History.

Steve Jobs saw the opportunity to open a digital marketplace for music due to the rising popularity of easily downloadable tracks. In 2002, Jobs made an agreement with the five major record labels to offer their content through iTunes. The iTunes Store was introduced by Jobs at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in April 2003. It was initially available on Mac computers and the iPod, and was later expanded to Microsoft Windows in October 2003.  In April 2008, the iTunes Store was the largest music vendor in the United States, and in February 2010, it was the largest

Features and restrictions.

Pricing model.

History.

Following the introduction of the iTunes Store, individual songs were all sold for the same price, though Apple introduced multiple prices in 2007. Music in the store is in the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, which is the MPEG-4-specified successor to MP3. Originally, songs were only available with DRM and were encoded at 128 kbit/s. At the January 2009 Macworld Expo, Apple announced that all iTunes music would be made available without DRM, and encoded at the higher-quality rate of 256 kbit/s. Previously, this model, known as "iTunes Plus", had been

Current model.

iTunes Store for iOS.

The iTunes Store allows users to purchase and download items directly to portable Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and iPod Touch. Apple offers three apps, each of which provides access to certain types of content.  Other, free content available from the iTunes Store can be accessed from two other iOS apps:  Originally, mobile users had to be connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to enter the store, hence its

Customer support.

In the United States, Apple provides technical support for the iTunes Store via email, there is

Charitable donations.

In response to major natural disasters, Apple provides the facility for donations to be made through the iTunes Store. Unlike other iTunes purchases, donations made to charitable organizations through this

Music.

The store began operations after Apple signed deals with five major record companies: EMI, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Bertelsmann Music Group. Songs from more than 2,000 independent labels were added later, the first being from The Orchard on June 24, 2003.  As of April 2020, iTunes offers 60 million songs, including exclusive tracks from numerous artists. Not all artists are available on iTunes, but many holdouts, such as Led Zeppelin and Radiohead, have allowed their music to be sold on the iTunes Store

"Album Only" songs.

Some songs are available from the store by "Album Only", meaning the song can only be acquired through the purchase of the entire album, whereas most songs can be downloaded separately from the album they belong to.  Songs above 10 minutes in length are by default Album Only songs. However, this is not universally true; for example, "Living in the Heart of the Beast" by Henry Cow is 16 minutes and 18 seconds, yet is available for individual purchase as of December 24, 2013. Soundtracks also often have many Album Only tracks.

Partial Albums.

Some albums area available from the store by "Partial Album", meaning that albums cannot be entirely purchased, but

"Work Only" songs.

Some tracks are listed as "Work Only", which means they can only be obtained by purchasing the entire

"LP" format.

In September 2009, Apple introduced the iTunes LP format (known

Store Sections.

When entering the US music store, there are multiple sections one can visit. Music is divided into genres (Alternative, Classical, Jazz, Soundtrack, etc.), and there are a number of links to other sections of the store under the Quick Links header. These include Recommended for You, Complete My Album, iTunes LP, as well as thematic sections, such as iTunes Festival sections.  On November 1, 2006, Apple created a category for Latino and Hispanic content, "iTunes Latino". Telemundo and Mun2 made some of their popular programs available for purchase, becoming the first Hispanic television content in the store. It offers music, music videos, audiobooks, podcasts and television shows in Spanish in a single concentrated area. The brief descriptions given to the content are in Spanish as well as several subcategories. Gibraltarian Flamenco Metal band Breed 77, released an exclusive album called Un Encuentro

Digital rights management.

While most downloaded files initially included usage restrictions enforced by FairPlay, Apple's implementation of digital rights management (DRM), iTunes later initiated a shift into selling DRM-free music in most countries, marketed as iTunes Plus.

Censorship.

There is a policy of censoring profanity in titles on iTunes. This has resulted in a Scunthorpe glitch, by which inoffensive titles are censored due to a coincidental string of letters. If the song has an explicit label, it will be marked "explicit" next to

Reception and commercial success.

In the first 18 hours, the iTunes store sold about 275,000 tracks, and more than 1 million tracks were sold in its first 5 days. When released for Windows in October 2003, iTunes was downloaded more than 1 million times in the first 3 days, selling more than 1 million songs in that period. On December 15, 2003, Apple announced that it had sold 25 million songs.  In January 2004 at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Steve Jobs announced (Sellers, 2004) that an unnamed person had purchased US$29,500 worth of music. On March 15, 2004, Apple announced that iTunes Music Store customers had purchased and downloaded 50 million songs from iTunes Music Store. A song sold on iTunes gives the artist 9 cents in profit. They also reported that customers were purchasing 2.5 million songs a week which

Sales milestones.

Music.

On July 5, 2005, Apple announced

Internationalization.

Originally only Mac OS X users who had credit cards with a US billing address could buy songs with the service, but Steve Jobs announced plans to support both Windows and non-American users. The Windows version of iTunes and support for the Windows platform from iTunes Music Store were announced on October 16, 2003, with immediate availability. Beginning in 2004, the service has become available in a number of countries other than the United States:  To buy files through the store, a user must install the proprietary digital media player iTunes to access the store. This software is available only for certain versions of the Macintosh or Windows operating systems.

Payment options.

A user must also pay with an iTunes gift card or a credit card with a billing address in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Ireland, Italy,

Digital rights management.

The iTunes Store uses Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) technology. FairPlay is built into the MP4 multimedia file format as an encrypted AAC audio layer, and is used by the company to protect copyrighted works sold through the store, allowing only authorized devices to play the content. The restrictions imposed by FairPlay, mainly limited device compatibility, have sparked criticism, with a lawsuit alleging antitrust violation that was eventually closed in Apple's favor, and various successful efforts to remove the DRM protection from files, with Apple

Promotions.

On Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, 2004, Apple launched a promotion with Pepsi in which they gave away 100 million songs, through tokens on selected soft drink bottle caps. Unfortunately for Apple, Pepsi failed to properly distribute the bottles to major metropolitan areas until only weeks before the promotion ended, despite a one-month extension of the deadline by Apple. The promotion was repeated beginning January 31, 2005, with 200 million songs available, and an iPod Mini given away every hour.  On July 1, 2004, Apple announced that, starting with the sale of the 95 millionth song, an iPod would be given away to the buyer of each 100 thousandth song, for a total of 50 iPods. The buyer of the 100 millionth song would receive a PowerBook, iPod, and US$10,000 gift certificate to iTunes Music Store.  Ten days later, on July 11, Apple announced that 100 million songs had been sold through iTunes Music Store. The 100 millionth song was titled "Somersault (Dangermouse Remix)" by Zero 7, purchased by Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas. He then received a phone call from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who offered his congratulations, as well as a 40 GB 3rd Generation iPod laser-engraved with a message of thanks.  Inspired by Pepsi's marketing success with iTunes giveaways, Coca-Cola partnered with 7-Eleven to give away a free iTunes song with every. Slurpee frozen beverage until July 31, 2005. Songs could be redeemed until August 31, 2005 by entering a code printed on the Slurpee cup into iTunes Music Store application. Coca-Cola did this in spite of having its own music store, myCokeMusic.com, that competed with iTunes Music Store in Europe. myCokeMusic.com ceased business on July 31, 2006.  On July 5, 2005, Apple announced that they were counting down to half a billion songs. The buyer

Other platforms.

Currently, iTunes is supported on the macOS (Leopard and above) and Microsoft Windows operating systems. iTunes was known to run passably well in Linux on x86-based computers using the Wine compatibility layer; however, by December 2011, this was

Technical details.

Store pages are delivered using standard HTML with a special header. This change was made when iTunes 9.0 was released. iTunes uses WebKit to render these pages on the screen. These pages are also accessible on the Web, at iTunes.apple.com, allowing pages from the iTunes Store to show up in search engine search results.  Prior to

Legal disputes.

Apple records.

For three years, The Beatles' record company Apple Records were in a legal dispute, "Apple Corps v Apple Computer", with Apple Computer over the name "Apple." On May 8, 2006, a ruling was declared in favor of Apple Computer, but Apple Records said it would appeal the ruling. Despite this, plans were announced by Neil Aspinall in April 2006 to remaster completely and release the entire Beatles catalog on an unspecified online music service, as well as release some previously unheard work by the band. No date was set at that time. It has also been reported that the Beatles' music catalog might initially be appearing on

The Consumer Council of Norway EULA challenge.

On June 6, 2006, The Consumer Ombudsmen in Norway, Sweden and Denmark launched a common open letter to Apple regarding the EULA of iTunes through the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon. The iTunes case is based upon an official complaint filed by The Consumer Council of Norway on January 25, 2006.  The main allegations were that:  Apple responded July 31, 2006.  On January 22, 2007, German and French consumer groups joined forces with Norway and Finland. Their goal is to create a united European front against iTunes (Germany and France have each had their own negotiation process with iTunes). According to the press statement Apple is in favor of this. The key points in the negotiations were:

EU antitrust case.

In 2004, "Which?" magazine complained to the European Commission about the higher prices in the UK for the same songs sold in other parts of the European Union: typically €0.99 in the rest of the EU and £0.79 in the UK. In 2008, the Commission withdrew its investigation after Apple agreed to end the price disparity.

Content disputes.

Universal Music Group.

On July 1, 2007, the "New York Times" reported that Universal (the world's largest music corporation at the time of writing) would not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes. Instead, Universal said that it would market music to Apple at will, allowing it to remove its songs from

NBC Universal TV series.

On August 31, 2007, Apple announced that programs on NBC's 2007–08 television schedule would not be available on iTunes. NBC had informed Apple the previous day that it would not be renewing its contract. It was later clarified that this change only applied to series produced by NBC Universal-owned Universal Media Studios, including Universal-produced shows on other networks such as "House". NBC programs produced by other studios, such as "Chuck" (Warner Bros.) and "Journeyman" (20th Century Fox), would remain available on iTunes.  Apple has publicly asserted that NBC would only renew their contract if Apple agreed to a price increase

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple Inc. that opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music.

