Etymology.

The name Norbury derives from "North Burh", (North Borough). Some local histories note that this was due to Norbury's position on the northern boundary of the former Manor of Croydon. Others state that it takes its name from a split in the borough of Bensham, one of the former seven boroughs of Croydon. "Northbenchesham" became the Northborough, then Norbury; "Southbenchesham" later became Thornton Heath.

History.

For most of its history Norbury was rural countryside through which the London to Brighton Way Roman road passed. At Hepworth Road, the intact road, 32 feet wide, was excavated in 1961. Remnants of a metalled ford across the stream were found further south at Hermitage Bridge on the River Graveney which forms part of the boundary between Norbury and Streatham, before flowing on to the River Wandle, then the River Thames.

Norbury Manor.

By the early thirteenth century, Norbury was a sub-manor within the chief manor of Croydon. The first recorded mention of Norbury Manor was in 1229 when Peter de Bendings conveyed the Manor to John de Kemsing and his wife Idonea and is referred to as the "lands stretching out either side of the London Road". In 1269 the Manor comprised 91 acres of arable land in Pollards Hill, 30 acres in Grandon, 55 acres of pasture, 36 acres of heathland, 2 acres of woodland and 17 acres of meadow land. In 1337, Norbury Manor was granted to Nicolas de Carew, who also held neighbouring Beddington Manor. The Carew family remained Lords of the Manor of Norbury until 1859 except for a brief interlude during the reign of Henry VIII. Norbury remained rural and agricultural throughout this period. By 1800 most of the land in Norbury was owned by a handful of people; approximately half was owned by the Carew family, and the remaining large landowners were Peter du Cane, Croydon Hospital and Pembroke College.

Victorian period.

At the start of the Victorian period, the population consisted of fifty six people and three main dwellings; the Hermitage, Norbury Manor Farm House and Norbury Hall. The Hermitage was situated alongside Green Lane and backed onto Hermitage Sports Ground (now Norbury Park). The last resident of The Hermitage was Jenny Hill, a famous music hall performer in the 1890s. In 1894 the North Surrey Golf Club built a 90-acre golf club on Hermitage Sports Ground and in 1896 purchased The Hermitage to use as their club house. The following year it was destroyed by fire. Norbury Manor Farm House was situated on the corner where Norbury Avenue meets Kensington Avenue and was the Norbury Manor House until Norbury Hall was built in 1802. The Farm House was demolished in 1914. Only Norbury Hall remains, now used as a retirement home and protected as a Grade II listed building.  In 1859, the first Victorian villa, known as Norbury Villa, was built on the London Road. A second villa followed in 1878, and thereafter followed the construction of clusters of large villas along both sides of the London Road. In 1867, the Committee of Croydon Steeple Chase and Hurdle Races leased approximately 100 acres at Lonesome Farm. The following year, the first Streatham Horse Race meeting was held and a temporary grandstand was built on Northborough Road. The two day meets, held four or five times a year, proved successful and attracted large crowds from London. To cater for the crowds, Norbury railway station opened in 1878, built on a railway line which had run through Norbury since 1862. The increased crowds however led to an increase in anti-social behaviour, and local residents lobbied politicians to enact a new law in 1879 banning horse racing within ten miles of Westminster, effectively ending the Streatham Races.

Urbanisation.

By 1900, Norbury was an affluent semi-rural suburb boasting two golf courses and cricket, football, tennis and bowls clubs. The first shopping parades on the London Road were constructed in 1900 and side roads behind the parades began to be laid out. Electric trams were introduced in 1901 connecting the town to Purley, however as Croydon trams and London trams used different systems and could not use the same tracks, when going to London passengers had to change in Norbury. During the next thirty years most of the housing in Norbury was constructed, with the houses and roads in different areas forming part of several residential estates. The most notable estate was the Norbury Cottage Garden Estate built in 1901 in thirty acres of land between Northborough Road and Semley Road, and which was the first cottage estate built by the London County Council. The population of Norbury had risen from 475 people in 1901 to 15,538 by 1931.  During the second half of the twentieth century, many of the large Victorian villas were demolished and office blocks were built on their sites. Later many of the office blocks were themselves converted into residential apartments. In 1970 Norbury Fire Station was built to replace nearby Streatham Fire Station. Today, Norbury is a built-up residential area housing a diverse and multi-cultural community.

Demography.

The 2011 census showed that White British was the largest ethnic group at 24% of the population, followed by 13% Black Caribbean, 12% Indian and 12% Other White. 55% of people living in Norbury were born in England, followed by 5% in India, 4% Pakistan, 4% Jamaica and 2% Kenya. The most spoken language apart from English is Polish. A majority of the population, namely 52%, identified as Christian followed by 18% as Muslim and 12% of no religion.

Politics.

Norbury is part of the Croydon North constituency and the current MP is Steve Reed. The constituency replaced the Croydon North East constituency in 1997 and has returned Labour Party MP's since it was re-instated.  Norbury includes two of the twenty-eight wards which make up Croydon London Borough Council. These two wards, both created in 2018, are Norbury and Pollards Hill and Norbury Park.

In fiction.

Norbury is portrayed in a Sherlock Holmes short story, "The Adventure of the Yellow Face", as one of the few places in which the detective turned out to be wrong regarding his theories (as referenced in the episode "The Six Thatchers" of the BBC-Series "Sherlock")  Norbury is mentioned in Penelope Fitzgerald's "The Beginning of Spring" (1988). The character of Nellie Reid, who is central to the plot, but who does not appear until the book's final sentence, is from Norbury; and it is repeatedly mentioned throughout the book in contrast to a very different type of life in Moscow.

Norbury is a district in south-west London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring districts Streatham and Croydon. Norbury is south of Charing Cross.

Norbury est un district du Borough londonien de Croydon dans le Sud du Grand Londres à la frontière des boroughs de Lambeth et de Merton. Norbury se trouve à au sud de Charing Cross et est voisine de Streatham et de Mitcham. Son code postal est SW16.


Origins.

Decalcomania was invented in England about 1750 and imported into the United States at least as early as 1865. Its invention has been attributed to Simon François Ravenet, an engraver from France who later moved to England and perfected the process, which he called "" (derived from French, "tracing paper"). The first known use of the French term, in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Eleanor's Victory" (1863), was followed by the English "decalcomania" in an 1865 trade show catalog ("The Tenth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association"); it was popularized during the ceramic transfer craze of the mid-1870s. By around 1875 decalcomania designs printed in colored glazes were being applied to porcelain, an extension of transfer printing, which had been developed in England since the late 18th century. The decalcomania was applied over an already glazed surface and re-fired. The process began to be mechanized from the turn of the 20th century.

Artists.

The surrealist Oscar Domínguez referred to his work as "decalcomania with no preconceived object". He took up the technique in 1936, using gouache spread thinly on a sheet of paper or other surface (glass has been used), which is then pressed onto another surface such as a canvas. Dominguez used black gouache, though colours later made their appearance.  German artist Max Ernst also practised decalcomania, as did Hans Bellmer and Remedios Varo.  French surrealist Yves Tanguy used the technique in his 1936 works "Paysage I" and "Paysage II", which were included in the Guggenheim Museum's exhibition "Surrealism: Two Private Eyes" (4 June – 12 September 1999, New York).

Versions.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, King Features Syndicate marketed a set of decalcomanias bearing full-color pictures of characters from its comic strips, including Flash Gordon, the Katzenjammer Kids, and Dagwood Bumstead. Intended for young children who might have difficulty pronouncing or reading the word "decalcomanias", these transfers were marketed as "Cockamamies", a deliberate mispronunciation. The term "cockamamy" or "cockamamie" has entered the English language with various slang meanings, usually denoting something that is wacky, strange or unusual. However, the expression "cockamamie" is attested by 1946 and reportedly as early as the 1920s.

Fractals.

The production of decalcomanias has not been confined to art. At Yale University fingerpaint decalcomanias have been analysed for their tendency, when the process is repeated several times on the same paper, to generate fractals.

Decalcomania (from ) is a decorative technique by which engravings and prints may be transferred to pottery or other materials. Today, the shortened version is "decal".

La décalcomanie est un procédé de transposition sur une surface d'une image dessinée sur un support calque en papier ou en plastique. L'image est appliquée à l'envers sur la surface choisie puis « décalquée » sur le dos du support avec un objet quelconque, comme la tranche d'une pièce de monnaie.


Club career.

Born in Adelaide, Australia, Agostino started his club career at Salisbury United. He on to the national scene in 1991 in his first season at senior level with West Adelaide SC in the NSL. It was at this time that "Aga" was picked in the Australian World Youth Championships squad – a squad which contained the likes of Paul Okon and Mark Bosnich during one of Australia's 'Golden Generations' – which made the semi-finals of that competition.

Overseas.

Agostino left for Europe in 1992 and headed for Switzerland, where he signed with Young Boys. Agostino stayed in Bern for two seasons which was invaluable in enabling him to adapt to European life and football. It was in Switzerland that he learnt to speak German which would later help his move to Germany in 1997. He then had a short stint with Yverdon before making the move to England. Agostino signed with Bristol City in 1995 and it was in his second season with Bristol City that he began to score more regularly, bagging 16 goals in the Second Division (the third tier of English club football).  After two productive seasons in Bristol, Agostino's growing reputation caught the eye of German Bundesliga side 1860 Munich. He was signed by the club in 1997 at the age of 22. Agostino stayed with the Munich club for a full decade, enduring spells both in and out of the side. Agostino played at the highest level while in Munich, representing 1860 in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. He enjoyed his best form for 1860 in the 2000–01 season, scoring 12 goals for the light blues, while Agostino regularly featured in the first team from 1999 to 2002. He fell down the pecking order at 1860 after this and typically played only a handful of games each season until it was revealed that he would be leaving the club on amicable terms at the end of the 2006–07 2. Bundesliga season.

