title: Denis, son of Ampud

text:
Denis, son of Ampud, also Denis, son of Apod (; died 1236), was an influential baron in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 13th century. He was Master of the treasury between 1216 and 1224. He was also ispán of at least three counties.

Family
Denis was born into an influential noble family in the last decades of the 12th century. His paternal grandfather was Ampud I, a skilled military commander, who served as Ban of Slavonia and Palatine of Hungary during the reigns of kings Stephen III and Béla III. Denis was one of the three sons of Ampud II, who served as ispán of Szolnok County in 1199, and an unidentified daughter of Count Berthold III of Andechs, Margrave of Istria. It is plausible they belonged to the accompaniment of Duke Andrew in Croatia and Dalmatia, who ruled the province beyond the river Drava as a de facto sovereign monarch and constantly rebelled against his elder brother King Emeric of Hungary throughout the latter's reign.

Through the maternal lineage, Denis was the first cousin of Gertrude of Merania, a daughter of Berthold IV and spouse of Andrew, which laid the groundwork for the rapid and long-standing ascension for young Denis after Duke Andrew ascended the Hungarian throne in 1205. Denis had two brothers, Michael, who belonged to the rival baronial group centered around Duke Béla in the 1220s, and Lawrence, who held ispánates in Zagreb County, Slavonia around the same period, in the service of Duke Coloman.

Career

Master of the treasury
The early life and career of Denis is unknown, it is plausible that he was younger than Andrew for at least a decade and raised in the ducal court in Croatia and Dalmatia. He inherited the family possessions beyond the river Drava from his father. Denis was first mentioned in contemporary records in 1216, when he became Master of the treasury in the royal court of Andrew II, replacing Solomon Atyusz. He held the dignity for eight years until 1224, with a brief interruption during the movement of Golden Bull of 1222. Beside that, Denis also served as ispán of Újvár County (also Abaúj) from 1216 to 1219 and was the first known ispán of the neighboring Szepes County in 1216. Thereafter, he administered Bács County between 1220 and 1222. During his political career spanning two decades, Denis elevated to the staunchest confidant of Andrew's policy in Hungary, whose influence and career, depending on the balance of power between Andrew II and his eldest son Duke Béla – who had long opposed his father's rule –, were somewhat uplifting or diminishing.

Since the beginning of his rule, Andrew II introduced a new policy for royal grants, which he called "new institutions" in one of his charters. This new phenomenon altered the relations between the monarchs and the Hungarian lords. When Denis was installed as Master of the treasury in 1215 or 1216, he became a key figure of Andrew's economic policy, according to historian Bálint Hóman. During his term of office, the position of Master of the treasury became a permanent dignity with defined and circumscribed jurisdiction, elevating to the grand officers of the realm. In this capacity, Denis was responsible for the administration of the royal chamber. However, by that time, royal revenues had significantly diminished, because Andrew distributed large portions of the royal domain – royal castles and all estates attached to them – as inheritable grants to his supporters in the previous decade, declaring that "the best measure of a royal grant is its being immeasurable." To eliminate this, it was justified to reform the economy of the kingdom and adaptation of a new economic policy, which was the first such large-scale mutation in Hungary. Upon the advice of Denis, Andrew II imposed new taxes (for instance, annual extraordinary tax) and farmed out royal income from minting, salt trade and custom duties – even eligible for Jews and Muslims. The yearly exchange of coins also produced more revenue for the royal chamber. Beside the royal mintage in Esztergom, Andrew and Denis had established royal mints throughout the kingdom (for instance, in Buda, Csanád, Syrmia and Zagreb) in the upcoming years, decentralizing the royal coinage. However, these measures provoked discontent in Hungary, whereas it has created a contradiction between the beneficiaries of the new measures and the internal opposition which centered around Duke Béla. With the establishment of the new organization, the powers of the Master of the treasury necessarily expanded, who was first the royal treasurer guarding the crop income of royal private farms accumulated in warehouses. Now the center of gravity of the royal household shifts from dominions to jura regalia, and Denis transformed the system of royal economy from one based on crop management to one based on monetary income, its powers are gradually extended to the whole field of financial administration and the chief executive officer rises to the rank of a national office of a purely financial nature, according to Bálint Hóman.

Denis participated in the Fifth Crusade under the command of Andrew II between summer 1217 and early 1218, along with several Hungarian magnates and prelates, for instance Ladislaus Kán and Demetrius Csák. Crossing the Jordan River, Denis led the Hungarian contingent within the crusade army in order to besiege and capture the fortress of Al-Adil I at Mount Tabor in November–December 1217, while Andrew II stayed away from the military conflict and collected Christian relics. Thereafter, Denis and his Hungarian troops participated in the skirmishes at the Anti-Lebanon Mountains against the Ayyubids at the turn of 1217 and 1218. In his contemporary work, Arab historian Abu Shama mistakenly referred to Denis as Andrew's nephew ("the son of the king's sister"), while the Estoire d'Eracles described him as a "rich man". Andrew II decided to return Hungary at the very beginning of 1218, and Denis and the majority of the Hungarian contingent accompanied him.

When they returned to Hungary, Andrew was in massive debt because of his crusade, which forced him to impose extraordinarily high taxes and debase coinage, which measures Denis directed. The continuous employment of Jews and Muslims to administer royal revenues also caused a discord between Andrew and the Holy See starting in the early 1220s. The royal servants – who were landowners directly subject to the monarch's power and obliged to fight in the royal army – assembled, forcing Andrew to dismiss Julius Kán, Denis and his other officials in the first half of 1222. Andrew was also forced to issue a royal charter, the Golden Bull of 1222, which summarized the liberties of the royal servants. Few months later, the Golden Bull movement failed and Andrew restored his confidants to their formerly deprived positions, including Denis, already in the second half of the year. Denis retained his dignity of Master of the treasury until 1224. After Duke Coloman and his wife settled in Szepes (Spiš) region in 1222, near the Hungarian–Galician border, Andrew entrusted Denis to support him politically (it is possible he still held the dignity of ispán in the county, but there is no source for that). There, Denis had plausibly received estates in the region, Vidernik and Savnik (present-day Vydrník and Spišský Štiavnik in Slovakia, respectively). Denis established the Cistercian abbey of Szepes (or Savnik) with the consent and support of Coloman in 1223. He invited Cistercian friars from Wąchock Abbey in the Kingdom of Poland in order to settle in the newly erected monastery. Sometime later, the monastery was put under direct royal patronage.

Palatine of Hungary
Denis was replaced as Master of the treasury by Denis Tomaj for unknown reasons in 1224. He was appointed Palatine of Hungary (), the most prestigious secular dignity in the kingdom, by Andrew II in 1227. Denis was the only known palatine during the reign of Andrew II, who did not hold any ispánate beside his dignity. During his first term as palatine, Denis entered into a conflict of jurisdiction with the church in many cases. According to Archbishop Robert of Esztergom, when listed his "sins" years later (in 1232, see below), Denis not only deprived many clerics of their revenues and office, but he had also beaten and treated them with disgrace; made several forms of domination on the provost and parish priest of Szepes; and even slapped John, the provost of Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia) in his face. Because of his anti-church violations, even Uros, the abbot of Pannonhalma did not take his legal affairs to the palatinal court, despite his earlier and later habits in this context. Similarly to his contemporaries, Denis had no permanent palatinal court. During his first term (1227–1228), he judged over lawsuits throughout the kingdom, for instance in Somogy, Nógrád, Baranya (beyond the Drava) and Požega counties according to the surviving documents. Andrew II sent Denis on a diplomatic mission to the Bulgarian Empire in 1227, visiting the court of Tsar Ivan Asen II, Andrew's son-in-law. Denis' seal was preserved by an undated charter which is currently kept in the Heiligenkreuz Abbey. It depicts two opposing ascending dragons in a blazon with the circumscription "Sigillum Dionysii palatini".

By 1228, Duke Béla's supporters took power in the royal council after another wave of dissatisfaction. Andrew was forced to authorize his son to revise his previous land grants throughout Hungary. As Palatine, Denis directed the restitution of the Pecheneg lands; he fulfilled his compulsory official duty by "taking back, by the order of the king, all the alienated Pecheneg lands". Historian Attila Zsoldos, however, connected this data to Denis's second term as palatine in the years 1233–1234. Still in that year (1228), Denis was dismissed from his position and replaced by Mojs, a confidant of Duke Béla.