ITunes Store (původně jako iTunes Music Store) je softwarový internetový obchod s digitálními médii, který provozuje Apple. Vznikl 28. dubna 2003 a v dubnu 2008 se stal největším hudebním obchodem v USA. V únoru 2010 se stal největším hudebním obchodem na světě. V jeho nabídce je 26 milionů skladeb, videí, elektronických knih a mobilních aplikací, které jsou na prodej online. iTunes Store prodal do 6. února 2013 celkem 25 miliard skladeb po celém světě.


Premise.

Through circumstance, two strangers, an actor (Freeman) preparing for an upcoming role and a cashier (Vega), drive around Los Angeles together, having a number of conversations about life and exploring the differences and similarities between their worlds.

Production.

Revelation Entertainment produced the film, and Morgan Freeman served as executive producer. The film was shot entirely in Carson and Brentwood.

Reception.

Box office.

The film was released in only fifteen theaters, taking in $35,929 in its first weekend. The total domestic box-office take was $83,291. The film was more successful internationally, grossing $1,315,931 in the foreign box office, with $486,895 grossed in Vega's home country of Spain.

Critics.

According to Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader", the film is "A friendly demonstration of how two actors with charisma and a relaxed writer-director (Brad Silberling) can make a nice movie for practically nothing." In contrast, Desson Thomson, of "The Washington Post", believes that the film is "a natural but failed experiment about a pleasant encounter in the style of independent films".  Critical reaction to the film was mixed, with general praise for the work of the two main actors. The film has had a 63% approval rating based on 59 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes.

Honors and awards.

The film was named one of the "Top Independent Films of 2006" by the National Board of Review.

Home media.

The DVD was released in the U.S. on April 24, 2007. It includes commentary by Silberling, a featurette on 'the making of', 6 deleted scenes, and 3 promotional shorts.

Soundtrack.

Although a soundtrack was not officially released, the following songs were included in the film:

10 Items or Less is a 2006 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Brad Silberling and starring Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega. Shot in fifteen days, "10 Items or Less" made its release as a digital download – the first such release via the Internet – while it was still in theaters.

10 položek a méně (v americkém originále: 10 Items or Less) je americký dramatický film z roku 2006. Režisérem filmu je Brad Silberling. Hlavní role ve filmu ztvárnili Morgan Freeman, Paz Vega, Kumar Pallana, Jonah Hill a Anne Dudek.


Plot.

The movie deals with love and its many permutations, set within a community of friends in Portland, Oregon. Harry Stevenson, a local community college professor, provides narration throughout the film about how love can affect one's life.

Bradley.

Bradley runs a small cafe in Portland. He has been married to his wife Kathryn for six years. Their marriage becomes strained when Kathryn begins a lesbian relationship with Jenny, whom she meets playing softball. She leaves Bradley. The divorce affects him greatly, but he soon finds love again with Diana, a real estate agent who has a history with a married man named David. Though she ends her affair with David to marry Bradley, they ultimately declare they are in love with each other and Diana leaves Bradley, again devastating him. Now twice divorced, Bradley suffers an emotional breakdown and stabs himself in the hand. As his hand is being sutured at the hospital, he falls for his doctor, Margit. In the film's conclusion, the two are revealed to marry.

Oscar and Chloe.

Oscar is a young man working at Bradley's cafe who soon meets and falls in love with a girl named Chloe. However, Oscar is revealed to be living with his alcoholically abusive father, Bat. When Chloe visits a fortune-teller, she is told that Oscar will die. Chloe, though upset at first, straightens her resolve about her love for Oscar and their future together. Coming home, she urges Oscar to marry her immediately. At the wedding, Chloe reveals to Harry that she is pregnant, and plans to have another baby right after due to Harry's advice of having "two." In the film's conclusion everybody gathers for an afternoon in the park. While playing football, Oscar collapses; despite an attempt to get him to a hospital, congested traffic interferes, and he dies of a heart defect. Bat attempts to avenge his son's death by harming Chloe but Harry scares him off, and then asks Chloe if he and his wife Esther can 'adopt' her as their own.

Diana and David.

Diana is a successful realtor and has been carrying on an affair with the married David. Though she asks him numerous times to leave his wife of 11 years, Karen, he cannot bring himself to do it. Their relationship becomes even more volatile when Diana begins dating Bradley and falls in love with him. David insists he loves Diana, but is unable to leave his wife. Diana marries Bradley and ends her affair with David. However, their love is later rekindled when Karen discovers her husband was cheating, leaving him. Free at last, David and Diana have an emotional confrontation in the park that ends with a kiss that Oscar and Chloe happen to see (and viewers can assume they tell Bradley), fueling their divorce and Bradley stabbing himself. In the film's conclusion Diana and David are shown as a public and functionally happy couple.

Harry and Esther.

Harry and his wife Esther have been married a long time. Harry is a patron at Bradley's cafe and often provides the younger generation with advice on love. However, it is revealed that Harry and Esther are masking their own grief after the death of their adult son, Aaron. Harry reveals the nature of his son's death to Chloe, whom he and Esther grow very close to. Harry has also been struggling with the decision of going back to work as a professor at a university. In the film's conclusion, after Oscar's death, Harry and Esther offer to adopt a now widowed and pregnant Chloe, who tearfully accepts their offer.

Production.

While many of the movie's scenes are set at Portland State University, the nearby campuses of Western Seminary and Reed College were the actual locations of filming. Locations at Reed include the Blue Bridge, the front lawn and Eliot Circle. Scenes in the Jitters Cafe, owned by Kinnear's character, were filmed at the Fresh Pot at the corner of N Mississippi Avenue and Shaver streets in Portland.

Critical reception.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 41% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 104 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 51 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.  In his lukewarm review, Roger Ebert stated that this film contains the worst performance of Fred Ward, and "no movie can be very good that contains Fred Ward's worst performance!"

Box office performance.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed US$1.7 million in 1,200 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #12 at the box office. It grossed a total of US$5.4 million worldwide – US$3.5 million in the United States and Canada and US$1.9 million in other territories.

Feast of Love is a 2007 American drama film directed by Robert Benton, and starring an ensemble cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke, Selma Blair, Alexa Davalos, Toby Hemingway, and Jane Alexander. The film, based on the 2000 novel "The Feast of Love" by Charles Baxter, was first released on September 28, 2007, in the United States.

Chuť lásky (v americkém originále: Feast of Love) je americký romantický film z roku 2007. Režisérem filmu je Robert Benton. Hlavní role ve filmu ztvárnili Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke a Selma Blair.


Plot.

Sawyer Nelson, a lonely 11-year-old boy, has fallen behind in school since being abandoned by his father five years earlier. His only friend is his cousin Kyle, a champion swimmer who hopes to compete in the Olympics. Kyle leaves to spend time in the army.  One day on his way to summer school, Sawyer finds a fisherman attempting to help an injured dolphin tangled in a crab trap. The dolphin is taken for treatment to Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA), run by Doctor Clay Haskett. Clay's daughter Hazel names the dolphin Winter, after two prior dolphins, Summer and Autumn, had been treated successfully and returned to the ocean. Sawyer sneaks in to see Winter, and later starts to visit each day, being harassed by a crazy pelican named Rufus. Sawyer and Hazel's parents were hesitant since Sawyer does not have any experience with marine animals, and Sawyer's mother, Lorraine, since Sawyer is skipping summer school without permission, but they realize that the friendship seems to benefit both Winter and Sawyer. Dr. Clay allows the visits to continue, and Lorraine withdraws Sawyer from summer school and lets him volunteer at CMA, and gives him a new wetsuit.  However, Winter's tail is damaged and must be amputated. Winter learns to swim without a tail by developing a side-to-side motion like a fish, but after an X-ray, Clay notices the unnatural motion is causing stress on her spine, which if continued will disable and eventually kill her.  News comes that Kyle has been injured in an explosion and is returning home for treatment. Sawyer is excited to see him, but devastated when Kyle, skips his own welcoming party and stays at the local Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where Doctor Cameron McCarthy develops prosthetic limbs. Sawyer and his mother visit Kyle there, but Sawyer is insulted when Kyle asks them to leave. Not wanting to upset Sawyer, Kyle takes Sawyer for a walk and explains his situation and that he needs some time. Sawyer then asks Dr. McCarthy if he could make a prosthetic tail for Winter. McCarthy agrees to do so and convinces his prosthetic supplier Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics to supply the parts at no cost. Dr. McCarthy manufactures a "homemade" model tail while waiting for the real one to arrive, but Winter rejects it by banging it against the pool wall. Meanwhile, Kyle gets more depressed when his friend and swimming partner, Donovan Peck, beats Kyle's old swimming records. McCarthy persuades Kyle to go home.  Then CMA, already in financial peril, is heavily damaged by a hurricane. The board of directors agrees to close up and sell the land to a real estate developer, and find homes for all the animals except Winter; due to her condition she is not wanted, and may have to be put down. Kyle visits CMA and sees that Winter is like him, with a damaged limb. However, inspired by a girl with a prosthetic limb whose mother drives her 8 hours from Atlanta, Georgia to visit Winter, Sawyer imagines holding a "Save Winter Day" to save the facility. Clay is not convinced, but he reconsiders after talking with his father, Reed. Kyle agrees to race Donovan Peck and persuades Bay News 9 to cover the event.  The Hanger-supplied tail finally arrives; however, Winter rejects it too. Sawyer then realizes what the real problem is: the plastic base for the tail is irritating her skin. Therefore, McCarthy develops an alternative gel-like sock which he calls "Winter's Gel" (which is the real name of the Hanger product used to attach prosthetic limbs, developed during research with Winter). Winter accepts this new prosthetic tail.  At Save Winter Day, the work with Winter impresses everyone. Sawyer's teacher gives him school credit, allowing him to pass summer school. The fisherman who found Winter on the beach comes too. The real estate developer decides to keep CMA open and to support it financially. With Winter's help, Kyle then wins a swimming race against Donovan.  The ending shows documentary footage from Winter's actual rescue, several of the prosthetic tails that Winter has worn, and scenes of real amputees visiting Winter at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Differences between the movie and real-life events.

