title: Citroën Traction Avant

text:
The Citroën Traction Avant () is the world’s first unibody front-wheel-drive car. A range of mostly 4-door saloons and executive cars, were made with four or six-cylinder engines, produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1934 to 1957. Approximately 760,000 units were produced.

Whilst front-wheel drive and four-wheel independent suspension had been established in the mass market by Auto Union and subsequently others some years before, the Traction Avant pioneered integrating these into a mass-production, crash resistant, unitary, monocoque body. Additionally, the car was also an early adopter of rack and pinion steering.

Although the car's name emphasized its front-wheel drive power delivery ("Traction Avant" literally means "front traction"), the car stood out at least as much by its much lower profile and stance – made possible by the absence of a separate chassis under the car's unitary body – sharply distinguishing it visually from its contemporaries.

History

The Traction Avant, French for front-wheel drive, was designed by André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni in late 1933 / early 1934.

The Traction Avant was a late entrant into the growing front-wheel drive market in Europe, competing with the well established DKW and Adler models and joining other entrants at around the same time such as the BSA Scout. Front-wheel drive had appeared in the previous decade through luxury vehicle manufacturers Alvis, which built the 1928 Racing FWD in the UK, and Cord, which produced the L29 from 1929 to 1932 in the United States. Ultimately, the inline engine front wheel drive layout of cars like the Citroën Avant was to be a dead end and virtually all modern mass-produced front wheel drive cars use the transverse engine layout, as pioneered by DKW from 1931.

The Traction Avant's structure was a welded unitary body / chassis. Most other cars of the era were based on a separate frame (chassis) onto which the non-structural body ("coachwork") was built. Unitary construction (also called Unit Body or "Unibody" in the US) results in a lighter vehicle, and is now used for virtually all car construction.

This unitary body saved  in steel per car. It was mass-produced, using innovative technology purchased from the American firm Budd Company. Weight reduction was a motivation for Citroën that American manufacturers of that time did not have.

This method of construction was viewed with great suspicion in many quarters, with doubts about its strength. A type of crash test was conceived, taking the form of driving the car off a cliff, to illustrate its great inherent resilience.

The novel design made the car very low-slung relative to its contemporaries – the Traction Avant went from appearing rakish in 1934 to familiar and somewhat old fashioned by 1955.

The suspension was very advanced for the car's era. The front wheels were independently sprung, using a torsion bar and wishbone suspension arrangement, where most contemporaries used live axle and cart-type leaf spring designs. The rear suspension was a simple steel beam axle and a Panhard rod, trailing arms and torsion bars attached to a  steel tube, which in turn was bolted to the main platform.

Since it was considerably lighter than conventional designs of the era, it was capable of 100 km/h (62 mph), and consumed fuel only at the rate of .

Investing for volume production

The scale of investment in production capacity reflected André Citroën's ambitions for the car. Site preparation began during the winter of 1932/33, and on 15 March 1933 demolition of the existing  factory started. Construction of the new factory started on 21 April, and by the end of August the building's shell had been erected, four times the size of the factory that it replaced, and using  of structural iron and steel. All this was achieved while continuing to produce several hundred Rosalies every day. With characteristic showmanship, André Citroën celebrated by inviting 6,000 guests – mostly dealers and agents and others who would be involved in selling and promoting the car – to a spectacular banquet in the new and, at this stage, still empty factory, on 8 October 1933. Citroën's gesture quickly came to be seen as hubristic, as the ensuing months became a race against time to finish the development of the car and tool up for its production before his investors lost patience.

In the end, the first car was presented at Citroën's huge Paris showroom on 18 April 1934, by which time principal dealers had already had their own private unveiling on 23 March. There had been much chatter and speculation; before April 1934 the details of the car had been kept remarkably quiet outside the walls of the Quai de Javel plant. Volume production formally started on 19 April 1934. Although the revolutionary unitary bodyshell was, according to most reports, not affected by the rushed launch schedule, problems with transmission joints and the hydraulic brakes – another "first" in a volume car in Europe – reflected the financial pressure to get the car into production as quickly as possible.

Names

Traction Avant, which translates as "front wheel drive", is not the official name. The car was named according to the French fiscal horsepower rating, or CV, used to determine annual car tax levels. However, manufacturers did not change the model name every time a change of engine size caused a change in fiscal horsepower.

For example, in 1934, Citroën introduced the 7, unofficially the 7A. They continued calling the car 7 when the 7B model's larger engine pushed it into the 9 CV tax band. Other designations were 11, 15/6 into the 16 CV tax band and 22.

In France, the Traction is known as "Reine de la Route" ("Queen of the Road").

Wartime disruption

In September 1939, France declared war on Germany, and in June 1940 the German Army rapidly invaded and occupied Northern France. The war years were characterised by a desperate shortage of raw materials for civilian industry and of petrol, but these factors were not apparent instantly. The Paris Motor Show scheduled for October 1939 was cancelled at short notice; Citroën’s own planned announcements had involved the forthcoming 2CV model rather than any significant changes to the Traction. For the Traction Avant, the last "normal" year in terms of production levels was 1939, and 8,120 of the 7C model, with  wheelbase and , were produced. This tumbled to 1,133 in 1940, which was the first year when the plant suffered serious bomb damage – on this occasion caused by a German air attack – on 3 June 1940. Production of the cars was suspended in June 1941; by then a further 154 had been produced in the previous six-month period. The 7C would continue to appear in Citroën price-lists until March 1944, but production of this smaller engined 7CV was not resumed after the war. For the more powerful 1911 cc engined 11 B-light models, the equivalent figures were 27,473 units produced in 1939, 4,415 in 1940 and 2,032 for 1941, though for this model production in 1941 ended only in November 1941 so the figure for that year represents 11 months of production.

In 1945, production restarted only slowly: the 11 B-light reappeared very little changed from the 1941 cars except that headlight surrounds were now painted rather than finished in chrome. By the end of December 1945, the year’s production had reached 1,525. Currency depreciation is evident from the car’s listed price, which had been 26,800 francs in January 1940, and had risen to 110,670 francs in October 1945. In 1945, the car was the only model available from Citroën, and as another sign of the times, customers not able to supply their own tires were charged an additional 9,455 francs for a set of five. In May 1946, presumably reflecting an easing of the war-time tire shortage, the car could at last be purchased with tires at no extra cost, but by now the overall price of an 11 B-light had risen to 121,180 francs.

The 11 B-normal model, differentiated from the 11 B-light by its  wheelbase, experienced a similar drop in sales volumes between 1939 and 1941, with just 341 cars produced during the first seven months of 1941. After the war, a single 11 B-normal was produced in 1946, in time to be presented at the October 1946 Paris Motor Show: production built up during 1947, but during the car’s ten-year post-war production period, the shorter 11 B-light would, in France, continue to outsell the 11 B-normal.

Initially the French Army lacked enthusiasm for the Traction Avant, believing it offered insufficient ground clearance for their needs. Nevertheless, by September 1939, roughly 250 had found their way into military service. With losses of cars at the frontier mounting, Citroën supplied a further 570 to the Army between February and May 1940, and subsequent deliveries probably took place before military defeat intervened. During the war many of the cars were reregistered with "WH..." (Wehrmacht Heer/Army command) license plates, having been requisitioned by the German Army. These gave reliable service both in France and further afield, notably in Libya and Stalingrad. Traction Avants were also favoured by the Resistance, and as occupation gave way to Liberation they turned up all over France with FFI inscribed proudly on their doors. Less gloriously, the cars were known as favourites among gangsters such as Pierrot le Fou and his Traction gang.

Variants

Standard production sedans

The original model was a small saloon with a  wheelbase, and a  engine:from a 72 x 80 mm bore and stroke, this model was called the 7A. All the models have front suicide doors with rear conventional doors. After just 2 months, with about 7,000 cars produced, the 7A was succeeded in June 1934 by the 7B which used a higher-power engineengine with its cylinders bored out by 6 mm to arrive at its limit of  for  78 mm of bore for  and provided two windscreen wipers in place of the single wiper on the original production cars. The manufacturer also took the opportunity to make a start on addressing some of the other initial "under the skin" teething problems.

By September 1934, 15,620 7Bs had been produced before it, in turn, was succeeded in October 1934 by the 7C with an even higher-output  from a 72 x 100 mm bore and stroke engine.

Later models were the 11CV (launched in November 1934),  which had a 78 x 100 mm bore and stroke of  four-cylinder engine, and the 15/6 (launched June 1938), with a  six. The 11 was an 11 CV, but curiously the 15/6 was in the 16 CV tax band. The 11 was built in two versions, the 11BL ("légère", or "light"), which was the same size as the 7 CV, and the 11B ("Normale", or "normal"), which had a longer wheelbase and wider track.

For 1936, at the 29th Paris Motor Show in October 1935, various  modifications were on show.  At the front, painted front grilles replaced chrome ones and the headlight covers were restyled.  The changes at the back were more practical and involved an opening luggage hatch/lid: it was no longer necessary to clamber over the back seats to get at the luggage space at the rear of the passenger cabin (although the overall size of the luggage locker remained at this stage rather restricted). The opening boot/trunk lid made it necessary to reposition the rear number plate, previously under most circumstances centrally mounted just above the bumper, and now mounted on the rear-wing on the left side.  On the original cars, it had been possible to access the fuel tank using capped filler openings on either side, but now the left fuel filler cap was removed, and filling the fuel tank had to be done using the filler on the right side. Two months later, the radical "Pausodyne" suspension was modified, now incorporating conical rubber rings at the front.

In May 1936, recently developed new technology was added - rack and pinion steering replaced the relatively imprecise "worm and roller" steering system.

Despite Citroën's attention to the perceived shortcomings of the earlier Tractions, significant numbers of customers still opted for the manufacturer's old rear-wheel drive models which, in 1936, still accounted for more than 10 per cent of the factory's output.

To expand the customer base, the car was made as an extended length Familiale (family) model with three rows of seats, seating 9 adults. The middle row could be folded away when not in use, making for cavernous rear legroom when configured with two rows. This layout was carried forward to 1991 with the Citroën DS Familiale and the Citroën CX Familiale.