Adelaide United.

It was announced in February 2007 that A-League team Adelaide United had agreed on a two-year contract with Agostino which saw the striker return to his home city for the first time in 15 years. It was announced on 30 December 2008 that Agostino would retire at the end of the 2008–09 season.

International career.

Agostino debuted in 1996 in a match against Chile for the "Socceroos," the Australian national team. In 2005, he played versus South Africa for the 18th and last time for his country. In his 18 full international matches he scored seven goals. In 1996, he was part of the Australian squad for the Olympics in Atlanta, but he was not used in Australia's three matches there. In 1999, he played twice against the Brazilian "B" team, scoring two goals. In 2001, Agostino earned the penalty resulting in Australia’s goal in the 1-0 home victory over Uruguay in their ultimately ill-fated World Cup playoff.

Career statistics.

Club.

– included A-League final series statistics

Honours.

Country.

Australia

Paul Agostino (born 9 June 1975) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played the majority of his club football outside Australia, most notably with 1860 Munich in Germany for ten years. He played 18 times for Australia, winning the OFC Nations Cup of the year 2000.

Paul Agostino (né le à Adélaïde) est un joueur de football international australien jouant au poste d'attaquant. Il a notamment évolué au TSV Munich 1860 de 1997 à 2007 en étant capitaine la dernière année.


Publication history.

Viper was created by Jim Steranko and first appeared in "Captain America" #110 (February 1969).

Fictional character biography.

Ophelia Sarkissian was orphaned as a child in Hungary. Part of her face was scarred at one time, although it has since been healed. Among twelve other girls, Ophelia was taken in by Hydra and raised by Kraken. For twenty-two years, Ophelia excelled and became Kraken's best student. She eventually rose through the ranks of Hydra and frequently came into conflict with Captain America and the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. She first appeared as a leader of Hydra under the codename Madame Hydra, and first fought and captured Captain America while trying to contaminate New York City's water supply. She captured Rick Jones to bait a trap for Captain America, and then subdued the Avengers with gas, planning to bury them alive, and battled Captain America again. However she was apparently killed when Captain America and Rick Jones dodged missiles she fired at them and she was caught in their explosion. Some time later, it was revealed that the Space Phantom had exchanged places with her, and her whereabouts at the time were undisclosed.  She severed ties with Hydra. Madame Hydra helped Jordan Stryke, a supervillain codenamed Viper, escape custody in Virginia, only to proceed in assassinating him, and usurping his codename and leadership of the group known as the Serpent Squad. As the new Viper, she kidnapped Roxxon president Hugh Jones, in order to put him in thrall of the Serpent Crown. She battled Nomad and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Viper was the founder and leader of the elite criminal underworld through sheer ruthlessness, treachery, and the cunning of her black heart.  Viper took over the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and planned to crash it into the Congress building. She employed Boomerang and the Silver Samurai as operatives, and battled Spider-Man, Black Widow, Shang-Chi, and Nick Fury. Viper later employed the Silver Samurai as her chief operative, and attempted to kidnap Michael Kramer, a man carrying a fatal experimental disease, in order to release it on America. The Viper battled the first Spider-Woman, and became convinced that she was Merriem Drew. Drew was the mother of Spider-Woman and was considered deceased since 1931. The issue revealed Merriem had become allied to Chthon and was granted longevity in return. The Viper revealed herself to have been a pawn of Chthon for fifty years, but saved Spider-Woman's life by defying Chthon. Viper, employing Constrictor as her chief operative, captured Spider-Woman, believing she was responsible for making her think they were related. It was revealed that Chthon had actually granted Viper false memories of mothering Jessica as part of a plan to place both women under his control. Viper captured Captain America, and planned to release her new bubonic plague. Whether Viper actually has extraordinary longevity was left uncertain.  Employing the Silver Samurai, Viper attempted to coerce Team America into stealing the cavourite crystal, and then battled the New Mutants. In one of her many terrorist acts, she would try to gain control of the snake-themed organization called the Serpent Society, with Slither, Copperhead, Puff Adder, Fer-De-Lance, and Black Racer as her operatives. The latter four operatives infiltrated the Serpent Society in an attempt to take it over. Viper dispatched Cobra, Boomslang, and Copperhead to poison Washington D.C.'s water supply with a snake mutagen. Viper terrorized the White House and the President, and battled Captain America. She attempted to assassinate the organization's former leader Sidewinder, but she was betrayed by Cobra and arrested by Captain America. Viper was later freed from prison by Tyrannus. She used a snake mutagen on drug addicts, and then battled the Punisher. She then turned against and battled Tyrannus.  Madame Hydra has also had conflict with the X-Men. She first came into contact with them upon trying to assassinate Mariko Yashida on behalf of her ally and presumed lover Silver Samurai, and tried to poison the team while disguised as Mariko's unconscious maid. She nearly killed X-Men members Rogue and Storm on two separate occasions, with Storm being nearly killed by Viper during the invasion of Khan. She also faced the New Mutants and was considered responsible for the presumed demise of Karma (Karma was only wounded and was abducted by the Shadow King for his own reasons).  Madame Hydra is a professional terrorist and has her own organization. She has come into conflict with many superheroes and supervillains over the years. Her nihilism and tendency to spread death around her has made it hard for other villains to associate with her. Only the Red Skull has found it a charming tendency and pursued a relationship with her for a while. The relationship ended when the Skull found out Viper was using his resources to finance massacres with no apparent financial benefit for either of them.  For a time the Viper employed a team of doppelgängers (known as "Pit-Vipers") to impersonate her. However, acting on her own, Pit-Viper 12 became involved with the Punisher during an international crime conference in Las Vegas and later tipped off S.H.I.E.L.D. to the real Viper's attempt to steal Russian nuclear missiles in Moscow. For compromising her anonymity, the Viper personally killed her treacherous double.  Later she blackmailed Wolverine into marrying her as a means to secure her criminal empire in Madripoor. Although this was a marriage of convenience, she did request to consummate the arrangement. Some time later, her body was briefly inhabited by the spirit of Ogun, and Wolverine mortally wounded her as a means of driving the spirit from her dying body. In return for seeking medical attention to save her life, Wolverine demanded a divorce. It is later implied that she actually had feelings for Wolverine.  Viper was then a member of an incarnation of the Hellfire Club, working with Courtney Ross, briefly under the title "White Warrior Princess". She has also associated with the Hand and resumed her ties with the Silver Samurai. She has also retaken the name "Madame Hydra".  For a time, Viper was the dictator of the nation of Madripoor, using the nation's resources to support global terrorism via Hydra. She was overthrown by new S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Tony Stark and Tyger Tiger, the latter of whom is now ruler of Madripoor.  In "Secret Warriors" #2 during the "Dark Reign" storyline, Viper is seen leaving her lover, the Silver Samurai, to rejoin Baron von Strucker and the ruling council of Hydra. It was revealed in "Secret Warriors #3" that she is no longer Madame Hydra, as she was replaced by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, taking up the mantle of Madame Hydra, wearing an elaborate tentacle headdress and elaborate Hydra robes.  In "Secret Warriors #12", Viper is kidnapped by the mysterious Leviathan group, who are determined to find out the location of a mysterious box that both she and Madame Hydra procured from the Yashidas. Madame Hydra arrived at the Leviathan headquarters and offered the box to its leader, much to Viper's dismay. Madame Hydra then shot Viper to death. However, when Hydra arrived, the Hive resurrected her, giving her tentacles that stemmed from her head, and she renames herself Madame Hydra.  Following the "Fear Itself" storyline, Madame Hydra joins up with H.A.M.M.E.R. after Norman Osborn escapes from the Raft and regains leadership. After the defeat of Osborn and the Dark Avengers, Madame Hydra uses the resources of the now-defunct H.A.M.M.E.R. to begin rebuilding the Hydra organization. She later tips off Spider-Woman and Hawkeye about a heist Mister Negative is planning on a S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse. While the Avengers deal with Mister Negative, Madame Hydra attacks a different S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and steals several captive Skrulls left over from the Secret Invasion.  Madame Hydra later led an attack on Avengers Tower while the team is away. She and the rest of her forces are defeated by Angel and his younger self from earlier in the timestream.  In "Death of Wolverine", she was revealed by Nuke as the "Green Queen" and current leader of Madripoor who sent out a contract to capture Wolverine.  Viper is part of the Hydra High Council that the new Madame Hydra is collecting to assist Steve Rogers who had history altered by Red Skull's clone using Kobik's powers to be a Hydra sleeper agent for years.  During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Viper attends the meeting of the Hydra High Council and talks about the opening of two new detention facilities to double the amount of Inhumans held in indefinite custody. While doing business with some men, Viper is told by a Hydra agent that they have apprehended Black Widow. This is part of a diversion so that the Champions can infiltrate a Hydra base. When Viper figures out that Widow is planning to kill Hydra Supreme, Viper tries to persuade Widow to join up with her enterprise.  During the "Hunt for Wolverine" storyline, Viper is seen in Madripoor where she leads the Femme Fatales (consisting of Knockout, Bloodlust, Mindblast, Snake Whip, and Sapphire Styx) into ambushing Kitty Pryde, Domino, Jubilee, Psylocke, and Storm at the King's Impresario Restaurant. While Psylocke, Rogue, and Storm are defeated and taken prisoner by Madame Hydra and the Femme Fatales, Kitty Pryde escapes with Domino and Jubilee. Viper congratulates the Femme Fatales for their work as they now have Psylocke, Rogue, and Storm as their prisoners. Mindblast suggests that they put a bounty on the ones that escaped stating that every gang member in Lowtown will be looking for them. Viper states that she will discuss with her client on where to proceed next and to deposit Rogue and Storm to the client as "special guests." As Viper gives the status report to a representative of her client, she mentions that Sapphire Styx is still draining off of Psylocke just like she did with Magneto. The representative tells Viper that Sapphire Styx tends to prefer the life force of the mutants and tells Viper to focus on delivering the package as all that they are serves the will of Soteira. As Snake Whip asks if they are going to ignore Sapphire Styx's vampiric appetite, Viper says that they have to obey the representative's orders and "let the @#$%& feed." Viper is contacted by a representative of Soteira who was displeased that the launch was delayed by a torrential rainstorm and suggest that they launch before sunrise. While reluctantly taking the representative's suggestion, Viper and Snake Whip check up on Sapphire Styx who knocks down Snake Whip and claims that Wolverine's Patch alias is present even though Sapphire is the only one who can see him. Viper calls Knockout and Mindblast away from the prisoners to help deal with Sapphire. After hearing that the launch site for the rocket bound for Soteira is under attack, Viper gives the orders to launch it now. After Sapphire Styx explodes, Viper maintains the higher ground while Snake Whip joins the fight. When the Femme Fatales are defeated, Viper flees as Magneto plans to pursue her in order to purge Madripoor of Viper's criminal empire.