In the film, Winter is stranded on Honeymoon Island Beach in Dunedin near Clearwater. She is found by a nearby fisherman laying on the shore (and then rescued with Sawyer's assistance). In real life, Winter was found in Mosquito Lagoon south of New Smyrna Beach―part of the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. The fisherman who discovered her was in the lagoon, as well. Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute Research and stranding team responded to the reported animal, researcher Teresa Mazza-Jablonski stayed with Winter in the water for 7 hours. Winter was first taken to the local Marine Discovery center and then transferred to Clearwater, which is on the opposite side of the state.  In the movie, Winter's tail was amputated due to infection caused from being caught in the rope. In real life, the loss of blood supply to the tail (from being caught in the rope) caused most of the tail to fall off, with only a small piece being amputated.  In the movie, developing Winter's tail takes a few weeks, with a Veteran's Administration doctor working during his vacation. In real life, the process of developing a suitable tail took several months' work by Kevin Carroll and Dan Strzempka from Hanger Clinic.

Production.

"Dolphin Tale" was filmed in native 3D, beginning in September 2010. It was shot primarily in Pinellas County, Florida, with the principal location being the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Additional locations featured include: Admiral Farragut Academy, Honeymoon Island, Tarpon Springs, and local news station Bay News 9. Justin Sherbert (stage name: Justin Sherman) of Free Willy fame was initially contacted to train the marine mammal extras, but declined. Dolphin Tale remains the only marine mammal motion picture of the modern era that did not employ Sherbert in at least a consulting capacity.

Release.

"Dolphin Tale" was released on September 23, 2011, in North America by Warner Bros. Pictures and Alcon Entertainment, in RealD 3D and 2D. It opened at number three with $19.2 million behind the 3D re-release of "The Lion King" and "Moneyball". In its second weekend, the film reached the number-one spot, dropping only 27%, and grossed $13.9 million. As of January 5, 2012, the film has grossed $72,286,779 in the United States and Canada, as well as $23,117,618 internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $95,404,397. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray at available at iTunes Store and Google Play Store on December 20, 2011.

Reception.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 81% of 111 critics have given the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Wisely dialing down the schmaltz, "Dolphin Tale" is earnest, sweet, and well-told, a rare family film that both kids and parents can enjoy." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 64 based on 31 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequel.

A sequel titled "Dolphin Tale 2" was released on September 12, 2014.

Dolphin Tale is a 2011 American 3D family drama film directed by Charles Martin Smith, from a screenplay by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi and a book of the same name. It stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff in her film debut, and Morgan Freeman. The book and film are inspired by the true story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin that was rescued in December 2005 off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Winter lost her tail after becoming entangled with a rope attached to a crab trap, and was fitted with a prosthetic one. The film was released on September 23, 2011, by Warner Bros. Pictures; "Dolphin Tale" received positive reviews from critics and earned $95.9 million on a $37 million budget. A sequel, "Dolphin Tale 2", was released on September 12, 2014.

Můj přítel delfín (v americkém originále: Dolphin Tale) je americký dramatický film z roku 2011. Režisérem filmu je Charles Martin Smith. Hlavní role ve filmu ztvárnili Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson a Morgan Freeman.


Early life.

Born in 1927 in Paris, France, she was only two when her father abandoned her mother and her five -year-old brother. Jacqueline never forgave him. Her mother raised her in cramped concierge's quarters near the Champs Elysées, while also working long hours as a seamstress. Jacqueline was 18 when her mother died of a stroke. In 1946, Jacqueline married André Hutin, an engineer, with whom she had a daughter, Catherine Hutin-Blay. The young family moved to Africa, where Hutin worked, but four years later Jacqueline returned to France and divorced Hutin. She settled down on the French Riviera and took a job at her cousin's shop, the Madoura Pottery in Vallauris.

Picasso.

Pablo Picasso met Jacqueline in 1953 at the Madoura Pottery when she was 26 years old and he was 72. He romanced her by drawing a dove on her house in chalk and bringing her one rose a day until she agreed to date him six months later. They married in Vallauris on 2 March 1961.  Roque's image began to appear in Picasso's paintings in May 1954. These portraits are characterized by an exaggerated neck and feline face, distortions of Roque's features. Eventually her dark eyes and eyebrows, high cheekbones, and classical profile would become familiar symbols in his late paintings. It is likely that Picasso's series of paintings derived from Eugène Delacroix's "The Women of Algiers" was inspired by Roque's beauty; the artist commented that "Delacroix had already met Jacqueline." In 1955 he drew "Jacqueline as "Lola de Valence"", a reference to Édouard Manet's painting of the Spanish dancer. In 1963 he painted her portrait 160 times, and continued to paint her, in increasingly abstracted forms, until 1972.

Later life.

After Pablo's death in 1973, Françoise Gilot, Picasso's companion between 1943 and 1953, and mother of two of his children, Claude and Paloma, fought with Jacqueline over the distribution of the artist's estate. Gilot and her children had previously unsuccessfully contested the will on the grounds that Picasso was mentally ill. Jacqueline prevented Claude and Paloma from attending Picasso's funeral. Eventually the parties agreed to establish the Musée Picasso in Paris.  Jacqueline Picasso died by suicide by gunshot in 1986 when she was 59 years old. Shortly before her death she had confirmed that she would be present at an upcoming exhibit of her private collection of Picasso's work in Spain.

Jacqueline Picasso or Jacqueline Roque (24 February 1927 – 15 October 1986) was best known as the muse and second wife of Pablo Picasso. Their marriage lasted 11 years until his death, during which time he created over 400 portraits of her, more than any of Picasso's other loves.

Jacqueline Roque ["žaklin rokk"] (24. února 1926, Paříž – 15. října 1986, tamt.) byla inspirační múza a druhá manželka Pabla Picassa. Jejich manželství trvalo 11 let až do jeho smrti, a během této doby vytvořil více než 400 jejich portrétů.


Geography.

the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. It is administratively part of the parish of Dunrossness, Shetland, and is roughly equidistant from Sumburgh Head, some to the northeast on the Mainland of Shetland and North Ronaldsay, Orkney, some to the southwest. Fair Isle is long and wide. It has an area of, making it the tenth largest of the Shetland Islands. It gives its name to one of the British Sea Areas.  Most of the islanders live in the crofts on the southern half of the island, with the northern half consisting of rocky moorland. The western coast consists of cliffs of up to in height, with Ward Hill at being the highest point of the island and its only Marilyn. On the eastern coast the almost detached headland of Sheep Rock rises to.

History.

Fair Isle has been occupied since Neolithic times, which is remarkable because of the lack of raw materials on the island, although it is surrounded by rich fishing waters. There are two known Iron Age sites: a promontory fort at Landberg and the foundations of a house underlying an early Christian settlement at Kirkigeo.  Most of the place names date from after the 9th century Norse settlement of the Northern Isles. By that time the croft lands had clearly been in use for centuries.  Between the 9th and 15th centuries, Fair Isle was a Norwegian possession. In 1469, Shetland, along with Orkney, was part of the dowry of the King of Denmark's daughter, Margaret, on her marriage to James III of Scotland.  On 20 August 1588 the flagship of the Spanish Armada, "El Gran Grifón", was shipwrecked in the cove of Stroms Hellier, forcing its 300 sailors to spend six weeks living with the islanders. The wreck was discovered in 1970. The large Canadian sailing ship "Black Watch" was wrecked on Fair Isle in 1877.  Fair Isle was bought by the National Trust for Scotland in 1954 from George Waterston, the founder of the bird observatory.  The population has decreased steadily from about 400 in 1900. There are currently around 55 permanent residents on the island, the majority of whom are crofters who work the land. The island has 14 scheduled monuments, ranging from the earliest signs of human activity to the remains of a Second World War radar station. The two automated lighthouses are protected as listed buildings.  The island houses a series of high-technology relay stations carrying vital TV, radio, telephone and military communication links between Shetland, Orkney and the Scottish mainland. In this respect it continues its historic role as a signal station, linking the mainland and the more remote island groups. In 1976, when television relay equipment was updated to permit colour broadcasts to Shetland, the new equipment was housed in former World War Two radar station buildings on Fair Isle. Many television signals are relayed from Orkney to Shetland (rather than from the Scottish mainland) via Orkney's Keelylang Hill transmitter station.

Economy.

Over the centuries the island has changed hands many times. Trading links with Northern Europe are reflected in Fair Isle Haa, a traditional Hanseatic trading booth located not far from the South Harbour, traditionally used by residents of the southern part of the island. Rent was usually paid to absentee landlords (who rarely visited) in butter, cloth and fish oil.  Fishing has always been an important industry for the island. In 1702, the Dutch, who were interested in Shetland's herring fisheries, fought a naval battle against French warships just off the island.  Fair Isle is also noted for its woollen jumpers, with knitting forming an important source of income for the women of the islands. The principal activity for the male islanders is crofting.  In January 2004, Fair Isle was granted Fairtrade Island status.

Bird life.

Many rare species of bird have been found on the island, with at least 27 first records, and is probably the best place in western Europe to see skulking Siberian passerines such as Pechora pipit, lanceolated warbler and Pallas's grasshopper warbler. In April 2008 a calandra lark was identified, and in May a Caspian plover was observed, only the fourth such record for the UK. On 6 June a citril finch was found and identified by islander Tommy Hyndman, a first record for Britain. September was highlighted by brown flycatcher, red-flanked bluetail and Siberian thrush.  The island is also home to an endemic subspecies of Eurasian wren, the Fair Isle wren "Troglodytes troglodytes fridariensis".

Bird observatory.

A permanent bird observatory was founded on Fair Isle by George Waterston in 1948. Because of its importance as a bird migration watchpoint, it provided most of the accommodation on the island. The first director of the observatory was Kenneth Williamson. It was unusual amongst bird observatories in providing catered, rather than hostel-style, accommodation.  In 2010, a new observatory was built: a wooden lodge of two storeys, which cost £4 million and accommodated around 30 guests. The 2010 observatory building was destroyed by fire on 10 March 2019; the observatory's records had been digitised and were not affected.

Infrastructure.

Other than the restaurant of the Bird Observatory, and its little evening-only bar, there are no pubs or restaurants on the island. There is one shop, and one school (see below). There is a community hall available for meetings and social events.

