By region.

Mexico and the Mesoamerican region.

In Mexico and the Mesoamerican region, the digging stick was the most important agricultural tool throughout the region.  The "coa" stick normally flares out into a triangle at the end and is used for cultivating maize. It is still used for agriculture in some indigenous communities, with some newer 20th-century versions having the addition of a little metal tip.  Other digging sticks, according to Native Americans of the Columbia Plateau, have been used since time immemorial to gather edible roots like balsamroot, bitterroot, camas, and varieties of biscuitroot. Typical digging sticks were and are still about 2 to 3 feet in length, usually slightly arched, with the bottom tip shaved off at an angle. A 5 to 8 inch cross-piece made of antler, bone, or wood was fitted perpendicularly over the top of the stick, allowing the use of two hands to drive the tool into the ground. Since contact with the Europeans in the 19th century, Native Americans have also adapted the use of a metal in making digging sticks.

Ethiopia and the Harar region.

The most common digging stick found in Ethiopia is the "ankassay" in Amharic, a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia and the second-most spoken Semitic language in the world. The "ankassay" is a single shaft that is about 4–5 feet in length with a socket-hafted pointed iron blade as the tip.  Two other digging sticks are unique to the Harar region located in East-Central Ethiopia, which are considered to be unusual due to their function beyond the basic use of other digging sticks, and the use of one as a plow.  The "deungora" is a particularly long digging stick is about 110 centimeters, or approximately 3.6 feet, in length with a socket-hafted pointed iron blade as the tip. What's unique about this digging stick is that a bored stone, about 15 centimeters in diameter, is attached at the opposing end. This stone shares the same form as other bored stones that have been discovered in archaeological sites in Africa.  "Maresha" is the Gurage name, also the same word used by the Amhara, for a digging stick that differs in construction because of its forked form. It is used primarily to dig holes for construction, planting, and harvesting roots and tubers. This tool is used as a plow to turn over the soil of an entire field before planting. It is used to break clods of soil in areas where the soil is hard or in areas that may be too steep for plowing, and to dig holes for construction or to transplant domestic plants. When compared to the "ankassay", this digging stick can perform the same duties and in addition can be used as a hoe.

East-Central New Guinea.

The Kuman people of this region were horticulturists who used basic tools such as the digging stick, wooden hoe, and wooden spade in their daily lives. Eventually they started to use more sophisticated tools such as iron spades and pick-axes.  Two main types of digging sticks both shared a similar shape but differed in size:

In archaeology and anthropology, a digging stick, or sometimes yam stick, is a wooden implement used primarily by subsistence-based cultures to dig out underground food such as roots and tubers or burrowing animals and anthills. The stick may also have other uses in hunting or general domestic tasks.

Le bâton fouisseur ou bâton à fouir est un pieu plus ou moins long, plus ou moins lourd, dont se servent certains peuples pour creuser la terre afin d'en extraire les tubercules.


History.

The noble family originally resided in southwestern Bavaria at the castle of Ambras near Innsbruck, controlling the road to the March of Verona across the Brenner Pass, at Dießen am Ammersee and Wolfratshausen. One Count Rasso ("Rath") is documented in Dießen, who allegedly fought against the invading Magyars in the early 10th century and established the monastery of Grafrath. By their ancestor Count Palatine Berthold of Reisensburg, a grandson of the Bavarian duke Arnulf the Bad, the Andechser may be affiliated with the Luitpolding dynasty. Berthold appears a fierce enemy of King Otto I of Germany and was blamed as a traitor at the 955 Battle of Lechfeld against the Hungarians. He probably married a daughter of Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine; his descendant Count Berthold II (d. 1151), from about 1100 residing at Andechs, is credited as the progenitor of the comital dynasty.  Berthold II had inherited the family's Bavarian territories but also acquired possessions in the adjacent Franconian region, where about 1135 he had the Plassenburg built near Bayreuth and established the town of Kulmbach. He served as "vogt" of Benediktbeuern Abbey and by marriage with Sophie, daughter of Margrave Poppo II, came into property of lands in the March of Istria and Carniola.  In the year 1180, the County of Andechs acquired the town of Innsbruck.  Otto II of Andechs was bishop of Bamberg in 1177–1196. In 1208, when Philip of Swabia, King of the Germans was assassinated at Bamberg by Otto VIII of Wittelsbach, members of the house of Andechs were implicated.  Saint Hedwig of Andechs (c. 1174 – October 1243) was one of eight children born to Berthold IV, Duke of Merania, Count of Dießen-Andechs and Margrave of Istria. Of her four brothers, two became bishops, Ekbert of Bamberg (1203–1231), and Berthold, Patriarch of Aquileia.  Otto succeeded his father as Duke of Dalmatia, and Henry became Margrave of Istria. Of her three sisters, Gertrude of Andechs-Merania (1185–September 24, 1213) was the first wife of Andrew II of Hungary and the mother of St Elizabeth of Hungary; Mechtilde became Abbess of Kitzingen; while Agnes, a famous beauty, was made the illegitimate third wife of Philip II of France in 1196, on the repudiation of his lawful wife, Ingeborg, but was dismissed in 1200, after Pope Innocent III laid France under an interdict.

Genealogy.

A history of the House of Andechs was written by the statesman and historian Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, and published in 1796.

The House of Andechs was a feudal line of German princes in the 12th and 13th century. The Counts of Dießen-Andechs (1100 to 1180) obtained territories in northern Dalmatia on the Adriatic seacoast, where they became Margraves of Istria and ultimately dukes of a short-lived imperial state named Merania from 1180 to 1248.

Les comtes d'Andechs ont été une famille noble allemande dont le berceau se trouve au château fort d'Andechs (au sud-ouest de Munich), en Bavière. Ils sont documentés résidant à Diessen au et font tous partie des plus importantes dynasties bavaroises outre les Welf. Parmi les membres les plus éminents furent notamment sainte Edwige de Silésie, la fille du comte Berthold IV, et sa nièce sainte Élisabeth de Hongrie. La lignée comtale s'éteignit en 1251.


History.

The classical doctrine of "hisba", associated with the Quranic injunction of "enjoining good and forbidding wrong", refers to the duty of Muslims to promote moral rectitude and intervene when another Muslim is acting wrongly. Historically, its legal implementation was entrusted to a public official called "muhtasib" (market inspector), who was charged with preventing fraud, disturbance of public order and infractions against public morality. This office disappeared in the modern era everywhere in the Muslim world, including Arabia, but it was revived by the first Saudi state (1745–1818) and continued to play a role in the second (1823–87), due to its importance within Wahhabi doctrine. Under the third Saudi state, the most zealous followers of Ibn Sa'ud were appointed as "muhtasibs", but their severity caused conflict with the local population and foreign pilgrims. In response, committees were established in Riyadh and Mecca in 1932 to check their excesses. In 1976 the committees were united under an official of ministerial rank, acting under direct royal command. The unified "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice" has been assisted by volunteers, who enforce strict rules of hijab, attendance of daily prayers and gender segregation in public places. With the rising international influence of Wahhabism, the conception of "hisba" as an individual obligation to police religious observance has become more widespread. This has led to the appearance of activists around the world who urge fellow Muslims to observe Islamic rituals, dress code, and other aspects of sharia, with vigilante incidents in London (2013-2014) and Wuppertal, Germany (2014) resulting in criminal charges.  In Iran, "hisba" was enshrined in the constitution after the 1979 Revolution as a "universal and reciprocal duty", incumbent upon both the government and the people. Its implementation has been carried out by official committees as well as volunteer forces ("basij"). Elsewhere, policing of various interpretations of sharia-based public morality has been carried out by the Kano State Hisbah Corps in the Nigerian state of Kano, by "Polisi Perda Syariah Islam" in the Aceh province of Indonesia, by the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in the Gaza Strip, by the Taleban during their 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, as well as by other groups.

Activities by country.

Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice was first instituted by the 1992 Rabbani regime, and adopted by the Taliban when they took power in 1996. Taliban's department was modeled on a similar organization in Saudi Arabia. It was closed when the Taliban was ousted, but the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Afghanistan reinstated it in 2003. In 2006 the Karzai regime submitted draft legislation to create a new department, under the Ministry for Haj and Religious Affairs, devoted to the "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice".

Iran.

Guidance Patrol (,' "Gašt-e Eršād") is the main Islamic religious police, or vice squad in the Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran. It was established in 2005, succeeding previously defunct institutions of similar nature. Its mission is to impose Islamic dress codes and norms of conduct in public, particularity regarding the hijab of women (but also some men) who are deemed improperly dressed according to the dress code. In addition, the patrol also enforces Islamic codes of conduct in public, such as preventing the mingling of unrelated men and women without a male guardian (mahram) for the latter, and preventing other types of behavior that are un-Islamic. It has been viewed as a scourge by urban women, particular those from more affluent circles, who try to push the boundaries of dress code. President Hassan Rouhani has expressed opposition to the Guidance Patrol, but it does not fall under his constitutional jurisdiction.

Malaysia.

The Malaysian religious authority, known as the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (JAWI), enforces religious standards. Its Chief of enforcement is Wan Jaafar Wan Ahmad. Punishable offenses include "khalwat", the offense of being in close proximity to any forbidden member of the opposite sex. Adultery is also an offense and may lead to up to two years in prison. According to local newspapers, the moral police have stopped hundreds of couples. Other offenses include extra-marital sex, alcohol consumption, not fasting during Ramadan, and not visiting the mosque during Friday prayer. The department also punishes gay Muslims. Malaysian morality police are often accused of overstepping their mandate, with legal confusion resulting from overlapping and ambiguously defined jurisdictions of secular and sharia-based laws.

Nigeria.