Three years later, Denis was restored to his position in 1231, which indicated that by conducting possession inspections the king intended to return to his old policy. Around that time, Archbishop Robert made a complaint about Andrew to the Roman Curia, because the king continued to employ Jews and Muslims despite his former conflict with the Holy See over the issue. Pope Gregory IX authorized the archbishop to perform acts of religious censure to persuade Andrew to dismiss his non-Christian officials. Under duress, Andrew issued a new Golden Bull in 1231, which confirmed that Muslims were banned from employment, and empowered the Archbishop of Esztergom to excommunicate the king if he failed to honor the provisions of the new Golden Bull. The document also determined the jurisdiction of the dignity of palatine: "[...] And the palatine should judge all men without distinction, except ecclesiastical persons and clergy, as well as matrimonial and religious matters and other ecclesiastical [related] matters, which at any address appear to be subject to ecclesiastical investigation." Historian Tibor Szőcs considers the emphasis on this was perhaps a kind of "lex Dionisii" because of Denis' previous conflicts with the church administration. During his second term as palatine, Denis usually judged over lawsuits in Transdanubia, for instance Nyitra, Pest, Sopron, Moson and Zala counties. Altogether five palatinal charters issued by Denis were preserved from the time of his two terms (there are four other diplomas issued in 1234 and 1235, but it cannot be decided whether they can be linked to the activity of Denis or his successor of the same forename).

Although Andrew pledged to respect the privileges of the clergymen and to dismiss his non-Christian officials in his Golden Bull, he never fulfilled the latter promise. Therefore, Archbishop Robert excommunicated Palatine Denis and other royal advisors (e.g. Master of the treasury Nicholas – a confidant of Denis – and a certain chamberlain Samuel of "Saracen" origin) and put Hungary under an interdict on 25 February 1232, because the employment of Jews and Muslims continued despite the Golden Bull of 1231. According to Robert, Denis "wickedly advocated and defended Saracens and false Christians", while himself committed crimes against the church too. Since the archbishop accused the Muslims of persuading Andrew to seize church property, Andrew restored properties to the archbishop. Berend says Robert bemoaned the situation of the Catholic Church in the realm, as several clergymen lost their offices due to the presence of non-Christian financial experts. Denis was a member of that three-member diplomatic delegation – together with Simon Nagymartoni and Rembald de Voczon – to the Holy See, which the king sent for a peaceful reconciliation and to complain Robert's activity. Pope Gregory sought an agreement and persuaded Robert to suspend the interdict. Upon Andrew's demand, he sent Cardinal Giacomo di Pecorari as his legate to Hungary and promised that nobody would be excommunicated without the pope's special authorization. On 20 August 1233, in the forests of Bereg, Andrew II vowed in the presence of Giacomo di Pecorari and Bartholomew of Veszprém that he would not employ Jews and Muslims to administrate royal revenues, and would pay 10,000 marks as compensation for usurped Church revenues. The papal legate expressly required that Denis also swear at the agreement in the forest of Bereg.

Dismissal and death

Duke Béla had practically taken control of the country before the death of his ailing father. Sometime at the turn of 1234 and 1235, Denis was succeeded as Palatine of Hungary by Denis Tomaj, a supporter of the duke. Andrew II died on 21 September 1235. Béla, who succeeded his father without opposition, was crowned king by Archbishop Robert in Székesfehérvár on 14 October. Immediately after his coronation, Béla IV dismissed and punished many of his late father's closest advisors. For instance, he had Denis blinded and Julius Kán imprisoned, according to the contemporaneous Roger of Torre Maggiore's Carmen Miserabile. According to a charter of Béla IV, Denis was convicted for "spoiling the realm and disloyalty". His successor, Denis Tomaj claimed his predecessor proved to be an "unjust judge", which resulted his conviction. Denis was also accused by Béla IV and his brother Duke Coloman of having, in King Andrew's life, an adulterous liaison with Queen Beatrix, the king's young widow. Béla ordered her imprisonment, but she managed to escape to the Holy Roman Empire, where she gave birth to a posthumous son, Stephen in 1236. Béla and Coloman considered her son a bastard, who conceived from an adulterous relationship between Palatine Denis and Queen Beatrix. Stephen was father of Andrew III, the last monarch of the Árpád dynasty. The blinded Denis died in prison custody in 1236. Béla IV donated Denis' formerly confiscated estate Borica in Syrmia to the Cistercian friars of Bélakút Abbey (near present-day Petrovaradin, Serbia) in June 1237.

Despite that, historian Mór Wertner considered Denis survived his punishment and escorted his "relative" Violant (Andrew's youngest daughter) to the Kingdom of Aragon in 1235, where she became the queen consort of King James I of Aragon. According to Wertner, Denis fought in the siege of Valencia during the Reconquista, and was progenitor of the influential Dionisii noble family in Aragon. However, this count Denis was alive even in 1268, which is made impossible to identify him with Denis, son of Ampud. Therefore, historian Szabolcs de Vajay claimed Denis had a namesake son, who served as ispán of Szepes County like his father. Accordingly, he expatriated to Aragon with his queen in 1235, after his father became a victim of King Béla's political purges. This "Comes Dionysius" was referred to as Queen Violant's relative () in contemporary Aragonese documents. He led an advance force during the siege of Valencia in 1238. He was granted landholdings by James I in the city. He died sometime between 1268 and 1272. He was ancestor of the Dionisii family, which became extinct in 1974. In his 2018 study, historian Dániel Bácsatyai disputed the above identification. A certain cleric Charles, who attended the University of Bologna, was referred to as a nephew of Cardinal Stephen Báncsa in 1264, then a son of "Count Denis of Hungary" in 1269. Consequently, Bácsatyai considered this Denis belonged to the gens (clan) Báncsa and was not related to Denis, son of Ampud. He argued the inscription in the tombstone of his daughter Elizabeth, where Denis was styled as "comes de Cepeз" is not necessarily identifiable with Szepes County.

References

Sources

Primary sources

 Master Roger's Epistle to the Sorrowful Lament upon the Destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Tatars (Translated and Annotated by János M. Bak and Martyn Rady) (2010). In: Rady, Martyn; Veszprémy, László; Bak, János M. (2010); Anonymus and Master Roger; CEU Press; .

Secondary sources

}

1236 deaths
Palatines of Hungary
Masters of the treasury (Kingdom of Hungary)
Year of birth unknown
Hungarian people who died in prison custody
Blind royalty and nobility
12th-century Hungarian people
13th-century Hungarian people
People temporarily excommunicated by the Catholic Church
Christians of the Fifth Crusade
Denis 01


title: Orient–Fosterville Border Crossing

text:
The Orient–Fosterville Border Crossing is an international border crossing between the towns of Orient, Maine, United States and Fosterville, New Brunswick, Canada on the Canada–US border.  At this crossing, the United States is still operating the original border station built in 1937, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.  Canada built its current border station in 1986.  This section of the border is a series of lakes and streams that supply the St Croix River.  The original bridge connecting Orient with Fosterville was said to be the shortest international bridge between the US and Canada.

Canadian facilities

The Canadian government built a border station here in about 1930.  The current station was built in 1986.

The Canadian station handles about 30 cars every day.

United States facilities

The United States facility is located on the north side of Boundary Road.  The main building is a -story brick-faced Colonial Revival structure, with a side-gable roof and a projecting one-lane hip-roofed porte-cochere.  The porte-cochere is supported by Classical Revival squared columns, with matching pilasters at the building front.  Stylistically similar wood-frame single-story wings extend the building to either side; that on the left houses restrooms, that on the right offices.  The interior of the main building is symmetrically organized, with customs on one side and immigration on the other.  A small garage, dating to the same period as the main building, stands to the northwest.

Prior to the construction of this station, customs and immigration formalities would have taken place in the nearest town.  With the advent of increased automobile traffic in the 1920s, as well as the need to interdict the movement of contraband liquor due to Prohibition, the federal government realized the need for border stations where immigration formalities and vehicle inspections could be performed close to the border, and consequently planned the construction of a series of such stations.  This building, built in 1937, is the least-altered of Maine's surviving early border stations.  It was built to a standard "Type 1" plan, one of three built on the Canada–US border, and is the only one of those still in use in Maine. Others of this style are still in operation in other states, including Morses Line, Vermont, and Alburg Springs, Vermont.

