History.

Argentina was chosen as the host nation of the 1978 World Cup by FIFA in London, England on 6 July 1966. Mendoza, as one of the largest cities in the country, was selected as a venue. The organizing committee, under supervision of the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina since 1976, proposed a new stadium to be built by the Cerro de la Gloria, in General San Martín Park, taking advantage of the topography of a natural depression located on the slopes of the hill. Beside the stadium itself, the project included new access roads, parking lots, a training auxiliar field and other complementary works.  The construction began in 1976 and the Estadio Ciudad de Mendoza ("City of Mendoza Stadium") was opened on May 14, 1978 with a friendly match between a team formed by players from Mendoza and another one with players from San Rafael. During June 1978, Mendoza hosted six Fifa World Cup matches, three first round matches and three second round matches. That same year Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza became the first team from Mendoza to play a first division match at the stadium. Other teams from Mendoza that have reached the first division and used the Malvinas Argentinas as a home stadium since are Independiente Rivadavia, Club Atletico Huracan Las Heras, San Martín de Mendoza and Godoy Cruz.  After the 1982 Falklands War, the stadium was renamed "Estadio Malvinas Argentinas". The new name reflects Argentina's claims of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands ("Islas Malvinas" in Spanish).  During the 1993/1994 season Argentinos Juniors, original from Buenos Aires, played home matches in this stadium. In 1994, Mendoza started hosting the annual Football Summer Tournaments, that has taken place in the Malvinas Argentinas stadium since. In 2011, Godoy Cruz qualified for the Copa Libertadores and the stadium hosted for the first time an international club competition. The Mendocenean club qualified to the most important continental tournament once again in 2012 and took part of the 2011 and 2014 Copa Sudamericana; Godoy Cruz has played all of its home matches for international competitions at the Malvinas Argentinas stadium. In the 2016–17 season, Godoy Cruz drew an average home league attendance of 16,000.

Renovation.

The stadium was renovated for the 2011 Copa America, held in Argentina. Among other works during the renovation all the seats were replaced, the bathrooms were reconstructed, the roof of the stadium was repaired and a new 128 m2 LED screen was installed, being during that time the largest of its kind in South America.

Sporting events.

The stadium was built for the 1978 FIFA World Cup and during June 1978 Mendoza it hosted six matches, three group 4 matches and three second round matches.  Beside the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Malvinas Argentinas stadium has been one of the venues for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, the 2011 Copa America and the 2013 South American Youth Football Championship.  Argentina national football team has played several friendly matches in Mendoza but only one official match: it was on 2012 against Uruguay for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification.  "Los Pumas" has played several test matches here and four The Rugby Championship matches: two against South Africa, in 2012 and 2013, and two against Australia, in 2014 and 2015.  The final and 3rd place match of the 2005 Under 21 Rugby World Championship were played at this stadium, while the rest of the tournament was held in smaller different stadiums of Mendoza province.

Shows.

The stadium played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on October 14, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour.  Other artists that have played at the Malvinas Argentinas are Maná, Ricardo Arjona, Joaquín Sabina, Joan Manuel Serrat, Chayanne, Soda Stereo, Charly Garcia and Ricky Martin.  The main event of the 2002 Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia was held at this stadium.

The Malvinas Argentinas is the largest stadium in Mendoza, fourth largest census metropolitan area in Argentina. It is owned and administrated by the Provincial Government, and has a seating capacity of over 40,000 spectators.


History.

The Milwaukee–Dearborn subway project was funded by "New Deal" programs established by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. In 1937, the city of Chicago successfully applied for a federal grant and loan from the Works Progress Administration to fund the construction of two subway tunnels, the first of which would be built beneath State Street and the second beneath Milwaukee Avenue and Dearborn Street. In March 1939, construction began on the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway. The tunnel was buried deep to enable the use of a tunnel boring machine throughout the construction of the subway. Only brief sections were built using the "cut-and-cover" method. Rationing imposed by World War II delayed completion of the subway due to a shortage of materials. Construction on the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway, which was 80% completed in 1942, was temporarily halted to allow for the scarce supply of labor and materials to be used to continue construction of the State Street subway, which was considered a priority. In December 1945, the city of Chicago resumed work on the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway.  The Milwaukee–Dearborn subway officially opened for passenger service on February 25, 1951. In 1958, the southern branch of the tunnel was extended under Congress Parkway, past its former terminus at LaSalle, to connect to the Congress Branch in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway. A new station was opened at this time at Clinton Street. On February 9, 1992, the Chicago Transit Authority closed the Grand/Milwaukee station due to budget cuts and low ridership. The station reopened on June 25, 1999 at 6:00 a.m. On April 13, 1992, the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway closed due to the great flood of Chicago.  The three neighbouring stations in the Loop area - Washington, Monroe, and Jackson - form one long continuous platform than runs underneath Dearborn Street,

Incidents.

On July 11, 2006, a train derailment caused a fire in the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway, causing the subway to be closed temporarily. 150 people were injured to varying degrees but there were no fatalities. This incident occurred on the same day as the 2006 Mumbai train bombings.

Service.

On February 21, 1993, the CTA color-coded the lines, making the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway part of the present day Blue Line. The Blue Line runs 24 hours a day/7 days a week, providing service between O'Hare and Forest Park.

The Milwaukee–Dearborn subway is an underground section of the Chicago "L" system in The Loop, Chicago, Illinois. It is long and forms the central part of the Blue Line. As of February 2013, the subway serves an average of 44,584 passengers each weekday. Since the subway is served by the Blue Line, it is open to passengers 24 hours a day/7 days a week and 365 days a year.


Background.

Prior to the 2009 Contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-nine times since its first entry in 1974, winning it in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou, and being placed third three times: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique; in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas; and the 2008 entry "Secret Combination" performed by Kalomoira. Following the introduction of the semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. Greece's least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia Krifi Evesthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.  The Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry. From 2004 to 2006, ERT had selected high-profile artists internally and set up national finals to choose the song, while in 2007 and 2008 it held a televised national final to choose both the song and performer. For the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, ERT was able to secure a high-profile artist once again and planned a national final to choose the song.

Before Eurovision.

Artist selection.

In July 2008, it was announced that Sakis Rouvas will be representing Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. This marked Rouvas' second appearance at Eurovision as a performer, and third overall. In 2004, he represented Greece with "Shake It", placing third, and in 2006, he hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens alongside Maria Menounos. Johnny Kalimeris, Eurovision project manager for ERT stated that they had announced Rouvas' participation so early because they had ""already agreed with Sakis Rouvas so there was no reason to keep it a secret [and that] it was about to leak [so they] decided to make a short announcement early on to avoid the usual speculations and rumors which could do more damage than good"".  As in 2005 and 2006, when ERT also picked the artist internally, a national final was organized where three potential entries would be heard in playback and the winning song will chosen by televoting (60%) and an "expert" jury (40%). On 14 October 2008, ERT held a press conference to officially present Rouvas as the entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. It was also announced that Dimitris Kontopoulos will be the only composer to submit songs, and all performances from Rouvas will be choreographed by Fokas Evagelinos. Responding to a question about the style of the song, asked by a reporter in the press conference on 14 October 2009, Rouvas answered that he trusted in Dimitris Kontopoulos, and that Kontopoulos had written many hits for him and knew what style of songs that fit Rouvas the best.

Competing entries.

On 10 February 2009, two days ahead of the song press conference, the song titles and lyricists were revealed to the media. Alexandra Zakka wrote the lyrics for the first song, titled "Out of Control", a pop song with R&B elements, while Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb wrote the lyrics for both "Right On Time", a mid-tempo song with rock elements, and "This Is Our Night", a dance song. Craig Porteils is a Greek Australian music producer who has written songs and lyrics for Cher, Billy Idol, Tevin Campbell, Guns N' Roses, Rod Stewart, and Ozzy Osbourne among others, while Cameron Giles-Webb is another Greek Australian music producer who is currently the head of "Gusto Music". Alexandra Zakka is a young upcoming lyricist who speaks English, French, German, and Spanish among other languages.  The three competing entries were officially presented to the media in another press conference on 10 February 2009.

National final.

The final took place on 18 February 2009 at the Athinon Arena Music Hall in Athens, hosted by Betty and Mathildi Maggira. The show was directed by Giorgos Kapoutzidis, and was also streamed by the official Eurovision website "Eurovision.tv". The show had a main concept of Eurovision history and included a flashback to the Eurovision world from 1956 when the contest was broadcast on radio to the present. Rouvas performed all three candidate songs, and the winning song was chosen by televoting (60%) and a seven-member "expert" jury panel (40%), consisting of Mimis Plessas (head of the jury), Dimitris Gontikas (General Manager of ERT Television), Antonis Andrikakis (lyricist and General Manager of ERT Radio), Evangelia Piskera (President of ERT Public Relations), Olga Pavlatou (record executive), Giorgos Kyvelos (record producer), and "ESCToday" representative Stella Floras, which the votes came from the result of a poll for international fans conducted by "ESCToday".  At the end of the show, "This Is Our Night" was revealed to be the winning song, receiving 81% of the overall votes.  Interval acts during the show included a number of the 2009 contest representatives, such as Cyprus' Christina Metaxa with "Firefly", Turkey's Hadise with "Düm Tek Tek", Malta's Chiara with "What If We", Belarus' Petr Elfimov with "Eyes That Never Lie", Montenegro's Andrea Demirović with "Just Get Out of My Life", and the United Kingdom's Jade Ewen with "My Time". 2008's entrant Kalomoira also perform a medley which included Lady Gaga's "Just Dance", the Pussycat Dolls's "When I Grow Up" and the Master Tempo remix of her entry "Secret Combination".

