Early life.

Collison was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Peg, a publicist, director, and English teacher, and John Collison, a speech therapist, actor, and writer. Collison played his first role as a six-month-old mascot at The Tent Theatre in Granville, Ohio. His mother directed him in a number of plays as a youth in Virginia and Ohio. When he was a young boy, he assisted his father touring with his one-man Abraham Lincoln show. His father was chosen to play Lincoln for the centennial celebration of Lincoln's first inauguration in Washington, DC; Frank played the young Tad Lincoln.

Career.

Stage.

Collison trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, earning a BA in theatre from the San Francisco State University. He then helped to establish a summer theatre company in the Sierra Nevadas, and went on to gain an MFA in acting at University of California, San Diego. Between acting jobs he has worked as a substitute teacher, diaper service dispatcher and forest firefighter. Appearing in over 150 productions, he has worked off Broadway and in regional theatres in California, Boston, and Denver. His theatrical roles have been as varied as "Jacob Marley" in "A Christmas Carol" to "Miss Havisham" in "Great Expectations" to "Puck" in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Collison is a founding member of the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, which has won over 25 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards.

Film.

Collison's films include "The Blob", "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark", "Alien Nation", "Wild at Heart", "Mobsters", "The Last Boy Scout", "Buddy", "Diggstown", "My Summer Story", "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "The Majestic", "The Whole Ten Yards", "Hidalgo", "Hope Springs", "The Village", "Suspect Zero", "The Happening", "Radio Free Albemuth", "Hesher", "Hitchcock" and "L.A. Slasher".

Television.

Collison is best known to TV audiences as Horace Bing, the bumbling telegraph operator, on CBS's long-running series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". His numerous other television appearances have included guest-starring roles on "Monk", HBO's "Carnivàle", "", "Criminal Minds", "Seventh Heaven", Matlock, "NYPD Blue", "Hill Street Blues", "Stargate Atlantis" and "Good Luck Charlie". In 2016 he appeared in the sixth season of the anthological series "American Horror Story" (""). He is a recurring voice actor by voicing Grandpa Goodman and Mr. Bojenkins in the Adult Swim original "Mr. Pickles".

Personal life.

Collison lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Laura Gardner, and their three children. Gabe Collison, his youngest child, is a member of the Crescenta Valley track team, colloquially known as the "dream team". He remains active in theatre while pursuing a film career.

Frank Collison (born February 14, 1950) is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman".


Background.

After the Geneva Conference in 1954, Air Force Colonel Edward Lansdale was sent by the then CIA director Allen Dulles as Deputy Director of the Office of Special Operations (under the CIA), to initiate a series of clandestine operations against North Vietnam. These operations, codenamed 'Nautilus', consisted of raids conducted by commandos (South Vietnam recruits), and the insertion of CIA-recruited spies.  In July 1963, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the CIA determined that operational control should be transferred to the DOD. On January 1, 1964, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) took command of the operation (MACV-SOG was a cover name for a multi-service unconventional warfare task force under the direct guidance and control of the Pentagon).

Operation.

Once the MACV-SOG took control, the Pentagon (under which MACV-SOG operated) issued an Operational Plan (OPLAN 34-63), which entailed commando raids of a similar sort to what had been happening under the CIA. Most of these raids tended to be unsuccessful, with the Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam) commandos usually being captured or killed (the actual commandos themselves were always people of South Vietnam ethnicities, so as to maintain the deniability of the American involvement in the operation). A U.S. Navy base was set up in Da Nang, to serve as a base for the operations, and was staffed with U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Marine intelligence officers, and other guerrilla warfare specialists. The Navy also donated several Nasty-class PT boats, and training crews for them, for operational purposes. At the same time, the operational plan was expanded, with much more and more ambitious missions, into what became known as Operational Plan (OPLAN) 34A, which essentially shifted the focus to offshore assaults on coastal installations of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam), while agent insertion operations still continued. These however, were discontinued after they realized that most of the agents they were running had been captured and/or turned, and psychological operations were stepped up. These consisted mostly of spreading anti-communist propaganda, and deception operations, for example, the creation of a "Sacred Sword of Patriotic League", which was a fictitious resistance movement against the communists, designed to spread discontent and provoke paranoia among the civilians and military of North Vietnam.  Starting in mid-1962, the U.S. Navy began conducting electronic surveillance operations conducted by a division of ocean-going minesweepers (MSO) operating along the coast of North and South Vietnam. The minesweepers were equipped with portable vans containing highly sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment. The minesweepers fueled on occasion at a South Vietnamese fueling station located near the fishing port (Da Nang) and took on evidence from CIA operatives which allegedly tended to prove that China and Russia were supplying the Viet Cong with weapons and other material. Occasionally, usually between midnight and 3 a.m., DRVN gunboats would approach the minesweepers at high speed and then peel off and return to a DRVN naval base operating on an island north of the 30th parallel. The gunboats made threatening maneuvers but never actually attacked the minesweepers. The maneuvers were reported to CINCPAC and the Pentagon in nightly Top Secret cryptograph messages. The minesweepers were essentially defenseless should an attack occur. In early 1963, the minesweepers were relieved by a division of destroyers (the DESOTO patrols) which appear to have carried out the same electronic surveillance operations conducted by the minesweepers.  Although the two sets of operations were at least nominally independent of one another, the patrols often gathered intelligence that was crucial to OPLAN 34A. The attacks carried out by the patrol boats provoked responses by the North Vietnamese military that were monitored by the American destroyers, thus providing very useful intelligence on DRV military capabilities. The situation swiftly escalated as the DRV deployed heavy gunboats and torpedo equipped frigates to observe the U.S. maneuvers.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

On the morning of 2 August 1964, the morning after OPLAN commandos raided a North Vietnamese radio transmitter located on an offshore island, one of these destroyers, the USS "Maddox", was reported to have come under attack by DRV naval patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. There was a second alleged attack on August 4, which was later shown to be a falsehood. These attacks, and the ensuing naval actions, known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, were seized upon by President Lyndon Johnson to secure passage by the U.S. Congress of the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) on 7 August 1964, leading to a dramatic escalation of the Vietnam War. It has since been alleged that the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was partly a fabrication, including testimony by participants, such as squadron commander James Stockdale, in the events themselves. Even the attacks that did happen were not unprovoked, but a result of the OPLAN 34A raids, which was in essence an American operation.

Operation 34A (full name, Operational Plan 34A, also known as OPLAN 34-Alpha) was a highly classified United States program of covert actions against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam), consisting of agent team insertions, aerial reconnaissance missions and naval sabotage operations.


Landmarks.

There are many historic buildings along the road, many of them listed. On the corner of the market square, the Sparkasse am Markt is a gabled building reconstructed in 1958 by Eberhard Gildemeister who made use of a Baroque facade originally located at 31B, An der Schlachte. The facade was built by the stonemason Theophilus Wilhelm Frese in 1755 with bay windows, a wigged upper gable and Rococo decorations.  The Kontorhaus am Markt stretching from No. 2 to No. 8 consists of a group of buildings designed by Richard Bielenberg and Josef Moser in the Neo-Renaissance style and completed in 1912. First used as a bank, the Kontorhaus complex has now been converted into a shopping centre with office accommodation. Of special interest is the portal flanked by columns and decorated with allegorical sculptures.  The Stadtwaage at No. 13 is a former weigh house used for weighing goods for the purpose of levying taxes. The original brick building from 1588 in the Weser Renaissance style was almost completely destroyed in 1944 apart from its outer walls. The new building constructed in 1960 maintains the original gable. It is now used as a cultural centre.  The Deutsche Factoring Bank building (earlier Bankhaus Martens & Weyhausen) which covers the section from No. 15 to No. 21 was reconstructed in 1955 after serious war damage. It contains the Renaissance Essighaus portal with bay windows from 1618 and the gable of the former Sonnenapotheke (1770).  The Suding & Soeken building at No. 28 (from c. 1620) is noted for its projecting bay window and its two-tiered Baroque stairway ascending from the hallway.  Other listed buildings of note are the house at No. 16 in the Renaissance style from 1715, and the Bank für Handel und Gewerbe, Bankverein für Nordwestdeutschland, Bremer Bankverein at No. 3 to 5 (first built 1912),

The Langenstraße is a historical street in the old town of Bremen in the north of Germany. First mentioned in 1234, it is one of Bremen's oldest streets and one of the most important for the city's merchants. It no doubt originated at the time when the first settlements grew up on the north bank of the Balge. It runs west from the Marktplatz parallel to the River Weser over Bürgermeister-Smidt-Straße to Geeren. Many of the street's historic buildings were seriously damaged during aerial bombings in the Second World War but were carefully reconstructed in the postwar period.


Beliefs.

This New Religious Movement was a mix of Buddhism, Taoism, and UFOlogy. It emphasized transmigration of souls (with three souls per person) and placed great emphasis on spiritual energy. Adherents also believed in "outside souls," who basically acted as bad influences, or even as demons, in the human world.  Chen believed that Earth went through five tribulations going back to the age of the dinosaurs. Each of these tribulations was survived by beings living in North America who were rescued by God in a flying saucer. He believed the solar system is 4.5 trillion years old, or roughly 300 times the age science gives for the Universe. He believed that the solar system was created by a nuclear war.

Failed prophecy.