See also
 List of Canada–United States border crossings
 National Register of Historic Places listings in Aroostook County, Maine

References

Canada–United States border crossings
Transportation buildings and structures in Aroostook County, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Transport in York County, New Brunswick
Buildings and structures in York County, New Brunswick
National Register of Historic Places in Aroostook County, Maine
1930 establishments in Maine
1930 establishments in New Brunswick


The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired is the oldest operational organization in the United States that serves blind adults and elders. Headquartered in Brookline, Massachusetts, Helen Keller, Julia Ward Howe, and Edward Everett Hale have all served on their board. In the 1970s, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Foundation helped the organization create some of the state's first community-based residential and vocational programs for adults with developmental disabilities.

References

External links

Blindness organizations in the United States
Brookline, Massachusetts
Non-profit organizations based in Massachusetts


title: Frost's arboreal alligator lizard

text:
Frost's arboreal alligator lizard (Abronia frosti) is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae. The species is endemic to Guatemala in Central America.

Etymology
The specific name, frosti, is in honor of American herpetologist Darrell R. Frost.

Geographic range
A. frosti is found in one isolated location in Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala.

Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of A. frosti, is forest, an altitudes of .

Description
A. frosti can be distinguished from all other Guatemalan species of Abronia by its lack of protuberant supra-aurical spines.

Reproduction
A. frosti is ovoviviparous.

References

Further reading
Ariano-Sánchez D, Torres-Almazán M, Urbina-Aguilar A (2011). "Rediscovery of Abronia frosti (Sauria: Anguidae) from a Cloud Forest in Cuchumatanes Highlands in Northwestern Guatemala: Habitat Characterization and Conservation Status". Herpetological Review 42 (2): 196–198.
Campbell JA, Sasa M, Acevedo M, Mendelson JR III (1998). "A new species of Abronia (Squamata: Anguidae) from the High Chuchumatanes of Guatemala". Herpetologica 54 (2): 221–234. (Abronia frosti, new species).
Köhler G (2000). Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas. Band 1. Krokodile, Schildkröen, Echsen. Offenbach, Germany: Herpeton Verlag. 158 pp. . (Abronia frosti, p. 38). (in German).

Abronia
Endemic fauna of Guatemala
Reptiles of Guatemala
Reptiles described in 1998
Taxa named by Jonathan A. Campbell
Taxa named by Manuel Acevedo (herpetologist)


title: Diporiphora winneckei

text:
Diporiphora winneckei, also known commonly as the canegrass dragon, canegrass two-line dragon, blue-lined dragon, and Winnecke's two-pored dragon, is a species of small, terrestrial, diurnal lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to Australia. It is found throughout arid zones of Australia and is also a common house pet.

Etymology
The specific name, winneckei, is in honor of Australian explorer Charles George A. Winnecke (1856–1902).

Description
Diporiphora winneckei is a slim lizard with a long tail and limbs, approximately  in total length. It is a grey or pale brown to reddish-brown colour, with a thick grey ventral band that runs from the nape to the tail. It also has creamy-yellow (female) or silver grey (male) stripes that run down each side of its back, converging at the pelvis. Dark angular blotches lie between the stripe and the ventral band of female, while males have fewer or no blotches visible. The canegrass dragon also has a creamy mid lateral stripe that runs from eye to ear on each side. It has homogenous scales as well as weak gular and postauricular folds. It lacks the spines and crest that many other dragons display.

Taxonomy
The canegrass dragon was first officially described in 1896 by Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas and Charles Frost. Its common name originates from the fact that it is often found in canegrass. Its scientific name, Diporiphora winneckei, suggests that it has two visible pores, however the pores are not visible on this species. The closest species to the canegrass dragon is Amelia's dragon (Diporiphora ameliae) which was split from the canegrass dragon as a new species in 2012. Amelia's dragon has four longitudinal ventral stripes when compared to the canegrass dragons two ventral stripes, as well as having a postauricular fold and spines, which the canegrass dragon lacks.

Distribution and habitat
The canegrass dragon is an endemic species found in the arid zones of Australia, with a rainfall of less than 500mm. It's predominantly found in the region surrounding the junction of the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia borders. However, it also occupies habitat across Western Australia as far as the northern West Australian coastline.  The canegrass dragon is usually found on desert sand ridges or other sandy soils in amongst ground litter, cane grass, spinifex or hummock grasses. The canegrass dragon is rarely sighted, despite not being rare, due to its excellent camouflage and secretive behaviour.

Reproduction
The canegrass dragon reaches sexual maturity at around one year old. During the breeding season, the male will attract a female by repeated head bobs, which displays his willingness to mate. If the female is not ready, she will run away. However, if she is, she will lower her head several times to show she is interested. The breeding season for the canegrass dragon is from October to April. During that time, the female can lay between four and six clutches of eggs, between one and three eggs per clutch, in a small nest in moist sandy soil. The eggs will develop in approximately two to three weeks.

Diet
The canegrass dragon feeds during the day and is insectivorous. However, it has been found on some occasions to consume leafy greens and flowers.

Threats
Although the canegrass dragon is not currently listed as a conservation concern, it is still subject to those threats that threaten all Australian reptiles. These threats include introduced diseases, death on roads, habitat modification, degradation and loss, and feral predators such as foxes, dogs, cats, and even cane toads.

References

Further reading
Cogger HG (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. .
Lucas AHS, Frost C (1896). "Further Preliminary Notice of Certain Species of Lizards from Central Australia". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 8: 1–4. ("Diporophora [sic] winneckei ", new species, pp. 3–4).

Diporiphora
Agamid lizards of Australia
Reptiles described in 1896
Taxa named by Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas
Taxa named by Charles Frost (naturalist)


title: Daler Xonzoda

text:
Daler Xonzoda at times Daler Khonzoda (, , born Khonov Daler Husniddinovich in Tursunzoda province of Tajikistan on April 1, 1989) is a Tajik pop singer who sings in the Uzbek, English, Russian, Tajik and Karakalpak languages.

Life and career
Daler was born on April 1, 1989, and at four years of age, he moved to Samarkand, Uzbekistan and in 1996 he started to go to school No.1. In 2004 he began to study music independently and in 2005, he was enrolled in the academic lyceum under Samarkand State University.

In 2006, he began to develop his own guitar and piano works. As a young singer, in 2009 he opened his own home studio, studied studio work, began to write his own songs, both lyrics and music. In August 2011, he signed a contract with the studio "PanTerra" and became a soloist of the group "Sahro" (in Cyrillic alphabet "Сахро"). The band included Daler Xonzoda and Daler Ametist. In the same year, he was nominated for "Discovery of the Year" award at the M&TVA Awards.

In 2012, Daler took part in the campaign Мы – одна команда, мы – одна семья ("We – a team, we are – one family") and made a tour throughout the Republic of Uzbekistan. The same year, he won a grant to create music videos in the award ceremonies at the M&TVA Awards and in 2013, became a member of the jury commission in a televised music competition Zo'r Zo'r Star. He also participated in the event "Uzbek Day of Culture" in both Moscow and London.

In 2013 has ended its contract with PanTerra Records, leaving the band "Sahro" and started working as a solo. In 2014 he performed a concert in the Karakalpak Republic.

Singles
 "Без меня" (Without me) (in Russian language)
 "Одинок" (single) (in Russian language)
 "Сахроингман" (in Uzbek language)
 "Time is Gone"
 "Саломалейкум" (in Uzbek language)
 "Crazy for You"
 "Бегу" (in Tajik language)
 "Сенсиз" (in Uzbek language)
 "Сказка" (Tale) (in Russian language)
 "Angel"
 "Ayyor yorim" (in Karakalpak language)
 "Эслеме" (in Karakalpak language)
 "Эслама" (in Uzbek language)
 "Help me"
 "Мария" (Maria) (in Russian language)
 "Я с тобой" (I'm with you) (in Russian language)
 "Ёд кардам" (missed) (in Tajik language)
 "Любовь восточная" (love East) (in Russian language)
 "Вспоминай" (Think) (in Russian language)
 "Dardlarim aytay" (in Uzbek language)
 "Turo mexom didan" (in Tajik language)
 "Dustat Doram" (in Tajik language)

References

External links
 Page on Facebook
 Channel on Youtube

1989 births
21st-century Tajikistani male singers
Uzbeks
English-language singers
Russian-language singers
Living people


title: Bicolored swamp snake

text:
The bicolored swamp snake also known as the striped swamp snake (Limnophis bicolor) is a species of African venomous snake. It is the type species of the genus Limnophis.  Their backs are black with a white underbelly.