Promotion.

Rouvas will be embarking on an extensive promotional tour around Europe after picking his song. So far it is rumored that almost all countries have invited him to be on their shows. Even before his song was picked, Rouvas was invited to perform in Belgrade, Serbia on the talent show "Operacija trijumf", the Ex-Yugoslav version of Star Academy, on December 29, 2008. On the show, which is broadcast in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, Rouvas sang his 2004 entry "Shake It" with Aleksandar Belov, one of the shows contestants who is of Macedonian origin, while he also premiered the English version of his massive summer hit "+ Se Thelo" titled "Keep on Moving" for the first time with a fully choreographed performance.  Following the national final, initial plans for the promotion of "This Is Our Night" were revealed. The tour was revealed by Johnny Kalimeris to be quite extensive, with Rouvas visiting more Eurovision countries than had been visited in previous years. The first official stop kicking off Rouvas' promotional tour after the selection was to Bosnia and Herzegovina where Rouvas performed at the official presentation of the nation's entry "Bistra Voda" on March 1. Other guests included Turkey and Malta. The show was streamed live on eurovision.tv as had been for the Greek national final. An extensive promotional schedule was laid out for the following day, with Rouvas doing many appearances on numerous press, television, and radio networks. Rouvas was a guest at the Pink TV BH Morning Show which aired live on Balkan Net, and also starred on the live radio show "Stari Grad" at 14:00. He also gave interviews to TV Hayat, the "Obavezan smjer" show on TV Sarajevo, and on the Radio Televizija BiH show "Konacno petak". Following his two-day stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rouvas will return to Belgrade, Serbia where he will stay until March 4 and will appear on Fox TV, Radio S, live on 3 March, at 15.30 (local time), TV S, TV Avala and Pink TV. On the 4th March, he will be a special guest of Jovana Janković, the hostess of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, on the "RTS Morning Show". Rouvas will conclude his promotion in Serbia at 15:00 that day with a live appearance on Novi SAT channel. Rouvas will then fly to Moscow, where he will perform live at the Russian National Final along with past Russian representatives, namely Dima Bilan, Yulia Savicheva, Alsou, Youddiph, Natalia Podolskaya, Prime Minister, and Serebro. The next day he will give a large performance at the Kremlin for the celebration of International Woman's Day in Russia. Russia, being the host country, has been called an important stop by ERT. Rouvas has also had success on the Russian charts with his hit "Se Thelo San Trelos" in 2004 and is known in the country from his successful collaboration with successful singer-songwriter Philipp Kirkorov. At the second press conference, it was stated that Rouvas' previous success and popularity in Russia will be a definite factor in Greece conquering the Eastern votes. It has also been confirmed that Rouvas will give a concert in Cyprus on March 13, and will also be continuing promotion in Turkey from April 10–12. ERT is currently considering many more destinations for promotion, keeping Belgium and the Netherlands as a high priority.

At Eurovision.

Although Greece placed third in the 2008 contest, it was still required to compete in the semi-finals under current rules, as it was not one of the "Big Four" nor was it the host of the 2009 contest.  Fokas Evangelinos along with Elias Ledakis, will be the choreographers and artistic directors of Rouvas' stage show. Evangelinos had choreographed Rouvas' third place 2004 entry, Elena Paparizou's winning 2005 entry, the opening ceremony of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Ani Lorak's second place 2008 entry, and Dima Bilan's second place entry in 2006 and winning 2008 entry among others. Evangelinos has worked with Rouvas for more than a decade long, being his choreographer for the majority of his shows. At a press conference that took place on October 14, 2008, it was revealed that Evangelinos will be working exclusively with Rouvas and no other contest entrants.

Semi-final.

It was announced in January that Greece would take part in the second semi-final on May 14 where it will have to qualify for the grand final. Greece was drawn to perform 13th out of a field of 19, succeeding Azerbaijan's AySel and Arash with "Always" and preceding Lithuania's Sasha Son with "Love". It was one of the ten performances which qualified for the grand final.

Final and reception.

In the final, on May 16, "This Is Our Night" finished in seventh place with a total of 120 points, receiving maximum "12 points" from Albania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus. The song therefore carried on Greece's "Eurovision" success by finishing within the top-ten for the sixth consecutive year, thus making the country the second most successful entrant of the past decade, despite not having even participated in 2000. The event was watched by 86% of the Greek television audience.  The performance included complex choreography, with "BBC News" announcing that "Greece's Sakis Rouvas had one of the more ambitious dance routines" of the contest. Rouvas wore an all white outfit designed by acclaimed Greek designer Celia Kritharioti. He performed on a rotating podium which transported him from left to right across the stage, was part of his group dance routine with four other performers and, in the end, was responsible for lifting him high into the air. In the same moment, a Greek flag is displayed on the floor, only visible to the television viewers. The final part of the performance was completed by silver fireworks in two separate parts. The official "Eurovision" website states that, this year, Greece had made "high-tech advancements" in the contest's standards. Whilst Rouvas was disappointed with his seventh-place finish, announcing to Greek media "I am so sorry, I wanted us to win", there was still unanimous support towards the artist himself in the country. "Seventh in Europe, first in our hearts" many journalists reported on Greek television. The media and public pronounced their support for Rouvas, the general consensus being that the artist gave it his best even though this did not translate in enough votes in the contest. All criticism in Greece focused on the selection of the song itself, rather than the artist's performance. Rouvas stated that, overall, it has all been a wonderful experience for him: "some win, some lose, personally, I gave everything I had. But it was a wonderful experience".  Some critics, including those from "London Greek Radio", suggested the reason why Greece failed to achieve a higher placing was due to a lack of an ethnic-sounding song. He notes the way in which all of Greece's top-three placings, including Rovas' performance of "Shake It" in 2004, had an ethnic bouzouki sound, as did the 2009 Azerbaijani and Turkish entries which finished in third and fourth place respectively.  The song has since peaked at number one on the Greek and Cypriot charts, and has also gone on to chart in Sweden, Ukraine, Iceland, Lithuania and Russia.  The Greek broadcaster ERT has confirmed that Greece will participate in the "Eurovision Song Contest 2010".

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "This Is Our Night" sung by Sakis Rouvas. The Greek national television broadcaster Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) announced that it had internally selected Rouvas to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest on July 15, 2008, making Greece the first country to pick an artist for the 2009 edition.


Early life.

He grew up in Hyderabad, India, the second son of a mother who taught American literature and a father who ran a plastics company. He went to Hyderabad Public School in Hyderabad and earned a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering from University College of Engineering, Osmania University in Hyderabad, an executive MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Narayen once represented India in sailing at an Asian Regatta.

Career.

He started his career at Apple. After Apple, Narayen served as director of desktop and collaboration products for Silicon Graphics, then co-founded Pictra Inc. a company that pioneered the concept of digital photo sharing over the Internet.  Narayen joined Adobe in 1998 as a senior vice-president of worldwide product research was later promoted to executive vice president of worldwide products, and was promoted to CEO in November 2007 at the age of 45.

Promotion to CEO.

In November 2007, Adobe Inc. announced that Bruce Chizen would step down as CEO effective 1 December, to be replaced by Narayen.  Narayen is paid an annual salary of $1,000,000 for his role as chief executive. He received total remuneration of $15.7 million in 2013.  In 2011, Barack Obama appointed him as a member of his Management Advisory Board.  As CEO, Narayen led the transformation of the company, moving its creative and digital document software franchises – which include flagship programs such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Acrobat/PDF – from the desktop to the cloud. In addition, during his tenure as CEO Adobe entered the digital experiences category, an expansion which began with the company’s acquisition of Omniture in 2009.  Adobe exceeded $100B in market cap for the first time in company history during Fiscal Year 2018. The company has added more than $100B in market cap during the last 5 years.  Adobe became a Fortune 400 company in 2018.

Honors and awards.

In May 2011, Narayen received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Bowling Green State University.  Narayen is the lead independent director on the board of directors for Pfizer, and vice chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. He previously served on U.S. President Barack Obama's Management Advisory Board.  In 2018, Narayen was ranked #12 on Fortune’s “Businessperson of the Year” list, and “Global Indian of the Year” in 2018 by the Economic Times of India.  In 2019 he was a recipient of India's Padma Shri award.

Shantanu Narayen (born ) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adobe Inc. Prior to this, he was the president and chief operating officer since 2005.


Biography.

