History.

Founding and merger (1998–2002).

Starbreeze Studios was founded by Swedish programmer Magnus Högdahl. Högdahl was a former member of the PC demoscene group Triton, and specialized in making tech demos. He decided to form Starbreeze after his project, an action role-playing game named "Into the Shadows", was canceled. He then decided to found his own studio and began crafting his own game engine. He actively recruited staff among his acquaintances and the studio was established in 1998 in Härnösand, Sweden.  Högdahl serving as the company's head and tech lead, was responsible for creating a new game engine for future games, and looking for publishers willing to help publish its games. At that time, the company had only about five employees, and had created a prototype for a video game and pitched it to publishers at E3 1998. Gremlin Interactive agreed to publish the game, and the deal was finalized in late 1998. The company grew to have roughly eleven staff members. The game was a first-person action role-playing game named "Sorcery". With a high fantasy setting, the game featured 3D visuals and its gameplay was similar to that of "Diablo" and "Quake". However, Gremlin Interactive was acquired by Infogrames in 2000 and the partnership with Starbreeze dissolved, resulting in the game's cancellation.  O3 Games was founded by Lars Johansson, who also was active in the demoscene. Its first game was "The Outforce", a real-time strategy space game that was released in 2000 and subsequently became a success for the company. O3 needed to expand so that it could continue video game development. After "Sorcery" cancellation, Starbreeze ran into financial difficulties. Unable to support itself financially, Starbreeze needed to merge with another developer to continue in business. The two companies discussed a merger in Uppsala and merged shortly afterwards, retaining the name Starbreeze Studios.

Post-merger (2002–2009).

After the merger, the company began working on "Enclave", a medieval fantasy, multiplayer-only video game inspired by "Team Fortress". The game also became the company's first project with international appeal, enabling Starbreeze to partner with various publishers including Swing Entertainment, Conspiracy Entertainment, and Vivendi. However, Swing Entertainment faced bankruptcy at that time, and decided to turn the game into a single-player action-adventure video game with the goal of sending it to market as soon as possible. The game was released in 2002, and Starbreeze had to lay off staff after its release. "Enclave II" was also in development. The sequel was said to feature a more elaborate story, 28 different maps, 10 playable characters, and an improved fighting system. However, these features were axed when Starbreeze got into legal troubles with the publisher, resulting in the game's cancellation. Another game, "", was successfully released with help from publisher TDK Mediactive. However its sequel was shifted to another developer. Starbreeze attempted to acquire another studio, Rock Solid Games, but the agreement between the two fell apart and brought both companies financial problems.  Another project being worked on by Starbreeze at that time was "". Set in "The Chronicles of Riddick" movie universe, the game was published by Vivendi. The team took inspiration from films such as "Escape from Alcatraz" and video games such as "GoldenEye 007" and the "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" series. However, the company was downsizing due to its financial problems and the number of employees dropped from 80 to 25, and the entire development team moved away from the main Starbreeze floor to prevent it from being affected by low morale, and to allow it to focus on the game's development. The game enjoyed an 18-month development cycle, which was significantly longer than typical licensed games. A PlayStation 2 version of the game was also in development, but was ultimately canceled as the then head of Vivendi's publishing division, Michael Pole, ordered its cancellation to "make his mark". Universal Motion Pictures intervened and kept the game's Xbox version. "Escape from Butcher Bay" received critical acclaim upon its launch, with many critics regarding it as one of the best licensed games ever made. Its gameplay element including the puzzle-solving mechanics, the stealth segment, and its ahead-of-its-time visuals, also received praise from critics. Despite receiving critical acclaim, it was not a commercial success for Starbreeze.  After the release of "Escape from Butcher Bay", Starbreeze again encountered financial difficulties after having not received a significant royalty payment from Vivendi. It sold part of its motion capture and animation department to a British company, Centroid. However, the game helped set Starbreeze's reputation as a studio capable of making good licensed titles. With the help of Union Entertainment, an intermediary company, Starbreeze signed an agreement with Majesco Entertainment for a new title set within "The Darkness" universe owned by Top Cow Comics on July 16, 2004. Midway through the game's development, Majesco underwent restructuring because of financial difficulties, shifted its focus, and dropped the game. 2K Games stepped up and acquired the publishing rights. 2K extended the game's development cycle, and asked Starbreeze to develop a multiplayer mode for the game. "The Darkness" was released in 2007. It fared worse than the team expected critically, but its commercial performance was satisfactory, selling more than 1 million copies worldwide.  After working on two different licensed games, the team intended to develop its own games. A game named "Kano", involving mind-reading, was started but was never completed. After the release of "The Darkness", the company signed a two-project contract with Vivendi. One of the games was a new property known as "Polaris". The game was set in a post-apocalyptic environment. Players were tasked to overcome snowstorms, and defeat terrorists and monsters cooperatively with other players. Vivendi was not convinced the game would succeed and adjusted the contract to a remake of "Escape from Butcher Bay", "". Vivendi originally named the game "Riddick 2" but Starbreeze disagreed claiming the name would raise expectations among gamers that the remake might not be able to deliver. Vivendi's subsidiary Sierra Entertainment was set to publish the game. After the merger between Activision and Vivendi, the new company began streamlining Vivendi and put the game, along with "Brütal Legend", and "" up for sale. Atari eventually acquired the publishing rights and the game was released in 2009.

"Syndicate", "Payday 2" and "Brothers" (2010–2016).