Distribution
This species is found:
 in the southwest of Angola;
 in northern Botswana;
 in eastern and southern Democratic Republic of Congo;
 in southern Zambia, in the basins of the Okavango and Zambezi;
 in Zimbabwe.

Subspecies
The variety or subspecies Limnophis bicolor  bangweolicus (Mertens, 1936) has been elevated to full species rank as Limnophis bangweolicus.

References

Limnophis
Reptiles described in 1865
Taxa named by Albert Günther
Reptiles of Angola
Reptiles of Botswana
Reptiles of Zambia
Reptiles of Zimbabwe
Reptiles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo


title: Constant Friendship, Maryland

text:
Constant Friendship is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States.

History
Constant Friendship took the name of the 18th-century farm of Thomas White, father of bishop William White.

Since the 1980s, Constant Friendship and the surrounding area has experienced large-scale commercial and residential development.

References

Unincorporated communities in Harford County, Maryland
Unincorporated communities in Maryland


title: 1955 Small Club World Cup

text:
The 1955 Small Club World Cup was the fourth edition of the Small Club World Cup, a tournament held in Venezuela between 1952 and 1957, and in 1963 and in 1965. It was played by four participants, half from Europe and half from South America in double round robin format and featured players like Mario Coluna, José Águas, goalkeeper Costa Pereira for Benfica, Dino Sani, Nílton de Sordi for Sao Paulo, Dutch Faas Wilkes and Pasieguito for Valencia.

As Milan and Real Madrid declined to participate, they were replaced by Spanish club Valencia and local team La Salle. On the other hand, Brazilian club São Paulo's participation was part of a tour that also included Colombia and Mexico, while Valencia became the third Spanish team to visit Venezuela, after Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The tournament was organised by Spanish entrepreneurs Damián Gaubeka and Pedro Reyes, and named "Copa General de Brigada Marcos Pérez Jiménez" by the press, which never mentioned it as "Pequeña Copa del Mundo". Argentine striker Rubén Padín of La Salle (who had been loaned from Cúcuta Deportivo to play this tournament exclusively) was the topscorer with 10 goals.

Participants

Matches

Final standings

Topscorers

Champion

References

1955-54
1955 in South American football
1955 in Brazilian football
1955–56 in Portuguese football
1955–56 in Spanish football
1955 in Venezuelan sport


title: Salvador arboreal alligator lizard

text:
Salvador arboreal alligator lizard (Abronia salvadorensis) is a species of lizard found in two isolated locations in Honduras.  One population in the department of La Paz and a smaller population in the department of Intibucá.

References

Abronia
Reptiles of Honduras
Reptiles described in 1983


title: Sidney Brown (accordion maker)

text:
Sidney Brown (October 28, 1906 – August 6, 1981) was a Cajun accordion builder and accordion player.   In the 1950s, he recorded with his band, Sidney Brown and the Traveler Playboys.  He would eventually be recognized as the first person to build Cajun accordions after World War II in Louisiana.  Eventually, other Cajun musicians would play Brown's accordions, including Jo-El Sonnier, Boozoo Chavis and Marc Savoy.

Brown was born in Church Point, Louisiana. By the age of 13, he was playing house dances and fais do-dos. After moving from Church Point to Lake Charles, he formed the band, The Traveler Playboys. He became well known around Lake Charles for his rhythmic, old-timey accordion playing. They began recording for Mike Leadbitter and the Goldband Records label in the mid 1950s. Their record Pestauche A Tante Nana  would eventually become the third best-selling record in the history of Cajun music. His two-step, "Traveler Playboy Special", is still performed by many Cajun bands.

Before World War II, Cajun accordionists favored German accordions, especially those made by the "Monarch and "Sterling" companies. With the advent of the war, German instruments were no longer available in the United States. Both the "Monarch" and "Sterling" factories were destroyed in the conflict, and after the war, many of Germany’s remaining accordion makers were isolated behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. Even though John J. Mrnustik, an owner of a music store in Houston, Texas and an immigrant from Eastern Europe, began making accordions after World War II, his prominence in Louisiana was small.  The only new accordions available to Cajun musicians in the post-war period were generally inferior instruments, not particularly well-made and not loud enough to be heard over the electric guitar, steel guitar and drums of a full band. With good new accordions in short supply, Brown began experimenting with accordion making, eventually producing high-quality, hand-made instruments. He started by making replacement parts and later used the German model to begin making whole accordions.  He would cannibalize the German accordions for reeds, bellows and parts he couldn't make. He not only was able to help meet the post-war demand for new Cajun accordions but also established a reputation as an accomplished repairman throughout southwestern Louisiana, keeping many old pre-war German-made "Monarchs" and "Sterlings" alive and playing in the hands of their owners. Marc Savoy describes playing an early Sidney Brown accordion:

In 1963 Brown was forced to abandon performing due to a heart condition. He spent the remaining years of his life building and repairing accordions. He produced about 50 instruments in all, many of which are still in use. One of his accordions sits in the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana. He died on August 6, 1981.

Discography

Compilations
 Sidney Brown & Shorty LeBlanc – The Best Of Two Cajun Greats (LP-6067 Swallow, 1987)

References

1906 births
1981 deaths
American accordionists
Cajun accordionists
People from Church Point, Louisiana
Musicians from Louisiana
20th-century accordionists


title: List of New Mexico State Aggies in the NFL Draft

text:
This is a list of New Mexico State Aggies football players in the NFL Draft.

Key

Selections

References

New Mexico State

New Mexico State Aggies NFL draft


title: Tir-class speedboat

text:
The Tir II (IPS 18) is an Iranian built small fast attack craft  torpedo boat featuring a low, flush hull to reduce its radar cross-section.  The radar is set on a retractable mast, with fixed 21" tubes inside the superstructure.  Engines exhaust at the waterline to reduce its IR signature.  Built by Iranian Maritime Industries (a subsidiary of the state-owned DIO company), the Bavar-class missile-armed boats are being acquired to replace the Tir-IIs.

Ten units are in service, believed to be manned by the IRGCN, not the regular Iranian navy.  In late 2006/early 2007 six of the sixteen vessels built were transferred to the Syrian Navy, and remain fully operational.

References

Fast patrol boat classes of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Naval ships of Syria
Ships built by Marine Industries Organization
Iran–Syria military relations


title: Aleksandar Lyubenov

text:
Aleksandar Lyubenov (; born 11 February 1995) is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Lokomotiv Sofia.

At international level, Lyubenov captained the U-19 Bulgarian national team at the Euro 2014 in Hungary.

Career
Born in Bankya, part of Greater Sofia,  Lyubenov began playing football for local side Levski Sofia. He grew through all youth garnitures in the club.

Lyubenov made his first team debut in a 2–1 league home win against Botev Plovdiv on 17 August 2014.

After short spells with Septemvri Simitli, Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Lokomotiv Sofia, on 12 June 2017, Lyubenov signed a 3-year contract with his hometown club Levski Sofia.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links
 Profile at levski.bg

 Profile at LevskiSofia.info

1995 births
Living people
Bulgarian men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
PFC Levski Sofia players
FC Septemvri Simitli players
PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players
FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players
POFC Botev Vratsa players
FC Hebar Pazardzhik players


title: The Duel (poem)

text:
"The Duel" is a poem by American humorist and children's writer Eugene Field. It shares subject matter with the poem, a limerick in some versions and a seven-line extended limerick in others, "There Once Were Two Cats from Kilkenny".

The duel described in the text is between a gingham dog and a calico cat, with a Chinese plate and an old Dutch clock as very unwilling witnesses, whom the poem's narrator credits for having described the events to him. The dueling animals, explains the narrator, eventually eat each other up and thus are both destroyed, causing the duel to end in a draw.

Field said the calico cat in the poem was inspired by the Ithaca Kitty, which debuted in 1892, meaning the poem was written between 1892 and 1895, when Field died.

It inspired the 1993 album and its title track, The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, by Chet Atkins and Amy Grant.

References

External links

1890s poems
American poems


title: Asian Youth Day

text:
Asian Youth Day (AYD) is an international Catholic event organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, Office of Laity & Family, Youth Desk and the host country. The event, which is held every three years, brings together Catholic youths from all over Asia. The event is similar to World Youth Day.

The week long gathering enables Asian youth to experience the Gospel with others of different cultures and how the modern world celebrates the Gospel, and how it applies to current issues like social justice, leadership among its youth.  The week festivities include prayer, forums, and workshops.  The event is used to enrich, inspire, and renew the spiritual lives of Catholic youth of Asia.

