Zhu Zhen () (20 October 888 – 18 November 923), often referred to in traditional histories as Emperor Mo of Later Liang (後梁末帝, "last emperor") and sometimes by his princely title Prince of Jun (均王), né Zhu Youzhen (朱友貞), known as Zhu Huang (朱鍠) from 913 to 915, was the third and last emperor of China's Later Liang dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, ruling from 913 to 923. He ordered his general Huangfu Lin (皇甫麟) to kill him in 923 when Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang (Li Cunxu), the emperor of Later Liang's enemy Later Tang to the north, was on the cusp of capturing the Later Liang capital Daliang. His death marked the end of Later Liang, which was to be the longest among the Five Dynasties. Despite his ten-year reign being the longest of all the Five Dynasties emperors (if one does not count Li Cunxu's reign as the Prince of Jin prior to taking imperial title) sources on his era are relatively scarce, as many Later Liang records were destroyed following the Later Tang conquest of the Later Liang (as the Later Tang viewed the Later Liang as an illegitimate regime).

Background
Zhu Youzhen was born 888, at what was then Tang dynasty's Bian Prefecture (汴州, in modern Kaifeng, Henan), as the fourth son of his father Zhu Quanzhong, who was then a major warlord as the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered at Bian Prefecture).  His mother was Zhu Quanzhong's wife Lady Zhang, and he was her only known biological son.  He was described to be handsome, not talkative, and favoring scholars.  In 900, he received the title of military advisor at Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region).

During Emperor Taizu's reign
In 907, Zhu Quanzhong had Tang's final emperor Emperor Ai yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang with him as its Emperor Taizu.  He created his sons princes, and Zhu Youzhen received the title of Prince of Jun.  Around that time, Emperor Taizu had just established a corps of imperial guards known as the Tianxing Army (), and he made Zhu Youzhen one of the two commanders of the Tianxing Army.  In 910, Emperor Taizu gave him the honorary title of acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies) and, in addition to command of the Tianxing Army, gave him the title of commander of forces at the eastern capital (i.e., Bian Prefecture, which by this point was known as Daliang, with Emperor Taizu having established Luoyang as capital).

During Zhu Yougui's reign
By 912, Emperor Taizu was seriously ill.  He was considered to have favored his second son—an adoptive son, not a biological one—Zhu Youwen the Prince of Bo, the most.  (At that time, he had his daughters-in-law attend to him in the palace, and he often made them have sexual relations with him.  He favored Zhu Youwen's wife Lady Wang the most, and partly due to that favored Zhu Youwen the most as well.)  When he believed that he was near death, he sent Lady Wang to Daliang, where Zhu Youwen was serving as its defender, to summon Zhu Youwen to him.  This drew anger and fear from his third son, Zhu Yougui the Prince of Ying, particularly since at that time he also issued an edict sending Zhu Yougui out of the capital to serve as the prefect of Lai Prefecture.  Zhu Yougui thus entered the palace and assassinated Emperor Taizu.  Keeping Emperor Taizu's death a secret, he sent the eunuch Ding Zhaopu () to Daliang, and, in Emperor Taizu's name, ordered Zhu Youzhen to kill Zhu Youwen.  After Zhu Youzhen did so and Ding returned to Luoyang to inform him, he announced Emperor Taizu's death, blaming the assassination on Zhu Youwen.  He then took the throne.  He made Zhu Youzhen the defender of Daliang and the capital of Kaifeng Municipality (i.e., the Daliang region).

However, it was said that Zhu Yougui quickly caused the people to be discontented with him, due to his frivolous acts.  Further, the rumors that he had been the one who killed Emperor Taizu were spreading in the army.  Soon thereafter, Zhu Youzhen's brother-in-law (Emperor Taizu's son-in-law) Zhao Yan and cousin (Emperor Taizu's nephew) Yuan Xiangxian were secretly plotting to overthrow Zhu Yougui.  Zhao informed this to Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen agreed with the plot, and further sent his close associate Ma Shenjiao () to Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) to persuade the major general Yang Shihou the military governor of Tianxiong to join the plot, and Yang agreed.  Zhu Youzhen further persuaded the elite Longxiang Army () soldiers then at Daliang to join the plot as well, and then prepared to rise and attack Luoyang.  However, before Zhu Youzhen could launch his own forces, Yuan and Zhao rose at Luoyang and killed Zhu Yougui.  They then offered the throne to Zhu Youzhen, who accepted, but moved the capital to Daliang and took the throne there.

Reign

Early reign
After he took the throne, Zhu Youzhen changed his name to Zhu Huang, and later to Zhu Zhen.  He sent overtures to the general Zhu Youqian, who had submitted Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi) to Later Liang's archrival Jin, upon Zhu Yougui's assassination of Emperor Taizu, and Zhu Youqian agreed to resubmit to Later Liang.

The return of Zhu Youqian to the Later Liang fold, however, did not change the threat against Later Liang of Jin's expanding power, which Emperor Taizu had been very concerned about prior to his death.  He also had to guard against two other rival states, Qi and Wu.  In 914, he stationed the general Kang Huaiying () at Yongping Circuit (永平, headquartered in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi), to guard against Qi.  Meanwhile, he tried to commission his brother Zhu Youzhang () the Prince of Fu as the military governor of Wuning Circuit (武寧, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), to replace the Zhu Yougui-commissioned military governor Wang Yin ().  Wang, in fear, submitted to Wu.  Zhu Zhen sent the generals Niu Cunjie () and Liu Xun, and they, after repelling the Wu general Zhu Jin, captured Wuning's capital Xu Prefecture ().  Wang committed suicide.

In 915, Yang Shihou died.  As Zhu Zhen had long been apprehensive of Yang's hold over the army, he outwardly mourned Yang but was in fact pleased.  Zhao Yan and the official Shao Zan () advocated using this opportunity to weaken Tianxiong Circuit, as it had, for most of Tang history up to this point, been a circuit that was de facto independent and difficult to control.  Zhu Zhen agreed, and ordered that Tianxiong be divided into two circuits, with three of Tianxiong's six prefectures to belong to a new Zhaode Circuit (昭德, headquartered at Xiang Prefecture (), in modern Handan as well).  The Tianxiong soldiers resented this division, and mutinied under the leadership of the officer Zhang Yan (), holding the Later Liang-commissioned military governor He Delun () hostage.  Zhu Zhen sent a eunuch, Fu Yi (), to try to comfort the Tianxiong soldiers, but was not receptive to Zhang's request that Tianxiong's division be cancelled.  Zhang thus decided to surrender the circuit to Jin.  Li Cunxu shortly thereafter arrived at Tianxiong and took over control of the circuit.  Intense campaigns between the Later Liang army, under Liu Xun's command, and the Jin army subsequently were waged, but the Jin army was continuously victorious over the Later Liang army, and two ambitious surprise-attack attempts by Liu and Wang Tan () on the Jin capital Taiyuan were repelled by Jin.  By fall 916, nearly all of the Later Liang territory north of the Yellow River had fallen to Jin.  (During the campaign, the Later Liang morale was sufficiently shaken such that there was even a mutiny against Zhu Zhen at Daliang itself, led by the officer Li Ba (), during which Zhu Zhen had to personally lead guards to defend the palace gate, but the general Du Yanqiu shortly after crushed the mutineers.)

During the campaign, Zhu's wife Consort Zhang died.  (Zhu had wanted to create her empress, but she continuously declined in light of the fact that he had not yet offered sacrifice to heaven and earth to solemnify his reign.)  His younger brother Zhu Youjing () the Prince of Kang, who had long wanted to displace him, tried to use the occasion of Consort Zhang's funeral as an opportunity to rise to assassinate Zhu Zhen.  The emperor, however, discovered this as the assassination was about to take place, and, after fleeing, had the imperial guards locate and kill the hidden assassins, and then executed Zhu Youjing.  After this incident, it was said that Zhu only trusted Zhao, as well as Consort Zhang's brothers Zhang Handing () and Zhang Hanjie () and cousins Zhang Hanlun () and Zhang Hanrong (), such that he only listened to their advice, to the exclusion of others, including the senior chancellor Jing Xiang and director of imperial governance Li Zhen, both greatly trusted by Emperor Taizu previously.

In 917, an erstwhile vassal of Later Liang's, Liu Yan the military governor of Qinghai Circuit (清海, headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong), declared himself emperor of a new independent state of Yue (shortly after to be renamed Han, and therefore known historically as Southern Han).

Also in 917, Liu Xun, who had for some time refused to report to Daliang after his defeats at Li Cunxu's hands, finally did go to Daliang to pay homage to Zhu.  Zhu relieved him of his command as the commander of the forces against Jin, and replaced him with He Gui, who had been able to suppress a mutiny at Qing Prefecture (慶州, in modern Qingyang, Gansu) in 916.  Later that year, at Zhao's suggestion, Zhu prepared a grand ceremony to sacrifice to heaven and earth at Luoyang, and departed Daliang to do so, despite the contrary advice of Jing.  After he left Daliang, however, Jin forces attacked and captured the border fort of Yangliu (楊劉, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong), south of the Yellow River.  When the news of Yangliu's fall arrived at Luoyang, it greatly shocked the imperial officials who were attending to Zhu at that point, and there were rumors that Jin had further captured Daliang.  Zhu, in panic, and to quell such rumors, cancelled the ceremony and returned to Daliang.  After this incident, Jing submitted a petition, discussing his concerns about the northern war with Jin, and offered to command the army himself; Zhu, with Zhao and the four Zhangs disagreeing, declined Jing's offer.

In 918, Li Cunxu gathered all the elite Jin troops that he could garner, and decided to launch one massive attack on Later Liang.  Shortly after new year 919, he crossed the Yellow River and headed toward Daliang.  He Gui intercepted him at Huliu Slope (胡柳陂, in modern Heze, Shandong).  The battle was an initial major rout by the Later Liang forces over Jin forces, but a subsequent Jin counterattack led to massive Later Liang losses as well, making the battle essentially a draw, with both Later Liang and Jin suffering casualties of two-thirds of their army.  For quite some time thereafter, neither side dared to attack the other.  (Indeed, the Later Liang army was said to have collapsed so completely such that it took over a month for it to reorganize itself.)

Late reign
In 920, Zhu Youqian, after his having his son Zhu Lingde () taking over Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern Weinan, Shaanxi) was initially met with anger by Zhu Zhen, rebelled against Later Liang and again submitted to Jin.  Zhu Zhen sent Liu Xun to attack Zhu Youqian, but Liu was defeated by the Jin generals Li Cunshen (Li Cunxu's adoptive brother) and Li Sizhao (Li Cunxu's adoptive cousin), allowing Zhu Youqian to retain Huguo and remain in the Jin fold.  (Subsequently, Zhu Zhen, suspecting Liu of having intentionally not defeating Zhu Youqian (as Liu and Zhu Youqian had children who were married to each other), poisoned Liu to death.)

