soen Sa, or "Zen Master" for a temple, and give transmission to their own students (either, In'ga or public "transmission"). The majority of Zen Masters in Korea have only received, and only give In'ga, with the formal transmission ceremony being far more rare.

In the Kwan Um School of Zen, founded by Korean Zen teacher Seung Sahn in America and Europe, a Zen master can be referred to as a Soen Sa Nim (seonsa-nim; ; ; seon being Korean for "Zen"). Seung Sahn himself is usually referred to as "Dae Soen Sa Nim" (the honorific "Dae" means "great").

Kwan Um School of Zen is unique in the fact that it clearly distinguishes two "levels" of Zen teachers. "Lower" level is referred to as Ji Do Poep Sa Nim, or Dharma master (jido beopsa-nim; ; ). Ji Do Poep Sa Nim is a person who has received only Inka (which in Kwan Um School of Zen is given during public ceremony as well). They are allowed to teach, but only within the school - if a Dharma master decides to leave the school, their title and teaching authority is considered void. A Ji Do Poep Sa Nim also cannot give Inka to other individuals.

When a Ji Do Poep Sa Nim has their realization "confirmed" by several (typically three) Zen masters from outside the school, they become eligible for "full" transmission and the title of Zen master (Soen Sa Nim), which is given during another public ceremony. A Soen Sa Nim can give both Inka and transmission to other individuals and keeps their title and teaching authority if they decide to leave the school.

Western culture
"Zen master" has been used to refer to individuals hailing from any number of countries and traditions. It is not an exact translation of any title from the countries from which Zen traditions emanate, where titles vary widely, even in different traditions from the same country. Its usage has diminished among contemporary American Zen teachers and practitioners.

The term has entered popular culture and has been used to refer to any number of public figures in sports and entertainment, denoting a person who demonstrates detachment and control in stressful situations. It was sometimes adopted by figures in the spiritual counterculture of the 1970s and 1980s who had little or no actual Zen training ("Zen Master Rama," "Osho",) presumably to generate positive associations or legitimacy.

See also
 Jisha
 Jikijitsu
 Sensei
 Oshō
 Zen ranks and hierarchy
 Phil Jackson
 Chinsō

References

Book references

Web references

Sources

Further reading

External links
 Muho Noelke: What does it take to become a full-fledged Sōtō-shu priest and is it really worth the whole deal? Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers


The 1989 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation () was held in January 1990 at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. It is part of the Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation series held in Hong Kong.

Top 10 song awards
The top 10 songs (十大勁歌金曲) of 1989 are as follows.

Additional awards

References
 Top ten songs award 1989, Tvcity.tvb.com
 Additional awards 1989, Tvcity.tvb.com

Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation, 1989
Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards


Herman Maxwell Batten (August 4, 1909October 17, 1991) was a Canadian politician, school principal and teacher.

Born in Bareneed, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1953 as a Member of the Liberal Party to represent the riding of Humber—St. George's and re-elected in the elections of 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1965 and he was defeated in the election of 1968 in the riding of Humber—St. George's—St. Barbe. He was Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole between 1963 and 1965 and Chairperson of the Special Committee on a Canadian flag.  He was Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees of the Whole of the House of Commons between 1966 and 1968.

References

1909 births
1991 deaths
Liberal Party of Canada MPs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador


Anne Davies Rieley (December 21, 1930 – February 25, 1995) was an American figure skater who competed in both ice dance and pairs with partner Carleton Hoffner.  They won the dance title at the 1946 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and won the bronze medal in pairs at the 1949 World Figure Skating Championships.

Results
(Pairs with Hoffner)

(Ice Dance with Hoffner)

References

1930 births
1995 deaths
American female ice dancers
American female pair skaters
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
20th-century American women
20th-century American people


Profile is an album by Dutch jazz guitarist  Jan Akkerman.

Track listing
 "Fresh Air" (Akkerman) – 19:55
(a) Must Be My Land
(b) Wrestling to Get Out
(c) Back Again
(d) This Fight
(e) Fresh Air – Blue Notes for Listening
(f) Water and Skies Are Telling Me
(g) Happy Gabriel?
 "Kemp's Jig" (anonymous) – 1:34
 "Etude" (Matteo Carcassi) – 1:33
 "Blue Boy" (Akkerman) – 2:26
 "Andante Sostenuto" (Anton Diabelli) – 4:09
 "Maybe Just a Dream" (Akkerman) – 2:35
 "Minstrel/Farmers Dance" (Akkerman) – 1:46
 "Stick" (Akkerman) – 3:41

Personnel
 Jan Akkerman – guitar, bass
 Ferry Maat – piano (track 8)
 Bert Ruiter – bass guitar
 Jaap van Eik – bass guitar (track 8)
 Pierre van der Linden – drums
 Frans Smit – drums (track 8)

References

External links
 Jan Akkerman's official website

1972 albums
Jan Akkerman albums
Instrumental albums


Ahr is a tributary of the Rhine River in Germany.