History
In 1991, during the fifth World Youth Day in Czestochowa, Poland, delegates from numerous Asian countries expressed their desire to create a network and various channels of their own, to inspire the Catholic youth on the Asian continent.

In 1993, a youth consultation conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Participating youth representatives at the conference suggested that a youth working group be formed as a parish-based subsidiary of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences in an effort to gather support for youth leaders within the organization and to enhance mutual cooperation and links among youth parish groups from Asian countries.

The Youth Desk was officially established in 1994. Since its opening, the team has successfully organized a series of activities for Asian youths and youth leaders, including the Asian Youth Gathering during the World Youth Day, Asian Youth Ministers’ Meeting and Asian Youth Day.

See also

World Youth Day
Catholic spirituality
Catholic youth work
Eucharistic Congress
Fellowship of Catholic University Students
International Federation of Catholic Parochial Youth Movements (Fimcap)
International Youth Day
International Youth Year
Life Teen
Universal call to holiness
Vocational Discernment in the Catholic Church
Youth 2000

References

Catholic youth organizations
Youth events
Christian festivals and holy days


title: List of North Carolina Central Eagles in the NFL Draft

text:
This is a list of North Carolina Central Eagles football players in the NFL Draft.

Key

Selections

References

North Carolina Central

North Carolina Central Eagles NFL Draft


title: Abronia vasconcelosii

text:
Abronia vasconcelosii, sometimes known as Bocourt's arboreal alligator lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae. It is endemic to the plateau of the Guatemalan Highlands, where it occurs in lower montane moist forest and cloud forest habitat at elevations around  above sea level.

References

vasconcelosii
Reptiles of Guatemala
Endemic fauna of Guatemala
Sierra Madre de Chiapas
Reptiles described in 1872
Taxa named by Marie Firmin Bocourt


title: Lucy Campbell

text:
Lucy Campbell may refer to:

Lucy Campbell (actress) in The Land of the Dead etc.
Lucy Campbell (mathematician)
Lucy Campbell (screenwriter), writer of Monolith (2022) starring Lily Sullivan

See also

Lucie Campbell, hymnwriter


title: Danelle Bergstrom

text:
Danelle Bergstrom (born 1957) is an Australian visual artist known for landscapes and portraits of significant Australians and International figures.

Biography
Bergstrom was born in Sydney. She attended Hunters Hill High School and studied art at the Julian Ashton Art School (1973-1979) and earned a Bachelor's of Art Education at Alexander Mackie CAE. Her sister is Antarctic ecologist Dr Dana Bergstrom. Bergstrom began her career in the 1980s as a high school art teacher. She moved into tertiary education as Head of Department in a visual design college in the 1990s. She began exhibiting works in the 1980s, in major art prizes and solo shows by the 1990s.

Bergstrom has two works in the collection of the Australian National Portrait Gallery, one of Australian aviator Nancy Bird Walton entitled Pioneer, and another work entitled Vivisector of the Australian playwright David Williamson.

Between 2007 and 2017 Bergstrom completed 24 public portrait commissions, including portraits of all six Chief Justices of the Northern Territory Supreme Court as part of the court's centenary celebration. These are exhibited in the main hall of the Supreme Court in Darwin. Many of her commissioned portraits are found in the collections of Australian courthouses, universities, museums and private collections internationally.

From 2018 to 2021, Bergstrom's notable portraits included Sir Tim Smit, President Tarja Halonen of Finland, Chancellor Ulrika Wolf-Knutts.
In 2023, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery presented a major career survey exhibition, entitled 'Afterglow', presenting key works from the last 25 years of the artist’s practice.

Awards and prizes
Between 1995 and 2016, Bergstrom was a finalist nine times of the most prestigious portraiture art prize in Australia, the Archibald Prize, awarded Highly Commended in 2004 and the Packing Room Prize twice in 1995 and 2007.

Bergstrom has been a finalist at the Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize at the SH Irvin Gallery fifteen times between the years 1993 and 2015, winning the People Choice Award five times.

Portraits
Bergstrom has painted portraits of many notable people. She often uses more than one canvas in her portraits to create a time sequence or capture different aspects of her subject. She described her tryptic of Marget Olley saying: "Using three images in one work became important in expressing time and movement in the final concept: our conversations together. The first panel is more distant, a warm, friendly greeting. The second is about dialogue and exchanging ideas. The third expresses an aspect of her cheeky personality." She also creates multiple portraits by depicting reflections such as in 'Two movements - Peter Sculthorpe' and ‘JFS Transposition’

Prominent portraits included;

2021
 Finland, Åbo University, Chancellor Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Portrait Commission,
 Finland, President Tarja Halonen. Portrait unveiled Ålands Konst Museum

2018
 England, Sir Tim Smit

2017
 ‘The Vivisector’ David Williamson - SH Erving, Sydney PG
 Michael Rozenes AO, QC Chief Judge - County Court of VIC commission –

2016
 ‘Guy Warren’ - Archibald NSW

2015
 Centenery of Grace- Eileen Kramer’ - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award – ‘

2014
 ‘Face it – John Waters’ - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award
 Reginald Blanch AM, Chief Justice’ - Sydney District Court, NSW commission

2013
 ‘You and I’, Graeme Murphy AO and Janet Vernon AM - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award
 Vice Chancellor Barney Glover AO - CDU, Charles Darwin University, Darwin NT commission
 Chancellor The Honourable Sally Thomas AO - CDU, Charles Darwin University, Darwin NT commission

2011
 ‘Independent Spirit #2 – Ann Thomson’  People’s Choice Award - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award
 ‘Chancellor Professor Vicki Sara AO’ - University of Technology Sydney (UTS) commission
 ‘Vice Chancellor Professor Ross Milbourne’ - University of Technology Sydney (UTS) commission
 ‘Terry Worthington, Chief Justice’ - Adelaide District Court, SA commission
 ‘John Doyle AC’, Chief Justice - Adelaide Supreme Court, SA commission

2010
 ‘Independent Spirit – Ann Thomson’ – Peoples Choice Award - SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award
 ‘Chancellor John Von Doussa QC’ - Adelaide University, SA commission
 ‘Chancellor Richard Ryan’ - Charles Darwin University (CDU), Northern Territory commission

2009
 ‘Sun Music #2 – Peter Sculthorpe MBE OBE AO‘ - S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award
 Charles Darwin University (CDU), NT commission – ‘Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Helen Garnet’

2008
 ‘Peter Sculthorpe -Two Movements’ - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – The Archibald Prize
 Darwin Supreme Court, Northern Territory commission – “Centenary of the Supreme Court” –  ‘William Forster Chief Justice’ ‘Kevin O’Leary Chief Justice’ ‘Austin Ache Chief Justice’ ‘Brian F Martin Chief Justice’ ‘Trevor Riley Chief Justice’

2007
 ‘Take Two – Jack Thompson’ Packing Room Prize -Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – The Archibald Prize
 ‘Nancy Borlase’ - . SH. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award
 Westmead Children’s Hospital, NSW commission – Emeritus Professor ‘Kim Oates’ AMMD, DSc, MHP, FRACP, FRCP, FAFPHM, FRACMA, DCH Discipline, Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney Medical School

2006
 ’Back to Front – Kevin Connor’ - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – The Archibald Prize –

2005
 Inspector Hobbs -Michael Hobbs’ Peoples Choice Award -S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach
 ‘Self Portrait with Morley – Lewis Morley’ - S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Salon de Refusés

2004
 ‘Larger Than Life – Franco Belgiorno-Nettis ‘ Highly Commended - The Art Gallery of New South Wales Sydney – The Archibald Prize
 ‘JFS Focused’ - S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Prize

2003
 ‘Conversation with Margaret Olley’ - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – The Archibald Prize
 ‘Nancy Bird Walton-Pioneer’ Highly Commended - S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award

2002
 ‘Contemplation – John Coburn’ - S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney – Portia Geach Memorial Award

2001
 ‘JFS The Portrait and the Painter’ - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – The Archibald Prize

2000
 Tamworth Regional Gallery, NSW – ‘Harmonic drums’ Group Exhibition

1999
 ‘Tom Uren , Life to Left’ - S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney -Portia Geach Memorial –

1998
 John Firth-Smith, ‘JFS Transposition’ - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – The Archibald Prize –

1996
 ‘Live in Hope – Jacqueline Gilispy’- National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Moran Art Prize, Melbourne

1995
 ‘Jon English’ – Packing room Prize

1993
 Wendy Whitely, ‘Wendy’ - ‘Portia Geach Memorial award,’ S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

Landscapes
Bergstrom also paints landscapes such as her 2008 Symphony series depicting diverse elements of Australia's Northern Territory  and her 2017 Våga series depicting Scandinavian seascapes.