Starbreeze then partnered with Electronic Arts for two different games, one was known as "Project Redlime", while the other was an action-adventure video game set within the "Bourne" universe. The "Bourne" game was canceled as a direct result of Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass not participating in the fourth "Bourne" film. "Project Redlime" had a larger scale than the "Bourne" game. It was said to be a reinvention of one of Electronic Arts' franchises. The company shifted from a technology-orientated company to focus more on the core gameplay mechanics of their new project. "Syndicate" was announced in September 2011. The game suffered from a troubled development, with Starbreeze completely reworking the game one year after its initial development. There were also many creative differences between the developer and the publisher, and the two companies suffered from an inharmonious relationship. During the game's development, seven senior members of the company, including Högdahl, left to form their own smaller studio. Some of them formed MachineGames to work on their own original games. With a budget that was less than other typical AAA video games, "Syndicate" received average reviews and was a commercial failure. Grefberg left the company after the game's completion, and 25 employees were laid off.  Many employees left Starbreeze when MachineGames recruited. Then CEO Johan Kristiansson also stepped down, and was replaced by Mikael Nemark. Nemark took the studio in a new direction. Besides focusing on AAA video games, it would also allocate resources to develop smaller, downloadable games in order to broaden the company's portfolio. These new games would no longer use the engine created by Högdahl. In 2011, Starbreeze announced that it was partnering with Epic Games to use their engine, Unreal Engine, for their first small titles. In 2012, Starbreeze announced "Cold Mercury", a free-to-play video game and a project codenamed "P13". Prior to that, Josef Fares, an award-winning Swedish director, had been unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several Swedish developers. Starbreeze was in need of new, original properties, and accepted Fares' pitch. "P13" later became "". Focusing on creating an emotional and "personal" experience, Starbreeze partnered with publisher 505 Games to publish the game. It was released in 2013 to critical acclaim and received numerous awards and accolades. The rights to the "Brothers" intellectual property was later acquired by 505 Games in 2015. After the success of "Brothers", Fares announced that he had established a new studio named Hazelight and is working on a project with Electronic Arts.  In 2012, Starbreeze also announced that they had acquired Overkill Software, the developer of "", granting them rights to all of Overkill's proprietary technology and intellectual properties. At the time, Overkill was working on the sequel, "Payday 2", a game that was set to "broaden the "Payday" template". While officially, Starbreeze became Overkill's parent company, those close to the situation, speaking to "Eurogamer", stated that it was more that Overkill's investors, which including Overkill's founders, brothers Bo and Ulf Andersson, became Starbreeze's majority shareholders; this deal had been made to help infuse cash into both the struggling Starbreeze and to provide funds for Overkill to pursue "Payday 2". "Payday 2" was a massive commercial success, and was profitable from pre-order sales alone. "Payday 2" also became Starbreeze's best selling game of all time, and helped the company to make a record profit for the first time after suffering an accumulated loss of $14.4 million between 1998 and June 2013. The game's success also prompted publisher 505 Games to invest $5 million in Starbreeze in March 2015 to continue to improve and develop additional content for "Payday 2" over twenty months. The game was ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One under the title "Payday 2: Crimewave Edition". Starbreeze moved its offices from Uppsala to Overkill's offices in Stockholm, and Bo Andersson was named CEO of Starbreeze in 2013 following the acquisition of Overkill.

Debut as a publisher and acquisitions (2014–2017).

Starting in 2014 Starbreeze began broadening its business as a publisher. On September 25, 2014, Starbreeze Studios announced that they had acquired a Los Angeles-based studio called Geminose for $7 million. The studio is currently working on a toys-to-life game. It also announced that it had gained the license for Overkill to make "Overkill's The Walking Dead" ("OTWD"), a game set in "The Walking Dead" universe using gameplay concepts of "Payday", with a planned release in 2016. In May 2015, Starbreeze announced that the company would start publishing video games from independent developers. The first independent title set to be published by Starbreeze is "Raid: World War II", an upcoming four-player, World War II shooter, being developed by Lion Game Lion. During E3 2015, Starbreeze Studios announced Project StarVR, a virtual reality (VR) headset, which is currently under development by InfinitEye, a firm acquired by Starbreeze. They also partnered with IMAX with the creation of IMAX VR "experience centres." The company also acquired Payday Productions and the film rights to "Payday" in July 2015. The company acquired the under-development Valhalla game engine, a VR-ready platform, in 2015 for around, which was planned to be used for all of its subsequent games.  In February 2016, Starbreeze announced that it would be publishing "Dead by Daylight", an asymmetrical, multiplayer, survival horror game developed by Behaviour Interactive. On May that year, 505 Games announced that it had sold the "Payday" franchise and intellectual property to Starbreeze in exchange for US$30 million worth of stock. Starbreeze also announced that they had acquired the name and the franchises of Cinemaware a day later. On December 16, 2016, the company acquired a 90.5% controlling stake in Indian-based Dhruva Interactive at a price worth $8.5 million  The core Starbreeze team also received investment from Korean publisher Smilegate to develop a new first-person cooperative game set within the "Crossfire" universe. The studio has engaged in two separate "publishing-only" investments to help publish "Psychonauts 2" and "System Shock 3" for $8 and $12 million, respectively. In both cases, the respective developers, Double Fine Productions and OtherSide Entertainment, retain all intellectual property rights, while Starbreeze seeks full recovery of their investment and a small amount more from revenues, after which they share further revenues with the developers.  Starbreeze also published "John Wick Chronicles", a "John Wick" game developed by WEVR and Grab for virtual reality platforms, released in February 2017. In October 2017, Starbeeze sold a 66.7% majority stake in StarVR Corporation to Acer Inc.

Economic problems and restructuring (2018–present).