AHR, AhR, Ahr, or AHr may also refer to:

Places
 Ahr (South Tyrol), the Ahr tributary in South Tyrol, Italy
 Ahr Hills, range of low mountains in Germany
 Ahr (wine region), Germany

People
 George W. Ahr (1904–1993), American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church
 Gustav Elijah Åhr (1996–2017), American singer and songwriter, known professionally as Lil Peep

Science and medicine
 aHR, adjusted hazard ratio
 AHr, ampere hour
 Airway hyper-responsiveness
 Aqueous homogeneous reactor
 Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a protein

Organizations and companies
 Abbey Holford Rowe, architecture firm
 Advancing Human Rights
 Air Adriatic (ICAO airline code AHR), now defunct
 The American Historical Review, a scholarly journal

Other
 Ahirani language (ISO-639-3 code ahr)
 Assisted Human Reproduction Act

See also

 AAR (disambiguation)
 AH (disambiguation)
 Ahir, an Indian caste
 AHRC (disambiguation)
 AHRS, attitude and heading reference system
 AR (disambiguation)
 ARR (disambiguation)


Maxwell Edgar Fatchen, AM (3 August 192014 October 2012) was an Australian children's writer and journalist.

Early life
Fatchen was born at "Narma" private hospital, South Terrace, Adelaide, the only son of Cecil William Fatchen and Isabel Harriet Fatchen, née Ridgway, of "Garowen", Angle Vale.

He spent his childhood on an Adelaide Plains farm at Angle Vale. He learned to drive a team of Clydesdale horses and did part of his secondary school studies at home, driving his horse and buggy once a week to Gawler High School to have his papers corrected.

Career
He entered journalism as a copy boy, and after five years in the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, he became a journalist with The News and later The Advertiser. He covered many major stories in Australia and overseas.

Four decades of writing for children, especially those of primary school age, began in 1966 with The River Kings. His children's poems, such as "Just fancy that", remain popular. He wrote 20 books; his novels appear in seven countries, and his poetry appears throughout the English-speaking world.

The River Kings and Conquest of the River were the basis for a TV mini-series, The River Kings, in 1991.

Later life
He died on 14 October 2012 in his sleep.

Honours and legacy

Three of his books  received commendations in the Children's Book of the Year Award.
Member of the Order of Australia in 1980.
Advance Australia Award for literature in 1991.
Walkley Award for journalism in 1996.
Primary English Teaching Associations Award for children's poetry in 1996.
"SA Great" Award for Literature in 1999.
Centenary of Federation Medal in 2003 for service to the community in journalism, poetry, and writing for children.
Inaugural Life Member of the SA Writers Centre in 2004 for long years of support, encouragement, and ambassadorship for the Centre.
 Max Fatchen Drive in Angle Vale and the Max Fatchen Expressway ( also known as the Northern Expressway ) are named after him.
The Max Fatchen Fellowship was named to celebrate his achievements and commitment to children’s literature and the local writing community. It is open to South Australian writers for young people.

Bibliography
By Max Fatchen
The River Kings (1966) novel set on River Murray paddle steamer in early 20th century
Flodens Konger (1966) The River Kings translated into Danish
Conquest of the River, illustrated by Clyde Pearson, published Methuen & Co. (1970)
Note: This and The River Kings above were the basis of the 1991 television series The River Kings
The Spirit Wind, illustrated by Trevor Stubley, published Methuen (1973) novel set in outback South Australia  Also available in braille edition
Time Wave, illustrated by Edward Mortelmans (1978) novel for children
Songs for My Dog and Other People, illustrated by Michael Atchison Penguin Books (1980)
Closer to the Stars; publisher Methuen (1981), republished Puffin Books (1983) novel set in wartime 1941
Wry Rhymes for Troublesome Times (1983) 2nd ed. Puffin Books (1985)
Chase through the night; illustrated by Graham Humphreys, publisher Methuen (1983) novel set in outback Queensland
Forever Fatchen, Advertiser Newspapers Ltd. (1983)
A Paddock of Poems Penguin Books Australia (1987)
Had Yer Jabs? Methuen Australia (1987) collection of short stories for children
A Pocketful of Rhymes, Penguin Books Australia (1989)
A Country Christmas illustrated by Timothy Ide (1990)
The Country Mail is Coming (1990) poems reminiscing about growing up in country South Australia
Peculiar Rhymes and Lunatic Lines ed. Naia Bray-Moffatt, illustrated by Lesley Bisseker, publisher Orchard Books (1995)
Mostly Max, illustrated by Michael Atchison, Wakefield Press (1995) selected from 50 years of Fatchen's columns in The Advertiser
Australia at the Beach illustrated Tom Jellett (1999)
Songs for My Dog and Other Wry Rhymes illustrated by Michael Atchison, Wakefield Press (1999)
Note: This may be a revised edition of Songs for My Dog and Other People (1980) above
The Very Long Nose of Jonathan Jones, illustrated by Craig Smith, ABC Books (2000) humorous story told in verse
Terrible Troy, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen, ABC Books (2000) humorous stories told in verse
Poetry All Sorts: The Max Fatchen Reciter, illustrated by Christina Booth, Triple-D Books (2003)
Meet the Monsters, illustrated by Cheryll Johns, Omnibus Books (2004) rhyming picture book
As co-author or contributor
Soundings: Poetry and Poetics proceedings of the Third Biennial National Conference on Poetry, Adelaide, 7–9 November 1997 / edited by Lyn Jacobs and Jeri Kroll, publisher Wakefield Press (1998)
Tea for Three with Colin Thiele, illustrated by Craig Smith, published Harcourt Education (1993)
Are You in There? with Rosaleen Stewart, illustrated by Mitch Vane (2004)
Tadpoles in the Torrens: Poems for Young Readers (2013) ed. Jude Aquilina; poems by Christobel Mattingley, Janeen Brian, Max Fatchen, Peter Combe, and Sean Williams
Biography
Andrew Male Other Times Wakefield Press, Adelaide (1997) includes selections from Max's writings, many not previously republished