The first hatchback automobile was called the 11 CV Commerciale (commercial), and was built on this same elongated chassis. On this model, the tailgate was in two halves, the lower of which folded down to form a platform, and carried the spare wheel. The upper opening cut into the roof level. A one-piece top-hinged tailgate was introduced when the Commerciale resumed production after World War II. This car was marketed to grocers, butchers, and other tradesmen.

Left-hand drive versions were built in Paris and Forest, Belgium. 550 additional cars were built in Copenhagen, Denmark for tax purposes - special 2-door commercial vans.

Models that did not enter production

Citroën planned two variants that never entered production, since there was insufficient funding to develop them, except as running prototype vehicles. One was an automatic transmission-equipped model, based on the Sensaud de Lavaud automatic transmission, the other a 22 CV model with a 3.8 litre V8 (bore: 78 mm, stroke: 100 mm, 3822.7 cc).

The transmission (which was actually originally designed for the Citroën) was a "gearless" automatic, using the torque-converter alone to match engine revolutions to the drivetrain revolutions, much like the Dynaflow Transmission introduced later in the US. The car was supposed to have a less spartan interior than the other Traction Avants and it was to feature Citroën's own new V8 engine. About twenty prototypes were made, but the project was canceled at the start of 1935 after the company's bankruptcy and resulting Michelin takeover, which rapidly led to a level of financial discipline that the company had hitherto heroically failed to apply. The prototype 22CVs were probably all destroyed. According to some sources they were fitted with the standard front and the ordinary four-cylinder engines and were sold as 11CVs. The 22CVs sometimes shown today are recreations, usually powered by Ford flathead engines.

Coupés/Convertibles

In addition to the 4-door body, before the war, the factory also produced a 2-door coupé with a rumble seat, and a convertible also with a rumble seat.

Hydraulic self-levelling suspension in 1954

The six-cylinder, 2876 cc model was used as a "Test Bed" for the introduction of the Hydropneumatic suspension that underpinned the revolutionary Citroën DS19 that was launched at the Paris Motor Show in 1955. The suspension was fitted to the rear suspension of the 15/6 H with a lever in the boot to permit the ride height to be modified. A dashboard-mounted override control was fitted to allow the rear suspension to be locked in normal ride height when parked, so the car did not drop in response to loading and unloading. It automatically released when the clutch was operated when driving off. A belt driven high-pressure pump was added and an under-bonnet reservoir to hold the "LHS" hydraulic fluid. Many of the hydraulic parts were interchangeable with the early DS 19 models (which also had hydraulic disk brakes, hydraulically assisted steering and a hydraulically operated "semi-automatic" gearbox).

These other hydraulic features were not fitted to the 15/6 H, which ceased production in 1956, one year after the arrival of the DS.

UK-built cars

Right-hand drive cars were built at Slough Trading Estate, England. The Slough version of the 11L was called the Light Fifteen and the long wheelbase 11 was called the Big Fifteen. This confusing terminology referred to the British fiscal tax rating of the time, which was higher than the French, so the 11CV engine was 15HP in England.

The 15/6 model was called Big Six in reference to its 6-cylinder engine.

A  Light Fifteen tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1951 had a top speed of  and could accelerate from 0– in 29.7 seconds. A fuel consumption of  was recorded. The test car cost  including taxes.

A  six-cylinder model was tested by the same magazine in 1954 and for this car the top speed found was , acceleration from 0– 21.2 seconds and fuel consumption . The test car cost  including taxes.

Models assembled in Slough had to consist of 51 per cent UK parts to make them exempt from the import taxes imposed by the UK government to protect British vehicle manufacturers from foreign competition. The Slough-built cars used 12-volt Lucas electrics, headlights, dynamo and starter. The interior had a walnut dash board with Jaeger instruments, Connolly Leather seats and door panels and a wool headlining. The exterior was fitted with United Kingdom bumpers and over-riders and a chrome grille, with the Citroën chevrons mounted behind. Some were fitted with a sunroof. Most of the Slough-built cars were right-hand drive, although a small number of British specification, left-hand drive cars were also built.

Engineering

The Traction Avant used a longitudinal, front-wheel drive layout, with the engine set well within the wheelbase, resulting in a very favourable weight distribution, aiding the car's advanced handling characteristics. The gearbox was placed at the front of the vehicle with the engine behind it and the differential between them, a layout shared with the later Renault 4 and 16 and first generation Renault 5, but the opposite way round to many longitudinal front-wheel drive cars, such as the Saab 96, Renault 12 and 18 and most Audi models.

The gear change was set in the dashboard, with the lever protruding through a vertical, H-shaped gate. Because this vertical orientation could have resulted in the car dropping out of gear when the lever was in the upper positions (i.e. second or reverse gears), the gear-shift mechanism was locked when the mechanical clutch was engaged and released when the clutch pedal was depressed. The result of this layout, along with pendant pedals, umbrella-type handbrake control and front bench seats, was a very spacious interior, with a flat and unobstructed floor. The low-slung arrangement also eliminated the need for running boards to step into or out of the vehicle. These features made them ideal for use as limousines and taxi cabs, and they were quite popular among drivers and passengers alike. Until 1953, black was the only colour available.

Impact on motorsport

Another technical significance of Traction Avant was the cast aluminium alloy transaxle, which was quite radical at the time.

As well as being a considerable part of the weight savings, the manufacturing facility for this transaxle contributed to the below mentioned financial crisis. But when John Cooper looked for a light transaxle case for Formula One rear engine revolution, the Traction Avant unit was about the only candidate, as the Volkswagen magnesium alloy transaxle was much smaller and lacked the space needed to house heftier gears needed for Formula One. The Traction Avant transaxle was used on Cooper T43, which won a F1 championship race as the first mid-mounted engine car to do so in 1958, and on its successors Cooper T45, T51 and T53. Cooper T51 won the GP World Championship in 1959.

Unlike the Volkswagen alloy case used by Hewland, the Traction Avant case could not be used upside down, as the input shaft height was much higher in relation to the output shaft axis so that the oil level needed to lubricate the gears would exceed the then unreliable input shaft oil seal height if used upside down. So the engine needed to sit high above the ground with the oil sump space below, which was not needed by dry-sump racing engines. But the French transaxle was used by several racing car constructors in the late 1950s to 60s with various levels of success.

In the case of Jack Brabham, who personally visited the ERSA foundry in Paris to discuss a possibility to strengthen the case, the transaxle became known as "ERSA Knight" with an additional spur-gear set mounted in the bellhousing spacer (engine to transaxle adapter) suggested by Ron Tauranac, named for Jack Knight who designed the modification and made the straight-cut gears. The height offset created by the spur gear set enabled the engine to sit lower, and became the reason why Cooper T53 was called the 'Lowline', which not only made Brabham the World Champion in 1960 but also became the precursor to the establishment of Brabham as a Formula One constructor.

Impact on Citroën

The development costs of the Traction Avant, combined with the redevelopment of its factory, were very high and Citroën declared bankruptcy in late 1934. The largest creditor was Michelin, who then owned Citroën from 1934 until 1976. Under Michelin, Citroën was run as a research laboratory, a test bed for their radial tires and new automotive technologies.

In 1954, Citroën's experiments with hydropneumatic technology produced its first result, the "15/6 H" – a variant of the 6-cylinder model 15/6 with a self-leveling, height-adjustable rear suspension, a field trial for the DS released the following year.

Directly after the introduction of the Citroën ID, a simplified and more competitively priced version of the expensive DS model, production of the Traction Avant ended in July 1957.

Over 23 years, 759,111 had been built, including 26,400 assembled in Slough in England, 31,750 assembled in Forest near Brussels, 1,823 assembled at Cologne in Germany, and 550 built in Copenhagen, Denmark. The total reflects the production stoppage during World War II.

Media appearances
According to Internet Movie Cars Database, the Traction Avant has made over 1,300 film/TV appearances, including prominent roles in The Sound of Music (1965) and the French films Army of Shadows (1969) and Diva (1981). In Diva, a white Traction Avant is owned by the mysterious bohemian Gorodish, who describes the model as one formerly favoured by both gangsters and police. When it is destroyed by a remote-controlled bomb, he drives away a second, identical car.

One was seen in the 2017 BBC TV production of SS GB. A brief scene towards the end of "The Great Escape" (1963) shows a Traction Avant arriving at a sidewalk cafe, where resistance members gun down three SS officers.

Present day

In 2006, the oldest surviving 7A has production number ("coque nr") AZ 00-18, and is displayed in partly dismantled shape (engine and front wheels detached) in the Citroën Museum in Paris. The oldest running 7A is probably number AZ-00-23, which was, until 1 September 2006, in possession of a Dutch owner and is now with a Slovenian owner.

Traction Avants are fairly robust vehicles even by modern standards, but they may be prone to leaking water inside the cabin. In 2002 more than 30 Traction Avants drove from Los Angeles to the ICCCR event I in New York City.

References

External links

 Traction Avant Parts suppliers and Specialist Repairers Directory
 United Kingdom owner's club
 Cats Citroen, Traction Avant and other Citroens by Jerome Cats
 Citroen Traction Avant at Citroenet
 Traction Avant links Citroën World
 Traction Avant rentals in France
 Citroën Traction Avant Buyers Guide
 Traction Avant district CitCity
 CITROENZ: Traction Avant modelcars
 Citroën Crash Test: Traction Avant 1934
 Traction Avant Restoration Project

Traction Avant
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Executive cars
Convertibles
Sedans
Hatchbacks
1940s cars
1950s cars
Cars introduced in 1934
Cars discontinued in 1957


title: Penstemon alluviorum

text:
Penstemon alluviorum, known by the common name lowland beardtongue, is a species of flowering plant in the veronica family. It is native to the Eastern United States where it is found in alluvial lowlands, particularly of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Penstemon alluvoirum is a poorly understood taxon. The differences between this and two related species, Penstemon digitalis and Penstemon laevigatus, are not well resolved. It is identified within the complex by having corollas that are 15–23 mm long, sepals that are 3–6 mm long, and leaves that are 25–40 mm wide. It produces white (rarely lavender) flowers in May.