Following its announcement in 2015, Starbreeze had placed high emphasis on "OTWD" to financially support the company alongside "Storm", which was merged from Starbreeze's own "Cold Mercury". However, "OTWD" development suffered from several delays. With the acquisition of the Valhalla engine, "OTWD" was switched from the Diesel to the Valhalla engine, which proved extremely troublesome to work with and pushed back the release window from 2016 to 2017. By early 2017, the developers were still struggling with Valhalla, and the decision was made to scrap the previous two years of work and restart development anew on the Unreal Engine, while further delaying the game into 2018. Issues related to micromanagement, "crunch time" to get the game out without further delay, and struggles by a significant portion of the Starbreeze and Overkill staff to learn Unreal led to the game being rushed to completion. "OTWD" release to personal computers in November 2018 received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed commercially, with only about 100,000 units sold. By February 2019, Skybound Entertainment pulled its licensing contract for "OTWD" for the game's failure to meet expected standards and quality requirements, officially halting further development of the Windows version and canceling the console ports.  The failure of "OTWD" prompted Starbreeze to file for reconstruction due to shortage of liquidity in December 2018. Starbreeze also halted ongoing development work for "Payday 2" during this period.  CEO Bo Andersson stepped down after filing for reconstruction, with Mikael Nermark replacing as Acting CEO. Bo Andersson together with Kristofer Arwin also resigned from the Board of Directors. Starbreeze's financial crisis drew the attention of the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, as in mid-November 2018, Bo Andersson had sold his shares of Starbreeze for about, before Starbreeze's announcement of financial difficulty. Following Starbreeze's reconstruction announcement, the Economic Crime Authority raided several locations, including Starbreeze Headquarters related to insider trading. Andersson was taken into custody, but was later released and cleared of any charges, as it was found that his bank Carnegie Investment Bank had pressed Andersson into selling the shares. A second unnamed executive was convicted with insider trading charges in February 2020, and was fined approximately.  In the wake of this investigation, Starbreeze's financial situation became dire, and by May 2019 the studio's own estimates were that it lacked sufficient funds to continue operating for the next year. During this period, the studio requested two separate three-month extensions to complete its corporate restructuring. Starbreeze divested itself of several studios and games. OtherSide Entertainment bought out the publication rights for their "System Shock 3" in February 2019, while Mohawk Games reacquired publishing rights for "10 Crowns" in April. In May 2019, Starbreeze sold its share of Dhruva Interactive to Rockstar Games for, who subsequently merged Dhurva into its Rockstar India studio. Starbreeze laid off about 60 positions, roughly 25% of its staff, as additional cost-saving measures in June 2019. The same month, Starbreeze sold the publishing rights for "Psychonauts 2" to Microsoft for. A third extension was filed and approved in September 2019, which expired by December 3, 2019.  Starbreeze announced in October 2019 that to resolve their financial situation, they will split off into two new companies: New Starbreeze Publishing AB and New Starbreeze Studios AB. Most of Starbreeze's assets, principally the IP rights to "Payday", will reside with the publishing arm. On the assumption that the financial settlement is accepted, the company plans on focusing on release of "Payday 3" by 2022-2023 which will be its primary revenue driver. The company also began renewed development on "Payday 2" to create new downloadable content, but stated that this would be for purchase, apologizing for reneging on its "forever-free-content" assurance they had made some years prior, with plans to use the revenues to help the company's finances.  Starbreeze's restructuring was completed and approved by the courts by December 2019, about a year after the first financial concerns were raised. Net losses for the year of restructuring were estimated to be about. In its financial report released in February 2020 covering this restructuring, Starbreeze stated that they currently were primarily dependent on "Payday 2" content sales for revenue and re-stated their intent to release a "Payday 3" in the near future for further growth.  The Italian publisher Digital Bros (which also owns "Payday 2" publisher 505 Games), announced its intent in January 2020 to acquire the Starbreeze assets at the time held by Smilegate for about. While Digital Bros was the majority shareholder in Starbreeze, the acquisition of Smilegate's share of Starbreeze would give Digital Bros more control of Starbreeze's development strategy. In March 2020, Mats Juhl was appointed as Starbreeze's chief financial officer, replacing Claes Wenthzel.

Philosophy.

According to Starbreeze, the studio both develops and produces intellectual properties and licensed projects which allow it to have creative control. According to Starbreeze's CEO Johan Kristiansson, in 2008 the company did not wish to recruit numerous employees because of the time that is needed to integrate them into the company. After the 2012 departure of many employees, and the disappointing commercial sales of "Syndicate", Mikael Nermark, the company's CEO, decided to shift the company's focus from producing standard licensed games to creating new and original intellectual properties. He stated that he believed strongly in Starbreeze's ability to make games that are more than typical AAA games, and that its employees would consider making games their "daily work", taking ownership of their projects.  As an independent company, Starbreeze believes that in addition to developing AAA games, it must develop some smaller-scale projects like "", or free-to-play games like "Cold Mercury" to survive. Nermark added further that he is confident that the studio is capable of bringing its "style" and business model to all genres and that gameplay innovation is one of the most important elements when developing a game. After the success of "Payday 2" and "Dead by Daylight", the company announced that it would focus on developing multiplayer projects, and opted to use its publishing arm to publish single-player games from external partners like Double Fine.

Starbreeze Studios AB is a Swedish video game developer and publisher based in Stockholm. Notable games developed include "", "Payday 2" and "". Founded by members of the demogroup Triton, the company was merged with O3 Games in 2002 wherein the Starbreeze name was retained. The company produced titles including "Enclave" and "". In the early 2000s, cancellations of their projects due to conflicts with publishers and a failed acquisition led to a severe financial crisis, resulting in staff lay-offs during the development of Starbreeze's fourth game, "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay". This game received critical acclaim and helped Starbreeze establish a reputation for producing a good licensed game. The company worked on "The Darkness", whose sales were considered satisfactory.