In 921, Li Cunxu's major ally Wang Rong the Prince of Zhao was assassinated by his adoptive son Wang Deming, who then took over Zhao lands and changed his name back to the birth name of Zhang Wenli.  Zhang initially pretended to continue to submit to Li, but fearing (correctly) that Li would act against him, secretly made overtures to both Later Liang and Khitan Empire in preparation for a campaign of resistance.  Jing Xiang, pointing out that this was the prime opportunity to counterattack against Jin, argued for launching an army to aid Zhang, while Zhao Yan and the four Zhangs argued against it, reasoning that the Later Liang forces were needed to protect Later Liang's own territory.  Zhu Zhen ended up not aiding Zhang Wenli,  Zhang Wenli subsequently died and was succeeded by his son Zhang Chujin, who held out against Jin forces until late 922, but was eventually defeated, with Li absorbing Zhao territory into Jin.  During Jin's campaign against Zhao, the new Later Liang supreme commander Dai Siyuan was able to attack Wei Prefecture (衛州, in modern Puyang, Henan) and surprise the Jin garrison there, capturing it; this allowed Later Liang to regain its foothold north of the Yellow River and greatly recover in its morale.

In 923, what appeared to be an even greater opportunity for Later Liang to counter the Jin gains occurred.  After Li Sizhao died battle in the Zhao campaign in 922, his son Li Jitao seized control the circuit that he had commanded, Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), and Li Cunxu, not willing to wage a campaign against him, commissioned him as the acting military governor, renaming it Anyi (安義, as naming taboo for Li Sizhao).  However, in spring 923, Li Jitao, fearing that Li Cunxu would eventually act against him anyway, submitted his circuit to Later Liang.  Zhu Zhen commissioned him as full military governor and renamed the circuit Kuangyi.

Shortly after, Li Cunxu declared himself the emperor of a new Later Tang.  Shortly after, believing that a surprise move against Later Liang was necessary to break the stalemate between the two states, he sent his adoptive brother Li Siyuan to launch a surprise attack Later Liang's Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), south of the Yellow River, catching Later Liang unprepared and capturing Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture ().  In fear and anger over Yun's fall, Zhu demoted Dai (who was Tianping's military governor but who was away commanding the army against Later Tang at the time) and commissioned Wang Yanzhang as the commander of the army against Later Tang instead.  Wang quickly attacked and captured the border fort Desheng (德勝, in modern Puyang), intending to use it to cut off the supply line between Later Tang proper and Yun.  However, his subsequent battles against Li Cunxu himself were indecisive; further, his commission caused much apprehension in the hearts of Zhao and the Zhangs, as he had long despised what he saw as their wickedness.  Zhao and the Zhangs thus defamed him before Zhu, who then removed him and replaced him with Duan Ning.  Meanwhile, Zhu also destroyed the Yellow River levee at Hua Prefecture (滑州, in modern Anyang, Henan), causing a flood area, believing that it would impede further Later Tang attacks.

Duan prepared an ambitious plan for a four-prong counterattack against Later Tang:

 Dong Zhang would head toward the major Later Tang city Taiyuan (formerly Jin's capital).
 Huo Yanwei would head toward Zhen Prefecture (鎮州, in modern Baoding, Hebei, formerly Zhao's capital).
 Wang and Zhang Hanjie would head toward Yun Prefecture.
 Duan himself, along with Du Yanqiu, would confront Later Tang's emperor Li Cunxu.

However, the Later Liang officer Kang Yanxiao, at this junction, defected to Later Tang, revealing Duan's plan to the Later Tang emperor and pointing out that the plan left the Later Liang capital Daliang defenseless, and pointing out that Wang's and Zhang Hanjie's army was the weakest of the four prongs and could easily be defeated.  Li Cunxu decided to take the risky move himself, and advanced to Yun to join forces with Li Siyuan, and then engage Wang and Zhang Hanjie.  He defeated them, capturing both Wang and Zhang Hanjie at Zhongdu (中都, in modern Jining, Shandong), and then headed directly toward the defenseless Daliang.  With Duan's army trapped north of the Yellow River and unable to come to his rescue, Zhu saw the situation as hopeless.  He ordered his general Huangfu Lin () to kill him; Huangfu did, and then committed suicide himself.  This thus ended Later Liang.  The Song dynasty historian Sima Guang, in his Zizhi Tongjian, commented:

Li Cunxu had Zhu's body buried with respect, but kept his head at the imperial temple.  It was not until after Later Tang itself fell that Shi Jingtang, the emperor of the succeeding Later Jin, ordered that Zhu's head be properly buried.

Personal information
 Father
 Zhu Wen
 Mother
 Lady Zhang, posthumously honored Empress Yuanzhen
 Wife
 Consort Zhang, imperial consort title Defei
 Major Concubine
 Consort Guo
 Daughter
 Princess Shouchun
 Princess Shouchang
 Princess Jin'an

Notes and references

 Old History of the Five Dynasties, vols. 8, 9, 10.
 New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 3.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 266, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272.

|-

|-

888 births
923 deaths
Later Liang (Five Dynasties) emperors
Later Liang (Five Dynasties) generals
Mayors of Kaifeng
10th-century Chinese monarchs
Politicians from Kaifeng
Suicides by sharp instrument in China
Generals from Henan


Houcine Anafal (15 September 1952 – 22 August 2012) was a Moroccan professional footballer who played for clubs in Europe, including Stade Rennais F.C. as well as the Morocco national football team.

Club career
Born in Kenitra, Anafal played senior football with KAC Kénitra over two spells, winning the 1972–73 Botola with the club. He also had two spells in France's Ligue 1 with Rennes, and one spell in Ligue 2 with Stade Quimpérois.

International career
Anafal made several appearances for the full Morocco national football team, including qualifying matches for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and 1978 FIFA World Cup. He also participated at the 1978 African Cup of Nations.

References

1952 births
2012 deaths
Moroccan men's footballers
Moroccan expatriate men's footballers
Morocco men's international footballers
Berber Moroccans
Stade Rennais F.C. players
Quimper Kerfeunteun F.C. players
Botola players
Ligue 1 players
Ligue 2 players
Expatriate men's footballers in France
Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in France
1978 African Cup of Nations players
People from Kenitra
Men's association football midfielders


As-Suwayda Governorate is one of Syria's 14 governorates (provinces). It has an area of 5,550 km². Its capital and major town is As-Suwayda.

The governorate has a population of about 346,000 inhabitants (est. 2007).
The inhabitants of the governorate are predominantly Druze with Greek orthodox minority, there is also a small Muslim community.

Most of the inhabitants live in the western parts of the governorate, in Jabal al-Druze and Leja regions. Only nomadic Bedouin tribes live in the eastern parts, which constitute a barren rocky desert.

The governorate is divided into 3 districts (manatiq): As-Suwayda District, Salkhad District and Shahba District. These are further divided into 9 sub-districts (nawahi).

There are 3 cities, 124 villages and 36 hamlets in the governorate.

Footnotes

Populated places in as-Suwayda Governorate


is an igneous rock, created from lava and ash. Ōya stone was famously used in the facing of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. One reason this stone was used is because it has a warm texture and is easily carved, which allows much versatility. Ōya stone can have different colors and is also fireproof.

Ōya stone can only be found in an area 4 kilometers to the east and west by 6 kilometers to the north and south around the town of Ōya, near Utsunomiya, but there are reserves of around 600 million tons.

References

External links
 http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201006170491.html

Igneous rocks
Tochigi Prefecture
Building stone


Merton is a railway station in Merton, Victoria, Victoria, Australia. In 1974, it became a no-one-in-charge station. More recently, it was refurbished as a museum.

The stock yards, platforms, goods shed and gate keeper's cottage were constructed between October 1890 and April 1891. The last passenger train ran through Merton on 28 May 1977, and the last goods train in Feb 1978.

References

External links

Railway stations in Australia opened in 1890
Railway stations closed in 1978
Disused railway stations in Victoria (state)
Mansfield railway line
1978 disestablishments in Australia


Natural morality refers to morality that is based on human nature, rather than acquired from societal norms or religious teachings. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is central to many modern conceptions of natural morality, but the concept goes back at least to naturalism.

Darwinian morality
Charles Darwin defends a naturalist approach to morality. In The Descent of Man, he argues that moral behaviour has outgrown from animal tendency for empathy through evolution of morality. By comparing human and animal behavior through a naturalist approach, he concludes that moral sense is based on the species' sociability, notably altruism.

Altruism and selfishness
In Darwin's view, empathy lays as the foundation for our actions, as opposed to selfishness. He states that humans can generally distinguish between altruism (the "high moral rules") and selfishness (the "low moral rules"):

Morality from sympathy
Darwin suggests sympathy is at the core of sociability and is an instinctive emotion found in most social animals. The ability to recognize and act upon  others' distress or danger, is a suggestive evidence of instinctive sympathy; common mutual services found among many social animals, such as hunting and travelling in groups, warning others of danger and mutually defending one another, are some examples of instinctive sympathy Darwin offers. He insists it must be sympathy that compels an individual to risk his or her own life for another from his community.

Darwin suggests further that the role of acceptance of others acts as a guide for conduct; sympathy enables to obtain approval of others instead of rejection. Social animals, when separated from the herd, cannot endure solitude and oftentimes perish. Darwin argues social animals have a natural dislike for solitude, and states: "solitary confinement is one of the severest punishments which can be inflicted."

Natural morality for survival
Because of the instinctive nature of sympathy and its general recurrence among many social animals, Darwin deduces this emotional character must be inherited through natural selection. From a naturalist point of view, probably, instinctive sympathy was first developed for animals to thrive by living in society just as the pleasure of eating was first acquired to induce animals to eat. In this sense, morality is a crucial instinct for survival in social animals. As Darwin noted in The Descent of Man:

Instinctive altruism effectively enables individuals to guarantee the survival of the group, which in turn will aid the survival of the individual. In The Descent of Man, Darwin notes:

Human morality
Mankind is a social animal, and has inherited its moral traits through the evolution of morality. As Darwin notes, the moral difference between mankind and animals, however, is "certainly one of degree and not of kind." Emotions such as remorse, regret or shame one may feel, stem from human's incessant reflection on past experiences and preoccupation with the judgement of others.