References

alluviorum
Flora of the Eastern United States


title: Aššur-uballiṭ II

text:
Aššur-uballiṭ II, also spelled Assur-uballit II and Ashuruballit II (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform:  , meaning "Ashur has kept alive"), was the final ruler of Assyria, ruling from his predecessor Sîn-šar-iškun's death at the Fall of Nineveh in 612 BC to his own defeat at Harran in 609 BC. He was possibly the son of Sîn-šar-iškun and likely the same person as a crown prince mentioned in inscriptions at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 626 and 623 BC.

Over the course of Sîn-šar-iškun's reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire had been irreversibly weakened. A revolt in 626–620 BC had seen the loss of the empire's southern provinces to the newly formed Neo-Babylonian Empire and war against its king Nabopolassar and the Medes proved disastrous for Assyria; leading to sacks and destructions of the important cities of Assur and Nineveh in 614 BC and 612 BC respectively.

After the loss of these cities and the death of Sîn-šar-iškun, Aššur-uballiṭ II rallied what remained of the Assyrian army at Harran where, bolstered by an alliance with Egypt, he ruled for three years. His identification as "king of Assyria" comes from Babylonian sources. Contemporary Assyrian inscriptions suggest that the Assyrians saw Aššur-uballiṭ as their legitimate ruler, but continued to refer to him as "crown prince" seeing as he could not undergo the traditional Assyrian coronation ceremony at Assur and thus hadn't formally been bestowed with the kingship by the Assyrian chief deity, Ashur. His rule at Harran came to an end when the city was seized by Medo-Babylonian forces in 610 BC. Aššur-uballiṭ's attempt at retaking it in 609 BC was repulsed whereafter he is no longer mentioned in contemporary chronicles, signalling the end of the ancient Assyrian monarchy.

Background

In the beginning of the 7th century BC, Assyria was at the height of its power. The entire Fertile Crescent was under the rule of the Assyrian king and due to the flourishing of trade and culture, the era has been described as the  (a term coined to parallel the ). By the end of the same century, Assyria had fallen and disappeared from history, never to rise again.

One of the major reasons for its fall was Assyria's failure to efficiently solve the so-called "Babylonian problem", the near constant rebellions in its southern provinces, especially in the ancient and prestigious city of Babylon. Although some kings had ruled successfully without revolts in Babylonia, such as Esarhaddon, the revolts in the region had intensified during the rule of Sîn-šar-iškun (reigned 627–612 BC). Sîn-šar-iškun had come to the throne in 627 BC following the death of his brother Aššur-etil-ilāni and was almost immediately faced by a revolt by the general Sîn-šumu-līšir in 626 BC, who successfully seized some cities in northern Babylonia, including Babylon itself and Nippur. Although Sîn-šumu-līšir was defeated after only three months, his revolt weakened Assyrian control in Babylonia.

Almost immediately afterwards, another revolt sprung up in Babylonia, this one by Nabopolassar, who successfully seized both Babylon and Nippur. The defeat of Sîn-šar-iškun's attempted reconquest of these cities in October of 626 BC was the final Assyrian campaign for the city of Babylon. On 22/23 November of that year, Nabopolassar was formally crowned as king of Babylon, founding the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Sîn-šar-iškun attempted to reconquer cities in northern Babylonia in 625–624 BC but was repeatedly repelled. In 622 BC, Nabopolassar seized the last Assyrian outposts in Babylonia.

The Babylonians scored repeated victories against the Assyrians and by 616 BC Babylonian troops had even reached as far north as the Balikh River. Assyria's ally, Pharaoh Psamtik I of Egypt, who saw Assyria as a useful buffer state between his own empire and those of the Babylonians and Medes in the east, rushed to Sîn-šar-iškun's aid, but a joint Egyptian-Assyrian campaign into Babylonia was unsuccessful. In 614 BC, the city of Assur, once the capital and still the ideological and religious center of Assyria, was captured, plundered and sacked by the Medes under Cyaxares, allies of Nabopolassar. The Babylonian army under Nabopolassar had been late to the battle, only arriving after the Medes had already killed many of the city's inhabitants and begun plundering it. Two years later, the Assyrian capital itself, Nineveh, fell. The fate of Sîn-šar-iškun is not certain, but it is commonly accepted that he died in defense of Nineveh in 612 BC.

Aššur-uballiṭ 's background is uncertain. It is known that he was an Assyrian general and he might have been the son of Sîn-šar-iškun. Aššur-uballiṭ is likely the same person as the unnamed crown prince (designated heir) attested in inscriptions from Nineveh dated to 626 and 623 BC. Sîn-šar-iškun's appointment of a crown prince so early in his reign (having only become king in 627 BC) was likely to avoid the succession problems which had been common in Assyria since the reign of Sennacherib (reigned 705–681 BC).

Reign

Rule at Harran and status
In Assyrian tradition, the king was appointed to his position by the Assyrian national deity, Ashur, during the New Year festivals in Assur. The last king to be crowned at the temple of Ashur at Assur had been Sîn-šar-iškun and with the city's destruction in 614 BC, the traditional Assyrian coronation ritual was now impossible. The coronation ritual in Assur saw the god Ashur invest the king with royal power, affirming his status as Ashur's earthly representative. Aššur-uballiṭ did have a coronation ceremony in late 612 BC, but instead of conducting it in Assur, it was conducted in the temple of the moon god Sin, another important deity in the empire, at Harran. At Harran, the Assyrian Empire continued to endure under the rule of Aššur-uballiṭ. His identification as Sîn-šar-iškun's successor and the king of Assyria comes from Babylonian chronicles. The Babylonians thus saw him as the Assyrian king, but the few subjects Aššur-uballiṭ governed himself probably did not share this view. Instead, Aššur-uballiṭ's formal title was crown prince (, literally meaning "son of the king"), which can be inferred from preserved documents, such as the following portion of a legal document from the city Dur-Katlimmu:

The portion of the document that is important in regards to Aššur-uballiṭ's status is the mention of the "covenant of the crown prince" (). This phrase is common in legal documents, appearing frequently since the reign of Esarhaddon in 672 BC, but always in the form of "covenant of the king" (), showing that the office of king was vacant and the crown prince filled that role instead. Inscriptions from this time also record the name of the final Commander-in-Chief of the Assyrian army, Nabû-mar-šarri-uṣur, which means "O Nabu, protect the crown prince!". Such names were common in Assyria but usually referred to the king, not the crown prince. Aššur-uballiṭ not formally being king does not indicate that his claim to the throne was challenged, only that he had yet to go through with the traditional ceremony. The appointment of a crown prince required the formal recognition of all subjects and of the gods. Should the king be unable to exercise his duties, the crown prince was a competent substitute, exercising similar legal and political power. Aššur-uballiṭ was the recognized legitimate ruler, and his title was only a provisional arrangement until he could undergo the proper coronation.

The choice of  as a regnal name was probably a highly conscious one. The meaning of the name, "Ashur has kept alive", suggests that Assyria's chief deity and its empire would be ultimately successful in their battle against their enemies. It also connects him to the earlier Assyrian king of the same name, Aššur-uballiṭ I of the 14th century BC. Aššur-uballiṭ I had been the first Assyrian ruler to abandon the old religious title of  ("governor") in favor of the title  ("king"), signifying his role as an absolute monarch.

In Assyria, each year was assigned an eponym name. The name used for the year noted in the Dur-Katlimmu legal document, "Seʾ-ilaʾi", only appears in this source and demonstrates that it is from after the Assyrian heartlands had fallen to invaders, when eponym names, in the absence of central authority, became local and often confined to single cities. The Šulmu-šarri, whose son is mentioned, also appears in inscriptions dating to the reign of Ashurbanipal a little over a decade prior. Although the document uses traditional Assyrian titles such as Companion (, literally meaning "he who is close to the king") and cohort commander (), suggesting that they still carried their traditional importance, the document also calls the local leader Iadiʾ-il by the title of city lord (Akkadian: ) a title formerly only associated with members of the Assyrian ruling dynasty. A non-dynastic appointed official for the government of a city was usually titled as  (usually translated as "mayor") or  (meaning "city oversser") and the use of the title  indicates that parts of the Assyrian administrative framework were no longer functioning.

Fall of Harran and attempted recapture

At the time Aššur-uballiṭ became the ruler of Assyria in 612 BC, his main objective would have been to retake the Assyrian heartland, including Assur and Nineveh. Bolstered by the forces of his allies, Egypt (a leading military power in the region) and Mannea, this goal was probably seen as quite possible and his rule at Harran and role as crown prince (and not legitimately crowned king) probably seemed like a mere temporary retreat. Instead, Aššur-uballiṭ's rule at Harran composes the final years of the Assyrian Empire, which at this point had effectively ceased to exist.

In 611 BC, Nabopolassar's army consolidated his rule throughout northern Mesopotamia, going as far as to the border of Harran itself. After Nabopolassar himself had travelled the recently conquered Assyrian heartland in 610 BC in order to ensure stability, the Medo-Babylonian army embarked on a campaign against Harran in November of 610 BC. Intimidated by the approach of the Medo-Babylonian army, Aššur-uballiṭ and a contingent of Egyptian reinforcements fled the city into the deserts of Syria. The siege of Harran lasted from the winter of 610 BC to the beginning of 609 BC and the city eventually capitulated. Aššur-uballiṭ's failure at Harran marks the end for the ancient Assyrian monarchy, which would never be restored.

After the Babylonians had ruled Harran for three months, Aššur-uballiṭ and a large force of Egyptian soldiers attempted to retake the city, but this campaign failed disastrously. Beginning in July or June 609 BC, Aššur-uballiṭ's siege lasted for two months, until August or September, but he and the Egyptians retreated when Nabopolassar again led his army against them. It is possible that they had retreated even earlier.

