Medical uses.

Apomorphine is used in advanced Parkinson's disease intermittent hypomobility ("off" episodes), where a decreased response to an anti-Parkinson drug such as -DOPA causes muscle stiffness and loss of muscle control. While apomorphine can be used in combination with -DOPA, the intention is usually to reduce the -DOPA dosing, as by this stage the patient often has many of dyskinesias caused by -DOPA and hypermobility periods. When an episode sets in, the apomorphine is injected subcutaneously, and signs subside. It is used an average of three times a day. Some people use portable mini-pumps that continuously infuse them with apomorphine, allowing them to stay in the "on" state and using apomorphine as an effective monotherapy.

Contraindications.

The main and absolute contraindication to using apomorphine is the concurrent use of adrenergic receptor antagonists; combined, they cause a severe drop in blood pressure and fainting. Alcohol causes an increased frequency of orthostatic hypotension (a sudden drop in blood pressure when getting up), and can also increase the chances of pneumonia and heart attacks. Dopamine antagonists, by their nature of competing for sites at dopamine receptors, reduce the effectiveness of the agonistic apomorphine.  IV administration of apomorphine is highly discouraged, as it can crystallize in the veins and create a blood clot (thrombus) and block a pulmonary artery (pulmonary embolism).

Side effects.

Nausea and vomiting are common side effects when first beginning therapy with apomorphine; antiemetics such as trimethobenzamide or domperidone, dopamine antagonists, are often used while first starting apomorphine. Around 50% of people grow tolerant enough to apomorphine's emetic effects that they can discontinue the antiemetic.  Other side effects include orthostatic hypotension and resultant fainting, sleepiness, dizziness, runny nose, sweating, paleness, and flushing. More serious side effects include dyskinesias (especially when taking -DOPA), fluid accumulation in the limbs (edema), suddenly falling asleep, confusion and hallucinations, increased heart rate and heart palpitations, and persistent erections (priaprism). The priaprism is caused by apomorphine increasing arterial blood supply to the penis. This side effect has been exploited in studies attempting to treat erectile dysfunction.

Pharmacology.

Mechanism of action.

Apomorphine's R-enantiomer is an agonist of both D and D dopamine receptors, with higher activity at D. The members of the D subfamily, consisting of D, D, and D receptors, are inhibitory G protein–coupled receptors. The D receptor in particular is an important target in the signaling pathway, and is connected to several neurological disorders. Shortage or excess of dopamine can prevent proper function and signaling of these receptors leading to disease states.  Apomorphine improves motor function by activating dopamine receptors in the nigrostriatal pathway, the limbic system, the hypothalamus, and the pituitary gland. It also increases blood flow to the supplementary motor area and to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (stimulation of which has been found to reduce the tardive dyskinesia effects of -DOPA). Parkinson's has also been found to have excess iron at the sites of neurodegeneration; both the R- and S-enantiomers of apomorphine are potent iron chelators and radical scavengers.  Apomorphine also reduces the breakdown of dopamine in the brain (though it inhibits its synthesis as well). It is a powerful upregulator of certain neural growth factors, in particular NGF and BDNF, epigenetic downregulation of which has been associated with addictive behaviour in rats.  Apomorphine causes vomiting by acting on dopamine receptors in the chemoreceptor trigger zone of the medulla; this activates the nearby vomiting center.

Pharmacokinetics.

While apomorphine has lower bioavailability when taken orally, due to not being absorbed well in the GI tract and undergoing heavy first-pass metabolism, it has a bioavailability of 100% when given subcutaneously. It reaches peak plasma concentration in 10–60 minutes. Ten to twenty minutes after that, it reaches its peak concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid. Its lipophilic structure allows it to cross the blood–brain barrier.  Apomorphine possesses affinity for the following receptors (note that a "higher" "K" indicates a "lower" affinity):  It has a "K" of over 10,000 nM (and thus negligible affinity) for β-adrenergic, H, and mACh.  Apomorphine has a high clearance rate (3–5 L/kg/hr) and is mainly metabolized and excreted by the liver. It is likely that while the cytochrome P450 system plays a minor role, most of apomorphine's metabolism happens via auto-oxidation, O-glucuronidation, O-methylation, N-demethylation, and sulfation. Only 3–4% of the apomorphine is excreted unchanged and into the urine. The half-life is 30–60 minutes, and the effects of the injection last for up to 90 minutes.  Toxicity depends on the route of administraion; the LDs in mice were 300 mg/kg for the oral route, 160 mg/kg for intraperitoneal, and 56 mg/kg intravenous.

Chemistry.

Properties.

Apomorphine has a catechol structure similar to that of dopamine.

Synthesis.

Several techniques exist for the creation of apomorphine from morphine. In the past, morphine had been combined with hydrochloric acid at high temperatures (around 150 °C) to achieve a low yield of apomorphine, ranging anywhere from 0.6% to 46%. More recent techniques create the apomorphine in a similar fashion, by heating it in the presence of any acid that will promote the essential dehydration rearrangement of morphine-type alkaloids, such as phosphoric acid. The method then deviates by including a water scavenger, which is essential to remove the water produced by the reaction that can react with the product and lead to decreased yield. The scavenger can be any reagent that will irreversibly react with water such as phthalic anhydride or titanium chloride. The temperature required for the reaction varies based upon choice of acid and water scavenger. The yield of this reaction is much higher: at least 55%.

History.

The pharmacological effects of the naturally-occurring analog aporphine in the blue lotus ("N. caerulea") were known to the ancient Egyptians and Mayans, with the plant featuring in tomb frescoes and associated with entheogenic rites. It is also observed in Egyptian erotic cartoons, suggesting that they were aware of its erectogenic properties.  The modern medical history of apomorphine begins with its synthesis by Arppe in 1845 from morphine and sulfuric acid, although it was named "sulphomorphide" at first. Matthiesen and Wright (1869) used hydrochloric acid instead of sulfuric acid in the process, naming the resulting compound "apomorphine". Initial interest in the compound was as an emetic, tested and confirmed safe by London doctor Samuel Gee, and for the treatment of stereotypies in farmyard animals. Key to the use of apomorphine as a behavioural modifier was the research of Erich Harnack, whose experiments in rabbits (which do not vomit) demonstrated that apomorphine had powerful effects on the activity of rabbits, inducing licking, gnawing and in very high doses convulsions and death.

Treatment of alcoholism.

Apomorphine was one of the earliest used pharmacotherapies for alcoholism. The Keeley Cure (1870s to 1900) contained apomorphine, among other ingredients, but the first medical reports of its use for more than pure emesis come from James Tompkins and Charles Douglas. Tompkins reported, after injection of 6.5 mg ("one tenth of a grain"):In four minutes free emesis followed, rigidity gave way to relaxation, excitement to somnolence, and without further medication the patient, who before had been wild and delirious, went off into a quiet sleep.Douglas saw two purposes for apomorphine:[it can be used to treat] a paroxysm of dipsomania [an episode of intense alcoholic craving]... "in minute doses" it is much more rapidly efficient in stilling the dipsomaniac craving than strychnine or atropine... Four or even 3m [minim – roughly 60 microlitres] of the solution usually checks for some hours the incessant demands of the patient... when he awakes from the apomorphine sleep he may still be demanding alcohol, though he is never then so insistent as before. Accordingly it may be necessary to repeat the dose, and even to continue to give it twice or three times a day. Such repeated doses, however, do not require to be so large: 4 or even 3m is usually sufficient.This use of small, continuous doses (1/30th of a grain, or 2.16 mg by Douglas) of apomorphine to reduce alcoholic craving comes some time before Pavlov's discovery and publication of the idea of the "conditioned reflex" in 1903. This method was not limited to Douglas; the Irish doctor Francis Hare, who worked in a sanatorium outside London from 1905 onwards, also used low-dose apomorphine as a treatment, describing it as "the most useful single drug in the therapeutics of inebriety". He wrote:In (the) sanatorium it is used in three different sets of circumstances: (1) in maniacal or hysterical drunkenness: (2) during the paroxysm of dipsomania, "in order to still the craving for alcohol;" and (3) in essential insomnia of a special variety... [after giving apomorphine] the patient’s mental condition is entirely altered. He may be sober: he is free from the time being from any craving from alcohol. The craving may return, however, and then it is necessary to repeat the injection, it may be several times at intervals of a few hours. These succeeding injections should be quite small, 3 to 6 min. being sufficient. "Doses of this size are rarely emetic." There is little facial pallor, a sensation as of the commencement of sea-sickness, perhaps a slight malaise with a sudden subsidence of the craving for alcohol, followed by a light and short doze.He also noted there appeared to be a significant prejudice against the use of apomorphine, both from the associations of its name and doctors being reluctant to give hypodermic injections to alcoholics. In the US, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act made working with any morphine derivatives extremely hard, despite apomorphine itself not being an opiate.  In the 1950s the neurotransmitter dopamine was discovered in the brain by Kathleen Montagu, and characterised as a neurotransmitter a year later by Arvid Carlsson, for which he would be awarded the Nobel Prize. A. N. Ernst then discovered in 1965 that apomorphine was a powerful stimulant of dopamine receptors. This, along with the use of sublingual apomorphine tablets, led to a renewed interest in the use of apomorphine as a treatment for alcoholism. A series of studies of non-emetic apomorphine in the treatment of alcoholism were published, with mostly positive results. However, there was little clinical consequence.