George Vasey was born in 1822 in Snainton near Scarborough, England, the fourth of ten children. His family emigrated to the United States the next year, and they established in Oriskany, New York. He left school at 12 to take a job as a store clerk.  He took interest in botany after borrowing and, since he could not afford the volume, manually copying a book on the subject. This interest was later encouraged after a chance encounter with Peter D. Knieskern, another naturalist who allowed Vasey to begin writing to various other botanists. Until 1870 he would maintain an extensive correspondence and collect a great many specimens both in Oneida County and later McHenry County, but did not publish material of scientific relevance until the 1870s.  Vasey married Martha Jane Scott in 1846, having graduated the same year from Berkshire Medical Institute with a M.D. degree, and shortly after they moved to establish themselves in Ringwood, Illinois. In 1854 he opened a dry good store to support his family of 7: four children and his mother. In 1858 he was a founding member of the Illinois Natural History Society, and over the next few years, began writing prolifically for the society and the "Prairie Farmer". He had two more children by 1861, but in 1864 he lost his youngest to whooping cough. When his wife began to grow weaker, Vasey relocated the family to Richview, to no avail. Martha Vasey died in 1866.  After a brief period where he stopped writing, he remarried to a widow, but was beset with heavy financial trouble by the time John Wesley Powell invited him to participate in an expedition in 1868. Greatly enthused by the adventure, he dedicated himself to scientific pursuit. He briefly edited "Entomologist and Botanist" before being curator of the Illinois State University Natural History Museum. He resigned the latter position to succeed Charles Christopher Parry as the USDA Chief Botanist. He quickly began work to improve the poor state of the National Herbarium, then organized an exhibit of the country's trees for the Centennial Exposition. The herbarium, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, is considered the crowning of his career, particularly its grass collection, of which he was a specialist; in 1889 the Institute named him Honorary Curator. As Chief Botanist he launched the "Contributions from the United States National Herbarium". With George Thurber he worked on grasses for Asa Gray and John Torrey's "Flora of North America".  He was granted an honorary M.A. in 1864 from Illinois Wesleyan University. In 1869 he was made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 1892, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; that same year he was representative to the 1892 International Botanical Congress in Genoa, where he was a Vice-President. Of his published work his several-volumes monograph of the United States grass, the last part of which was published after his death, is one of the most notable, as are his 1884 "Agricultural Grasses of the United States" and his work to describe unpublished species who had accumulated in the herbarium, a work he completed less than a week before his death in 1893, from peritonitis. Three genera ("Vaseya", now part of "Muhlenbergia", "Vaseyochloa", and "Vaseyanthus"), as well as numerous species were named after him, although it is not always clear whether they are named after himself or his son, George Richard Vasey, who collected widely after his father entered the USDA, and after which "Rhododendron vaseyi" is most likely named.

George S. Vasey (February 28, 1822 – March 4, 1893) was an English-born American botanist who collected a lot in Illinois before integrating the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), where he became Chief Botanist and curator of the greatly expanded National Herbarium.


Early life.

Andrus was born in Maracay, Venezuela, the son of Emilio and Elvia Andrus. Emilio Andrus was a university professor; he died when Elvis was seven years old. He has two older brothers, Erold and Erikson. Some Venezuelan families name their children after famous non-Venezuelan people, but Andrus said that he is not sure whether he was named after Elvis Presley. Andrus said, "I asked my mother a lot of times, but she never told me. Maybe my dad liked Elvis Presley. I’m not sure about that."

Career.

Minor leagues.

At the age of 16, Andrus was signed by the Atlanta Braves and received a signing bonus of more than $500,000. He started the 2005 season with the Orlando Braves of the Gulf Coast League, and was promoted to Danville late in the season. He spent 2006 with Class-A Rome, being named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team.  In 2007, Andrus joined the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League. During the season, he was selected to the All-Star Futures Game and was selected again for the showcase in 2008.  On July 31, 2007, Andrus, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and three minor league pitchers (Matt Harrison, Neftalí Feliz and Beau Jones) were traded from the Braves to the Rangers for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay.

Texas Rangers (2009–present).

With Rangers shortstop Michael Young agreeing to move to third base in 2009, Andrus earned the starting job on Opening Day. He was the second-youngest player in the American League at the time. As Andrus was only 20 years old, Texas signed veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel for insurance.  Andrus stole his 20th base on July 28, 2009, in his rookie season. Andrus was the 10th player in major league history to steal 20 bases under the age of 21. The last player to do that was then-teammate Andruw Jones in 1997 with the Atlanta Braves. Andrus was named to the 2010 American League All-Star team as a reserve shortstop.  In 2010, he batted.265, without any home runs. He led the AL in sacrifice hits (17), was 2nd in caught stealing (15), and 9th in stolen bases (32).  In 2011, Andrus batted.279, with 5 home runs. He was 3rd in the American League in sacrifice hits (16), 4th in caught stealing (12), and 5th in stolen bases (37). On defense, he led all AL shortstops in errors, with 25, and was 2nd among league shortstops in putouts (245) and 3rd in assists (407). In 2012, Andrus earned his second All-Star selection, batting.286 while leading the American League in sacrifice hits with 17.  Before Opening Day of 2013, Andrus signed an eight-year, $120 million extension. On September 14, he stole his 40th stolen base of the season against the Oakland Athletics, stealing second base off of Bartolo Colón. Andrus later surpassed Ian Kinsler for the Texas Rangers all-time leader in stolen bases with 175. He finished the year again leading the American League in sacrifice hits (16) while batting.271 and scoring 91 runs. Andrus began the 2014 season with an 11-game hitting streak that ultimately ended with an early ejection April 13. On June 8, Andrus had a 39-game hitting streak against the Cleveland Indians snapped as he went 0 for 4. That game marked the first time in his career where he did not get a hit against the Indians. Only Vladimir Guerrero had a longer streak against a team with (44, against Texas). Andrus stole his 180th career stolen base against the Seattle Mariners but led the American League in caught stealing with 15, batting.263 for the season.  Andrus finished 2015 with career lows in batting average (.258), OBP (.309), and sacrifice hits, while posting a career-best seven home runs and stealing 25 bags for the AL West champion Rangers. On defense, he led the major leagues in assists, with 516. He batted.182 in the Rangers' ALDS series against Toronto and made two of the team's three errors in the pivotal seventh inning of Game 5, won by the Blue Jays. In 2016, hit.302 with eight home runs and 69 RBIs.  He continued the following season, in 2017, to post a career offensive season, hitting.297 with 20 home runs and 88 RBIs and 25 steals in 158 games. On defense, he led the major leagues in assists, with 490.  On April 11, 2018, Andrus was hit by a pitch on his right arm and left the game. X-rays and CT scans tested positive that Andrus had suffered a fractured right elbow. As a result, he was placed on the disabled list for the first time of his Major League career. No surgery was required, but to keep out of baseball activity for 6-8 weeks. He was activated on June 18 from the disabled list. Andrus finished 2018 hitting.256/.308/.367/.675 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI.  Andrus hit.275/.313/.393/.707 with 12 home runs, 72 RBIs, and 31 stolen bases in 2019. He tied for the AL lead with 10 sacrifice flies.

Personal.

Andrus is a Christian. In 2012, Andrus donated $12,500 to OurCalling, a Christian charity that helps homeless people in Dallas County.  Andrus married girlfriend Cori Febles in a ceremony at his home on June 1, 2017. The couple welcomed their first child, Elvis Emilio, on July 6, 2017. On November 28, 2018 they welcomed their second child, a girl, named Lucia Alessandra. For the 2019 season, Andrus adopted "Baby Shark" as his walk-up song because it reminded him of his children.  Two of Andrus' brothers remain in Venezuela. Andrus voiced concern about his home country during civil unrest in early 2014. "As a human being, you always get angry when you see what's happening with the military back home doing stuff to the civils, and to the students, and that's what really gets me angry. I'm not a political guy, but I just hate when you see somebody just walking and trying to say something get hit by police, or get hit by any military from the country that's supposed to defend the country instead of shoot him or hit him", he said.  Andrus' older brother Erold Andrus played in the independent leagues in 2009 and 2010 as an outfielder. He has played in the organizations of several MLB teams. During spring training of 2011, though Erold was in minor league camp, he got the opportunity to play in a Rangers spring training game, the first time that Erold and Elvis played together in the United States.  On July 26, 2019, Andrus became a naturalized US citizen.

Elvis Augusto Andrus Torres (born August 26, 1988) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball shortstop for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB).


Synopsis.

An invisible woman is kidnapping newborn babies who are destined to be emperors and delivering them to the mysterious subterranean supernatural Evil Master. The police are powerless, and the city must be saved by three very different women who share a terrible past. Anita Mui plays the mild-mannered wife of a police inspector who's also the mask-wearing, sword-slinging and knife-throwing crime fighter, Wonder Woman. Maggie Cheung plays the shotgun-toting, hard-boiled bounty hunter, Thief Catcher. Michelle Yeoh is Invisible Woman, the troubled but determined strong right arm of the Evil Master.

Characters.

Female Heroes.

Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman is a crime fighting vigilante, trained from childhood by her strict martial arts master father. Her secret identity is Tung, wife of Police Inspector Lau, who eventually finds out who she is. Aside from her fighting prowess, she uses a collapsible sword and throwing knives in the shape of butterfly wings. She is played by Anita Mui. She is referred to as Shadow Fox in the English dub.

Invisible Woman.

Ching aka Ching Ching is the martial sister of Tung, and left their disciplinarian father as a child. She was then taken in by Evil Master, and serves as his main servant. Though the Thief Catcher is her childhood friend, the two are only reunited as adults. Ching is responsible for the kidnapping of the babies using an invisible robe, which is given to her by the Professor. She is ordered to kill the Professor for the robe, but is conflicted because she has fallen in love with him, eventually deciding to fight in his memory after he dies. Ching is known to the Evil Master as "Number 3". She is the most skilled fighter of the trio, and uses a chain whip. She is portrayed by actress Michelle Yeoh in the film.

Thief Catcher.

Thief Catcher is an irresponsible and greedy bounty hunter. She is initially hired by the Police Chief to rescue his own kidnapped son, and she steals a baby from the hospital as bait for the kidnapper. In the ensuing struggle with Wonder Woman, the baby is accidentally killed, causing her to reevaluate her life. She grew up and underwent similar training with Ching as a child, though she escaped after 3 years (taking another 10 to regain her humanity); her designation was originally "Number 7". She is referred to as Mercy (short for Mercenary) in the English dub. Often, she prefers to use her rifle and explosives in a fight, though she also has a boomerang-like sword. She is also an expert motorcycle rider. She is played by Maggie Cheung.

Villains.