Fate
The eventual fate of Aššur-uballiṭ is unknown and his siege of Harran in 609 BC is the last time he, or the Assyrians in general, are mentioned in Babylonian records. After the battle at Harran, Nabopolassar resumed his campaign against the remainder of the Assyrian army in the beginning of the year 608 or 607 BC. It is thought that Aššur-uballiṭ was still alive at this point, for in 608 BC the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II, Psamtik I's successor, personally led a large Egyptian army into former Assyrian territory to rescue his ally and turn the tide of the war. Because there is no mention of a large battle between the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Medes in 608 BC (a battle between the four greatest military powers of their day is unlikely to have been forgotten and left out of contemporary sources) and no later mentions of Aššur-uballiṭ, it is possible that he died at some point in 608 BC before his allies and his enemies could clash in battle. M.B. Rowton speculates that Aššur-uballiṭ could have lived until 606 BC, but by then the Egyptian army is mentioned in Babylonian sources without any references to the Assyrians or their king.

Although Aššur-uballiṭ is no longer mentioned after 609 BC, the Egyptian campaigns in the Levant continued for some time until a crushing defeat at Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. Throughout the next century, Egypt and Babylon, brought into direct contact with each other through Assyria's fall, would frequently be at war with each other over control in the Fertile Crescent.

See also

 Sargonid dynasty
 List of Assyrian kings
 Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

Notes

References

Cited bibliography

Cited web sources

Sargonid dynasty
7th-century BC Assyrian kings
640s BC births
600s BC deaths

Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
Dethroned monarchs


title: FireChat

text:
FireChat was a proprietary mobile app, developed by Open Garden, which used wireless mesh networking to enable smartphones to pass messages to each other peer-to-peer via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Apple's Multipeer, without an internet connection.

Though it was not designed with the purpose in mind, FireChat was used as a communication tool in some civil protests.

FireChat is now discontinued. The official URL displays a 404 error page, and apps have not been updated since 2018.

History
The app was first introduced in March 2014 for iPhones, followed on April 3 by a version for Android devices.

In July 2015, FireChat introduced private messaging. Until then, it had only been possible to post messages to public chatrooms.

In May 2016, FireChat introduced FireChat Alerts, which allowed users to "push" alerts during a specific time and in a specific place. This feature was added for the benefit of aid workers doing disaster relief and stemmed from a partnership with the city of Marikina.

Usage
FireChat became popular in 2014 in Iraq following government restrictions on internet use, and thereafter during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. In 2015, FireChat was also promoted by protesters during the 2015 Ecuadorian protests. On September 11, 2015, during the pro-independence demonstration called Free Way to the Catalan Republic, FireChat was used 131,000 times. In January 2016, students protested at the University of Hyderabad, India, following the suicide of a PhD student named Rohith Vemula. Some students were reported to have used Firechat after the university shut down its Wi-Fi.

Security
In June 2014, Firechat's developers told Wired that "[p]eople need to understand that this is not a tool to communicate anything that would put them in a harmful situation if it were to be discovered by somebody who's hostile ... It was not meant for secure or private communications." By July 2015, the FireChat developers claimed to have added end-to-end encryption for its one-to-one private messages.

See also
 Mobile ad hoc network (MANET)
 Smartphone ad hoc network

References

External links

2014 software
IOS software
Android (operating system) software
Internet-related activism
Mesh networking
Defunct instant messaging clients


title: Foresight (futures studies journal)

text:
Foresight: The Journal of Futures Studies, Strategic Thinking and Policy is an international bi-monthly journal published by the Emerald Publishing Group. The name connotes the term "foresight" as it is used in futures studies. Established in 1999, the journal provides a powerful framework and set of techniques that allow for understanding trends and drivers shaping the world, exploring alternative futures, setting priorities and formulating strategies for action. Foresight is a valuable source for futurists and foresight practitioners who should be at the forefront of discovering practical ways to manage 21st century life under growing complexity with a long-term perspective. The journal offers a much-needed forum for sound thinking about the future and socio-technological innovations, and focuses on themes and issues shaping the future, new quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as case studies with novel approaches. The journal is edited by Prof.Dr. Ozcan Saritas since 2009 (Head of Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics & Honorary Professor, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, The University of Manchester).

Foresight is indexed in Web of Science (WoS) Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
Scopus
ABI/INFORM
Academic Research Library
EconLit (American Economic Association)
Future Survey (World Futures Society)
INSPEC
Political Science Abstracts (IFI)
ProQuest
Research Library
AIDEA (Italy)
Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS, UK) Academic Journal Guide

Related journals

 Technological Forecasting and Social Change
 Futures & Foresight Science
 Journal of Futures Studies
 Futures
 European Journal of Futures Research

References

Futurology journals
English-language journals
Academic journals established in 1999


title: Canberra MRT station

text:
Canberra MRT station is an elevated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North South line, located along Canberra Link at the junction with Canberra Way in Sembawang, Singapore. It is the second infill station on the MRT network (after Dover MRT station), and the first in Singapore with a platform linked directly to an overhead bridge at the same level. With several green features included in the station during construction, it was also the first MRT station to be awarded Platinum for the Building and Construction Authority's Green Mark for Transit Stations, as a result of the construction team's efforts to integrate landscaping and using eco-friendly materials in the construction of the station.

The station was announced following a successful feasibility study conducted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) after the idea of a new MRT station between the Sembawang and Yishun MRT stations was raised in the 2013 Land Transport Master Plan. Construction started in April 2015, and it opened on 2 November 2019. The mall opposite the station, Canberra Plaza, opened on 18 December 2020.

History

Planning

The North South line, Singapore's first MRT line, opened in stages in 1987. The stations from Yew Tee to Sembawang were later opened in 1996 as part of the Woodlands Extension, with missing station codes NS6 and NS12 reserved for future stations along the line.

Both the Land Transport Master Plan 2013 (launched by then-Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew in October) and the Draft Master Plan 2013 (unveiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority during a public exhibition in November) mentioned the possible addition of a new MRT station between Sembawang and Yishun stations. After a year of review, the Draft Master Plan 2013 was officially gazetted to become the Master Plan 2014 in June of that year.

Between January 2013 and June 2014, in response to these master plans, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) started feasibility studies for a new station between Sembawang and Yishun stations in tandem with developments in the northern part of Singapore. Minister Lui concluded that the station could be built, and on 1 August that year, Canberra station was officially announced by the LTA.

Construction

The estimated cost for the entire station was . On 27 April 2015, LTA awarded Contract 158 to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (Singapore Branch) for the design and construction of Canberra Station at a contract sum of S$90 million (US$ million).

Heavy construction work began on 26 March 2016, following the fatal Pasir Ris rail accident on 22 March where two SMRT maintenance workers were killed by an incoming train while performing maintenance on the tracks. This tragedy shined a spotlight on the need for safety for all rail operations involving workers working close to an operational line. As a result of the accident, LTA and SMRT implemented several measures to improve safety such as limiting major work to non-service hours, sheltering the tracks with a temporary enclosure during the roof's construction and creating a full-scale mock-up of the station structure and roof to determine the safest method of construction.

By September 2017, the station was 40% complete, with its deep foundation works in place and construction proceeding to the next stage where platform slabs were cast. By May 2018, the station was 55% complete, with most of its roof structure in place. Between 18 and 20 May 2019, a  rail crossover track was constructed at the northern end of Canberra station to connect the two tracks. The crossover track was built partly to reduce the impact of future rail disruption, such as the power outage that occurred on 7 July 2015, by allowing trains to switch to the unaffected track using the crossover.

During a visit to the station's construction site on 20 May 2019, Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan announced that the station would open on 2 November that year. A day before its opening, the station has an official opening ceremony by Khaw.

Station details

Canberra station is located in the eastern part of Sembawang, next to the residential town of Yishun and near Sungei Simpang Kiri river. An estimated 17,000 households are expected to benefit from the station. The station takes its name from Canberra Link, the road beside which it is located. This road is named after Canberra, the capital of Australia. The station serves the North South line, and is situated between the Sembawang and Yishun stations. The official station code is NS12.

The station is linked to Canberra Plaza, a three-story shopping mall project by the HDB as part of a mixed-use transit-oriented development, via an elevated sheltered footbridge built across Canberra Link.

DP Architects and KTP Consultants (the latter of which is now a subsidiary of Surbana Jurong) designed the station with a nautical theme; thus, the station is shaped like a ship when viewed from the outside. This design was inspired by Sembawang's historical role as a British naval base. The station's roof is modelled after wind blades to convey the speed of Singapore's public transportation. The sides of the station were constructed using glass rather than concrete to allow natural light to enter. Louvers were installed to provide ventilation. For the construction team's efforts to integrate landscaping and the use of eco-friendly materials, the station was awarded a Platinum certification under the Building and Construction Authority's new Green Mark scheme for transit stations. Canberra station is the first MRT station to attain such a rating.

The artwork in the station, Symbiosis, was painted by Singaporean artist Tan Zi Xi. It aims to emphasise the symbiotic relationship between flora and fauna. Residents and stakeholders from the nearby Sembawang Group Representation Constituency contributed to the artwork by drawing imaginative plants and animals after a workshop that involved a nature walk. Tan developed her drawings further to suit the lively design of the station.

The station has five entrances. Four of these are connected by covered pathways to a pair of bus stops, two passenger drop off and pick-up points and parking for over 500 bicycles. The fifth is a sheltered footbridge built across Canberra Link which allows passengers to bypass the concourse level and access the Marina South Pier-bound (city-bound) platform directly.

References

External links

Canberra Station (Land Transport Authority site on Canberra MRT station)

Railway stations in Singapore opened in 2019
Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations
Sembawang


title: Cosima De Vito

text:
Cosima De Vito (born 1 November 1976), also known as Cosima, is an Australian pop and R&B singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Perth, Western Australia, she is best known for her cover of the classic Australian hit "When the War Is Over" (2004) which reached No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Her passion and love for the music industry stemmed from her influential grandfather, who was a gifted Italian tenor. From a young age, Cosima has performed, winning her first talent quest at the young age of 9. In 2003 Cosima appeared on the first season of Australian Idol. After reaching the semi-finals, Cosima had to withdraw from the series due to throat nodules.