The "Kano State Hisbah Corps" is a religious police force in Nigeria's northern Kano state responsible for the enforcement of Sharia. It was established by the state government in 2003 with the institutionalization of formerly local and privately maintained hisbah security units. It operates under the jurisdiction of a Hisbah Board composed of government officials, secular police officers, and religious leaders, and is highly decentralized with local units supervised by committees composed of officials and citizens in the communities in which they operate. The Hisbah Corps does not have authority to execute arrests and are allowed to carry only non-lethal weapons for self-defense. Hisbah officers who observe violations of Sharia are expected to alert the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). The duties of the Hisbah Corps include arbitrating disputes on a voluntary basis, verbally chastising violators of Sharia, and maintaining public order at religious celebrations. Hisbah are also trained to assist with disaster response operations. The Hisbah Corps has had a contentious relationship with the NPF, with the latter frequently refusing to cooperate in enforcement of religious law, and on multiple occasions arresting Hisbah members for trespassing private property.  Some observers have compared hisbah activities in Nigeria to vigilante groups which have operated in other parts of the country, partly based on local tradition and partly as a response to failings of the police. However, as of 2004, Human Rights Watch was not aware of killings by hisba members, in contrast to other vigilante groups like the Bakassi Boys in the southeast and the Oodua People’s Congress in the southwest of the country, who have committed numerous extrajudicial killings and other abuses.

Saudi Arabia.

The "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice", also referred to as "mutawa", "mutaween" by other similar names, are tasked with enforcing conservative Islamic norms of public behavior, as defined by Saudi authorities. They monitor observance of the dress code, gender segregation in public spaces, and ensure that shops are closed during prayer times. The institution has found general support among conservative currents of public opinion, although it is widely disliked by liberals and younger people.  In some incidents, the Saudi religious police were broadly condemned in the country, including cases of breaking into private homes on suspicion of illicit behavior. Perhaps the most serious and widely criticized incident for which they were blamed occurred on March 11, 2002, when they were accused of preventing schoolgirls from escaping a burning school in Mecca, because the girls were not wearing headscarves and abayas (black robes), and not accompanied by a male guardian. The firemen who arrived to help, were also males. Fifteen girls died and fifty were injured in the fire. Widespread public criticism followed, both internationally and within Saudi Arabia. The "Mutaween" have also been criticized or ridiculed for use of flogging to punish certain misdeeds, however, Saudi Supreme Court ended the flogging punishment in 2020. banning Valentines Day gifts, arresting priests for saying Mass, and being staffed by "ex-convicts whose only job qualification was that they had memorized the Qur'an in order to reduce their sentences".  Under the Saudi program Saudi Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has introduced several reforms to the religious police, as well as extended liberties for women: The religious police may only work during office hours, cannot detain or make arrests, and may only submit reports to civil authorities. In addition, the Mutaween can no longer restrict women from driving, nor can they prohibit women from attending sporting events.

Sudan.

The Community Service Police serves as the Sudanese religious police. Originally called the Public Order Police, the enforcement agency was established in 1993 by President Omar al-Bashir. The Public Order Law was initiated by the Sudanese government in the state of Khartoum in 1992, and later applied to all states. The name was changed in 2006. The Community Service Police is in charge of enforcing regulations on certain personal behaviors, including indecent clothing, alcohol consumption, offensive acts and seduction, among others. In June 2015, 10 female students were charged with "indecent dress" after exiting their church. All of the women were wearing long-sleeved shirts and either skirts or trousers. In December 2017, 24 women were arrested at a private gathering for wearing trousers. They were later released. Punishment can include flogging and the payment of fines. The Public Order Court, which handles such cases, is a parallel court system which exercises summary judgements. Many Sudanese resent the activity of the religious police as oppressive and arbitrarily intrusive, although it is supported by Salafists and other religious conservatives.

Other countries.

Other less prominent Islamic religious police forces have included:

Islamic religious police is an official vice squad which enforces religious observance and public morality on behalf of national or regional authorities based on its interpretation of sharia. The practice is generally justified with reference to the doctrine of "hisba", which is based on the Quranic injunction of "enjoining good and forbidding evil", and refers to the duty of Muslims to promote moral rectitude and intervene when another Muslim is acting wrongly. In pre-modern Islam, its legal implementation was entrusted to a public official called "muhtasib" (market inspector), who was charged with preventing fraud, disturbance of public order and infractions against public morality. The office was revived in Saudi Arabia, and latter instituted as a committee, aided by a volunteer force focused on enforcing religious observance. Similar institutions later appeared in several other countries and regions. Powers and responsibilities of Islamic religious police have varied from country to country, with the latter commonly including enforcing Islamic dress code and prayer attendance, as well as preventing consumption of alcohol and public interactions seen as infringing on Islamic sexual norms.

La Muttawa (en arabe : مطاوعة) ou officiellement Hay'ah (en arabe : هيئة) est le nom de la police religieuse dans certains pays musulmans, dont le rôle est d'appliquer les principes de la charia dans la sphère publique.


Personal life.

He was born and grew up in southern Lebanon in Hanin, near the Lebanese-Israeli border. He gained refugee status in 1996 and became a Belgian citizen through marriage to a Belgian woman, from whom he much later divorced. He is now married to a Belgian Muslim woman, Nabila Boujdaine of Moroccan origin, who was also on the electoral lists for his MDP party in 2004. N. Boujdaine is the sister of Saida from the book "Saida", written by "De Standaard" journalist, Tom Naegels and is the partner in a new organisation, Safe Have Aid, established by Dyab Abou Jahjah and his brother. He holds a Masters degree in political science from the Université catholique de Louvain.  Abou Jahjah has written several books, among them an autobiography entitled "Between Two Worlds - the Roots of a Freedom Fight" that sold 7,000 copies in Belgium and the Netherlands. He was also the subject of two political biographies, one written by Mohammed Benzakour and the other by Maroun Labaki, and a political analysis book written by the Belgian communist writer Ludo De Witte.

Move to Belgium.

In 1991, at the age of 19, Abou Jahjah left Lebanon: "I wanted to go abroad like a lot of Lebanese young people". Abou Jahjah studied at Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Louvain la Neuve and obtained a master's degree in political science and International relations. After several odd jobs during his study time, including factory work and construction labour, he became the director of vzw Welkom, the Immigrant working body for the Belgian ABVV trade Union.

Political views.

Abou Jahjah is a Social democrat and moderate Muslim, although he later revealed that he is rather a Muslim by culture and agnostic on faith. He is an opponent of assimilation. He wants immigrants to be treated as full citizens who can keep their own culture, rather than being treated as guests. He was compared to the American activist Malcolm X, also a Muslim, who opposed assimilation and the melting pot model of integration. He sees the integration of Armenians in Lebanon as the ideal model. He has said that, "America's race laws are more advanced than here. I have relatives in Detroit and they are Arab-Americans but they feel American. I don't feel European. Europe needs to make its concept of citizenship inclusive to all cultures and religions.

Arab European League.

In 2000 Abou Jahjah founded the Arab European League in Antwerp, a city with a large Muslim population. In the 2003 election the Arab European League partnered with the Marxist-Leninist Workers' Party of Belgium to form the RESIST (electoral list), which failed to win any seats and soon dissolved. In 2004 he started the MDP, but this party didn't obtain any elected participants. Early in 2006 Abou Jahjah announced that he will no longer be leading the AEL nor holding a leadership position.

Sabra and Shatila.

In 2001, Abou Jahjah founded the Sabra and Shatila committee, which brought a lawsuit against former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his alleged role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre committed, in adjacent refugee camps, during the Israel-Lebanon war in 1982.

9/11.

He said of Arab reaction to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks that "Most of us... felt that day something that can not be described as joy, or as happiness, but rather as that sweet revenge feeling. We all had – except that small minority- a "what goes around comes around’" attitude", but he continued that "Now, almost two months after the eleventh of September, we see things clear(er). It is terrible how criminals can cause by their acts the misery for so many people, people of their own kind and people of their alleged enemy. How violence will breed violence that will breed more violence".

Negative attitudes towards homosexuals.

In his own column in the Belgian daily "De Standaard", he stated "We (Belgians with Arab roots) are predominantly negatively disposed towards homosexuals. This isn't because we're immigrants, but rather because we're men. The idea that another man could desire us sexually, is for most heterosexual men a nightmare that can render them aggressive."

Means to an end.

Abou Jahjah considers democracy a strong means to an end. Sharia would be instated after a democratic process. Indeed, his messages are altogether mixed Jahjah suggested in a televised debate that a similar attack was likely in the Netherlands. "It's logical," he said. "You make war with us, we make war with you."

Controversies.

Arrest.

Abou Jahjah was arrested and detained for several days in 2002 after he allegedly organized riots and called for violence. The riots broke out in Borgerhout, a district of Antwerp, after a 27-year-old Belgian-Moroccan was shot by his Flemish neighbor. He was acquitted from all charges on October 21, 2008. A police officer who was watching him the night of the riots said that Abou Jahjah is innocent and that the evidence against him was fabricated. His arrest sparked sharp debates and dominated Belgian politics for months. He gained a lot of support among Belgian intellectuals and academics and was considered as a political prisoner. 300 personalities signed a petition demanding a more moderate approach by the government in dealing with the AEL and the issue of immigration and discrimination in the country. The case became a famous example of demonization of political activists and violation of the separation of powers. The Abou Jahjah affaire is still taught as a case study in some law schools in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Theo van Gogh.

In the Netherlands, Abou Jahjah had a row with the late film director Theo van Gogh, who was known for his opposition to Islam. After van Gogh, who was supposed to be the moderator of a debate between him and Boris Dittrich, insulted Abou Jahjah by calling him "de pooier van de profeet" ("the prophet's pimp") in front of an audience of 1000 people, Abou Jahjah stormed out of the theater, with his bodyguards in tow and refused to continue considering that a moderator should be neutral and not insult the guests. His opponent that day Boris Dietrich declared his sympathy to his position and his dismay to the behavior of Van Gogh.