References

External links

State Library of South Australia library guide

2012 deaths
1920 births
Australian children's writers
Members of the Order of Australia
Walkley Award winners
Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II
Royal Australian Air Force officers
Australian Army soldiers
Writers from Adelaide
20th-century Australian poets
Australian male poets
People from Gawler, South Australia
20th-century Australian male writers
Australian Army personnel of World War II


Roderick Macleod Usher (born 1946) is an Australian author living in Spain.

Background
Usher's father was American, and his mother was Australian. He grew up in Melbourne, where he studied law before taking up journalism. He now lives in Extremadura, Spain.

He is a former chief sub-editor of The Sunday Times in London and a former literary editor of The Age in Melbourne.  Until 2001 he was senior writer for Time magazine in Europe. Most of his working life has involved journalism, including ten years on Fleet Street, though he has also published several works of non-fiction, two collections of poetry and three novels.

Works

Novels
 A Man of Marbles (1989)
 Florid States (1999)
 Poor Man's Wealth (2011)

Poetry
 Above Water (1985)
 Smiling Treason (1992)

Non-Fiction
 Sleep: Things That Happen in the Night (1986) (also published under the title Sleep: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Sleep But Were Too Tired to Ask)
 Images of Our Time: 35 Years of Australian Press Photography (1989)
 Their Best Shots: 21 Years of the Nikon Awards (1990)

Articles
His articles in Time magazine include "A Tall story for our time" (1996) and "Live and Let Die" (1998).

"A Tall Story for our Time", published in 1996, discusses the hypothesis that a nation's average stature can be a measure of well being, more accurate than per capita income or GDP statistics. Height reflects diet, wealth, quality of living situations, stresses and other health factors. The data used to back up his height measurements in the different countries comes from various sources including records from Tall Persons Club of Great Britain and Ireland, the Marine Society, the National Guard and even the Royal military Academy at Sand Hurst.

References

Australian non-fiction writers
Australian male novelists
Living people
1946 births
Male non-fiction writers


Leslie Gulch is a canyon in Malheur County, Oregon, United States.  It is on the east side of Owyhee Lake, a reservoir on the Owyhee River. Its abundant and striking rock formations are made of tuff.

The gulch was named after a local rancher, Hiram E. Leslie, who was hit by lightning here in 1882.  Previously it had been called "Dugout Gulch."

The last  of the gulch are on a smooth, but curvy gravel road, adding a bit of time to get there.

Management
The area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

At the end of the Leslie Gulch road at Owyhee Lake there is a boat launching ramp. At certain times of the year the water level is below the ramp which makes putting big boats in the lake impossible; smaller boats may have to be taken to the lake by hand. Nearby is the 10-unit Slocum Creek - Leslie Gulch Campground, operated by the BLM, which is open from March through November. The road to the campground is also prone to flash floods which can wash out the road in places.

Flora
Two species of herbaceous plants are endemic to this drainage.
 Ertter's ragwort Senecio ertterae
 Packard's blazingstar Mentzelia packardiae
Other rare plants found here are grimy ivesia, sterile milkvetch, and Owyhee clover.

Wildlife
A herd of  bighorn sheep was established there in 1965.  It now consists of more than 200 animals.  Mule deer, coyotes, bobcats, Rocky Mountain elk, and rattlesnakes are also resident in the gulch.

Many species of birds live here, including quail, chukar, hawks and swifts.