Electricity supply.

Fair Isle is not connected to the National Grid and electricity is provided by the Fair Isle Electricity Company. From the 1980s, power was generated by two diesel generators and two wind turbines. Diesel generators were automatically switched off if wind turbines provided sufficient power. Excess capacity was distributed through a separate network for home heating, with remote frequency-sensitive programmable relays controlling water heaters and storage heaters in the buildings of the community. Since October 2018, the island has a 24-hour electricity supply; following the installation of three wind turbines, combined with solar panels and batteries, in a £3.5 million scheme.

Communication.

Fair Isle is home to two GSM 900 MHz base stations operated by Vodafone and O. On 16 April 2019, an EE 4G antenna was turned on by Openreach.

Emergency services.

Fair Isle has a fire station equipped with a single fire appliance, and staffed by a retained fire crew of local volunteers. It was originally part of the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, which was absorbed into the national Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on 1 April 2013. A locally organised volunteer fire brigade was formed in 1996 by island residents. This was later absorbed into the statutory fire service, with professional training provided, and the local service designated a retained fire crew. The first purpose-built fire engine was stationed to the island in 2002.  In October 2011 a contract for the construction of a £140,000 purpose-built fire station was awarded to Shetland company Ness Engineering, who completed the construction and equipping of the fire station, including its connection to the island power and water supplies, and the installation of a rainwater harvesting system within the building. The new fire station was officially opened on 14 March 2013.  There is a small Coastguard cliff-rescue team on the island. Like the fire service, the Coastguard is a retained (volunteer) emergency service. The Fair Isle Coastguard cliff rescue team were the first British Coastguard unit to be equipped with a quad ATV. The quad is painted in H M Coastguard livery, with reflective Battenburg markings and has an optional equipment trailer.  There are no emergency medical services on Fair Isle. Routine medical care is provided by a community nurse. In the event of accident and emergency the community nurse provides first aid until casualties can be removed to Shetland Mainland, usually by fixed-wing air ambulance. In severe weather conditions the Coastguard helicopter can sometimes undertake medical evacuations when the air ambulance is grounded.

Transport.

Air.

Fair Isle Airport serves the island with flights to Tingwall Airport near Lerwick, and weekly to Sumburgh Airport, both on Shetland Mainland. Flights to Kirkwall on Orkney were scheduled to begin in September 2017, provided by Loganair. Private aircraft use the facility and scheduled flights arrive twice daily, three days a week. There is a small terminal building, but facilities are otherwise very limited. Fire cover is provided by the island fire service.  There is also a helipad at the South Fair Isle lighthouse, for official use by the Northern Lighthouse Board and Coastguard helicopters, and a second one at the North Fair Isle lighthouse.

Sea.

There are two main harbours (north harbour and south harbour), both formed naturally, being sheltered by the headland of Bu Ness. They are separated by a narrow isthmus of gravel. The north harbour is the main route for goods, provisions, and Royal Mail postal services arriving at and departing from the island. The ferry "Good Shepherd IV" plies between Fair Isle north harbour and Grutness on Shetland Mainland.

Road.

A road connects the populated areas of the island, along its full length.

Education.

Fair Isle has one primary school, with two classrooms. There is a full-time head teacher, and a part-time assistant teacher. The number of pupils varies over time, but is generally between 5 and 10, with 5 pupils in 2014/2015. Islanders of secondary school age are generally educated off-island, on Shetland Mainland, where they board in halls of residence, returning to the island during holiday periods.

Religion.

Christianity is the only formally organised religion on Fair Isle. There are two churches, one Methodist, and one Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). The Methodist Church has a resident non-stipendiary minister, who reports to a full-time minister on Shetland Mainland. The Methodist Church was constructed in 1886.  The Church of Scotland church was built in 1892. The Church of Scotland parish which contains Fair Isle is Dunrossness, which is linked with Sandwick, Cunningsburgh and Quarff parish. The congregation's minister is the Reverend Charles H Greig.

Wartime military role.

During the Second World War, the Royal Air Force built a radar station on top of Ward Hill () during the Battle of the Atlantic. The ruined buildings and nissen huts are still present. A cable-operated narrow gauge railway lies disused, though it was once used to send supplies up to the summit of Ward Hill.  On 17 January 1941, a German Heinkel He 111 bomber, modified as a meteorological aircraft, crashed on the island; wreckage remains on the crash-site to the present day. The aircraft had been flying on a routine weather reconnaissance flight from its base at Oldenburg in Germany. It was intercepted by RAF Hawker Hurricane fighters from 3 Squadron, based at RAF Sumburgh; both of the aircraft's engines were damaged and several of the five crew were wounded. The pilot managed to make a crash-landing on Fair Isle to avoid ditching his crippled aircraft in the sea. Two crew died and three survived. The dead crew were buried in the island's churchyard; the survivors were detained by the islanders and remained for several days until weather conditions allowed them to be taken off the island by means of the Shetland Lifeboat.

Climate.

Fair Isle experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb", bordering on a subpolar oceanic climate ("Cfc"), with cool summers and mild winters. This is especially pronounced due to its location far from any sizeable landmass; Fair Isle has the smallest overall temperature range (least continental) of any weather station in the British Isles: an absolute maximum of and an absolute minimum of since 1951. This 60+ year temperature span is actually smaller than many places in inland southern England will record within a given three-month period. To further illustrate how extreme the maritime moderation at Fair Isle is, a rural location near the coastline in Northern Stockholm County on a similar latitude in Sweden broke Fair Isle's all-time records in both directions within a 48-hour period between 26 and 28 April 2014.  The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was in February 2010. Rainfall, at under, is lower than one might expect for somewhere often in the main path of Atlantic depressions. This is explained by a lack of heavy convective rainfall during spring and summer months due to the absence of warm surface conditions.  Fair Isle's ocean moderation is so strong that areas on the same latitudes in the Scandinavian inland less than 1000 kilometres to the east have average summer highs higher than Fair Isle's all-time record temperature, for example the Norwegian capital of Oslo and the Swedish capital of Stockholm. The all-time low is uniquely mild for European locations on the 59th parallel north. The winter daily means are comparable to many areas as far south in the British Isles as south-central England, due to the extreme maritime moderation.

Conservation designations.

Most of the island has designated by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) as both a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SCA). The island and its surrounding seas are also designated by SNH as a Special Protection Area (SPA) due to the important bird species present.  In 2016 the seas around Fair Isle were designated as a Marine Protected Area (MPA). As of 2019 it is the only MPA in Scotland to be designated specifically as a "Demonstration and Research" MPA. The aims of this MPA designation are defined as being:

Fair Isle (; ; ) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting.

Ostrov Fair je nevelký ostrov mezi Orknejemi a Shetlandami. Od Shetland je vzdálen 38,5 km, od Orknejí 43,5 km. Celé pobřeží lemují strmé útesy vystupující až 200 m nad hladinu moře.


Reception.

At the time of its release, the Nikon D810 became the Dxomark image sensor leader ahead of the Nikon D800E and received many reviews.

Service advisory.

On August 19, 2014, Nikon acknowledged a problem reported by some users, of bright spots appearing in long-exposure photographs, as well as "in some images captured at an Image area setting of 1.2× (30×20)." Existing owners of D810 cameras were asked to visit a website to determine whether their camera could be affected, on the basis of serial numbers. Repairs would be made by Nikon free of charge. If bright spots still appear in images after servicing, Nikon recommends enabling Long exposure NR. Products already serviced have a black dot inside the tripod socket.

Nikon D810A.

An astrophotography variant with a special infrared filter capable of deep red / near infrared and with special software tweaks like long-exposure modes up to 15 minutes, virtual horizon indicator and a special Astro Noise Reduction software was announced February 10, 2015. The D810A's IR filter is optimized for H-alpha (Hα) red tones, resulting in four times greater sensitivity to the 656 nm wavelength than the D810. In comparison, Canon's astrophotography DSLR's 20Da and 60Da Hα sensitivity was 2.5 times and 3 times (respectively) more than the standard 20D / 60D. The D810A additionally has 1.39 stops advantage due to the larger image sensor format resulting in better than 2 stops sensitivity advantage giving over four times faster exposure times compared to the Canon 20Da/60Da. Although the D810A can be used for normal photography, due to the deep red / near infrared sensitivity the in-camera white balance may fail in case of fluorescent light or difficult cases with very strong infrared light requiring an external infrared filter. Nikon published an D810A astrophotography guide that recommends live view focusing with 23× enlarged selected areas and a gallery showing the mostly small effects to the color reproduction in "normal" photos.  A review concludes that especially the D810A long exposure noise is superior compared to the D800E and other Nikon fullframes, and shows effects of the increased H-alpha sensitivity. Color balance of "normal" photos seems mostly correct, except comparatively hotter objects with strong infrared radiation and a bit more purple in sunsets.

The Nikon D810 is a 36.3-megapixel professional-grade full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera produced by Nikon. The camera was officially announced in June 2014, and became available in July 2014.

Nikon D810 je digitální zrcadlovka od firmy Nikon, uvedená jako pokračovatel modelů D800/D800E. Byla uvedena 26. června 2014 za doporučenou cenu 3300 USD. Patří do profesionální třídy a je vysoce hodnocená, podle testovacího serveru DxOMark dokonce jako nejlepší digitální zrcadlovka současnosti s hodnocením „97“.


Description.

In the painting, a clerk, a peasant, and a soldier lie dozing on the ground underneath a table bound to a tree. The clerk's book, papers, ink and pen lie idle, as do the peasant's flail and the soldier's lance and gauntlet. A half-eaten egg in its shell runs between the peasant and the clerk. The table attached to the tree is laden with partly consumed food and drink. Behind the tree, a roasted fowl lays itself upon a silver platter, implying that it is ready to be eaten, and a roasted pig runs about with a carving knife already slipped under its skin. On the left, a knight emerges from a lean-to whose roof is covered in dishes of pie and pastry, with an open mouth, waiting for a roasted pigeon to fly in (the pigeon was accidentally removed during restoration work). On the right and behind the main action, a man clutching a spoon forces his way out of a large cloud of pudding, having eaten his way through it; he reaches for the bent branch of a tree in order to lower himself into Cockaigne. The fence enclosing the main scene behind the dozing trio is made of interwoven sausages. A partly eaten wheel of cheese and a bush (or tower) of loaves of bread are on the left and right of the scene, respectively.