2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

In July 2006 he announced that he would be going to Lebanon to help in whatever way he can defending his country against the attack by Israeli forces. In response, Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter called on the Belgian government to revoke Abou Jahjah's citizenship.  He wrote a book on the Israel-Lebanon war called "Diary Brussels Beirut".

Return to Lebanon.

Since 2007 Abou Jahjah left Belgium and resettled in Lebanon and focused on his management career as a CEO of a small BPO company, Jana SARL in Saida. He later confirmed in 2009 on his Facebook wall that he was "glad to be out of that shit-hole now".  It was also in 2009 that he called on Facebook and in Arab language on his blog: "la valise ou le cercueil" and "And resist the occupier and colonizer constantly and without hesitation, and by all means necessary and available, and the most important thing, the armed struggle – until his expulsion from our land for good and unconditionally."  He continued visiting Europe regularly to speak at meetings and media shows. The VRT, the Belgian-Flemish state television was even accused of sympathising with him and promoting him after it became known that the TV station paid his airplane ticket and hotel costs to attend the famous Belgian talk show Phara. He is considered an authority on issues of immigration, and the Arab world. After the Arab spring, that Abou Jahjah supports adamantly, he gained intellectual credit in the West as someone who has always defended the opinion that revolution is inevitable in the Arab world. In 2008 a group of Flemish students videotaped an interview with him in which he was speaking in details about revolution in Egypt and elsewhere and expected it to happen within 5 years. Parts of the video were later shown on Belgian Television. Three young students from Arab origin in Belgium wrote that Abou Jahjah and his AEL were a chance to build a better understanding between communities, and that chance was missed. Many argue today that it would have been much easier and more productive to dialogue with a person like Abou Jahjah instead of the religious groups that appeared after he left Europe. This opinion has been outed by many people including former rivals, like former prime minister Verhofstadt, the man who decreed his arrest.

Popular culture.

During the year of 2002 Abou Jahjah was the most mentioned name in the Belgian media, exceeding reference of the prime minister and the king. He became a household name in Belgium and in the Netherlands, and this was reflected in hundreds of caricatures and satires. He was played by the comedian in the Dutch comedy show Kopspijkers. He was also a main character in the best selling novel "Los" of writer Tom Naegels which was later filmed. "" was directed by. The name "Abou Jahjah" also was used as a protest slogan by Antwerp dock workers during a strike in clashes with the Police. It was also sung by supporters of football club RSC Anderlecht in its clashes with rivals Royal Antwerp, as a tool to provoke the Antwerp supporters.

Debating skills.

Abou Jahjah was called by Roderiek van Grieken of a Dutch debating institute a "perfect pure talent" in debating. Also as a solo speaker, Abou Jahjah drew very large crowds and could galvanize them to his causes. The renowned linguist Professor C. Delantsheer wrote a chapter on Abou Jahjah's rhetoric in a book published by Cambridge university in 2007. He had also presented a paper on the power of metaphors in the discourse of Abou Jahjah and presented it to an academical congress in Sweden.

Return to Belgium.

In September 2013 Abou Jahjah returned to Belgium due to the dire security situation in Lebanon. He declared that for the time being he was choosing the security of his children over all other considerations. Upon his return, several opinion makers wrote articles welcoming him back. He declared that he will be founding a new movement that will seek to defend equal rights and social justice. From January 2014 he became a weekly columnist at the prestigious newspaper "De Standaard". In January 2017 "De Standaard" stopped his column, when Jahjah declared on the January 2017 Jerusalem vehicular attack, the "liberation of Palestine 'by any means necessary' needs to take place" as calling for violence is not compatible with the policy of the newspaper.  Soon after he was chosen as the 4th most influential Belgian of foreign origin by "Knack" magazine, only preceded by then Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, Meyrem Almaci and Vincent Kompany.

Dyab Abou Jahjah (, born 24 June 1971 in Hanin, Lebanon) is an Arab political activist and writer who was active in Europe between 2001 and 2007. He is the founder and former leader of the Arab European League (AEL), a Pan-Arabist movement that supports the interests of Muslim immigrants in Europe. Since then, Abou Jahjah took distance from identity politics and is more operating out of a non-ethnic, secular and leftist framework.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, né à (Liban) le, est un militant politique belgo-libanais controversé, fondateur de la Ligue arabe européenne, puis du parti belge Be.One. Chiite, Abou Jahjah est proche du groupe islamiste Hezbollah. Il est une figure controversée pour ses propos jugés extremistes, xénophobes, antisémites et antisionistes.


Early life in the Church.

Samuel comes from a Syriac Orthodox family. In his early years he became a Syriac Orthodox monk in the monastery of Deyrulzafaran. When Samuel fled to Lebanon after a dispute with the archbishop of Deyrulzafaran, Samuel became a Syrian Catholic priest. In the mid-1970s he fled to Belgium, claiming that the Aramaic Christians were being persecuted in Turkey. He became a Belgian and adopted the surname of Boniface – "he who does good things." He was appointed to the diocese of Tournai, but soon became caught up in the culture war between Christians secularists and Christians traditionalists. Tournai is a thoroughly secularised, modernist diocese. Father Samuel clashed with the bishop. He then bought the St-Antoine-de-Padoue church in Montignies-sur-Sambre. There he conducts the Mass according to the traditional rites of the Catholic Church.

Career.

Hundreds of faithful from all over the country and even from the north of France attend Sunday Mass in Montignies-sur-Sambre. The congregation includes African immigrants, a large number of young people and many young families with small children. In his sermons and on his website Father Samuel speaks out against secularism, but also fights on another front of the three-way culture war, warning against "the islamic invasion" of the West. Boniface says he has witnessed in Turkey what the future has in store for Europe. He claims Muslims are invading Europe and warns for an impending civil war. According to Father Samuel "so-called moderate Muslims do not exist."

Controversy.

Allegations of incitement to racist hatred.

Father Samuel has been prosecuted for "incitement to racist hatred" by the Belgian government’s agency, the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR)  In 2006, the Belgian judiciary decided that the priest will have to stand trial before the penal court in Charleroi. He reacted by repeating his "time bomb" statement and added that he would be honoured if he had to go to jail for speaking his mind. He added that Jesus, too, had been convicted. During a sermon he called upon the faithful to accompany him to court. "We will turn this into an excursion, driving there in full buses."  Father Samuel was acquitted, of charges of incitement to racial hatred. The Court of First Instance of Charleroi found no punishable acts according to the Belgian anti-discrimination.

Cult status.

In 1997, the Belgian parliamentary commission on cults established a list of 189 movements containing the Father Samuel (see List of groups referred to as cults or sects in government documents). Former members say he has an anti-social speech which breaks families, he praticize sexual touchings against adult women and he receives many cash donations. Father Samuel is also criticized by evangelical associations fighting against cults, but mainly on doctrinal issues.  Samuel rejected these accusations and sent protest letters to the parliamentary members.

Father Samuel ("Père Samuel") is a Syriac Orthodox monk-priest. He was formerly incardinated in the Syriac Catholic Church, but due to his bigotry against Islam, he was considered by his Belgian Roman Catholic bishop to be a Belgian Roman Catholic suspended Priest of Aramean origin. His passport gives his name as Charles-Clément Boniface. However, he was born in 1942 in Bağlarbaşı (Arnas) nearby Midyat, Turkey, as Samuel Ozdemir. The latter is a surname the priest dislikes because it was imposed on his family by the Turks. Samuel is a Christian He was suspended in 2011 from celebrating cult and sacrements by the bishop of Tournai.

Charles-Clément Boniface, né Samuel Özdemir en 1942 à Bağlarbaşı (Adıyaman, Turquie) et plus connu sous le nom de Père Samuel, est un prélat catholique turc d'origine assyrienne, naturalisé belge dans les années 1970. Chorévêque de l'Église catholique syriaque, il est principalement connu pour son excentricité, son traditionalisme, son hostilité vis-à-vis de l'islam et ses différends avec l'évêché de Tournai.


History.

Design and construction.

Originally designed to be a 42,000-seat stadium, there were slight modifications before the final design was complete. When the ballpark was brought to the ballot box in the fall of 1996 for voter approval, the stadium was 15° clockwise from its current position. Also the center-field scoreboard was atop the right-field wall and the Giants Pavilion Building were two separate buildings. Groundbreaking on the ballpark began on December 11, 1997, in the industrial waterfront area of San Francisco known as China Basin in the up-and-coming neighborhoods of South Beach and Mission Bay. The stadium cost $357 million to build and supplanted the Giants' former home, Candlestick Park, a multi-use stadium in southeastern San Francisco that was also home to the NFL's San Francisco 49ers until 2014, when they relocated to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. A team of engineers from UC Davis was consulted in the design process of the park, resulting in wind levels that are approximately half those at Candlestick. Fans had shivered through 40 seasons at "The 'Stick" and looked forward to warmer temperatures at the new ballpark. But because Oracle Park, like its predecessor, is built right on San Francisco Bay, cold summer fog and winter jackets in July are still not unusual at Giants games, despite the higher average temperature.  When it opened on March 31, 2000, the ballpark was the first MLB ballpark built without public funds since the completion of Dodger Stadium in 1962. However, the Giants did receive a $10 million tax abatement from the city and $80 million for upgrades to the local infrastructure (including a connection to the Muni Metro). The Giants have a 66-year lease on the ballpark site, paying $1.2 million in rent annually to the San Francisco Port Commission. The park opened with a seating capacity of 40,800, but this has increased over time as seats have been added. In April 2010, the stadium became the first MLB ballpark to receive LEED Silver Certification for Existing Buildings, Operations and Maintenance.  Following the 2019 season, the organization began the process of relocating the bullpens from the first- and third base foul lines to behind the outfield walls in center and right-centerfield. The motivation was two-fold: to address player safety issues that had arisen over the years by having the bullpen mounds in the field of play, and to slightly alter the dimensions of the park to perhaps increase, if ever-so-slightly, the potential for home runs in certain areas of the outfield, most notably in right-center field, affectionately known as Triples Alley (a design feature meant as an homage to the centerfield depth of the Giants former home in New York, The Polo Grounds). Prior to these modifications, multiple players both home and away had experienced various levels of injury sustained by tripping over the bullpen mounds while chasing foul balls. Most notably, former Giants outfield prospect Mac Williamson sustained a concussion during such a play that significantly altered his season.