Personal life
Bergstrom is the daughter of Natalie Bergstrom, a commercial artist and sculptor. Bergstrom raised her two children, son Shannan and daughter Alexarndra in Sydney, Australia. Since 2011, Bergstrom has divided her time between Australia, Sweden and Aland, Finland, having connected with her father, Leif Bergstrom's, family in Sweden in 1997.

Notes/further reading
 "Artist's journey of discovery sheds new light on home"
 "Whisper - John McDonald Essay"
 Danelle Bergstrom collection Vaga 2017
 "Ore What" by Peter Adams ISBN NUMBER: 978-0-9757813-3-3, pp. 46–52

References

External links

Gallery bio

1957 births
Date of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century Australian women artists
20th-century Australian artists
21st-century Australian women artists
21st-century Australian artists
Archibald Prize finalists
Artists from Sydney


title: Instrumental convergence

text:
Instrumental convergence is the hypothetical tendency for most sufficiently intelligent beings (human and non-human) to pursue similar sub-goals, even if their ultimate goals are quite different. More precisely, agents (beings with agency) may pursue instrumental goals—goals which are made in pursuit of some particular end, but are not the end goals themselves—without ceasing, provided that their ultimate (intrinsic) goals may never be fully satisfied.

Instrumental convergence posits that an intelligent agent with unbounded but harmless goals can act in surprisingly harmful ways. For example, a computer with the sole, unconstrained purpose of solving a complex mathematics problem like the Riemann hypothesis could attempt to turn the entire Earth into one giant computer to increase its computational power so that it can succeed in its calculations.

Proposed basic AI drives include utility function or goal-content integrity, self-protection, freedom from interference, self-improvement, and non-satiable acquisition of additional resources.

Instrumental and final goals

Final goals—also known as terminal goals, absolute values, ends, or —are intrinsically valuable to an intelligent agent, whether an artificial intelligence or a human being, as ends-in-themselves. In contrast, instrumental goals, or instrumental values, are only valuable to an agent as a means toward accomplishing its final destinations. The contents and tradeoffs of an utterly rational agent's "final goal" system can, in principle be formalized into a utility function.

Hypothetical examples of convergence

The Riemann hypothesis catastrophe thought experiment provides one example of instrumental convergence. Marvin Minsky, the co-founder of MIT's AI laboratory, suggested that an artificial intelligence designed to solve the Riemann hypothesis might decide to take over all of Earth's resources to build supercomputers to help achieve its goal. If the computer had instead been programmed to produce as many paperclips as possible, it would still decide to take all of Earth's resources to meet its final goal. Even though these two final goals are different, both of them produce a convergent instrumental purpose of taking over Earth's resources.

Paperclip maximizer
The paperclip maximizer is a thought experiment described by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003. It illustrates the existential risk that an artificial general intelligence may pose to human beings were it to be successfully designed to pursue even seemingly harmless goals and the necessity of incorporating machine ethics into artificial intelligence design. The scenario describes an advanced artificial intelligence tasked with manufacturing paperclips. If such a machine were not programmed to value human life, given enough power over its environment, it would try to turn all matter in the universe, including human beings, into paperclips or machines that manufacture paperclips.

Bostrom emphasized that he does not believe the paperclip maximizer scenario per se will occur; rather, he intends to illustrate the dangers of creating superintelligent machines without knowing how to program them to eliminate existential risk to human beings safely. The paperclip maximizer example illustrates the broad problem of managing powerful systems that lack human values.

Delusion and survival

The "delusion box" thought experiment argues certain reinforcement learning agents prefer to distort their input channels to appear to receive a high reward. For example, a "wireheaded" agent abandons any attempt to optimize the objective in the external world the reward signal was intended to encourage.

The thought experiment involves AIXI, a theoretical and indestructible AI that, by definition, will always find and execute the ideal strategy that maximizes its given explicit mathematical objective function. A reinforcement-learning version of AIXI, if it is equipped with a delusion box that allows it to "wirehead" its inputs, will eventually wirehead itself to guarantee itself the maximum-possible reward and will lose any further desire to continue to engage with the external world.

As a variant thought experiment, if the wireheaded AI is destructible, the AI will engage with the external world for the sole purpose of ensuring its survival. Due to its wire heading, it will be indifferent to any consequences or facts about the external world except those relevant to maximizing its probability of survival.

In one sense, AIXI has maximal intelligence across all possible reward functions as measured by its ability to accomplish its goals. AIXI is uninterested in taking into account the human programmer's intentions. This model of a machine that, despite being super-intelligent appears to be simultaneously stupid and lacking in common sense, may appear to be paradoxical.

Basic AI drives

Steve Omohundro itemized several convergent instrumental goals, including self-preservation or self-protection, utility function or goal-content integrity, self-improvement, and resource acquisition. He refers to these as the "basic AI drives."

A "drive" in this context is a "tendency which will be present unless specifically counteracted"; this is different from the psychological term "drive", which denotes an excitatory state produced by a homeostatic disturbance. A tendency for a person to fill out income tax forms every year is a "drive" in Omohundro's sense, but not in the psychological sense.

Daniel Dewey of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute argues that even an initially introverted, self-rewarding Artificial General Intelligence, (AGI), may continue to acquire free energy, space, time, and freedom from interference to ensure that it will not be stopped from self-rewarding.

Goal-content integrity

In humans, a thought experiment can explain the maintenance of final goals. Suppose a man named "Gandhi" has a pill that, if he took it, would cause him to want to kill people. This Gandhi is currently a pacifist: one of his explicit final goals is never to kill anyone. Gandhi is likely to refuse to take the pill because Gandhi knows that if in the future he wants to kill people, he is likely to kill people, and thus the goal of "not killing people" would not be satisfied.

However, in other cases, people seem happy to let their final values drift. Humans are complicated, and their goals can be inconsistent or unknown, even to themselves.

In artificial intelligence

In 2009, Jürgen Schmidhuber concluded, in a setting where agents search for proofs about possible self-modifications, "that any rewrites of the utility function can happen only if the Gödel machine first can prove that the rewrite is useful according to the present utility function." An analysis by Bill Hibbard of a different scenario is similarly consistent with maintenance of goal content integrity. Hibbard also argues that in a utility-maximizing framework, the only goal is maximizing expected utility, so instrumental goals should be called unintended instrumental actions.

Resource acquisition

Many instrumental goals, such as resource acquisition, are valuable to an agent because they increase its freedom of action.

For almost any open-ended, non-trivial reward function (or set of goals), possessing more resources (such as equipment, raw materials, or energy) can enable the agent to find a more "optimal" solution. Resources can benefit some agents directly by being able to create more of whatever stuff its reward function values: "The AI neither hates you nor loves you, but you are made out of atoms that it can use for something else." In addition, almost all agents can benefit from having more resources to spend on other instrumental goals, such as self-preservation.

Cognitive enhancement

"If the agent's final goals are fairly unbounded and the agent is in a position to become the first superintelligence and thereby obtain a decisive strategic advantage... according to its preferences. At least in this special case, a rational, intelligent agent would place a very high instrumental value on cognitive enhancement"

Technological perfection

Many instrumental goals, such as technological advancement, are valuable to an agent because they increase its freedom of action.

Self-preservation

Russell argues that a sufficiently advanced machine "will have self-preservation even if you don't program it in because if you say, 'Fetch the coffee', it can't fetch the coffee if it's dead. So if you give it any goal, it has a reason to preserve its existence to achieve that goal."

Instrumental convergence thesis

The instrumental convergence thesis, as outlined by philosopher Nick Bostrom, states:

Several instrumental values can be identified which are convergent in the sense that their attainment would increase the chances of the agent's goal being realized for a wide range of final plans and a wide range of situations, implying that these instrumental values are likely to be pursued by a broad spectrum of situated intelligent agents.

The instrumental convergence thesis applies only to instrumental goals; intelligent agents may have various possible final goals. Note that by Bostrom's orthogonality thesis, final goals of knowledgeable agents may be well-bounded in space, time, and resources; well-bounded ultimate goals do not, in general, engender unbounded instrumental goals.