The Evil Master.

He is the main villain of the film. He compels Ching to steal newborn babies as part of his supernatural scheme to provide China with a new emperor. Ching has worked for him for many years. The Thief Catcher likes to refer to him as "Damned Old Monster!" as she strongly dislikes him. Played by Shi-Kwan Yen.

Production.

On its release, the film was promoted as a "ground-breaking novelty for Hong Kong cinema" Producer Ching Siu-Tung used the film to try to make a name for himself outside of his work with Tsui Hark while Johnnie To developed it as pitch to become accepted as one of Hong Kong's leading action film directors.

Reception.

In contemporary reviews, Tony Rayns ("Sight & Sound"), stated that the film was visually similar to Kirk Wong's "Health Warning", but "predictably takes none of that film's risks." He noted that both Mui and Cheung approached "their iconic roles with gusto and deliver the odd camp frisson, while "Yeoh seems dispirited from start to finish." Rayns complimented parts of the film, stating that it "offers a number of simple pleasures. Its design and "mise en scene" are expansive and occasionally exhilarating, and it has a good sense of intersperse scenes of would-be pathos between its action set-pieces." "Variety" called the film a "flashy kung fu superheroine adventure full of solid production values but marred by some disturbingly gratuitous plot elements." The review went on to note that the ambitious plot does "not always mesh with recurring comic-book tone. Full-blown climax has heroines battling their nemesis both above and below ground as the villain, as in “Terminator 2,” continues to struggle even when reduced to skeletal remains."  From retrospective reviews, Donald C Willis described the film as "an amusing series of outrageous stunts" in his book "Horror and Science Fiction Film IV".

The Heroic Trio ("Dung fong saam hap", TC: 東方三俠, pinyin: "dōng fāng sān xiá") is a 1993 Hong Kong action film directed by Johnnie To, starring Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui as the titular trio. Other cast include Damian Lau, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Paul Chun, James Pak and Yan Yee Kwan. The main characters of the film are reunited in a sequel, another 1993 film, "Executioners".


Early life and education.

Cook was born in Camden, New Jersey to Bill Cook (a licensed civil engineer in California) and JoAnn (a pre-school teacher). Growing up in Somerdale, he has two sisters, Michelle and Janean, and a brother, Michael. When he was very young, his family moved to California. At an early age, Jason began studying the piano. As his musical skills improved, he got occasional jobs performing at weddings. He did not consider acting until high school, when he served as an emergency replacement in "Whodunnit". A friend of Jason's mother, whose husband was an agent and manager for child actors, helped Jason get his first auditions and roles. Jason attended Westlake High School in Westlake Village, California and graduated in 1998.  Jason attended Moorpark College, a two-year junior college, in Moorpark, California and completed his freshman year in the spring semester of 1999. While attending Moorpark College he was active on the speech and debate teams, competing nationally.

Career.

Cook portrayed Shawn-Douglas Brady on "Days of Our Lives" from October 1999 and was very popular with fans, especially in Shawn's relationship with Belle Black. Cook elected to leave the show when his contract with "Days of Our Lives" expired in September 2006. On May 28, 2015, it was announced that he would reprise the role for the show's 50th anniversary in the fall of 2015.  While on the show, Cook turned his attention to writing and directing films, making the indie film "The Making of Triassic Park" and later "Social Security Guard", starring "General Hospital" co-star John Ingle. He left the show to pursue production full-time on "Numb To Life", a documentary exploring pharmaceutical drug abuse, as his first feature documentary.  On April 23, 2008, it was announced that Cook would be returning to Daytime TV on "General Hospital" as new character Matt Hunter. His first appearance was on June 27, 2008.  Cook elected to leave "General Hospital" at the end of his contract to once again return to projects behind the camera. His first project was a philanthropic reality show co-produced with the Mandela family titled LifeCHANGE. This was followed up with the production of "State of Bacon", a mockumentary surrounding the largest Bacon festival in the world, held yearly in Des Moines, Iowa.  In 2012, he participated in Fox's dating game show "The Choice" and portrayed 2014 James Thomas in Dean Jones' mystery thriller film "Dark Awakening". opposite Lance Henriksen and Valerie Azlynn.  In 2018 he wrote, produced, and directed The Creatress, a film about a writer following up a bestselling debut novel starring Lindy Booth, Peter Bogdanovich, and Fran Drescher.

Awards and nominations.

Jason Cook has received recognition for his work on "Days of Our Lives":

Jason John Cook (born September 13, 1980) is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and film producer best known for the soap opera television roles of Shawn-Douglas Brady on "Days of Our Lives" from 1999 to 2006, Matt Hunter on "General Hospital" from 2008 to 2012, and most recently the writer, director, and producer of the feature film "The Creatress".


History.

The channel began broadcasting on 1 February 1995 under the name VT4. The channel initially had no Belgian broadcasting license and was transmitted via London (actually from Arqiva's transmission station at Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire).  Today, VIER broadcasts legally from Zaventem in Belgium. It is available on the cable network in Brussels as well as in Flanders. It's also available throughout Belgium on the IPTV network of Belgacom, who offers triple play everywhere in Belgium where VDSL is available.  On 17 September 2012, VT4 was rebranded as Vier.

HD broadcast.

VT4 HD was launched as a temporary high-definition channel on June 7 2008 to coincide with the kick-off of UEFA Euro 2008. It was merely a simulcast of VT4's schedule, but the Euro 2008 matches and all related talk shows were broadcast in HD. VT4 HD was available exclusively to Telenet Digital TV subscribers and was shut down on June 29, 2008.  On September 1, 2012 VT4 HD, along with sister channel VijfTV HD, launched as a HD simulcast. The channel was made available to Belgacom TV subscribers. On September 17, the day of the relaunch, both VIER HD and VIJF HD were made available for Telenet Digital TV subscribers.

Video on demand.

C-More was the VOD service of SBS Belgium. The name and logo are the result of the C More Entertainment group which delivers pay-TV, C More Entertainment was a part of the SBS Broadcasting Group which was bought by the ProSiebenSat.1 Media group which sold it to TV4 Gruppen. After the rename of the channel the service has been renamed to MEER (MORE). The service is available through Telenet Digital TV & Belgacom TV and is available on its own website MEER.be.

VIER ("four") is a Belgian-Flemish commercial television channel. It is part of SBS Belgium and production company Woestijnvis. As of 2010, the channel has a market share of more than 7%.


Plot.

A young man (Marc-André Grondin) in France shaves off all his body hair and turns himself in to the police. The man claims to be a 16-year-old boy from Louisiana named Nicholas Mark Randall, who had been missing for four years. His story is that he was kidnapped by a child prostitution ring in France who physically altered his appearance.  He is reunited with his family who immediately have their suspicions regarding his story. His mother (Ellen Barkin) and half brother Brendan (Nick Stahl) do not seem to accept him, and many questions are open regarding whether this man could in fact be their lost family member, considering he bears little resemblance to the boy who left and now talks with a French accent. His sister Kathy (Emilie de Ravin) accepts his story without hesitation and eventually so does his possible mother.  F.B.I. Agent Jennifer Johnson (Famke Janssen) strongly suspects that he is lying because she has had extensive experiences with people lying to her, including a man who was a child murderer whom she had dated. Meanwhile, his story starts to unravel and the true story of what happened to Nicholas starts to emerge.

Release.

The film premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in the United States.

Critical reception.

The film received mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Metacritic gave the film a 41 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 5 reviews. Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" said the film barely addresses the central issue of Nicholas being an imposter, except at the film's "unsatisfying, sentimental conclusion. Aaron Hillis of "The Village Voice" said the film's psychological, emotional, and moral implications are not explored.

The Chameleon is a 2010 film directed by Jean-Paul Salomé, who co-wrote the screenplay with Natalie Carter. The film is based upon the true story of Frédéric Bourdin who impersonated a missing child named Nicholas Barclay in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1990s. Much of the true story was incorporated into the film although the years have been altered and the location was moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


Background.

Samuel was born on August 11, 1961 at "Coyote Sands Relocation Center", AZ, where his mother and brother Joseph were residents at the time. His delivery was filmed by Dr. Chandra Suresh who recorded much of his research as part of Project Icarus. Even at birth his ability was present: during his birth, he produced a major seismic event, leading Chandra to understand that Samuel’s ability grew when surrounded by other evolved humans. Knowing this, Samuel's mother asked Joseph to keep Samuel under control by limiting his closeness to other evolved humans.  It is unknown if Samuel and his family got out of Coyote Sands before "Hurricane Alice" or survived the massacre of evolved humans on May, 1961. Whatever the case, he and his family were released at some point according to Joseph. After Coyote Sands, the Sullivan family lived and worked on the Wheelers' estate, NY. Young Samuel fell in love with the Wheelers' daughter, Vanessa and spent a lot of time with her and shared dreams about the future with her. Later, the Sullivans moved out the manor, and eventually opened the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival". Samuel tried to train his power into a carnival act so people would come to see him, but Joseph stated he only wanted Vanessa to come and must forget her.  Years later, Samuel found Vanessa at college, and they began a relationship. Samuel asked her to marry him and come to the carnival, but she refused to leave her life.  At the carnival, under Joseph’s leadership, Samuel grew up into a trouble-maker, and together with his right hand Eli dabbled in petty crime and felonies, such as robbery, etc. Knowing he couldn’t control Samuel anymore, Joseph exiled Eli from the carnival and even sent Arnold back in time to kill baby Samuel at Coyote Sands, unsuccessfully. Ultimately, Joseph gave Emile Danko a compass to find and capture Samuel for everyone’s sake.