Naming rights.

On April 3, 1996, Pacific Bell, a telephone company serving California based in San Francisco, purchased the naming rights for the planned ballpark for $50 million for 24 years. The stadium was named Pacific Bell Park, or Pac Bell Park for short.  Just days before the sponsorship was announced, SBC Communications had announced their intention to acquire Pacific Bell's parent company, Pacific Telesis, a deal which closed in April 1997. SBC eventually stopped using the Pacific Bell name for marketing, and reached an agreement with the Giants to change the stadium's name to SBC Park on January 1, 2004.  After SBC bought AT&T Corporation on November 18, 2005, the name of the merged company became AT&T Inc. As a result, in 2006 the stadium was given its third name in six years: AT&T Park.  On January 9, 2019, it was reported that AT&T had given the Giants the option of ending the naming deal a year early, if the team could quickly find a new partner. The Giants and Oracle Corporation came to a rapid agreement, with the old AT&T Park signs being replaced with temporary Oracle Park banners on January 10.  Some fans still refer to the stadium as Pac Bell Park, as it was the first name given to the stadium. Others have nicknamed the stadium "The Phone Booth" or "Telephone Park", in response to its multiple name changes, while some referred to the stadium as "Some Big Corporation Park" during the SBC years. Others yet refer to it as "Mays Field" in honor of Giants great Willie Mays or simply "The Bell". Many also refer to the stadium as "China Basin" or "McCovey Cove" after its location, which would be immune to changes in sponsorship naming.

Features.

The stadium contains 68 luxury suites, 5,200 club seats on the club level, and an additional 1,500 club seats at the field level behind home plate.  On the facing of the upper deck along the left-field line are the retired numbers of Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Jackie Robinson, Willie McCovey, and Gaylord Perry, as well as the retired uniforms, denoted "NY", of Christy Mathewson and John McGraw who played or managed in the pre-number era. These two pre-number–era retired uniforms are among only six such retired uniforms in all of the Major Leagues.  Oracle Park has a reputation of being a pitcher's park and the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in the National League, because the depth of the outfield limits home runs, according to ESPN. ESPN's MLB Park Factors lists Oracle Park as having the fewest home runs per game 6 out of the past 7 years, the one exception coming in 2013, when it was the 3rd lowest.

Right field and McCovey Cove.

The most prominent feature of the ballpark is the right-field wall, which is high in honor of former Giants Willie Mays, who wore number 24. Because of the proximity to the San Francisco Bay, the right-field foul pole is only from home plate, the shortest in the NL [only Fenway Park's shorter, at ]. The wall is made of brick, with fenced-off archways opening to the Cove beyond, above which are several rows of arcade seating. The fence angles quickly away from home plate; right-center field extends out to from home plate. Atop the fence are four pillars with fountains atop. Jets of water burst from the four pillars at the end of the National Anthem and also when the Giants hit a home run or win a game. In the past, rubber chickens put up by fans whenever a Giants player (especially Barry Bonds) was intentionally walked, would line the foul portion of the wall. The fans would do this to show that the opposing team is "chicken" for not pitching right to the Giants players. In recent seasons, as the team's strength has shifted from hitting to pitching, fans will line up "K" signs with each strikeout by a Giants pitcher. The right field area was designed to resemble the Polo Grounds. This deep corner of the ballpark has been dubbed "Death Valley" and "Triples Alley." Like its Polo Grounds counterpart, it is very difficult to hit a home run to this area, and a batted ball that finds its way into this corner often results in a triple. It is. Triples Alley is also infamous for bad bounces, most notably when Ichiro Suzuki hit the first-ever inside-the-park home run in an All-Star Game by lining the ball off one of the archways and sideways past the outfielders. Nate Schierholtz performed the same feat in the 2009 season as a pinch hitter. Aubrey Huff did it again in the 2010 season, as did Conor Gillaspie in 2011. Ángel Pagán ended a game in May 2013 with a two-run walk-off inside-the-park home run, the first of its kind at the then-named AT&T Park.  Beyond right field is China Basin, a section of San Francisco Bay, which is dubbed McCovey Cove after famed Giants first baseman and left-handed slugger Willie McCovey, and into which a number of home runs have been hit on the fly. As of August 29, 2019, 81 "splash hits" (all by a lefty batter) have been knocked into the Cove by Giants players since the park opened; 35 of those were by Barry Bonds, and the most recent being Scooter Gennett hitting one off Ranger Suárez of the Philadelphia Phillies on August 11, 2019. These hits are tallied on an electronic counter on the right field wall. Opponents have hit the water on the fly 42 times; Todd Hundley of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the first visitor to do so on June 30, 2000. Curtis Granderson of the New York Mets, Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cliff Floyd of the Chicago Cubs are the only visiting players to do so twice, while Carlos Delgado of the New York Mets has performed the feat three times. Adam LaRoche has also hit three splash hits, twice with the Arizona Diamondbacks and once with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers most recently hit one into the water as a visiting player on June 9, 2019. On June 27, 2010, David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to hit a splash hit. The only other AL players who have done it are Mitch Moreland of the Texas Rangers on June 9, 2012 and Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox on August 13, 2014. Barry Bonds is the Giant who has hit the most home runs into "The Cove" as Giants fans call it and is the only one to have had hit 2 splash hits in one game (a feat he accomplished twice).  Behind the scoreboard in center field there is a pier where ferries can tie up and let off fans right at the park. On game days, fans take to the water of McCovey Cove in boats and even in kayaks, often with fishing nets in the hope of collecting a home run ball. (This echoes what used to happen at Candlestick Park during McCovey's playing days. Before Candlestick's upper deck was extended, the area behind right field was occupied by three small bleacher sections and a lot of open space. Kids in those bleachers would gather behind the right field fence when "Stretch" came to the plate.) Just beyond the wall behind the King Street ballpark is a public waterfront promenade. Across the cove from the ballpark is McCovey Point and China Basin Park, featuring monuments to past Giants legends.

Rusty, the Coke bottle, and the glove.

When the park opened in 2000, taking residence on the right field wall was "Rusty", the Mechanical Man based on a theme of Old Navy since the wall was sponsored by the company. Rusty was a two-dimensional robotic ballplayer that stood tall and weighed 51⁄2 tons. The Valencia-based firm, Technifex, engineered, fabricated and programmed Rusty to appear after major plays, during games, as a fully animated giant 1920s-era tin "toy". After technical problems arose with Rusty, it was removed from the "Old Navy Splash Landing", though the enclosure that housed him remained for years. In 2006 the Old Navy sponsorship of the wall was terminated and renamed "Levi's Landing". In 2008, the enclosure was removed as that area near the right field foul pole was renovated for a new luxury party suite called the "McCovey Cove Loft". Behind the left field bleachers is "The Coca-Cola Fan Lot". The ballpark features an long Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides that lights up with every Giants home run, and a miniature version of the stadium. "The Coca-Cola Superslide" is popular with children as is with adults, and the terraced levels of the slides are a fun way to catch the game. Bubbles originally accompanied the bottle, but never worked as intended and were removed. If one were viewing the outfield promenade from home plate, directly to the bottle's right is another oversized representation of a ballpark stalwart, the "Giant 1927 Old-Time Four-Fingered Baseball Glove" — this particular one is made of steel and fiberglass. Behind and farther to the left is "The Little Giants Park" – a miniature baseball diamond — sort of a minor league tryout for Pee-Wee Ball.  To the right of the glove sculpture is the elevator and large plaza area for functions and parties to be held during games. It's also the site of "Orlando's", the concessions stand of Giants great Orlando Cepeda. The signature fare at the stand is the "Caribbean Cha Cha Bowl". Right-center field features a real San Francisco cable car numbered 44 (retired cable car #4, formerly #504) in honor of Giants great Willie McCovey. Originally, the cable car had a label that stated "No Dodgers Fans Allowed", as well as one end of the car numbered 24 in honor of Willie Mays and the other end numbered 44 in honor of Willie McCovey. The foghorn — a feature introduced at Candlestick Park by the current Giants ownership group – was transferred to Oracle and hung underneath the scoreboard. It blows when a Giants player hits a home run or at the conclusion of a Giants win. Continuing right takes one to the promenade above the Cove, so that one can make a completely uninterrupted circuit of the park at that concourse level. Both levels of the concourse, inside the stadium, feature not only concession stands of all sorts, but other attractions as well.

@Café.

Located behind the centerfield bleachers, the ballpark features the @Café, a social media café, which opened in the 2013 season. The cafe serves Peet's Coffee and features large screens that show off fans' social media posts from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which are curated by the Giants organization.  The cafe replaced a team-themed Build-A-Bear Workshop store, where fans could build their own stuffed Giants' mascot, Lou Seal, or create other Giants-themed stuffed animals.

Scoreboards.

In addition to the automated scoreboards, which now include a new HD videoboard by Mitsubishi, the park has enormous manually-operated boards on the right field wall, which display the scores of Major League games being played elsewhere. The manual scoreboards are operated by three employees, whose work on game days starts at least two hours before the first pitch. A members-only bar, Gotham Club, is located behind the manual scoreboard, complete with a bowling alley and pool tables. Former players and VIPs are the only patrons of this exclusive area. Three other ballparks also use hand-operated out-of-town scoreboards: Fenway Park, Minute Maid Park & Wrigley Field.

Wireless internet.

Starting in 2004, the Giants installed 122 wireless internet access points, covering all concourses and seating areas, creating one of the largest public hotspots in the world at the time.

San Francisco Giants Wall of Fame.