The group is best known for a highly publicized, and failed, millennial prophecy. Shortly after moving to Garland in August 1997, Chen predicted that at 12:01 a.m. on March 31, 1998, God would be seen on a single television channel all across North America. Whether or not the person had cable service was irrelevant to God's appearance on that channel.  The group reportedly moved to Garland because the name sounded like "God Land." At the time the group had roughly 160 members, 40 of which were children. Members purchased more than 20 homes in an upper-middle-class south Garland neighborhood. Like their neighbors, these followers were white-collar professionals, some of whom were reportedly wealthy. "They dressed in white, wore cowboy hats and drove luxury cars," according to "The Dallas Morning News". "They reportedly believed that two young boys in their group were the reincarnations of Jesus and Buddha. They told reporters they had come to Garland to watch God come to Earth and take human form at 10 a.m. on March 31, 1998, at the home of Mr. Chen, a former college professor."  The Garland Police Department, understanding the potential gravity of the situation, coordinated resources, including Southern Methodist University religious studies professor Lonnie Kliever, and were on stand-by when the international media began arriving in what had previously been an upper-middle-class section of the Dallas suburb. "Its presence unsettled many Garland residents," wrote Adam Szubin in a law enforcement case study. "They did not understand the group's different style of dress and behavior, and many feared violence. Throughout the group's stay, the [police] department maintained contact with community members and informed them of investigation developments and contingency plans for the community's well being."  When the predicted appearance did not occur, the group became confused. "The Chen Tao leader announced that he obviously had misunderstood God's plans, and members quietly returned to their homes," wrote Szubin. Chen offered to be stoned or crucified for the event, but no one took him up on this offer. He had earlier made a false prediction of finding a "Jesus of the West," who would look like Abraham Lincoln.

Aftermath.

Unlike other millennial religious groups, such as Millerites, Chen Tao seems to have effectively fallen apart after its leader's prophecies went unfulfilled. Immediately after the failed prediction, some of the members had to return to Taiwan owing to visa problems; in total, roughly two-thirds abandoned the group. Later the remaining members moved to Lockport, New York. They continued to wear cowboy hats but began stating that a war between China and Taiwan would lead to a nuclear holocaust that would result in much death, but also God's arrival in a "God plane" to save the members. They originally stated that this would occur in 1999, but later revised the date.  Whether Chen Tao still exists is uncertain. The group entered a sharp decline after the failed prophecies, and virtually nothing was heard of it after 2001. The current whereabouts of Hon-Ming Chen are unknown.

Chen Tao (真道, or "True Way") was a UFO religion that originated in Taiwan. It was founded by Hon-Ming Chen (陳恆明 born 1955), who first associated it with UFOs and later had the group misrepresented as a New Age UFO cult. Chen was a former professor who claimed to be an atheist until he joined a religious cultivation group that dated back for two generations to the original female founder, Teacher Yu-Hsia Chen. But he broke with the group, headed by the third-generation teacher, in 1993 and created, with another fellow-cultivator, Tao-hung Ma, their own groups. It was later, when he broke with Ma and decided to move to the US, that new elements, such as the pseudo-scientific information of cosmology and flying saucers, as well as Christian motifs of the prophecy of the end and the great tribulation, etc., were introduced into the group.


Design.

Official description.

According to the New York City Administrative Code, the city seal must adhere to the following design:1. Arms: Upon a shield, saltire wise, the sails of a windmill. Between the sails, in chief a beaver, in base a beaver, and on each flank a flour barrel.  2. Supporters: Dexter, a sailor, his right arm bent, and holding in his right hand a plummet; his left arm bent, his left hand resting on the top of the shield; above his right shoulder a cross-staff. Sinister, an Indian of Manhattan, his right arm bent, his right hand resting on top of the shield, his left hand holding the upper end of a bow, and lower end of which rests on the ground. Shield and supporters resting upon a horizontal laurel branch.  3. Date: Beneath the horizontal laurel branch the date 1625 being the year of the establishment of New Amsterdam.  4. Crest: Upon a hemisphere, an American eagle with wings displayed.  5. Legend: Upon a ribbon encircling the lower half of the design the words "Sigillum Civitatis Novi Eboraci".  6. The whole encircled by a laurel wreath.

Overview.

The design of the current seal of New York City is adapted from the seal of the city first used in 1686. It features common elements from coats of arms used throughout heraldry, such as a shield, supporters, and a crest.  The two supporters represent friendship between Native Americans and colonists: in the dexter position, a sailor colonist holds a plummet—a navigational tool—in his right hand, while over his right shoulder is another navigational tool, a cross-staff; in the sinister position, a Lenape native to Manhattan rests his left hand on a bow.  On the shield, the four windmill sails recall the city's Dutch history as New Amsterdam, and the beavers and flour barrels signify the city's earliest trade goods. Specifically, the flour barrels and windmill sails represent the tremendous wealth generated by New York City from the Bolting Act of 1674. The act gave the city an exclusive monopoly to mill and export flour. The shield and supporters rest on a horizontal laurel branch.  Located at the crest over the shield is an American eagle, added in 1784 after the American Revolution and taken from the seal of New York State. The eagle replaced an imperial crown, which had represented the authority of the British monarch during the colonial period. The eagle rests on a hemisphere.  Beneath the shield is the date, 1625, when New Amsterdam was designated the capital of the province of New Netherland. The use of this date has been a source of debate among historians, as there is evidence that the first European settlers actually arrived in the region, and established what became New Amsterdam, in 1624. New Amsterdam was incorporated in 1653. Different founding dates have appeared on the seal throughout its history. Beneath the date is a ribbon that bears the legend, which means "Seal of the City of New York". "Eboracum" was the Latin name for York, the titular seat of James II as Duke of York, for whom New York City is named.  A laurel wreath, an ancient Greek symbol of victory, encircles the seal.

Uses.

General.

The New York City Administrative Code states that the seal "shall be used for all requisite purposes" by the city clerk and "all other officers of the city who are required or authorized to have or use the corporate seal of the city". It then states that the seal can be:  1. Impressed or printed on documents, publications or stationery, issued or used by or in the name of or under the authority of the city, its agencies or of any borough or department thereof,  2. Carved or otherwise represented on buildings or structures owned by the city, or  3. Otherwise officially portrayed.  The Administrative Code further states that the city seal shall appear on the city flag "in blue upon the middle or white bar, omitting the legend Sigillum Civitatis Novi Eboraci".  In practice, in addition to the above, the city seal is used as a lectern adornment for speeches or statements by the mayor, the speaker of the City Council, or other city officials. The city also uses the seal for commercial purposes, selling items on which the seal is featured.

Flag.

Prior to 1915, New York City did not have an official flag. Unofficially, a flag was in use throughout the city that featured an unofficial version of the city seal, in blue, on a white field. A 1915 Arts Commission committee which redesigned the city seal noted that there was no record that the city had adopted this flag. At the committee's recommendation, the city adopted its current flag in 1915, featuring a modified version of the newly adopted city seal—the modification being the absence of the seal's Latin legend.

Restrictions.

According to the New York City Administrative Code, the city seal cannot be displayed with any alteration or addition to the standard design. The only exception is in its use on the city flag or "for architectural or ornamental purposes", in which case the Latin legend may be omitted. A defaced or canceled seal must remain in the custody of the city clerk.  In addition, the code forbids use of the seal by anyone who is not the city clerk or "other officers of the city who are required or authorized to have or use the corporate seal of the city". In this regard, it states that "any representation of the city seal used on any vehicle other than one owned or used by the city, shall subject the owner of such vehicle to a fine of twenty-five dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten days".

History.

1654 seal.

From its founding until 1654, the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam did not have its own seal. Because it was managed by the provincial governor of New Netherland, it used the seal of New Netherland. After incorporation in 1653, which granted New Amsterdam its own government, the city requested an official seal from the Dutch West India Company, which owned and ultimately managed the province of New Netherland. A proposal for a coat of arms of New Amsterdam had been put forward as early as 1630; it featured beavers in the role of supporters, an acknowledgment of the importance of the trade in beaver skins to the growing economy of the province. The beaver was also the prominent element of the seal of New Netherland. However, this design was rejected. The Dutch West India Company instead chose a design that featured the company's insignia on a mantle and a single beaver over a shield emblazoned with a modified version of the arms of Amsterdam. The original full-color rendering of this first official symbol of the city has since been lost, but historians have conjectured that, on the shield, the central pale was black, the three crosses were white, the field was red, and the bands bordering the central pale were either gold or white, in keeping with the heraldic rules of tincture. The draped mantling at the top was likely a tricolor of orange, white, and blue, referencing the flag of the Netherlands in use at the founding of New Amsterdam.

1669 seal.

Although New Amsterdam was surrendered to the British in 1664, whereupon its name was changed to New York, the seal of New Amsterdam remained in use until 1669. In that year, both the city and the province of New York received new seals from the Duke of York. However, the exact design of the city seal of 1669 is not known, as no descriptions or uses of it have been found.

1686 seal and the "small seal".

In 1683, the city's Common Council petitioned the colonial governor of New York for an official charter, including the right to designate their own seal. In 1686, the charter was granted. It included the right of the city to "breake Change Alter and new make their said Comon Seale when and as often as to them it shall seem convenient". The city's Common Council then adopted a new seal on July 24, 1686, the first to be designed and approved by the city in its own right. The design contained many elements that survive in the current city seal—namely, a shield featuring windmill sails, beavers, and flour barrels, a colonial sailor and a Native American as supporters, a Latin legend, a founding date (in this case, 1686 was used), and a laurel wreath. The first known use of the 1686 seal reveals that the seal featured a ducal crown at the crest, a fact that has puzzled historians, since the city's owner and namesake, James II, had ascended to the throne of England in 1685, and thus the use of an imperial crown would have been warranted. Subsequent uses of the seal show that a change to an imperial crown was made, although the exact date of the change is unknown.  A notable aspect of the 1686 seal is the depiction of the Native American supporter, which does not conform to descriptions of the Native Americans who lived in and around Manhattan. Specifically, the seal depicts the Native American wearing a war bonnet, which was not a headdress known to be worn among Algonquin peoples.  After the 1686 seal became official, a second, slightly different city seal appears in the historical record, affixed to documents signed by multiple mayors. The creation of this second seal was not recorded in the minutes of the Common Council, and its origins are not known. It is referred to in later city laws merely as the "small seal".