Parkinson's disease.

The use of apomorphine to treat "the shakes" was first suggested by Weil in France in 1884, although seemingly not pursued until 1951. Its clinical use was first reported in 1970 by Cotzias et al., although its emetic properties and short half-life made oral use impractical. A later study found that combining the drug with the antiemetic domperidone improved results significantly. The commercialization of apomorphine for Parkinson's disease followed its successful use in patients with refractory motor fluctuations using intermittent rescue injections and continuous infusions.

Aversion therapy.

Aversion therapy in alcoholism had its roots in Russia in the early 1930s, with early papers by Pavlov, Galant and Sluchevsky and Friken, and would remain a strain in the Soviet treatment of alcoholism well into the 1980s. In the US a particularly notable devotee was Dr Voegtlin, who attempted aversion therapy using apomorphine in the mid to late 1930s. However, he found apomorphine less able to induce negative feelings in his subjects than the stronger and more unpleasant emetic emetine.  In the UK, however, the publication of J Y Dent's (who later went on to treat Burroughs) 1934 paper "Apomorphine in the treatment of Anxiety States" laid out the main method by which apomorphine would be used to treat alcoholism in Britain. His method in that paper is clearly influenced by the then-novel idea of aversion:He is given his favourite drink, and his favourite brand of that drink... He takes it stronger than is usual to him... The small dose of apomorphine, one-twentieth of a grain [3.24mg], is now given subcutaneously into his thigh, and he is told that he will be sick in a quarter of an hour. A glass of whisky and water and a bottle of whisky are left by his bedside. At six o'clock (four hours later) he is again visited and the same treatment is again administered... The nurse is told in confidence that if he does not drink, one-fortieth [1.62mg] of a grain of apomorphine should be injected during the night at nine o'clock, one o'clock, and five o'clock, but that if he drinks the injection should be given soon after the drink and may be increased to two hourly intervals. In the morning at about ten he is again given one or two glasses of whisky and water... and again one-twentieth of a grain [3.24mg] of apomorphine is injected... The next day he is allowed to eat what he likes, he may drink as much tea as he likes... He will be strong enough to get up and two days later he leaves the home.However, even in 1934 he was suspicious of the idea that the treatment was pure conditioned reflex – "though vomiting is one of the ways that apomorphine relives the patient, I do not believe it to be its main therapeutic effect." – and by 1948 he wrote:It is now twenty-five years since I began treating cases of anxiety and alcoholism with apomorphine, and I read my first paper before this Society fourteen years ago. Up till then I had thought, and, unfortunately, I said in my paper, that the virtue of the treatment lay in the conditioned reflex of aversion produced in the patient. This statement is not even a half truth... I have been forced to the conclusion that apomorphine has some further action than the production of a vomit.This led to his development of lower-dose and non-aversive methods, which would inspire a positive trial of his method in Switzerland by Dr Harry Feldmann and later scientific testing in the 1970s, some time after his death. However, the use of apomorphine in aversion therapy had escaped alcoholism, with its use to treat homosexuality leading to the death of a British Army Captain Billy Clegg HIll in 1962, helping to cement its reputation as a dangerous drug used primarily in archaic behavioural therapies.

Opioid addiction.

In his "Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness" in the introduction to later editions of "Naked Lunch" (first published in 1959), William S. Burroughs wrote that apomorphine treatment was the only effective cure to opioid addiction he has encountered:  He goes on to lament the fact that as of his writing, little to no research has been done on apomorphine or variations of the drug to study its effects on curing addiction, and perhaps the possibility of retaining the positive effects while removing the side effect of vomiting.  Despite his claims throughout his life, Burroughs never really cured his addiction and was back to using opiates within years of his apomorphine "cure". However, he insisted on apomorphine's effectiveness in several works and interviews.

Society and culture.

Research.

There is renewed interest in the use of apomorphine to treat addiction, in both smoking cessation and alcoholism. As the drug is known to be reasonably safe for use in humans, it is a viable target for repurposing.Apomorphine has been researched as a possible treatment for erectile dysfunction and female hypoactive sexual desire disorder, though the arousal effects were found not to be reliable enough. One large study found that only 39.4% got erections (compared to baseline 13.1); another found that apomorphine was successful 45–51% of the time, but the placebo also worked 36% of the time. Nonetheless, it was under development as a treatment for erectile dysfunction by TAP Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Uprima. In 2000, TAP withdrew its new drug application after an FDA review panel raised questions about the drug's safety, due to many clinical trial subjects fainting after taking the drug.

Alzheimer's disease.

Apomorphine is reported to be an inhibitor of amyloid beta protein (Aβ) fiber formation, whose presence is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and a potential therapeutic under the amyloid hypothesis. While it promotes oligomerization of the Aβ40 group of molecules, it inhibits more advanced fibril formation; this is thought to be due to the autoxidation that occurs at the hydroxyl groups. Once this functional group was altered, the inhibitory effect could be seen to decrease, reducing either the indirect or direct interference of the fibril formation.  The protective effects of apomorphine were tested in mouse models with mutations in genes related to AD, such as the amyloid precursor protein gene. Apomorphine was seen to significantly improve memory function through the increased successful completion of the Morris Water Maze. The levels of the aberrant proteins that lead to neuronal disruption were also tested in the brains of mice. Treatment was seen to decrease the intraneuronal levels of the more aggressive Aβ42 molecule when compared to the control mice. This result is consistent with the finding that another protein linked to AD, tau protein, was seen to decrease with apomorphine treatment.

Veterinary use.

Apomorphine is used to inducing vomiting in dogs after ingestion of various toxins or foreign bodies. It can be given subcutaneously, intramuscularly, intravenously, or, when a tablet is crushed, in the conjunctiva of the eye. The oral route is ineffective, as apomorphine cannot cross the blood–brain barrier fast enough, and blood levels don't reach a high enough concentration to stimulate the chemoreceptor trigger zone. It can remove around 40–60% of the contents in the stomach.  One of the reasons apomorphine is a preferred drug is its reversibility: in cases of prolonged vomiting, the apomorphine can be reversed with dopamine antagonists like the phenothiazines (for example, acepromazine). Giving apomorphine after giving acepromazine, however, will no longer stimulate vomiting, because apomorphine's target receptors are already occupied. An animal who undergoes severe respiratory depression due to apomorphine can be treated with naloxone.  Apomorphine does not work in cats, who have too few dopamine receptors.

Apomorphine, sold under the brand name Apokyn among others, is a type of aporphine having activity as a non-selective dopamine agonist which activates both D-like and, to a much lesser extent, D-like receptors. It also acts as an antagonist of 5-HT and α-adrenergic receptors with high affinity. The compound is historically a morphine decomposition product made by boiling morphine with concentrated acid, hence the -"morphine" suffix. Contrary to its name, apomorphine does not actually contain morphine or its skeleton, nor does it bind to opioid receptors. The "apo"- prefix relates to it being a morphine derivative ("[comes] from morphine").

Apomorfin (INN, obchodní názvy Apokyn, Ixense, Spontane, Uprima) je neselektivní dopaminový agonista, který aktivuje jak receptory D, tak i D, s určitou preferencí pro subtypy druhých z nich. Název vznikl složením "apo" (odkazující na to, že je apomorfin derivát aporfinu) a "morfin" (protože apomorfin vzniká rozkladem morfinu zahříváním s koncentrovanými kyselinami). Apomorfin však neobsahuje morfin ani jeho molekulární kostru, ani se neváže na opioidní receptory.


Biography.

He was born on 2 May 1891 in Egglkofen. He joined the Royal Bavarian Army on 21 September 1911 in the rank of Fahnenjunker (cadet). After finishing basic training, he received was commissioned a "Leutnant" (second lieutenant) on 25 October 1913 and assigned to the 18th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment. He fought in World War I, where he was wounded, and was awarded the Iron Cross (First Class) and the Iron Cross (2nd class) in 1914. After the war, he remained in the army and, on 1 December 1935 was promoted to Oberstleutnant; on 1 April 1938 he was promoted further to the rank of Oberst (colonel). From 1 April 1939 till 1941 he served as a military attaché in the German embassy in Rome. After that, he was promoted on 1 October 1941 as Generalmajor and on 1 October 1942 as Generalleutnant.  In September 1943, as General der Infanterie (promoted on 1 September 1943), he became commissioner of the German army in Italy (Bevollmächtigter General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien). On 26 July 1944, he was replaced in this position by SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff and Toussaint became commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, replacing Ferdinand Schaal and, simultaneously, held the position of Commander of the Military District of Bohemia and Moravia. As such he was the last Nazi commander of Prague. After World War II, he was captured by US troops in Pilsen and, on 19 April 1947, he was transferred into Czechoslovakia, where on 26 October 1948 he was condemned to life imprisonment for the murder of civilians in the Prague uprising.  In 1955, he agreed to collaborate with Czechoslovak State Security, but the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia refused to consent to his release from prison. While still in prison, he provided them information relating to the West German military leaders and political figures. In 1961, as part of an exchange for two communist agents, he was released to West Germany, where he died in 1968.