See also
 Ethics
 Evolution of empathy
 Naturalism (philosophy)

References

Further reading
 Wong, David, 2006, Natural Moralities, A Defense of Pluralistic Relativism, Oxford University Press,

Morality
Altruism
Human evolution
Evolutionary psychology


Spectacular! is a 2009 musical comedy-drama film that aired on Nickelodeon and YTV. It stars Canadian singer Nolan Gerard Funk, Australian  singer Tammin Sursok, Victoria Justice and Simon Curtis with Matthew Bennett, Andrea Lewis, Shannon Chan-Kent, Joel Ballard, and Avan Jogia. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, it premiered February 16, 2009 on Nickelodeon, and YTV on May 8, 2009. The soundtrack was released on February 3, 2009, with a full webstream on MTV.com released the previous week.

Spectacular! attracted 3.7 million viewers during its premiere.

Plot
As the opening credits roll, a band called Flux, apparently with no singer, starts to play at a nightclub. Among the audience is a girl named Courtney Lane (Tammin Sursok). Interspersed with the scenes of the band playing, lead singer Nikko Alexander (Nolan Gerard Funk) calmly walks into the club through the back, barely making his cue for "Don't Tell Me". At the end of the song, he kicks over one of the amps, destroying it for effect. After the performance, the other members of Flux, upset by his carelessness, kick him out of the band; Nikko's girlfriend Amy (Britt Irvin), who is also in the band, dumps him. After the band members leave, Courtney frantically attempts to recruit Nikko into a show choir named "Spectacular!," of which she is leader. Though Nikko is skeptical and condescendingly rejects her offer, Courtney begs him to come to a carnival to see the choir perform and then make his decision.

The next day at the carnival, Nikko arrives in time to see the Spectacular! show choir perform "Eye of the Tiger". Afterward, the ever-anxious Courtney once again attempts to persuade Nikko, who is less than impressed by the group's performance and style, to join the show choir and help them win a national contest, even offering him half the group's earnings from the contest in exchange for his consent. Nikko declines to join the group, stating that he isn't interested in choir. Soon, another show choir named Ta-da performs "Things We Do for Love". The lead singers are Royce (Simon Curtis), who used to be the lead singer for Spectacular! but quit after breaking up with Courtney, and Tammi (Victoria Justice), Royce's new girlfriend who is a snobby and selfish girl. It is hinted she was a member of "Spectacular!" because of the number of times Courtney calls her a backstabber and that the letter I in her name stand for the "ice in her veins". Later on, Nikko meets with and performs for a famous music producer named Mr. Dickenson (Matthew Bennett), who informs him that he has a shot at getting a record deal if he can raise enough money for equipment for his demo, which has to be excellent. Nikko recalls Courtney's offer of half the earnings from the contest Spectacular! plans to perform in, and decides to join the choir in order to get the money to pay for his demo. When he approaches the choir Courtney remembers his mockery of their carnival performance and initially refuses to let him join, but acquiesces after Nikko demonstrates his talent by performing "Break My Heart" in front of the whole group, who are impressed by his vocals. When they are practicing, however, Nikko finds out that dancing for show choir is not as easy as it looks and cannot easily pick up the dance routines. Nikko, who lives with his older brother Stavros (Christopher Jacot), does not inform his brother that he has joined show choir or that he is attempting to get a record deal because he knows Stavros would not approve.

Several days later the group, dressed in hideous cowboy costumes, goes to perform at the club Nikko and his old band, Flux, had performed at in the beginning of the movie. There Nikko runs into his old band members, leading to an awkward confrontation and a lot of mockery from Flux. Meanwhile, Ta-da, who are also at the club, performs their song "Lonely Love Song". Nikko discovers from the other Spectacular! members that Royce is Courtney's ex-boyfriend. Upon witnessing Ta-da's good performance and the snobby attitudes of Tammi and Royce, Nikko becomes determined to help Spectacular! win the upcoming competition and begins to think that the group should come up with new dance moves and new music. One day, before Courtney arrives for choir practice, Nikko encourages the other choir members to try things a different way, and performs "Your Own Way", persuading the others to join in, Nikko sang the beginning of the song, and ask the others to show some talents, Tajid (Avan Jogia) started beatboxing, then other members Janet (Shannon Chan-Kent), Caspian (Joel Ballard) and Robin (Andrea Lewis) showcase their singing talent. Though they are initially reluctant to go against Courtney's wishes, the rest of the group eventually agree that they need a new routine in order to win the competition. They later meet up at Nikko's house, unbeknown to Courtney, and Nikko begins to teach them new dance moves, stating that if they perform the song in front of Courtney she would be impressed and may agree to change the group's style. The choir assembles at Nikko's house every night to practice while still attending practices with Courtney every afternoon.

Nikko learns of Spectacular!s tradition of gathering for a bowling night the week before a competition. Only four members, Nikko, Courtney, Caspian and Janet, show up at the bowling alley, where they discover that Tammi and Royce are already bowling in their lane. After a brief confrontation between the two groups, Nikko persuades the others to perform a song using "Rock The World," a spoof of the real-life video game Rock Band. Random selection chooses a song called "For the First Time", which was Courtney and Royce's old duet. She and Nikko sing it, much to Royce's jealousy, and Nikko and Courtney are becoming attracted to each other. Nikko invites Courtney over to his house for a surprise, and when they get there the whole group has assembled on Nikko's rooftop, where they all perform "Your Own Way" for Courtney. Courtney, instead of being impressed, is upset, accusing Nikko to have betrayed her by practicing another routine behind her back, and then leaves.

Later that night, Nikko goes to Courtney's house to apologize and almost has a fistfight with Royce, who has come to ask Courtney to get back together with him. Courtney rejects Royce, who tauntingly tells Nikko that Ta-Da will beat Spectacular! at the competition in the "weirdest trash talk that [Nikko's] ever heard." After Royce leaves, Nikko apologizes to Courtney for taking control of the group behind her back and offers to do things her way, but Courtney admits that the group needs a change. Courtney's mother tells Nikko that he can bring some good and change to the "Spectacular!" group and that Courtney will know how far they are actually able to push the envelope to win. The two of them decide to combine their talents and perform a song that everyone can agree upon, and Mr. Romano (Greg Germann), their music teacher, suggests a song called "Something to Believe In". Spectacular! begins intense rehearsals and all seems well ("Just Freak"), until Mr. Dickinson pays Nikko and Stavros a visit and informs them that his boss is offering Nikko and Flux a record deal after an audition and will only be available on Saturday night. Knowing that Spectacular! is scheduled to perform at the concert on Saturday night, Nikko is torn between his commitment to the choir and his one shot at getting a record deal. He tries to inform Courtney of his decision to audition for the record deal, but cannot bring himself to do it. Meanwhile, Amy informs Stavros that Nikko has joined choir and Stavros confronts Nikko in front of the members of Spectacular!, insisting that Niko drop out of choir and audition for the record deal instead. The other members of Spectacular! are upset at Nikko for bailing on them at the last minute, and Courtney feels that Nikko has betrayed her again.

Mr. Romano visits Nikko, who is having a tough time deciding what to do, at his house and reveals that he was once in a famous band as Joey Rome that could have been more successful if he hadn't flopped and broke his contract due to his fear of taking risks. Before leaving to go audition for the record deal, Courtney shows up. Nikko fears that she is mad at him for turning his back on "Spectacular!" but instead she kisses him on the cheek and wishes him luck. On concert night, Ta-Da performs "On the Wings of a Dream" and earns much applause and acclaim from the audience. Meanwhile, Nikko and Flux perform at their audition for the record deal, but Nikko's heart is not in it and the producers notice and tell him they are not interested; Stavros says that Nikko is just warming up, and that he is better than what he is giving out. Nikko begs them to let him show where his "heart is." When it is Spectacular!s turn to sing "Something to Believe In" at the national competition, Nikko, much to Courtney's surprise and delight, arrives onstage right before the chorus, belting out a long note. Flux joins him, playing background music, and Mr. Romano reprises his dream as a rock star by playing a guitar during the song.  Nikko and Courtney reconcile, and the group earns a standing ovation.

Ta-Da is announced as the winner of the contest and Spectacular! is disqualified because Flux were unregistered members of the act. Tammi reveals to Royce that she had only used him to win the contest and breaks up with him. Even though Spectacular! lost the contest, Nikko's amazing performance got him the record deal. After everyone leaves, Nikko and Courtney share a kiss. It ends with Spectacular!, Flux, and Mr. Romano in a studio together recording a song, suitably named "Everything Can Change", with Nikko and Courtney as the lead singers in the song.

Cast
 Nolan Gerard Funk as Nikko Alexander, an ambitious singer who got kicked out of his band, Flux and later joined the show choir Spectacular!.
 Tammin Sursok as Courtney Lane, the ambitious leader of Spectacular!.
 Victoria Justice as Tammi Dyson, Royce's girlfriend, de facto leader, and the female lead singer of the show choir, Ta-da.
 Simon Curtis as Royce Du Lac, the male lead singer of the show choir, Ta-da and Tammi's boyfriend.
 Matthew Bennett as Rick Dickinson, a famous music producer.
 Greg Germann as Mr. Virgil Romano, Spectacular!s music teacher.
 Andrea Lewis as Robin, a Spectacular! member.
 Joel Ballard as Caspian, a Spectacular! member.
 Avan Jogia as Tajid, a Spectacular! member.
 Shannon Chan-Kent as Janet, Courtney's best friend, a Spectacular! member.
 Christopher Jacot as Stavros Alexander, Nikko's older brother.
 Britt Irvin as Amy, a Flux guitarist.
 Jesse Moss as Nils, a Flux guitarist.
 Harris Allan as Eric, the Flux drummer.
 Venus Terzo as Marion Lane, Courtney's mom.
 Kevin McNulty as Uncle Sam
 Troy Hatt as Swanee Boy
 Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Star-Spangled Boy
 Rukiya Bernard as Receptionist
 Anthony St. John as Anthony Gage
 David Quinlan as Emcee

Musical numbers
The order of the songs on the soundtrack, and the order of musical performances in the movie are minor changes. Rather than "Eye of the Tiger" and "Things We Do For Love" being the two final performances, like on the soundtrack, they are the second and third, respectively.

Soundtrack

On February 3, 2009, Nickelodeon released the Spectacular! soundtrack, featuring songs from the entire cast, including Nolan Gerard Funk and Tammin Sursok. The album, released by Nick Records, includes songs such as "Don't Tell Me" and "Everything Can Change".

DVD release
The DVD of the film was released on March 31, 2009, in the US, and on October 7, 2009, in Australia.