Powers and abilities.

Viper has no superhuman abilities but her strength, speed, reflexes, agility, dexterity, coordination, balance and endurance are on the order of an Olympic athlete. She is a great swordsman and even greater marksman with most long range weapons, and has extensive training in hand-to-hand combat. Viper occasionally employs poisoned weapons with snake-motifs, such as venomous darts or artificial fangs filled with poison. She utilizes experimental weaponry, including a ring that enables teleportation, and in "X-Treme X-Men", she made use of razor-sharp claw attachments apparently built into her gloves. A brilliant strategist and tactician with extensive combat tactical experience, Viper is highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations and very well connected in the international criminal underworld. She is also a master of stealth and espionage. Perhaps her greatest strengths are her influence, the financial resources at her disposal due to her stature in organized crime, and an uncanny luck which has allowed her to cheat death in situations where lesser people would have died. Viper may or may not have supernaturally augmented longevity.  Viper is usually armed with various ray pistols and conventional handguns. She has also used various other special weaponry, including poison-tipped throwing darts, knives, and whips. She has sharpened and elongated canine teeth with hollows inside them. She keeps a special poison in them, to which she has an immunity.  For a brief time, Chthon replaced her right eye with a black orb capable of projecting persons into a magical dimension.

Other versions.

Age of Apocalypse.

In the "Age of Apocalypse" reality, Viper was married to the Silver Samurai. She and her husband fought their way from the islands of Japan through hordes of Apocalypse's Infinites. Viper was killed saving Samurai's life, leading to the Silver Samurai accepting Magneto's offer to join the X-Men.

Exiles.

One of the alternate dimensions that is visited in "Exiles" #91-95 has been overtaken by a version of Madame Hydra. This world (Earth 1720) was dominated by Madame Hydra (actually Susan Storm Richards), her lover Wolverine, and their top assassin Slaymaster. However, before the Exiles can exact retribution, Madame Hydra and her lackeys escape into the omniverse to seek out other worlds to conquer.

Ultimate Marvel.

The "Ultimate Marvel" version of Viper appears in "Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem" along with Hydra. She attacks Tony Stark's offices in order to retrieve the Iron Man armor but is subdued by Iron Man, with the help of Spider-Man, and taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Viper (real name Ophelia Sarkissian, formerly known as Madame Hydra) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a foe of the Avengers and the X-Men.

, également connue sous le nom de Vipère, est une super-vilaine appartenant à l’univers de Marvel Comics. Elle a été créée par Jim Steranko dans "Captain America" #110 ().


Plot.

Young filmmaker Stevie Horowitz eagerly awaits a meeting with big shot Hollywood film producer J.P. Shelldrake. Shelldrake has been desperately searching for a way to avoid problems with the IRS and unpaid millions owed them in back taxes. His brilliant yet overpaid accountant devises a scheme to allow the producer to write off the expenses of his next movie release, but only if the film is a box office flop. Armed with his foolproof plan, Shelldrake agrees to meet with Stevie and screen his film "Lobster Man From Mars" (financed by Stevie's jailed con man Uncle Joey). The plot resembles the premise of "The Producers" by Mel Brooks.  Inside Shelldrake's private screening room, the "film within the film" begins. They watch the weird plot unfold: Mars suffers from a severe air leakage. The King of Mars commands the dreaded Lobster Man and his assistant Mombo, a gorilla wearing a space helmet, to pilot his flying saucer to Earth then steal its air. Once landed, the Lobster Man wastes no time transforming hapless victims into smoking skeletons.  On a lonely road, John and Mary, a young and innocent couple discovers the hiding place of the flying saucer in a dark and mysterious cave. They attempt to warn the authorities but are ignored. Successfully contacting Professor Plocostomos, a plan is created to lure the Lobster Man to Mr. Throckmorton's Haunted House that just happens to be surrounded by boiling hot springs.  Once lured, it is simply a matter of pushing the Lobster Man into the hot water where he will be boiled to death. The plan is interrupted by Colonel Ankrum and his troops. The house is shelled and destroyed, the Lobster Man flees to his cave, taking Mary with him.  She manages to escape, but the Lobster Man follows. A wild chase ensues, but Professor Plocostomos uses the hot engine coolant from his overheated vehicle to drench Mombo causing his foamy demise. The chase concludes in Yellowstone Park where the dreaded Lobster Man is tricked into walking into the Old Faithful Geyser and a steamy end.  The screening is over. Shelldrake cannot believe his good fortune to witness such a bad movie with potential to lose every cent invested in its distribution and promotion. He buys the production on the spot, but once in release it becomes a big hit and makes a huge profit sending Shelldrake straight to tax prison, with Stevie taking his place as the studio's new boy wonder.

Awards and nominations.

Sundance Film Festival

Lobster Man From Mars is a 1989 comedy film directed by Stanley Sheff and starring Tony Curtis. The film is a spoof of B-movie sci-fi films from the 1950s. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 1989.

L'Homme homard venu de Mars ("Lobster Man From Mars") est un film américain réalisé par Stanley Sheff, sorti en 1989.


Plot.

"Prince of Persia 3D" begins with the Prince and Sultan of Persia visiting the Sultan's brother, Assan. Soon enough, the Prince's personal bodyguards are killed, himself locked in the dungeon, and the Sultan taken by Assan. The Prince escapes the dungeon, and it is revealed that the Sultan of Persia promised Assan many years ago that his daughter would marry Assan's son, Rugnor, not the Prince. The Prince finds the two, but Assan kills the Sultan by mistake while trying to kill the Prince. Assan runs, but the Prince decides to pursue Rugnor, who has taken the Princess of Persia captive. The Prince and Rugnor have many standoffs, but when it becomes clear to Rugnor that the Prince won't give up, and the Princess won't submit to him, he decides to kill her. He ties her to a large gear machine, attempting to crush her. The Prince, however, arrives before this happens, kills Rugnor, and deactivates the machine. The Prince then escapes with the Princess, via a flying beast, but the Prince takes the Princess in the opposite direction of Persia, rather than towards it.

Development.

It was released by Red Orb, which was hived off from Brøderbund. However, due to financial difficulties, Red Orb was forced to release the game before it had gone through the bug detection and correction stage. Moreover, it was sold and re-sold first to Mattel, then to The Learning Company.

Reception.

John Lee reviewed the PC version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "It's not without its quirks and minor annoyances, but damn if it ain't fun."  "Prince of Persia 3D" and "Arabian Nights" garnered mixed reviews from critics. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 64% for the PC version, and 61% and 58 out of 100 for the Dreamcast version.  IGN gave the PC version 8.2 out of 10, praising its unique score, fluid animations and well made graphics, and the jumping mechanics. GameSpot gave the same version 6 out of 10, criticizing rough character models, difficult camera effects, and unresponsive controls, but praising the action.

Prince of Persia 3D is an action-adventure video game, developed and published by Red Orb Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, is the third game in the "Prince of Persia" series. The game debuted in 1999, 10 years after the original, and incorporated 3D graphics in its gameplay.

Prince of Persia 3D est un jeu vidéo de plates-formes et d'action-aventure développé par Red Orb Entertainment, sorti en septembre 1999 sur Windows. Il est porté sur Dreamcast en novembre 2000 sous le nom Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights (littéralement "Le Prince de Perse : Les Nuits arabes").


Television.

Sheff's work in television as director and editor includes the NBC-TV special, "TV - The Fabulous Fifties" with featured hosts Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Dinah Shore, Mary Martin, Michael Landon and David Janssen, the first televised outtakes show "Hollywood Outtakes" hosted by George Burns, "Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy" an examination of the history of the infamous radio and television show banned in the 1960s, "Motown Returns to the Apollo" (Emmy winner for editing), a Chevy Chase "On Location" comedy special for HBO and "Sinister Image", a one-hour interview with Vincent Price that aired on the A&E Channel as part of the "Biography" series. In addition, Sheff collaborated with Orson Welles as editor and director on "The Orson Welles Show", an unsold, untelevised talk show pilot.

Theater.