Starbreeze Studios ist ein Spieleentwickler mit Sitz in Uppsala, Schweden. Das Unternehmen entwickelt \ veröffentlicht Videospiele für PC und Spielkonsolen.


Club career.

Early career.

Born in Zrenjanin, Tošić began his career in his native Serbia playing for OFK Beograd before moving to French club Sochaux in the winter of 2006 but only spent one and a half seasons with the club as other European clubs from Italy, Germany and Spain were expressing an interest. During his time at Sochaux, they won the 2006–07 Coupe de France.

Werder Bremen.

He transferred to Werder Bremen for the 2007–08 season, where he signed a contract until 2011. On 1 February 2010, his contract with Bremen was dissolved.

Portsmouth.

Tošić signed for Portsmouth on 12 February 2010, but as a result of Portsmouth's financial situation Tošić's registration with the Premier League was withheld and he was forced to leave the club within a month of signing for them. Tošić was an unused substitute in Portsmouth's 4–1 FA Cup fifth-round win at Southampton in February, and failed to get on the pitch that season. He signed a loan deal to play for QPR until the end of the season on 25 March 2010.

Red Star Belgrade.

On 7 July 2010, he joined Red Star Belgrade, signing a three-year contract, rejecting the interest of some English clubs. On 31 August 2011, it was announced he would join Real Betis on a two-year loan with an option of Betis buying the player afterwards. He returned to Red Star in January 2012.

Gençlerbirliği.

On 21 June 2012, it was announced that Tošić will leave Red Star Belgrade and join Turkish Süper Lig side Gençlerbirliği. He played for three seasons there and was one of the best players in the team.

Beşiktaş.

On 2 June 2015, Tošić signed a three-year contract for Beşiktaş. Beşiktaş won the title in the Süper Lig in 2015–16, as well as in 2016–17, with Tošić mainly occupying the left central defender position.

Guangzhou R&F.

On 18 May 2018, Beşiktaş have announced that Tošić is set to sign for Guangzhou R&F, with a €5 million fee mooted. He signed two and a half year long contract worth €5.8 million per season.

International career.

Tošić made his national debut against Norway on 15 November 2006, a friendly which ended in a 1–1 draw.  In June 2018, Serbia manager Mladen Krstajić included Tošić in the final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. There he appeared on two matches, against Costa Rica and Switzerland.

Personal life.

Though born in Zrenjanin, Tošić grew up in a small village called Orlovat which is located nearby. He shares the same grandparents as Zoran Tošić, also a professional footballer. He married Serbian pop singer Jelena Karleuša in June 2008 and they have two daughters.

Duško Tošić (, ; born 19 January 1985) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Chinese club Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League. In international competition he represents Serbia.

Duško Tošić "(kyrillisch: Душко Тошић)" [] (* 19. Januar 1985 in Orlovat, Jugoslawien) ist ein serbischer Fußballspieler. Seit 2018 steht der Verteidiger bei Guangzhou R&F unter Vertrag. Neben der Position als linker Außenverteidiger ist Tošić auch in der Innenverteidigung einsetzbar.


History.

Academic teaching in agricultural science began in Germany only after the publishing of "Grundsätze der deutschen Landwirtschaft" (Principles of the German Agriculture) by Johann Beckmann (1739–1811) in 1779. After the foundation of the first agricultural institute in Celle, establishment of several educational institutions in this field followed in Germany.  Mid-1860s, the then Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Count Heinrich Friedrich August von Itzenplitz (1799-1883), set up an agricultural institute in Berlin, which was subordinated to the Ministry, and was affiliated to the university. The institute was initially housed in a private home in the Behrensstraße, and then moved to the Dorotheenstraße in 1873.  On 14 February 1881, the Royal Agricultural University (Königliche Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule) was founded by combining the institute and an 1867–established agricultural museum. The university moved in a monumental three-storey building in the Invalidenstraße adjacent to the building of Chemical Institute.  In 1906, the university was divided in three faculties or departments for agriculture, geodesy and agricultural commerce. In 1929, the university expanded with the foundation of the Department of Horticulture, the first of its sort in Germany. Curriculum was in agriculture, agricultural technology, natural science, political science and jurisprudence. Graduates were awarded the title "Diplom-Landwirt" (B.Sc. Agronomy). The possibility of carrying out doctoral studies was offered as well.  Although the name of the university was changed to Agricultural University of Berlin (Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin) with the fall of the monarchy in Germany by November 1918, the scientific teaching and research continued. Finally in 1934 following the Nazi regime's takeover, the Agricultural University of Berlin was closed and incorporated as a Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture () at the Frederick William University of Berlin, which was later renamed to Humboldt University of Berlin (). After World War II, Humboldt University and so the faculty fell to East Berlin in the territory of Soviet-controlled East Germany. Following the German reunification, the Institute of Farming () at the Technical University of Berlin was incorporated into the Faculty of Agriculture at the Humboldt University in 1992, which was renamed to Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture (Landwirtschaftlich-Gärtnerische Fakultät) in 1993.  Since its founding in 1881, the university was also home to the collections of the former Berlin Agricultural Museum.

Building.