References

External links

 Official Soundtrack Website
 Official site
 Corus Kids May 2009 Highlights

2009 television films
2009 films
2000s musical comedy films
2009 romantic comedy films
2000s teen comedy films
American musical comedy films
American teen musical films
American teen comedy films
American romantic comedy films
American romantic musical films
Canadian musical comedy films
Canadian teen comedy films
Canadian romantic comedy films
Canadian comedy television films
2000s English-language films
Nickelodeon original films
Films shot in Vancouver
American teen romance films
American musical television films
American comedy television films
Films directed by Robert Iscove
Films scored by Michael Wandmacher
2000s American films
2000s Canadian films
Canadian musical television films


Dangerous Curves is a 1929 American Pre-Code film starring Clara Bow and Richard Arlen. It was released by Paramount Pictures and was the first Hollywood film for Kay Francis.

Plot
Pat Delaney is working in a circus as one of the female bareback riders. She is in love with Larry Lee, an arrogant trapeze artist and the circus's biggest act. He does not seem to notice her, though, as he is used to being adored by tons of women. He is in a relationship with Zara, a manipulative vamp.

Larry's boss warns him about Zara, explaining that he has been incurring a lot of debts since he began dating her and that his act is no longer as powerful as in the past. One day, Pat and Larry get acquainted, and she intimates that she has feelings about him and that they should do an act together. Although he makes clear that his heart belongs to someone else, he convinces the circus manager to give Pat a try on the wire.

Later that day, Pat catches Zara having a date with another man, Tony. When she tells Larry about the affair, he madly confronts Zara and threatens to beat up Tony. He is interrupted by the notion that he has to perform, but he is unable to concentrate and falls off the tight-rope. He is taken to the hospital and soon recovers, but then goes missing from the circus. He refuses to come back and spends his time getting drunk instead. When he finds out that Zara and Tony have left the circus and are now struggling to get work, he sympathizes with them. Upon finding out that he is not planning on returning to the circus, Pat is determined to convince him to do otherwise. Together they form an act, but it soon becomes clear that Larry has lost his talent.

Pat has trouble breaking through his distant behavior, but she convinces him to teach her how to walk a tight-rope. During this progress, he finds his talent again and urges Zara to come back to work on the greatest tight-rope act in history. When Pat finds out, she feels used and confronts Larry with an outburst before leaving in tears. The circus manager tries to comfort her and offers her her own wire act. Meanwhile, Larry is left behind by Zara, who turns out to have married Tony. On the night of her premiere, a drunken Larry tells Pat about his failure. As she tries to comfort him, she misses her premiere and is fired. Larry has collapsed in the meanwhile and Pat decides to pose as him on stage. When Larry awakens, he shows his gratitude and kisses her.

Cast
Clara Bow as Patricia Delaney, a circus bareback rider
Richard Arlen Larry Lee, a tight-rope walker
Kay Francis as Zara Flynn, Larry's partner
David Newell as Tony Barretti, another circus performer
Anders Randolf as Colonel P.P. Brack
May Boley as Ma Spinelli
T. Roy Barnes as Po Spinelli
Joyce Compton as Jennie Silver
Stuart Erwin as Rotarian

See also
 List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

References
"Week's New Offerings", The New York Times, July 14, 1929
"The Screen; A British Picture. A Film of the Circus. A Melodrama. A Farce. A Molnar Story", The New York Times, July 15, 1929
"Thoughts, Some Sad, On New Films", The New York Times, July 21, 1929

Notes

External links
Dangerous Curves at AllMovies.com
Dangerous Curves at Turner Classic Movies

1929 films
Circus films
American black-and-white films
Films with screenplays by Florence Ryerson
1920s English-language films


Carnock () is a village and parish of Fife, Scotland,  west of Dunfermline. It is  east of Oakley, Fife. The name of the village derives from Scottish Gaelic, from ceàrn ("corner"), with a suffix denoting a toponym, thus giving "[the] corner place". Carnock is known to have had military significance in antiquity. The civil parish had a population of 5,927 .

Notable places

On the Main Street of Carnock lies a Parish church which was built in 1840, though in the nearby kirkyard lies the remains of the original 12th-century church which was rebuilt in 1602.

Nextdoor to the church is Carnock Primary School, this school serves both Carnock and Gowkhall.  The school was built in 1864 with an extension added in 1912 by James Shearer and another in 2007.  The main building consists of 4 classrooms and a medway hut used for various purposes.

Carnock Olympian:- Former pupil at Carnock Primary was Debbie Knox part of the Gold Medal winning team at the Winter Olympics in Curling at Salt Lake City. She did come back to the school to show her Medal to the pupils and crown the Gala Queen.

On Main Street is the 16th-century The Carnock Inn, one of the oldest buildings in the village, which became a public house in 1884. Next door to the Pub is a local craft shop / studio in what used to be the village Post Office . Now Oakley serves as the Post Office for Carnock.

The village also boasts a Community Centre built in 2005 and available for hire via Fife council.

History
In 1774 upon Carneil hill, near Carnock, several urns containing Roman coinage were discovered.
 It is believed that the local inhabitants, the Horestii, unsuccessfully defended this location against the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola. The local names Easter Camps and Wester Camps were suspected by Thomson to originate from this time as reported by Lewis.

Another native fort is located at the nearby Craigluscar only  away. Subsequent Roman encampments are suspected  east of Dunfermline and a large camp at Loch Ore.

The pre-Reformation church of St Caernach (which gives its name to the village) was run by the red friars of Scotlandwell and dates from 1250. The church continued in use after the Reformation and was rebuilt in 1602 and 1641 before being abandoned in 1840 when a new church was built by John Henderson.

After the Reformation in 1560 the church in Carnock was under the control variously of Saline to the north and Dunfermline to the east. Only in 1592 did it get its own minister, the ecclesiastical historian John Row, who served the parish until 1645. He was succeeded by Rev George Belfrage who translated from Culross in 1647.  He died and was replaced by John Shaw in 1664 who was translated to Kinnaird, Perthshire in 1679. His successor  Thomas Marshall was deprived of office in 1689 for not signing the National Covenant. William Innes was minister 1693 to 1696. In 1699 James Hog took over and was a noted theological author. Daniel Hunter succeeded him in 1730, also serving as chaplain to the local family of Col Erskine. He died in 1739.

The parish was then overseen by Rev Thomas Gillespie from 1741 to 1752. Thomas Gillespie was founder of the Relief Synod which was latterly incorporated into the United Presbyterian Church. Gillespie was followed by Rev Thomas Adie in 1753 who died in 1780 and was replaced by Rev Alexander Thomson who died in 1826 to be replaced briefly by Robert Thomson. In 1827 Rev William Gilston took over. Gilston was responsible for the building of the new church in 1840 but moved to the Free Church of Scotland in the Disruption of 1843 and was minister there until death in 1881 (a ministry in Carnock of 55 years!). Meanwhile the Church of Scotland placed Rev Adam Black Douglas in their church from 1843.

Transport
The village has two bus stops.

Eastbound Traveline Code : 34325459
Westbound Traveline Code : 34325439
Services run from Dunfermline bus station serving Gowkhall, Oakley and Saline, Fife.

Notes

See also
Carnock's listed buildings

Villages in Fife
Parishes in Fife


Leslie T. Chang () is a Chinese-American journalist and the author of Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China (2008).  A former China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, she has been described as "an insightful interpreter of a society in flux."

Early life
Chang was born in New York, United States. Chang's father was Leroy L. Chang, a physicist, researcher, professor, and Dean of Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Chang was raised outside of New York City, New York.

Her grandfather, Zhang Shenfu, a mining engineer who'd studied in the U.S. and then worked for the Kuomintang government, was bayoneted to death in 1946 by Communist soldiers.

Education
In 1991, Chang earned a degree in American history and literature from Harvard University.

Career
In 2004, as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Chang visited Dongguan, Guangdong province, China.

Factory Girls
In response to the negative press surrounding working conditions in Chinese factories, Chang decided to explore the subject from the perspective of the workers. In 2004 she traveled to the South Central China factory city of Dongguan to document the lives of Wu Chunming and Lu Qingmin, two migrant workers who were born to poor farming families. The book follows their lives over three years and also includes the author's own family history of migration within China and to the West.

Factory Girls was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008 and also received the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction and the Asian American Literary Award for nonfiction. According to Chang's website, translations are forthcoming in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Arabic.

Personal life
Chang's husband is Peter Hessler, an author.

Awards and honors
2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction (Factory Girls)
2008 New York Times Notable Book (Factory Girls)

See also

References

External links

 Holding Up the Sky, Sunday Book Review, The New York Times
 The China Beat: Factory Girls
 Factory Girls reviews
 Leslie T. Chang official website

 Booknotes interview with Chang on Beyond the Narrow Gate, September 12, 1999.

 National Geographic May 2008 Issue Wholly Devoted to China

Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Harvard University alumni
American writers of Chinese descent
American journalists of Chinese descent
The Wall Street Journal people
American women journalists of Asian descent
21st-century American women


Woodfield is a former railway station in Woodfield, Victoria, Australia. There is no longer a station building at the site of the station.
A Goods yard also once existed, and was used to load and unload grain trains.

References

External links
Victorian Railway Stations - Woodfield

Railway stations in Australia opened in 1891
Railway stations closed in 1978
Disused railway stations in Victoria (state)
Mansfield railway line


Isaiah Ross (born November 6, 1981) is a former American football guard. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Nevada.

Ross was also a member of the Nashville Kats, New Orleans VooDoo, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins and California Redwoods.

External links
Just Sports Stats
Washington Redskins bio
United Football League bio

1981 births
Living people
American football offensive guards
Nevada Wolf Pack football players
San Diego Chargers players
Frankfurt Galaxy players
Nashville Kats players
New Orleans VooDoo players
New Orleans Saints players
Minnesota Vikings players
Washington Redskins players
Sacramento Mountain Lions players
Sportspeople from Elk Grove, California
Players of American football from Sacramento County, California


Brave New Films (BNF) is a nonprofit film company based in Culver City, California. Founded by filmmaker Robert Greenwald, BNF produces feature-length documentaries and investigative videos that seek "to educate, influence and empower viewers to take action around issues that matter."

History
In 2001, Robert Greenwald was a respected film producer and director with nearly three decades of socially conscious television and theatrical credits. After 11 September, he decided to turn his efforts to documentary filmmaking. He teamed up with Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler to create his first nonfiction film, Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002), about the controversial poll results from Florida.

Unprecedented was shown in theaters around the country, on cable TV, and made the round of film festivals, bringing home 11 awards. But Greenwald saw opportunities for higher viewership with experimental marketing models. He teamed with former dot-com exec Jim Gilliam to create a distribution model  for his next short documentary – Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004). Uncovered, about the government and media push for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, was distributed through the websites of influential partner organizations such as MoveOn.org, the Nation and the Center for American Progress. The multi-organizational partnership model would become a keystone of Greenwald’s filmmaking approach.