Main Series.

Redemption.

In "Orientation", carnies are gathered around during Joseph’s burial while Samuel is eulogizing his deceased brother. Later he is seen with his associate Lydia. He pokes her with a long stick and ink floods into her skin. After she gives him information on Danko, he sends Edgar to "go get the compass", once again using his ability to make him do so. Next, he is seen asking Lydia for information on Hiro Nakamura. After gaining the information, he asks Arnold to send him back in time. Fourteen years in the past, Samuel tries to persuade Hiro to use his power to right past wrongs. Later, he uses his power again on Lydia. Using his strange tattoo power once again, images of Claire Bennet, Sylar, and Peter Petrelli appear on Lydia's back.  Following Edgar's revelation of meeting an empath (Peter Petrelli), in the episode "Ink", Samuel pretends to be one of the people Peter had recently saved in a bus crash, and sues Peter to get to meet him. Over the course of the day, Samuel breaks into Peter's apartment and uses ink to make himself appear in the crash photo, resulting in having Peter seemingly empathize with Samuel (his primary goal); before leaving, he watches Peter admiring Emma's cello play. Later, Samuel goes to his old home - a mansion where his father and mother, both servants, worked - to see the carriage house. After being denied entry, Samuel levels the mansion by creating a sinkhole.  In the episode "Hysterical Blindness", while sitting around the breakfast table, he remarks to his carnival family that since his brother's death, their circle has been broken (one empty chair), and that before the day is done he will bring a new member to the family. As the day wears on, he reveals to Lydia that he does not know who it is, but that he has a feeling that someone is coming. Late in the evening, getting a bit desperate, he tries to tattoo Lydia to see if anyone's face shows up. While he is waiting, Becky reports in to him on her progress with pushing Claire and isolating her in an effort to bring her into the family. Finally, the ink settles and (although it is not revealed on screen, it is implied that) Sylar's face appears. As Sylar (in his amnesiac state) runs from the police, he stumbles upon the entrance to the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" where Samuel is holding out his arm welcoming him into the family. A cello appears in Emma's apartment so she starts playing it while her ability evolves; the cello was in a box with the "Sullivan Bros. Carnival" label on it.  In "Tabula Rasa", after Sylar rests, Samuel shows him around the carnival, intent on trying to awaken Sylar's memories immediately. However, he is surprised when Sylar refers to himself as 'Nathan', and returning memories reveal not to be the real Sylar's. Talking to Damien, he has Sylar sent to the Hall of Mirrors to attempt to regain his memories, while having tickets sent to the police officer bent on arresting Sylar. After telling Sylar that it is his duty to become a guardian of the carnival, he sends Sylar to kill the police officer, although Edgar ends up actually killing the man. Not worried, Samuel makes Sylar one of the carnival members, cryptically saying that in time, Sylar would regain his murderous tendencies.  In "Strange Attractors", Samuel then moves his sights to other superhumans, namely Tracy Strauss and Jeremy Greer. He somehow teleports Tracy to the carnival, and begins trying to convince Tracy that she belongs to the carnival, as she and Jeremy are both lost in their ways. Spooked, Tracy demands to be sent back to Georgia to help Jeremy out of prison with Noah, but they fail when Jeremy loses control and kills a civilian who attacks him as they are leaving. As a result, an officer and his friend kidnap and kill Jeremy. Samuel obtains vengeance by returning to Georgia and leveling a building the two men enter, presumably killing them.  In "Once Upon a Time in Texas", Samuel and Lydia talk about Arnold's terminal condition and imminent death, feeling that Hiro's path has grown too long for them to wait. Lydia's ability directs him to travel back in time three years ago so he could find Hiro in Midland, TX. Once there, he asks Hiro about his plans and warns him about the risks of changing what is meant to happen (Charlie's death at the hands of Sylar). However, Hiro manages to change it anyway after making Sylar fix Charlie's aneurysm and then teleporting him directly to Odessa, TX. Samuel kidnaps Charlie, sending her to the carnival in the present, and then forces Hiro to control his ability and teleport there. Once at the carnival, Samuel tells him that Arnold hid Charlie somewhere in time, and blackmails Hiro to stay there and help him right the wrongs for Charlie's sake. Samuel doesn't want the carnies to know that Arnold's final effort killed him because Samuel asked too much of him. It is revealed that Samuel is somehow responsible for the apparent death of Mohinder Suresh eight weeks earlier, and that he needs Hiro to undo this event.  In the episode "Shadowboxing", Samuel comes to Claire's college to stop Becky from getting out of control. In the meantime, he talked to Claire about how Bennett will never understand people like them and that he's just a hunter. At first Claire doesn't fall for it but towards the end, after Bennett tried to tase Becky, had handcuffed Samuel, and tried to chase after them when they got away, Claire realized there was truth to his words. In the end, Samuel promises that she will be able to have her revenge on Claire and Bennett, and also notes that even though she screwed up, Claire's mindset is now in a place better than what he had hoped for.  It was revealed in "Brother's Keeper" that Samuel becomes stronger when he is surrounded by people with abilities, and this is presumably why he's been expanding his "family." His brother, Joseph, kept that fact from him, and kept him away in the then-small carnival. Having overheard Joseph and Mohinder talking about his ability, Samuel went to Mohinder's hotel room to get a video about his ability, but Mohinder had destroyed it, so Samuel killed him. Samuel sent Hiro to go back in time to switch the videos being burnt. Unbeknownst to Samuel, Hiro also strapped a bulletproof vest on Mohinder, so that the rock fragments that Samuel shot at him didn't kill him. He also meets with Tracy at the end of the episode, talking with her about the carnival, which she apparently joins.  It was revealed in "Thanksgiving" that Samuel killed his brother, Joseph, because Joseph had lied about Samuel's true abilities; after Samuel kills him, he seems to show regret. In the present, Samuel blames Edgar for his crime, forcing Edgar to flee the carnival. Consequentially both Lydia and Edgar agree that Samuel must be replaced as leader of the Carnival by someone like Joseph; Lydia believes the best candidate for the job is Peter Petrelli. In "Brave New World", Samuel plans to kill thousands of people in Central Park for his 'coming out party' and to make people fear him. Emma draws the large crowd while under the control of Eric Doyle. Meanwhile, after escaping the trailers with the help of Tracy Strauss, Claire explains Samuel's plans to the carnival workers. Samuel denies everything, but Noah and Edgar (with the support of Eli) reveal the truth about the murders of Joseph and Lydia, convincing the carnival workers to leave Samuel which will weaken his power. Angered, Samuel charges on-stage and attempts to create an earthquake but is stopped by a flying tackle courtesy of Peter. Peter copies Samuel's power and the two battle each other to a draw. Hiro teleports the crowd away, weakening Samuel's power severely. Peter then successfully blocks a physical attack from Samuel and throws him onto the stage. Finally, the desperate and enraged Samuel stumbles out onto the empty Carnival grounds, accuses the absent carnival workers of being cowards, and collapses to his knees in defeat.

Brave New World.

Samuel is arrested for his actions and taken by the police as the heroes gather around the carnival.  In the graphic novel "Consequences", Angela foresees the possible outcome of Samuel's plan if the Heroes couldn't stop him.

"Slow Burn" Webisodes.

During the "Redemption"'s arc, the story of Amanda Strazzulla took place as an online serial, along with several graphic novels. Amanda just discovered her abilities and contacts Lydia, her mother, to help her adjusting, but Lydia tries desperately to avoid Amanda to find her as she feels the potential danger Samuel represents for all of them. Nevertheless, Amanda reaches the carnival and finds in Samuel some sort of paternal figure to rely on, disliking Lydia for attempting to send her away. Finally, Samuel helps Amanda feel safe and home within the carnival, joining the Bowman Family's fire act.

Powers and abilities.

Samuel has the ability to control earth and other minerals with his mind. His ability manifested before he was even born, as it was shown in one of Chandra Suresh's videos that Samuel caused a seismic tremor while still in his mother's womb. Samuel becomes stronger when he is surrounded by people with abilities. The exact range that he needs to be from other evolved humans for them to enhance his powers is unclear; although he possessed enough power to throw a rock with enough force to penetrate a human skull while some distance from the main carnival before he learned the full potential of his power, after he began to gather evolved humans to him, once his carnival was rapidly emptied by Hiro teleporting the rest of the residents away, Samuel found himself completely powerless when only Peter, Sylar, Doyle and Emma were in the carnival (Although it may be that prolonged use of his powers in proximity to other superhumans left him, like a drug addict deprived of his substance of choice, totally reliant on their presence just to achieve what he would have once been capable of on his own).  He seems to evoke some sort of green aura when he gets angry. This is seen while creating an earthquake to sink an entire town in "Pass/Fail" and depicted in graphic novels as well.  The extensions of his ability includes manipulating ink on peoples' skin and paper, evoking water from the depths of the earth, creating a sandstorm, propelling rocks as bullets, and creating earthquakes to sink buildings and even a whole town.  It is unknown if his power somehow lets him instantly teleport people or the carnival itself.  Without his powers, his skills in a fight are relatively limited, allowing Peter Petrelli to easily defeat him in a fight.

Samuel Sullivan, portrayed by Robert Knepper, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series "Heroes", being the primary antagonist of "Volume 5: Redemption". Samuel has the ability of terrakinesis. He is the mysterious leader of a carnival ring, "Sullivan Bros. Carnival".


Biography.