1735 seal of mayoralty.

In 1735, a feud between the Common Council and the city's mayor, Paul Richard, resulted in the creation of an additional seal. The 1686 seal and the so-called "small seal" remained as official seals of the city, while a third seal was created for the mayor. This mayoral seal was similar in design to the city seal, except that it was a circle instead of an oval and it bore the legend "City of New York Seal of Mayoralty". A law was then passed designating which seal could be used for which official purpose.

1784 seals.

At the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, New York City had three official seals. Among the first post-war acts of the New York City Common Council was the removal of the British imperial crown from these seals. In 1784, new seals were adopted, with a crest featuring an eagle resting on a hemisphere, a device taken from the seal of New York State. The Common Council published a description of the new seals and their purpose in the city's newspapers. In this description, the "small seal" is identified as the seal of the Mayor's Court.  Aside from the removal of the British crown and addition of a new crest, the 1784 city seal differed from its predecessor only by rendering the Native American's bow, incorrectly, as double-curved (which was a type of bow not typically used by Algonquin peoples), removing the cross-staff from the colonial sailor, and adding fruit-bearing branches on either side of the shield.  Officially, the design of the 1784 city seal remained in effect throughout the 19th century. During the same period, the mayoral seal and seal of the Mayor's Court fell into disuse. With regard to the latter, Dewitt Clinton was the last mayor to preside over the Mayor's Court. As a result of the lack of mayoral involvement, the court was transitioned, by law, into the Court of Common Pleas in 1821.

1915 seal.

While the city seal remained officially unchanged, many unofficial changes were made in the period between 1784 and 1915, due to mistakes, artistic license, or ignorance of the seal's design. In some versions used during this period, the sailor and Native American switched sides or were depicted in a seated position. Their physical appearance also varied. The eagle was sometimes depicted looking the wrong way. Other objects, such as an anchor or ships, were sometimes added. As the 250th anniversary of the city's 1664 British transition approached, the numerous variations in the seal's appearance prompted the city to appoint a committee to determine the correct design of the seal. This committee, composed of members of the city's Arts Commission, worked with the New-York Historical Society to study imagery and seals going back to the earliest days of New Amsterdam. Incorporating that historical iconography, the committee developed a new seal design, which was submitted to the Board of Aldermen (formerly known as the Common Council) on March 16, 1915. The board approved the design seven days later, and the Arts Commission contracted renowned American sculptor Paul Manship to develop a physical version of the revised seal. With this new design and official adoption, the city once again had a single seal to be used by all offices of the government. At the recommendation of the Arts Commission, the Board of Aldermen also adopted an official flag for the city, on which a version of the city seal was featured.  The design of the 1915 seal remained faithful to the design of the 1686 seal, with the exception of the crest, where it used the eagle-and-hemisphere device from the 1784 seal. The inaccuracies in the depiction of the Native American supporter were corrected and the cross-staff was restored to the sailor. In addition, the founding date on the seal was changed from 1686, the year of the city's British charter, to 1664, the year the city's name was changed to New York.

1977 seal.

The most recent modification to the city seal occurred in 1977, at the urging of the president of the City Council (formerly the Board of Aldermen), Paul O'Dwyer, who sought to recognize the city's Dutch origin. In 1974, he first proposed changing the founding year on the city's flag from 1664 to 1625. While 1625 was the year that New Amsterdam was designated the seat of government for the New Netherland province, historians have noted that it is not the year when New Amsterdam was incorporated or physically established. Despite objections from historians and his advisers, Mayor Abraham Beame signed O'Dwyer's bill changing the date on the city flag in 1975. A separate bill to modify the city seal in the same manner was approved two years later.

The seal of New York City is the city's official corporate insignia. According to the city's Administrative Code, it is used to identify documents or publications issued under the authority of the city or its departments. It is also engraved into property owned by the city, used to identify officers of the city, and featured on the city's official flag.


History.

Over 200 million years ago, during the Permian Age, this part of North America was covered by an inland sea. The water eventually evaporated, leaving behind huge deposits of alabaster and other minerals. Upheavals of the earth raised the gypsum bed close to the surface. Over time, water streams tunneled caverns through the formation, which contains an abundant quality of selenite crystals, white and pink gypsum as well as deposits of rare black alabaster.  There is no official record of discovery for Alabaster Caverns, even though they were known to have been used as hideouts by outlaws in the 19th Century. The first documented exploration of the caves occurred in 1898, shortly after Hugh Litton homesteaded the area in 1893. Several individuals leased land around them during the 1920s and 30s, and allowed limited tours of the caverns, which they called "bat caves." In 1939, an Englishman named Charles Grass bought the land. began renovating the caves, and opened them for public tours. It was Grass who gave them their current name. Grass was in failing health in 1952 when a group of five businessmen from Freedom, Oklahoma, the nearest community, and members of the Waynoka Railroad Labor League began lobbying for the U.S. state of Oklahoma to buy Grass' land. The state purchased from Grass on September 1, 1953, for $34,000, then reclassified the purchase as a state park in 1956, under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board.  In the mid-1950s the caves served as a nuclear fallout shelter.

Geology.

Alabaster Caverns State Park is underlain by Permian age sedimentary rocks (~300 to 250 million years old). The main cavern extends into the formation, is about wide and high. The cavern branches into boulder formations and smaller caves. A small perennial stream now flows through the cavern, fed by various lateral tunnels and seepage from the roof. In the geologic past, the river was once capable of completely filling the cavern, as the cave walls and gypsum formations show evidence of sculpting by rapidly flowing water. The air temperature ranges from 52 ̊F to 58 ̊ year round in the cavern.

Wildlife.

The cavern is home to five different species of bat. Some are solitary while others are colonial. The cavern provides roosting sites that serve as daytime shelter and a place for the non-migrating bats to hibernate during the winter months. Mexican free-tailed bats migrate to Alabaster Caverns from Mexico in the spring to bear their young. They then return to Mexico in the fall.  The bat species found in the cave are the cave myotis, Western big-eared bat, eastern pipistrelle, Western big brown bat, and the Mexican free-tailed bat.  Alabaster Caverns State Park personnel made a count of the bats in the caverns this year and reported over 19,000. In 2016, the count reported about 16,000.

Visitor activities.

Beside guided cave tours, wild caving, camping, hiking trails, and recreational facilities such as horseshoe pits and volleyball courts are available to visitors.  Tours are conducted every hour on the hour and last about 45 minutes, and are limited to 40 persons each. The caves are lighted and have plenty of handrails. However, the walking tour is about long and visitors must climb up or down about 330 stair steps. This tour is not recommended for people with mobility or respiratory problems, heart conditions or claustrophobia.

Proposed park closure in 2018.

In March 2017, the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation published a list of 16 state parks that may be closed to help offset a reduction in its budget for 2018. Alabaster Canyon State Park is on this list. This list represents approximately one-half of the parks remaining after the department closed seven parks in 2011.

Alabaster Caverns State Park is a state park approximately south of Freedom, Oklahoma, United States near Oklahoma State Highway 50. The park attracted 24,706 visitors in FY 2016, The lowest count of the three parks in its part of Oklahoma. According to the "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture", the park Previously attracted about 40,000 visitors per year. It is home to the largest natural gypsum cave in the world that is open to the public. The gypsum is mostly in the form of alabaster. There are several types of alabaster found at the site, including pink, white, and the rare black alabaster. This black alabaster can be found in only three veins in the world, one each in Oklahoma, Italy and China. Another form of gypsum can be found in the many selenite crystal formations.


Location.

The station is located on the western edge of Neu-Isenburg at the end of Bahnhofstraße, about two kilometres from the city centre. It is on the Main-Neckar Railway, connecting Frankfurt and Heidelberg.

History.

Initially when the Main-Neckar Railway was opened, on 1 August 1846, there was no Neu Isenburg station. To gain an economic benefit from the railway, the citizens of Neu-Isenburg made numerous submissions to the Ministry of Finance of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Darmstadt, which was then responsible for transport in the state. These submissions were initially rejected. It was only at the beginning of 1852 that the request was granted and, on 1 November 1852, Isenburg station was opened. Initially, only a few used the new station. The accounts of 1852/1853 noted that receipts amounting to 107 guilders and 15 Kreuzers had been taken for the transport of passengers, animals and baggage.  Originally, the only station building was a signalman’s house, which was replaced by a station building during the laying of the second track in the autumn of 1861. A year later the station was connected by telegraph.

Extension.

Two shunting sidings were built in late 1873 and a rail siding was opened to the brickworks of Philipp Holzmann & Cie. in the same year, which boosted the economy of the town. All the sets of points at the site had to be operated by hand at first. The first signal box was built in 1876, which could set points and signals using wires. In 1893, the signal box was replaced by a centralised interlocking called "Isb".  In 1894 the station received its first electric lights. In 1900, the northern shunting siding on the line to Darmstadt, which had in the meantime been used as a freight yard, was reinstated for shunting. Traffic at the station had already increased to 100,000 passengers and 45,000 tons of freight per year.  In 1904, a second signal box was opened with the name "If".

Branch line to Isenburg-Stadt.