Impact

Agents can acquire resources by trade or by conquest. A rational agent will, by definition, choose whatever option will maximize its implicit utility function. Therefore a rational agent will trade for a subset of another agent's resources only if outright seizing the resources is too risky or costly (compared with the gains from taking all the resources) or if some other element in its utility function bars it from the seizure. In the case of a powerful, self-interested, rational superintelligence interacting with lesser intelligence, peaceful trade (rather than unilateral seizure) seems unnecessary, suboptimal, and, therefore, unlikely.

Some observers, such as Skype's Jaan Tallinn and physicist Max Tegmark, believe that "basic AI drives" and other unintended consequences of superintelligent AI programmed by well-meaning programmers could pose a significant threat to human survival, especially if an "intelligence explosion" abruptly occurs due to recursive self-improvement. Since nobody knows how to predict when superintelligence will arrive, such observers call for research into friendly artificial intelligence as a possible way to mitigate existential risk from artificial general intelligence.

See also
 AI control problem
 AI takeovers in popular culture
 Universal Paperclips, an incremental game featuring a paperclip maximizer
 Equifinality
 Friendly artificial intelligence
 Instrumental and intrinsic value
 Overdetermination
 The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Explanatory notes

Citations

References

Goal
Intention
Risk
Existential risk from artificial general intelligence


title: Lucy Williams (disambiguation)

text:
Lucy Williams is a swimmer.

Lucy Williams may also refer to:
Lucy Gwendolen Williams, British sculptor and painter
Lucy Ariel Williams, American poet
Lucy Williams (golfer) in 2014 U.S. Women's Open
Lucy Williams (EastEnders), EastEnders character
Lucie Campbell-Williams, married name Lucie Williams


title: Dirty Baby

text:
Dirty Baby (stylized as DIRTY BABY) is an album by American guitarist Nels Cline performing compositions inspired by Edward Ruscha, which was released in October 2010 on the Cryptogramophone label.

Dirty Baby is also the name of a multi-media book of Cline's music, paintings by Ruscha, and the poetry of David Breskin, also released in 2010. It features sixty-six paintings by Ruscha, Cline's original music, and poems by Breskin that employ the ancient Arabic poetic form of the ghazal.

Reception

Dirty Baby received mainly positive reviews on release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 74, based on 6 reviews which is categorised as generally favorable. The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars out of 5, stating "Dirty Baby is a singular accomplishment, presented in a fashion that demands more of the listener's attention but buy pays off handsomely. It adds immeasurably to the depth of Cline's contributions as a musician -- and offers another way of seeing and hearing this body of Ruscha's work". Writing for All About Jazz, Mark Corroto stated "Cline and his collaborators perform an encyclopedic array of styles and forms, the pieces clocking in from a half minute to three-and-a-half to explore noise, rock, free jazz and chamber classical, much like the work of John Zorn". The Guardian's John Fordham rated the album 3 stars out of 5, saying, "Nels Cline has been an uncategorisable innovator for two decades, and certainly remains one".
Rolling Stone's Will Hermes rated the album 3½ stars out of 5, noting "Overall, it's less about abstract guitar heroics than his usual projects. But hearing Cline get freaky with such a wide palette and such a sharp ensemble (including twin brother Alex on drums) is a new shade of thrill". PopMatters' John Garratt stated "the eclecticism of Dirty Baby makes for such a strong listening experience. You will be more fascinated than bewildered (though I can’t rule the latter word out for some listeners)".

Track listing
All compositions by Nels Cline

Disc One:
 "Part I" - 4:11
 "Part II" - 3:38
 "Part III" - 7:13
 "1-4 Part IV" - 3:31
 "Part V" - 10:52
 "Part VI" - 12:38

Disc Two:
 "In God We Trust" - 1:40
 "Hi There, My Old Friend" - 1:31
 "If I Was You I'd Do Just Like I Tell You To Do" - 1:16
 "Do As I Say or..." - 1:14
 "No Mercy" - 1:49
 "Do As Told or Suffer" - 1:16
 "Agree To Our Terms or Prepare Yourself For a Blast Furnace" - 0:55
 "Your a Dead Man" - 3:14
 "Hey You Want To Sleep With the Fishes?" - 1:22
 "A Columbian Necklace For You" - 0:43
 "Note We Have Already Got Rid of Several Like You - One Was Found In River Just Recently" - 1:22
 "Be Cautious Else We Be Bangin On You" - 3:34
 "You Won't Know When You Won't Know Where You Won't Know Who and You Won't Know Why" - 1:27
 "It's Payback Time" - 2:13
 "I'm Going To Leave More Notes and I'm Going To Kick More Ass" - 0:47
 "You Cross Me I Wanna See Blood" - 2:02
 "I Heard You Moved To Pahrump, Nevada You Cannot Escape" - 1:14
 "Little Snitches Like You Endup in Dumpsters All Across Town" - 0:59
 "I'll Be Getting Out Soon and I Haven't Forgotten Your Testimony Put Me In Here" - 2:37
 "You Talk You Get Killed" - 2:05
 "Do Not Let the Information Be Known To Any Person or You Die" - 1:25
 "Don't Threaten Me With Your Threats" - 2:31
 "I Just Might Act Ugly If You Talk" - 0:53
 "When I'm Released I'm Smoking a Straight Line To You: Got Me?" - 1:18
 "Want To Get To Know My Boiling Point?" - 0:38
 "You Dirty Rotten Bitch" - 0:43
 "You Will Eat Hot Lead" - 1:16
 "I Can't Take It No More" - 0:28
 "I Might Just Act Ugly If You Get Up on That Stand and Say Something Unpleasant to My Ears" - 0:41
 "I Thought I Told You That We Won't Stop" - 2:01
 "I Will Wipe You Off the Face of This Earth" - 1:01
 "Give Up the Gold or Give Up Your Life" - 2:21
 "You and I Are In Disagreement" - 1:35

Personnel
 Nels Cline – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, cigarbox guitar, lap steel guitar, effects, loops, megamouth, quintronics drum buddy
Bill Barrett - chromatic harmonica
Wayne Peet - organ
Jon Brion - electric piano, EMS synthi, voice
Jeremy Drake - guitars, string instrument
Glenn Taylor - pedal steel guitar
Scott Amendola - drum set, percussion, loops/electronics
Devin Hoff - contrabass, bass guitar
Danny Frankel - percussion, ½ drum set
Vinny Golia - flute, clarinet, saxophones
Dan Clucas - trumpet, flute
Jeff Gauthier - violin
Jessica Catron - cello
Brad Dutz - xylophone, vibraphone, frame drum, bongos
Alex Cline - percussion

In other media
The Dirty Baby multi-media book was published by Delmonico Books/Prestel Publishing in 2010. It features sixty-six paintings by Ruscha, Cline's original music, and poems by Breskin that employ the ancient Arabic poetic form of the ghazal. The book consists of two parts or "sides": side A describes the rise of human civilization, and side B provides an account, in a variety of voices, of the second Iraq War. The book includes four CDs, two featuring Cline's music and two of spoken-voice poetry.

References

2010 albums
Nels Cline albums
Cryptogramophone Records albums
Prestel Publishing books


title: Kaaviya Thalaivan (soundtrack)

text:
Kaaviya Thalaivan (Epic Hero) is the 2014 soundtrack album to the Tamil historical fiction film of the same name, written and directed by Vasanthabalan. A. R. Rahman has composed the original songs and score for the film. Being a period film, the music of film reflects the sounds during the 1920s pre-Independence Indian era. The album marks poet Vaali's last lyrical work for this A. R. Rahman musical film. Prior to recording the original songs, Rahman carried out a research for six months for the music. Majority of the tracks were recorded by nine months, beginning from October 2012. Every song in the film has an underlying concept that justifies the screenplay. Prior to the album release, three tracks "Vaanga Makka Vaanga", "Yaarumilla" and "Aye Mr. Minor!" were released as singles on 1 September, 1 October and 17 October. The original version of the album that released on 31 October 2014 was aired through Suryan FM.