The three-storey building was constructed between 1876–1880. It is part of a three-building complex designed by August Tiede (1834–1911) on the ground of the Royal Iron Foundry (Königliche Eisengießerei) at Neuer Tor in Berlin. The two other buildings in the group house the Museum für Naturkunde (Museum für Naturkunde) and the Geological Institute and Mining Academy (Geologische Landesanstalt und Bergakademie).  The building is decorated with a stone facade in the Renaissance Revival architecture (Neo-Renaissance). The windows are all round-arched and only the top floor windows are separated by pilasters. The building is today a listed one.  The marble busts in the foyer feature the agronomist Albrecht Daniel Thaer (1752–1828), the economist Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1783–1850), the agricultural policymaker Hugo Thiel (1839–1918) and the agricultural machinery manufacturer Heinrich Ferdinand Eckert (1819–1875). On the left wand of the foyer, an artwork made of 30 tiles shows the model plantation of Thaer in Möglin.  Inside the building, there is an atrium of, one of the biggest in Berlin. In the middle of the inner court, a monument of Thaer is erected, created and began by Christian Daniel Rauch (1777–1857) and later completed by Hugo Hagen (1818–1871). A sculpture of the Royal Iron Foundry features the rural life.

The Agricultural University of Berlin () was an agricultural university in Berlin, Germany. Established in 1881, it was closed in 1934, and incorporated as a faculty into the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Die als Königliche Landwirthschaftliche Hochschule zu Berlin gegründete Einrichtung war eine dem preußischen Landwirtschaftsministerium unterstellte und durch Vereinigung des landwirtschaftlichen Lehrinstituts und des landwirtschaftlichen Museums offiziell im Jahr 1881 entstandene Hochschule für Agrarwissenschaft und verwandte Fächer in Berlin. An der Umwandlung war maßgeblich der Vortragende Rat und Geheime Oberregierungsrat Hugo Thiel beteiligt. Erst 1897 wurde Thiel Direktor der „"Abtheilung für Verwaltung der Domänen"“ im Landwirtschaftsministerium. Die Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule gehört seit April 2014 unter dem Namen "Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institut für Agrar- und Gartenbauwissenschaften" zur "Lebenswissenschaftlichen Fakultät" der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.


History.

The museum was founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran. It was originally located by the River Thames near Tower Bridge, and later relocated to Kensington.  The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generated by ticket sales aid the museum in curating new exhibitions.

Shad Thames site.

The museum was originally housed in a former 1940s banana warehouse on the south bank of the River Thames in the Shad Thames area in SE1 London. The conversion of this warehouse altered it beyond recognition, to resemble a building in the International Modernist style of the 1930s. This was funded by many companies, designers and benefactors. The museum was principally designed by the Conran group, with exhibitions over two floors, and a “Design Museum Tank” exhibition space out by the waterfront. A large scale sculpture titled Head of Invention by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was installed in the area between the museum and the Thames.

Kensington site.

In June 2011, Sir Terence Conran donated £17.5 million to enable the Museum to move in 2016 from the warehouse to a larger site which formerly housed the Commonwealth Institute in west London. This landmark from the 1960s, a Grade II* listed building, designed by Robert Matthew/Sir Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners architects that had stood vacant for over a decade, was developed by a design team led by John Pawson who made the building fit for a 21st-century museum, whilst at the same time retaining its spatial qualities. Fit-out of the Design Museum's new home was carried out by Willmott Dixon Interiors.  The Design Museum opened in its Kensington location on 24 November 2016. The move gave the museum three times more space than in its previous location at Shad Thames, with the new Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning, 202-seat Bakala Auditorium and a dedicated gallery to display its permanent collection, accessible free of charge.  Deyan Sudjic succeeded Alice Rawsthorn as Director of the Design Museum in 2006. In 2016 Alice Black was appointed Co-Director. In 2019, Tim Marlow was appointed as Director and Chief Executive.  The move brought the museum into Kensington's cultural quarter, joining the Royal College of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Serpentine Gallery.

Galleries.

The top-floor space under the museum roof houses a permanent display, Designer Maker User, with key objects from the museum’s collection. A restaurant, members’ lounge, residency studio and an events and gallery space are also located on the top floor.  On the first floor, a design and architecture reference library is a resource for students, educators, researchers and designers. It will also include archive material relating to the history of the museum. The Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning is a suite of learning facilities including a Design Studio, Creative Workshop, two seminar rooms and a Common Room. The Design Museum offices and main reception, a meeting room and a film studio are also located on the first floor.  On the ground floor, the largest gallery in the new Design Museum showcases a programme of temporary exhibitions. Accessible from both Kensington High Street and Holland Park, the atrium welcomes visitors and acts as an events space. A main staircase from the atrium gives access to all floors and offers views to the first and second floors and the hyperbolic paraboloid roof.  A double-height space spanning the two lower levels, Gallery Two hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions dedicated to architecture, fashion, furniture, product and graphic design. The Bakala Auditorium seats 202 people and provide a purpose-designed space for a programme of talks, seminars, debates and public and private events throughout the year. The basement accommodates a collections store, exhibition preparation spaces and a locker area for visitors.

Award schemes.

The Design Museum has an award scheme which Brit Insurance sponsored from 2003 until 2011.

Beazley Designs of the Year.

Designs produced over the previous twelve months worldwide are eligible. A number of internationally respected design experts are invited to nominate up to five projects each, falling into the seven categories of Architecture, Transport, Graphics, Interactive, Product, Furniture and Fashion. Since 2015 there have been six categories: architecture, fashion, graphics, digital, product and transport. Beazley Insurance came on board as exhibition sponsor in 2016.

Design Ventura.

Design Ventura challenges students in years 9, 10 and 11 to design a new product for the Design Museum shop.  Design Ventura, the Design Museum's flagship learning project, provides students with the opportunity to develop design thinking, creative and business capabilities and employability skills. The project has been run since 2010 in partnership with Deutsche Bank as part of the bank's youth engagement programme, Born to Be, and has seen over 36,000 students in 588 schools participate.