In order to improve the railway connection to the centre of Neu-Isenburg, a branch line, which was about 2.2 km long, was commissioned to the southern part of the town on 20 March 1902. The line was single track and ran to a freight yard with six tracks. The southernmost of these tracks had two manually operated turntables, which connected to industrial sidings. This branch line only carried freight because the Frankfurt Forest Railway ("Frankfurter Waldbahn",) already provided a connection from Neu-Isenburg to Frankfurt for passengers (now line 14 of the Frankfurt trams). At the end of 2006 this (never electrified) branch line was closed and the tracks were later partly removed.

Interwar period.

During the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, Neu Isenburg station was commandeered by French troops and could not be entered by Germans. As many in Isenburg depended on a railway connection, an emergency station was established by a local railway on a siding only 400 metres away from the station in the district of Frankfurt, which was not occupied. It consisted merely of a wooden hut for the sale of tickets and a plank crossing of the track, which ensured a reasonably safe entry and exit. The provisional station only closed with the withdrawal of French troops in September 1924.  During the Second World War the town of Neu-Isenburg and its station were repeated exposed to heavy air raids, but—in contrast to other stations in the area—the entrance building was unharmed and only parts of its tracks were damaged; these were quickly repaired after the war. There was a major accident in the last days of 1945 when the dispatcher on duty left the signal box to go to a shelter in anticipation of an air raid. Previously he had set the signal to permit a train from Frankfurt to run on to track 3, without remembering that the track was still occupied by a passenger train. The collision of the trains led to the death of nearly forty people.

Deutsche Bundesbahn.

In the early 1960s, Deutsche Bundesbahn decided to join the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region to the international motorail network. It chose Neu-Isenburg station as the terminal for these operations. The first car train stopped here in on 29 May 1961. In 1968, the car loading facility gained a second track.  On 14 April 1969, the "Isb" and "If" signal boxes were replaced by a new combined signal box called "If", which took over the functions of the "Bf" and "Bn" signal boxes in Dreieich-Buchschlag. It is a relay interlocking of class "Sp Dr S 60" (a Siemens pushbutton interlocking introduced in 1960). The interlocking is still operating today.  Shunting ended at Neu Isenburg station in 1983. Since 1997, the station has been an S-Bahn stop.

Public transport services.

Rail.

The station is served by the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and DB Regio services.  S-Bahn lines S 3 and S 4 each stop at the station every half hour on weekdays, which together provide services every 15-minute. On Sundays, both lines operate every hour, together providing a service every half hour. The Regionalbahn RB 61 service (Dreieich Railway) runs from Monday to Friday three times in the morning from Dieburg to Frankfurt and three times in the afternoon from Frankfurt to Dieburg on the line.

Motorail.

The station has a loading dock for motorail trains of DB AutoZug. During the summer season approximately 10,000 vehicles are loaded at the Auto Train terminal. Passengers drive themselves over a paved ramp on to a two-story car transport waggon. In the first 25 years of the motorail terminal in Neu-Isenburg handled 200,000 vehicles. Upon the arrival of the train, the loaded wagons are attached to the train and passengers board sleeping and couchette cars. Trains run from Neu-Isenburg to Narbonne in France, Alessandria and Verona in Italy and Villach in Austria. A glass-enclosed waiting room is available on the south side of the station for users of the service.

Bus.

There are two bus stops, served by the transport companies of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (Rhine-Main Transport Association, RMV). The "Bahnhof Westseite" (west side) bus stop connects Neu Isenburg station with Terminal 1 of Frankfurt Airport, the Obertshausen station (line 651) and Rödermark-Urberach (line OF-95).  The "Bahnhof Ostseite" (east side) bus stop is served by buses to Darmstadt-Arheilgen (line 662) and Mörfelden via Langen (line 663).  Line OF-51 operates every hour from Zeppelinheim station to the east side (terminating there) or continuing via the west side to Gravenbruch.

Others.

There is a taxi rank on the east side of the station and a park and ride car park has been built on the west side. There is a restaurant, a kiosk and a travel centre and a motorail ticket office the station building.

Track plan.

The Main-Neckar Railway runs as four tracks between Frankfurt-Louisa and Dreieich-Buchschlag. One track (line 3655) separates from the long-distance tracks of the Main-Neckar Railway north of Neu Isenburg station, which becomes platform track 1 through the station. South of the station, the eastern track reconnects to the four main line tracks after the separation of the Dreieich Railway (line 3653).  The western two tracks (line 3688) form station tracks 3 and 2, which are used by the S-Bahn. The next two tracks are part of line 3601, which is used by long-distance passenger and freight trains and do not abut platforms at the station. The single track line 3655, used by the Regionalbahn service between Dieburg and Frankfurt, forms platform track 1 through the station. East of track 1, are the tracks of the motorail terminal.

Neu Isenburg station is on the Rhine-Main S-Bahn in Neu-Isenburg in the German state of Hesse. It was opened on 1 November 1852 and is now served by S-Bahn and regional trains operated by Deutsche Bahn. Since 29 May 1961, it has been the only station in Hesse with a loading terminal for motorail trains. In addition, it has two bus stops, a taxi stand and a park and ride car park. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station.


Description.

Located in woodlands near Irbene, in Ventspils Municipality, Latvia, the centre was founded in 1974 by the Soviet military. It originally consisted of a 32-metre telescope, along with two smaller telescopes and a communications centre, and was known as Zvezdochka, meaning "Little Star". It was possibly used by the KGB during the Cold War to spy on communications between Europe and the United States.  It became a scientific research facility in the 1990s, established on 22 July 1994 as part of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, before becoming an independent organisation on 24 April 1996. It is now known as the Ventspils International Radioastronomy Center ("Ventspils Starptautiskais radioastronomijas centrs"), or the Irbene Astronomy Center.  Since 2019, Indra Dedze is the acting director of the centre, who replaced Valdis Avotiņš.

RT-32.

RT-32 is a parabolic radio telescope. It is made up of over 20,000 components, and the central cone weighs 80 tonnes. The fully steerable telescope observes at centimetre wavelengths. The combination of size and precision engineering makes the larger dish especially valuable to scientists. The structure was built by a naval factory in Ukraine, and the interiors are reminiscent of a ship.  The telescope is mounted on a tower. It has an focal length, and a secondary mirror.  In its first upgrade since being constructed, RT-32 was temporarily dismantled towards the end of 2014, and moved to a purpose-built shelter for restoration. The restoration includes re-welding the panels, replacing rusted parts, and repairing damage caused by the passage of time, water ingress and lightning strikes. The telescope will also be upgraded to enable it to be controlled remotely, and to be able to make more precise and sensitive observations. The telescope will be used in Very-long-baseline interferometry. The restoration cost around €16 million overall, with the restoration of the telescope panels costing around €1.5 million; the restoration was funded by the European Union and Latvian state and Ventspils district governments. The dish of the telescope was remounted in June 2015, with the restoration due to be completed in October 2015.

RT-16.

The centre also has a parabolic radio telescope.

LOFAR.

Since 2019, the VIRAC observatory in Irbene includes a LOFAR station.

The Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre ( – "VIRAC") is an ex-Soviet radio astronomy installation 30 km north of Ventspils, Latvia, on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Ance parish. The installation was secret until 1993 after Latvia regained independence. It was taken over by the Latvian Academy of Sciences after the withdrawal of the Soviet Army in 1994. Since then, the two remaining radio telescopes have been repaired and renewed.


Life.

Andronikos Asen was the son of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen III and Irene, who was the sister of Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. His father and mother escaped to Byzantine territory during the uprising of Ivaylo in 1280. After Michael Kantakouzenos' death in 1316, Andronikos II gave Andronikos Asen the position of "epitropos" of the small Byzantine province in the south-eastern part of the Morea.  Kantakouzenos had already managed to consolidate the province, and enjoyed some success against the Frankish Principality of Achaea in the north. Asen continued in the same line, and taking advantage of internal strife in Achaea, he conquered much territory in the central Morea. In 1320, he took the castles of Akova, Polyphengos, Karytaina and Saint George in Skorta, and defeated a Frankish army near the latter fort in September.  He was an ancestor of later Byzantine emperors, as his granddaughter, Helena, married John V Palaiologos, whose descendants later became Byzantine emperors.

Family.

Andronikos married a certain Tarchaneiotissa, whose first name is not known. She was a daughter of "protostrator" Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes and his wife Maria Doukaina Komnene Palaiologina Branaina.  The last names of her mother indicate descent from the families Doukas, Komnenos and Palaiologos who each produced several Byzantine Emperors. Her last name however indicates being a member of the Branas family which produced military leaders like Alexios Branas and Theodore Branas, but whose genealogy is poorly recorded.  They had at least four children:

Andronikos Asen (? - 1322?) was the "epitropos" ("steward, overseer") of the Byzantine province of the Morea between 1316 and 1322.


Plot.