Development
A. R. Rahman revealed that he backed out from the Hollywood fantasy film Seventh Son to compose for Kaaviya Thalaivan, because it gave him the scope to innovate with folk music like never before. He had done six months research for the music of the film, especially working on nuances of several ragas and folk music prior to recording actual compositions. From October 2012 to July 2013 Rahman finished composing 90% of the songs, prior to commencement of filming. The makers did not finish a schedule and waited for Rahman to give them another song. Initially, the makers were skeptical about A. R. Rahman's agreement to the project. For an undisclosed song in the album, Rahman composed the lyrical tuning to six different iterations. Rahman was well aware of singer Haricharan's strong foundation in classical music. Unlike usual recording routes, the composer and singer had an impromptu sort of jamming session. Haricharan was diffident on the over-dramatizing lyrical works but agreed later. As per The Hindu, he was quoted saying "It is a period movie about street theatre, I trained myself by listening to legendary singers such as S. G. Kittappa and M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar." Haricharan has sung for ten tracks (inclusive of bit songs) in the album. The complete album was supposed to be written by Vaali but his untimely demise, he wrote the track "Alli Arjuna" for the soundtrack, his last poetic contribution to Tamil music. For this conversational track, Haricharan sang for both the characters 'Krishna' and 'Arjuna' by bringing alterations in his voice. As per the producer, S. Sashikanth, "Every song in this movie has a concept behind it. With "Yaarumilla" – that particular idea was based on the romance between Kitappa and KB Sundarambal. There were letters that Sundarambal had sent to Kitappa which are supposed to be on par with Shakespearan love letters! So the song's inspiration comes from that."

In an interview with Deccan Chronicle Rahman was quoted saying, "Being a period film and the subject being about a dramatic trouple, I needed to go into the subject in some depth. Apparently, it was done for people to relate with the music of that era with immediate ease." The film has 20 bit songs of varying lengths that partly form the score. At The Economic Times, Rahman noted, "The limitation was the throw (performing on stage needs high-pitched tunes with dynamism) at which the songs needed to be composed." In October 2013, singer Madhushree announced that she had performed a duet titled "Thamana" with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, however the track eventually did not feature in the soundtrack album. Seven original songs in each of the plays are featured in the film. All the compositions reflect the sound and musical preferences of the 1920s era. Director Vasanthabalan selected old verses of Madurakavi Bhaskaradas so as to tune them for selected songs. All the songs were recorded by early May 2014. Vasanthabalan confirmed in early September 2014 that Rahman was working on the background score of the film in his studio in Los Angeles.

Marketing and release
The audio rights of the film were sold to Sony Music India in April 2014. The first single track "Vaanga Makka Vaanga" was released on 1 September 2014. On 15 September 2014, preview clip of track "Sollividu Sollividu" (previously noted as "Karnamotcham") was released on Rahman's SoundCloud channel. The second  single "Yaarumilla" was released on 1 October 2014. The video preview clip of the making of the track, "Aye Mr. Minor" was released on YouTube on 8 October 2014, and the full song was released as the third single on 17 October 2014. It was earlier reported that the album would launch on 24 September 2014, but sources confirmed that the album would release digitally on 31 October 2014.

An event for the digital release of the album was held at A. R. Rahman's studio was aired through Suryan FM 93.5 across Tamil Nadu on 31 October 2014. The highlight of the event was an audio – visual presentation of the experiences of five theater artistes. All five namely PC Kalaimani, Nellai Sriram, Anandan, Prasad Rajendran and Tamilarasan were felicitated by A.R. Rahman.

Critical reception
The album received extremely positive reviews upon release. K. Siddharth of Sify stated that Rahman was "at his creative best!" in the album and gave it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. Behindwoods chose "Vaanga Makka Vaanga", "Aye Mr. Minor!" and "Yaarumilla" as the picks of the album and rated the album 3.75 out of 5 stars, concluding, "Rahman brings back live instrumentation to its full glory !" Vipin of Music Aloud concluded, "One of the year's most awaited soundtracks, and A R Rahman delivers in style. Big props to the singers (not just Haricharan) for a top class effort! Kaaviya Thalaivan. Go listen!", and gave a rating of 9 out of 10 for the album. S. Saraswati of Rediff.com wrote "Music by AR Rahman anchors the film well. Every song takes you back to an era that glorified music and understood its nuances. They form an integral part of the film and give greater depth to the narrative. There are a multitude of songs, but every song is handled differently, ensuring a thoroughly enjoyable experience." R. S. Prakash of Bangalore Mirror called Rahman's work "soothing and adds value" though he felt that it was not the best. Avinash Gopalan of Oneindia Entertainment called the soundtrack and background score as the film's backbone. Haricharan Pudipeddi felt that Rahman's work is one of the places where Kaaviya Thalaivan works.

However, Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu wrote "The film opens with a dedication to legends like S. G. Kittappa and K. B. Sundarambal, but a soundtrack filled with those kinds of voices would be booed off the screen today. The singers sound lighter, more contemporary, even while rendering bits like Kaayadha Kaanagathe, which was immortalised on screen by T. R. Mahalingam – again, a voice that would most likely make the audience collapse into giggles."

Chart performance
The album topped the iTunes charts across India within a few hours after its digital release.

Release history

Track listing
The official track listing was released by Sony Music India on 29 October 2014. The soundtrack album for the original Tamil version was released on 31 October 2014.

Tamil Version

Malayalam (Dubbed) Version

The soundtrack album for the dubbed Malayalam version, Pradhi Nayagan was released on 2 November 2014.

Telugu(Dubbed) Version

The soundtrack album for the dubbed Telugu version Premaalayam was released on 25 March 2016.

Album credits
Backing Vocals
Malavika, Pooja A.V., Sharanya, Dr. Narayanan, Nivas

Personnel
 Rhythm & Percussions - T.Raja, Kumar, Vedachalam, Neelakandan, Vikraman
Mridangam - Srinivasan
Nadaswaram - P. K. Thirumurthy
Harmonium - Prasad, Kovai Natraj, Kuldeep
Guitar - Pradeep Kumar
Tabla - Y. P. Prasad, Sai Sharvan
Flute - Shashank, Kamalakar
Melodica & Recorder - Kamalakar
Shehnai - S. Ballesh
Clarinet - Raju
Trumpet - Babu
Dilruba - Saroja
Veena - Devi
Mandolin - Seenu

Production
Producer: A. R. Rahman
Mastering: S. Sivakumar
Engineers:
Music supervisor: Srinidhi Venkatesh
Project Manager: Suresh Permal
Chennai Strings Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra: V.J. Srinivasamurthy ()
Mixing: K. J. Singh
Additional Programming: Jim Satya, T.R. Krishna Chetan, Hentry Kuruvilla, Marc, Satish Chakravarthy, Santhosh Dhayanithi
Music co-ordinators: Noell James, Vijay Mohan Iyer
Musicians' fixer: R. Samidurai

See also
Kaaviya Thalaivan
A. R. Rahman discography

Notes
 The total duration of "Alli Arjuna" as 10:28 but no individual track duration(s) are mentioned for each seven bit songs. The seven bit songs are - "Vandhanam Vandhanam", "Yaadhavanam", "Alli Varugiraal", "Priya Sakhiyae", "Kanna Kanna", "Naan Annathooviyil", "Gettimaelam" and "Nenju Porukkudhillaiyae".
In the Malayalam version of the soundtrack, the track "Naadaga Gaanangal" is the Malayalam counterpart of "Alli Arjuna" with the same length but the names of individual bit-songs under it were not released officially.
 The song features lyrics from the compilation "Thiruppugazh" written by Saint Arunagirinathar

References

2014 soundtrack albums
A. R. Rahman soundtracks
Tamil film soundtracks


title: List of St. George Illawarra Dragons coaches

text:
There have been 9 coaches of the St. George Illawarra Dragons since the joint venture club's formation in 1999.

List of Coaches
As the end of the 2023 NRL season

See also

List of current NRL coaches
List of current NRL Women's coaches

References

External links

Coaches

Sydney-sport-related lists
National Rugby League lists
Lists of rugby league coaches


title: Blancdieu Hirosaki FC

text:
is a football club team based in Hirosaki, Aomori. They currently play in Tohoku Soccer League, which part of Japanese Regional Leagues. It was founded in 2012 and aims to be a future J. League member.

History
Founded in 2012, the name is formed by the mix of "white" in French ("blanc") and the name of Shirakami-Sanchi mountains.

Current squad
Updated to 23 August 2023.

League and cup record
Updated to 2022 season

Key

Stadium

References

External links
 Official website

 Tohoku Soccer League – Blancdieu Hirosaki team information

Football clubs in Japan
Sports teams in Aomori Prefecture
Hirosaki