Interpretation.

The arrangement of the clerk, peasant, and soldier underneath the tree suggests the men as the spokes of a wheel, where the tree is the hub. The roasted fowl lies in the place where a fourth spoke could be.  Ross Frank has argued that the painting is a political satire directed at the participants in the first stages of the Dutch Revolt (1568–1648), where the roasted fowl represents the humiliation and failure of the nobleman (who would otherwise form the fourth spoke of the wheel) in his leadership of the Netherlands, and the overall scene depicts the complacency of the Netherlandish people, too content with their abundance to take the risks that would bring about significant religious and political change.  The painting has also been cited as illustrating the Freudian oral stage of psychosexual development, showing a paradise of oral pleasure. It is used to demonstrate how human beings achieve oral pleasure and stimulation from eating and simply having things in the mouth.

Het Luilekkerland (Dutch, "the lazy-luscious-land") — known in English as The Land of Cockaigne — is a 1567 oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder ("c." 1525–1569). In medieval times, Cockaigne was a mythical land of plenty, but Bruegel's depiction of Cockaigne and its residents is not meant to be a flattering one. He chooses rather a comic illustration of the spiritual emptiness believed to derive from gluttony and sloth, two of the seven deadly sins.

V zemi peciválů (nizozemsky "Het Luilekkerland") je obraz namalovaný roku 1567 vlámským malířem Pietrem Brueghelem. Země lenosti a nenasytnosti má ve středověké literatuře pověst mýtického místa, kde není nutné pracovat a kde jídlo, pití je tak dostupné, že stačí jenom otevřít pusu, abychom je dostali. Na obraze vidíme celkem tři hlavní postavy – úředníka, rolníka a vojáka. Všichni si pospávají na zemi pod stolem, který je pevně svázán se stromem. Úředníkova kniha, papíry, inkoust a pero leží jen tak nečinně, stejně jako rolníkův cep a vojákovo kopí a ochranná rukavice. Dále uprostřed obrazu pozorujeme napůl snězené vejce, které ve své skořápce běží mezi rolníka a úředníka.


Plot.

In 19th century Monte Athena, in the Kingdom of Italy, young lovers Lysander and Hermia are forbidden to marry by her father Egeus, who has promised Hermia to Demetrius. Lysander and Hermia make plans to flee to the forest to escape the arrangement. Demetrius follows them, having been made aware of the plan by Helena, a young woman who is desperately in love with him. Once in the forest, they wander into the fairy world, ruled by Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the fairies. Oberon and his servant sprite Puck cause mayhem among the lovers with a magic potion that causes both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in love with Helena, leading to a rift between all four that culminates (famously in this adaptation) in a mud-wrestling scene. Oberon then bewitches Titania with the same potion.  Meanwhile, an acting troupe prepares a play for the entertainment of the Duke. The leader of the actors and the actors, including a weaver named Bottom, and Francis Flute take their rehearsal to the forest. The mischievous Puck magically enchants Bottom with the head of an ass and Bottom is then seen by the bewitched Titania. Titania woos Bottom in her bower, attended by fairies. Oberon tires of the sport and puts all to rights, pairing Lysander back with Hermia and Demetrius with Helena, and reconciling with his own queen, Titania.  In the final part, Bottom and his troupe of "rude Mechanicals" perform their amateur play, based on the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe, before Duke Theseus, his wife Hippolyta, and the court, unintentionally producing a comedy that turns to be a tragedy.

Production.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" was filmed on location in Lazio and Tuscany, and at Cinecittà Studios, Rome, Italy. The action of the play was transported from Athens, Greece, to a fictional Monte Athena, located in the Tuscan region of Italy, although all textual mentions of Athens were retained.  The film made use of Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for an 1843 stage production (including the famous "Wedding March"), alongside operatic works from Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Gioacchino Rossini and Pietro Mascagni.

Home media.

The film was released on VHS and DVD on November 30, 1999.

Critical reception.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" holds a rating of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes as of September 2019, and a score of 61 on Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews. Many critics singled out Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci for particular praise.  In "The New York Times", Janet Maslin wrote: In the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert wrote: In the "San Francisco Chronicle", Peter Stack wrote: In "Time Out New York", Andrew Johnston (critic) wrote: In "The Washington Post", Jane Horwitz wrote: Also in the "Washington Post", Desson Howe wrote: In "Variety", Emanuel Levy described the film as a "whimsical, intermittently enjoyable but decidedly unmagical version of the playwright's wild romantic comedy... There is not much chemistry between Pfeiffer and Everett, nor between Pfeiffer and Kline, particularly in their big love scene. Kline overacts physically and emotionally, Flockhart is entertaining in a broad manner, and Pfeiffer renders a strenuously theatrical performance. Overall, the Brits give more coherent and resonant performances, especially Friel and West as the romantic couple, a restrained Everett as Oberon, and Rees as the theatrical manager."  "Time Out" wrote that "this "Dream" is middlebrow and unashamed of it. Injecting the film with fun and pathos, Kline makes a superb Bottom; it's his play and he acts it to the hilt."

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 romantic comedy fantasy film based on the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. It was directed by Michael Hoffman. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, Stanley Tucci as Puck, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, and Dominic West as the four lovers.

Sen noci svatojánské (v britském originále: A Midsummer Night ́s Dream) je britsko-americko-italská filmová komedie z roku 1999. Režisérem filmu je Michael Hoffman. Hlavní role ve filmu ztvárnili Kevin Kline, Roger Rees, Sam Rockwell, Max Wright a Bill Irwin.


History.

In 448 or 449 AD, as Priscus recounts ""Onegesius along with the eldest of Attila's children, had been sent to the Akateri, a Scythian [Hunnic] people, whom he was bringing into an alliance with Attila"". As the Akatziroi tribes and clans were ruled by different leaders, emperor Theodosius II tried with gifts to spread animosity among them, but the gifts were not delivered according to rank, Kouridachos, warned and called Attila against fellow leaders. So Attila did, Kardach stayed with his tribe or clan in own territory, while the rest of the Akatziroi became subjected to Attila. Attila ""desired to make his eldest son their king, and so sent Onegesios to do it"". Onegesios returned with Ellac, who ""had taken a spill and broken his right hand"".  Priscus also mentions the number of sons ""Onegesios was seated on a chair to the right of the king's couch, and opposite Onegesios two [Dengizich and Ernak] of Attila's children were sitting on a chair. The eldest [Ellac] was seated on Attila's couch, not near him but at the edge, looking at the ground out of respect for his father"".  After the rites of Attila's death in 453, according to Jordanes in "Getica", the sons Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak (but possibly existed also other sons who pretended the throne):  A coalition of Germanic tribes, led by Ardaric, king of the Gepids, revolted against such slavery treatment, and ""so they were armed for mutual destruction. War was waged in Pannonia, next to a river called Nedao. Various nations Attila had held in his sway came into combat there... Goths, Gepids, Rugii, Suavi, Huns, Alans and Heruli..."". By "slavery" status is considered the pay of tributes and military service. There were many ""grim clashes"", but unexpected victory fell to the Gepids. Ardaric and his allies annihilated nearly 30,000 Huns and their allies. In the battle Attila's oldest son, Ellac, died. According to Priscus:  Jordanes recounts:  ""When Ellac was slain, his remaining brothers were put to fight near the shore of the Sea of Pontus where we have said the Goths settled. And so yielded the Huns to whom the whole world was once thought to yield: their disintegration was so calamitous that a nation which, with their forces united, used to terrify, when divided, tumbled down... Many nations, by sending embassies, came to Roman lands and were welcomed by the emperor Marcian... Now when the Goths saw the Gepids defending for themselves the territory of the Huns, and the people of the Huns dwelling again in their ancient abodes, they preferred to ask for lands from the Roman Empire, rather than invade the lands of others with dangers to themselves. So they received Pannonia"". After the battle Attila's largely Germanic subject tribes started to reassert their independence. However, it was not sudden, and not all freed themselves. The Huns ""turned in flight and sought the parts of Scythia which border on the stream of the river Danaber, which the Huns call in their own tongue Var"". Hernak ""chose a home in the most distant part of Scythia Minor"". Not all Huns immediately leave the Pannonian Basin, yet only Middle Danube. Some Huns remained in Dacia Ripensis i.e. Lower Danube, Moesia and Thrace.

Etymology.

Several scholars derive Ellac from a word akin to Old Turkic "älik" / "ilik" / "ilig" ("prince, ruler, king), which derives from "*el" (realm) + "lä-g" (to rule, the rule). The name thus appears to be a title rather than a personal name.

Ellac (died in 454 AD) was the oldest son of Attila (434–453) and Kreka. After Attila's death in 453 AD, his Empire crumbled and its remains were ruled by his three sons, Ellac, Dengizich and Ernak. He ruled shortly, and died at the Battle of Nedao in 454 AD. Ellac was succeeded by brothers Dengizich and Ernak.

Ellak také Ellac či Ilek ( - 454, Panonie) byl nejstarším synem a nástupcem hunského vůdce Attily, známého jako "Bič Boží". Ellak vládl od roku 453 a jeho vládu ukončila bitva u Nedao, kde byl v boji zabit a Hunové poraženi. Vládu Hunů po Ellakovi převzal jeho bratr Dengizich. Ellac byl také vůdcem Akatzirů


Origins.

In Iranian mythology, the Bakhtiaris are considered to be descendants of Fereydun, a legendary hero from the Iranian national epic, Shahnameh.

Genetics.

According to research into NRY markers, the Bakhtiari, as with many other groups in Iran, show very elevated frequencies for Y-DNA haplogroup J2—a phenomenon that is probably, at least partially, attributable to the Neolithic diffusion of early farmers from the Near East "c". 8000–4000 BCE. The Southwest Eurasian haplogroups F, G, and T1a also reach substantial frequency among Bakhtiaris.