The story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the governor's mansion is depicted in the film. He goes into politics, railing against the corruptly run county government, but loses his race for county treasurer, in the face of unfair obstacles placed by the local machine. Stark teaches himself law, and as a lawyer, continues to fight the local establishment, championing the local people and gaining popularity. He eventually rises to become a candidate for governor, narrowly losing his first race, then winning on his second attempt. Along the way he loses his innocence and becomes as corrupt as the politicians he once fought against. As he rises, Stark philanders and gets involved with many women, taking his PR man/journalist Jack Burden's own girlfriend, Anne Stanton, as his mistress.  Stark's son Tommy drinks to deal with his feelings about his father, eventually crashes his car, injuring himself and killing his female passenger. When Stark bullies Tommy into playing a football game, Tommy becomes paralyzed after a brutal hit.  Stark, who had always dealt with those who got in his way by any means, begins to see his world start to unravel and he discovers that not everyone can be bought off.  The story has a complex series of relationships. All is seen through the eyes of the journalist, Jack Burden, who admires Stark and even when disillusioned still sticks by him. Stark's campaign assistant, Sadie is clearly in love with Stark and wants him to leave his wife, Lucy. When Stark's reputation is brought into disrepute by Judge Stanton (Anne's uncle), he seeks to blacken the judge's name. When Jack finds evidence of the judge's possible wrongdoing, a quarter century earlier, he hides it from Stark. Anne gives the evidence to Stark, who uses it against her uncle, who immediately commits suicide. Anne seems to forgive Stark, but her brother, Adam, the surgeon who helped save Tommy's life after the car crash, cannot. After Stark wins an impeachment investigation, Adam assassinates Stark. The doctor in turn is shot down by Sugar Boy, Stark's fawning assistant. Having lost their respect for him, Jack and Anne agree to find a way to destroy Stark's reputation just as he dies.

Production.

Rossen originally offered the starring role to John Wayne, who found the proposed film script unpatriotic and indignantly refused the part. Crawford, who eventually took the role, won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Actor, beating out Wayne, who had been nominated for his role in "Sands of Iwo Jima".  The film was shot at various locations in California using local residents, something that was fairly unknown for Hollywood at the time. The old San Joaquin County courthouse in Stockton, built in 1898 and demolished about a dozen years after the film's release, was featured prominently.  Paul Tatara, a film reviewer for CNN, describes the film as "one of those pictures that was saved in the editing". Al Clark did the original cut but had trouble putting all the footage that Robert Rossen had shot into a coherent narrative. Robert Parrish was brought onboard by Rossen and Columbia Studios head, Harry Cohn, to see what he could do. Since Rossen had a hard time cutting anything he shot, after several weeks of tinkering and cutting, the movie was still over 250 minutes long. Cohn was prepared to release it in this version after one more preview, but this threw Rossen into a panic, so Rossen came up with a novel solution. Rossen told Parrish to "[s]elect what you consider to be the center of each scene, put the film in the synch machine and wind down a hundred feet before and a hundred feet after, and chop it off, regardless of what's going on. Cut through dialogue, music, anything. Then, when you're finished, we'll run the picture and see what we've got". When Parrish was done with what Rossen had suggested, they were left with a 109-minute movie that was more compelling to watch. After "All the King's Men" won its Academy Award for Best Picture, Harry Cohn repeatedly gave Parrish credit for saving the film, even though Parrish only did what Rossen told him to do. The editing gambit gives the film a memorably jagged urgency that's unique for a studio-era film. Although Clark is credited as the "Film Editor" (with Parrish being credited as "Editorial Advisor"), both Clark and Parrish received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing.

Reception.

Critical response.

When the film was released, it received wide acclaim. Film critic Bosley Crowther lauded the film and its direction in his review, writing, "Robert Rossen has written and directed, as well as personally produced, a rip-roaring film of the same title... We have carefully used that descriptive as the tag for this new Columbia film because a quality of turbulence and vitality is the one that it most fully demonstrates... In short, Mr. Rossen has assembled in this starkly unprettified film a piece of pictorial journalism that is remarkable for its brilliant parts." Critic William Brogdon, writing for "Variety" magazine, was also complimentary and praised Broderick Crawford's work, "As the rural Abe Lincoln, springing up from the soil to make himself a great man by using the opinionless, follow-the-leader instinct of the more common voter, Broderick Crawford does a standout performance. Given a meaty part, his histrionic bent wraps it up for a great personal success adding much to the many worthwhile aspects of the drama."

Noir analysis.

Film historian Spencer Selby calls the film "[A] hard-hitting noir adaptation of Warren's eloquent novel".  Joe Goldberg, film historian and former story editor for Paramount Pictures, wrote about the content of the plot and its noirish fatalistic conclusion, "The plot makes sense, the dialogue is memorable, the story arises from the passions and ideas of the characters. It deals with graft, corruption, love, drink and betrayal, and the subversion of idealism by power, and it might even make someone angry... The story moves toward its conclusion with the dark inevitability of film noir."

Accolades.

In 2001, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Academy Film Archive preserved "All the King's Men" in 2000. To date, it is the last Best Picture winner to be based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Academy Awards 1949.

"All the King's Men" received seven Academy Awards nominations, winning three.

References.

Bibliography.

Silver, Alain and James Ursini (editors). "Film Noir: Reader 2". "All the King's Men" film noir themes discussed in essay, "Violence and the Bitch Goddess" by Stephen Farber, pgs. 54-55 (1974). Proscenium Publishers, Inc., New York (July 2003). Second Limelight Edition..

All the King's Men is a 1949 American film noir written, produced, and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on the 1946 Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name. The film stars Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, and Joanne Dru. The plot focuses on the rise and fall of the ambitious and ruthless politician, Willie Stark (Crawford) in the American South. Though a fictional character, Stark strongly resembles Louisiana governor Huey Long.


Professional wrestling career.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Debut and first excursion (1984–1987).

Muto was a judo black belt with experience in many national competitions prior to being trained by Hiro Matsuda in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling Dojo. He debuted on October 5, 1984, against Masahiro Chono. In 1985, Muto was sent on his first learning excursion to

IWGP Tag Team Champion (1987–1988).

In March 1987, Muto won the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Shiro Koshinaka, before losing the titles to Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada six days later. In the summer of 1987, Muto took part in the NOW vs. NEW feud, in which he aligned himself with Antonio Inoki and his group, teaming with the likes of Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and Kantaro Hoshino, and battling the likes of Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda, Kengo Kimura, and Super Strong Machine.

Excursion to Puerto Rico and Texas (1988–1989).

In January 1988, Muto went on another excursion, this time in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council (WWC) under his new ring name, "The Super Black Ninja". He feuded with Miguel Perez Jr., with whom he lost a hair vs. hair match to that April. It was in Puerto Rico he formed The Three Musketeers

World Championship Wrestling (1989–1990).

Muto first appeared as "The Great Muta" in the NWA's World Championship Wrestling territory on the March 18, 1989, edition of "Saturday Night", although announcer Jim Ross pronounced the name as "The Great Muto". His manager Gary Hart introduced him as the son of the Great Kabuki, whom Gary Hart also had managed years earlier. He wrestled his first match

Return to NJPW.

Rise to prominence (1990–1992).

Muto quickly rose in the ranks upon returning to New Japan in March 1990. He made his in-ring return to NJPW on April 27 by teaming with Masahiro Chono to defeat Shinya Hashimoto and Masa Saito to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship, marking Muto's second reign with the title. He and Chono would hold the titles for over six months, before finally losing them to Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki on November 1. During this time, Muto also entered the Kyushu

IWGP Heavyweight Champion (1992–1996).

On August 16, Muto, donned his Great Muta persona to beat Japanese legend Riki Choshu to win the Greatest 18 Club Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time, thus winning the first world championship of his professional wrestling career. He successfully defended both titles against Shinya Hashimoto on September 23 and then retired the Greatest 18 Club Championship to focus on defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He successfully defended the title against Scott Norton on October 18 and Sting on November 22. On December 14, Muta faced Hiroshi Hase in a winning effort in a famous match where Hase used a foreign object to beat at Muta's forehead, as payback

nWo Japan (1996–2000).

The latter half of 1996 had Muto pitted against Masahiro Chono's Ookami Gundan, which eventually blossomed into a war with the Chono-led nWo Japan. In the process, Muto began teasing at a possible turn to the side of the nWo, proclaiming himself to be the true successor to Antonio Inoki's legacy, and "accidentally" attacking his own partners in the middle of a match. During this period, Muto underwent a long slump in big matches, losing not only to members of the nWo, but fellow New Japan wrestlers including Power Warrior at Wrestling World on January 4, 1997, and Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on June 5. The turn was teased many times. Muto would even wear an nWo shirt only to

Bad Ass Translate Trading (2001–2002).

After a planned tag team match with FMW's Hayabusa for Wrestling World 2001 was cancelled due to Hayabusa's injury to both his elbows that required reconstructive surgery, it seemed as if Muto reached a confusing crossroads in his career; however, he chose to completely change his image, shaving his head bald (he had a pronounced receding hairline throughout much of 2000), growing out a goatee, and aligning himself with a fellow NJPW wrestler who had gone overseas for an extended period of time, Shinjiro Otani. The two returned to New Japan on January 4, 2001, at Wrestling World, making short work of Manabu Nakanishi and Jushin Liger. Shortly after, Muto also began appearing for All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he debuted at King's Road New Century by defeating Taiyō Kea. On March 18, Muto debuted his new trademark move, the "Shining Wizard" to defeat Kazunari Murakami. Since its creation, it has become an extremely popular move on both sides of the Pacific, used by Muto's allies, rivals, and fans of his work. Muto would frequently begin appearing in both New Japan and All Japan, which led to Muto creating a new stable with Don Frye and Shinjiro Otani which later came to be known as BATT (Bad Ass Translate Trading). Added to their ranks were Taiyō Kea of All Japan Pro Wrestling and Jinsei Shinzaki of Michinoku Pro Wrestling. Muto defeated AJPW's veteran Toshiaki Kawada in a dream match at Champion Carnival One Night

Return to WCW.

Sporadic appearances (1990–1999).