Rudolf Toussaint (2 May 1891 – 1 July 1968) was a German Army officer. Toussaint saw action in both World Wars. During World War II he was appointed Commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.

Rudolf Toussaint (2. května 1891, Egglkofen – 1. července 1968, Mnichov) byl německý generál, velitel jednotek Wehrmachtu bojujících v Praze při jejím osvobozování. Dne 8. května 1945 v 16.00 Toussaint před Českou národní radou, v čele s Albertem Pražákem, podepsal kapitulační protokol o stažení Němců z Prahy a ponechání těžkých zbraní v Praze. (Den předtím kapituloval Jodl, a den poté i velitel jednotek Waffen-SS na území Protektorátu Čechy a Morava von Pückler).


Protests organized by ¡Democracia Real YA!

Shortly after Stéphane Hessel's 2010 tract "Time for Outrage!" "(Indignez-vous!)" and Rosa María Artal's 2011 book, "React" ("Reacciona") were published, DRY organized demonstrations in 50 Spanish cities for May 15, 2011. The demonstrations requested a new democratic model denouncing the corruption of politicians and the powerful influence of banks in the political sphere. The movement refused to support any specific political party or labor union, and thousands of citizens mobilized under the slogan "Real democracy NOW, We are not merchandise for bankers and politicians." After the very first demonstration in Madrid, a few of these protesters attempted an overnight occupation of the Puerta del Sol; they were consequently arrested the following morning on May 17. On the first night of protests, 19 students were arrested and charged for public disorder and damaging public property. Eighteen of the arrested individuals were kept for two days, and one was released for health reasons. According to witnesses of the event, there was reported "abuse of authority" by the police when handling the protesters. Those protesters who stayed in the Puerta del Sol demanded the students be released and that all charges be dropped. On May 17, the 18 remaining students were released, but protesters stood outside the gates of the courts demanding their acquittal. After the eviction, DRY stated,  In response, ten thousand people returned to the plaza with the intent to remain until the elections on Sunday, May 22. Camps began to spread beyond the Puerta del Sol to main squares in many other cities throughout Spain, and eventually Europe. On May 18, the Board of Elections of Madrid prohibited the protest in the Puerta del Sol, and protests were also banned in Granada. This resulted in an influx of protesters, or as they called themselves "indignados" - the outraged. The gathering was organized via Twitter. Police surrounded the protestors on the 18th, but made no attempts to interfere. In the days before Spanish regional elections ¡Democracia Real YA! clarified that the camps had been organized by individuals, not by DRY. They stated that they were not seeking abstention, but rather long term change to political and financial institutions in order for them to better serve the majority of the population.  The Central Board of Elections met to decide definitively about the fate of the protests prior to the election. Twenty-four hours immediately preceding and election day is called The Day of Reflection, during which all political campaigning is prohibited. The Board ruled that the encampments must be broken up during that period. It was decided that the protests were politically charged in such a way that they might affect the outcome of the elections. President Zapatero agreed with the Board's ruling. On May 21, many of the encampments across Spain were raided. No violence accompanied this dispersal; the police were ordered not to use force. Despite the Election Board's ruling, there were protesters that remained. Some of those remaining protesters symbolically taped their mouths shut as they were ordered to be silent.

Democracia Real YA's manifesto.

Despite allegations of being a left-wing movement, Democracia Real YA's manifesto, and the movement's rhetoric in general, claim to transcend the traditional one-dimensional left-right paradigm and call for a democratic regeneration:  Some of us consider ourselves progressive, others conservative. Some of us are believers, some not. Some of us have clearly defined ideologies, others are apolitical, but we are all concerned and angry about the political, economic, and social outlook which we see around us; corruption among politicians, businessmen, bankers, leaves us helpless, without a voice. This situation has become normal, a daily suffering, without hope. But if we join forces, we can change it. It's time to change things, time to build a better society together.  The manifesto emphasizes the responsibility of the government to provide all of its citizens with "the right to housing, employment, culture, health, education, political participation, free personal development, and consumer rights for a healthy and happy life." Democracia Real Ya calls for an ethical revolution, and a recognition of the priority of "equality, progress, solidarity, freedom of culture, sustainability and development, welfare and people's happiness." The manifesto has been criticised for not recognising how Spain's largely uncritical embrace of some aspects of cultural modernity - consumerism and hedonism in particular - has in many respects created the economic crisis.

Demands of ¡Democracia Real YA!

¡Democracia Real YA! and the protesters have stated that their demands are that the Spanish government:  They believe that these demands will bring about the change in society needed to assist those who are not among the country's privileged elite and to ensure that Spain functions as a true democracy in which the people's voices are heard and considered.

May Elections and future directions for DRY.

On May 22, the Popular Party won in a majority of Spanish local and regional elections. The Popular Party, the conservative party in Spain, was able to win the election because the liberal vote was fractured among multiple political parties (the greatest harm being done to the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party). The results of this election have led some to criticize of the electoral system. Some have also noted that the economic crisis currently facing Spain almost guaranteed a majority victory for the Popular Party in the November Elections.  For the November 20, 2011 elections, the Madrid Electoral Board banned any protest in any square or street fifteen days before the election. Despite this ban, plans were made for protests on the 11th and 13th, as the ban was expected to increase protest participation.  The main criticism of ¡Democracia real YA! is that the economy has taken over the political system. In order to promote democratic process,¡Democracia real YA! has proposed Democracia 4.0

Influences and related social movements.

While the concentration of economic and political power are at the heart of the protests in Spain, other sources of inspiration include the financial crisis of Iceland, the film "Inside Job", and the text Time for Outrage! (English translation), a booklet written by a concentration camp survivor and member of the French Resistance, Stéphane Hessel. The protests in Spain are part of a global unrest brought about by austerity measures implemented by various governments, such as pension reform for public employees in Wisconsin.  Other protests with similarities to the Spanish protests include:  The Protests in Spain also inspired the Occupy Wall Street movement Democracia Real Ya calls for the immediate return of control over the polis and government back to the people. As demonstrated by protesters camping out in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, Tahrir Square in Cairo, Puerta del Sol in Madrid, and Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona, there is a general discontent for the usurpation of public control by private interests. Those encamped hope to raise awareness and support for their cause of putting people ahead of corporate interests and making sure that democratic governments around the world are capable of serving as voices of the voting public.

Members/participants.

The movement is made up of individuals as well as a coalition of around 200 various grassroots organizations such as:

' (, Spanish for Real Democracy NOW!), also known as'(Real Democracy NOW Platform!), is a Spanish grassroots organization that started in March 2011 in Madrid, Spain. It sparked the political movement of May 15, 2011 ("15M") whose protests gained worldwide attention. The protests been compared to the May 1968 social movement in France.

¡Democracia Real YA! (česky Skutečnou demokracii teď!, anglicky Real Democracy Now!) je politická platforma vzniklá ve Španělsku, která sama sebe popisuje jako pacifistické seskupení nepříslušící k žádné politické straně ani syndikátu a prosazující participativní a přímou demokracii a samosprávu, realizovanou pomocí lidových sněmů a konsensuálního rozhodování.


History.

The area was first explored by the Portuguese in 1785 and claimed for Portugal by Luís Cândido Cordeiro Pinheiro Furtado, who had been sent there in the frigate "Loanda" by the then governor-general of Angola, Baron Moçâmedes (Portuguese: "Barão de Mossâmedes"), who also sent an overland expedition headed by Gregório José Mendes to rendezvous with Furtado. They renamed the bay Moçâmedes in honour of the baron.  In 1839 the then governor-general of Angola, Admiral Noronha, sent a fresh expedition to subdue the local chiefs and make them vassals of Portugal.  Moçâmedes was officially founded in 1840 by the Portuguese colonial administration on a bay that the Portuguese originally called "Angra do Negro" by order of Portuguese prime minister, the Count of Bonfim, who was also head of the Colonial Department.  In 1840 a factory was established and in July of the same year a fort was built at Ponta Negra. The area was colonized mainly by Portuguese settlers from Madeira and Brazil; in the 1850s the Portuguese government also gave sea passage and financial assistance to a large number of German colonists.  The village grew as a fishing port and by the 1960s it had 143 fishing boats and several fish processing factories. The port soon ranked alongside other important fishing ports such as Luanda, Benguela and Lobito.  About 200 km from the city of Namibe the Portuguese authorities founded the Iona National Park, Angola's oldest and largest national park, proclaimed as a reserve in 1937 and upgraded to a national park covering 15,150 km2 in 1964.