On September 23, 2008, the Giants Wall of Fame was unveiled on the King Street side of the ballpark, as part of the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Giants' move to San Francisco. 48 retired players were inducted, based on longevity and achievement. Eligibility requirements for players to be on the Wall are either five years as a San Francisco Giant with an All-Star Game appearance or nine years as a Giant. Rich Aurilia and Shawn Estes were added in 2010. Jason Schmidt and Marvin Benard were added in 2011, and Barry Bonds was added in 2017.

Statues.

Outside the ballpark are six statues, five of which are dedicated to San Francisco Giants all-time greats.  The Willie Mays Statue is located in front of the ballpark entrance at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and is surrounded with 24 palm trees, in honor of his number 24 uniform, retired by the Giants. It was dedicated at noon on March 31, 2000, prior to the opening of the ballpark and was commissioned by Giants Managing Partner Peter Magowan and his wife Debby.  Another statue is located at McCovey Point across McCovey Cove, and is dedicated to Willie McCovey. Around the Willie McCovey Statue are a number of plaques that celebrate the winners of the Willie Mac Award. The statue is located at China Basin Park next to The Barry Bonds Junior Giants Field, a T-ball park. Also located on the sea wall promenade are plaques showing the Opening Day roster of every Giants team from 1958 through 1999. Giants fans who contributed funds to China Basin Park, had their own tiles with their own inscriptions set into the wall.  A third statue, dedicated in 2005, honors former Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, and is located outside the ballpark at the Lefty O'Doul Gate entrance. The fourth statue is located at the park's ferry plaza behind center field, also known as Seals Plaza; a statue of a seal bobbing a baseball on its nose honors the memory of the San Francisco Seals, the minor league baseball club that played before the arrival of the Giants in 1958.  On September 6, 2008, during a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a fifth statue depicting former Giants great Orlando Cepeda was dedicated at the corner of 2nd and King Streets next to the ballpark. A sixth statue, dedicated on August 13, 2016, honors former Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry and is also located at the corner of 2nd and King Streets next to the ballpark. All five statues of the Giants Hall of Fame players were created by sculptor William Behrends of North Carolina.

Left field Chevron banner and ground rules issues.

A feature of the ballpark is the long-running Chevron advertisement, located in left field, featuring an outline of the company's claymation Chevron Cars, though the top 'roofs' of the cars (along with a dog and a surfboard hanging out a car window) are extended out (though with traditional structure and cushioning behind it), rendering it several inches higher than the wall base, and creating a ground rules issue. Several instances where potential over-the-wall catches to take away home runs were thwarted have occurred because of the advertisement's top dimensions: for example, during Game 3 of the 2016 NLDS against the Chicago Cubs, Kris Bryant hit a ball well into left field. Giants left fielder Gregor Blanco attempted a catch, but the ball landed on the roof of one of the cars, past the wall and out of his reach, rendering it a home run and tying the game in the top of the ninth inning (though the Giants would win the game in extra innings for their only win in the series). There are also apocryphal stories of Giant players jokingly saying they would saw the tops of the Chevron cars off if they resulted in opposing home runs being unable to be caught.

Notable events.

2000s.

The opening series took place April 11–13, 2000 against the Los Angeles Dodgers (the team the Giants faced in their final series at Candlestick Park), and the Giants were swept in three games. In the first game of that series, the Giants lost 6–5, highlighted by three home runs from the Dodgers' Kevin Elster. On May 1, 2000, Barry Bonds became the first player to hit a "splash hit" home run into McCovey Cove.  In just its first few years of existence, the ballpark saw its share of historic events primarily due to veteran Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. On April 17, 2001, Bonds hit his 500th career home run at then-Pacific Bell Park. Later that year, he set the single season home run record when he hit home runs number 71, 72, and 73 over the weekend of October 5 to close the season. On August 9, 2002, Bonds hit his 600th career home run at the park. On April 12, 2004, Bonds hit career home run 660 at SBC Park to tie Willie Mays for third on the all-time list and on the next night, he hit number 661 to move into sole possession of third place. On September 17, 2004, Bonds hit his 700th career home run at the park to become just the third member of baseball's 700 club. On May 28, 2006, Bonds hit his 715th home run at the park to pass Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list. On August 7, 2007, Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking Hank Aaron's record.  The park hosted games three through five of the 2002 World Series against the Anaheim Angels, which the Giants lost four games to three. It also hosted the 2007 MLB All-Star Game, which the American League won 5–4 over the National League.  On July 10, 2009, the Giants' Jonathan Sánchez pitched the first no-hitter at Oracle Park.

2010s.

On October 27 & 28, 2010, the Giants hosted the first two games of the World Series, beating the Texas Rangers in both games. They ultimately went on to win the series four games to one, their first championship since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958, though the clinching game was played at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington rather than at Oracle Park.  On June 13, 2012, Matt Cain threw the 22nd perfect game in MLB history — and first in Giants history — against the Houston Astros.  Oracle Park hosted Games 1 and 2 of the 2012 World Series on October 24 and 25. The Giants beat the Detroit Tigers twice, 8–3 and 2–0 respectively. The Giants would go on to win the 2012 World Series in a four-game sweep at Comerica Park.  The stadium hosted of the semifinal and final rounds of the 2013 World Baseball Classic on March 17–19.  On July 23, 2013, due to a previous rain-out in Cincinnati, Oracle Park served as the "home" venue of the Cincinnati Reds for the second game of a doubleheader against the Giants. Giants manager Bruce Bochy won his 1,500th career game.  On June 25, 2014, Tim Lincecum pitched the 3rd no hitter at Oracle Park against the San Diego Padres in a 4–0 win. It was his 2nd no hitter of his career, with both of them coming against the Padres.  Oracle Park hosted Games 3, 4, and 5 of the 2014 World Series on October 24, 25, and 26. The Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 2 out of the 3 games played at Oracle Park, losing Game 3, 3–2, before winning Games 4 and 5, 11–4 and 5–0 respectively. They ultimately went on to win the series in seven games, with the clinching game played at Kauffman Stadium rather than at Oracle Park. As of 2019, the Giants have not hosted a World Series clincher at Oracle Park, but they did host two at Candlestick Park: the first being in, which was won by the New York Yankees, and the second in, which the Oakland Athletics won in a four-game sweep.  On June 15, 2015, the Giants set a record for most consecutive home losses at Oracle Park at nine straight games with a 5–1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. This losing streak was the Giants' longest since an 11-game home loss streak at the Polo Grounds in New York in 1940.  From October 1, 2010 to July 18, 2017, Oracle Park recorded 530 consecutive sellouts, the second longest in Major League history behind Fenway Park's 794 consecutive sellouts from 2003 to 2013.

Non-baseball events.

Giants Enterprises, a wholly owned subsidiary of the San Francisco Giants created and headed by longtime team executive Pat Gallagher, brings non-baseball events to Oracle Park on days when the Giants do not play. Prominent among these has been the usage of the stadium for football. It has also hosted a range of other sporting and musical events.

Football.

The park was home to the XFL's San Francisco Demons in 2001, was the home of the East-West Shrine Game (until 2006), and was the former home stadium of the California Redwoods of the UFL in 2009.  From 2002 to 2013, it was also home to college football's Redbox Bowl when the game was known as the San Francisco Bowl, Emerald Bowl, and Fight Hunger Bowl. In 2011, Oracle Park became the temporary home football stadium for the California Golden Bears while Cal's on-campus stadium, California Memorial Stadium, underwent renovation.  Oracle Park also hosted its first high school football game in 2011, the Central Coast Section Division III football championship game between long-time San Francisco rivals St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory.  In January 2019, it was reported that the Oakland Raiders had considered temporarily moving to Oracle Park for the 2019 NFL season, as an interim measure before construction of a stadium in their new home city of Las Vegas is complete for 2020. However, the 49ers refused to waive their territorial rights, and the Raiders would ultimately reach an agreement with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority to return to the Oakland Coliseum for the 2019 season with a provision for the 2020 season should construction of Allegiant Stadium be delayed.

Soccer.

On February 10, 2006, the U.S. men's soccer team defeated Japan 3–2 at Oracle in a friendly.  A match of the 2011 World Football Challenge between Manchester City and Club America was held at Oracle, drawing a crowd of 11,250.  On March 17, 2012, the Houston Dynamo defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 1–0 in a regular season Major League Soccer match at Oracle.  On July 31, 2013, Everton defeated Juventus 6-5 on penalties after ending regulation tied 1-1 as part of the 2013 International Champions Cup.

Rugby.

The stadium hosted the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens from July 20 to July 22.

In video games.

A virtual recreation of the park was created as a gig venue for "Guitar Hero World Tour".  In the game "Watch Dogs 2", a stadium, called "Nudle Park", based on Oracle Park is recreated. Its location is also in San Francisco, and is in the same region.  The stadium is featured in the MLB 2K series as well as PlayStation's

In TV.

In summer 2010, the park hosted an audition stop for the 2011 (10th) season of "American Idol".  During the finale of "The Amazing Race 30", the park was the first location visited by teams after they arrived in San Francisco, with teams having to find a clue next to the Willie Mays Statue and then kayaking for baseballs in McCovey Cove.

Other events.

The stadium hosted an AMA Supercross Championship round from 2003 to 2010.  The Mavericks big-wave surfing contest is broadcast live on the giant video display at Oracle Park when the event is held. In 2006, the park hosted ICER AIR the first stadium big-air ski and snowboard competition to be held in the United States.  San Francisco Opera partnered with Giants Enterprises to do three broadcasts, most recently "Tosca", in June and September 2009.  In October 2013, rapper Kanye West rented out the stadium and the scoreboard for a private event, which turned out to be an elaborate marriage proposal to his girlfriend, reality personality Kim Kardashian.  Starting in 2015, the stadium began hosting commencement exercises for San Francisco State University.