Meanwhile, in World Championship Wrestling, it was announced on Clash of the Champions XIII that The Great Muta would be returning at Starrcade '90 to team with Mr. Saito. Less than a month later Muto teamed with Saito in the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag-Team Tournament at Starrcade. The duo defeated The New Zealand Militia in the quarterfinals, then Victor Zangiev and Salmon Hasimikov (representing the USSR) in the semi-finals. Muta and Saito were defeated by then US Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers in the finals.  Muta continued to make sporadic appearances within WCW during 1991 while wrestling regularly in New Japan. He was shown in attendance at WrestleWar 91, and then defeated old rival Sting at the combined New Japan/WCW Starrcade event on March 21, 1991, in Tokyo, Japan. Muto was entered into a match with United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger to determine the Number One Contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. On June 12 at Clash of the Champions XV, Muta was pinned by Luger to

Dark Carnival (2000).

After suffering a knee injury in early 2000, Muto took a hiatus from NJPW and returned to WCW in mid-2000 to team with Vampiro. Due to the bad booking and the decline of WCW in its last years, however, Muto could not recapture the previous popularity he had in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He returned to television on the July 11, 2000, episode of WCW Thunder and teamed with The Jung Dragons against Three Count and Tank Abbott. A week later he appeared on Nitro, defeating Vampiro in the quarterfinals of the United States Heavyweight Championship tournament. Later that night he was pinned by Mike Awesome in the semifinals. He won the WCW World Tag-Team Championship with Vampiro at New Blood Rising against KroniK. They lost it the next night on Nitro against the team of Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera. His last WCW match came at a house show on September 23, 2000, in Lubbock, TX against Sting.  After leaving WCW, a no-compete clause in his WCW contract prevented him from competing in the World Wrestling Federation.

All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion (2002–2003).

On January 11, 2002, following the end of a year-long cross-promotional "angle" with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Keiji Muto shocked the Japanese wrestling world by defecting to All-Japan as a full-time competitor, taking Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin with him. In his first match as an AJPW contracted wrestler, Muto and Taiyo Kea successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship against Mike Barton and Jim Steele on January 14. Muto would then lose the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship to Toshiaki Kawada on February 24. In April, Muto participated in the 2002 Champion Carnival, where he lost only two matches in his block while winning the rest of his matches and thus advancing to the knockout stage on April 10, where he defeated Satoshi Kojima in the semi-final and Mike Barton in the final to win the tournament. Three days later, at Grand Champion Carnival, Muto faced Genichiro Tenryu in a match for the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship after Kawada was forced to vacate the title due to injury. Muto lost the match. The following

Various feuds and title reigns (2003–2008).

Shortly after his title loss, Muto entered the 2003 Champion Carnival, defeating John Tenta in the quarter-final but lost to Arashi in the semi-final. On June 8, Muto teamed with Arashi to participate in a tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship, which they won by defeating Gigantes and The Gladiator in the semi-final and Jimmy Yang and Satoshi Kojima in the final. On July 13, Muto failed to become the #1 contender for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship by losing to Toshiaki Kawada. After successfully defending the tag team titles, Muto and Arashi entered the Real World Tag League but they failed to advance in the tournament. On December 27, Muto made a return to the United States, wrestling for the Ring of Honor

Dual world champion (2008–2009).

Muto had won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in NJPW earlier in 2008 and successfully defended the title in All Japan against Hirooki Goto at Pro-Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 5. On September 29, Muto wrestled as The Great Muta as he defeated Suwama to capture the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship for the third time, becoming only the second wrestler, after Satoshi Kojima, to hold the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the same time. Muta successfully defended the title against Minoru Suzuki at Pro-Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 6. Muto closed out the year with an unsuccessful stint in the 2008 Real World Tag League alongside Ryota Hama.  In 2009, Muto took part in a tournament for the vacant All Asia Tag Team Championship by teaming with Kaz Hayashi, defeating Ryota Hama and Shuji

World Tag Team Champion (2010–2011).

The 2009 Real World Tag League win earned Muto and Masakatsu Funaki, a title match for the World Tag Team Championship against Minoru Suzuki and Taiyo Kea on January 3, 2010, which Muto and Funaki won. On January 30, Muto, under his Great Muta gimmick, made a special appearance for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in Los Angeles, California, during the WrestleReunion 4 weekend, teaming up with Kai in a match, where they defeated the team of Joey Ryan and Scott Lost. On March 9, Muto and Funaki were forced to vacate the titles due to Muto going through a reconstructive knee surgery that kept him out of the ring for the rest of the year. Muto returned to All Japan as Great Muta

Final years and departure (2011–2013).

On June 7, 2011, Muto announced his resignation as the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling, remaining in the promotion as an active wrestler and a member of the Supervisory Board. Muto's decision stemmed from a real-life incident where Yoshikazu Taru assaulted Nobukazu Hirai backstage at an All Japan Pro Wrestling show, which led to Hirai suffering a stroke after competing in a match. Muto took the blame for the incident, which led to All Japan suspending not only Taru, but also Kazuhiko Masada, Masayuki Kono and Minoru Tanaka who were present when the attack took place. After being on the midcard and without a big feud

Sporadic appearances in NJPW.

2004–2005.

Muto returned to NJPW as a member of the All Japan roster at Wrestling World on January 4, 2004, to team with Bob Sapp to defeat

2007–2009.

He then appeared at Wrestle Kingdom I in 2007 where he reunited with former partner and rival Masahiro Chono to defeat Tencozy in a "Super Dream Tag match" pitting NJPW and AJPW wrestlers together.  On January 4, 2008, at Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, under the Great Muta persona, he defeated Hirooki Goto. On April 27, Muto defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win his fourth IWGP Heavyweight Championship, this was his second appearance in 2008 for NJPW and he had not held the title for eight years and four months prior to the win. After retaining

2012–2014.

On January 4, 2012, Muto made a return to New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he defeated Tetsuya Naito in a singles match. A year later at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Muto teamed with Shinjiro Otani, a replacement for an injured Daichi Hashimoto, in a tag team match, where

2019.

Muto, in his Great Muta persona, was the last entrant in the ROH/NJPW Rumble

2020.

On February 19, 2020 Muto made an appearance at the Tiger Hattori Retirement Show, appearing alongside fellow NJPW alumni Riki Choshu, The Great Kabuki, and Hiroshi Hase.

Wrestle-1 (2013–2020).

On July 10, 2013, Muto announced the foundation of a promotion named Wrestle-1, bringing over many of the former wrestlers of All Japan Pro-Wrestling that left in June. At the promotion's inaugural event on September 8, Muto teamed with Bob Sapp in a main event tag team match, where they defeated René Duprée and Zodiac. During Wrestle-1's second show on September 15, Muto made his first Japanese appearance as The Great Muta in two years, when he and Tajiri defeated Duprée and Zodiac

Professional wrestling style and persona.

Muto frequently wrestled under two ring names: the first as Keiji Muto and the second, The Great Muta. Muto innovated

Other media.

Muto has appeared in a vast number of media appearances in Japan, including many commercials and films. Muto was interviewed for wrestling documentary "Bloodstained Memoirs".  In 1995, Muto starred in the Japanese thriller "Yajuu Densetsu: Dragon Blue", as Ryusaki, a suave detective who joins forces with a beautiful young spiritualist named Mazuki (played by Hiroko Tanaka) to solve a bizarre case of killings from a mystical sea creature.  In 2004, he played the role of Harold Sakata in the movie "Rikidōzan", a film based on the real-life

Personal life.

In 1992, Muto married his wife, Hisae Ashida. Together they have two children, a son (born 1996) and a daughter, Airi (born 2000), who is an actress and has made an appearance for Wrestle-1.  Outside of Pro-Wrestling, Muto also owns a Sushi restaurant called "Dining 610" (焼肉Dining 610) which was inspired by Mutoh's early "Space Lone Wolf" gimmick. It is also worth noting that the numbers 610 (which were featured on Lone Wolf's entrance attire) means "Muto".

Muto is credited as one of the first Japanese wrestlers to achieve a fan base outside of his native Japan. "The Great Muta" gimmick is one of the most influential gimmicks in puroresu, having been emulated by many wrestlers including Satoshi Kojima (as The Great Koji), Kazushi Miyamoto (as The Great Kazushi), Atsushi Onita (as The Great Nita), and Seiya Sanada (as The Great Sanada). In addition, countless other wrestlers have paid tribute to Muta through emulation and imitation.


History.

The Seattle Lusty Lady, known originally as the Amusement Center, was opened in the 1970s by two business associates, who soon after opened the other location in San Francisco. Originally, both Lusty Ladys showed 16mm peep show films only; in 1983 live nude dancers were added and became the main focus of the businesses. Until 2003 they were both owned by the same company; in that year the San Francisco franchise was bought by the strippers working there and began to be managed as a worker cooperative. The San Francisco branch had already entered the news in 1997 when it became the first (and only) successfully unionized sex business in the U.S. (The San Diego strip club "Pacer's" had seen a unionization effort in the early 1990s, but it was short-lived.)  The Seattle branch closed in June 2010. The San Francisco branch closed at 3 a.m. on September 2, 2013 on Labor Day.

Operation.