Etymology.

The term "bakhtiari" can be best translated as "companion of fortune" or "bearer of good luck" The term has deep Persian roots and is the result of two smaller words "bakht" and "yar" complied together. "Bakht" is the Persian word for "fortune" and "yar", "iar", "iari" literally means "companion".  The latter designation largely relates to the nature of the tribe's annual "migration". This has to do with the harsh nature of Bakhtiari life and overcoming of countless difficulties that Bakhtiaris have faced in the Zagros ranges. In this sense, Bakhtiaris view themselves as a hardworking tribe, facing numerous obstacles everyday and yet fortunate enough to overcome each of these challenges as a solid unit.  Nevertheless, the origins of Bakhtiaris are ancient and it may have very well been the case that the tribe underwent a series of name changes throughout its history. However it is mostly claimed that the designation "Bakhtiari" came largely into use some time in antiquity.

History.

Constitutional Revolution: In Iran's contemporary history, the Bakhtiari have played a significant role; particularly during the advent of the country's Constitutional Revolution (1905–1907). This event was largely secured through the Bakhtari campaign, which eventually deposed Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1907–1909). The Bakhtiari tribesmen, under the leadership of the Haft Lang khans Sardar Assad and his brother Najaf Qoli Khan Bakhtiari- Saad ad-Daula (also referred to as Samsam-os Saltane), captured Tehran and, as a result, saved the revolution. These events eventually led to the abdication of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1907–1909) in 1909 and his exile to Russia. This incident secured Saad ad-Daula the position of Prime Minister in the period that followed the abdication of the Qajar Shah. Nonetheless, with Russian backing, the Shah would soon return in 1911 by landing with a coalition of forces at Astarabad. However, his efforts to reclaim his throne would bear no fruit. In this sense, the Bakhtiaris played a critical role in saving the revolution from the Qajar forces.  Pahlavi Period: With the expansion of Bakhtiari influence, urban elites (particularly in Tehran) began to worry in regards to a potential Bakhtiari takeover of Persia's affairs. Prior to this point, the Bakhtiari had largely remained within their own territorial boundaries. The Bakhtiari influence would continue to play an important role within the early 20th century politics of Iran. Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1925–1941) made the destruction of the Bakhtiari influence his mission. The existence of oil on Bakhtiari territory further motivated the Pahlavi monarch to undermine the autonomy of the tribe and force its population to adhere to the commands of the central government. Reza Shah Pahlavi would eventually execute a few noteworthy tribal leaders to crush Bakhtiari autonomy and maintain control over the tribe. Amongst the executed Khans was Mohammad Reza Khan (Sardar-e-Fateh), the father of what later became the Pahlavi Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar. The latter event was a turning point for Bakhtiari and their rise within Iranian politics.

Tribal structure.

The Bakhtiari people are mainly from two tribal divisions, "Chahar lang" (English: Four Shares) and "Haft Lang" (English: Seven Shares). "Lang" word in bakhtiari dialect means "share of tax or inheritance". Due to the harsh nature of their life style, Bakhtiaris have been able to keep their blood lines intact, largely marrying within their own tribe.  Bakhtiaris trace a common lineage, being divided into the Chahar Lang (The Four Shares) and Haft Lang (The Seven Shares) groups, each controlled by a single powerful family. The overall khan alternates every two years between the chiefs of the Chahar Lang and the Haft Lang.  The famous documentary "Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life" (1925) tells the story of the migration of Bakhtiari tribe from winter quarters in Khuzestan to summer quarters Chahar Mahaal. This film also tells the story of how these people crossed the river Karun with 50,000 people and 500,000 animals. The documentary "People of the Wind" (1975) retraces this same journey, 50 years later. The British documentary series "The Ascent of Man" (1973) in the first part of its second episode, "The Harvest of the Seasons," also shows the Bakhtiari making the annual migration to the summer pastures. This portrayal is not however, particularly positive, using the Bakhtiari as an example of a pre-agricultural tribe frozen in time. As of 2006, the migration still takes place, although the livestock are now transported in trucks, and the shepherds no longer walk barefoot in the snow between provinces.

Music.

The Bakhtiari are noted in Iran for their remarkable music which inspired Alexander Borodin. The Bakhtiari dialect is the most popular dialect of the Luri language.

Culture.

Livelihood and Dwellings.

Bakhtiari nomads migrate twice a year with their herds for pasture: in spring to the mountains in their summer quarters (sardsīr or yaylāq) and in autumn to valleys and the plains in their winter quarters (garmsīr or qishlāq). The livestock the Bakhtiari mainly raise are goats, sheep, horses, and cattle. However, some Bakhtiari also engage in agricultural occupations and mostly cultivate wheat and other cereal grains. Nomadic Baktiari rely on trading and bartering with nearby villages and populations to obtain products they don't have or are unable to create themselves (like agricultural goods). Temporary dwellings for the Bakhtiari include rectangular tents or brush or wood shelters. These types of dwellings are used when moving their herds around. Recently, some Bakhtiari have urbanized and began to settle in large villages and even in cities.

Language, Gender, and Religion.

The Bakhtiari speak the Lori language (Bakhtiari dialect). Many men can also speak Persian.  Shia Islam is the main religion followed by both the nomadic and sedentary Bakhtiaris. The Bakhtiaris are devout and practice the faith piously.  Despite the patriarchal nature of Bakhtiari society, women enjoy a rather high degree of freedom. This was because of their importance in the Bakhtiari economy as weavers in which colorful and stylish designs on carpets made them very popular among buyers. However, after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Bakhtiari (along with Iranian society in general) underwent rapid changes so presently, Bakhtiari women don't have the same kind of privileges they had before the revolution.

The Bakhtiari () are a southwestern Iranian tribe, and a subgroup of the Lurs. They speak the Bakhtiari dialect, a southwestern Iranian dialect, belonging to the Luri language.

Bachtijárí jsou íránský národ, který žije v provincie oblastech Čahármahál a Bachtijárí, Chúzistán, Isfahán, Lorestán, Kohgíluje a Bójer-Ahmad v Íránu. Jazykově jsou jim nejvíce příbuzní Lúrové. Jsou spřízněni s Peršany a jinými íránskými kmeny ve svém okolí. Dnešní kultura a mytologie Bachtijárí je pevně zakořeněna právě v íránské kmenové kultuře. Bachtijárí patří k skupině íránských jazyků, které spadají k indoevropské větvi.


Raising awareness.

The centre teaches men and women about respecting women's rights which are in tandem with basic human rights. WAW have in place an outreach and awareness program whereby people of Afghanistan can attend, to learn more about the less harsh version of Islam than what they have been previously taught by ultraconservative individuals who may have malicious intents or by men who are chauvinists by nature. WAW sends staff out to reach out to the elusive women who are in abusive relationships and are afraid to seek help. WAW also reaches out to the community by visiting schools and police stations, with the hope to encourage Afghans to attend the awareness centre. To date, the centre has successfully educated thousands of Afghans including imams (religious leaders) and law enforcement officials with regards to women's right in the context of Islamic law. Their biggest mission is to offer security and liberty for the women in Afghan. Another goal for them is to encourage them to inflate their self-esteem, and also to participate in all area of life: social, economic, and politics. "Our work is strengthened by our commitment to diversity. Their board and staff consists men and women and a diverse representation of age, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation".

Shelter home.

WAW has opened eight family guidance centres (FGC). A facility opened to both men and women who had their human rights violated, including domestic violence, sexual and mental violence, forced and underage marriage, being exchanged as compensation for a crime, honor killings, and being denied education. It is a walk-in centre, though most clients are referred by government ministries, the police, the Independent Human Rights Commission, or other NGOs.  For cases that bring physical danger to the women, including risk of physical violence and death, they are sent to one of the seven women's shelters. Women in the shelters are provided with training in literacy skills and vocational classes, as well as given sessions with their counsellors and/or lawyers, and their families. When these counselling sessions do not help in resolving their problem, WAW offers legal services on behalf of these women to file for divorce. Their children enter WAW's kindergartens, where they are given basic education.  Women in Afghanistan have built houses for women as shelters in most of the provinces in Afghanistan such as in Kabul, Kapisa, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz, Faryab, and Saripul. The vision of the organization is to enhance the potential individuality of women, self-determination, participating in the social activities such as politics, cultural reforms, social development, economic, and marketing. The organization challenges the norms those undermine woman's rights and violate their freedom. The organization's work encapsulates religion and cultural context in order to accomplish its mission. One of the main goals of the organization is to establish a shelter for women in every province in the country and they are almost well into their way. The organization is mainly worried about the presence of the foreign troops in the country, which increases the Taliban violence. Women in this organization's shelter take literacy classes in order to enhance their reading and writing abilities. In addition, women in the program stay in the program between two weeks and two years, but sometimes some women stay in the program for a prolonged time due to their need of help. Children enter the organization's kindergarten to learn reading, writing, doing art, sing songs, and playing games. Due to the presence of the organization's shelter, it is possible that those kids will have a better future. Women for Afghan Women uses the Bill of Afghan women in order to implement women's right and meets the needs of woman in Afghanistan. The Bill of Rights was signed by the president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and it was handed to all women those participated the third annual conference of the organization.

Children’s support centre.

Provisions for Afghan girls and women are poor, regardless of intensive efforts to broaden their freedom, rights, and prominence of life. In 2012, Afghanistan was nominated for being the most dangerous country that a girl can be born in. Afghanistan has much deprivation and unattainable health care. This was mainly caused by decades of civil war and a sustainable economy made it difficult for women to live there. In Afghanistan, women are jailed together with their children. WAW's Children's Support Center (CSC) raises money to get children out of prison. WAW provides a learning program that helps uneducated children meet the criteria for entrance into local schools, in addition to individual and group therapy. Afghan women are usually afraid of confirming the mistreatment that they face every day in their lives. WAW's biggest projects is to give these women a voice, and to build the self-esteem of Afghan women who are used to burying their emotions and their opinions. Ten percent of the Afghan women receive this aid, and can express their opinions in front of millions of people.

Halfway houses.