Climate.

Moçâmedes has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification "BWh").

Economy.

During 1966-67 a major iron ore terminal was built at Saco, the bay 12 km North of Moçâmedes, to serve the iron ore mine inland at Cassinga. Construction of the mine installations and a 300 km railway were commissioned to Krupp of Germany and the modern harbour terminal to SETH, a Portuguese company owned by Højgaard & Schultz of Denmark.  Within one year the first 250,000 ton ore carrier docked and loaded with ore in 1967.

Culture.

Religion.

The city's Sé Catedral de São Pedro is the cathedral episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Namibe, which was established in 2009 on territory split from its Metropolitan's Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lubango, to which it is a suffragan.

Sports.

In 2013, Moçâmedes, then called Namibe, and the national capital Luanda jointly hosted the 2013 FIRS Men's Roller Hockey World Cup, the first time that a World Cup of roller hockey was held in Africa.

Transport.

Rail.

Moçâmedes is the terminus of the Moçâmedes Railway. This line was originally 600mm gauge but was converted to 1067mm gauge in the 1950s.

Sea.

It has one of Angola's three major ports, alongside Luanda and Lobito.

Air.

Moçâmedes is served by the Namibe Airport located about 7 km to the south of the city. The old Yuri Gagarin airport, only about 1.7 km from the city's center, connects the city to the rest of the country.

Moçâmedes is a city in southwestern Angola, capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000 (2014 census). Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese colonial administration, the city was briefly renamed "Namibe", between 1985 and 2016. Moçâmedes has a cool dry climate and desert vegetation, because it is near the Namib Desert.

Namib, do roku 1985 Moçâmedes, je angolské město. Leží na jihozápadě Angoly, na pobřeží Atlantského oceánu. Má 150 000 obyvatel. Je hlavním městem stejnojmenné angolské provincie. Je důležité svým přístavem, po Luandě a Lobitu třetím největším v Angole. Letiště, nazvané po Juriji Gagarinovi slouží pro vnitrostátní lety.


History.

Exploration and 19th-century development.

Indigenous inhabitants of Galveston Island called the island "Auia". Though there is no certainty regarding their route and their landings, Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were shipwrecked at a place he called “Isla de Malhado” in November 1528. This could have referred to Galveston Island or San Luis Island. During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785, the Spanish explorer José de Evia labeled the water features surrounding the island “Bd. de Galvestown” and “Bahia de Galvestowm” [sic]. He was working under the orders of Bernardo de Gálvez. In his early chart, he calls the western end of the island “Isla de San Luis” and the eastern end, “Pt. de Culebras.” Evia did not label the island itself on his map of 1799. Just five years later Alexander von Humboldt borrows the place names Isla de San Luis, Pte. De

Hurricane of 1900 and recovery.

On September 8, 1900, the island was struck by a devastating hurricane. This event holds the record as the United States' deadliest natural disaster. The city was devastated, and an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people on the island were killed. Following the storm, a long, high seawall was built to protect the city from floods and hurricane storm surges. A team of engineers including Henry Martyn Robert (Robert's Rules of Order) designed the plan to raise much of the existing city to a sufficient elevation behind a seawall so that confidence in the city could be maintained.  The city developed

Post–World War II.

The end of the war drastically reduced military investment in the island. Increasing enforcement of gambling laws and the growth of Las Vegas, Nevada as a competitive center of gambling and entertainment put pressure on the gaming industry on the island. Finally in 1957, Texas Attorney General Will Wilson and the Texas Rangers began a massive campaign of raids which disrupted gambling and prostitution in the city. As these vice industries crashed, so did tourism, taking the rest of the Galveston economy with it. Neither the economy nor the culture of the city was the same afterward.  The island's economy began a long stagnation. Many businesses relocated off the island during this period; however, health care, insurance and financial industries continue to be strong contributors to the economy. By 1959, the city of Houston had long out-paced Galveston in population and economic growth. Beginning in 1957, the Galveston Historical Foundation began

Geography.

The city of Galveston is situated on Galveston Island, a barrier island off the Texas Gulf coast near the mainland coast. Made up of mostly sand-sized particles and smaller amounts of finer mud sediments and larger gravel-sized sediments, the island is unstable, affected by water and weather, and can shift its boundaries through erosion.  The city is about southeast of downtown Houston. The island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, West Bay on the west, and Galveston Bay on the north. The island's main access point from the mainland is the Interstate Highway 45 causeway that crosses West Bay on the island's northeast side.  A deepwater channel connects Galveston's harbor with the Gulf and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of, of which are land and, or 80.31%, are water. The island is southeast of Houston.  The western portion of Galveston is referred to as the "West End". Communities in eastern Galveston include Lake Madeline, Offats Bayou, Central City, Fort Crockett, Bayou Shore, Lasker Park, Carver Park, Kempner Park, Old City/Central Business District, San Jacinto, East End, and Lindale. As of 2009 many residents of the west end use golf carts as transportation to take them to and from residential houses, the Galveston Island Country Club, and stores. In 2009, Chief of Police Charles Wiley said he believed golf carts should be prohibited outside golf courses, and West End residents campaigned against any ban on their use.  In 2011 Rice University released a study, ""Atlas of Sustainable Strategies for Galveston Island,"" which argued the West End of Galveston was quickly eroding and the city should reduce construction and/or population in that area. It recommended against any rebuilding of the West End in the event of damage from another hurricane.

Historic districts.

Galveston is home to six historic districts with over 60 structures listed representing architectural significance in the National Register of Historic Places. The Silk Stocking National Historic District, between Broadway and Seawall Boulevard and bounded by Ave. K, 23rd St., Ave. P, and 26th St., contains a collection of historic homes constructed from the Civil War through World War II. The East End Historic District on both sides of Broadway and

Oleander City.

Since the early 20th century, Galveston has been popularly known as the 'Oleander City' because of a long history of cultivating Nerium oleander, a subtropical evergreen shrub which thrives on the island. Oleanders are a defining feature of the city; when flowering (between April and October) they add masses of color to local gardens, parks, and streets. Thousands were planted in the recovery following the Hurricane of 1900 and Galvestonians continue to treasure the plant for its low

Climate.

Galveston's climate is classified as humid subtropical ("Cfa" in ), and is part of USDA Plant hardiness zone 9b. Prevailing winds from the south and southeast bring moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Summer temperatures regularly exceed and the area's humidity drives the heat index even higher, while nighttime lows average around. Winters in the area are temperate with typical January highs above and lows near. Snowfall is generally rare; however, of snow fell in February 1895, making the 1894–95 winter the snowiest on record. Annual

Demographics.

2010 Census data.

As of the census of 2010, there were 47,743 people, 19,943 households, and 10,779 families residing in the city., the city had a total population of 50,550. The population density was 1,159 people per square mile (447/km). There were 32,368 housing units at an average density of 786 per square mile (303/km). The racial makeup of the city was 62.5% White, 19.2% Black or African American, 0.9% Native American, 3.2% Asian, <0.1% Pacific Islander, 11.0% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. 31.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 19,943 households out of which 20.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% were married couples living together,

Economy.

Port of Galveston.

The Port of Galveston, also called Galveston Wharves, began as a trading post in 1825. Today, the port has grown to of port facilities. The port is located on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, on the north side of Galveston Island, with some facilities on Pelican Island. The port has facilities to handle all types of cargo including containers, dry and liquid bulk, breakbulk, Roll-on/roll-off, refrigerated cargo and project cargoes.  The port also serves as a passenger cruise ship terminal for cruise ships operating in the Caribbean. The terminal was home port to two Carnival Cruise Lines vessels, the "Carnival Conquest" and the "Carnival Ecstasy". In

Finance.

American National Insurance Company, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States, is based in Galveston. The company and its subsidiaries operate in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. Through its subsidiary, American National de

Tourism.

In the late 1800s Galveston was known as the "Playground of the South" Today, it still retains a shared claim to the title among major cities along the Gulf Coast states. Galveston is a popular tourist destination which in 2007 brought $808 million to the local economy and attracted 5.4 million visitors. The city features an array of lodging options, including hotels such as the historic Hotel Galvez and Tremont House, vintage bed and breakfast inns, beachfront condominiums, and resort rentals like Sand `N Sea Properties. The city's tourist attractions include the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier, Galveston Schlitterbahn waterpark, Moody Gardens botanical park, the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling

Arts and culture.

Galveston Arts Center.

Incorporated in 1986, Galveston Arts Center (GAC) is a non-profit, non-collecting arts organization. The center exhibits contemporary art, often by Texas-based artists, and offers educational and outreach programs. Notably, GAC organizes and produces Galveston ArtWalk. Museum entry is free to the public, although cash donations are welcomed. Tiered membership options and a range of

Galveston ArtWalk.