The Lusty Lady featured exotic dancers in a peep show setting on a main stage and in one-on-one booths.  The main stage featured several nude women dancing, separated by glass windows from the customers who each stood in their own booth, paying by the minute. The dancers were also available for more explicit private shows in the VIP and Private Pleasures booths. These were also glass-separated private booths where customers could give direction to the show and tipping was possible. Rates for shows varied by dancer. The Private Pleasures booth also occasionally featured "Double Trouble" shows, with two dancers who might have performed a lesbian sex show. In addition, booths showing adult videos 24/7 were available.  Once a year, The Lusty Lady SF organized a "Play Day": the dancers came out from behind the glass, explained the operation of the club to customers, and allowed behind-the-scenes peeks.  Lusty Lady occasionally featured "art days", exhibiting erotic photographs and paintings in the hallways. In February 2002, both peep shows featured a video art exhibition called "Peepshow 28", with one channel in all video booths devoted to showing a sequence of 64 short videos exploring voyeurism, exhibitionism and sexuality.  Dancers were paid an hourly wage. (The top wage for dancers in Seattle in 2001 was $27 per hour, the top wage in San Francisco in 2003 was $26 per hour.)

Seattle.

The Seattle Lusty Lady opened in the 1970s and moved to its final location at 1315 First Avenue in downtown Seattle near Pike Place Market in 1985. The club was well known for its frequently changing and often amusing marquee announcements. The Lusty Lady is immediately across the street from the Seattle Art Museum and the marquee often commented on current exhibits or the Hammering Man statue. Mimi Gates, stepmother of Bill Gates and director of the Seattle Art Museum, said "The Lusty Lady's marquee is a Seattle landmark." Nirvana’s logo was also inspired by the happy face logo there which said Have An Erotic Day!  In 2006, the Seattle Lusty Lady survived a threatened wrecking ball when the building's owner, a Seattle family, refused a multimillion-dollar tear-down offer from developers of a new Four Seasons Hotel next door. The owners instead received $850,000 "for air rights to the views over their property". Employees celebrated by posting on their reader board: "We're Open, Not Clothed!"  In January 2010, police arrested a peeping tom in the Lusty Lady who had climbed up from a viewing booth into the ceiling crawl space overhead, then partly crashed through the glass ceiling above the stage.  On Sunday April 11, 2010, the Lusty Lady in Seattle announced that it would close its doors for business in June. The economic climate and the rise of Internet pornography were cited as reasons for closing. On June 28, 2010, the Lusty Lady marquee was removed from the Seattle location. It was acquired by the Museum of History & Industry and is now on display at their museum in the South Lake Union neighborhood.  In the wake of the Lusty Lady announcing its shutdown, the NPR program All Things Considered did a story focusing on the peep show's history and relationship to the broader downtown Seattle community.

Books.

The 1997 book "The Lusty Lady" by photographer Erika Langley documents the work in the Seattle branch of Lusty Lady. It includes photos by Langley (who had worked there as a dancer since 1992) as well as essays by a number of Lusty Lady dancers, who vary considerably in their attitudes toward their customers and toward their work. In 2000, some of the photos were exhibited in the Seattle Art Museum, across the street from the Lusty Lady.  Elisabeth Eaves, who had stripped at the Lusty Lady in 1997, completed graduate school and returned in 2000 to write a book about stripping in general and her experiences in particular, "Bare: On Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power", published in 2002.

Popular culture references.

The Seattle Lusty Lady was featured in the 1992 film "American Heart". The first murder in the 1996 pilot of the TV series "Millennium" takes place in a Seattle peep show modeled on the Lusty Lady. Episode 18 (first aired 1997) of HBO's "Real Sex" series featured a visit to the Seattle Lusty Lady.  The theater show "My Time With the Lady" is a first-person account about working at the Lusty Lady by a long-time janitor and bouncer. It opened in Seattle in August 2010.

San Francisco.

The San Francisco Lusty Lady was located at 1033 Kearny Street, in the Broadway strip club district of North Beach. It was open 24 hours a day, though the live stage was closed between 3 and 11 AM.

Unionization.

Several grievances led to the unionizing effort in 1997. African American feminist sociologist Siobhan Brooks while working at the club had noticed that African American dancers were discriminated against and filed a complaint. The precipitating event was the installation of one-way mirrors in a number of booths (which also exist in the Seattle branch), resulting in some customers taking photos and videos of the show.  Among the leaders of the organizing drive was the stripper Julia Query who documented the efforts on video, resulting in the documentary "Live Nude Girls Unite!", written and directed by Vicky Funari and Julia Query.  After a vote of the employees, the business was organized by the Exotic Dancers Union, an affiliate of Service Employees International Union, then a member of AFL-CIO, Local 790. The Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network (BAYSWAN) provided website support for the workers' unionization effort, which helped to garner public support for the workers as well as inquiries from other exotic dancers and sex workers throughout the country.  Former Lusty Lady employee Siobhan Brooks commented in a 1997 article that "In some cases the media misquoted us as being the first strip club to unionize. But the first strip club to unionize was Pacer's in San Diego. However, Pacer's union, Hotel Management, Employee Management, Local 30, negotiated an open clause in its contract. Open shop means there's no requirement that employees join the union, so the club recruited workers and discouraged them from joining the union and were able to decertify the union."

Worker cooperative.

After management cut hourly compensation at the San Francisco Lusty Lady in 2003, the workers struck and won, but the closure of the peep show was announced soon after. The subsequent efforts to turn the club into a worker cooperative were led by Donna Delinqua (stage name), a stripper and graduate student in English. Other cooperatives provided input, among them the worker-owned San Francisco sex-toy business Good Vibrations.  The workers bought the club for $400,000, with money borrowed from the old owners. In 1996, the club had had a revenue of almost $3 million; by 2003 this had fallen by 40%. The monthly rent was $13,442 in 2003 and had doubled over the preceding three years. The club had a revenue of about $27,000 per week in the first half of 2006.  After the change in ownership, the union was retained, but some changes in management were instituted. While dancers had been regularly evaluated by managers before, now a peer review process was established wherein dancers evaluate each other. The team leaders are elected from among the dancers for six month terms.  A dispute began in the summer of 2006 when a male employee wrote a confidential email to the co-op board, complaining that hiring of too many heavy women drove customers away, thus lowering every employee's income. One member of the board posted the message on a message board, causing considerable consternation among dancers. The board member was dismissed. Two of the male employees have argued that the union should be abandoned as not useful in a worker-owned cooperative. On its website, the Lusty Lady describes a worker-owned business as "a rare and ideal situation" but "not without its challenges" and discusses how the workers address these challenges.  On Tuesday August 20, 2013, the Lusty Lady in San Francisco announced that it would close its doors for business in just two weeks, on Monday at 3:00 a.m. September 2, 2013. The landlord, Roger Forbes (part of Deja Vu Consulting Inc. which by that time owned almost every strip club in San Francisco with the exception of Crazy Horse, Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theatre, and Nob Hill) refused to renew the lease after attempts to re-negotiate the rent failed.

Books.

Lily Burana, who stripped for a time at the San Francisco Lusty Lady, wrote about her experiences there and in other strip clubs in her 2001 book "Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America". Carol Queen also wrote about her time dancing at the Lusty Lady, in her 2003 book "Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of a Sex-Positive Culture". Bernadette Barton interviewed dancers at the Lusty Lady in her 2006 book "Stripped: Inside the Lives of Exotic Dancers."

The Lusty Lady is a pair of defunct peep show establishments, one in downtown Seattle and one in the North Beach district of San Francisco. The Lusty Lady was made famous by the labor activism of its San Francisco workers and the publication of several books about working there.


Historical context.

Early in the Great Northern War, Charles XII of Sweden campaigned in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, was king since 1697. Aimed at dethroning his adversary, Charles XII managed to have his candidate Stanisław Leszczyński elected king of Poland on 12 July 1704. Augustus' ally Peter the Great, tsar of Russia, was reluctant to engage Charles XII in a major battle as a consequence of the decisive defeat his army had suffered at Narva in 1700. A faction of the Polish and Lithuanian nobles did not accept Leszczyński's election, which had been imposed in neglect of the commonwealth's customs, and organized in the Sandomir or Sandomierz Confederation in support of Augustus. They declared the election illegal, outlawed Leszczyński's supporters who were organized in the Warsaw Confederation, declared war on Sweden and allied with Russia in the Treaty of Narva.  A Russo-Saxo-Polish-Lithuanian army was then assembled at Polotsk (Polatsk, Połock, Polockas), another allied army in Saxony, and a third allied force commanded by General Otto Arnold von Paykull (Pajkul) advanced towards Warsaw, where Charles XII and Leszczyński sojourned. Pajkul's Saxo-Polish-Lithuanian horse reached the outskirts of Warsaw on 31 July 1705, where they were defeated. The army at Polotsk was denied westward advance by Swedish forces under Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt. Thus, Leszczyński was crowned king of Poland in Warsaw on 4 October 1705, and Sweden and the faction of the commonwealth represented by Leszczyński signed the treaty of Warsaw on 28 November.

Terms.

Sweden was allowed to occupy the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's towns and fortresses and recruit soldiers in its territory without restriction. Anti-Swedish alliances concluded by the commonwealth were declared void, Poland was to conclude treaties only with Charles XII's approval.  The commonwealth's regions Courland, Lithuania, Royal Prussia and Ruthenia were to export goods only through the Swedish port of Riga, the Polish port Połąga (Palanga, Palonga) in Courland was to be abandoned. In the territory of the commonwealth, Swedish merchants were granted substantial tax exemption and the right to settle and trade.  The treaty further divided the commonwealth's territories then under Russian occupation among the parties: The areas of Smolensk and Kiev were to be re-integrated into Poland-Lithuania, while Polish Livonia and Courland were to be ceded to Sweden upon their reconquest.  For future candidates to the Polish throne, the treaty was made part of the pacta conventa, meaning it had to be supported for any candidacy to become valid.

Aftermath.