The Design Museum is a museum in Kensington, London which covers product, industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award.

Das Design Museum in London ist ein weltweit bedeutendes Designmuseum. Es wurde 1989 gegründet und widmet sich der gesamten Bandbreite des Designs, von Innenarchitektur und Architektur über die Grafik und Mode bis zum Industriedesign.


Chemistry.

Technetium (Tc) arcitumomab is an immunoconjugate. Arcitumomab is a Fab' fragment of IMMU-4, a murine IgG1 monoclonal antibody extracted from the ascites of mice. The enzyme pepsin cleaves the F(ab') fragment off the antibody. From this, the Fab' fragment is prepared by mild reduction.  Before application, arcitumomab is reconstituted with a solution of the radioactive agent sodium pertechnetate (Tc) from a technetium generator.

Mechanism of action.

Arcitumomab recognizes carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), an antigen over-expressed in 95% of colorectal cancers. Consequently, the antibody accumulates in such tumours together with the radioisotope, which emits photons. Via single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), high-resolution images showing localisation, remission or progression, and metastases of the tumour can be obtained.

Contraindications.

Technetium (Tc) arcitumomab is contraindicated for patients with known allergies or hypersensitivity to mouse proteins, as well as during pregnancy. Women should pause breast feeding for 24 hours after application of the drug.

Adverse effects and overdose.

Only mild and transient side effects have been observed, mostly immunological reactions like eosinophilia, itching and fever. Some patients develop human anti-mouse antibodies, so there is the theoretical possibility of anaphylactic reactions. High doses of IMMU-4 (up to 20-fold diagnostic arcitumomab dose) have not led to any serious events. One patient has been reported to develop a grand mal after application.  Radioactivity can lead to radiation poisoning. Since the dose of an arcitumomab application is about 10 mSv, such an overdose is unlikely.

Technetium (Tc) arcitumomab is a drug used for the diagnostic imaging of colorectal cancers, marketed by Immunomedics. It consists of the Fab' fragment of a monoclonal antibody (arcitumomab, trade name CEA-Scan) and a radionuclide, technetium-99m.

Arcitumomab ist ein Arzneistoff auf der Basis eines Fragmentes eines murinen monoklonalen Antikörpers, der mit dem Radioisotop Technetium (Tc) verbunden ist. Arcitumomab ist ein Immunkonjugat, das als Diagnostikum in der Onkologie eingesetzt wird.


History.

Development.

The Lacrosse project began with a United States Marine Corps requirement for a short-range guided missile to supplement conventional field artillery. The Navy's Bureau of Ordnance issued contracts to both the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in September 1947, for the study of design aspects pertaining to this mission.  The missile system was named the Lacrosse because it employed a forward observation station which had a direct view of the target. The forward observation station was mounted on a jeep and after the missile was launched control was passed to the forward station for final guidance to the target. Hence the name Lacrosse which is how the game of lacrosse is played with the ball being passed to players closer to the goal.  In 1950, the project was transferred from the Navy to the Army's Ordnance Corps and Redstone Arsenal, pursuant to a policy giving the Department of the Army responsibility over all land-based short ranged weapons. Cornell and Johns Hopkins continued with the project, with the former having primary responsibility for guidance systems design.  In 1955, the Glenn L. Martin Company was awarded contracts to participate in research and development and production. Martin would take over much responsibility for the project, as Cornell moved to work on expanding the missile's capabilities beyond the original requirements (particularly in the area of airborne control, funding for which was discontinued in 1959).  Early testing began in 1954 and production prototypes were available the next year. The difficulties encountered by the project are illustrated by the protracted design and testing periods, with the missile not entering into service until July 1959. Problems included reliability concerns and difficulties with guidance, particularly susceptibility to ECM jamming of the guidance signals.  In 1956, the Federal Telecommunications Laboratory began work on a different guidance system, known as MOD 1, which would have improved Lacrosse’s performance with regards to electronic countermeasures. MOD 1, however, was terminated in 1959, causing the Marines to withdraw their participation in the project. The first units received Lacrosse in 1959, though the system would continue to be in need of development and refinement.  Nearly 1,200 Lacrosse missiles were produced and deployed at a cost of more than US$2 billion in 1996 dollars (excluding the cost of the nuclear warheads).

Service.

The first unit to be equipped with Lacrosse was 5th Battalion, 41st Artillery, based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In total, eight battalions would be equipped with Lacrosse, with most going to Europe, except one to Korea and one retained by the Strategic Army Corps.

Designations.

The original Navy project was assigned the designator SSM-N-9. When transferred to the Army, the program became SSM-G-12, which changed to SSM-A-12 after minor changes in the Army's designation scheme. When adopted into service, the weapon system was referred to as M-4 and only gained its MGM-18A designation months before being declared obsolete.

The MGM-18 Lacrosse was a short-ranged tactical ballistic weapon intended for close support of ground troops. Its first flight test was in 1954 and was deployed by the United States Army beginning in 1959, despite being still in the development stage. The program's many technical hurdles proved too difficult to overcome and the missile was withdrawn from field service by 1964.

Die MGM-18 Lacrosse war eine militärische ballistische Kurzstreckenrakete aus US-amerikanischer Produktion. Der erste Testflug fand 1954 statt, ab 1959 wurde sie an die United States Army ausgeliefert, obwohl sie sich noch in der Entwicklungsphase befand. Da sich die vielen technischen Probleme des Programms als zu gravierend erwiesen, wurde die Rakete bis 1964 aus dem Dienst zurückgezogen.


Goals.