ArtWalk takes place approximately every six weeks on Saturday evenings throughout the year. ArtWalk is organized by Galveston Arts Center, which releases an ArtWalk brochure featuring a map of participating venues as well as descriptions of shows and exhibits. Venues include GAC,

Music and performing arts.

Galveston Symphony Orchestra.

Galveston is home to the Galveston Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble of

Galveston Ballet.

The Galveston Ballet is a regional pre-professional ballet company and academy serving Galveston county. The company presents one full-length classical ballet in the spring of each year and one mixed repertory program in the fall, both presented at the Grand 1894 Opera House.

Artist Residency & artist housing.

Galveston Artist Residency.

Galveston Artist Residency (GAR) grants studio space, living space and a stipend to three visual artists each year. Resident artists work in

The National Hotel Artist Lofts.

The National Hotel Artist Lofts (NHAL) is an Artspace-developed property featuring twenty-seven live/work units designated as affordable housing for artists. The project brought new life to the historic E.S. Levy Building, which was left abandoned for twenty years. Originally built as the Tremont Opera House in 1870, the structure was extensively renovated to serve various functions, from offices and stores to the National Hotel. The building also housed the U.S. National Weather Bureau's Galveston office under Isaac Cline during the 1900 Storm.  Under Property Manager/Creative Director Becky Major, the unused retail space in the front of the building found a new purpose as a DIY art and music venue, despite its gutted and undeveloped state. In May 2015, the newly renovated space reopened as the Proletariat Gallery & Public House. This bar and gallery provides a common area for NHAL and neighborhood residents and a cultural hub for the broader community. Visual art, events and live music are regularly hosted in the space.

Architecture.

Galveston contains a large and historically significant collection of 19th-century buildings in the United States. Galveston's architectural preservation and revitalization efforts over several decades have earned national recognition.  Located in the Strand District, the Grand 1894 Opera House is a restored historic Romanesque Revival style Opera House that is currently operated as a not-for-profit performing arts theater. The Bishop's Palace, also known as Gresham's Castle, is an ornate Victorian house located on Broadway and 14th Street in the East End Historic District of Galveston, Texas. The American Institute of Architects listed Bishop's Palace as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the United States, and the Library of Congress has classified it as one of the fourteen most representative Victorian structures in the nation.  The Galvez Hotel is a historic hotel that opened in 1911. The building was named the Galvez, honoring Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez, for whom the city was named. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1979. The Michel B. Menard House, built in 1838 and oldest in Galveston, is

Government.

City government.

After the hurricane of 1900, the city originated the city commission form of city government (which became known as the "Galveston Plan"). The city has since adopted the council-manager form of government. Galveston's city council serves as the city's legislative branch, while the city manager works as the chief executive officer, and the municipal court system serves as the city's judicial branch. The city council and mayor promote ordinances to establish municipal policies. The Galveston City Council

County, state, and federal government.

Galveston is the seat and second-largest city (after League City, Texas) of Galveston County in population. The Galveston County Justice Center, which houses all the county's judicial functions as well as jail, is located on 59th street. The Galveston County Administrative Courthouse, the seat of civil and administrative functions, is located near the city's downtown. Galveston is within the County Precinct 1; Patrick Doyle serves as the

Education.

Colleges and universities.

Established in 1891 with one building and fewer than 50 students, today the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) campus has grown to more than 70 buildings and an enrollment of more than 2,500 students. The campus includes schools of medicine, nursing, allied health professions, and a graduate school of

Primary and secondary schools.

The city of Galveston is served by Galveston Independent School District, which includes six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school, Ball High School. There is also one magnet middle school, Austin Middle School, serving grades 5 through 8.  Galveston has several state-funded charter schools not affiliated with local school

Media.

The "Galveston County Daily News", founded in 1842, is the city's primary newspaper and the oldest continuously printed newspaper in Texas. It currently serves as the newspaper of record for the city and the Texas City Post serves as the newspaper of record for the County. Radio station KGBC, on air from 1947 to 2010, has

Infrastructure.

Healthcare.

Galveston is the home of several of the largest teaching hospitals in the state, located on the campus of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Prior to Hurricane Ike, the University employed more than 12,000 people. Its significant growth in the 1970s and 1980s was attributable to a uniquely qualified management and medical faculty including: Mr. John Thompson; Dr. William James McGanity, Dr. William Levin, Dr. David Daeschner and many more.  Ike severely damaged the 550-bed John Sealy Hospital causing the University of Texas System Board of Regents to cut nearly one-third of the hospital staff. Since the storm, the regents have committed to spending $713 million to restore the campus, construct new medical towers, and return John Sealy Hospital

Fire department.

The Galveston Fire Department provides fire protection services through six fire stations and 17 pieces of

Library.

The city is served by the Rosenberg Library, successor to the Galveston Mercantile Library, which was founded in 1871. It is

Courts.

The Galveston Division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the first federal court in Texas, is based in Galveston and has jurisdiction over the counties of Galveston, Brazoria, Chambers and Matagorda. It is housed in the United States Post Office, Customs House and Court House

Transportation.

Sea.

Galveston is home to several historic ships: the tall ship "Elissa" (the official Tall Ship of Texas) at the Texas Seaport Museum

Air.

Scholes International Airport at Galveston is a two-runway airport in Galveston; the airport is primarily used for general aviation, offshore energy transportation, and some limited military operations. The

Railroad.

The Galveston Railway, originally established and named in 1854 as the Galveston Wharf and Cotton Press Company, is a Class III terminal switching railroad that primarily serves the transportation of cargo to and from the Port of Galveston. The

Roads.

John D. Groesbeck surveyed and mapped the town in 1837 and 1838 on behalf of the Galveston City Company. A new Galveston resident most recently from New York City, he laid out the streets based on a gridiron, and named the east–west avenues according to letters of the alphabet, with Avenue A running along the back bay on the north side of the island. He assigned numbers to names of north–south streets, with First Street on the far eastern side of the grid, and the

Transit.

Island Transit, which operates the Galveston Island Trolley manages the city's public transportation services. Intercity bus service to Galveston was previously

Sports.

Galveston was home to minor league baseball from 1888-1955. The Galveston White Caps (1950-1955), Galveston Buccaneers (1931-1937) Galveston Sand Crabs (1889-1890, 1892, 1897–99, 1907-1911, 1922-1924) Galveston Pirates (1912–17, 1919-1921) and Galveston Giants

Notable people.

Galveston has been home to many important figures in Texas and U.S. history. During the island's earliest history it became the domain of Jean Lafitte, the famed pirate and American hero of the War of 1812. Richard Bache, Jr. who represented Galveston in the Senate of the Second Texas Legislature in 1847 and assisted in drawing up the Constitution of 1845. He was also the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America and Deborah Read. In 1886, the African-American Galveston civil rights leader Norris Wright Cuney rose to become the head of the Texas Republican Party and one of the most important Southern black leaders of the century. Noted portrait and landscape artist Verner Moore White moved from Galveston the day before the 1900 hurricane. While he survived, his studio and much of his portfolio were destroyed. A survivor of the hurricane was the Hollywood director King Vidor, who made his directing debut in 1913 with the film "Hurricane in Galveston". Later Jack Johnson, nicknamed the "Galveston Giant", became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion.  During the first half of the 20th century, William L. Moody Jr. established a business empire, which includes American National Insurance Company, a major national insurer, and founded the Moody Foundation, one of the largest charitable organizations in the United States. Sam Maceo, a nationally known organized crime boss, with the help of his family, was largely responsible for making Galveston a major U.S. tourist destination from the 1920s to the 1940s. John H. Murphy, a Texas newspaperman for seventy-four years, was the longtime executive vice president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association. Douglas Corrigan became one of the early transatlantic aviators, and was given the nickname "Wrong Way" for claiming to have mistakenly made the ocean crossing after being refused permission to make the flight. Grammy-award-winning singer-songwriter Barry White was born on the island and later moved to Los Angeles. Cody Lynn Boyd, Texas singer-songwriter was raised as a child in Galveston, Texas until Hurricane Rita. He moved to the North Texas area after. A portion of his music has some influence from the ghost culture in Galveston, Texas.  George P. Mitchell, pioneer of hydraulic fracturing technology and developer of The Woodlands, Texas, was born and raised in Galveston.  Anita Martini, pioneering female sports journalist who was the first woman allowed in a major league locker room for a post-game press conference, was born in Galveston.  More recently Tilman J. Fertitta, part of the Maceo bloodline, established the Landry's Restaurants corporation, which owns numerous restaurants and entertainment venues in Texas and Nevada.  Kay Bailey Hutchison was the senior senator from Texas and the first female Texas senator.  Gilbert Pena, incoming 2015 Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from Pasadena, was born in Galveston in 1949 and lived there in early childhood.  Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel and was convicted in the US and sentenced to life in jail, was born in Galveston. The film and television actor Lee Patterson, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, lived in Galveston and died there in 2007.  Other notable people include Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals, Mike Evans, wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1998 Heisman Trophy runner-up and pro quarterback Michael Bishop, Pittsburgh Steelers great Casey Hampton, comedian Bill Engvall, actresses Valerie Perrine and Katherine Helmond and Tina Knowles, painter Ethel Fisher, fashion designer and creator of House of Deréon, mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, and Grammy award-winning R&B and Jazz legend Esther Phillips, born in Galveston in 1935.

Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the southeast coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of, with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galveston County and second-largest municipality in the county. It is also within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area at its southern end on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Galveston je pobřežní město v americkém státě Texas, rozléhající se na stejnojmenném ostrově. Se svými 57 466 obyvateli je to druhé nejlidnatější a zároveň i hlavní město Galvestonského okresu. Město je pojmenováno po španělském vojevůdci Bernardu de Galvézi. První Evropané začali ostrov osidlovat již v roce 1816, v roce 1825 zde byl vybudován Mexičany přístav (po dosažení nezávislosti na Španělsku). Přístav sehrál velkou roli v texaské revoluci, jako hlavní přístav texaského námořnictva a hlavní město Texaské republiky.


Production.

According to Alice Cooper's band manager Shep Gordon, when recording at Whitney Studios in Burbank, Frank Zappa left his brother in charge of recording while Zappa left the studio. Zappa returned later that day and informed them the album was finished, having only recorded the band rehearsing. Gordon states that there was no producer during recording, that the band had no complete songs written, that Zappa "didn't spend 5 minutes in the studio" and never asked to hear their material, and that the band's debut album was made up entirely of that rehearsal recording, aside from the live recording of "Levity Ball".

Track listing.

All songs written by Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith.

Reception.

Lester Bangs of "Rolling Stone" felt that there were no "[hints] of life, spontaneity, joy, rage, or any kind of authentic passion or conviction". However, he stated that "within the context of [Alice Cooper's] self-imposed limitations, the album is listenable". He concluded the review by saying that "Alice Cooper's music is, for this reviewer at any rate, totally dispensable".

Legacy.

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine feels that the album "was an earnest but flawed stab at psychedelia that occasionally caught fire".

Live covers.

On November 8, 2015, the entire record was performed live at The Stone in NYC as part of Nick Didkovsky's residency there. Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway and Cindy Smith Dunaway were in attendance. Dennis Dunaway joined the band for "Nobody Likes Me" as an encore, a song that was originally slated to be on the record.

Pretties for You is the debut studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on June 25, 1969 by Straight Records. At this time, the name "Alice Cooper" referred to the band and not its lead singer Vincent Furnier, although he was also known as Alice Cooper. The album has a psychedelic flavor to it; the group had yet to develop the more concise hard rock sound that they would become famous for. Most of the tracks feature unusual time signatures and arrangements, jarring syncopation, expressive dynamics, sound effects, and an eclectic range of music influences. A few songs, such as "Levity Ball", show the influence of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, with whom the band hung out during the British group's U.S. tour. Alice Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton stated he could listen to Barrett's guitar playing for hours on end.

Pretties for You je debutové studiové album americké hard rockové skupiny Alice Cooper (v té době ještě Alice Cooper byl název skupiny; zpěvák vydával sólová alba až později), vydané v roce 1969.


Background.

Detroit-born vocalist Vincent Furnier co-formed the Earwigs in the mid-1960s in Phoenix, Arizona. The band released a few singles and went through a few name changes before settling on a lineup with guitarist Glen Buxton, guitarist and keyboardist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. In 1968 the band adopted the name Alice Cooper—a name Furnier later adopted as his own—and presented a story that it came from a 17th-century witch whose name they learned from a session with a ouija board.  At some point Buxton painted circles under his eyes with cigarette ashes, and soon the rest followed with ghoulish black makeup and outlandish clothes. The band moved to Los Angeles and became known for its provocative, theatrical shock rock stage show. In an incident during a performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in 1969, Cooper threw a live chicken into the audience, who tore it to shreds.  The group's first two albums, "Pretties for You" (1969) and "Easy Action" (1970), appeared on Frank Zappa's Straight Records label, and failed to find an audience. The band relocated to Detroit and found itself in the midst of a music scene populated with the hard-driving rock of the MC5, the stage-diving Iggy Pop with the Stooges, and the theatricality of George Clinton's Parliament and Funkadelic. The Alice Cooper band incorporated these influences into a tight hard-rock sound coupled with an outrageous live show.  While at the Strawberry Fields Festival in Canada in April 1970, band manager Shep Gordon contacted producer Jack Richardson, who had produced hit singles for the Guess Who. Richardson was uninterested in producing the Alice Cooper band himself, and sent the young Bob Ezrin in his place. Cooper recalled the junior producer as "a nineteen-year-old Jewish hippie" who reacted to meeting the outlandish band "as if he had just opened a surprise package and found a box full of maggots".  Ezrin initially turned down working with the band, but changed his mind when he saw them perform at Max's Kansas City in New York City the following October. Ezrin was impressed with the band's audience-participation rock-theater performance and the cult-like devotion of the band's fans, who dressed up and knew the lyrics and actions to the music, which Ezrin compared to the later cult following of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Ezrin returned to Toronto to convince Richardson to take on the band; Richardson did not want to work directly with such a group but agreed on condition that Ezrin took the lead.

Recording and production.

The band and Ezrin did pre-production for the album in Pontiac, Michigan, in November and December 1970, and recorded at the RCA Mid-American Recording Center in Chicago in December. Richardson and Ezrin produced the album for Richardson's Nimbus 9 Productions, with Richardson as executive producer.  Ezrin, with his classical and folk background, attempted to have the band tighten the loosely structured songs. The band resisted at first but came to see things Ezrin's way, and ten to twelve hours a day of rehearsal resulted in a tight set of hard rock songs with little of the psychedelic freak-rock aesthetic of the first two albums. According to Cooper, Ezrin "ironed the songs out note by note, giving them coloring, personality". Ezrin rearranged "I'm Eighteen" from an eight-minute jam piece called "I Wish I Was 18 Again" to a taut three-minute rocker.  Both Buxton and Bruce used Gibson SG guitars and tended to double up, playing similar parts with subtle differences in phrasing and tone. Dunaway often played a moving counter-melody bass part, rather than following the typical rock strategy of holding to the chord's root.  Zappa had sold Straight Records to Warner Bros. in 1970 for $50,000. That November the group released a single of "I'm Eighteen" backed with "Is It My Body"; and Warner Bros. agreed to allow the group to proceed with an album if the single sold well. The band posed as fans and made hundreds of calls to radio stations to request the song, and Gordon is said to have paid others a dollar per radio request. Soon the song was on the airwaves across the US—even on mainstream AM radio—and peaked at on the charts. The success of the single convinced Warner to contract Richardson to produce "Love It to Death".  Ezrin was intent on developing a cohesive sound for the album, and his earnestness was a source of humor for the band. At a time when the Beatles had a reputation that made them seem beyond criticism, the Alice Cooper band intended "Second Coming" as a jab at the recently released track "The Long and Winding Road" with Phil Spector's elaborate production—the hyperbolic acclaim it received struck the band as if it were the Second Coming of a master composer on the order of Beethoven—as well as Ezrin's attempts to bring such production values to Alice Cooper's music. Ezrin did not realize the joke was largely at his expense. When recording the "I wanna get out of here" sequence of "Ballad of Dwight Fry", Ezrin had Cooper lie on the floor surrounded by a cage of metal chairs to create an element of realism to the singer's frantic screams. "Black Juju" was the only track recorded live in the studio. "I'm Eighteen" was a sixteen-track recording at 15 IPS; other tracks were recorded at 30 IPS.

Music and lyrics.