As intended, the treaty made an inner-Polish-Lithuanian reconciliation of the Warsaw and Sandomir confederations impossible. In early 1706, Augustus the Strong approached Warsaw with a cavalry force and ordered Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg to move the army assembled in Saxony into Poland-Lithuania. Schulenburg was intercepted and defeated by Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld in the Battle of Fraustadt. The army assembled in Polotsk had been moved to Grodno (Hrodna, Gardinas, Garten), where it was tactically defeated and forced to withdraw eastwards. Charles XII then occupied Saxony, forcing Augustus to abandon both the Polish crown and his allies in the Treaty of Altranstädt (1706).

The Treaty of Warsaw was concluded on 18 November (O.S.) / 28 November 1705 during the Great Northern War. It was a peace treaty and an alliance between the Swedish Empire and the faction of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth loyal to Stanisław Leszczyński.


Crimes.

Lemke, who had been convicted for arson, assault, volksverhetzung (incitement to hatred) and illegal possession of firearms, on July 18, 1995 drove together with his girlfriend Bianka W. and mutual friend Dagmar K. to Altena, where kidnapped one of his girlfriend's acquaintances, gagged her, brought her to a forest and began strangling her with a rope. As the victim gasped, Lemke hit her several times with a folding spade, burying the dead woman in a hole in the ground. The prosecution suspected that he forced his girlfriend to act in order to "have her in hand", because he feared she would report him, and began acting more violently towards her.  On February 2, 1996, Lemke went to Oberhausen and visited his friend Marcel M. Together they drove to Bergisch Gladbach to the apartment of Patricia W. Lemke had met her at the station in Hagen and because she had a sticker saying "Nazis out" on her clothes, he wanted to kill her. The woman opened the door, whereupon she was immediately handcuffed, undressed, raped by Lemke, throttled with a shoelace, hit with a plaster cast on the head and finally killed by 91 stab wounds.  On March 15, 1996, Lemke shot dead 26-year-old Martin K. at a staircase in Rhade. He was a traitor in Lemke's eyes, because he had announced that he was dropping out of the far-right scene and was going to testify against Lemke.

Condemnation.

He was sentenced in March 1997 by the Essen Circuit Court for three murders and one rape to life imprisonment, with subsequent placement in psychiatry and preventative detention. By determining the particular gravity of the guilt, the court imposed the maximum penalty. Bianka W. was sentenced to six years for murder and Marcel M. was sentenced to five years in prison for aiding and abetting.

Thomas Lemke (born 1969) is a far-right German serial killer, who was convicted of three murders. He was a member of various far-right organizations, including the Wiking-Jugend and the Free German Workers' Party. Lemke was also a mercenary in the HOS militia during the Croatian War. In his apartment, the police also found so-called Anti-Antifa lists of enemies with names and addresses of political opponents.


Biography.

He was born at Augsburg, the son of a knight, but was educated by his uncle, the canon of the city. he was later a chancellor of emperor Charles IV at Avignon. He was appointed as prince-bishop of Augsburg in 1348. Six years later, he accompanied the emperor in his visit to Rome. The following year, Marquard was sent to Pisa to suppress an anti-imperial revolt, and was wounded in the fray. he anyway remained for a period at Pisa as imperial captain and governor in Italy. In 1356 he was captured by the condottiero Lodrisio Visconti at Casorate Primo. In 1365 the emperor made him as lieutenant general in Friuli. In the same year, pope Urban VI gave him the vacant title of Patriarch of Aquileia, and Marquard (who had to renounce Augsburg) entered at Cividale in June 1366.  Marquard received a state with numerous rebellions, such as those of Gualtiero Bertoldo IV of Spilimbergo and of the lords of Duino, and in war with Albert III and Leopold III of Austria. Marquard was able to recover all the lost lands and to force his enemies, including also the counts of Gorizia, to peace. He then devoted himself to the traditional war against the Republic of Venice, in alliance with Louis I of Hungary, the Republic of Genoa, the dukes of Austria, the counts of Gorizia and Francesco I da Carrara, lord of Padua. The Venetians besieged Trieste: Lepold III arrived with 10,000 men, supported by a Genoese contingent, but they were crushed (5 September 1369) and the city surrendered. The Austrians left the alliance, and the remaining members were again defeated on the Piave (1372) and near Treviso (1373) by the Venetian doge Andrea Contarini, who had even hired Turkish mercenaries. The two parties signed a treaty of peace on 12 September 1373.  During the War of Chioggia, the patriarch took advantage of the initial difficulties of the Venetians to invade Istria, capturing Koper and Pula. After a series of changes of possessions, Trieste was confirmed to the patriarchate at the Treaty of Turin (1381), although some territories in Istria were returned to Venice.  Marquard was a prominent jurist, and during his reign he published the "Constitutiones Patriae Foriiulii ", also known as "Codex Marquardianus", containing the rules which regulated law in Friuli until the 18th century. He also restored the Basilica of Aquileia, damaged by an earthquake in 1348 and rebuilt in Gothic style.  Marquard died at Trieste in January 1381.

Marquard of Randeck (or of Randelle; Italian: "Marquardo di Randeck"; 1296 - 3 January 1381) was Patriarch of Aquileia from 1365 until his death.


Objective.

The ACS is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1912 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.

Membership.

Members of the ACS are referred to as "Fellows." Members abbreviate their membership status in the ACS by using the letters "FACS" (Fellow, American College of Surgeons). Those letters after a surgeon's name mean that the surgeon's education and training, professional qualifications, surgical competence, and ethical conduct have passed a rigorous evaluation, and have been found to be consistent with the high standards established and demanded by the College.  The College recognizes fourteen surgical specialties: cardiothoracic surgery, colon and rectal surgery, general surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, gynecologic oncology, neurological surgery, ophthalmic surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthopaedic surgery, otorhinolaryngology, pediatric surgery, plastic and maxillofacial surgery, urology, and vascular surgery.  "Associate Fellow" is another category of ACS membership. Associate Fellowship provides an opportunity for surgeons who are beginning surgical practice and who meet specific requirements to assume an active role in the ACS at an early stage in their careers. In order to provide education and other benefits for allied professionals who deal with surgical patients, but who are not surgeons, the "Affiliate Member" category was created.  Currently, there are more than 82,000 members, including more than 70,000 Fellows in the U.S. and Canada and more than 6,600 Fellows in other countries, which makes the ACS the largest organization of surgeons in the world. There are presently more than 3,200 Associate Fellows.  Patricia L. Turner, MD, FACS, became the director of the Division of Member Services in 2011.

Administration.

Twenty-two members make up a board of regents that governs the ACS. The board of regents is selected by an elected board of governors representing different specialties and geographical locations (the number of governors is based on the amount of Fellows in a region). While the board of regents is an administrative body, the board of regents serve as the representative body of the ACS between Fellows and the board of regents.  Within the ACS are numerous committees and advisory councils, studying and serving as a liaison for different specialties and aspects of the surgical profession. Examples include the Committee on Trauma, the Patient Education Committee, and the Advisory Council on General Surgery.  As of 2019 there are 113 chapters into which ACS Fellows are organized: 65 chapters in the United States, 2 in Canada, and 46 in other countries around the world.

Major activities.

Through its Inspiring Quality initiative, the ACS drives awareness of its quality improvement programs such as the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) and ACS NSQIP Pediatric. The initiative is intended to enable the College to have a dialogue and work together with health care leaders around the nation, to continue to have a tremendous impact on improving surgical care, and to lead our health care system in the right direction.  By administering myriad continuing medical education offerings, reflecting technology advancements and distance-learning options; accrediting simulation institutes that offer surgeons and surgical residents opportunities to learn new procedures and emerging technology; and providing surgeons with opportunities to record and obtain information they need for American surgical specialty board Maintenance of Certification requirements, the College "promotes high quality educational programs designed to educate surgeons and directly improve the health and safety of surgical patients."  By means of standard setting and rigorous review processes through its Commission on Cancer, National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer, Committee on Trauma, and Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, the American College of Surgeons accredits and verifies facilities to help ensure that surgical patients get high-quality care.  In an effort to provide surgeons with the best scientific evidence available through evidence-based data, ACS works to improve the quality of surgical care through the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, National Cancer Data Base, National Trauma Data Bank, and Trauma Quality Improvement Program.  ACS monitors and analyzes socioeconomic, legislative, and regulatory issues affecting the practice of surgery through its Division of Advocacy and Health Policy based in Washington, DC, and the ACS Professional Association. The College participates in health policy development on these issues, prepares responses to Congress and federal agencies, and serves as a liaison between the ACS and Congress and federal agencies, as well as the offices of other surgical and medical associations regarding health policy matters of importance to surgeons and surgical patients.

The Murphy Auditorium.

In 1919, the headquarters of the ACS were a former private residence at 40 East Erie Street near downtown Chicago, the Samuel M. Nickerson House. In 1923, on property adjacent to the Nickerson House, the ACS commissioned the creation of the John B. Murphy Memorial Auditorium from the architectural firm of Marshall and Fox. By 2003, the organization grew larger than the space provided by these two buildings and moved to the present location at 633 N. Saint Clair. The Nickerson House was sold and later served as a museum, while the Murphy Auditorium was renovated and in June 2006 reopened as a venue for public events. The ACS maintains ownership of the building.

Commission on Cancer.

The American College of Surgeons established the Commission on Cancer (CoC) in 1922 to develop standards for treating cancer. In 2016, the CoC began working to ensure a patient-centered standard of care across programs. Another of its recent actions was to help form the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer.

Publications.

The American College of Surgeons distributes numerous publications, including peer-reviewed journals. They include:

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is an educational association of surgeons founded in 1912. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the ACS provides membership for doctors worldwide specializing in surgery who pass a set of rigorous qualifications.