According to a Danish memorandum that existed in the Nuremberg trial against the chief war criminals, the Fichte-Bund was directly subordinate to the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda during the Third Reich and tried to systematically influence public opinion in favor of the National Socialism. In this memorandum, the goals of the Fichte Federation for the period after 1933 are cited:

Activities prior to 1933.

A work report from 1940 shows that the association distributed over 18,276,000 of its own pamphlets from 1919 to 1932, the period of the Weimar Republic. The topics of these leaflets are:

Activities from 1933 to 1940.

In the years between 1933 and 1940, the association published 54,295,000 pamphlets in 16 languages. Topics are: The association financed the Dutch monthly "The Foghorn" ("De Misthorn"). In 1940 the association also sent “2,278,241 pieces of propaganda material”, which the Foreign Office (Unit D IV) had made available. In addition to brochures, this also included books, records and unabridged speeches. The association printed 6,201,000 leaflets. In addition, 49,300 daily newspapers and 25,900 kg of material were sent abroad via main distribution points in Hamburg, Vienna, Prague and Biarritz.  The Deutscher Fichte-Bund used its distribution system, which had been tried and tested before the war. In various river and sea ports the propaganda material was secretly handed over to ship captains, ship officers and customs border guards who made it abroad and delivered it to shop stewards. For 1940, the source lists a total of 693 transports, mostly of German ships, which brought propaganda material to the countries bordering the Baltic Sea, to Spain, and to occupied France.

The Deutscher Fichte-Bund "(German Fichte Federation)" was a German propaganda agency based in Hamburg. It was founded on 29 January 1914 as the "Reichsbund für Deutschtumsarbeit" "(Reich Federation for German Studies)" by Heinrich Kessemeier and named after the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a founder of the German Idealist movement. Later it was under the directorhip of Heinrich's son Theodore Kessemeier.

Der Deutsche Fichte-Bund ("Deutscher Fichte-Bund e.V.") mit Hauptsitz in Hamburg wurde am 29. Januar 1914 als „Reichsbund für Deutschtumsarbeit“ gegründet. Er ist zum nationalistisch-völkischen Lager zu rechnen. Die Namensgebung bezog sich auf Johann Gottlieb Fichte.


Biography.

Suresha was born in Detroit, Michigan, and attended grade school in the northwest suburb of Oak Park.  Suresha and his husband (styled "husbear"), Rocco Russo, were legally married in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in October 2004, and received a Connecticut civil union one year later. They lived until 2011 in New London, Connecticut and now live in New Milford, Connecticut, where Suresha serves as a Justice of the Peace. He has been an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church since 1975.  Suresha's nonfiction anthology, "Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions" (2002), includes 25 dialogues with 57 bear-identified men and bear-lovers from around the world, such as comedian Bruce Vilanch, porn model Jack Radcliffe, and "Survivor" star Richard Hatch. In the introduction, Suresha asserts that "Bears on Bears" is "the first interview book... compiled primarily from online interactions" using online chat technology.  A bisexual-identified man and bi rights advocate, Suresha edited, with Peter Chvany, the nonfiction book "Bi Men : Coming Out Every Which Way" (2006). Suresha's two bisexual men's anthologies were named finalists in the 2006 Lambda Literary Awards (Lammys) in Bisexual Literature.  In 2008, Suresha edited for "Journal of Bisexuality" a special issue commemorating the sexagennial (60th) anniversary of the publication of "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male", commonly known as the Kinsey Report, as "Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey," which was named a finalist in the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards in Bisexual Literature.  That year, Suresha became acquisitions editor for Bear Bones Books, an imprint of LGBT publisher Lethe Press, which released a revised edition of his "Bears on Bears", including five additional interviews. The imprint has also reissued several men's fiction anthologies he edited under the pseudonym R. Jackson.  Suresha published in 2011 a folklore collection of humorous tales about the character Nasreddin, "The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin" from Lethe Press, which was named a Storytelling World Honor Title in 2012 in the adult collections category, and which received a 2013 Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award.  With Scott McGillivray, Suresha compiled and wrote a 2012 photobook, "Fur: The Love of Hair", for German publisher Bruno Gmünder Verlag, which received a Rainbow Book Award.  In 2014, Suresha edited an anthology of poetry written by and for men of the bear community, "Hibernation and Other Poems by Bear Bards", which was named a Rainbow Book Award winner in both the LGBTQ Poetry and Bisexuality categories. In 2014 he published a second collection of Nasreddin stories, "Extraordinary Adventures of Mullah Nasruddin", named a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.

Ron Jackson Suresha is an American author and anthologist of books centering on gay and bisexual men's subcultures, particularly the Bear community.

Ron Suresha (Autorenname Ron Jackson Suresha und Ron Jackson; * 8. Oktober 1958) ist ein US-amerikanischer Autor. Er schreibt vorwiegend Bücher über schwule und bisexuelle Männer. Suresha wurde in Detroit, Michigan, geboren.


Signs and symptoms.

The disease has a long incubation period, and therefore signs usually occur in adult animals (over 2 years of age). Clinical signs resemble a non-specific progressive pneumonia, including poor body condition and, particularly after exercise, respiratory difficulty. Unless a concurrent lung infection is present, affected sheep continue to eat. The only sign specific to OPA is a watery nasal discharge, consisting of lung fluid produced by the affected lung tissue; lifting the hind legs of the animal above the level of its head will cause large volumes of this fluid to flow from the nostrils.  There are no reliable tests for the diagnosis of OPA in live animals which are suitable for use on farms, so diagnosis can only be confirmed at necropsy (post-mortem examination). On necropsy, lungs are interspersed with multifocal tumors. Some of these are small discrete nodules and others will involve the entire half of a lung lobule. JSRV acutely transforms the lung epithelia into cancerous cells, with type-2 pneumocytes and club cells being the likely target for JSRV transformation. The tumors have overactive secretory functions, which are a hallmark of OPA.  The retroviral antigen levels of JSRV are very high in OPA tumors and can be detected in the lung secretions of infected sheep. It is thought that infected animals secrete the virus before showing signs, so the virus is easily spread within flocks.