The new strategy was successful beyond Greenwald’s expectations. The first two days Unprecedented was available, more than 23,000 people requested copies. MoveOn sponsored thousands of "house parties" across the country where people could gather and watch the film. Greenwald made sure that every US Senator and Congressperson was invited to a screening.

Going forward, he and Gilliam tried new approaches to traditional production models as well. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (2004) took on Fox News, claiming that they have a pervasive Republican bias. Outfoxed used extensive clips from Fox News under the doctrine of  fair use, which allows limited use of copyrighted material for parody or criticism. Turning standard documentary wisdom on its head, Greenwald also used his future audience as active members of his production team by inviting them to work as production researchers.

After Outfoxed "put Greenwald on the mainstream documentary map," he officially registered Brave New Films as a 501(c)4 charity. The new nonprofit went on to produce Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005), using BNF’s freshly minted distribution model. In keeping with a developing philosophy of including the audience as active participants in the process, BNF invited 1500 volunteers across the country to shoot footage of their local Walmarts for the film. They also tried a new model for funding their documentary films. An email request for donations to make the movie drew $267,892 in 2 days, in 2004 – 2 years before the word crowdfunding was coined and 5 years before Kickstarter launched.

BNF continued to explore new options for distribution with Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006). In order to facilitate arranging the house party screenings that had become a hallmark of BNF, Gilliam invented Brave New Theatres, described as a mashup between "My-Space, and Evite and Moviefone."

BNF was growing and changing in parallel with the social media explosion on the Internet. New sites like YouTube, Facebook and Hulu had profound impact on their evolving production and distribution models. BNF started a YouTube channel  which they populated with hundreds of short viral videos about a variety of progressive issues, including criticism of Fox News; military policy on LGBT servicemen and women; Power Without Petroleum; and much more. At the same time, BNF was developing their multimedia approach to include blogs, websites, petitions, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts with millions of followers.

In 2008, BNF took on presidential candidate John McCain with The Real McCain series of short videos. McCain found himself forced to respond to embarrassing questions about how many homes he owned – a serious issue amidst a historic housing crisis – as well as his spiritual leaders  and his health,
among other topics. The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Greenwald shows how technology has dispersed the power to shape campaign narratives, potentially upending the way American presidential campaigns are fought."

Greenwald and BNF returned to long-form documentary with Rethink Afghanistan (2009). However, there was a twist: in order to address a fast-changing topic in a timely way, the film was released in six on-line segments, in "real time" over 2008 and 2009.

In 2010, BNF launched one of its most successful multimedia campaigns, Cuentame, which addresses Latino issues, worker rights and immigration reform. Beyond Bars is another touchstone campaign, that works on the issue of mass incarceration in the US. The Koch Brothers Exposed (2012) film and campaign built awareness of the right-wing billionaires’ influence on US government and industry. Under the umbrella of another campaign, War Costs, BNF produced two full-length films, War on Whistleblowers (2013) and Unmanned: America's Drone Wars (2013). For Unmanned, BNF brought drone strike survivors to Washington, and for the first time, congresspeople heard eyewitness testimony from civilians on the ground in Pakistan.

Impact

Brave New Films is notable for both its innovations in documentary production and distribution models; and for the practical impact of its films and campaigns. Its first films "demonstrated to the rest of us [documentary filmmakers] that there was a new way of marketing a documentary." "By employing distribution strategies based on the Internet and the Internet’s ability to support ‘user generated content,’ to bring his films to mass audiences, Greenwald became arguably, the most influential political documentary maker working in the U.S. and a political entrepreneur with national reach."

The full-length documentaries, short subjects and viral videos produced by Brave New Films have been seen tens of millions of times, across the globe, "which in many cases, amped up debate, raised consciousness, and produced some of the change we have been waiting for." Its work has been covered by mainstream media including New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Time magazine, and The Huffington Post, among others, with a worldwide media reach of billions.

Brave New Films’ work "challenge(s) the political discourses of some of the most powerful figures and institutions in U.S. society, including a sitting president and his administration." Examples of such impact include:
The Walmart film forced the largest company in the world to curtail its expansionism. Iraq for Sale and Unmanned both triggered congressional hearings, and have been influential in changing public discourse about the U.S. war efforts.

Brave New Films has earned the ire of political conservatives, who have called the films "agitation and propaganda." But  even critics admit "The way [Greenwald] edits and posts his videos online and urges his viewers to take action is innovative and creative."

Selected filmography

Feature documentaries
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005)
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006)
The Real McCain (2008)
Rethink Afghanistan (2009)
Koch Brothers Exposed (2012)
War On Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State (2013)
Unmanned: America's Drone Wars (2013)
Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and The NRA (2014)
Suppressed: The Fight to Vote (2018)
Suppressed 2020: The Fight to Vote (2020)
Racially Charged: America's Misdemeanor Problem (2021)
Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote (2022)
Beyond Bars: A Son's Fight for Justice (2022)

Documentary shorts
 Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)
Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004)
 Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties (2004)
 The Big Buy: Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress (2006)
 The REAL Rudy (2007)
Fox Attacks (series) (2007)
 The Real McCain (2007)
 Sick for Profit (2009)
 F35: The Jet That Ate The Pentagon (2014)
 Deport Hate: Anti-Immigration Polices In The USA (2014)
 How Protect and Serve Became Search and Destroy (2015)
 Meet The Nazis That Patrol The US-Mexico Border (2015)
 To Prison For Poverty (2016)
 Over Criminalized: Alternatives To Incarceration (2016)
 Racism is Real (2016)
 College Athletics Are Stealing Your Future (2016)
 White Riots vs Black Protests (2016)
 Restorative Justice: Why Do We Need It? (2017)
 Protect Public Education: Stop Betsy Devos! (2017)
 Healing Trauma: Beyond Gangs and Prisons (2018)
 Living While Black (2019)
 Trump Inc. Lining His Pockets: White House for Sale (2020)
 Pandemic of Hate: Anti-Asian Violence During COVID-19 (2020)
 For Our Heroes (2020)
 Suppressed 2021: The War on Democracy (2021)

References

External links

Internet films
Political mass media in the United States
Viral videos


Menchaca  is a corregimiento in Ocú District, Herrera Province, Panama with a population of 1,517 as of 2010. It was created by Law 41 of April 30, 2003.

See also
Carlos Menchaca (born 1980), American politician

References

Corregimientos of Herrera Province


Girls for the Summer ( or US title: Love on the Riviera) is a 1958 Italian romantic comedy drama film directed by Gianni Franciolini, based on story by Alberto Moravia. The film stars Alberto Sordi, Michèle Morgan, Marcello Mastroianni, Sylva Koscina, Gabriele Ferzetti, Dorian Gray, Franca Marzi, Franco Fabrizi and Jorge Mistral.

It tells the five romantic and funny stories in the Gulf of Tigullio (Liguria, north-western Italy).

Plot
In the Gulf of Tigullio, in a lively summer around the end of the 1950s, various events intertwine, with their respective characters and their most disparate stories. It is here that men and women tormented by the need for money, try to take advantage of situations, at least apparently favorable, to solve their problems, all sharing the same epilogue: failure.

Among these events, that of Aristarco Battistini, a penniless lover and administrator of a famous opera singer, Ada Gallotti, with a far from attractive appearance, unlike the beautiful tourists who animate the life of the Riviera. And it is precisely here that the singer and her boyfriend go to stay to recover from the efforts of the artist's numerous tours.

For Aristarchus, the holiday proceeds in the most total monotony, always and only called to take care of the singer (whose movements are made difficult by her size) and to indulge her whims and needs. The man thus decides to regain his freedom while also securing an economic advantage: the goods of the woman. The lucky occasion that pushes Aristarchus to realize his plan, however, is the meeting, during the holiday, with Jacqueline, a beautiful French tourist and his old flame who on seeing him is fascinated by the belief that he is a rich successful globetrotter.

But doom is lurking and he takes the form of Ada's mother. In fact, just at the moment when Aristarchus and his lawyer friend are about to obtain the singer's signature on the deed of sale of his huge estate in Tuscany, the woman's mother telephones her, and imposes a clause on the contract: Aristarchus will be able to dispose of the well only after marrying Ada. Disappointed and resigned, Aristarchus marries Ada and thus says goodbye to his true "dreams of glory".

Meanwhile, in those same places, another story also takes place, that of Walter, an "arranged" tourist guide, Clara and her daughter Lina. The unemployed and indebted Walter undertakes to tail the wealthy lady with polite manners and a thousand attentions, to win her trust and convince her to grant him a loan. Loan that the young man, totally broke, cannot repay. Lina has understood Walter's plan well and confronts him by telling him not to see her mother anymore in order to avoid bitter disappointments.

The provocative but bored Dorina is perpetually looking for male company, recognizing (or pretending to recognize) in beautiful guys, possibly rich, old acquaintances. After an unfortunate fling with a photo novel actor, she ends up loving a simple lifeguard, mistaken for a yacht owner.

Another story is that of Sandro, Renata's husband and in serious economic difficulties due to the problems in his business as an entrepreneur. Renata is hosted by Commendatore Ferrari for a holiday in Rapallo. But the attention that the rich tycoon turns to his friend Sandro's wife becomes more and more pressing, until poor Renata understands the truth: that she was used by her husband to make Mr. Ferrari condescending and induce him to help him in his economic activity. The decisive reaction of the woman, determined to avenge her shame, however, will not be long in coming.

Marcello Mazzoni is an inspector who is escorting a French detainee to the border, so that she can be tried for theft in Marseille. Mazzoni is however a particular inspector, with an open and spontaneous character to the point of making him appear often clumsy, who does not particularly like his work and the rigid protocols that characterize it. This leads him to take a liking to and socialize with the woman to the point of falling in love with her and thinking about running away with her. However, it will remain only a dream, but there remains the possibility of seeing her again, after a few years, on her release from prison.

Cast
 Alberto Sordi - Aristarco Battistini
 Michèle Morgan - Micheline
 Marcello Mastroianni - Marcello Mazzoni
 Sylva Koscina - Renata Morandi
 Gabriele Ferzetti - Giulio Ferrari
 Dorian Gray - Dorina
 Franca Marzi - Clara
 Lorella De Luca - Lina
 Franco Fabrizi - Sandro Morandi
 Ennio Girolami - Walter (as Enio Girolami)
 Jorge Mistral - Romualdo (as Jeorge Mistral)
 Dany Carrel - Jacqueline

References

External links

1958 films
1950s Italian-language films
1958 romantic comedy films
Films based on works by Alberto Moravia
Films directed by Gianni Franciolini
Films with screenplays by René Barjavel
Italian romantic comedy films
1950s Italian films


Bushton is an unincorporated community in Morgan Township, Coles County, Illinois, United States.