Theatrical productions feature "The Plush Life", a comedy sitcom serial soap opera, "Queen Of Outer Space: The Musical", "Dancing Cavalcade - Swing of the 1920s and 1930s", "Vaudeville Comes Home", "The Black Pirate Musical Spectacular" and "Broadway Confidential", for the Los Angeles Conservancy that was performed for a sold out audience of over two thousand at the historic Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Sheff also produced and directed stage shows for the Conservancy’s “Last Remaining Seats” film festival that has presented film screenings with live on stage guest appearances by noted film personalities Stanley Kramer, Eva Marie Saint, Jane Wyatt, Howard Keel, Betty Garrett, Tony Curtis, Gloria Stewart, Patricia Hitchcock, Russ Tamblyn, George Takei, Jeri Ryan, Anne Francis, Billy Barty, Alan Young and many others.

Awards and nominations.

Sundance Film Festival

Stanley Sheff is a Hollywood born director and writer. He has worked in television, stage and screen. His collaboration with Orson Welles eventually led Sheff to direct and co-write the cult science fiction feature "Lobster Man From Mars" starring Tony Curtis, based on a title suggested by Welles. Feature films and television are not the only types of projects directed by Stanley Sheff. In the early 1980s he produced, directed and performed a popular comedy radio show for KROQ-FM radio in Los Angeles called "The Young Marquis And Stanley", a comedy show that was aired on Sunday evenings. He has appeared as Master of Ceremonies on stage and at live vintage dance events as his character Maxwell DeMille.

Stanley Sheff est un réalisateur américain. Il a travaillé pour la télévision, le théâtre et le cinéma. Sa collaboration avec Orson Welles l'a amené à réaliser le film "L'Homme homard venu de Mars" avec Tony Curtis, le titre ayant été suggéré par Orson Welles lui-même.


2009 European Parliament election in Romania

Élections européennes de 2009 en Roumanie

Candidates and elected MEPs.

Among those expected to take up seats are (listed in the order they appear on the ballot):  For the Alliance PSD+PC (electoral alliance of PSD + PC):  For the Democratic Liberal Party:  "For the National Liberal Party:  For the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania:  For the Greater Romania Party:  The other three electoral candidates did not pass the threshold:

Results.

The European Parliament election results confirmed the recent tendency that Romania's political scene is slowly but certainly transforming into one with two major parties. While country-wide each of the two parties has won slightly less than 1/3 of the votes (in the end each got 1/3 of the seats in the EP), the two became the main political contestants in almost every county. Discounting the votes received by Elena Băsescu who afterwards re-joined PDL, PSD won the first place in 17 counties (with PDL arriving second in all of them), and PDL won the first place in 18 counties (with PSD arriving second in all of them but one).  UDMR, fourth-largest party country-wide, won the first place in six counties, trailed in the second place five times by PSD, and one time by PDL. PNL, the third largest party country-wide rose above that level only in Ilfov County, where it obtained the second place after PDL. PRM, the fifth party, was unable to arrive first or second in any of Romania's counties.

Results by county.

In the capital city of Bucharest, PDL won with 28.28% of the votes, with PSD in second with 27.87%. Four of the six sectors of the city were won by PDL and two by PSD, with the other party in second place: †Combined 2007 vote of Democratic Party (Romania) and Liberal Democratic Party (Romania) before merger

The European Parliament election of 2009 in Romania was the election of the delegation from Romania to the European Parliament in 2009.

Les élections européennes de 2009 en Roumanie se sont déroulées le 7 juin 2009 afin de pourvoir au remplacement des députés de la délégation roumaine au Parlement européen.


History.

In 1973, East West Federal Bank was founded by F. Chow Chan, Betty Tom Chu, Richard K. Quan, Gilbert L. Leong, Philip Chow, John A Nuccio, Christopher L. Pocino, and John M. Lee. Its focus was to serve the Chinese American community in Southern California.  In 1991, during the savings and loan crisis, the company acquired Pacific Coast Savings, which increased the bank's assets from $600 million to $1 billion and expanded operations to San Francisco, California.  By 1992, the bank had $1.4 billion in assets.  In 1992, Dominic Ng was named the Chairman, CEO and President of the company, replacing Kellogg Chan who retired.  East West Bank became a state-chartered commercial bank on July 31, 1995.  In 1999, the company acquired First Central Bank for $13.5 million in cash.  In August 2004, the company acquired Trust Bank, a Chinese American bank based in Monterey Park, California, with four branches and $235 million in assets, for $32.9 million.  In September 2005, the company acquired United National Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in San Marino, California, with 11 branches and $665 million in loans receivable, for $177.9 million.  In March 2006, the company acquired Standard Bank, a Chinese-American bank headquartered in Monterey Park, California, with 6 branches and $923 million in assets, for $200 million.  In August 2007, the company acquired Desert Community Bank, a community bank operating in the Victor Valley region of California. Desert Community Bank branches remained branded as such and did not change to East West Bank. In November 2017, East West Bank agreed to sell Desert Community Bank to Flagstar Bank; the deal was completed in March 2018.  In 2009, the company acquired the assets of United Commercial Bank (UCB), via a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This expanded East West Bank's reach by 63 branches, including 17 in Southern California, and branches in the Chinese American communities of Houston, Boston, and Atlanta, as well as branches in Hong Kong and China.  In January 2010, Irene H. Oh was promoted to EVP and CFO, replacing Thomas J. Tolda, who resigned.  In 2010, the company acquired the assets, including four branches, of Washington First International Bank of Seattle, Washington, via a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  In 2014, the company acquired MetroCorp Bancshares, which operated as MetroBank, for $268 million in cash and stock.

Sponsoring.

The bank's spokeswoman was figure skater Michelle Kwan.  East West Bank purchased the naming rights to the East West Ice Palace, an ice rink arena in Artesia, California.

East West Bank (), the primary subsidiary of East West Bancorp, Inc., is the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California, United States. It was founded in 1973 in Los Angeles to serve the Chinese American community in Southern California. It is a premier bank focused exclusively on the United States and Greater China markets and operates over 125 locations worldwide, including in the markets of California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas and Washington. In Greater China, East West Bank's presence includes full service branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, and representative offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Xiamen. "Forbes" magazine has named East West Bank among the top 15 of "America's 100 Best Banks" since 2010. In 2018, "Forbes" ranked East West Bank number five of "America's 100 Best Banks".

La East West Bank (chinois : 華美銀行) est une banque sino-américaine californienne. Elle possède 71 agences situées dans le Nord et le Sud de la Californie, ainsi qu'à Houston ; elle a une succursale à Pékin. Le siège de East West Bank est à Pasadena en Californie.


History.

Alexander County was organized from part of Union County in 1819. It was named for William M. Alexander, a physician who practiced in the town of America (the first county seat). Alexander was elected as a representative to the state House, where he became Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1822.  The county was initially developed for agriculture and settled by numerous migrants from the Upper South. The county seat was moved to Unity in 1833, then to Thebes in 1843, and finally to Cairo in 1860. America, the first county seat, is now within Pulaski County, which was formed from Alexander and Johnson counties in 1843. Settled largely by white migrants from the Upland South, southern Illinois had many racial attitudes of the South. As African Americans settled in Cairo to seek jobs on steamboats, ferries, in shipping and railroads, there were tensions between the racial groups. White residents sometimes used violence and terrorism, as well as discrimination, to keep black residents in second-class positions. They excluded them from the city government and the police and fire departments, and relatively few African Americans were hired to work in the local stores.  There were three lynchings of blacks in Alexander County in the years between Reconstruction and the early 20th century. The county had the second-highest number of lynchings of African Americans in all of Illinois. The most notorious of these was the lynching of Will James before a crowd of white spectators estimated at 10,000, in the county seat of Cairo, Illinois on November 11, 1909. James was accused of murdering a young white woman. Later that same evening, the mob lynched a white man named Henry Salzner, hanging him in the courthouse square for allegedly killing his wife. Neither man had had a trial, nor was anyone ever prosecuted for the lynchings, even though Illinois had passed an anti-lynching law four years earlier.

Geography.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and (6.8%) is water. Its borders are partly defined by the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. The lowest point in the state of Illinois is located on the Mississippi River in Cairo in Alexander County, where it flows out of Illinois and into Kentucky.

Climate and weather.

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Cairo have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in June 1954. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in September to in May.

Law enforcement.

The Tamms Correctional Center, a now shuttered super-maximum correctional facility operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections, was located in Tamms, as was the State of Illinois execution chamber. Prior to the January 11, 2003 commutation of death row sentences, male death row inmates were housed in Tamms, Menard, and Pontiac correctional centers. After that date, only Pontiac continued to host the male death row. On January 4, 2013, after years of controversy over inmate conditions, the prison officially closed, negatively impacting the county's economy.  In late September 2009, press reports indicated that the Alexander County Sheriff's office had five of its seven squad cars repossessed as payments had not been made. The sheriff once had 29 deputies, but was reduced to just five at the time of the reports. The Illinois State Police have provided assistance to the county with additional patrols.

Demographics.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 8,238 people, 3,329 households, and 2,093 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 4,006 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 60.9% white, 35.4% black or African American, 0.3% American Indian, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 1.4% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 13.9% were German, 6.8% were Irish, 5.3% were English, and 4.7% were American.  Of the 3,329 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.6% were married couples living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.1% were non-families, and 33.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age was 41.1 years.  The median income for a household in the county was $28,833 and the median income for a family was $44,699. Males had a median income of $35,880 versus $25,743 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,858. About 11.8% of families and 20.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.1% of those under age 18 and 14.7% of those age 65 or over.

Politics.

Alexander County is unique among antebellum free state rural counties in having a postbellum political history largely determined by a previously disfranchised black electorate. It is most similar in this respect to – though still substantially different from – some counties of the south and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The county was thus solidly Republican until the New Deal, and gradually turned solidly Democratic until the presidency of Bill Clinton. In the twenty-first century, the county has become a swing county due to large-scale black emigration and a rapid swing of its white population toward Republican candidates.