Obruchev was born in Warsaw in a military family. He entered the First Cadet Corps and went on to the Nicholas Military Academy in 1848. In 1858, he founded "Voyenny Sbornik" (Military Collection) as a professional military journal. However after printing articles critical of Russian military logistics in the Crimea War, he was removed from the position. However he became a protégé of Dmitry Milyutin who in 1863 appointed him secretary of the Military Academic Committee of the Main Staff. From this position he helped ensure Miliutin's military reforms were put into effect.  He played a key role in preparing for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 - 1878. In July 1877 he was posted to the Caucasus front where he successfully planned the defeat of the Turkish Army. Then he was moved to the Balkan front where his plan for winter operations helped lead to the capitulation of the Ottoman Empire  In 1881 Pyotr Vannovskiy, the new Minister of War appointed him chief of the Main Staff. Obruchev now played a role in rearming the Russian Army, constructing fortifications on the western military frontier and laying plans for amphibious operation across the Bosphorus. At this time he proposed reorganising the Main Staff into five directorates: First and Second Quartermaster Generals, Adjutant General, Military Communications and Military Topography. However this structure was not implemented until 1903.  He attended the Franco-Russian Military Convention of 1892 and persuaded Nicholas II not to intervene in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - 1895. Retired from active service in 1897, Obruchev died in France in June 1904.

Nikolai Nikolayevich Obruchev (1830–1904) was a General Staff Officer in the Imperial Russian Army, imperial Russian general staff officer, military statistician, planner and chief of the Main Staff.


Background.

Taylor Swift and Liz Rose wrote "Tim McGraw" during Swift's freshman year at Hendersonville High School. She conceived the idea in the midst of her mathematics class: "I was just sitting there, and I started humming this melody." She then related the melody to a predicament she was encountering at the moment. Swift knew that she and her senior boyfriend would break up at the end of the year when he left for college. In order to cope with the complicated emotions she was experiencing, Swift wrote the song. Rose said Swift showed up at her after school job, writing songs for Sony/ATV Music, "with the idea and the melody, knowing exactly what she wanted." She desired for the song to capture the sweetness and sadness of loving and losing someone. It was written about all the different things that would remind the subject of Swift and their time spent together, once he departed. "To her surprise, the first thing that came to mind was [her] love of Tim McGraw's music." Several personal details were listed for the song. McGraw's mentioning was a reference to Swift's favorite song, "Can't Tell Me Nothin" from his 2004 album "Live Like You Were Dying", rather than McGraw as a person. The writing process, as with "Our Song", took place in approximately twenty minutes, and was executed with the use of a piano.  Soon after, Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, signed Swift to his newly formed label. Early into the album production, in a meeting where Borchetta and Swift discussed potential songs for Swift's debut album, she performed "Tim McGraw" for Borchetta on fluke ukulele. According to Swift, as soon as Borchetta finished listening to the song, he faced Swift and said, "That's your first single." She responded, "Well. That's how that works then." Prior to that event, Swift did not believe that the song was single material. However, she followed what label executives told her and accepted that they were correct. Swift placed "Tim McGraw" as the first track on "Taylor Swift" because of its importance to her. The song was eventually released as a CD single on June 19, 2006. In retrospect, Swift has said that the song "is reminiscent, and it is thinking about a relationship you had and then lost. I think one of the most powerful human emotions is what should have been and wasn't... That was a really good song to start out on, because a lot of people can relate to wanting something you can't have." When the song's subject discovered it, he thought it was "cool" and kept friendship with Swift despite their breakup.

Composition.

"Tim McGraw" is a country song with a length of three minutes and 52 seconds. The song mingles traditional and modern country music features, primarily through its usage of a twelve-string guitar. It is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 72 beats per minute. Thus, it is categorized as a ballad with a mid-paced nature. It is written in the key of C major and Swift's vocals span one octave, from F to G. Swift's vocals are prominent in twang. "Tim McGraw" follows the chord progression C–Am–F–Gsus–G.  The lyrics of "Tim McGraw" regard a summer romance that came to a sudden halt. The song fondly reminisces an ex-boyfriend, and directs the lyrics towards him, rather than country singer Tim McGraw himself. It uses McGraw's music as a marker in their relationship timeline: "When you think Tim McGraw / I hope you think my favorite song." Sean Dooley of About.com stated, "Music has the power to evoke memories, and it's an old Tim McGraw song that triggers her happy memories." McGraw's reference is one of the several items used for association of the failed relationship, along with other items and places, such as a little black dress.

Critical reception.

The song was well received by critics. Rob Sheffield of "Blender" magazine described the track as a gem that hit hard. Sean Dooley of About.com complimented Swift's vocal delivery, describing it as "tender and emotive."  In 2020, "Rolling Stone" ranked "Tim McGraw" at number 11 on its "The 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time" list, placing second among female artists; the magazine stated: "With her first song, Swift immediately showed her Nashville peers she could beat any of them at their own game, acing the classic genre trope of nostalgic country song about how country music is nostalgic".

Chart performance.

On the week ending September 23, 2006, "Tim McGraw" debuted at number 86 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. After 17 weeks of ascending and descending the chart, on the week ending January 13, 2007, the song reached its peak at number 40 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, where it stayed for two consecutive weeks. On the week ending February 3, 2007, the song spent its last week on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 43, after a total of 20 weeks on the chart. As of November 2017, "Tim McGraw" has sold 1.6 million copies in the United States. The single was certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for moving over 2 million units.  Prior to charting on the United States' main chart, "Tim McGraw" charted on "Billboard" Hot Country Songs. On the week ending July 1, 2006, "Tim McGraw" debuted at number 60 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs. After spending 25 weeks upon "Billboard" Hot Country Songs, the song reached the top 10 with its new peak of number 10 on the week ending December 16, 2006. In the proceeding six weeks, the song managed remained on the top 10 until finding its peak at number six on the week ending January 27, 2007. "Tim McGraw" spent a total of 35 weeks upon the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart.

Music video.

The accompanying music video for "Tim McGraw" was directed by Trey Fanjoy. It was filmed at the former home of Johnny & June Carter-Cash, which burned down the next year. The letter which the boyfriend receives is addressed to "Johnny" for this purpose. In regards to the video's concept, Swift stated, "It deals with the haunting power of music and how hearing a song years after it was first popular can have such an emotional appeal." Clayton Collins portrayed Swift's love interest in the music video. He was cast because of his physical resemblance to the real subject of the song, in that they were both tall with dark hair. The video begins with Swift, dressed by a white sundress, as she lies on the grass of a lake-bed and holds a transistor radio. Suddenly, the setting is switched to Collins as he drives a white and orange 1970 Chevrolet CST-10. He then turns his radio on and ceases driving, coming to a complete stop on a road. As Collins facial expressions become more serious, he flashbacks to memories with Swift. Swift and Collins are seen frolicking in a field, lying beside another on the back of Collins' CST-10, staring at the stars together, holding hands as they walk, and slow dancing. When the song is in its final chorus, Collins arrives at a wooden cabin in his pick-up truck. He runs up the staircase to discover an enveloped letter next to the door. He then sits on the staircase, opens the envelope, and reads the letter. The video transcends towards Swift playing an acoustic guitar as she leans against the wooden cabin. Cut-scenes feature Swift lying on the lake-bed and performing with a guitar next to the wooden cabin. The video concludes with Swift, once again, lying on the initial setting.  The video premiered on July 22, 2006 on Great American Country. The video received a nomination for "Number One Streamed Video From a New Artist (Rookie of the Year Award)" at the web-hosted 2006 CMT Online Awards, but lost to Lindsey Haun's video for "Broken". At the 2007 CMT Music Awards, the video won the CMT Music Award for "Breakthrough Video of the Year". To date, the video has over 41 million views on YouTube.

Live performances.

Swift spent six months of 2006 promoting "Tim McGraw" and "Taylor Swift" on a radio tour. She performed the song as she opened for Rascal Flatts on several dates, from October 19 to November 3, 2006, included on the Me and My Gang Tour (2006–07). Swift performed "Tim McGraw" as the concert's penultimate performance. She dressed in a black, knee-length dress and red cowboy boots with a design of a skull and cross bones across it, playing an acoustic guitar. Swift requested for the audience to raise their cell phones in order to simulate a sky filled with stars, when the song reached the lyrics "He said the way my blue eyes shined / Put those Georgia stars to shame that night / I said that's a lie." She also performed the song when she served as opening act on twenty dates for George Strait's 2007 United States tour, and selected dates for Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour in 2007. During mid-2007, Swift engaged as the opening act on several dates for Tim McGraw's and Faith Hill's joint tour, Soul2Soul II Tour (2006–07), where she again performed "Tim McGraw". Swift performed the song while she was again opening for Rascal Flatts for their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008.  Swift's first broadcast performance of "Tim McGraw" was on October 24, 2006, on "Good Morning America". She continued promotion for the track at "Billboard" headquarters, the 2007 Academy of Country Music Awards, The Engine Room, and a concert at the Apple Store in SoHo, New York, which was recorded and released as a live extended play (EP), "iTunes Live from SoHo", exclusively sold through the iTunes Store. Since completing promotion for "Taylor Swift" and its corresponding singles, Swift has performed "Tim McGraw" at the 2009 CMA Music Festival, the 2009 V Festival, and the Australian charity concert Sydney Sound Relief.  Swift performed "Tim McGraw" on all venues of her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour, which extended from April 2009 to June 2010. The performances of "Tim McGraw" set on a small platform located at the opposite end, parallel to the stage in the arena. Swift, dressed in a pastel sundress, sat on a wooden stool while performing with wooden acoustic guitar strapped to her shoulder. Swift then completed the performance standing and walking back to the main stage. As she worked her way back to the stage, she again hugged fans, squeezed their outstretched hands and scrawled quick autographs. Nicole Frehsee of "Rolling Stone" favored Swift's performance of "Tim McGraw" at the August 27, 2009, concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Frehsee described the entire concert as an "elaborate spectacle that doesn't slow down, even when the singer hauls her acoustic guitar into the audience to play a sweet, stripped down set of tunes including [..] 'Tim McGraw'." Brandy McDonnel of "The Oklahoman" reported a massive sing-along by the audience at the March 31, 2010, concert at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Molly Trust of "Billboard" attended the performance at the tour's final concert on June 5, 2010, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts and conjectured that the performance's setting was formed in order to "afford a better view to fans farther back."  Swift performed "Tim McGraw" during the first show in Toronto and the performance in Charlotte during The Red Tour, in place of "I Almost Do". Additionally, she performed a piano version of the song in Nashville, during the Reputation Stadium Tour, with special guests Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

"Tim McGraw" is the debut single and first published song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose, and produced by Nathan Chapman. It was released on June 19, 2006 by Big Machine Records as the lead single from her self-titled debut album. Swift wrote "Tim McGraw" during her freshman year of high school, knowing that she and her senior boyfriend would break up at the end of the year when he left for college. The song was written about all the different things that would remind the subject of Swift and their time spent together, once he departed. "Tim McGraw" is a musical interconnection of traditional and modern country music. Lyrically, the track lists items in order to associate a past relationship, one of them being country artist Tim McGraw's music.