Geography
Bushton is located at  at an elevation of 669 feet.

See also
 List of unincorporated communities in Illinois

References

Unincorporated communities in Coles County, Illinois
Unincorporated communities in Illinois


Maindample is a former railway station in Maindample, Victoria, Australia. The tracks have been removed.

References

External links
Victorian Railway Stations - Maindample

Railway stations in Australia opened in 1891
Railway stations closed in 1978
Disused railway stations in Victoria (state)
Mansfield railway line


Muay Lao (, lit. "Lao boxing") is an ancient combat sport from Laos.  It incorporates punches, kicks, elbow, and knee strikes. It can be traced back to the 15th century when it was used for military combat during the Lan Xang dynasty. It is similar to Muay Thai from Thailand and Pradal Serey from Cambodia.   Muay Lao was an event at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane.

The bouts are five rounds and each round is three minutes.

The martial art is related to other forms of martial arts found in other parts of the Angkor cultural sphere including Muay Thai in Thailand, and Pradal Serey in Cambodia

Traditional style
Traditional style is called Muay Lai Lao.  Lao boxing comes from an ancient boxing style known as "Mas Lak Hang".  The martial art used to be performed at different festivals such as the fireworks festival.  People referred to this martial art in ancient times as "tiger tail boxing".

See also
Lethwei
Muay Boran
Muay Thai
Pradal Serey
Tomoi
Bokator

References

External links
Vientiane Times
Vientiane Times-Provincial kick-boxers challenge city counterparts
Vietnam Royal Tourism
Former national kick-boxer returns for Vientiane event
Laos in pictures
Lao boxing video
Muay Lao, the forgotten art of kickboxing - from GoAbroad.net
UNESCO ICM Muay Lao

Sport in Laos


Fairgrange is an unincorporated community in Seven Hickory Township, Coles County, Illinois, United States.

Geography
Fairgrange is located at  at an elevation of 679 feet.

References

Unincorporated communities in Coles County, Illinois
Unincorporated communities in Illinois


Mansfield is a former railway station in Mansfield, Victoria, Australia. The former station building now serves tourists to the community as a visitor centre.

The station is of a traditional timber design, and features many original fixtures including pressed metal interior walls, original doors and timber panelling and a full length signal bay window. Original light fittings are also in place inside the station building.

Additional structures on site include a large goods shed, bearing a warning notice "DANGER - UNSTABLE STRUCTURE - DO NOT ENTER". A crane is also located in what was the goods yard on the Mansfield goods platform.

The station is the terminus of the former Tallarook - Yea - Mansfield Line. The Mansfield train service ran its last service in 1978, with a Walker Rail Motor on stretches of track that in parts had 15 mph speed restrictions due to lack of track maintenance by the then state government owned Victorian Railways. Goods and freight services continued on the line until six months later, when they were also discontinued.

The rail was dismantled ten years later, and part of the former rail reserve has been used in road and highway re-alignments. The whole of the line from Tallarook to Mansfield has been developed into the Great Victorian Rail Trail, a crushed gravel walking, bicycle and equestrian path. There is no anticipated return of rail services to Mansfield.

References
Victorian Railway Stations - Mansfield

Railway stations in Australia opened in 1891
Railway stations closed in 1978
Mansfield railway line
Disused railway stations in Victoria (state)
1978 disestablishments in Australia


Rardin is an unincorporated community in Morgan Township, Coles County, Illinois, United States.

Geography
Rardin is located at  at an elevation of 669 feet.

References

Unincorporated communities in Coles County, Illinois
Unincorporated communities in Illinois


On March 16–17, 1983, a significant severe weather event affected the island of Cuba and the southern Florida peninsula, including the Miami metropolitan area. A total of at least four tornadoes affected these regions; while as many as 17 were reported in South Florida, only two were confirmed in the official National Weather Service records. The strongest tornado produced F2 damage on the Fujita scale and skipped across the Everglades region from the eastern Big Cypress National Preserve through the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area to Lighthouse Point—a path length of nearly . An F1 tornado also affected Naples and Golden Gate. Additionally, unconfirmed tornadoes affected an RV park southeast of East Naples, as well as the Stuart and Jupiter areas, respectively. In addition to tornadoes, severe thunderstorms produced hail to  in diameter, as well as rainfall totals of  in some areas.

Background
On Thursday, March 17, 1983, surface weather analysis indicated that a large and intense low-pressure area over the Gulf of Mexico was producing gale-force winds over the southern Florida peninsula. Above the surface, a strong low-level jet stream coupled with a large negative geopotential height—measuring standard deviations below normal—produced sufficient lifting and wind shear, both conditions conducive to severe weather. Due to the favorable conditions for severe weather, the National Weather Service office in Miami issued a tornado watch for South Florida, effective the morning of March 17. The watch was canceled at 9:30 a.m. EST (14:30 UTC), but then was reissued and extended to 5:00 p.m. (22:00 UTC) as more storms formed over the Everglades. Forecasters expected the low pressure area in the Gulf of Mexico to bring a cold front across Florida on Friday, March 18.

The tornadoes occurred during a strong occurrence of El Niño—a condition known to enhance severe weather over Florida.

Confirmed tornadoes

At least three unconfirmed tornadoes were reported, two of them in Martin County and the other one in Collier County:

•A tornado reportedly affected the Hitching Post RV Travel Resort, near Naples Manor, causing $6,000 in damage to one trailer, tearing loose a carport from another, and felling trees and utility lines. Electricity was disrupted for four hours, leaving 300 residents powerless.
•Another possible tornado about 8:20 a.m. (13:20 UTC) overturned a vehicle on the Bee-Line Highway north of Indiantown Road, west of Jupiter, injuring one woman. The person was transported to a hospital, where she was treated and released.
•A third possible tornado touched down around 8:35 a.m. (13:35 UTC) in Stuart, damaging trees, downing branches, and destroying portions of tree trunks, along with a screened greenhouse. Florida Power and Light crews removed branches from electrical wires.

March 16 event

March 17 event

Monroe Station–Sunrise–Lauderhill–North Lauderdale–Margate–Pompano Beach–Lighthouse Point, Florida

The second tornado of the day was a long-tracked tornado that was probably a family of up to five tornadoes. The tornado, or the first member of its family, touched down near Trailtown at about 7:49 a.m. local standard time, though it may have formed farther southwest in the Everglades, as one person reportedly sighted a tornado as early as 7:30 a.m. EST. Upon touching down, the tornado damaged two bungalows owned by Seminole Indians. One trailer was destroyed, and TJ's Service Station in Monroe Station lost its roof when the tornado crossed Tamiami Trail, about  east of Ochopee. Phone service was disrupted at the service station, where losses were estimated near $30,000. Two vehicles, one of which was a refueling van, were overturned, injuring two people. Additionally, electrical wires were damaged, a car was hurled into a house, and a dumpster was thrown .

The tornado moved northeast at  across the Everglades, entering northwest Dade County and then southwest Broward County. Subsequently, the tornado struck the communities of Sunrise, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Margate, Pompano Beach, and Lighthouse Point. It first hit several homes and a recreation center in Sunrise, causing extensive damage. As it moved through Sunrise, the tornado downed power poles, wires, screen enclosures, trees, and mailboxes. Doors at the Sunrise city hall were blown open, allowing debris inside that covered the first floor of the building. Damage was widespread throughout the city, particularly along and near Oakland Park Boulevard (SR 816). At least three funnel clouds were reported in Sunrise, and at least one tornado touchdown was alleged. Windows were broken in hundreds of homes, while trees and power lines were prostrated. The mayor of the town of Sunrise, John Lomelo, declared a state of emergency in town, upon hearing of damage to city hall and across the city. Next, the tornado blew a porch from a home in Lauderhill. In North Lauderdale, the tornado damaged 30 to 40 homes in a four-block area, blowing awnings loose and uprooting trees. In Margate, the tornado affected the 600 and 700 blocks along SW 51st Avenue. A home was unroofed, another home lost most of its roof, and trees and power lines were downed. The tornado tore a bedroom door from its hinges, broke glass, and snapped a  Norfolk Island pine tree in half.

After hitting Margate, the tornado struck the Pompano Beach service plaza on Florida's Turnpike, overturning an 18-wheeler tractor trailer, uprooting trees, and blowing away signs. In this area, the tornado was estimated to have been  wide. After hitting the service plaza, the tornado continued northeast to Golf View Estates, a mobile-home park north of Palm-Aire Country Club, damaging about 15 mobile homes, of which six to eight had major damage. Several mobile homes were unroofed. Near the intersection of Copans Road and Northeast Third Avenue, the tornado struck another mobile-home park, where its winds overturned a mobile home and moved another off its foundation. Trees in the park were snapped "like toothpicks," and a downed tree landed on a mobile home. Nearby, the tornado also broke glass in a two-story home. As it continued across north Pompano Beach, the tornado destroyed a satellite dish at a restaurant. The tornado continued northeast to Lighthouse Point, where a department store on Federal Highway had its roof damaged. Flying debris from the store also damaged nearby apartments. Nearby, windows were shattered in a public library, and a supermarket delivery truck carrying frozen food was overturned. The Lighthouse Point section of the path was described as having been being done by a separate tornado.

The Everglades–Lighthouse Point tornado featured the second-longest path recorded south of Lake Okeechobee; only one tornado in 1968 featured a longer path of  in southern Florida.

Non-tornadic effects
In Cuba, severe thunderstorms generated winds of  at Varadero Airport on March 16.  waves ravaged the Malecón in Havana, leading to flooding whose effects were described as "'unprecedented'." The combination of weather and tide wrecked 124 homes in Cuba. A day later, unusually cool temperatures in the upper levels of the atmosphere contributed to large hail in portions of South Florida, including the Miami area. Hail of  in diameter was reported in Dade County—an unusually large size for hail in South Florida. In Miami Beach, hail larger than marble size fell, causing cuts and bruises to one person, who was treated for minor injuries. Up to  of rain fell in Miami, while Fort Lauderdale received . The heavy rains caused traffic congestion, and several accidents occurred. Severe winds were also reported elsewhere in the state, particularly near Daytona Beach. In Broward County, the strong winds downed live power lines and smashed cars' windows.

See also
List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

Notes

References

Sources

M
M
M
M
March 1983 events in the United States
1983 natural disasters in the United States


Trilla is an unincorporated community in Pleasant Grove Township, Coles County, Illinois, United States.

Geography
Trilla is located at  at an elevation of 653 feet.

Trilla's ZIP code is 62469.