Alexander County is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,238. Its county seat is Cairo and its western boundary is formed by the Mississippi River.

Le comté d'Alexander est un comté situé dans l'État de l'Illinois, aux États-Unis. En 2010, sa population est de. Son siège de comté est Cairo.


The dilemma.

Socrates and Euthyphro discuss the nature of piety in Plato's "Euthyphro". Euthyphro proposes (6e) that the pious (τὸ ὅσιον) is the same thing as that which is loved by the gods (τὸ θεοφιλές), but Socrates finds a problem with this proposal: the gods may disagree among themselves (7e). Euthyphro then revises his definition, so that piety is only that which is loved by all of the gods unanimously (9e).  At this point the dilemma surfaces. Socrates asks whether the gods love the pious because it is the pious, or whether the pious is pious only because it is loved by the gods (10a). Socrates and Euthyphro both contemplate the first option: surely the gods love the pious because it is the pious. But this means, Socrates argues, that we are forced to reject the second option: the fact that the gods love something cannot explain why the pious is the pious (10d). Socrates points out that if both options were true, they together would yield a vicious circle, with the gods loving the pious because it is the pious, and the pious being the pious because the gods love it. And this in turn means, Socrates argues, that the pious is not the same as the god-beloved, for what makes the pious the pious is not what makes the god-beloved the god-beloved. After all, what makes the god-beloved the god-beloved is the fact that the gods love it, whereas what makes the pious the pious is something else (9d-11a). Thus Euthyphro's theory does not give us the very "nature" of the pious, but at most a "quality" of the pious (11ab).

In philosophical theism.

The dilemma can be modified to apply to philosophical theism, where it is still the object of theological and philosophical discussion, largely within the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. As German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz presented this version of the dilemma: "It is generally agreed that whatever God wills is good and just. But there remains the question whether it is good and just because God wills it or whether God wills it because it is good and just; in other words, whether justice and Goodness are arbitrary or whether they belong to the necessary and eternal truths about the nature of things."  Many philosophers and theologians have addressed the Euthyphro dilemma since the time of Plato, though not always with reference to the Platonic dialogue. According to scholar Terence Irwin, the issue and its connection with Plato was revived by Ralph Cudworth and Samuel Clarke in the 17th and 18th centuries. More recently, it has received a great deal of attention from contemporary philosophers working in metaethics and the philosophy of religion. Philosophers and theologians aiming to defend theism against the threat of the dilemma have developed a variety of responses.

God commands it because it is right.

Supporters.

The first horn of the dilemma (i.e. that which is right is commanded by God "because it is right") goes by a variety of names, including intellectualism, rationalism, realism, naturalism, and objectivism. Roughly, it is the view that there are independent moral standards: some actions are right or wrong in themselves, independent of God's commands. This is the view accepted by Socrates and Euthyphro in Plato's dialogue. The Mu'tazilah school of Islamic theology also defended the view (with, for example, Nazzam maintaining that God is powerless to engage in injustice or lying), as did the Islamic philosopher Averroes. Thomas Aquinas never explicitly addresses the Euthyphro dilemma, but Aquinas scholars often put him on this side of the issue. Aquinas draws a distinction between what is good or evil in itself and what is good or evil because of God's commands, with unchangeable moral standards forming the bulk of natural law. Thus he contends that not even God can change the Ten Commandments (adding, however, that God "can" change what individuals deserve in particular cases, in what might look like special dispensations to murder or steal). Among later Scholastics, Gabriel Vásquez is particularly clear-cut about obligations existing prior to anyone's will, even God's. Modern natural law theory saw Grotius and Leibniz also putting morality prior to God's will, comparing moral truths to unchangeable mathematical truths, and engaging voluntarists like Pufendorf in philosophical controversy. Cambridge Platonists like Benjamin Whichcote and Ralph Cudworth mounted seminal attacks on voluntarist theories, paving the way for the later rationalist metaethics of Samuel Clarke and Richard Price; what emerged was a view on which eternal moral standards, though dependent on God in some way, exist independently of God's will and prior to God's commands. Contemporary philosophers of religion who embrace this horn of the Euthyphro dilemma include Richard Swinburne and T. J. Mawson (though see below for complications).

Responses to criticisms.

Contemporary philosophers Joshua Hoffman and Gary S. Rosenkrantz take the first horn of the dilemma, branding divine command theory a "subjective theory of value" that makes morality arbitrary. They accept a theory of morality on which, "right and wrong, good and bad, are in a sense independent of what "anyone" believes, wants, or prefers." They do not address the aforementioned problems with the first horn, but do consider a related problem concerning God's omnipotence: namely, that it might be handicapped by his inability to bring about what is independently evil. To this they reply that God is omnipotent, even though there are states of affairs he cannot bring about: omnipotence is a matter of "maximal power", not an ability to bring about all possible states of affairs. And supposing that it is impossible for God not to exist, then since there cannot be more than one omnipotent being, it is therefore impossible for any being to have more power than God (e.g., a being who is omnipotent but not omnibenevolent). Thus God's omnipotence remains intact.  Richard Swinburne and T. J. Mawson have a slightly more complicated view. They both take the first horn of the dilemma when it comes to "necessary" moral truths. But divine commands are not totally irrelevant, for God and his will can still affect "contingent" moral truths. On the one hand, the most fundamental moral truths hold true regardless of whether God exists or what God has commanded: "Genocide and torturing children are wrong and would remain so whatever commands any person issued." This is because, according to Swinburne, such truths are true as a matter of logical necessity: like the laws of logic, one cannot deny them without contradiction. This parallel offers a solution to the aforementioned problems of God's sovereignty, omnipotence, and freedom: namely, that these necessary truths of morality pose no more of a threat than the laws of logic. On the other hand, there is still an important role for God's will. First, there are some divine commands that can directly create moral obligations: e.g., the command to worship on Sundays instead of on Tuesdays. Notably, not even these commands, for which Swinburne and Mawson take the second horn of the dilemma, have ultimate, underived authority. Rather, they create obligations only because of God's role as creator and sustainer and indeed owner of the universe, together with the necessary moral truth that we owe some limited consideration to benefactors and owners. Second, God can make an "indirect" moral difference by deciding what sort of universe to create. For example, whether a public policy is morally good might indirectly depend on God's creative acts: the policy's goodness or badness might depend on its effects, and those effects would in turn depend on the sort of universe God has decided to create.

It is right because God commands it.

Supporters.

The second horn of the dilemma (i.e. that which is right is right "because it is commanded by God") is sometimes known as divine command theory or voluntarism. Roughly, it is the view that there are no moral standards other than God's will: without God's commands, nothing would be right or wrong. This view was partially defended by Duns Scotus, who argued that not all Ten Commandments belong to the Natural Law in the strictest sense. Scotus held that while our duties to God (the first three commandments, traditionally thought of as the First Tablet) are self-evident, true by definition, and unchangeable even by God, our duties to others (found on the second tablet) were arbitrarily willed by God and are within his power to revoke and replace (although, the third commandment, to honour the Sabbath and keep it holy, has a little of both, as we are absolutely obliged to render worship to God, but there is no obligation in natural law to do it on this day or that). Scotus does note, however that the last seven commandments ""are highly consonant with [the natural law], though they do not follow necessarily from first practical principles that are known in virtue of their terms and are necessarily known by any intellect [that understands their terms. And it is certain that all the precepts of the second table belong to the natural law in this second way, since their rectitude is highly consonant with first practical principles that are known necessarily"". Scotus justifies this position with the example of a peaceful society, noting that the possession of private property is not necessary to have a peaceful society, but that "those of weak character" would be more easily made peaceful with private property than without.  William of Ockham went further, contending that (since there is no contradiction in it) God could command us not to love God and even to "hate" God. Later Scholastics like Pierre D'Ailly and his student Jean de Gerson explicitly confronted the Euthyphro dilemma, taking the voluntarist position that God does not "command good actions because they are good or prohibit evil ones because they are evil; but... these are therefore good because they are commanded and evil because prohibited." Protestant reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin both stressed the absolute sovereignty of God's will, with Luther writing that "for [God's] will there is no cause or reason that can be laid down as a rule or measure for it", and Calvin writing that "everything which [God] wills must be held to be righteous by the mere fact of his willing it." The voluntarist emphasis on God's absolute power was carried further by Descartes, who notoriously held that God had freely created the eternal truths of logic and mathematics, and that God was therefore capable of giving circles unequal radii, giving triangles other than 180 internal degrees, and even making contradictions true. Descartes explicitly seconded Ockham: "why should [God] not have been able to give this command [i.e., the command to hate God] to one of his creatures?" Thomas Hobbes notoriously reduced the justice of God to "irresistible power" (drawing the complaint of Bishop Bramhall that this "overturns... all law"). And William Paley held that all moral obligations bottom out in the self-interested "urge" to avoid Hell and enter Heaven by acting in accord with God's commands. Islam's Ash'arite theologians, al-Ghazali foremost among them, embraced voluntarism: scholar George Hourani writes that the view "was probably more prominent and widespread in Islam than in any other civilization." Wittgenstein said that of "the two interpretations of the Essence of the Good", that which holds that "the Good is good, in virtue of the fact that God wills it" is "the deeper", while that which holds that "God wills the good, because it is good" is "the shallow, rationalistic one, in that it behaves 'as though' that which is good could be given some further foundation". Today, divine command theory is defended by many philosophers of religion, though typically in a restricted form (see below).

Criticisms.

This horn of the dilemma also faces several problems:

Restricted divine command theory.