During the Australian Idol series, Cosima released her first single "When the War Is Over" and was the first independent artist to reach a platinum certification; whilst being No. 1 on the ARIA charts. Following on from her awards, Cosima went on to record and produce in Los Angeles with the renowned Grammy and Golden Globe award winner Diane Warren. On 11 October 2004, Cosima released her self-titled debut album which similarly hit No. 2 on the ARIA charts. The album was certified gold on release as it also hit No. 1 on the independent charts. After showing no signs of deceleration, Cosima headed back to the studio to record her next offering This Is Now. Cosima wrote several tracks on her second album. In addition to her flourishing career as a singer-songwriter, Cosima starred in the musical "Hair" on its sold-out Australian tour. The young artist also performed on countless TV shows and at prestigious events, including the Prime Minister’s Parliament Gala Dinner, the televised Dream Foundations Gala Dinner in Los Angeles, and Channel 7’s iconic Carols by Candlelight.

After being voted best new artist for Pop Republic magazine, Cosima launched her hit single “Right Here, Right Now” on Channel 10, with a live performance in October 2012. Her rendition of the classic "O Holy Night" was in high demand over the 2012 Christmas season, as she performed the single at multiple national Christmas events. Following a number of tours, live performances, festivals, and dance parties, Cosima toured the country performing shows with her band. She was invited to perform the national anthem on various occasions for major sporting events including; the Melbourne Cup, State Of Origin, Fox Sports, and the NBL All-Stars game.

On 5 November 2013, Cosima celebrated over a decade in the music industry by producing the new single, “Beyond The Horizon”. In addition, she also secured yet another nomination for female artist of the year. The single came from her evolving album, “Power of Love” which officially released in 2017. The album was inspired by her personal journey to find love, as she married Gus De Romanis in July 2015.

Early years
Cosima De Vito was born on 1 November 1976 and grew up in Hamilton Hill, a suburb of Perth. Her father, Carlo De Vito, is an Italian-born house painter and contractor and her mother, Maria, is a partner in the family business. De Vito's grandfather was an Italian tenor who sang Neapolitan folk songs and opera. In 2006, De Vito's younger brother, Modesto (born ca 1980), joined his parents' firm as a painter, their younger sister is Sarina (born ca 1985). De Vito entered various talent contests while in primary school – at the age of nine she won a competition. She cited Whitney Houston, Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner and Karen Carpenter as being major influences on her personal style. She attended Murdoch University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree – major in finance and banking. Turning to a career in entertainment, De Vito made contact with talent agents who enabled her to travel to Nashville, Tennessee, USA in 2001 to record a demo tape and discuss a recording deal but was turned down because of a lack of an Australian fan base. During 2003 De Vito worked as an office administrator in a Perth publicity and conference business.

Career

2003: Australian Idol

In May 2003, Cosima De Vito successfully auditioned for the first season of TV talent quest series, Australian Idol, with a performance of Celine Dion's "I Surrender". From July to November she appeared on the weekly televised episodes and moved to Sydney that year, she entered as one of the judges' wild card choices. De Vito finished in third position after having to withdraw from the competition due to a diagnosis of throat nodules when she lost her voice singing "River Deep – Mountain High". Idol judge, Ian Dickson, claimed that she would have won. However, following medical advice, she withdrew from the competition and underwent speech therapy allowing fellow contestant Shannon Noll to join Guy Sebastian in the series grand final. According to opera singer and music teacher, Juliette Hughes, in The Age, De Vito and other contestants:

Timeline of De Vito on the series:

2004: Cosima

After recovery from her throat nodules, Cosima De Vito was unable to negotiate a suitable record deal and funded her own label, (CDV Records) with the financial help of her family. Her managers, Constantine Nellis and Ted Gardner, "took on the singer after she was widely shunned by local record companies". For her independent album, Cosima, she flew to Los Angeles to have ten of its eleven tracks penned by Diane Warren (Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, and Aerosmith) who commented "When I heard her sing I was blown away ... Cosima is a younger, edgier Celine Dion". On 9 August 2004 Cosima's first single, the double A-sided, "When the War Is Over" / "One Night Without You", was released. "When the War Is Over" is a cover of a Cold Chisel ballad and "One Night Without Your" was one of Warren's tracks. It debuted at No. 1 in the ARIA Singles Chart ahead of fellow Australian Idol Paulini's "Angel Eyes" and Australian singer-songwriter, Missy Higgins' "Scar" (both had reached No. 1 earlier). The single was certified platinum by ARIA for shipment of 70,000 units by December 2004. An alternate version of the song, with production similar to her live idol performance, was recorded before working with Diane Warren. This version was not released as the overall sound was different from the rest of the album and so a new version (which was later released as the single) was recorded. On 11 October 2004 her self-titled debut album, Cosima, was released. It debut at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the Independent charts. While it was certified gold, for shipment of 35,000 units by ARIA, it quickly left the Top 50 after spending only a few weeks in the charts.

On a 2004 episode of A Current Affair, De Vito was shown writing and recording new material with Warren in Los Angeles. De Vito expressed her disappointment at media reports that declared the throat nodule incident was a publicity stunt. In 2004 Cosima performed "When the War Is Over" on Dancing with the Stars and "Cost of Love" on the Kerri-Anne show; she guested on Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton and performed "When the War Is Over" and "Now That You Can't Have Me". In May that year De Vito was invited to perform at the 30th Anniversary Gala Dinner for then-Prime Minister, John Howard. In December, she released her second single, "Now That You Can't Have Me", which peaked at No. 42. The video for the single was initially popular on Australian music shows such as Video Hits. There were distribution problems and lack of radio airplay. On 23 December, De Vito parted ways with her management team, Nellis and Gardner, who had guided her since the end of Australian Idol. The parties were in dispute over A$500,000, that her managers alleged they were owed. A third single, "Cost of Love" was in the works, with video clip ideas being drawn up. De Vito had extra production work done on the album version – more guitar, heavier drums and re-recorded vocals. Due to legal battles with her previous management, the third single was dropped.

2005–2008: This Is Now
By March 2005, Cosima De Vito had signed a management deal with Dorry Kordahi of DK Management. According to De Vito, there were still things to be sorted out with her previous management, but she was confident they would turn out well. However, negotiations failed and, from November 2007, Nellis and Gardner appeared in court suing for "breach of contract, claiming lost earnings" while De Vito counter claimed that "the management team were 'negligent' in guiding her career". Since early 2005 De Vito had been in the studio working on her second studio album, This Is Now. During an interview at the ARIA Number One Chart Awards in 2005, she said "I may do it independently, or I may go with a record label. We'll see what happens". On 29 September 2007 the album was released. On it De Vito wrote tracks for the first time; some of which are deeply personal as well as an indication of who she is as an artist. Johann Huang of Mediasearch found "the strongest tracks on the album seem to be the songs Cosima had a hand in writing". One of her self-penned tracks, "Forever Young", was dedicated to her mother.

In October 2005, De Vito previewed some new tracks as support act for United Kingdom soul singer, Roachford on his Australian tour. On 19 March 2006, she appeared in Channel Ten's celebrity quiz show, Australia's Brainiest Musician. During June and July, she completed a national tour with Greek singer, Demis Roussos. De Vito appeared at the Sydney Ferragasto Festival and the Soul Divas show at the Basement in Sydney. On 26 September, De Vito was on 2Day FM breakfast radio's The Kyle and Jackie O Show as the secret celebrity on their "Where Are They Now?" segment. In October, her management announced that her debut single, "When the War Is Over" had re-entered the Australian Independent Charts at No. 11, more than 2 years after it debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Charts. On 25 November, Cosima headlined at opening of the NBL All Star Game in Adelaide. She sang songs from her new album as well as the national anthem, which was broadcast on FOX Sports.

On 26 January 2007, De Vito headlined a concert at South Juniors Football Club. On 11 February, she sang the national anthem at the Australia vs England Cricket final at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of 40,000 spectators. Lead single from the album, "Keep It Natural", released on 2 June, showed a rockier edge to her previous works and was written by De Vito and Trevor Steel (singer-songwriter for The Escape Club); it became popular at gay nightclubs across Australia. On 22 February, she debuted "Keep It Natural" at the half time entertainment for the NBL's Sydney Kings v Brisbane Bullets game at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The album did not chart on the Australian ARIA charts. In October the second single, "Movin' On", also failed to chart despite positive reviews. She appeared on Kerri-Anne and performed "Keep It Natural", as well as on Channel 9's Today Show and the Morning Show hosted by Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur. De Vito has been a regular guest on the Susie Show where she performed the track "Never Be a Woman in Chains" and displayed her heritage when she cooked an Italian dish. "Keep It Natural" peaked at No. 30 on the ARIA Club Charts and No. 3 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart and No. 112 on the ARIA Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Independent Charts also for 8 weeks. In May, De Vito performed the role of Mother Nature in the Perth production of the rock musical, Hair, to critical acclaim with Rob Mills, Cle Wotton and Nikki Webster. This production was directed by Chris Kabay with musically director, Simon Holt, of Yellow Glass Theatre. Jessica Clayden of the 3rd Degree website approved of the former Australian Idol contestants, "De Vito and Wooten shine during their musical numbers and leave the audience wanting to hear more, so much so that you find yourself looking to the on stage balcony to wait for Cosima to appear and belt out another tune. Her rendition of 'Aquarius' will send chills down your spine". In October she launched her album at the Sleaze Ball as the headlining act.

De Vito shot a video for "Movin' On", which was premiered on music video programs in Australia. It was released in October and was placed on Joy FM's latest Album Volume 5 alongside tracks from Australian Idols Marcia Hines (judge) and Ricki Lee Coulter (contestant). In March 2008 De Vito headlined Gay Fair Day in Sydney. This Is Now includes "Never Be a Woman in Chains"; and "Left Waiting" written by the Veronicas. De Vito travelled to Melbourne for World Aids Day. In July, in Brisbane she undertook an "up close and personal" video documentary leading up to a live stage performance at The Beat Megaclub for a DVD release. Christian Bowman and Shane Tyler Greaves from Stage Addiction worked with De Vito to produce the film. In August De Vito appeared as a guest on Channel 9's This Is Your Life to pay tribute to fellow Australian Idol contestant, Shannon Noll. She appeared with 2003 winner, Guy Sebastian, where it was revealed that her withdrawal from the competition gave the green light for Noll to compete against Sebastian in the grand final.