Oracle Park is a baseball park located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. Originally named Pacific Bell Park, then SBC Park, the stadium was then named AT&T Park in 2006; its current name was adopted in 2019. The park stands along the San Francisco Bay, a segment of which is named McCovey Cove in honor of former Giants player Willie McCovey.

L’Oracle Park (auparavant AT&T Park, Pacific Bell Park et SBC Park, surnommé "The Phone Booth", "The House that Bonds Built", "Mays Field" ou encore "Telephone Park") est un stade de baseball situé dans le quartier de South Beach au bord de McCovey Cove à San Francisco, en Californie.


Early life.

Little is known of Suetonius' family, but it likely came from Pisaurum (modern Pesaro), a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy. He is not known to be related to the biographer Suetonius.

Mauretanian campaign.

Having served as "praetor" in 40 AD, Suetonius was appointed governor of Mauretania the following year. In collaboration with Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, he suppressed the revolt led by Aedemon in the mountainous province that arose from the execution of the local ruler by Caligula. In 41 AD Suetonius was the first Roman commander to lead troops across the Atlas Mountains, and Pliny the Elder quotes his description of the area in his "Natural History".

Governor of Britain.

In 58, having presumably been consul, he was appointed governor of Britain, replacing Quintus Veranius, who had died in office. He continued Veranius's policy of aggressively subduing the tribes of modern Wales, and was successful for his first two years in the post. His reputation as a general came to rival that of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Two future governors served under him: Quintus Petillius Cerialis as legate of Legio IX "Hispana", and Gnaeus Julius Agricola as a military tribune attached to II "Augusta", but seconded to Suetonius's staff.  In 60 or 61 Suetonius made an assault on the island of Mona (Anglesey), a refuge for British fugitives and a stronghold of the druids. The tribes of the south-east took advantage of his absence and staged a revolt, led by queen Boudica of the Iceni. The "colonia" of Camulodunum (Colchester) was destroyed, its inhabitants tortured, raped, and slaughtered, and Petillius Cerialis's legion routed. Suetonius brought Mona to terms and marched along the Roman road of Watling Street to Londinium (London), the rebels' next target, but judged he did not have the numbers to defend the city and ordered it evacuated. The Britons duly destroyed it, the citizens of Londinium suffering the same fate as those of Camulodunum, and then did the same to Verulamium (St Albans).  Suetonius regrouped with the XIV "Gemina", some detachments of the "XX Valeria Victrix", and all available auxiliaries. The II "Augusta", based at Exeter, was available, but its prefect, Poenius Postumus, declined to heed the call. Nonetheless, Suetonius was able to assemble a force of about ten thousand men. Heavily outnumbered (the Britons numbered 230,000 according to Cassius Dio), the Romans stood their ground. The resulting battle took place at an unidentified location in a defile with a wood behind him, probably in the West Midlands somewhere along Watling Street - at Cuttle Mill, 2 miles southeast of Towcester in Northamptonshire, in front of a narrow defile which answers the topographical description of Tacitus, human bones have been found over a large area; High Cross in Leicestershire and Manduessedum near the modern day town of Atherstone in Warwickshire have also been suggested - where Roman tactics and discipline triumphed over British numbers. The Britons' flight was impeded by the presence of their own families, whom they had stationed in a ring of wagons at the edge of the battlefield, and defeat turned into slaughter. Tacitus heard reports that almost eighty thousand Britons were killed, compared to only four hundred Romans. Boudica poisoned herself, and Postumus, having denied his men a share in the victory, fell on his sword.  Suetonius reinforced his army with legionaries and auxiliaries from Germania and conducted punitive operations against any remaining pockets of resistance, but this proved counterproductive. The new procurator, Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus, expressed concern to the Emperor Nero that Suetonius's activities would only lead to continued hostilities. An inquiry was set up under Nero's freedman, Polyclitus, and an excuse, that Suetonius had lost some ships, was found to relieve him of his command. He was replaced by the more conciliatory Publius Petronius Turpilianus. But Suetonius was not disgraced: a lead tessera found in Rome features both his and Nero's names and symbols of victory, and a man named Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was consul in 66, either a son of the same name or the general himself appointed for a second time.

Year of Four Emperors.

In 69, during the year of civil wars that followed the death of Nero (see Year of Four Emperors), he was one of Otho's senior generals and military advisors. He and Aulus Marius Celsus defeated Aulus Caecina Alienus, one of Vitellius's generals, near Cremona, but Suetonius would not allow his men to follow up their advantage and was accused of treachery as a result. When Caecina joined his forces with those of Fabius Valens, Suetonius advised Otho not to risk a battle but was overruled, leading to Otho's decisive defeat at Bedriacum. Suetonius was captured by Vitellius and obtained a pardon by claiming that he had deliberately lost the battle for Otho, although this was almost certainly untrue. His eventual fate remains unknown.

Gaius Suetonius Paulinus (; fl. 1st century) was a Roman general best known as the commander who defeated the rebellion of Boudica.

Caius Suetonius Paulinus est un général romain, qui a été consul ordinaire en 66 ap. J.-C. Il est le premier général romain qui ait franchi l'Atlas, dans l'actuel Maroc. Plus tard, entre 59 et 61, il a été gouverneur de la province romaine de Bretagne (sur l'île de Grande-Bretagne) et il remporta la victoire sur Boadicée en 61 lors de la bataille de Watling Street.


Differences from mainstream and self-publishers.

The term "vanity press" is considered pejorative, implying that an author who uses such a service is publishing out of vanity and that his or her work would otherwise not be commercially successful. A vanity press may assert control over rights to the published work and provide limited or no editing, cover art, or marketing services in exchange for their fee. Vanity presses may engage in deceptive practices or costly services with limited recourse available to the writer. In the US, these practices may be cited by the Better Business Bureau as unfavorable reports by consumers.  In the traditional publishing model, the publisher assumes the risk of publication and production costs, selects the works to be published, edits the author's text, and provides for marketing and distribution, provides the ISBN, and satisfies whatever legal deposit and copyright registration formalities are required. Such a publisher normally pays the author a fee, called an advance, for the right to publish the author's work; and further payments, called royalties, based on the sales of the work. This led to James D. Macdonald's dictum, "Money should always flow toward the author" (sometimes called Yog's Law).  In a variant of Yog's law for self-publishing, author John Scalzi has proposed this alternate, to distinguish self-publishing from vanity publishing, "While in the process of self-publishing, money and rights are controlled by the writer." Self-publishing is distinguished from vanity publishing by the writer maintaining control of copyright as well as the editorial and publishing process, including marketing and distribution.

Business model.

With vanity publishing, authors pay to have their books published. Because the author is paying to have the book published, the book does not go through an approval or editorial process as it would in a traditional setting where the publisher takes a financial risk on the author's ability to write successfully. Editing and formatting services may be offered.  Self-publishers undertake the functions of a publisher for their own books. Some "self-publishers" write, edit, design, lay out, market, and promote their books themselves, relying on a printer only for actual printing and binding. Others write the manuscript themselves but hire freelance professionals to provide editing and production services.  More recently, companies have offered their services to act as a sort of agent between the writer and a small printing operation.  A slightly more sophisticated model of a vanity press is described by Umberto Eco in "Foucault's Pendulum". The company that provides initial setting for the novel operates a small yet respectable arts and humanities publishing house as a front. It does not make a profit but it brings a steady flow of substandard authors. They are politely rejected and then referred to another publishing firm in the same office—the vanity press that will print anything for money.  Some companies make use of print on demand technologies based on modern digital printing. These companies are often able to offer their services with little or no upfront cost to the author, but they are still considered vanity presses by writers' advocates. Vanity presses earn their money not from sales of books to readers, as other publishers do, but from sales and services to the books' authors. The author receives the shipment of his or her books and may attempt to resell them through whatever channels are available.

Publishing variations.

Writers considering self-publishing often also consider directly hiring a printer. According to self-publisher and poet Peter Finch, vanity presses charge higher premiums and create a risk that an author who has published with a vanity press will have more difficulty working with a respectable publisher in the future.  Some vanity presses using print on demand technology act as printers as well as sellers of support services for authors interested in self-publishing. Reputable firms of this type are typically marked by clear contract terms, lack of excessive fees, retail prices comparable to those from commercial printers, lack of pressure to purchase "extra" services, contracts that do not claim exclusive rights to the work being published (though one would be hard pressed to find a legitimate publisher willing to put out a competing edition, making non-exclusivity meaningless), and honest indications of what services they will and will not provide, and what results the author may reasonably expect. However, the distinction between the worst of these firms and vanity presses is essentially trivial, though a source of great confusion as the low fees have attracted tens of thousands of authors who want to avoid the stigma of vanity publishing while doing just that.

Vanity publishing in other media.

The vanity press model has been extended to other media. Some companies produce videos, music, and other works with less perceived commercial potential in exchange for a fee from the creators of those works. In some cases, the company may contribute original content to the works (e.g., supplying lyrics for a melody). A notable example is ARK Music Factory, which produced and released Rebecca Black's 2011 viral video "Friday".  These variants on the vanity press theme are still much less common than the traditional, book-based vanity press.  Vanity academic journals also exist, often called bogus journals, which will publish with little or no editorial oversight (although they may claim to be peer reviewed). For example, one such bogus journal ("International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology") accepted for publication a paper called "Get me off Your Fucking Mailing List" which, apart from a couple of headings and references, consists of the sentence "Get me off your fucking mailing list." repeated many times.

History.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was common for authors, if they could afford it, to pay the costs of publishing their books. Such writers could expect more control of their work, greater profits, or both. Among such authors were Lewis Carroll, who paid the expenses of publishing "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and most of his subsequent work. Mark Twain, E. Lynn Harris, Zane Grey, Upton Sinclair, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Rice Burroughs, George Bernard Shaw, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Anaïs Nin also self-published some or all of their works. Not all of these authors were successful in their ventures; Mark Twain's publishing business, for example, went bankrupt.  The term "vanity press" itself appeared in mainstream U.S. publications as early as 1941.  Ernest Vincent Wright, author of the 1939 novel "Gadsby", written entirely in lipogram, was unable to find a publisher for his work and ultimately chose to publish it through a vanity press.