Communities.

The municipality comprises the communities of Alban, Bigwood, Chartrand Corner, Delamere, Dokis First Nation, French River Station, Happy Landing, Jamot, Monetville, Noëlville, North Monetville, Ouellette, Rutter, Sucker Creek Landing and Wolseley Bay.

Alban.

The community of Alban was originally established in 1907 as Rutter, named for the nearby railway station in 1907, but in 1937 the community was renamed for Rev. J. Alban Filiatrault. In 1934, the Parish of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes was created. Jean-Baptiste Rochon donated several acres of land to the people of Alban to erect a church. During the night of February 6, 1953, the church burned to the ground. The following Sunday, Father Oliva Campeau proposed the immediate reconstruction of the church. This time, it was to be constructed with brick and the walls of plaster instead of wood.

Monetville.

Originally known as Martland, the community was first settled in 1895 by Cyrille Monette (né Boisvert) and four other pioneers. It became a municipality in 1906 and adopted the name Monetville. Monetville is divided into two areas; North Monetville and Monetville. "South" Monetville is generally from Dokis Road south to Bear Lake and Shanty Bay of Lake Nipissing. North Monetville extends generally from Dokis Road north to the West Arm of Lake Nipissing and Chapel Island, which Highway 64 crosses on the West Arm. North Monetville was settled by the Douglas Family, the Mercer Family and the Purcell family in the early 1900s.

Noëlville.

Noëlville, originally known as Cosby, was founded in 1905 with the arrival of settlers in the region. Noëlville families travelled by boat, to the south-west end of Lake Nipissing, to establish themselves between Lake Nipissing and the French River. To pay homage to Noël Desmarais, the village's first merchant and the first businessman of the region, the town of Cosby became Noëlville in 1911. Desmarais is a grandfather of businessman Paul Desmarais. Noël Desmarais was one of the first to start his family business in Noëlville.

North Monetville.

The North Monetville area straddles the municipal boundary between French River and West Nipissing. "Created" in the 1970s to aid the delivery of supplies to the Monetville Public School which was located several kilometers north on Highway 64 from the signposts designating the town of Monetville. Sucker Creek Landing and Chapel Island are both considered to be part of North Monetville, with Highway 64 crossing Chapel Island and bridging the West Arm Narrows of Lake Nipissing at both ends of the island. Most residents of North Monetville simply state their address as "Monetville" even if they do live in the north end of the village.  The Community of Christ cemetery, 339 East Road, has a Canadian World War II hero buried there. Sgt. Wallace Edmond Firlotte, who served with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment during the war, was bestowed six war decorations. Firlotte was one of only a very few Canadians that was bestowed the Order of the Bronze Lion for heroism from the Crown of the Netherlands. This award is presented for "Deeds of extreme bravery and leadership in battle favouring the Netherlands". The Prince personally presented this Order to Sgt. Firlotte by Royal Decree on December 8, 1945.

Community events.

Each February, Noëlville hosts the largest and longest running family hockey tournament in Canada. Five years after the Noëlville Community Centre was built in 1972, the Noëlville Family Hockey Tournament was founded in 1977 by Claude Mayer, Gerry Gratton, and Dan Pitre. There were 17 teams. The first game was played on New Year's night when the Carrière family played against the Mayer family. The Pitre family won the inaugural tournament. This tournament survives to this day and has become a much anticipated event in this small town where families reunite when friends and members of the extended family return 'home' to compete in this event which now hosts between 32 and 36 teams and families every year. Over the years, this tournament raised over $150,000 for local charities.  In August, the Club Richelieu Rivière-des-Français hosts the family softball tournament, which regularly hosts over 100 teams and provides numerous economic benefits to the region. August 5-6-7, 2016 was the 32nd year of this tournament and had 103 teams registered. Over the years, this tournament has raised over $221,330 to help fund various cultural, educational and community activities.

Government.

The municipal office is located at 44 St-Christophe St in Noëlville. The council is composed of the mayor and six councillors. The current mayor is Gisele Pageau.  French River utilizes the mail-in balloting system for municipal elections rather than polling stations. Voter turnout in the 2010 elections was 62%. The 2019 operating budget for French River was approximately $8 million. The municipality employs approximately 30 staff and has 20 volunteer firefighters.

Demographics.

Median age of the population:  Ethnicity:  Language most often spoken at home:

French River, also known as Rivière-des-Français, is a municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the Sudbury District. The municipality had a population of 2,662 in the Canada 2016 Census. It was formed in 1999 through the merger of the Township of Cosby, Mason and Martland and surrounding unincorporated portions of the Unorganized North Sudbury District. It was named after the French River, which flows through the municipality.


History.

Disney Channel, Inc..

On November 10, 1981, Walt Disney Productions and Westinghouse Broadcasting announced that they had joined up to start a family-oriented cable television service. In 1982, Disney hired Alan Wagner to develop a cable channel.  By July 15, 1982, Disney incorporated Walt Disney Entertainment, Inc., which was renamed by January 28, 1983 to The Disney Channel, Inc. The Disney Channel was launched in April 1983 as a premium channel with 16 hours of programming. The channel became profitable in January 1985.  20 months after launch, the channel moved into the home satellite dish market thus scrambling its signal. The channel started moving to the basic cable level on September 1, 1990 with TCI Montgomery Cablevision. In March 1995, the second Disney Channel began broadcasting in Taiwan while the third is launched in October for the United Kingdom.  By September 29, 1997, the corporate name was shortened to Disney Channel, Inc. Disney had hired Geraldine Laybourne away from the Nickelodeon channel in 1996. She founded a kids channel codename ABZ, which the media speculated to be aimed at preschoolers. Laybourne dismissed this report. In December 1997, the Toon Disney channel was announced as a basic channel consisting of Disney animated programming. As of April 1, 1998, most of the international versions are pay channels while the Taiwan and Malaysia versions are ad supported and the USA version is a basic channel. The Toon Disney Channel was launched on April 18, 1998 on the Disney Channel's 15th anniversary.  In 2000, the Playhouse Disney preschool channel was launched in the United Kingdom, while in the US, the Playhouse Disney block was launched on the Disney Channel. In June 2001, Disney was looking into launch Playhouse Disney as channel in the United States for 2002.

ABC Cable Networks Group.

Disney Channel, Inc. changed its name to ABC Cable Networks Group, Inc. by January 31, 2001. In October 2003, ABC Family Worldwide was shifted from Disney COO Bob Iger's directly reporting unit to the ABC Cable Networks Group. In early 2004, Disney Channel's original programming leaders took over ABC Family's original movies unit temporarily as two ABC Family executives left the channel.  In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group created the Jetix programming alliance that would rebrand Fox Kids as Jetix for all blocks, channels and companies. ABC1 launched on the United Kingdom's digital terrestrial television platform on September 27, 2004.

Disney Channels Worldwide.