One common response to the Euthyphro dilemma centers on a distinction between "value" and "obligation". Obligation, which concerns rightness and wrongness (or what is required, forbidden, or permissible), is given a voluntarist treatment. But value, which concerns goodness and badness, is treated as independent of divine commands. The result is a "restricted" divine command theory that applies only to a specific region of morality: the deontic region of obligation. This response is found in Francisco Suárez's discussion of natural law and voluntarism in "De legibus" and has been prominent in contemporary philosophy of religion, appearing in the work of Robert M. Adams, Philip L. Quinn, and William P. Alston.  A significant attraction of such a view is that, since it allows for a non-voluntarist treatment of goodness and badness, and therefore of God's own moral attributes, some of the aforementioned problems with voluntarism can perhaps be answered. God's commands are not arbitrary: there are reasons which guide his commands based ultimately on this goodness and badness. God could not issue horrible commands: God's own essential goodness or loving character would keep him from issuing any unsuitable commands. Our obligation to obey God's commands does not result in circular reasoning; it might instead be based on a gratitude whose appropriateness is itself independent of divine commands. These proposed solutions are controversial, and some steer the view back into problems associated with the first horn.  One problem remains for such views: if God's own essential goodness does not depend on divine commands, then on what "does" it depend? Something other than God? Here the restricted divine command theory is commonly combined with a view reminiscent of Plato: God is identical to the ultimate standard for goodness. Alston offers the analogy of the standard meter bar in France. Something is a meter long inasmuch as it is the same length as the standard meter bar, and likewise, something is good inasmuch as it approximates God. If one asks why "God" is identified as the ultimate standard for goodness, Alston replies that this is "the end of the line," with no further explanation available, but adds that this is no more arbitrary than a view that invokes a fundamental moral standard. On this view, then, even though goodness is independent of God's "will", it still depends on "God", and thus God's sovereignty remains intact.  This solution has been criticized by Wes Morriston. If we identify the ultimate standard for goodness with God's nature, then it seems we are identifying it with certain properties of God (e.g., being loving, being just). If so, then the dilemma resurfaces: is God good because he has those properties, or are those properties good because God has them? Nevertheless, Morriston concludes that the appeal to God's essential goodness is the divine-command theorist's best bet. To produce a satisfying result, however, it would have to give an account of God's goodness that does not trivialize it and does not make God subject to an independent standard of goodness.  Moral philosopher Peter Singer, disputing the perspective that "God is good" and could never advocate something like torture, states that those who propose this are "caught in a trap of their own making, for what can they possibly mean by the assertion that God is good? That God is approved of by God?"

False dilemma.

Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas all wrote about the issues raised by the Euthyphro dilemma, although, like William James and Wittgenstein later, they did not mention it by name. As philosopher and Anselm scholar Katherin A. Rogers observes, many contemporary philosophers of religion suppose that there are true propositions which exist as platonic abstracta independently of God. Among these are propositions constituting a moral order, to which God must conform in order to be good. Classical Judaeo-Christian theism, however, rejects such a view as inconsistent with God's omnipotence, which requires that God and what he has made is all that there is. "The classical tradition," Rogers notes, "also steers clear of the other horn of the Euthyphro dilemma, divine command theory." From a classical theistic perspective, therefore, the Euthyphro dilemma is false. As Rogers puts it, "Anselm, like Augustine before him and Aquinas later, rejects both horns of the Euthyphro dilemma. God neither conforms to nor invents the moral order. Rather His very nature is the standard for value."

Jewish thought.

The basis of the false dilemma response—God's nature is the standard for value—predates the dilemma itself, appearing first in the thought of the eighth-century BC Hebrew prophets, Amos, Hosea, Micah and Isaiah. (Amos lived some three centuries before Socrates and two before Thales, traditionally regarded as the first Greek philosopher.) "Their message," writes British scholar Norman H. Snaith, "is recognized by all as marking a considerable advance on all previous ideas," not least in its "special consideration for the poor and down-trodden." As Snaith observes, "tsedeq", the Hebrew word for righteousness, "actually stands for the establishment of God's will in the land." This includes justice, but goes beyond it, "because God's will is wider than justice. He has a particular regard for the helpless ones on earth." "Tsedeq" "is the norm by which all must be judged" and it "depends entirely upon the Nature of God."  Hebrew has few abstract nouns. What the Greeks thought of as ideas or abstractions, the Hebrews thought of as activities. In contrast to the Greek "dikaiosune" (justice) of the philosophers, "tsedeq" is not an idea abstracted from this world of affairs. As Snaith writes:  The Hebrew stance on what came to be called the problem of universals, as on much else, was very different from that of Plato and precluded anything like the Euthyphro dilemma. This has not changed. In 2005, Jonathan Sacks wrote, "In Judaism, the Euthyphro dilemma does not exist." Jewish philosophers Avi Sagi and Daniel Statman criticized the Euthyphro dilemma as "misleading" because "it is not exhaustive": it leaves out a third option, namely that God "acts only out of His nature."

St. Thomas Aquinas.

Like Aristotle, Aquinas rejected Platonism. In his view, to speak of abstractions not only as existent, but as more perfect exemplars than fully designated particulars, is to put a premium on generality and vagueness. On this analysis, the abstract "good" in the first horn of the Euthyphro dilemma is an unnecessary obfuscation. Aquinas frequently quoted with approval Aristotle's definition, "Good is what all desire." As he clarified, "When we say that good is what all desire, it is not to be understood that every kind of good thing is desired by all, but that whatever is desired has the nature of good." In other words, even those who desire evil desire it "only under the aspect of good," i.e., of what is desirable. The difference between desiring good and desiring evil is that in the former, will and reason are in harmony, whereas in the latter, they are in discord.  Aquinas's discussion of sin provides a good point of entry to his philosophical explanation of why the nature of God is the standard for value. "Every sin," he writes, "consists in the longing for a passing [i.e., ultimately unreal or false] good." Thus, "in a certain sense it is true what Socrates says, namely that no one sins with full knowledge." "No sin in the will happens without an ignorance of the understanding." God, however, has full knowledge (omniscience) and therefore by definition (that of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle as well as Aquinas) can never will anything other than what is good. It has been claimed – for instance, by Nicolai Hartmann, who wrote: "There is no freedom for the good that would not be at the same time freedom for evil" – that this would limit God's freedom, and therefore his omnipotence. Josef Pieper, however, replies that such arguments rest upon an impermissibly anthropomorphic conception of God. In the case of humans, as Aquinas says, to be able to sin is indeed a consequence, or even a sign, of freedom ("quodam libertatis signum"). Humans, in other words, are not puppets manipulated by God so that they always do what is right. However, "it does not belong to the essence of the free will to be able to decide for evil." "To will evil is neither freedom nor a part of freedom." It is precisely humans' creatureliness – that is, their not being God and therefore omniscient – that makes them capable of sinning. Consequently, writes Pieper, "the inability to sin should be looked on as the very signature of a higher freedom – contrary to the usual way of conceiving the issue." Pieper concludes: "Only "the" will [i.e., God's] can be the right standard of its own willing and must will what is right necessarily, from within itself, and always. A deviation from the norm would not even be thinkable. And obviously only the absolute divine will is the right standard of its own act" – and consequently of all human acts. Thus the second horn of the Euthyphro dilemma, divine command theory, is also disposed of.  Thomist philosopher Edward Feser writes, "Divine simplicity [entails] that God’s will just is God’s goodness which just is His immutable and necessary existence. That means that what is objectively good and what God wills for us as morally obligatory are really the same thing considered under different descriptions, and that neither could have been other than they are. There can be no question then, either of God’s having arbitrarily commanded something different for us (torturing babies for fun, or whatever) or of there being a standard of goodness apart from Him. Again, the Euthyphro dilemma is a false one; the third option that it fails to consider is that what is morally obligatory is what God commands in accordance with a non-arbitrary and unchanging standard of goodness that is not independent of Him... He is not "under" the moral law precisely because He "is" the moral law."

William James.

William James, in his essay "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life", dismisses the first horn of the Euthyphro dilemma and stays clear of the second. He writes: "Our ordinary attitude of regarding ourselves as subject to an overarching system of moral relations, true 'in themselves,' is... either an out-and-out superstition, or else it must be treated as a merely provisional abstraction from that real Thinker... to whom the existence of the universe is due." Moral obligations are created by "personal demands," whether these demands come from the weakest creatures, from the most insignificant persons, or from God. It follows that "ethics have as genuine a foothold in a universe where the highest consciousness is human, as in a universe where there is a God as well." However, whether "the purely human system" works "as well as the other is a different question."  For James, the deepest practical difference in the moral life is between what he calls "the easy-going and the strenuous mood." In a purely human moral system, it is hard to rise above the easy-going mood, since the thinker's "various ideals, known to him to be mere preferences of his own, are too nearly of the same denominational value; he can play fast and loose with them at will. This too is why, in a merely human world without a God, the appeal to our moral energy falls short of its maximum stimulating power." Our attitude is "entirely different" in a world where there are none but "finite demanders" from that in a world where there is also "an infinite demander." This is because "the stable and systematic moral universe for which the ethical philosopher asks is fully possible only in a world where there is a divine thinker with all-enveloping demands", for in that case, "actualized in his thought already must be that ethical philosophy which we seek as the pattern which our own must evermore approach." Even though "exactly what the thought of this infinite thinker may be is hidden from us", our postulation of him serves "to let loose in us the strenuous mood" and confront us with an existential "challenge" in which "our total character and personal genius... are on trial; and if we invoke any so-called philosophy, our choice and use of that also are but revelations of our personal aptitude or incapacity for moral life. From this unsparing practical ordeal no professor's lectures and no array of books can save us." In the words of Richard M. Gale, "God inspires us to lead the morally strenuous life in virtue of our conceiving of him as unsurpassably "good". This supplies James with an adequate answer to the underlying question of the "Euthyphro"."