A vanity press, vanity publisher, or subsidy publisher is a publishing house in which authors pay to have their books published. Where mainstream publishers aim to sell enough copies of a book to cover their own costs, and typically reject a majority of the books submitted to them, a vanity press will usually publish any book that a writer pays it to.

L'édition à compte d'auteur consiste pour un auteur à faire éditer ses ouvrages par un éditeur qui assure seulement la partie technique de l'édition et de la diffusion, en dehors du choix éditorial proprement dit. C'est donc l'auteur qui paie les frais d'impression et de publicité de son livre. Il reste cependant propriétaire des droits d'auteur et contrôle le nombre de livres édités. L'édition à compte d'auteur n'est pas toujours réalisée par des maisons d'édition mais par des qui n'assument aucun.


Reactors.

Forsmark NPP has three Boiling water reactors:

Other facilities.

West of Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant is the static inverter of the Fenno–Skan HVDC connector between Sweden and Finland.

Waste disposal.

Forsmark is the proposed site for the long-term burial of all spent fuel from Swedish nuclear power reactors, using the KBS-3 process. The new site will be located next to the already existing final repository for radioactive operational waste, but the two will not be connected with each other.

Incidents.

July 2006 incident.

On 25 July 2006, one reactor was shut down after an electrical fault. According to the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspection authority SKI, the incident was rated 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Initially it was rated 1 since two generators remained online. But once it was discovered that all four generators could have failed due to the same fault, the event was upgraded to 2.  The first proximal cause of the accident was maintenance work in the adjacent high-voltage yard by the Swedish grid operator Svenska Kraftnät. An incorrect interlock procedure caused a disconnector to open which sustained an arc that caused a two-phase short circuit in equipment directly adjacent to the plant. This short caused the station generators to disconnect from the grid and, due to the failure of further safety systems this disconnection, in turn, led to a large overvoltage on various supplies within the station. The overvoltage caused failure of the control circuitry of two of the four redundant UPS systems which supplied the safety critical equipment at the plant, including cooling pumps and control circuitry. Though diesel generators started correctly even on these two systems, the lack of control circuitry led to their being unable to engage with their corresponding circuits. The other two UPS systems functioned correctly, surviving the overvoltage, probably due to an undetermined subtle difference in wiring or equipment between the two pairs of units. The reactor fully and effectively scrammed immediately on detecting these supply failures, however staff relied on neutron detector readings to determine reactor state due to lack of information on control rod state. At all times effective cooling was maintained by the pumps operating on the two functioning circuits. Though a number of options remained to operators had further equipment failed, a single cause (one short-circuit) leading to such a cascade of failures was seen as a challenge to the principle of redundancy and safety in depth.  At the request of the Swedish Government, IAEA launched an OSART mission to Forsmark.  Lars-Olov Höglund, a former construction chief at Vattenfall, claimed it was the most serious nuclear incident in the world since the Chernobyl disaster and it was pure luck that prevented a meltdown. Both the SKI and the safety chief of Forsmark power plant disagree with that opinion and state that the incident was serious but the description provided by Höglund was incorrect and there was no real risk of a meltdown. Höglund has personally been involved in a legal dispute with Forsmark Nuclear powerplant for several years in connection with his private business.  However, Kjell Olsson, a researcher at SKI, later stated in an informal discussion with school children that a meltdown "technically" could have developed from the incident. The agency later stated that the failing safety system proved to be linked together in a delicate, extremely serious way.  On March 14, 2011, Höglund commented that the Fukushima-disaster parallels the Forsmark incident, i.e. failing UPS system backup, and repeated his statement from 2007 that "only luck" prevented a meltdown at the Swedish plant.

February 2007 shutdown.

On February 3, two units at Forsmark were shut down to inspect a rubber seal in one of the safety systems. On Forsmark 1 this seal needed to be replaced, a job that would take approximately one month. Unit 2 was cleared by the regulator SKI and was free to restart.  In January an internal report made by a few employees at Forsmark who were concerned over a "degrading safety culture" was leaked to media who ran an extensive story on it. In the storm following the report the Forsmark CEO chose to resign. Forsmark was already under way to implement a 60-point program designed to improve safety culture, designed shortly after the event in July 2006.

Incursions by activists.

In June 2010, Greenpeace activists invaded Forsmark to protest the then-plan to remove the government prohibition on building new nuclear power plants. In October 2012, 50 anti-nuclear activists used special ladders to scale security fences. Greenpeace said that its non-violent actions were protests against the continuing operation of these reactors, which it says are unsafe in European stress tests, and to emphasise that stress tests did nothing to prepare against threats from outside the plant. A report by the Swedish nuclear regulator said that "the current overall level of protection against sabotage is insufficient". Although Swedish nuclear power plants have security guards, the police are responsible for emergency response. The report criticised the level of cooperation between nuclear site staff and police in the case of sabotage or attack.

Local geology.

The geology around Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant has been investigated in detail by various researchers and research groups. It has been of particular interest to understand the long-term geologic stability of the area. A 2018 study found that the area of Formark, whose surface belong to the Sub-Cambrian peneplain, lost 2 to 3 meters of crystalline bedrock due to erosion during the last glaciation. This erosion consisted mostly of plucking of bedrock sheets and abrasion. The same group of researchers estimates the total erosion in the last million years to be in the order of 20 to 40 m.

Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Forsmark, Sweden, and also the site of the Swedish Final repository for radioactive operational waste. It is operated by a company mainly owned by Vattenfall.

La centrale nucléaire Forsmark est située dans la localité de Forsmark sur la côte est de l'Uppland, à 150 km de Stockholm, en Suède. C'est l'une des trois centrales nucléaires suédoises en fonctionnement : elle produit environ un sixième de l'électricité suédoise.


Life.

Jean-Baptiste de Santeul was born on 12 May 1630 in Paris, to a good family. His father was Claude de Santeuil, a bourgeois merchant of Paris. His uncle, Nicolas de Santeuil, was President of the Finance office of Paris, then Intendant of the Department of Beauvais for twenty years. His mother was Madelaine Boucher. He was one of five children. Three of his brothers, Claude, Charles and Didier, also had distinguished careers. He was first educated at the College of Clermont. He studied rhetoric under the Jesuit Father Coffard, who discovered his talent for Latin verse.  Jean-Baptiste de Santeul entered the Abbey of St. Victor, Paris, in 1653, and made his profession the next year. He became a regular canon. He was a respected poet in the Latin language, writing under the name of Santolius Victorinus. Santeul also wrote hymns, many of which were published in the Cluniac Breviary of 1686, and the Paris Breviaries of 1680 and 1736. His "Hymni Sacri et Novi" were published at Paris in 1689. An enlarged version was published in 1698. A number of his hymns were translated into English.  De Santeul was the author of the Latin phrase "castigat ridendo mores", meaning "laughter corrects customs". One of his contemporaries was Giuseppe Biancolelli, a popular actor better known as "Dominique" who specialized in the role of Harlequin. Dominique managed to obtain the phrase from de Santeul for use as an inscription on his theater. Since then it has often been engraved on the pediment of theaters.  Jean-Baptiste de Santeul died at Dijon on 5 August 1697 while on a journey. He was first buried in the church of Saint-Etienne in Dijon, later transported to Paris at the expense of the house of Condé and buried in the Abbey of St-Victor. His body was exhumed when that abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution, and taken to the College of Charlemagne. He was then transferred to the church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, Paris, and placed in the vault of the chapel of St-Esprit on 16 February 1818. An epitaph composed by Rollin is on the wall of that chapel.

Hymns.

Several of Santeul's hymns were translated into English. They include:

References.

Notes  Citations  Sources  Further reading

Jean-Baptiste de Santeul (or Santeuil, Santeüil; 12 May 1630 - 5 August 1697) was a French poet who wrote in Latin.

Jean de Santeul, appelé aussi Jean-Baptiste Santeul ou Jean-Baptiste Santeuil, dit Santolius (né le à Paris et mort le à Dijon) est un poète néolatin français.


Early life.

Laurinaitis grew up in Minnesota, having to work for a living from a very early age. He attended Irondale High School. Because of his size and love of power lifting, Laurinaitis was an imposing figure and thus a very effective bouncer. He worked as a bouncer at Grandma B's in the Twin Cities where he caught the eye of Eddie Sharkey, a well-known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Laurinaitis and Mike Hegstrand, Richard Rood, and Barry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling, and trained all four of them.

Professional wrestling career.

Early career (1982–1983).

Laurinaitis made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker gimmick. After only a few matches as a singles competitor, his career and life would change thanks to an idea by Paul Ellering.

American and Japanese territories (1983–1986).

When Paul Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) called "The Legion of Doom", it was decided to put Laurinaitis together with his good friend Mike Hegstrand and change their names to "Animal" and "Hawk" respectively. Thus, the Road Warriors were born. They first started out as biker gimmicks; on The Road Warriors DVD, Animal said he felt like one of the Village People. To look more intimidating, the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, and face paint. The look and name were taken from "The Road Warrior", helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Their interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous.  The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling. In Georgia, they won the NWA National Tag Team Championship four times before moving on to bigger promotions, such as the American Wrestling Association in the US and All Japan Pro Wrestling, winning more tag team titles.

Jim Crockett Promotions (1986–1990).

Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites. Even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them. They started to split their time between the AWA and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo. The move paid off instantly as they won the inaugural Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such as The Four Horsemen and The Russian Team (which included the Road Warriors' old training buddy Barry Darsow). During their initial run in the NWA, they helped popularize the WarGames match, the Scaffold match, and their trademark Chicago Street Fight.  In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power (and who were one of the most well known Road Warrior clones). The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal's eye (kayfabe) during a weightlifting competition. When Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. The angle abruptly ended when the Powers of Pain left the NWA after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches and they did not want to get hurt by falling off the scaffold.  Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win the titles. After being the "Uncrowned champions" for a long time the Road Warriors' run with the tag team titles was short lived. Teddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles. In their last year with the NWA, the Warriors feuded mainly with The Varsity Club, The Samoan Swat Team, and The Skyscrapers before leaving the NWA in the summer of 1990, due to conflicts with Jim Herd.

World Wrestling Federation (1990–1992).

The Road Warriors immediately signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1990 and were pushed into a feud with the most famous of all "Road Warrior Clones", Demolition, a group which included their old training partner Barry Darsow. Due to the ailing health of one of Demolition (Ax) he was replaced by Crush but the magic of the original Demolition was gone and the feud did not live up to the high hopes of the fans.  Just over a year after signing with the WWF, the Legion of Doom won the WWF Tag Team Championship and held it for about eight months. When they lost the titles, they briefly left the WWF, only to return with longtime manager Paul Ellering by their side, as well as a wooden ventriloquist dummy called "Rocco". Both members of the L.O.D. thought the Rocco gimmick was stupid, and it led to Hegstrand walking out of the WWF immediately following SummerSlam 1992, leaving Laurinaitis on his own for the first time in nine years. Animal went ahead and finished his contractual obligations with the WWF, as a singles wrestler and occasionally teaming with former rival Crush, formerly of Demolition. During a handicap match in Japan against the Beverly Brothers in September 1992, Laurinaitis legitimately injured his back from a botched double suplex and had to take a lengthy hiatus. His last match was a victory over Papa Shango in San Francisco, California on October 16. After this his back was too injured to allow him to wrestle.

World Championship Wrestling (1993, 1996).

Laurinaitis made some non-wrestling appearances in WCW in 1993. On August 18, at the Clash of the Champions XXIV, Animal made his appearance, getting out of a black Camaro Z28 indicating his partner Hawk was Dustin Rhodes' mystery partner against Rick Rude and The Equalizer. On September 19, at Fall Brawl, Animal was the advisor for Sting's team, consisting of Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes, and The Shockmaster for WarGames, defeating Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious, and Harlem Heat. On January 4, 1995, Animal seconded Hawk in his match against Scott Norton in New Japan Pro Wrestling's annual Tokyo Dome show.  For the next couple of years, Laurinaitis stayed out of the wrestling ring, collecting on an insurance policy from Lloyd's of London while Hegstrand competed all over the world. Near the end of 1995, Laurinaitis' back had finally recovered enough for him to return to active competition. Three years after everyone thought the Road Warriors had ended, they reunited and signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling. Upon their return in January 1996, they immediately started a feud with the Steiner Brothers, who returned in March, and Harlem Heat, before moving on to challenge the WCW Tag Team Champions Sting and Lex Luger. The Road Warriors had several shots at the champions but never won the title in the six months they were with the company. The Steiner Brothers also arrived shortly after the Warriors did, and feuded with them to try to prove who the best team of all time was. The Steiners got the better of the feud and the Warriors left WCW in June 1996.

Return to WWF (1997–1999).

After leaving WCW they returned to the WWF where the Legion of Doom took part in the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. the Hart Foundation feud, siding with Austin against the Harts. The Legion of Doom also became two-time tag team champions on October 7, 1997, when they defeated The Godwinns. In November 1997, the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) and lost the titles to the upstart team.  After several unsuccessful challenges the L.O.D. were repackaged as Legion of Doom 2000 with manager Sunny, although she did not stay with the team for long. At the same time, Paul Ellering returned, but sided with D.O.A., whom L.O.D. were feuding with at the time; Ellering and Animal explained on the Road Warriors DVD that it was hard for Ellering to work with another team against the Road Warriors and difficult to rip on his former team on promos.  In 1998, the Legion of Doom became involved in their most controversial angle; playing off Hegstrand's real life drug and alcohol problems. Hawk started to show up drunk or "unable to perform" on TV. As Hawk proved more and more erratic and unreliable, a third L.O.D. member, Puke, was introduced to team with Animal while Hawk dealt with his personal issues. The storyline ended with accusations that Puke had been the "enabler" of Hawk's problems, exploiting them to take Hawk's place in the team. During the controversial segment, Hawk was shown to have fallen off the Titan Tron. Neither Hegstrand nor Laurinaitis approved of the WWF exploiting Hegstrand's personal problems, which caused them to subsequently leave the WWF.  While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left the WWF as Hegstrand struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.

Return to WCW (2001).

In 2001 Animal landed a prominent position in WCW as the "enforcer" of the stable known as The Magnificent Seven with the objective to protect WCW World Champion Scott Steiner. The Magnificent Seven split up shortly before Vince McMahon purchased WCW in March 2001; Animal's contract was not one of the contracts the WWF picked up.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2003, 2007, 2016).

The Road Warriors appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in late 2002 to early 2003 as part of a group that opposed Vince Russo's faction Sports Entertainment Xtreme, but would only wrestle one actual match for the promotion.  On June 17, 2007, Road Warrior Animal returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on the pay-per-view, Slammiversary, with Rick Steiner; he replaced Scott Steiner, who was out with an injury. They ended up losing to Team 3D.  On December 15, 2016, Animal returned to TNA for a guest appearance on the "Impact Wrestling" special, "Total Nonstop Deletion".

Second return to WWE (2003–2012).

Animal and Hawk made a surprise appearance on "Raw" on May 12, 2003 when they took on Kane and Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship. Hawk would die five months later, on October 19, 2003.  Animal made a return to WWE on the July 14 episode of "SmackDown!" in 2005, where he was challenged by the then-WWE Tag Team Champions MNM to a title match at "The Great American Bash". Finding a new tag team partner in Heidenreich, Animal went on to defeat MNM for the titles, dedicating the win to Hawk by saying, "Hawk, this one was for you, brother!" The two would team up for a few months in a new chapter of the Legion of Doom, with Heidenreich adopting the L.O.D.'s shoulder pads, face paint, and mohawk haircut. However, this came to an end with Heidenreich's release from WWE on January 17, 2006.  On the March 3, 2006, episode of "SmackDown!", Animal teamed up with Matt Hardy to face MNM. After he and Hardy lost the match, Animal turned heel for the second time in his career by attacking and injuring Hardy's knee. Animal reasoned that he had realized that Hardy and Heidenreich were screw-ups and that Road Warrior Hawk was the only tag team legend and partner for him. After the heel turn, Animal, once again known simply as The Road Warrior, would drop many aspects of the well-known Road Warrior gimmick, losing the face paint, and shoulder pads. Animal's look at this time was similar to his old Road Warrior gimmick in the early 1980s he had prior to teaming up with Hawk. On the March 17 episode of "SmackDown!", Animal lost to Hardy in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. Animal was defeated by United States Champion Chris Benoit on the March 31 episode of "SmackDown!".  In his final WWE match, Animal defeated Paul Burchill on the May 6, 2006, episode of "Velocity". On June 26, 2006, Animal was released from his WWE contract.  WWE announced on March 28, 2011, on "WWE Raw" that the Road Warriors would be inducted into the 2011 Hall of Fame. Animal also spoke openly about his future induction on Right After Wrestling just minutes after the announcement on "WWE Raw". Animal told hosts, Arda Ocal and Jim Korderas that the WWE was going to create a physical Hall of Fame in Tampa and he was going to donate his trademarked'spiked-shoulder pads' to that Hall.  On the July 20, 2012, episode of "WWE SmackDown" on Syfy, Animal returned to face Heath Slater in honor of "Raw"'s 1,000th episode. He went on to squash Slater. He then reappeared on the actual 1,000th episode on July 23 with other WWE Legends to help Lita take down Slater.

Writing.

Laurinaitis released an autobiography with William Andrew Wright titled "The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling" on March 1, 2011 published by Medallion Press, Inc. The book talks about the rise of The Road Warriors, shares funny stories of life on the road, and offers behind-the-scenes accounts of the wrestling industry.

Personal life.

Laurinaitis and his former wife Julie, a former powerlifter and bodybuilder, have two children, son James (born 1986) and daughter Jessica (born 1989). Laurinaitis also has a son named Joseph (born 1981) from a previous marriage.  Laurinaitis' brothers have both been involved in professional wrestling over the years. John Laurinaitis (Johnny Ace) is the former Executive Vice President of Talent Relations for World Wrestling Entertainment and a former wrestler. Marcus Laurinaitis is a former wrestler, mainly known as one half of the tag team "The Wrecking Crew" (Terminator / Fury).  Laurinaitis' son, James Laurinaitis, played linebacker for Ohio State University. As a sophomore, James won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given to the best defensive player in the country, and was a finalist for the Butkus Award, which is awarded to the best linebacker in the country. In 2007, James won the Butkus Award. In fact, "Sports Illustrated" made a joke about borrowing his father's shoulder pads and later did an interview with him that included a picture of him wearing them. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the second round as the 35th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, and played with the Rams through the team's final season in St. Louis in 2015, after which he moved to the New Orleans Saints.  In July 2016, Laurinaitis was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who had been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant dismissed the lawsuit in September 2018. An appeal was filed on July 7, 2019, for the case, currently known as "William Albert Haynes III, Joseph M. Laurinaitis, Russ McCollough, et al, v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., et al.".

Joseph Michael Laurinaitis (born September 12, 1960) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Road Warrior Animal (or simply Animal). Along with Road Warrior Hawk, he was one half of the tag team The Road Warriors/The Legion of Doom. Also a sporadic singles competitor, he headlined the 2001 WCW pay-per-view event Sin, in contention for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

Joseph Laurinaitis (né le à Philadelphie) est un catcheur américain. Il est surtout connu en tant que (parfois annoncé juste sous le nom d'Animal) pour avoir fait équipe avec pendant vingt ans au sein des.