In November 2005, Barry Blumberg resigned as president of Walt Disney Television Animation to allow the planned transfer of TV animation to Disney Channels Worldwide.  In 2006, Disney Television India acquired Hungama TV from UTV Software Communications Limited Disney Cinemagic began broadcasting in the UK in March 2006 to of several Cinemagic channels, including timeshift and HD versions across Western Europe. ABC1 ceased broadcasting on all UK TV platforms at noon on September 26, 2007.  In Spain, Walt Disney Company Iberia purchased 20% of Management Company Television Net TV SA (or NET TV) on February 2008. In late May 2008, the company announced the move of Disney Channel to the digital over-the air space, replacing NET TV's Fly Music on July 1, 2008.  The company's Japanese unit, Walt Disney Television International Japan, started procuring its own animated series in March 2008, with the first two series to debut at Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008. The company produced "Stitch!" with Madhouse Company, while "Fireball" was produced with Jinni’s Animation Studios.  After two Disney Channnel stars had various scandals, the company started a set of classes for their young stars in 2009 to adapt to the pressure of fame. Optional monthly life-skill classes were added in 2014.  Disney XD (DXD) was launched on February 13, 2009, taking over the channel space of Toon Disney in the US, while Jetix switched over to DXD (or for some Disney Channel) starting with France on April 1. In April, the Walt Disney Company, Ltd. Japan and Disney Channels Worldwide started Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd. to broadcast a women and family targeted channel called Dlife with licensed content, received in October 2010 and debuted on March 17, 2012.  Jetix Play closed down on August 1, 2010 in most countries, on September 1, 2010 in Turkey, and in Romania on March 12, 2011. In these countries, the channel was replaced with Playhouse Disney.  On May 26, 2010, Disney–ABC Television Group announced the launch of Disney Junior, which would replace the Playhouse Disney Morning block on sister network Disney Channel in February 2011, and extend to a standalone preschooler-oriented channel that would replace Soapnet in January 2012. All 22 Playhouse Disney channels and blocks outside the U.S. were also renamed to "Disney Junior" in 2011.  In October 2011, Disney reached a joint venture agreement (49%/51%) with UTH Russia, in which UTH will turn its broadcasting network Seven TV into a Disney Channel starting in early 2012. On March 28, 2013, Cinemagic was replaced with Sky Movies Disney in the UK market under license to BSkyB.  In April 2013, Disney announced that Das Vierte, its recent purchased broadcast station in Germany, would become a Disney Channel in January 2014 as a 24-hour family entertainment network. Disney formed an in-house ad sales company called Disney Media + for the channel, given that two competitors control most ad sales companies.  Disney India Media Networks shut down Bindass Play, a Hindi music channel, and replaced it with Disney International HD on October 29, 2017. This general entertainment channel is in English and HD, targeted to ages 14 to 25 while only tapping Disney live action shows.  With Disney's March 14, 2018 reorganization, all international channels including Disney Channel have been transferred to Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, a new segment, while the US unit is still under Disney–ABC Television Group.  On January 9, 2019, Disney India Media Networks shut down Disney XD India and replaced it with Marvel HQ, a channel featuring shows and movies from Marvel Entertainment as well as some acquired programming.

Localization.

The international on-air channel brands look are consistent with the Disney brand. Individual channel managers are allowed to develop schedules and marketing programs to allow children's preferences in the market. Additionally, local programming that meets Disney's standards, combined with difficulties, is acquired. If a program is successful in a market, its format may be developed for other Disney Channels' market viewing tastes.

List of Disney Channels.

† Management Company Television Net TV SA is owned by Vocento SA, The Walt Disney Company Iberia S.L. (20%) and Intereconomía Corporation SA. Which in addition to the Disney channels owns Intereconomia TV, a generalist channel.

Asia.

Disney Channel Asia was launched in January 2000 as a single video feed with an English audio track being the default and Mandarin audio and subtitle tracks also available. The channel became available in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. On June 1, 2002, the channel was launched in the South Korea market as a Korean-language feed. Over the first six months of 2005, Disney Channel Asia along with sister channel Playhouse Disney launched in Vietnam, Palau and Thailand and finishing off with a launch of both in Cambodia, its 11th market, with Cambodia Entertainment Production Co. Ltd. as distributor.

China.

Disney Channel was launched in Mainland China in December 2012. However, many of its live-action and animated series are still syndicated on regional channels through ABC owned Dragon Club since 1994. It also has a Chinese website.

India.

Previously, Disney programming was available through programming blocks starting as early as 1994 with Doordarshan then moving to Zee TV until the early 2000s. Disney moved its block to Sony Television for three years. Star TV pick up Disney TV blocks on Star Plus, Disney Time, and on Star Utsav.  In December 2004, Walt Disney Television International India launched a Toon Disney channel with three language feeds (English, Tamil and Telugu) at the same time as the Disney Channel with Star TV network distributing the channels. Disney reached an agreement with Doordarshan (DD) in November 2005 for DD to carry a half-hour block called Disney Jadoo. Thus Disney was up to 4 branded blocks in India.

Channel types per market.

Canada.

On April 16, 2015, Corus Entertainment announced that it had reached a multi-year agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group to acquire Canadian rights to Disney Channel's programming library, and launched Disney Channel in Canada on September 1, 2015—the first time that a Disney Channel-branded network has operated in Canada.  Prior to this agreement, rights to Disney Channel programming had been held by Family Channel, a network owned by children's media conglomerate DHX Media which is licensed as a premium service but is carried as a basic service by many television providers. As a result of the fact that the majority of Disney Channel U.S.'s programs aired on Family, coupled with the fact that both channels developed similarly in their respective countries (as both began as premium services before adding availability via basic subscription), Family Channel was commonly considered to be a "de facto" Canadian version of Disney Channel (though it was often mistakenly assumed to be related to ABC Family (now Freeform), a sister network to Disney Channel U.S. which was formerly known as "The" (emphasis added) Family Channel from 1988 to 1998; a Canadian version of ABC Family (now Freeform) launched in March 2012, called ABC Spark to avoid confusion with Family Channel, to which it does not share common ownership). Some Canadian-produced original series produced by Family (such as "Life with Derek", "Naturally, Sadie", and "Overruled!") have aired on Disney Channel in the United States and in other countries in the past. In addition to its distribution agreement with Disney Channel U.S., Family also operated an English-language version of Disney Junior as a multiplex channel, as CRTC rules allow pay-TV channels licensed as premium services to add multiplex channels consistent with the network's license. Disney XD and a French-language version of Disney Junior were also owned by DHX Media, operating under separate licenses.  DHX's program supply agreement with Disney ended on January 1, 2016; as a result of these re-alignments, its Disney-branded networks were re-launched as spin-offs of the Family brand beforehand on September 18, 2015 (Family Jr. and Télémagino) and October 9, 2015 (Family Chrgd).

Dlife.

In April 2009, the Walt Disney Company Ltd. Japan and Disney Channels Worldwide started Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd. to broadcast a women and family targeted channel,, with licensed received in October 2010 and debuted on March 17, 2012. In December 2013, Dlife launched a children's programming block called Disney Time. The channel was shut down on March 31, 2020.

Disney Channels Worldwide is the trade name for the two units that oversee children and family television channels owned by The Walt Disney Company.


Early evidence.

A notable feature of eukaryotic nuclear pre-mRNA introns is the relatively high level of conservation of the primary sequences of 5' and 3' splice sites over a great range of organisms.  Between 1989 and 1991, several groups reported four independent examples of introns with a splice site that differed from the common intron:  In 1991 by comparing the intron sequences of P120 and CMP genes, IJ Jackson reported the existence of ATATCC (5') and YYCAC (3') splice sites in these introns. The finding indicated a possible novel splicing mechanism. In 1994, S.L. Hall and R.A. Padgett compared the primary sequence of all reports on the four genes mentioned above. The results suggested a new type of introns with ATATCCTT 5' splice sites and YCCAC 3' splice sites and an almost invariant TCCTTAAC sequence near the 3' end of the introns (so called 3' upstream element). A search for small nuclear RNA sequences that are complementary to these splice sites suggested U12 snRNA (matches the 3' sequence) and U11 snRNA (matches the 5' sequence) as being putative factors involved in splicing of this new type of introns. In all these four genes, the pre-mRNA contains other introns whose sequences conform to those of major class introns. Neither the size nor the position of the AT–AC intron within the host gene is conserved.  In 1996, Woan-Yuh Tarn and Joan A. Steitz described an "in vitro" system that splices a pre-mRNA substrate containing an AT–AC intron derived from the human P120 gene. Psoralen cross-linking confirms the base-pairing interaction predicted by Hall and Padgett between the branch site of the pre-mRNA substrate and U12 RNA. Native gel electrophoresis reveals that U11, U12, and U5 snRNPs assemble onto the P120 pre-mRNA to form splicing complexes.

Structure of U12-type introns.

Although originally referred to as AT-AC introns, not all these introns are delimited by AT-AC dinucleotides. Some of them have GT-AG or AT-AG ends, at least. Thus, it is more correct to speak about the splicing machinery which is used to process them, differentiating between U2-type (canonical or major) and U12-type (non-canonical or minor). The main determinants for distinguishing U2- and U12-type introns are 5' splice site and branch site sequences.  The minor spliceosome consists of U11, U12, U4atac, and U6atac, together with U5 and an unknown number of non-snRNP proteins. The U11, U12 and U4atac/U6atac snRNPs are functional analogs of the U1, U2 and U4/U6 snRNPs in the major spliceosome. Although the minor U4atac and U6atac snRNAs are functional analogs of U4 and U6, respectively, they share only limited sequence homology (c. 40%). Furthermore, the sequence of U11 in comparison with U1, as well as U12 compared with U2, are completely unrelated. Despite this fact, the minor U11, U12, U4atac and U6atac snRNAs can be folded into structures similar to U1, U2, U4 and U6, respectively.

Location of minor spliceosomal activity.

The location of spliceosomal activity for the minor class spliceosome is regarded by most experts to be in the nucleus. However, a single paper has claimed that the minor spliceosome is active in the cytosol. The data presented within this paper are not fully accepted within the field and directly contradict numerous other papers.

Evolution.

Like the major spliceosome, the minor spliceosome had an early origin: several of its characteristic constituents are present in representative organisms from all eukaryotic supergroups for which there is any substantial genome sequence information. In addition, functionally important sequence elements contained within U12-type introns and snRNAs are highly conserved during evolution.

References.

Review papers:  Classic papers:  Other references:

The minor spliceosome is a ribonucleoprotein complex that catalyses the removal (splicing) of an atypical class of spliceosomal introns (U12-type) from eukaryotic messenger RNAs in plants, insects, vertebrates and some fungi ("Rhizopus oryzae"). This process is called noncanonical splicing, as opposed to U2-dependent canonical splicing. U12-type introns represent less than 1% of all introns in human cells. However they are found in genes performing essential cellular functions.