2009–present: later events
By April 2009 Cosima De Vito was a sponsor for Girls with a Purpose, a program by charity organisation, Lifehouse Project, to address issues of concern for 13- to 18-year-old girls: "body image, family conflict and coping with stress". In May De Vito lost her long running legal battle with former managers, Nellis and Gardner, and was ordered to pay Nellis $30,000, plus $7,000 legal fees. Supreme Court of New South Wales Justice Nigel Rein, ruled in the case, CN Presents Pty Ltd v De Vito [2009] NSWSC 388, that De Vito should pay Nellis and stated, "[i]t does seem his work was minimal but it was his idea and he prepared a budget or proposal". The claim of $500,000 for breach of management contract or lost royalties was denied. In June De Vito told New Ideas Jenny Brown, "It's been a huge challenge, emotionally and financially... I was very green. I had no idea how to put an album together, so I relied on my managers. I should have trusted my own instincts". During late 2009 to early 2010 she undertook a solo Tribute to the Divas show featuring work by Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Shirley Bassey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. De Vito has performed songs in Italian at festivals.

On 10 October 2012 Cosima released a new single "Right Here Right Now". It was produced by male and female DJ duo Tho$e Deejayz.
Additionally, on 1 December 2012 Cosima released a version of O Holy Night.

On 5 November 2013, and to celebrate 10 years since her Australian Idol appearance, DeVito released a cover of Donna Summers "Hot Stuff", a song she performed on the show.

In 2023, De Vito returned to the music industry, and collaborated with Greg Gould to release a cover of "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You".

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards
 Pop Republic: Best New Artist (2004)
 ARIA Number One Chart Awards (2005)

Notes

References

External links

1976 births
Australian singers of Italian descent
Australian Idol participants
Musicians from Perth, Western Australia
Living people
Vito, Cosima De
21st-century Australian singers
21st-century Australian women singers


title: Martha Dodray

text:
Martha Dodray is a  front-line polio worker from Indian state of Bihar. In 2013, she  was awarded a United Nations Foundation award for her work in protecting children from polio. She was invited for the Global Leadership Awards Dinner of 2013 hosted by the UN Foundation. Subsequently, in 2014 she was selected for the National Florence Nightingale Award in 2014.

References

living people
polio
social workers from Bihar
year of birth missing (living people)


title: Vicente Fernández discography

text:
The following is a chronologically-ordered list of commercially published recordings by the Mexican musician Vicente Fernández.

Compilations & live albums

2006 – The Living Legend (track listing for the boxed set edition)

External links

Discographies of Mexican artists
Regional Mexican music discographies


title: Changing Hands

text:
Changing Hands is a solo album by pianist Paul Bley recorded in 1991 and released on the Justin Time label.

Reception

The Allmusic site awarded the album 3 out of 5 stars.

Track listing
All compositions by Paul Bley except as indicated
 "Changing Hands" - 6:50
 "Juanita" - 7:58
 "Willow" - 6:37
 "Longer" - 9:29
 "Summertime" - 6:58
 "U-Nighted" - 6:58
 "Pleasing You" - 2:50

Personnel
 Paul Bley – piano

References

Justin Time Records albums
Paul Bley albums
Solo piano jazz albums
1991 albums


title: Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done

text:
"Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done" is the ninth episode of the second season, and the nineteenth episode overall, of the Canadian science fiction television series Orphan Black. It first aired in Canada on Space and the United States on BBC America on 14 June 2014. The episode was written by Alex Levine and directed by TJ Scott.

The series focuses on a number of identical human clones, all of whom are played by Tatiana Maslany: Sarah Manning, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Rachel Duncan, and Helena. In this episode, Sarah's daughter Kira (Skyler Wexler) undergoes bone marrow extraction to donate to Cosima in an attempt to cure Cosima's illness. Alison and her husband Donnie (Kristian Bruun) attempt to bury Dr. Aldous Leekie's body, while Helena attempts to escape from the ranch of the Proletheans, a religious extremist group.

"Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done" marked the first on-screen appearance of Kathryn Alexandre, who also works on the show as Maslany's "clone double" when filming scenes where multiple clones interact. The episode was filmed at various locations in Toronto and the title was taken from Francis Bacon's work Novum Organum. It was watched by 613,000 viewers in the United States and received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Plot
At the Dyad Institute, Rachel appoints Delphine Cormier (Evelyne Brochu) the interim director of the cloning program following the death of Dr. Aldous Leekie. Delphine meets with Sarah to ask if her young daughter, Kira, will donate her bone marrow to help cure Cosima's illness, and Kira agrees. Meanwhile, Cosima works with her lab assistant Scott (Josh Vokey) and Rachel's adoptive father Ethan (Andrew Gillies), a founder scientist of the cloning program, to find the genetic sequence that has caused her illness. Rachel, who is usually stoic, laughs and sobs whilst watching home videos of her childhood, lamenting her own infertility. Disguised as Sarah, she tricks her way into the pediatric clinic where Kira is recovering and sedates Sarah's foster brother Felix (Jordan Gavaris). She abducts Kira and takes her to a young girl's bedroom in the Dyad Institute, telling Kira that she "may even grow to like it here, just as I did".

After confessing that he accidentally murdered Dr. Leekie, Donnie Hendrix and his wife Alison decide to dispose of the dead body under the cement of their garage floor. They are interrupted by Vic (Michael Mando), whom Alison met in rehab and who is acting as an informant to Detective Angie DeAngelis (Inga Cadranel). Donnie threatens to shoot Vic, who confesses that Angie is parked nearby, before walking into Angie's van and threatening to destroy her career if she continues to stalk his family, taking a picture of her with Vic as blackmail. After burying Leekie's body and re-laying the cement, Alison confesses her sudden attraction to Donnie and they have sex in the garage.

At the ranch inhabited by the Proletheans, a religious extremist group, following her impregnation, Helena is introduced to the group's nursery where she bonds with a young girl. The Prolethean leader, Henrik Johanssen (Peter Outerbridge), impregnates his teenage daughter Gracie (Zoé de Grand'Maison) with his and Helena's embryos. Sharing their displeasure with what Henrik has done, Helena and Gracie decide to flee the ranch together, but are caught by Henrik as they are preparing to leave. Henrik's protégé and Gracie's lover, Mark (Ari Millen), arrives to defend Gracie. Mark and Gracie flee together as Helena attacks Henrik. Helena tortures Henrik with his own medical instruments before burning down the ranch and running away herself.

Production
Kathryn Alexandre appeared for the first time in this episode as Alexis, a Prolethean midwife. After working as a script reader during Orphan Black initial auditions, Alexandre began working as Maslany's "clone double": playing opposite Maslany in any scene when multiple clones interact and being replaced with Maslany in post-production. Fawcett and Manson had planned to cast Alexandre in her own role from the start of the show's second season, and had considered casting her as Gracie before deciding that, due to the amount of interaction between Gracie and Helena (played by Maslany), it would "turn into a mess if we cast her". They decided to find a smaller role for Alexandre and eventually settled on the part of Alexis.

The scenes in the Hendrixes' garage were filmed on a set; the set replicated the real garage of a house in Markham, Ontario which had been used for filming in the show's first season. The set was built  above the ground so that it could be excavated with a jackhammer on film. Bridgepoint Health Centre stood in as the clinic where Kira underwent bone marrow extraction, and was also used for exterior shots of the Dyad Institute. Scenes at Cosima's laboratory were filmed at the Don Jail, now an administrative facility connected to Bridgepoint. The montage of Rachel drinking martinis and watching home videos from her childhood was not originally included in the episode's script, nor was it filmed with the rest of the episode. According to Fawcett, when he and Manson viewed the final cut of the episode, they felt that something was missing from Rachel's subplot. Manson then scripted the short sequence and Fawcett filmed it over two days during the production of the next episode. Due to time constraints while filming the scene in which Helena tortures Henrik, the scene was shot with a handheld camera by the episode's director, TJ Scott, with Maslany and Outerbridge improvising the dialogue and use of props. The subsequent shot of the barn on fire was created by the visual effects company Intelligent Creatures. The title of the final two episodes, "Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done" and "By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried", are taken from a Francis Bacon quotation in his philosophical work Novum Organum: "It would be an unsound fancy and self-contradictory to expect that things which have never yet been done can be done except by means which have never yet been tried."

Reception
The episode was aired in the United States on 14 June 2014 on BBC America. It was watched by 613,000 viewers, with a Nielsen rating of 0.27 in the demographic of adults aged 18–49.

Matt Brennan of Slant Magazine summarised the episode as being "among the best hours of television I've seen so far this year" and an example of "unrelenting brilliance". He praised the exploration of Rachel's character and especially Maslany's "nothing short of masterful" performance in the role, and described the satire of suburbia presented through Alison and Donnie as "impeccably wry". Writing for The A.V. Club, Caroline Framke gave the episode an A− grade and found it much more focused and with more of an "emotional core" than the preceding episode. She highlighted the "gorgeous" cinematography, the chemistry between Maslany and Bruun as Alison and Donnie, and the "stunning" montage of Rachel's emotional breakdown. IGN's Eric Goldman has described the episode as a "very busy, very strong" episode and among the best of the season. He praised the "darkly funny" storyline involving Alison and Donnie, although he found the pacing of some of the subplots to be rushed.

Paste critic Mark Rozeman gave the episode a rating of 8.4 out of 10, commending Bruun's performance as Donnie and the "wonderful bit of Coen Brothers-esque dark comedy" provided by Alison's subplot. However, he criticised the predictability of the episode and opined that Kira's abduction by Rachel felt like a recycled plot point from the first season. Vlada Gelman gave the episode a mixed review for TVLine, writing that it was the first episode of the show's second season "that didn't quite work" and "it didn't have the momentum and progress you'd expect from a penultimate hour". Similarly, The New York Timess Adam W. Kepler opined that the episode displayed Orphan Black "finest qualities (strong characterisation, dark satire and shocking moments) and its worst (odd pacing and ropey plotting)". He enjoyed Alison and Donnie's comedic subplot and praised Maslany's performance as Rachel, but found the conclusion to Helena's storyline with the Proletheans "baffling" and "haphazard".