To develop a complete program that helps both women and children, halfway houses serve them when they are out of the prison and shelter. When these women and children have no home to return to, Halfway houses allow women to learn a vocation, literacy, financial and other life skills in preparation for their independent futures. WAW provides a closure by finding these women employment and a roof over their head when they are independent and ready to move out the protected place. Women in shelters often have the same problem. They turn the women literate by providing for them computers, so they can learn reading, and writing skills. WAW prepares women for their individual future. This organization makes sure that before these women living in the center have a job and place to live when they live the center. This organization also hopes to build halfway houses to everywhere they have an office.

Women for Afghan Women, also known as WAW, is the largest non-government Afghan women's rights organization in the world, founded in April 2001, which is dedicated to protecting the rights of Afghan women and girls. The staff are mostly Afghans and WAW adopts a community-based approach. For example, they conduct educational workshops about women's rights according to Islamic law.

Women for Afghan Women (zkratka WAW, česky "Ženy pro afghánské ženy") je nevládní organizace, která usiluje o prosazování práv žen a dívek v Afghánistánu. Provozuje také útulky, kde poskytuje přístřeší ženám a dívkám, které ohrožuje násilí, často ze strany nejbližších příbuzných. V tradiční patriarchální afghánské společnosti bývá žena nahlížena jako majetek muže. Dochází k prodeji nevěst v dětském věku nebo „vraždám ze cti“ za cizoložství, ale i po znásilnění.


Early life.

Vacchelli was born in Longardore di Sospiro in 1937. From 1948 to 1961 he attended the minor and then the major seminary of the Diocese of Cremona, into which he was incardinated as a cleric. His priestly ordination was on 27 May 1961.  From late 1961 to autumn 1963, he exercised his priestly ministry in the Parish of St. John Cross. He was sent to Rome in 1963 for studies in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was awarded the JCL and returned to his diocese in 1967. In that year he was appointed to the pastoral service of the Parish of St. Peter in Cremona. In 1973 he was appointed secretary of the Bishop and, from 1975, also chancellor, a post he held until 1986. In 1986 he was appointed Pro-Vicar General of the diocese. From 1990 to 1993 he acted as Secretary General of the Diocesan Synod. In 1993 he was appointed parish priest and canon of the Cathedral of Cremona.

Adjunct Secretary.

Over the years he taught canon law and religion in the diocesan seminary at the School of Science and Letters Institute. From October 1996 he held the office of Undersecretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference and Chairman of its committee for charitable aid for developing countries. He was appointed adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2008 and at the same time Titular Archbishop of "Minturnae", receiving episcopal ordination on 3 July from Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B.  He knows French, Spanish and English.

Piergiuseppe Vacchelli (born 4 February 1937) is the current Adjunct Secretary Emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and President of the Pontifical Missionary Societies since his retirement was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 26 June 2012. He previously served as Under-Secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference and Chairman of its Charitable Assistance for the Third World.

Mons. Piergiuseppe Vacchelli (* 4. února 1937, Longardore di Sospiro) je italský římskokatolický kněz, arcibiskup a emeritní adjunkt sekretář Kongregace pro evangelizaci národů.


Career.

Early life (1949–1967) and Tyrannosaurus Rex (1967–1969).

Took was born Stephen Ross Porter in Eltham, London, on 28 July 1949, and attended Shooters Hill School. He took his name from the character Peregrin Took, a hobbit, in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". At the age of 17, having played drums for some months with a mod band named the Waterproof Sparrows (bass player John Rains), he answered an advert in "Melody Maker" for Tyrannosaurus Rex, the electric band that Marc Bolan was forming following his departure from John's Children. After one disastrous concert at the Electric Garden in London, Bolan and Took reduced the band to a duo, busking in subways on acoustic guitar and bongos, Took having been obliged to sell his full drum kit to pay the rent until paying gigs started to come in.  The flower-power unit, championed by John Peel onto the club and stage circuit and thence into the record shops, released three albums and achieved two top 40 hits. Took contributed harmony backing vocals, which are more noticeable in live recordings than on studio recordings, and provided bongos, African drums, kazoo, pixiphone, and Chinese gong. Took's arrangements contributed to transforming Bolan's music from the straightforward rock 'n roll it had previously been into an exotic brew of musical styles designed to appeal to Bolan's new audience of hippies. Towards the end of his time in the band, as Bolan began returning to the electric guitar, Took returned to a full drum set and also contributed some bass guitar parts.  The band's producer Tony Visconti credited Took with much of the sound and success of Tyrannosaurus Rex. In an interview for the documentary "Marc Bolan: The Final Word", Visconti opined that "Marc and Steve were a true 50:50 partnership. Steve was a remarkable musician, he could play many instruments. He played percussion, he could pick up a bass or a guitar. He would also sometimes play some cello parts. And then his backing vocals were great too."  Took developed his own songwriting and in early 1969, with recording just complete on Tyrannosaurus Rex's third LP, "Unicorn", Took suggested to Bolan that the duo could perform some of his own material; Bolan refused. By this time, their lifestyles were in direct conflict. Bolan was living quietly with wife-to-be June Child, while Took was rapidly forging links with "revolutionary" underground acts, such as The Deviants and The Pretty Things. The relationship was deteriorating badly—Bolan barely tolerated Took's drug use, and Steve Mann recalled that it was clear they "cordially detested each other".  In addition, Took's friendship with Bolan's idol Syd Barrett had also developed through their shared interests in both LSD and "strange musical noises". Mick Farren, in his memoir "Give The Anarchist A Cigarette", recalled that Took would "drag a bemused Syd Barrett along" to events in Ladbroke Grove in the late 1960s; Took remained friends with Barrett well into the 1970s. Took worked with Syd Barrett on unreleased "Ramadan" tracks. While in Tyrannosaurus Rex, Took also appeared as a backing vocalist on a session for David Bowie, the results of which can be heard on the BBC sessions album "Bowie at the Beeb".  Eventually, Took donated two of his songs—"Three Little Piggies" and "The Sparrow Is A Sign"—to former Tomorrow and Pretty Things drummer Twink's 1969 solo album, "Think Pink". Consequently, before the first Tyrannosaurus Rex tour of America, Bolan and his management sacked Took. Another contributing factor was an incident at the launch party for the UK edition of "Rolling Stone", where jugs of punch prepared for the event were spiked with the hallucinogen STP. Took had already earned himself the nickname "The Phantom Spiker" (in which he rejoiced) through previous similar pranks. Bolan was severely affected by the spiked drink and considered Took to be the prime suspect.  Took was contractually obliged to go on the US tour, but his heart was not in it and he attempted to cope through taking drugs. Additionally, the acoustic duo were overshadowed by the loud electric acts they were billed with. To counter this, he drew from the shock rock style of Iggy Pop; as Took explained to the NME in 1972 "I took my shirt off in the Sunset Strip where we were playing and whipped myself till everybody shut up. With a belt, y'know, a bit of blood and the whole of Los Angeles shuts up. 'What's going on, man, there's some nutter attacking himself on stage.' I mean, Iggy Stooge had the same basic approach." This allowed the management to claim subsequently that it was Took's behaviour on stage which had caused the sacking. Bolan replaced Took with Mickey Finn, and after one further album renamed the duo T. Rex, later expanding to a full band again.

Pink Fairies (1969–1970).

After being sacked by Bolan, Took formed a prototype version of the Pink Fairies with Twink and Mick Farren, recently ousted from his own band, the Deviants. This band was named in honour of a drinking club of the same name the three had formed earlier that year, along with other leading lights of the underground scene. Together with Twink's girlfriend Silva Darling, they performed what Farren would later describe as "less of a gig than a protracted harangue" at the University of Manchester in October 1969, which rapidly dissolved into chaos. Took appeared prominently on Farren's first solo album "Mona – The Carnivorous Circus" (recorded December 1969, released 1970). Twink and the other ex-Deviants then formed a new band called the Pink Fairies (mark 2), without Took or Farren.

Shagrat (1970–1971).

In February 1970, Farren and Took headhunted guitarist Larry (or "Lazza") Wallis and bassist Tim Taylor from their underground band, the Entire Sioux Nation. A month later, Farren dropped out, leaving Took in the role of bandleader for the first time in his career. With the addition of drummer Phil Lenoir, Shagrat was formed (named after an orc in "The Lord of the Rings"). They recorded three tracks, "Peppermint Flickstick", "Boo! I Said Freeze" and "Steel Abortion", at Strawberry Studios and played live at the Phun City festival, before Lenoir and Taylor left. Took and Wallis continued with drummer Dave Bidwell, rehearsing with various bass players and eventually forming an acoustic trio of Took on vocals and guitar, Wallis on acoustic bass and Bidwell on tambourine. This line-up recorded a set of (at least) four home demos, "Amanda", "Strange Sister", "Still Yawning Stillborn" and "Beautiful Deceiver", at Wallis's father's home studio in South London, which in the 1990s would be paired with the earlier electric studio session for limited edition vinyl release and later a CD album release in 2001.  Wallis would later take over the leadership of the Pink Fairies for their "Kings of Oblivion" LP, substantially transforming the sound and style of the band. He and Took would work together again at various intervals in 1972, 1975–76 and 1977.

Solo acoustic performer (1971–1972).

With Wallis and Bidwell otherwise committed to UFO and Savoy Brown respectively, the acoustic Shagrat was effectively reduced down to just Took himself performing solo on an acoustic guitar, usually sitting on a stool interspersing his songs with jokes and other onstage monologues. In this format, Took made some headway as a live performer. "Tookie" appeared in frequent support slots for Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies, attracting some coverage in the UK music press and even performing a live session on Steve Bradshaw's "Breakthrough" programme on BBC Radio London. In December 1971, he headlined a three-date mini-tour of southwest England.  He also performed at various benefit events, including the "Nasty Balls" benefits for the Nasty Tales magazine (whose editors, including Farren, were on trial for obscenity) as well as the 1972 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament festival at Aldermaston, Steve's account of which was reprinted by Charles Shaar Murray in his book "Shots From The Hip". Writing for the NME in 1972, Murray described Took and his stage act thus: "Most people know who Steve Peregrine Took is, but few people know what he does. A few more know him as a somewhat bizarre figure who materialises at concerts, armed only with an Epiphone guitar, and performs a freeform set of songs, raps, jokes and anything else that flashes through his mind."  During this time, Took could also often be seen participating in jamming sessions during encores at Hawkwind and Pink Fairies concerts. His contributions to these jams were in the role of third drummer, and he also once played bass guitar for the "Pinks", substituting for Duncan Sanderson.