Demographics

References

Unincorporated communities in Coles County, Illinois
Unincorporated communities in Illinois


Josef Franz, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary (Josef Franz Leopold Anton Ignatius Maria; 28 March 1895 – 25 September 1957), was the eldest son of Archduke Joseph August of Austria and Princess Auguste Maria of Bavaria.  As his father was the last Palatine of Hungary and was briefly considered a possible King of Hungary in 1919–1920, Josef Franz was a potential crown prince of Hungary.

He was born during the reign of his great-grandfather (on his mother's side) Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria.

Marriage and issue

On 4 October 1924, Archduke Josef Franz married Princess Anna of Saxony, a daughter of Friedrich August III of Saxony and Archduchess Luise of Austria-Tuscany. Anna and Joseph Francis had eight children:

Archduchess Margit of Austria (17 August 1925 - 3 May 1979) married, in August 1944, Alexander Cech (born 23 March 1914; died 30 June 2008), son of Altábornagy Jószef Cech (1855-1938) and Donna Amalia Erba Odescalchi dei Principi di Monteleone (1889-1969)
Archduchess Ilona of Austria (20 April 1927 - 11 January 2011) married Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg
Archduchess Anna-Theresia (19 April 1928 - 28 November 1984)
Archduke Joseph Árpád of Austria (8 February 1932 – 30 April 2017), married Princess Maria von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
Archduke István Dominik of Austria (1 July 1934 - 24 October 2011), married Maria Anderl
Archduchess Maria Kynga (born 27 August 1938), married, firstly, Ernst Kiss. She married, secondly, Joachim Krist on 30 March 1988.
Archduke Géza of Austria (born 14 November 1940), married Monika Decker, secondly, Elizabeth Jane Kunstadter.
Archduke Michael of Austria (born 5 May 1942), married Princess Christiana of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (born 1940, daughter of Charles, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg)

Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria died on 25 September 1957 in Carcavelos, on the Portuguese Riviera.

Ancestry

References

House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria
1895 births
1957 deaths
Austrian princes
Burials at Palatinal Crypt


Of All the Things is the second studio album by Jazzanova, released in 2008. It features guest appearances from Phonte, Paul Randolph, Ben Westbeech, Thief, José James, Leon Ware, Dwele, Joe Dukie, Pedro Martins, Azymuth, and Bembé Segue.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

2008 albums
Jazzanova albums
Verve Records albums


Horror Show may refer to:

The Horror Show a 1989 supernatural horror film
Horror Show (album), an album by Iced Earth
Gregory Horror Show, an anime
The Rocky Horror Show, a long-running British stage musical
Zee Horror Show, a television show
Horrorshow (band), an Australian hip-hop duo
Horrorshow (G.I. Joe), a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe
Horror Show (Graydon Creed), a fictional character in the Age Of Apocalypse Marvel Universe
Horror Show, a debut EP by rock band The Graduate
Horrorshow, a song by English rock band The Libertines
Kitty Horrorshow, video game developer
Other
"horrorshow", a word in Nadsat, the fictional language used in Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange
Derived from хорошо (khorosho), a Russian language word meaning "very good."


The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR) is an agency of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The department is responsible for collecting all Pennsylvania taxes, including all corporate taxes and taxes on inheritance, personal income, sales and use, realty transfer, motor fuel, and all other state taxes.

History
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue was created in 1927 and began operating in 1929.

Organizational structure
The DOR is composed of the following sub-units:
Deputy Secretary of Revenue
 Deputy Secretary for Taxation
 Taxpayer Service and Information Center
 Bureau of Corporation Taxes
 Bureau of Individual Taxes
 Bureau of Business Trust Fund Taxes
 Bureau of Motor Fuel Taxes
 Business Operations Office
 Deputy Secretary for Tax Policy
 Board of Appeals
 Bureau of Audits
 Bureau of Research
 Deputy Secretary for Administration
 Bureau of Administrative Services
 Equal Opportunity Office
 Bureau of Human Resources
 Bureau of Fiscal Management
 Bureau of Imaging and Document Management
 Deputy Secretary for Compliance and Collections
 Bureau of Collections and Taxpayer Services
 Bureau of Compliance
 Office of Criminal Tax Investigations
 Pass Through Business Office
 Bureau of Enforcement Planning, Analysis, and Discovery
 Deputy Secretary for Information Technology
 Office of e-Commerce
 Bureau of Information Systems
 Office of Chief Counsel
 Press Office
 Pennsylvania Lottery
 Office of Legislative Affairs
 Policy Office and the Office of Taxpayers' Rights Advocate

List of secretaries

See also
 List of Pennsylvania state agencies

Notes

References

External links
 Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

Revenue
Taxation in Pennsylvania
Government agencies established in 1927
1927 establishments in Pennsylvania
US state tax agencies


Ben Lewis may refer to:

Ben Lewis (Australian actor) (born 1979), British-born Australian musical theatre actor
Ben Lewis (writer), British writer for theatre, radio and television; theatre director; actor and performer
Ben Lewis (editor) (1894–1970), American film editor
Ben Lewis (filmmaker), (born 1966) British filmmaker and art critic
Ben Lewis (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer
Ben Lewis (rugby union) (born 1986), Welsh rugby player
Ben Lewis (Canadian actor) (born 1985), Canadian film and television actor
Ben H. Lewis (1902–1985), mayor of Riverside, California, United States

See also
Benjamin Lewis (disambiguation)


{{Infobox character
| name         = Fuma Monou
| series       = X
| image        = FumamnouXclamp.png
| caption      = Fūma Monou, as illustrated by Clamp
| first        = X volume 1, chapter 1 (1992)
| creator      = Clamp
| voice    = {{Collapsible list|title=English|Adam Henderson (film)|Crispin Freeman (TV series)|Joel McDonald (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)}}
| alias        = Kamui of the Dragons of EarthDark Kamui
| weapon       = Longsword/rapier
| relatives    = Kyōgo Monou (father)Saya Monou (mother)Kotori Monou (sister)
}}

, also written Fuuma Monou''', is a fictional character created by the artists Clamp introduced in their manga series X. Fuma appears to be an ordinary, young man who is friends with protagonist Kamui Shiro. However, his frequent encounters with Kamui and Kamui's power has made him develop a cold-blooded alter-ego, who joins the Dragons of Earth to eliminate mankind, preserve the Earth and kill Kamui's own group, the Dragons of Heaven. Fuma also appears in an animated film and television series based on the manga, both of which have a different outcome because Clamp did not finish the X manga. An alternative version of the character has appeared in the Clamp's manga, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, as a rival of another Kamui.

Clamp writer Nanase Ohkawa created Fuma knowing his fate as the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth, and her friends looked forward to the characterization. Fuma's design changed, because he was too similar to Kamui. The team found Fuma one of the most difficult characters to write and illustrate because of his silence, and his actions were considered too gruesome. A number of voice actors played Fuma in his animated appearances. Critical response to the character has been positive. The manga artists called Fuma's change from a kind guy to a mass murderer one of the strongest and darkest in their careers. Fuma's new personality, his relationship with Kamui and their occasional clashes (most notably in the film directed by Rintaro) were cited as the series' most appealing aspects.

Creation and development

The manga artists group Clamp created the manga X after their editor, Aoki, saw a sketch  involving Fuma Monou and main character Kamui Shiro. Fuma was very different from his final version: a more-cheerful person who later appeared in the manga as Keiichi Segawa, one of Kamui's high-school students. Early in the series, Clamp head writer Nanase Ohkawa told her fellow artists about Fuma's future change into a villain. Ohkawa applied to Kamui and Fuma ideas she had during middle school, such as a person's dual nature and how people can be considered good or evil. Kamui meets Tokyo Babylon protagonist Subaru Sumeragi, whose rivalry with Seishiro Sakurazuka parallels Kamui's rivalry with Fuma. Clamp referred to Kamui and Subaru as siblings; Kamui is supposed to learn from Subaru's final fight with Seishiro, so his final fight against Fuma does not have the same tragic conclusion.

Fuma's transformation from a supporting character to the main villain was difficult for Clamp, since his sister Kotori Monou would die during this transformation. They introduced Fuma and Kotori over eight volumes due to the storyline's violence, and even readers who disliked Kotori expressed sorrow at her death. Since the series has a number of talkative characters, Fuma would be more of a silent person; most of his dialogue involves Kamui. In his early appearances Fuma was one of Clamp's worst silent characters according to the authors themselves as he barely had dialogue only when involving his sister and Kamui, making them to look forward to his transformation into a villain. Fuma murdering his sister was one of Clamp's most gruesome scenes. They persisted, despite editorial opposition, because they had already foreseen it in one of Kamui's dreams. Fuma's murder of Daisuke Saiki was also opposed because of its violence, but the editors decided to rely on reader reaction.

Clamp artist Mokona felt that Fuma was the hardest character to draw, since they had to make him resemble other characters such as Kusanagi Shiyū when Yuzuriha Nekoi sees him. Clamp avoided the idea of Seiichiro Aoki (a character based on their editor) meeting Fuma, since they would be forced to make Fuma androgynous. Artist Satsuki Igarashi found drawing the Dragons of Heaven and Earth at the same time difficult because of their individual clothing, which made her wish that they wore identical outfits.

In the Japanese X film, Fuma is voiced by Ken Narita in Japanese and Adam Henderson in English; the character is voiced by Junichi Suwabe in the television series. Suwabe found voicing Fuma difficult due to his dual personality: one kind, and the other cold-hearted. He also noted that the X manga was very popular in Japan, and he wanted to meet audience expectations. Suwabe befriended Kamui's actor, Kenichi Suzumura, while recording the anime. Crispin Freeman replaced Suwabe for the English dub of the television series. In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle OVAs, Fuma is voiced by Yūji Kishi in Japanese and by Joel McDonald in English. Kishi married voice actress Mika Kikuchi, who played Mokona Modoki in Tsubasa, in 2009; Clamp celebrated with illustrations of Fuma marrying Mokona.

Characterization and themes
Fuma is a quiet high school student who befriend Kamui alongside his sister Kotori when they were children. Despite not showing any talent like the most prominent characters of the series, Fuma is able to pass the magical barriers created by Sorata Arisugawa much to his own surprise. Soon the mysteries within Fuma's role in the upcoming armageddon become more obvious when his father is killed by Nataku and uses his last forces to tell him he is Kamui's "twin star", while a woman able to see the future instructs him to kill him if he wants to save his sister. Fuma is conflicted about these messages as he still retains his bond for his friend ever his their childhood where he used to see Kamui as an innocent kid. However, Fuma develops his alter-ego when Kamui becomes a member of the Dragons of the Heavens. Fuma suddenly changes into a sadistic man who tortures Kamui and brutally kills his own sister. This new Fuma sides with Kanoe and the Dragons of Earth in order to accomplish the objective of destroying mankind.