References

External links

2014 Canadian television episodes
Orphan Black episodes


title: 1915 in Japan

text:
Events in the year 1915 in Japan. It corresponds to Taishō 4 (大正4年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents
Emperor: Taishō
Prime Minister: Ōkuma Shigenobu

Governors
Aichi Prefecture: Matsui Shigeru
Akita Prefecture: Saburo Sakamoto
Aomori Prefecture: Matsujiro Obama
Ehime Prefecture: Renarto Fukamachi
Fukui Prefecture: Sato Kozaburo
Fukushima Prefecture: Ota Masahiro (until 1 April); Sukeji Horiguchi (starting 1 April)
Gifu Prefecture: Shimada Gotaro
Gunma Prefecture: Miyake Gennosuke
Hiroshima Prefecture: Terada Yushi
Hyogo Prefecture: Seino Chotarno (starting month unknown)
Ibaraki Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka
Ishikawa Prefecture: Kiichirō Kumagai then Ōta Masahiro
Iwate Prefecture: Rinpei Otsu
Kagawa Prefecture: Takeji Kawamura (until 9 January); Raizo Wakabayashi (starting 9 January)
Kanagawa Prefecture: Chūichi Ariyoshi (starting month unknown)
Kochi Prefecture: Toki Kahei
Kumamoto Prefecture: Kawakami Shinhare
Kyoto Prefecture: Shoichi Omori
Mie Prefecture: Eitaro Mabuchi
Miyagi Prefecture: Magoichi Tahara (until 12 August); Tsunenosuke Hamada (starting 12 August)
Miyazaki Prefecture: Tadakazu Ariyoshi (until 12 August); Shutaro Horiuchi (starting 12 August)
Nagano Prefecture: Yuichiro Chikaraishi (until 12 August); Tenta Akaboshi (starting 12 August)
Niigata Prefecture: Keisuke Sakanaka
Okinawa Prefecture: Kyūgorō Ōmi
Osaka Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
Saga Prefecture: Raizo Wakabayashi (until 8 January); Ishibashi Kazu (starting 8 January)
Saitama Prefecture: Akira Masaya
Shiname Prefecture: Ichiro Oriharami
Tochigi Prefecture: Shin Kitagawa
Tokyo: Kubota Kiyochika (until 2 July); Yuichi Ionue (until 2 July)
Toyama Prefecture: Tsunenosuke Hamada (until 12 August); Ki Masesaku (starting 12 August)
Yamagata Prefecture: Iwataro Odakiri

Events
 January 18 – Twenty-One Demands from Japan to China are made.
 March unknown date – A tool brand, Makita founded, as predecessor name was Makita Electronics Manufacturing.
 March 25 – 1915 Japanese general election: The Rikken Dōshikai party emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 153 of the 381 seats. The 381 members of the House of Representatives were elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. Voting was restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation.
May 18 – Toshiko, Princess Yasu, ninth daughter of Emperor Meiji, marries Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni
September 1 – Yokogawa Electric was founded.
November 10 – Enthronement of Taishō as the Emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Originally scheduled to be held in 1914 (Taisho 3, 大正3年), it was postponed for one year in April of the same year due to the death of Empress Shōken.
November Unknown date – Azuma Kogyo, as predecessor of Teijin, founded in Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture.
December 9–14 – Sankebetsu brown bear incident: was the worst bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.
Ōura scandal
Tapani incident
Ongoing – Japan during World War I

Births
January 4 – Michiko Kuwano, actress (d. 1946)
January 20 – Masanori Yusa, freestyle swimmer (d. 1975)
February 15 – Haruo Umezaki, writer (d. 1965)
February 20 – Takiko Mizunoe, actress, film producer, and radio and TV presenter (d. 2009)
February 28 – Nobuo Kojima, writer and author (d. 2006)
May 15 – Shozo Makino, swimmer (d. 1987)
October 17 – Taiji Tonoyama, actor (d. 1989)
November 20 – Kon Ichikawa, film director (d. 2008)
December 2 – Takahito, Prince Mikasa, youngest son of Emperor Taishō (d. 2016)
December 25 – Yumeko Aizome, actress

Deaths
January 12 – Arisaka Nariakira, Lieutenant general and inventor of the Arisaka rifle (b. 1852)
August 5 – Sakuma Samata, politician and Governor of Taiwan (b. 1844)
September 1 – Inoue Kaoru, politician (Genrō) (b. 1836)
September 4 – Goseda Yoshimatsu, artist (b. 1855)
September 26 – Tsuruko Haraguchi, psychologist and the first Japanese woman to receive a Doctor of Philosophy (b. 1886)
September 28 – Saitō Hajime, samurai of the late Edo period, captain of the third unit of the Shinsengumi (b. 1844)
November 28 – Kobayashi Kiyochika, ukiyo-e artist (b. 1847)

See also
List of Japanese films of the 1910s
Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I

References

1910s in Japan
1915 by country
Years of the 20th century in Japan
1915 in Asia


title: Aliyah O'Brien

text:
Aliyah O'Brien (born May 7, 1981) is a Canadian actress, best known for her television roles in the TV series Rookie Blue and Bates Motel and in the film Maximum Conviction.

Biography

Aliyah O'Brien was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and is of Irish, Spanish, and Welsh descent. She was actively involved in musical theatre while a student at Spectrum Secondary School. Her interest in kinesiology, however, led her to study it while attending Camosun College and landed her work as a personal trainer at Club Phoenix and the University of Victoria. Since graduation, she has traveled to 32 countries and describes herself as an "adrenaline junkie".

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links
Aliyah O'Brien Official Site

1981 births
21st-century Canadian actresses
Actresses from Victoria, British Columbia
Canadian film actresses
Canadian television actresses
Canadian people of Irish descent
Canadian people of Spanish descent
Canadian people of Welsh descent
Living people
Camosun College alumni


title: Nipster

text:
Nipster is a slang term used in Germany and the U.K. to refer to young neo-Nazis who have embraced aspects of hipster culture. Historically, German neo-Nazis promoted an ultra-masculine and extreme right-wing image, preferring short hair, violent imagery and combat gear—in keeping with the white power skinhead or casual subcultures—while rejecting most modern pop culture. This has changed, with young "" embracing causes such as animal rights and environmentalism alongside historically far right positions, including anti-immigration views. Nipsters, rather than rejecting modern pop culture, seek instead to appropriate it to promote neo-Nazi ideals. This has also been seen in the New Right and National Anarchism movements.

Rolling Stone magazine profiled Patrick Schroeder, one of the founders of the nipster movement, who said he desires to "give the German National Socialist movement a friendlier, hipper face". Schroeder says that neo-Nazis who can "live within the mainstream", such as nipsters, are "the future of the movement". Social networking websites like Tumblr frequently host nipster content. A video showing a young neo-Nazi dancing to the Harlem Shake gained over 17,000 views on YouTube between 2013 and 2014. There are also German neo-Nazi hip-hop and reggae bands.

Usage of term outside Germany

United Kingdom
British neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Action was said to have been a "mixture of hipsters and skinheads" prior to being proscribed. The National described the group as consisting of mostly middle-class, hipster fascists.

Other uses of the term
In 2011, three students founded the German online magazine Nipster, using the neologism to depict hipsters in the town of Nuremberg, not neo-Nazi hipsters. The online magazine has since folded.

See also
 Alt-right
 Autonome Nationalisten
 Culture jamming
 Ecofascism
 Hipster racism
 Jihad Cool
 Nazi punk
 Nazism
 Neo-fascism
 Pegida
 Thor Steinar
 Brenton Tarrant

References

External links
The hipster fascists trying to bring Mussolini back into the mainstream on YouTube
The 'Nipsters': NPD and neo-Nazis change their style

Alt-right
Neo-Nazism in Germany
Hipster (contemporary subculture)


title: Faults (film)

text:
Faults is a 2014 psychological thriller dark comedy film written and directed by Riley Stearns in his feature film debut. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, Beth Grant, Chris Ellis and Lance Reddick. The film premiered at the 2014 SXSW on March 9, 2014, and was picked up by Screen Media Films for theatrical release on March 6, 2015.

Plot
Ansel Roth, a writer and cult specialist, fraudulently uses an expired voucher to pay for a meal at a hotel restaurant and is forcibly removed when discovered. The hotel manager tells Roth that his speaking engagement is almost ready, but that his complimentary stay was for just last night; Roth steals towels and batteries as he checks out. His presentation on cults is interrupted by a heckler, who beats him up for his involvement in the suicide of a troubled woman, the man's sister, who had been involved with a cult. Evelyn and Paul approach Roth and request an autographed copy of his book for their daughter, Claire, who has become involved in Faults, a mysterious cult. Roth declines to become involved.

Mick, an employee of Roth's manager Terry, approaches Roth in the parking lot with a letter. Terry has dropped Roth as a client and wants Roth's debts paid back within a week. Evelyn and Paul again request his help, and he agrees to listen to them when they offer to buy him breakfast. Roth offers to deprogram Claire, a process that involves abducting her and confronting her with the truth about the cult. Roth hires two men to help him abduct Claire; one of them strikes her during the abduction. They take her to an isolated motel and prevent her from sleeping.

After paying the men, Roth begins the process of deprogramming. Excited that she is being cooperative, he lets Claire see her parents, who are in an adjoining room, then lets her sleep (to go from "feeling" while sleep-deprived to "thinking" when well-rested and awake). When questioned the next day, Claire reveals that Faults has taught her how she exists separately from her body, and that members of the group advance to successive levels; she explains that their leader, Ira, has evolved to its top level and is "no more." Paul becomes increasingly demanding and controlling of both the situation and his daughter, and becomes enraged when Roth mediates. The deprogramming is interrupted when Mick locates Roth and again demands payment. Roth requests half of his fee from Paul, who reluctantly agrees. Roth advises Paul and Evelyn to lock Claire in the bathroom overnight (he has moved the lock to the outside) to prevent her from escaping while he is gone.

Roth delivers partial payment to Terry, who berates him for being so submissive, strikes him with a paperweight, and demands the rest of the money in two days. Roth is surprised to find Claire unconscious outside the hotel room. When he brings her back inside, her parents say she was locked in the bathroom; Claire claims to have teleported herself using meditation techniques learned from the cult. Pressure mounts on Roth, who suffers from lack of sleep, physical abuse, and threats from everyone but Claire. She seduces him as he experiences a nervous breakdown. Afterward, Roth watches a videotape of his failed television show while Claire has sex with Paul in the background as Evelyn watches.