In philosophical atheism.

Atheistic resolutions.

Atheism challenges the assumption of the dilemma that God exists (or in the original formulation, that the many gods in Greek religion existed). This eliminates the need to decide whether God is either non-omniscient or arbitrary, and also eliminates the possibility of God as the source of morality.  Secular humanism takes the positive stance that morality is not dependent on religion or theology, and that ethical rules should be developed based on reason, science, experience, debate, and democracy. Some secular humanists believe in ethical naturalism, that there are objective, discoverable laws of morality inherent to the human condition, of which humans may have imperfect knowledge. Others have adopted ethical subjectivism in the sense of meta-ethics – the idea that ethics are a social construct – but nonetheless by way of utilitarianism advocate imposing a set of universal ethics and laws that create the type of society in which they wish to live, where people are safe, prosperous, and happy. These competing resolutions represent different answers to a question similar to the original dilemma: "Is something inherently ethical or unethical, or is something ethical or unethical because a person or society says it is so?"

Rejection of universal morality.

The other assumption of the dilemma is that there is a universal right and wrong, against which a god either creates or is defined by. Moral nihilism challenges that assumption by rejecting the concept of morality entirely. This conflicts with the teachings of most religions (and thus is usually accompanied by atheism) but is theoretically compatible with the notion of a powerful God or gods who have opinions about how people should behave.  Alexander Rosenberg uses a version of the Euthyphro Dilemma to argue that objective morality cannot exist and hence an acceptance of Moral nihilism is warranted. He asks, is objective morality correct because evolution discovered it or did evolution discover objective morality because it is correct? If the first horn of the dilemma is true then our current morality cannot be objectively correct by accident because if evolution had given us another type of morality then that would have been objectively correct. If the second horn of dilemma is true then one must account for how the random process of evolution managed to only select for objectively correct moral traits while ignoring the wrong moral traits. Given the knowledge that evolution has given us tendencies to be xenophobic and sexist it is mistaken to claim that evolution has only selected for objective morality as evidently it did not. Because both horns of the dilemma do not give an adequate account for how the evolutionary process instantiated objective morality in humans, a position of Moral nihilism is warranted.  Moral relativism accepts the idea of morality, but asserts that there are multiple potential arbiters of moral truth. This opens the possibility of disagreeing with God about the rules of ethics, and of creating multiple societies with different, equally valid sets of ethics (just as different countries have different sets of laws). "Normative moral relativism" asserts that behavior based on alternative systems of morality should be tolerated. In the context of religious pluralism, strong relativism it also opens the possibility that different gods and different belief systems produce different but equally valid moral systems, which may apply only to adherents of those faiths.

In popular culture.

In the song "No Church in the Wild" from the album "Watch the Throne", rapper Jay Z references the dilemma with the line, "Is pious pious 'cause God loves pious? Socrates asked whose bias do y'all seek."

In American legal thinking.

Yale Law School Professor Myres S. McDougal, formerly a classicist, later a scholar of property law, posed the question, "Do we protect it because it's a property right, or is it a property right because we protect it?"  Subsequently, in "United States v. Willow River Power Co.", 324 U.S. 499 (1945), Justice Robert H. Jackson addressed whether there was a protectable property interest in a head of water lessened by federal action. He stated: [N]ot all economic interests are "property rights;" only those economic advantages are "rights" which have the law back of them, and only when they are so recognized may courts compel others to forbear from interfering with them or to compensate for their invasion.... We cannot start the process of decision by calling such a claim as we have here a "property right;" whether it is a property right is really the question to be answered. Such economic uses are rights only when they are legally protected interests.  The Court's majority (per Justice Jackson) resolved its version of the Euthyphro dilemma by ruling that property rights exist if courts recognize and protect them, rather than holding that property rights pre-exist and courts merely perceive them. A dissenting opinion, however, considered that property rights existed "a priori" and that they dictated the conclusion that courts should (therefore) enforce them.

The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue "Euthyphro", in which Socrates asks Euthyphro, "Is the pious (τὸ ὅσιον) loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" (10a)

Le dilemme d'Euthyphron se trouve exposé dans le dialogue de Platon nommé "Euthyphron", dans lequel Socrate demande à Euthyphron : « Le saint (τὸ ὅσιον) est-il aimé des dieux parce qu'il est saint, ou est-il saint parce qu'il est aimé des dieux? »


History.

Henderson County was formed in 1841 from a portion of Warren County. It was named for Henderson County, Kentucky, which was named for Richard Henderson, founder of the Transylvania Company, an early attempt to organize what later became Kentucky around 1775.

Geography.

According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and (4.1%) is water.

Climate and weather.

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Oquawka have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in February 1996 and a record high of was recorded in August 1983. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in July.

Demographics.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 7,331 people, 3,149 households, and 2,127 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 3,827 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 98.2% white, 0.2% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.2% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.1% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 24.4% were German, 14.5% were Irish, 11.9% were English, 5.9% were Swedish, and 5.0% were American.  Of the 3,149 households, 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.5% were non-families, and 27.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 47.2 years.  The median income for a household in the county was $43,450 and the median income for a family was $55,154. Males had a median income of $41,052 versus $27,426 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,492. About 7.8% of families and 11.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.3% of those under age 18 and 8.3% of those age 65 or over.

Politics.

As part of Yankee-settled Northern Illinois, Henderson County was solidly Whig in its first three elections and then equally Republican from that party's formation until the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 was the first Democrat to win it, but the county returned to Republican Alf Landon in 1936 and was not won by a Democrat until the GOP nominated the southern-oriented conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964.  After that, like many Yankee counties, it returned to its Republican roots between 1968 and 1984, but with the shift of the GOP to a Southern Evangelical perspective Henderson County turned reliably Democratic in presidential elections from 1988 to 2012. Economic concerns in the “Rust Belt” led populist Republican Donald Trump to carry the county with over 61 percent of the vote in 2016; the highest percentage won by any Republican candidate since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, and the lowest by a Democrat since Al Smith in 1928.  Henderson County is located in Illinois's 17th Congressional District and is currently represented by Democrat Cheri Bustos. For the Illinois House of Representatives, the county is located in the 94th district and is currently represented by Republican Randy Frese. The county is located in the 47th district of the Illinois Senate, and is currently represented by Republican Jil Tracy.

Communities.

Townships.

Henderson County is divided into eleven townships:

Henderson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 United States Census, it has a population of 7,331. Its county seat is Oquawka.

Le comté de Henderson est un comté situé dans l'État de l'Illinois, aux États-Unis. En 2000, sa population est de habitants. Son siège est Oquawka.


History.

The first permanent settlement in future Pope County was established in 1798 at the modern-day site of Golconda, then a part of the Northwest Territory which operated as a ferry point across the Ohio River. The county was formed in 1816 from portions of Gallatin and Johnson Counties.

Geography.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and (1.5%) is water.  The entire county is hilly and during rainy weather rivulets cascade down the hills in the park forming waterfalls of varying sizes and heights. The county contains Dixon Springs State Park, one of many state parks in the Illinois Shawnee Hills, and is part of the Shawnee National Forest. It is bordered to the south and east by the Ohio River, which marks the state's border with Kentucky.

Climate and weather.

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Golconda have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in August 2007. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in October to in May.

Demographics.

As of the 2010 census, there were 4,470 people, 1,829 households, and 1,209 families living in the county. The population density was. There were 2,491 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 91.7% white, 6.0% black or African American, 0.6% American Indian, 0.2% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 31.8% were German, 19.1% were Irish, 11.4% were English, and 5.4% were American.  Of the 1,829 households, 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.9% were non-families, and 29.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.72. The median age was 46.6 years.  The median income for a household in the county was $39,672 and the median income for a family was $51,500. Males had a median income of $45,865 versus $28,519 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,134. About 6.6% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.4% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

Politics.

In its early days Pope County, being strongly Southern in its culture and opposed to Northern Illinois, was powerfully Democratic, giving a majority to that party in every pre-war Presidential election.  However, during the Civil War, under the influence of Congressman John A. Logan, this region of dubious initial loyalty was to provide a number of Union soldiers rivalled on a per capita basis only by a few fiercely Unionist counties in Appalachia.  This level of Union service has meant that despite its historic hostility towards Yankee culture, Pope County has been powerfully Republican ever since the Civil War. Stephen A. Douglas in 1860 remains the last Democrat to win a majority of the county’s vote, although Bill Clinton won pluralities in both 1992 and 1996 due to Ross Perot siphoning votes from Republican opponents George Bush senior and Bob Dole. Hillary Clinton in 2016 fared extremely poorly, carrying fewer than eighteen percent of Pope County’s votes.

Pope County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 4,470, making it the second-least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Golconda. The county was organized in 1816 from portions of Gallatin and Johnson counties and named after Nathaniel Pope, a politician and jurist from the Illinois Territory and State of Illinois.

Le comté de Pope est un comté situé dans l'État de l'Illinois, aux États-Unis. En 2000, sa population est de habitants. Son siège est Golconda.


Plot.