A dark, aggressive song whose lumbering, distorted guitar riff is in E minor scale, "I'm Eighteen" was the band's first to hit global audience. In raspy vocals against arpeggiated guitar backing, the lyrics describe the existential anguish of being at the cusp of adulthood, decrying in each verse being "in the middle" of something, such as "life" or "doubt". The chorus switches to a series of power chords building from A, the vocals proclaiming: "I'm eighteen / And I don't know what I want... I gotta get out of this place / I'll go runnin' in outer space". The song turns around at the conclusion with an embrace of those things that had caused such anguish: "I'm eighteen and I like it!"  "I'm Eighteen" comes between two straight-ahead rockers: "Long Way to Go" and album opener "Caught in a Dream". Both follow simple hard-rock, trading heavy riffing with guitar fills and solos. The album title derives from lyrics in "Long Way to Go". "Caught in a Dream" was the album's second single and features irreverent, tongue-in-cheek lyrics such as "I need everything the world owes me / I tell that to myself and I agree". The first side closes with "Black Juju" by bassist Dunaway, a lengthy track in the vein of The Doors, and Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive"—both bands Alice Cooper earlier had opened for—with an organ part derived from Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". The band named the song after a stray dog in Pontiac.  "Is It My Body", the B-side to the "I'm Eighteen" single, opens the second side of the album. The verses pose the questions: "What have I got? / That makes you want to love me? / Is it my body?"—and declare in the chorus: "Have you got the time to find out / Who I really am?" "Hallowed Be My Name" follows with lyrics such as "Screaming at mothers / Cursing the Bible". "Second Coming" continues on the theme of religion: "... have no other gods before me / I'm the light / The devil's getting smarter all the time" The track developed from one of Cooper's lyrical fragments—"Time is getting closer / I read it on a poster"—and is set to a delicate piano by Ezrin.  "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" is a dramatic piece about the inmate of a mental asylum. It opens with a young girl's voice asking if her "Daddy" will "ever come home", against a childlike piano backdrop. The song shifts to acoustic guitar and Cooper singing presumably in the persona of the girl's father, at first in a wavering almost-whisper. His voice builds with his persona's increasing instability, eventually shouting in the heavy, guitar-backed chorus: "See my only mind explode / Since I've gone away". After the second chorus there is a softer, creepy keyboard break written by Bruce but played by Ezrin, and when the vocals reappear they repeat "I wanna get out of here", at first tentative and imploring, before climaxing in the character's total mental breakdown and a return to the chorus. The song's main character is named for Dwight Frye, an actor Hollywood media dubbed "the man with the thousand-watt stare" who portrayed Renfield, the lunatic slave of the titular vampire in the 1931 film "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi.  The album closes with a cover of "Sun Arise" by Australian entertainer Rolf Harris. The upbeat pop song had been a show-opener for the band throughout 1970, and contrasts with the darkness of the rest of the album.

Release and reception.

"I'm Eighteen" was the band's first top 40 in the US, a success that led to a recording deal with Warner Bros. Records. It spent eight weeks on the US charts, peaking at. In Canada it broke the top ten, peaking at.  "Love It to Death" was released on March 8, 1971; a British release of the album followed in June on the Straight label. "Love It to Death" was the first of the band's albums on which the members received individual credit for songs; previously the band as a whole was credited with all material. Although the original sleeve stated that the album was a Straight release, Straight had already been purchased by Warner Bros and the album bore Warner disc labels. The album reached on the US album charts, in Britain, and in Canada. The RIAA certified the album gold on November 6, 1972, and platinum on July 30, 2001. Alice Cooper was the first band on Warner Music Canada's roster to sell more than 100,000 copies each of four albums in Canada. In 1973 the band was awarded platinum albums in Canada for "Love It to Death", "Killer", "School's Out", and "Billion Dollar Babies". The album first appeared on CD in October 1990.  The original cover shows the long-haired band members in dresses and makeup, and Cooper holding a cape around himself with his thumb sticking out to give the illusion of an exposed penis. This led Warner Bros. to censor it—first that December by covering it with white strips, then by having the photo touched up with paint in pressings beginning in 1972. Both front and back cover photos were taken by Roger Prigent, credited as "Prigent". The gatefold features a close-up photo by Dave Griffith of Cooper's eyes heavily made-up with spidery eyelashes; in his pupils appear photos of the other band members.  "Caught in a Dream" was released as a single backed with "Hallowed Be My Name" on April 27, 1971; it peaked in the US at. The group supported the album with extensive touring. "Ballad of Dwight Fry" was a dramatized set piece in the live show, featuring an actress dressed as a nurse who dragged Cooper offstage and brought him back on straitjacketed in time for the second verse's "Sleepin' don't come very easy / In a strait white vest". At the song's climax, Cooper would break free of the straitjacket and hurl it into the audience. The Love It to Death tour of 1971 featured an electric chair in the earliest staged executions of the singer. These executions were to become an attraction of the band's shows, which became progressively more flamboyant; the shows in the Billion Dollar Babies tour of 1973 concluded with Cooper's execution by prop guillotine. The Love It to Death tour grossed so much the band bought a forty-two room mansion from Ann-Margret in Greenwich, Connecticut, which was to be its home base for the next few years.  In contrast to the first two albums, which have been entirely unrepresented in Cooper’s band and solo concerts since the release of "Killer", "Love It to Death" is the fourth-most-represented album in these setlists, behind "Welcome to My Nightmare"," Billion Dollar Babies "and" Killer". Nevertheless, "Love It to Death"’s strong concert representation is almost entirely due to three songs—“I’m Eighteen”, “Is It My Body” and “The Ballad of Dwight Fry”—which have each seen over a thousand performances. “Hallowed Be My Name” has never been played live, whilst “Black Juju” and “Second Coming” have never been performed since the release of "Killer". Even “Caught in a Dream” and “Long Way to Go” disappeared from Cooper’s setlist after "Killer" was released and were revived only for individual tours after 1999.  The album garnered mixed reviews. "Billboard" called the album "artfully absurd third-generation rock" and the group "the first stars of future rock". John Mendelsohn gave the album a favorable review in "Rolling Stone", writing that it "represents at least a modest oasis in the desert of dreary blue-jeaned aloofness served up in concert by most American rock-and-rollers". However, referring to "Black Juju" he also said that "the one bummer on this album is so loud a bummer that it may threaten to neutralize the ingratiating effect" of the other tracks. Robert Christgau wrote in "The Village Voice", "The singles ('Caught in a Dream' and 'I'm Eighteen') are fantastic, but the album is freighted with post-psychedelic garbage, the kind of thing that's done better by the heavy metal kids down the block."  The band saw its popularity rise over the next several albums. "Killer" followed in November 1971 and reached on the US charts, and the band finally topped those charts in 1973 with its sixth album, "Billion Dollar Babies". Unreleased demos of "Love It to Death" have circulated among fans; highlights include outtakes of "Ballad of Dwight Fry" with alternative lyrics, and early versions of "You Drive Me Nervous", which did not have an official release until it appeared on "Killer".

Legacy.

"Love It to Death" is seen as one of the foundational albums of the heavy metal sound, along with contemporary releases by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and others. A review in British magazine "Melody Maker" called it "an album for the punk and pimply crowd" a few years before punk rock became a phenomenon. Pioneer punk band the Ramones found inspiration in Alice Cooper's music and "Love It to Death" in particular. Vocalist Joey Ramone based the group's first song, "I Don't Care", on the chords of the main riff to "I'm Eighteen". John Lydon wrote the song "Seventeen" on the Sex Pistols album "Never Mind the Bollocks" in response to "I'm Eighteen", and is said to have auditioned for the Sex Pistols by miming to an Alice Cooper song—most frequently reported as "I'm Eighteen". "Love It to Death" inspired Pat Smear to pick up the guitar at age twelve; he went on to co-found the Germs, tour as second guitarist for Nirvana, and play rhythm guitar for the Foo Fighters.  "Hit Parader" included "Love It to Death" in its heavy metal Hall of Fame in 1982, and placed the album twenty-first on its list of "Top 100 Metal Albums" in 1989. In 2012 it was ranked on "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Greg Prato of AllMusic called "Love It to Death" "an incredibly consistent listen from beginning to end" and "the release when everything began to come together for the band". To Pete Prown and HP Newquist, the groups's theatrical arrangements help its two guitarists " the all-too-common clichés" in their simple hard-rock riffing and soloing "that were part and parcel of early seventies rock".  The band was pleased with the collaboration with Ezrin, and he remained their producer (with the exception of "Muscle of Love", released in 1973) until Cooper's first solo album, "Welcome to My Nightmare" in 1975. "Love It to Death" launched Ezrin's own production career, which went on to include prominent albums such as Aerosmith's "Get Your Wings" (1974), Kiss's "Destroyer" (1976), and Pink Floyd‘s "The Wall" (1979).  Songs from "Love It to Death" continued to be frequent requests long after Cooper went solo. In response, when writing material for his 1989 album "Trash", Cooper and producer Desmond Child spent time listening to "Love it to Death" and the band's 1974 "Greatest Hits" album to "find that vibe and match it to" a style appropriate to the 1990s.  Thrash metal band Anthrax included a cover of "I'm Eighteen" on its debut album "Fistful of Metal" in 1984. Alternative metal band the Melvins covered "Second Coming" and "Ballad of Dwight Fry" on their album "Lysol" in 1992. The song "Dreamin on the 1998 Kiss album "Psycho Circus" bears such a resemblance to "I'm Eighteen" that a month after the album's release Cooper's publisher filed a plagiarism suit, settled out of court in Cooper's favor. Swedish death metal band Entombed released an EP in 1999 entitled "Black Juju" that included a cover of "Black Juju". Alternative rock band Sonic Youth recorded covers of "Hallowed Be My Name" (as "Hallowed Be Thy Name") and "Is It My Body"—the latter of which is bassist Kim Gordon's favorite of her own vocal performances. Gordon used the song's title for a 1993 essay on the artist Mike Kelley, in which she described the Coopers as "anti-hippie[s] reveling in the aesthetics of the ugly". The essay appeared in 2014 in a collection by Gordon also titled "Is It My Body?"