Rock climbing
The area's impressive rock formations have also drawn the interest of area rock climbers over the years. The volcanic tuff is very similar to, but not as solid as, the rock found at Oregon's more famous climbing area Smith Rock. There are more than 80 established climbing routes at Leslie Gulch.  The majority of these routes are sport climbs but there are a few traditional climbs, as well.

Many of the sport climbing routes found in the area rely on artificially manufactured holds. The so-called "Einstein" and "Asylum" walls, in particular, are home to many routes composed almost entirely of human-drilled pockets. This activity was responsible for a moratorium on route development and BLM plans for bolt removal. However, the bolts have remained and the BLM has allowed climbing to continue.

References

External links

 Malheur Experiment Station, with photos
 BLM brochure on Leslie Gulch
 YouTube Videos of the area ,
 Photos
 Climbing areas
 Flickr Picture

Owyhee Desert
Bureau of Land Management areas in Oregon
Landforms of Malheur County, Oregon
Protected areas of Malheur County, Oregon
Canyons and gorges of Oregon


In mathematics, particularly in the area of functional analysis and topological vector spaces, the vague topology is an example of the weak-* topology which arises in the study of measures on locally compact Hausdorff spaces.

Let  be a locally compact Hausdorff space.  Let  be the space of complex Radon measures on  and  denote the dual of  the Banach space of complex continuous functions on  vanishing at infinity equipped with the uniform norm.  By the Riesz representation theorem  is isometric to   The isometry maps a measure  to a linear functional

The vague topology is the weak-* topology on   The corresponding topology on  induced by the isometry from  is also called the vague topology on   Thus in particular, a sequence of measures  converges vaguely to a measure  whenever for all test functions

It is also not uncommon to define the vague topology by duality with continuous functions having compact support  that is, a sequence of measures  converges vaguely to a measure  whenever the above convergence holds for all test functions  This construction gives rise to a different topology. In particular, the topology defined by duality with  can be metrizable whereas the topology defined by duality with  is not.

One application of this is to probability theory: for example, the central limit theorem is essentially a statement that if  are the probability measures for certain sums of independent random variables, then  converge weakly (and then vaguely) to a normal distribution, that is, the measure  is "approximately normal" for large

See also

References

 .
 G. B. Folland, Real Analysis: Modern Techniques and Their Applications, 2nd ed, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999.

Real analysis
Measure theory
Topology of function spaces


Belinda Chang (born 1963) is a Chinese-language author from Taiwan. She graduated from National Taiwan University's Chinese department, and went on to earn a master's degree in performance culture from New York University. After living in the United States for thirteen years, she later relocated to Beijing and then Shanghai.

Career
Chang launched her writing career while living in the United States and working as a reporter for the World Journal. Her son was born around the time of her first collection of short stories. That collection, entitled Women in the Locker Room, featured sixteen stories; her next collection, The Night of the Flood, contained fourteen. Most of her protagonists were women from Taiwan who had come to the United States for their studies. Her third work and first full-length novel, The City of Plague, described the mid-life crises of the Chinese residents of Queens, New York City's Flushing district; she wrote it as a form of farewell to her own youth. Many readers in Taiwan mistook the title as a reference to SARS, but in fact it came from a 1999 outbreak of West Nile virus infections in New York, which had provided Chang's original impetus for writing the novel.

In June 2004, Chang announced that she would follow her husband to Beijing, China, where he was being sent by his employer, a mobile phone technology company. The North America Chinese Writers' Association held a farewell banquet in her honor. After arriving in China, she finished her third collection of short stories, Two Ships in the Night, which touched on the themes of middle age, having children, and living in China; in total, they had taken her seven years to write. She and her family would live in Beijing for barely more than a year before relocating to Shanghai in August 2005. After the move, Chang flew to San Jose with her son to visit relatives and took a cruise to Alaska before returning to her new home in Shanghai. A collection of essays featuring her lives in Beijing and Shanghai was published in 2008, titled Being the Neighbor of Eileen Chang. Chang has since been drawn to the lives and struggles of people from Taiwan living in Shanghai, and thus completed another short story collection on the subject, titled Crossing the Boundary.

Critical response
Chang's short stories have received a positive critical response from literary critics C. T. Hsia and David Der-wei Wang. Her works won her the "Best short story from a new author" prize from her publisher, as well as a later literary prize from the Central Daily News.

Works

References

Taiwanese women novelists
1963 births
Living people


Lee Valley is an unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Ontario. Located in the Sudbury District, the rural area is divided between the town of Espanola and the municipality of Sables-Spanish Rivers.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lee Valley had a population of 242 living in 108 of its 111 total private dwellings, a change of  from its 2016 population of 491. With a land area of , it had a population density of  in 2021.

References

Designated places in Ontario
Communities in Sudbury District