Late one night, youngster David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is awakened by a loud thunderstorm. From his bedroom window, he sees a large flying saucer descend and disappear into the sandpit area behind his home. After rushing to tell his parents, his scientist father (Leif Erickson) goes to investigate David's claim. When his father returns much later in the morning, David notices an unusual red puncture along the hairline on the back of his father's neck; his father is now behaving in a cold and hostile manner. David soon begins to realize something is very wrong: he notices certain townsfolk are acting in exactly the same way. Through his telescope, David sees child neighbor Kathy Wilson suddenly disappear underground while walking in the sandpit. David flees to the police station for help and is eventually placed under the protection of health-department physician Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter), who slowly begins to believe his crazy story.  With the help of local astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz) and Dr. Blake, David soon realizes the flying saucer is likely the vanguard of an invasion from the planet Mars, now in close orbital proximity to Earth. Dr. Kelston contacts the U.S. Army and convinces them to immediately investigate: An important government rocket research plant is located nearby. In short order, the Pentagon assembles troops and tanks under the command of Colonel Fielding (Morris Ankrum). An alien sabotage plot at the plant is soon uncovered, leading back to the sandpit, and the army surrounds the saucer landing site.  Standing well away from the army search, Dr. Blake and young David are suddenly sucked underground. They are captured by two tall, slit-eyed green humanoids and taken via tunnels to the flying saucer. Army troops locate and blow open an entrance to the tunnels, and Colonel Fielding and a small detachment make their way to the saucer entrance. Inside, they confront the Martian mastermind: It has a giant green head with a humanoid face atop a small, green partial torso with several green arm-tentacles, and is encased in a transparent sphere. The Martian is served by the tall, green, silent, synthetic mutants. Under their master's mental commands, the mute humanoids have implanted mind-control crystals at the base of the skull of their kidnapped victims, forcing them to attempt sabotage at an atomic rocket project being built at a military plant near the town; if they are caught, the mind control devices explode, causing a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. The troops and Colonel Fielding, with Dr. Blake and David in tow, open fire on the pursuing mutants as their group escapes the saucer. After a short running battle in the tunnels, they return to the surface. Orders are given for everyone to quickly leave the area: Fielding's troops have planted timed explosive charges aboard the saucer. David runs downhill away from the sandpit, and artillery opens fire on the sandpit, as the charges ticking timer slowly approaches zero.  Following the large explosion, David is suddenly back in his bed during a thunder and lightning storm. He runs into his parents' bedroom, confused and frightened; they reassure him that he was just having a bad dream, telling him to go back to sleep. Having returned to his bed, more wind and loud thunder is heard. David climbs out of bed again, goes to his window, and witnesses the very same flying saucer in his nightmare slowly descending into the sandpit, to which he responds, "Gee whiz"!

Cast.

Starring:  Featuring:  With:

Production.

Casting.

It was the first time in Helena Carter's career that she played something other than the romantic interest for the male lead. She retired from acting after this movie.

Music.

The production makes use of a unique "outre" music score that consists of an ethereal, rhythmically wavering tonal composition sung in unison by a choir. It is used as both a sound effect and as the scenic score associated with the Martians. As the film's "The End" title card and end credits are displayed, the ethereal music underscores an unspoken question that only each viewer can answer: is young David still asleep, trapped in a recurring nightmare, or was his bad dream a premonition of this now real event? The score is credited to Raoul Kraushaar, but Thomas Hischak's "Encyclopedia of Film Composers" notes that most of the score is now believed to be the work of frequent Republic composer Mort Glickman.

Visual design.

An Eastmancolor camera negative was used for principal photography, with vivid SuperCinecolor prints struck for the film's initial theatrical release to provide an oddly striking and vivid look to the film's images; standard Eastmancolor prints were used thereafter on later releases. While some film sources have claimed that "Invaders" was designed for the early 3D process (it was already in production before the breakthrough 3D film, "Bwana Devil", was released), it was not filmed or released in 3D.  Despite being a quickly shot, low-budget 1950s feature, "Invaders" uses occasional camera angles set lower or higher than usual to enhance the dramatic and visual impact of key scenes. Some of Menzies' set designs (such as those in the police station, the observatory, and the interiors of the Martian flying saucer) consist of elongated structures with stark, unadorned walls, sometimes much taller than necessary, adding touches of dreamlike surrealism.

Special effects.

The Martian heat-ray effect showing the bubbling, melting walls of the tunnels was created by shooting a large tub of boiling oatmeal from above, colored red with food coloring and lit with red lights. The cooled, bubbled-up effect on some areas of the blasted tunnel walls was created by first using inflated balloons pinned to the tunnel walls. In film tests they looked like balloons stuck to the walls, so the effects crew tried smaller inflated latex condoms. Further testing showed these looked much more convincing, and the crew wound up inflating more than 3,000 and then sticking them to portions of the tunnel set's walls; in some shots, the condoms can be seen moving slightly as the Martian mutants rush down the tunnels.  The film was shot at Republic Pictures in the conventional (pre-Cinemascope) 1.37:1 screen aspect ratio, thereby facilitating recycling shots simply by flipping the negative left to right (or right to left) in an optical printer, as "full aperture" is symmetric about the film's axis. These effects shots in "Invaders" are apparent. For example, during the car chase scenes, where cars are first seen turning left (or right) and, several cuts later, the very same cars are seen turning the opposite direction (with identical, but reversed background). "Full aperture" also facilitated shooting the sandpit scenes (sand "falling down" or sand "falling up") without resorting to an optical printer stepping backwards. This was done by the simple expedient of shooting the "falling down" scenes conventionally, but shooting the "falling up" scenes with the camera upside-down, rotated about the optical axis of the lens, and then reversing that shot end-for-end during "negative assembly", making the sand appear to be moving upwards. SuperCinecolor required an optical printer to extract the "separations". This was necessary for its three-color process: red/"cyan printer" and green/"magenta printer" printed on opposite sides of the film print, and blue/"yellow printer" printed over one of those sides, with one side having two colors, and the other side having one color. This was unlike "three-strip" Technicolor, where all three colors were printed on one side of the film stock. An interesting side effect of this process flow is that "Invaders" was composited as if it were a "three-strip" Technicolor feature.

British release.

In 1954 the film was released in the UK. The British film distributor complained the film was not long enough and the dream narrative was not satisfactory. The producer therefore shot additional new footage to lengthen the observatory sequence, and the dream narrative was changed. A new ending and additional scenes were quickly shot in answer to the distributor's objections. Other portions of "Invaders" were also re-edited, while the "was-it-all-just-a-nightmare?" U.S. ending was replaced with a more straightforward conclusion. All new scenes were filmed several months after the U.S. release, including the one showing the destruction of the Martian flying saucer in the sky when the army's explosive charges finally detonate. The British release print includes a greatly expanded planetarium scene: framed pictures can be seen hanging on the set's walls that were not in the U.S. release; they appear to vanish and then reappear at times as the expanded and reedited scenes play out. While the adult actors had not changed significantly, child actor Jimmy Hunt is taller, looks older, and has shorter hair in these added scenes. Hunt also wears a sweater vest in them (the vest materializes about three minutes into the scene, at which time Dr. Kelston's necktie also appears to be retied), while he and Dr. Kelston discuss various flying saucer accounts: the Lubbock Lights and the Mantell UFO incident; Dr. Kelston also identifies the various saucer models as "Type 1", "Type 2", etc.

British ending.

The British ending removes the "dream-vs.-reality", "was-it-all-just-a-nightmare" story element: Before the large overhead explosion of the Martian saucer, David joins Kelston and Dr. Blake behind an Army tank. Dr. Blake assures him his parents are safe now that the control point was destroyed. The scene dissolves to the MacLean house, in David's bedroom, where he has been put to bed by Kelston and Dr. Blake. Standing at his door, they wish him a good night. This scene dissolves to the film's "The End" title card, as the film's ethereal music reaches its crescendo in coda with the final fade-out.

Critical reception.

Oscar Godbout of "The New York Times" reviewed the film strictly as entertainment for youngsters, calling it "a pictorial 'funnybook'" that would "probably frighten witless a lot of small children". A generally positive review in "Variety" wrote: "Imaginative yarn makes full use of astronomical and lab equipment as well as Government atomic research installations as backgrounds to heighten the realism. Highlight, however, is a Martian ray gun which can cause the earth to part into subterranean passages. All this has been effectively filmed by John Seitz in Cinecolor". "Harrison's Reports" declared it "A pretty good science-fiction melodrama, photographed in Cinecolor. The story, as in most pictures of this type, is highly imaginative, but it is packed with suspense from start to finish and should thrill the action fans, especially the youngsters".  The Southern California Motion Picture Council cautioned “The tale is weird and terrifying, but well-done with... exceptional color... the audience is almost frozen with fear until the finale is reached. This is entirely too terrifying and realistic a picture for children”.  At the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on, with a weighted average rating of 6.9/10. Film historian Paul Meehan considered "Invaders from Mars" as "one of the best of the 50s invasion cycle", and "in hindsight", one of the most influential of the period, setting the scene for other "abduction films". Critic Patrick Legare wrote of the film, "Originating during the science-fiction/Red-Scare boom of the '50s, "Invaders From Mars" is an entertaining little picture that holds up reasonably well".  Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars. In his film review, Maltin called it "starkly stylish".

Influence.

"Invaders from Mars" impressed some kids who grew up and became filmmakers. Don Coscarelli's original 1979 "Phantasm" has some plot similarities, while Brad Bird's "The Iron Giant" makes references to the film, as well as to other iconic science fiction features, particularly those from the 1950s.

Remake.

In 1986, "Invaders from Mars" was remade using the same title. The remake was directed by Tobe Hooper and stars Karen Black, Hunter Carson, and Timothy Bottoms. The original film's child star Jimmy Hunt played the police chief.

Invaders from Mars is a 1953 independently made American SuperCinecolor science fiction film directed by William Cameron Menzies and starring Jimmy Hunt, Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Morris Ankrum, Leif Erickson, and Hillary Brooke. It was produced by Edward L. Alperson Jr. The film was distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

Les Envahisseurs de la planète rouge ("Invaders from Mars") est un film de science-fiction américain réalisé par William Cameron Menzies en 1953.