Management of Tony Secunda (1972–1973).

During 1972, Took was approached by Tony Secunda, recently fired as manager for T. Rex, with a view to recovering royalties owed to Took from the Tyrannosaurus Rex years. Emerging from these conversations, Secunda became Took's manager, with a view to leading him to stardom to spite Bolan. Initially, Took attempted to rerecord as a single the song "Amanda" from the 1971 acoustic Shagrat session (along with two other tracks, "Blind Owl Blues" and "Mr Discrete") with the assistance of the Pink Fairies rhythm section of Sanderson and Russell Hunter, whose band was temporarily defunct following the departure of Paul Rudolph. During this session, former Junior's Eyes/Bowie guitarist Mick Wayne was recruited as guitarist.  However, none of these tracks were ever completed to Took's satisfaction, due to what Wayne later described as "dope-induced thinking" and consequently, Wayne, Sanderson and Hunter formed a new incarnation of the Pink Fairies. (Wayne was quickly supplanted by Wallis, leading to the Kings of Oblivion era as detailed above). Took and Secunda, meanwhile, embarked upon a different approach.  Took moved into a basement flat beneath Secunda's Mayfair offices, which he set up as a live-in recording studio to demo material at his own ease. The flat rapidly became a magnet for the cream of musicians on the underground scene, who would contribute to the recordings while visiting Took. As well as old colleagues from Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies, Secunda reported that Took received visits from Syd Barrett, who at the time was living in Cambridge, but would shortly relocate back to London. From Secunda's account, it would appear likely that Barrett is on the recordings done in the flat by Took and his friends.  Highlights of the session tapes were eventually released by Cleopatra Records in 1995, as "The Missing Link To Tyrannosaurus Rex". A new version of the 1971 acoustic Shagrat song "Beautiful Deceiver" is tracklisted on the CD as "Syd's Wine" and a credit for guitar and other noises is given to one Crazy Diamond, an allusion to the 1975 Pink Floyd track "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", written in tribute to Barrett. Stripped down versions of the track "Syd's Wine" reveal a second guitarist in the room and audible vocal noises.

Various projects (1973–1976).

After splitting with Secunda, Took worked with a number of Hawkwind members, most notably Robert Calvert, Adrian Wagner, and Nik Turner. Took was scheduled to be the support act for Calvert's cancelled "Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters" tour. He and Bidwell formed at least two bands, the first with guitarist Eisuke Takahashi, the second with guitarist Hiroshi Kato and future Hawkwind bassist Adrian Shaw. The latter line-up recorded a session of four tracks in summer 1974 including Flophouse Blues (previously recorded twice in the 1972 Secunda sessions)  For some time around 1975, Took lived in the Kent towns of Canterbury and Margate, where he took on local musician and promoter Les Best as his manager. While down there, Took formed a new band, Jolly Roger and the Crimson Gash, with Takahashi now on bass and two local musicians, Brian East on drums and a guitarist called Phil. This band gigged locally and recorded at least four tracks, produced by Turner at his home studio in Westgate on Sea.

Steve Took's Horns (1976–1978).

By 1976, Took was back in London and using the band name Steve Took's Horns, so called after a horned pendant which he habitually wore. By mid 1977, this had solidified into a steady line-up featuring, in what would be the first of several bands together over many years, Trevor Thoms and Ermanno Ghisio-Erba, later better known to Inner City Unit (ICU) fans as Judge Trev and Dino Ferari.  This group, managed by Turner's friend since adolescence Tony Landau, recorded a session of three studio tracks – It's Over, Average Man and Woman I Need – at Pathway Studios on 29 November 1977, before going on to perform a gig on 18 June 1978 at The Roundhouse, as part of "Nik Turner's Bohemian Love-In". Took felt the gig went badly, and decide to split up the band. The Pathway Studios session would be released on CD by Cherry Red in 2004, as "Blow It!!! The All New Adventures of Steve Took's Horns", with the CD also featuring out-takes, remixes and fresh recordings of two other Took songs – Ooh My Heart and Too Bad – which the Horns had been rehearsing.

Involvement with Inner City Unit (1979–1980).

Despite the break-up, Steve Took's Horns had made a considerable impression on Took's circle of acquaintances. Consequently, Nik Turner, having first drafted Ghisio-Erba/Ferari into his band Sphynx for a live festival LP recorded that August, went on in 1979 to incorporate the Thoms/Ghisio-Erba partnership into his new Inner City Unit.  Took guested with ICU a number of times, reuniting with his old Horns sidemen; the last recorded dates being 16 June 1980 at London's Music Machine and sometime around 21 June 1980 at the Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire – a festival frequented by other 'Festival Bands', most famously Took's old Ladbroke Grove cohorts Hawkwind. Bootleg recordings exist of the above-mentioned Music Machine show and also an open-air performance on 6 May 1980 at Meanwhile Gardens in Notting Hill Gate, on both of which Took can be heard performing lead vocals on a cover of The Beatles' version of Larry Williams' "Slow Down"

Personal life.

Took had one son in the early 1970s with partner Lindsay Tunstall aka Lou, later the partner of Landau. Took also had relationships with, among others, Valerie "Sam" Billiet (1979–1980), drug baroness Gertrude de Freyne (1977–1978), a woman called Angie (1969–1971) and Tracy Inder, the mother of Lemmy's son Paul Inder, to whom Took was a stepfather figure during the relationship (1974–1976) as he later also was to Billiet's daughter.

Death.

Steve Took died on Monday 27 October 1980 at 14 Clydesdale House, 255 Westbourne Park Road, Notting Hill, London W11 1ED, aged 31, in the maisonette he shared with Billiet and her young daughter. As a consequence of intervention by Best, now once again Took's manager, royalty cheques for the Tyrannosaurus Rex 'Blue Thumb' American releases had been arriving periodically, and Took had received one that week. The day prior to his death, Took purchased morphine and hallucinogenic mushrooms for himself and Billiet, and the evening before Took died, they both injected themselves with the morphine. Took's death certificate records the cause of death as being asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry. Drugs were not listed as a contributory factor, even though Took's death is often listed as a "drugs misadventure". He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (Square 103, in the north-west quadrant of the infilled path around the Inner Circle).

Equipment.

As a singer songwriter, Took's two main guitars were an Epiphone acoustic guitar decorated with stickers (including one of Eddie Cochran) used for solo work, last known to have been in the possession of Billiet, and an electric Rickenbacker used as a rhythm guitar with Took's electric bands, currently owned by Best. Both guitars feature prominently in Keith Morris' early 1970s publicity photographs of Took.  Previously as a member of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Took's percussion and other equipment included bongos, tabla, finger cymbals, African talking drum, kazoos, a Chinese gong and a Pixiphone (toy xylophone). As the duo reverted to electric music in early 1969, Took also played a Höfner 500/1 bass and a Chad Valley toy drumkit. In later years, when performing solo support gigs for Hawkwind, Took would often include his bongos as part of his equipment so that, later in the evening, he could guest with Hawkwind on a few songs in their set.

Steve Peregrin Took (born Stephen Ross Porter; 28 July 1949 – 27 October 1980) was an English musician and songwriter. He is best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on his own singer-songwriting activities, variously as a solo artist or as a frontman for several bands.

Steve Peregrin Took (* Stephen Ross Porter; 28. července 1949 – 27. října 1980) byl anglický hudebník. Je známý především jako člen skupiny Tyrannosaurus Rex s Marcem Bolanem. Po odchodu z kapely se věnoval sólové kariéře a několika dalším skupinám.


Service history.

The ships served in 1950s–1960s on all Soviet fleets and flotillas in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Arctic Ocean and Pacific Ocean as part of Soviet coastal anti-submarine defences. Ships were also given to the Soviet Border Guards and were used actively as border patrol ships. Most of the Soviet sub-chasers were decommissioned between 1958 and 1970, although some were in service until the 1990s as training stations. Thirteen of the decommissioned and disarmed ships were delivered to the DOSAAF Voluntary Society for use as training ships.

Chinese service history.

Two boats of this class, #271 & #274 participated in the Sino-South Vietnamese naval battle in the Paracel Islands on January 19, 1974, with #274 being heavily damaged; however, #274 was able to make it back to the Chinese base at Yongxing Island for emergency repair after the battle, and returned to Hainan Islands the next day.  Despite their obsolescence, these boats remained active well into the mid-1990s. Although the ships are no longer capable of venturing into open ocean, these units remain on the People's Liberation Army Navy’s list of its reserve fleet, actively used as weaponry training boats for naval militia in various military maritime districts in China.  Additionally, vessels of this class in Chinese service are used to take Chinese children enrolled in military / naval summer camps and junior military / naval academies for short cruises for patriotic education and public relations missions. Due to the age of these units, however, they are increasingly being used in secondary missions in recent years and according to domestic Chinese media sources, even in this limited capacity, the cruises only consist of short tours within the harbors.

Project 122bis (NATO codename Kronshtadt class) submarine chasers were a Soviet design which were exported throughout the communist bloc in the 1950s. The first ship, BO-270, was built at Zelenodolsk in 1945-1947 and a total of 227 were built for Soviet Navy (175) and border guard until 1955. As well as this, twenty Project 357 ("Libau" class) despatch vessels were built on the same hull, but were lightly armed.

Projekt 122bis (v kódu NATO třída Kronshtadt) je třída velkých hlídkových člunů a stíhačů ponorek sovětského námořnictva z doby studené války. Postaveno bylo okolo 230 jednotek této třídy. Přibližně 50 jich bylo předáno zahraničním uživatelům, kterými byla Albánie, Bulharsko, Čínská lidová republika, Indonésie, Kuba, Polsko a Rumunsko.