Personnel.

The band members and recording personnel for "Love It to Death":

Love It to Death is the third studio album by American rock group Alice Cooper, released in March 1971. It was the band's first commercially successful album and the first album that consolidated the band's aggressive hard-rocking sound. The album's best-known track, "I'm Eighteen", was released as a single to test the band's commercial viability before the album was recorded.

Love It to Death je třetí studiové album americké hard rockové skupiny Alice Cooper, vydané v lednu roku 1971 u Straight Records.


Biography.

Meyer was born in Zürich. He was of patrician descent. His father, who died early, was a statesman and historian, while his mother was a highly cultured woman. Throughout his childhood two traits were observed that later characterized the man and the poet: he had a most scrupulous regard for neatness and cleanliness, and he lived and experienced more deeply in memory than in the immediate present. He suffered from bouts of mental illness, sometimes requiring hospitalization; his mother, similarly but more severely afflicted, killed herself.  Having finished the gymnasium, he took up the study of law, but history and the humanities were of greater interest to him. He went for considerable periods to Lausanne, Geneva and Paris, and in Italy, where he interested himself in historical research. The two historians who influenced Meyer particularly were Louis Vulliemin at Lausanne and Jacob Burckhardt at Bâsle whose book on the "Culture of the Renaissance" stimulated his imagination and interest. From his travels in France and Italy (1857) Meyer derived much inspiration for the settings and characters of his historical novels. In 1875, he settled at Kilchberg, above Zürich.  Meyer found his calling only late in life; for many years, being practically bilingual, he wavered between French and German. The Franco-Prussian War brought the final decision. In Meyer's novels, a great crisis often releases latent energies and precipitates a catastrophe. In the same manner, his own life which before the war had been one of dreaming and experimenting, was stirred to the very depths by the events of 1870. Meyer identified himself with the German cause, and as a manifesto of his sympathies published the little epic "Hutten's Last Days" in 1871. After that his works appeared in rapid succession.  In 1880, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich. He died in his home in Kilchberg on 28 November 1898.

Works.

His works were collected into 8 volumes in 1912.

Novels.

The periods of the Renaissance and Counter Reformation furnished the subjects for most of his novels. Most of his plots spring from the deeper conflict between freedom and fate and culminate in a dramatic crisis in which the hero, in the face of a great temptation, loses his moral freedom and is forced to fulfill the higher law of destiny.

Novellas.

Meyer's main works are historical novellas:

Legacy.

It is as a master of narrative ballads, often on historical themes, that Meyer is mostly remembered. His fiction also typically focuses on key historical moments from the Middle Ages, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.  Meyer's lyric verse is almost entirely the product of his later years. He frequently celebrated human handiwork, especially works of art. Rome and the monumental work of Michelangelo were among decisive experiences in his life.

A tallit ( "talit" in Modern Hebrew; "tālēt" in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino; "tallis" in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) (pl. "tallitot", "talleisim", "tallism" in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish; "ṭālēth"/"ṭelāyōth" in Tiberian Hebrew) is a fringed garment, traditionally worn as a prayer shawl by religious Jews. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes known as "tzitzit" attached to its four corners. The cloth part is known as the "beged" (lit. garment) and is usually made from wool or cotton, although silk is sometimes used for a tallit gadol.

Skytalé je druh šifrování, který se skládá z válce a na něm navinutém papyru či pergamenu na kterém je napsaný vzkaz. Tento druh šifrování používali Řekové a to zejména Sparťané, kteří ji využívali během válek.


Release and availability.

The device was released in Europe in July 2009; and in the U.S., via Sprint on October 11, 2009, and via Cellular South on November 9, 2009. "Hero" was the first Android phone released in Russia.  FCC documents surfaced to show, that there would be a version of HTC Hero supporting Rogers' and AT&T's 3G bands. One such model version was later released in Canada for Telus's new HSPA+ network. The phone was made available in the UK on Orange, 3, T-Mobile, BT Broadband Anywhere (MVNO), and SIM-free. In Australia, it was available exclusively SIM-free (without a contract) through the Harvey Norman retailer.

U.S. variants.

U.S. and Canada version (Android 6250).

The Sprint, Cellular South, Cellcom, Bluegrass Cellular, Manitoba Telecom Services, NTelos, and Cox Wireless version of the HTC Hero is different from those that are sold in Asia, Canada and Europe. The outer body is significantly altered, with the controversial "chin" that is present on the Asian, Canadian (some providers) and European models being removed in favor of a smooth, beveled surface where all but two of the once raised buttons now lie flat. Also due to performance issues some of the clock animations were removed. Some carriers may market it as the HTC Android 6250.

Droid Eris.

A modified version of the Hero, the HTC Droid Eris, was released on the Verizon Wireless network on November 6, 2009. Pictures of Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt were circulated showing him holding the Droid Eris after a press conference that announced an Android-centric partnership between Verizon and Google. The Verizon Wireless version, unlike the Sprint and GSM versions, features a proximity sensor.  The Eris was succeeded by HTC's Droid Incredible in 2010.

Updates.

Android 2.1 update development.

HTC Hero is the first phone to feature HTC's own "Sense" software, which includes a customized user interface. There had been initial issues regarding lag on the device, however a firmware upgrade resolved the problem to some extent.  HTC announced their intent to release an update for the Hero in the first half of 2010 that would upgrade the Android OS to version 2.1 while incorporating "Sense". This news was released via Twitter on December 17, 2009. Sprint further clarified on their own Twitter that the 2.1 update would be released early in the second quarter of 2010.

Android 2.1 update release and carrier issues.

By May 14, 2010, Verizon Wireless had made a system update to Android version 2.1 publicly available for their Droid Eris. The Sprint Hero 2.1 update was released on 19 May 2010.  The update to 2.1 was officially released on the HTC website for the Sprint (CDMA) version. On June 4, 2010, the Android 2.1 update for the GSM Hero was made available in Taiwan. On June 17, 2010, the first part of Europe was provided the update, the second part on June 28, 2010. The Worldwide English (WWE) version was released on June 28, 2010. HTC suggested that they would not be updating the device further to version 2.2.  Although the 2.1 update was officially released by HTC, a few networks refused to allow the Hero phones running on their networks to receive the update. Most notably, Orange in Europe did not announce any officially update policy or guidance for the phone despite numerous requests for their customer base until late July 2010. This proved to be so frustrating to consumers that a Facebook group was set up to try to gain more information from Orange and their lack of support for the HTC Hero. Nevertheless, on 28 July 2010, part 1 for the 2.1 update was released OTA (over-the-air) to Orange handsets. Three UK released the full 2.1 update OTA on 26 August 2010. The 2.1 update noticeably increases the browser speed and there appears to be an automatic closing of background apps as system resources diminish with increasing multitasking.  Telus had also refused to offer guidance or an update for their HTC Hero. While initially slated for release in May 2010, by mid-August no update had yet been released to Telus customers. Furthermore, customer service at Telus complained that the fault lies with HTC. On the morning of 25 October 2010, Telus officially pushed down the Android 2.1 update to its clients.

Android 2.2 Froyo update and beyond.

Sprint drew the ire of many of its HTC Hero and Samsung Moment customers when it announced in June 2010 that it would be upgrading its Android devices to Android 2.2, but later corrected the statement to say that the upgrade would only be available for the HTC Evo. The criticism had been particularly fierce from those who purchased the Hero on 2-year contracts shortly before and even after Sprint effectively ended the upgrade lifespan of the phone. Widely reported problems with Android 2.1 on the Hero further fueled criticism among customers who felt Sprint had shirked its responsibility to acknowledge and fix confirmed problems with the device.  Separately, numerous groups have created custom ROMs for both the CDMA and GSM versions of the HTC Hero based on various versions of Android 2.1, including the popular VillainROM, CyanogenMod, and others. Although there is not an official version of Android 2.2 for the Hero, several third-party groups have created functioning ROMs which include this. A popular Android 2.2 ROM for the GSM HTC Hero is FroydVillain. Android 2.3 has also been ported to the GSM HTC Hero by the popular aftermarket firmware creation team CyanogenMod. The final stable version 7.2 (based on Android 2.3.7) was released on June 16, 2012, and has been reported as fully operational.

HTC Hero (marketed as T-Mobile G2 Touch by T-Mobile in the UK, Austria, Germany, Croatia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Hungary; and as Era G2 Touch in Poland) is the third phone manufactured by HTC running the Android platform, announced on June 24, 2009 in London.

HTC Hero (v některých zemích jako T-Mobile G2 Touch) je smartphone vyráběný firmou HTC s operačním systémem Android. Je to již třetí telefon od této společnosti se systémem Android. Telefon byl ohlášen 24. června 2009 a v době příchodu na trh byl dodáván se systémem Android verze 1.5. V červnu roku 2010 byla uvolněna aktualizace na verzi 2.1. Telefon je dodáván s grafickou nadstavbou systému s HTC Sense.