Roth wakes in his car. He rushes to the hotel room and finds Claire alone. Her parents have left, and she seems puzzled when Roth confusedly questions her about the videotape and her sexual encounter. Roth and Claire become accidentally trapped in the bathroom when the door closes and locks from the outside. As the phone rings, Roth becomes hysterical, knowing that it must be Terry. Claire then forces him to face his many failures, including his divorce and guilt over the girl's suicide. Roth admits he exploited her for his short-lived television series. While leading Roth in meditation, Claire breaks him and convinces him he has unlocked the bathroom door using his mind.

As they exit the bathroom, Mick enters the hotel room. Terry follows him there after he becomes impatient and is horrified to find Mick dead. Terry explains that Mick was just an actor hired to intimidate Roth. Roth beats Terry to death with his book as Claire observes. Claire, now in complete control, tells Roth to go wait in the car. Paul and Evelyn, hidden in the next room, then say they have murdered the man who struck her during her abduction, as Claire requested. They identify her as Ira, and she gives her thanks by kissing them on the lips and handing each a pill, which they swallow before lying down. When she joins Roth in the car, he apologizes for the door being broken. She tells Roth to not apologize for anything because they have each other and they are strong. When he asks where he is going, she replies, "Home".

Cast
Leland Orser as Ansel Roth
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Claire
Jon Gries as Terry
Lance Reddick as Mick
Beth Grant as Evelyn
Chris Ellis as Paul

Production
Stearns came up with the idea by being inspired and fascinated with the process of deprogramming that was introduced by Ted Patrick in mid-to-late 1970s. He also stated that the interest came when he watched an episode of Cops when he was a child, in which "a girl called the police and was like, 'I'm locked in this hotel room and they're not letting me out.' […] and the cops told her that her parents knew what was best and that she had to stay. And they left. And I was freaked out by that because even as a kid you realize there’s something weird about that – telling you that you have to stay in a place you don't want to be".

Stearns cited Paul Thomas Anderson's works, namely Punch-Drunk Love, The Coen Brothers' Fargo, Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth and Alps among the many works he was inspired by.

To prepare themselves for their roles, Winstead and Orser read the book Let Our Children Go by Ted Patrick and watched YouTube videos from that era of people in cults or people who had just gotten out of cults. They had both also created their own backstories for their characters based on Stearns' script. Winstead has repeatedly mentioned that Claire is her most challenging role to date. "I have to play a few different characters over the course of the film [and] I had to sort of really keep track from scene to scene to remind myself of where she was," Winstead says.

The film was shot in 18 days in the Los Angeles area (Long Beach and San Pedro).

Release
The film had its world premiere at the SXSW on March 9, 2014, followed by additional screenings on March 10, 12 and 13. It was also screened at the Maryland Film Festival on May 9 and May 10, as well as at the Fantasia Festival on July 18 and July 24. Faults screened at the London FrightFest Film Festival on August 24. The film played at the Australian Film Festival on August 16, and also at the AFI Fest from November 6 to 13.

On August 26, it was reported that Screen Media Films had picked up Faults for theatrical release on March 6, 2015 and to run on Video on demand.

Reception
Faults has received positive response since its release. Rotten Tomatoes has given Faults an approval score of 91% based on 32 select reviews. Many reviewers commended the film's off-kilter black comedy that underlies the plot; The Hollywood Reporter says, "Faults is not what it seems. Though a black-comic atmosphere persists, the debut feature is serious about manipulation and brainwashing, and a quietly commanding performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead helps establish that seriousness". In a 4.5/5 review, Bloody Disgusting calls it "a modern cult thriller [... that] manages to be laugh out loud funny in a manner that doesn't even come close to undercutting its central objective". IndieWires writeup that gives it a grade of B+ praises the film's cast, saying "Much of the odd comedic formula emerges from a pair of carefully orchestrated lead performances".

References

External links

2014 drama films
2014 films
2014 independent films
2014 black comedy films
American drama films
American black comedy films
Fictional cults
Films about cults
Films about writers
2014 directorial debut films
2014 comedy films
Films produced by Keith Calder
2010s English-language films
Films directed by Riley Stearns
2010s American films


title: Saviem JL

text:
The Saviem JL was a range of heavy/medium trucks manufactured by the French manufacturer Saviem, a subsidiary of Renault.

Characteristics
The Saviem JL range was based on the JL range from Somua. The JL was initially powered by engines from Alfa Romeo and other suppliers. In 1961, it adopted a revised front with double head lamps and was fitted with the Fulgur engines assembled at the Limoges factory, which would be part of Saviem.

In 1963, as part of Saviem's agreements, some JL models incorporated MAN engines, changing its denomination and forming the new JM range. The ones which preserved the Fulgur engines were renamed as S (S9). The JL denomination was still sporadically used afterwards.

Engines
The JL started using a variety of engines, including Renaults, Henschels and Alfa Romeos. In 1961 it standardised the use of two Fulgur diesel units of 4.8L and 6.8L with a power output of 100 bhp and 150 bhp respectively.

References and sources
 The entry incorporates text translated from the Saviem French entry.

Vehicles introduced in 1957
Saviem


title: Brett Milano

text:
Brett Milano (born 1957) is a Boston-based music critic and columnist. His fourth book, a biography of Game Theory's Scott Miller, was published in October 2015.

Music journalism and writing career
According to the Boston Globe, Milano is a veteran music critic whose 2007 book, The Sound of Our Town: A History of Boston Rock and Roll, "should be required reading for anyone interested in understanding Boston's unique contribution to rock 'n' roll."

Milano entered the Boston music scene in the 1980s as a music journalist. He was a long-time columnist for the Boston Phoenix, as well as the Boston Globe and Sound & Vision magazine. Milano has also written for publications such as Billboard, Pulse, and the College Media Journal. In 2013, he became the editor of OffBeat, where he has written about music since 2005.

Turning his hand to fiction, he is the author of two short stories anthologized in the 2011 and 2012 volumes of Tales from the House Band, a series of books edited by Deborah Grabien.

He has been interviewed in documentary films as an authority on rock music, and has written liner notes for albums by Todd Rundgren, the Cars, and the Smithereens. He compiled and annotated the 1993 Rhino Records CD release  D.I.Y.: Mass. Ave: The Boston Scene (1975–83), a compilation of Boston punk history.

Books

The Sound of Our Town
The Boston Globe wrote that Milano's book The Sound of Our Town (2007) depicts Boston's "diversity of scenes and attitudes, much of it driven by the constant influx of college students and transplants", creating a "healthy dissonance" that defined the Boston rock sound.

The book was written over the course of two years, though Milano had been collecting material for several years beforehand. Milano's approach to the problem of structuring the book to reflect the typical chaos of a local music scene was "to at least give a mention to every great band I could ... without making it just a laundry-list of bands," in an effort to "catch the spirit of the time and places, and tell some of the more important band histories, and have it flow as a story."

Scott Miller biography

Milano's biography of Scott Miller, Don't All Thank Me at Once: The Lost Genius of Scott Miller, was published in October 2015. Milano described the book as one that not only tells the story of Miller and his bands Game Theory and The Loud Family, but also explores "the college and indie-rock explosion of the 1980s and 1990s," and how some influential artists "managed to fall through the cracks."

In the aftermath of Miller's death in April 2013, Milano submitted an initial proposal for a book about the album Lolita Nation to Bloomsbury, the publishers of the 33⅓ book series. The series' editor rejected the topic as too non-commercial for that series, but provided "enough encouragement" that Milano decided to go further with the project, to write "a real proper biography, and try to get a handle on who Scott was and how that played into the music he made."

Explaining his motivations for writing the book, Milano stated, "Like a lot of people I was pretty shaken up by his sudden and self-inflicted death in 2013, and thought he should be honored in some way... there’s some earthshaking music here that I have to tell people about." Citing comparisons to Big Star and Nick Drake in a 2016 interview, Milano expressed his hopes and expectation that Miller's music will be rediscovered, bringing Miller "after-the-fact acclaim."

Early career and personal life
Milano attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts before relocating to Boston in 1980 and earning a graduate degree in journalism at Boston University. For three years in the early 1990s, he worked in Los Angeles doing A&R and publicity for Alias Records and Rhino Records. He also worked for Harmonix as a writer, editor, and researcher for its Rock Band video game.

Milano continues to live in the Boston area, and was married in 2013.

Since September 2016, Milano and Rocker Magazine editor-in-chief Erin Amar have co-hosted a monthly rock and roll trivia night at various venues in the Boston area.

Bibliography
Books:
 Boston Rock Trivia (1985) — with Clea Simon
 Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting (2003)
 The Sound of Our Town: A History of Boston Rock and Roll (2007)
 Don't All Thank Me at Once: The Lost Genius of Scott Miller (2015)

References

External links

 Brett Milano archive at the Boston Phoenix

Living people
1957 births
American music journalists
American music critics
Journalists from Boston


title: Backhousia tetraptera

text:
Backhousia tetraptera is a tree in the family Myrtaceae. The only known population occurs at the foot of Mount Stuart near Townsville in Queensland, Australia.

The species grows to between 5 and 12 metres high often with multiple trunks that have a mottled flaking bark including grey, grey-brown and/or pink colouration. The leaves are simple and opposite and are 5.5 to 9 cm long and 1.5 to 3.8 cm wide. The white flowers appear in clusters of 10 and have 56 to 65 stamens.
Flowering is induced by the first significant rainfall of the wet season, appearing four weeks later. The distinctive fruits are capsules with four wings that appear in clusters and fade from pink to white and dry to brown.

The species was formally described in 2012.

References

tetraptera
Trees of Australia
Myrtales of Australia
Flora of Queensland
Plants described in 2012
Taxa named by Betsy Rivers Jackes
Endemic flora of Australia


title: HFR

text:
HFR or Hfr may refer to:

 High frame rate, in motion pictures
 Hfr cell, or Hfr strain, a bacterium with a conjugative plasmid