As Kamui's foil, Fuma develops the desire to grant other people's wish. Despite his violent actions, Fuma keeps a kind smile. During his acts of genocide, the ruthless Fuma still remains as mystery as he meets a young girl and warns her to leave the city with her mother as he plans to create an earthquake that will destroy the city. Kanoe herself becomes scared of Fuma being unable to understand what is his desire or true self. Following the death of one of his allies, Seishiro Sakurazuka, Fuma explains own philosophy in regards to his desire; Should a person lose his will to live, he would personally kill him had he been important to him to show how the bond between the two of them is important. In later chapters, Fuma's personality becomes confusing to his enemies as he kills his ally Nataku who had developed affection to him much to Fuma's sadness. As a result, it is noted that Fuma's alterego himself does not enjoy his acts of violence or the goal of the Dragons of the Earth of eliminating mankind.

Appearances
In the X manga
Fuma is introduced in the X manga as a kind, gentle person whose quietness intimidates his peers. He helps his father, Kyogo; dotes on his younger sister, Kotori, and excels at high-school sports. Fuma and Kotori were childhood friends of Kamui Shiro, who wanted to marry Kotori. Like the young Kamui promised to protect Kotori, Fuma promised to protect him. Kamui later leaves Tokyo and becomes a delinquent; Fuma and Kotori's mother dies, creating the weapon known as Sacred Sword which Kyogo hides. When Kamui returns to the city as a teenager, the cyborg Nataku attacks Kyogo and steals the Sacred Sword; Fuma's dying father tells him that he is Kamui's twin star. After that, Kamui's aunt dies, creating another Sacred Sword like Fuma's mother. Following this, Kamui is chosen as a member of the Dragons of Heaven, a group with the duty of saving mankind. This automatically causes Fuma to be forced to become a Dragon of Earth, attacking Kamui and killing Kotori with new powers and the second Sacred Sword. As the Dragons of Earth reunite with Fuma, Nataku returns the Sacred Sword. Both Fuma and Kamui seal their respective Sacred Swords until the day Armageddon begins.

The new Fuma destroys areas of the city with the other Dragons of Earth, and reminds whoever sees him of the person about whom they care the most. After his transformation into a Dragon of Earth, Fuma refers to himself as . Fuma, as the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth, can sense the heartfelt wishes of others. However, he grants wishes to the characters with whom he interacts, which often lead to their death or that of a loved ones. As he murders his enemies, Fuma disappointed by the fact that mankind wish to die for others rather than live. Following the destruction of most of Tokyo with only one barrier still intact, Kamui again encounters him. Fuma tells him that Kamui will never defeat him unless he discovers his true wish, and tells Kakyo and Subaru that his true wish can only be granted by Kamui. Regaining one of the Sacred Swords, Fuma faces Kamui for the last time as the series goes on hiatus.

Other appearances
In the 1996 film, Fuma's character is different. When Kamui returns to Tokyo, Fuma follows the Dragons of Earth when they kidnap Kotori. He meets a woman named Kanoe aming to recruit him to the Dragons of Earth. From Kanoe, Fuma learns that he is Kamui's opposite and must face him to destroy humanity, Fuma changes to his evil persona. However, Fuma also kills Kotori and most of the Dragons of the Earth to take his Sacred Sword. Kamui beheads him with his Sacred Sword near the end of the film; he weeps over Fuma's corpse and cradles his severed head, wondering why tragedy had befallen him.

In the anime television series, Fuma becomes Kamui like in the manga but his final actions are different; He recruits Arashi Kishū into the Dragons of Earth to kill Kamui as her lover, Dragon of Heaven Sorata Arisugawa,  is destined to die protecting Kamui. In the end, Sorata sacrifices his life to protect Arashi from Fuma and burn burn most of his body. Mortally wounded, Fuma absorbs Nataku's flesh to recover from his wounds. He survives for his match against Kamui, and defeats him. A wounded Kamui sacrifices his life to create barrier which restores his best friend's old personality. In addition to manga and anime, Fuma is a playable character in X: Unmei no Sentaku, a video games based on the series.

An alternate Fuma appears in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Fuma is Seishiro's younger brother, a treasure hunter and the leader of the people in Tokyo Tower. He arrived in Tokyo four years earlier with a magic feather from a young girl, Sakura. Fuma often battles Kamui in Tokyo, and they are the region's strongest fighters. He is a friend of the witch Yuko Ichihara, for whom he retrieves items when he travels to other dimensions. Fuma appears in Japan Country to give Sakura's ally, Kurogane, a robotic arm while working for Yūko. Fuma had encountered series protagonist Syaoran, realizing that he had become stronger than Seishiro had trained him; however, the fight's outcome was unknown. He reappears in the spin-off Tsubasa World Chronicle on a mission to deliver a replacement of Kurogane's arm.

Reception

Critical response to the character has been positive, with Anime News Network Mike Krandol calling him "creepy". Mike Crandol felt that Fuma had a charm even as an antagonist, most notably when the rest of the series was more appealing. Andy Hanley of UK Anime Network noted that an early scene in the series was a major foreshadowing event which would connect Fuma with Kamui, though initially irrelevant for the enjoyment of the narrative. Compared to the first X film, Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network said that Fuma's transformation into the series' villain is more realistic in the television series. In an overview, Carl Kimlinger agreed about the transformation of Fuma into the villain known as the "Shadow Kamui". About the manga, Shaenon K. Garrity of Anime News Network called Fuma's transformation into the Earth's Kamui one of Clamp's best-written moments in action scenes and shōjo manga in general. Garrity called it a "Badass Moment" and Fuma's inexplicable murder of his sister "unbelievable". Jason Thompson found Fuma's transformation one of Clamp's most famous plot twists, similar to those in RG Veda and Tokyo Babylon. A Manga News reviewer enjoyed the character's interactions with Seishiro as they become friends while causing an earthquake. Crispin Freeman was praised by Anime News Network as one of the best X English voice actors, as appealing as Junichi Suwabe.

In addition to Fuma's traits, other critics focused on his relationship with Kamui. In the book CLAMP in Context: A Critical Study of the Manga and Anime, Dani Cavallaro analyzed the handling of Fuma and Kamui's actions. Although both take similar paths in their fights in the war between the Dragons, Fuma takes his weapon through brute force and Kamui is given it by his family. Fuma's action was noted as sadistic, making him a major foil to Kamui. In their final battle in the film, Fuma is defeated but Kamui still cares for his friend. Readers of the series have wondered if Clamp was hinting at a romantic relationship between Kamui and Fuma; according to Sequental Art, most of Fuma's interactions with Kamui had homoerotic overtones. In the book Understanding Manga and Anime, Robin E. Brenner said that Clamp had no such intention in a comparison with the more-explicit relationship between Subaru and Seishiro.

In a retrospective of the anime X, Beverdige praised Kamui's and Fuma's relationship; although the rest of the cast is amazing, few would make the audience overlook the conflict between the two main characters. Several critics found their relationship one of the strongest points in Rintaro's 1996 film. Chris Beveridge of Mania Entertainment praised Kamui and Fuma's final fight in the television series, with its "own level of epic sadness and tragedy." Outside the X series, Anime News Network called the handling of the X'' characters excellent.

References

Anime and manga characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Anime and manga characters who use magic
Anime and manga characters with accelerated healing
Anime and manga characters with superhuman strength
Anime and manga supervillains
Clamp characters
Comics characters introduced in 1992
Fictional characters from the 20th century
Fictional characters with alter egos
Fictional characters with dimensional travel abilities
Fictional characters with extrasensory perception
Fictional depictions of the Antichrist
Fictional empaths
Fictional fencers
Fictional Japanese people in anime and manga
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional sororicides
Fictional swordfighters in anime and manga
Fictional telekinetics
Fictional torturers
Fictional treasure hunters
Fictional vampire hunters
Male characters in anime and manga
Orphan characters in anime and manga
Teenage characters in anime and manga
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
X/1999


Xiangyan Zhixian (; Japanese: Kyōgen Chikan; c. 820–898) was a Tang dynasty Chan master of the Guiyang school. A Dharma heir of Guishan Lingyou, the story of Xiangyan's enlightenment is rather famous in the Chan and Zen traditions. According to this story, he had been an accomplished scholar of Buddhist sūtras, but for many years had made very little headway in his meditation practice. One day, his master asked him what his original face was before birth, to which he could not respond—this question became his kōan, and he subsequently burned his sūtras and left the monastery because he could not figure it out. One day, while working, he heard the sound of a tile striking the ground and attained enlightenment.

Additionally, there is a kōan attributed to Xiangyan in The Gateless Gate: the story is that of a man hanging in a tree by his teeth being asked why Bodhidharma came west; how the man is to react became this famous kōan.

References

898 deaths
Chan Buddhist monks
Chinese Zen Buddhists
Tang dynasty Buddhist monks
Year of birth uncertain


RTGS may refer to:

Real-time gross settlement
Royal Thai General System of Transcription
RTGS Dollar, Zimbabwe's currency since 2019


IGSSA typically is an acronym for Independent Girls' Schools Sports Association (or variations) and may refer to:

 Independent Girls' Schools Sporting Association (New South Wales)
 Independent Girls Schools Sports Association (Perth)
 Independent Girls' Schools Sports Association (South Australia)


The Australian Adult Industry Awards (AAIA®) is an annual award that has been given out for outstanding achievements in the Australian adult industry since 2001.

The Australian Adult Industry Awards (AAIA®) commenced in 2001 and is designed to showcase outstanding achievements in the Australian adult industry, including awards for strippers, adult retail shops, film and video production, men’s bars, brothels, escort agencies, and everything associated with the adult industry, Australia wide.

The aim of the AAIA® is to establish legitimacy and mainstream acceptance or the industry and its participants. Winners of the awards can proudly display their winning logo as ‘a badge of honor’, which has fast become a sought-after prize.

The AAIA® has been founded, owned, and operated by industry legend, sex expert, and serial entrepreneur Maxine Fensom since its conception.

Maxine is well known in the adult industry for founding a number of strip clubs, strippers’ agencies, themed events, and adult online stores.
In addition to being the founder of the Australian Adult Industry Awards, Fensom is also the founder and owner of the national Miss Erotica and Miss Dream Girl pageants.

In 2004, the organizers of the awards were persuaded to be a partner of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to get 16,000 sex workers of Australia to declare their income. As part of the effort, the ATO decided to sponsor the event.

John Lark won the lifetime achievement award in 2006 for his contribution to the industry as a producer of 20 films featuring Australian "stars", including Alice Springs and Kelly Blue, in late 1980s.

References

External links

Past winners of the Adult Industry Awards
Winner of Best Newspaper and Website

2001 establishments in Australia
Awards established in 2001
Australian awards
Australian pornography
Pornographic film awards