Epidemiology.

OPA has been found in most countries where sheep are farmed, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand. OPA has been eradicated in Iceland.  No breed or sex of sheep appears to be predisposed to OPA. Most affected sheep show signs at 2 to 4 years of age.  OPA is not a notifiable disease, and therefore it is difficult to assess its prevalence.

History.

OPA was first described in the UK in 1888, and described in detail in South Africa in 1891. The disease was initially known as "jaagsiekte", a word derived from Afrikaans, meaning "chasing sickness", so called because animals are in respiratory distress as if they are out of breath from being chased. It has also been known as sheep pulmonary adenomatosis and ovine pulmonary carcinoma.

Research.

OPA has been used as an animal model for human lung cancer, because OPA is histologically similar to human adenocarcinoma in situ of the lung.

Society and culture.

Dolly the sheep, the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult somatic cell, was euthanized after it was confirmed that she had OPA.

Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA), also known as ovine pulmonary adenomatosis, or jaagsiekte, is a chronic and contagious disease of the lungs of sheep and goats. OPA is caused by a retrovirus called jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV).

Die Lungenadenomatose oder Jaagsiekte ist eine durch Retroviren hervorgerufene chronische Infektionskrankheit der Lunge bei Schafen, selten auch bei Ziegen, die durch knötchenartige Veränderungen der Lungen gekennzeichnet ist. Sie tritt in bestimmten Gebieten verstärkt (endemisch) auf und endet tödlich. In der Schweiz besteht für diese Tierseuche Meldepflicht.


Flora and fauna.

A rare species of thorny knapweed, "Centaurea horrida", is endemic only to Tavolara and a few other fringe areas of northern Sardinia. In his "Natural History of Sardinia" (1774), Francesco Cetti reported huge rats inhabiting Tavolara, but these were likely Sardinian pikas, an endemic species of lagomorph that had already been driven to extinction in Sardinia proper by then. In the 18th century, Sardinian lore claimed the wild goats of Tavolara had gold teeth. The goat herds were moved to Sardinia when the NATO station was built and there are no longer any goats on the island. The critically endangered monk seal had a breeding colony here until the 1960s. Once the home of a thriving lobster industry, Tavolara now attracts divers who come to view the coral, sponges, sea anemones, bottlenose dolphins, and even a few specimens of "Pinna nobilis", the rare giant clam whose byssus fibers were formerly used in the manufacture of sea silk for royal garments.

History.

The island was known in ancient times as Hermea. According to tradition, Pope St. Pontian died on Tavolara following his abdication and exile in 235. It is probably the island previously called Tolar, which was used by some Arab ships in 848–849 as a base to attack nearby coasts.  Joachim Murat visited Tavolara in 1815 during his attempt to regain the Kingdom of Naples. At that time the island was uninhabited.  In the 19th an 20th centuries an imaginary kingdom of Tavolara was claimed by the Bertoleoni family.  After Italian unification, “King Paolo” actively sought recognition from Italy. During his “reign”, in 1868 the Italian government began operating a lighthouse on the northeast end of the island.  The tomb of one of its members “Paolo I” is in the graveyard on the island, surmounted by a crown.

VLF- Antenna.

The VLF-antenna of Tavolara VLF transmitter is spun between a 133-metre-tall mast at on Spalmatore di Furi and 4 masts, which are situated on mountains southwards. They are situated at, at, at and at The both masts on the eastern mountain are tall, the two others are smaller.

In popular culture.

Tavolara is the name given to a fictional island in the Philippines ruled by a cannibal king, in the 1902 Harvard comic opera "Queen Philippine."

Tavolara is a small island off the northeast coast of Sardinia, Italy. The island is a limestone massif long and wide, with steep cliffs except at its ends. Its highest point, Monte Cannone, is above sea level. A cove and beach can be found at each end of the island, Spalmatore di Fuori at the northeast, and Spalmatore di Terra at the southwest. Currently, the island is inhabited by only a handful of families, and has a small cemetery and summer restaurant. The water around the island is a popular spot for scuba diving.

Tavolara ist eine der Nordost-Küste Sardiniens vorgelagerte Insel mit steil abfallenden Klippen und der flachen Landzunge "Spalmatore di Terra" im Westen. Sie ist etwa sechs Kilometer lang und einen Kilometer breit.


History.

In 1752, part of the tower of the old Schierstein church collapsed. Building plans for a new church had already been discussed in previous years and suddenly became urgent. Since 1748, the former Mayor of Frankfurt, merchant and banker Johann Georg Schweitzer Edler von Wiederhold, a member of the Frauenstein Gesellschaft, had allowed the Schierstein curate a collection of 604 guilders in the Free imperial city, which provided the financial basis for the construction of the church. The Chamberlain of Electoral Mainz, privy counsellor and chief architect of Electoral Mainz Anselm Franz von Ritter zu Groenesteyn made the vegetable garden of his country estate available as building terrain. Johann Scheffer, a government official of the duchy of Nassau was responsible for the architectural style of the building. On 3 May 1752 the ground breaking ceremony took place and on 15 September 1754 the new church was consecrated. In 1962 the choir Schiersteiner Kantorei was founded in the parish by cantor Johannes Krüger. Since 1974, the choir has been directed by Martin Lutz, who shaped the group of some 40 singers to a large concert choir.

Architecture.

Exterior.

The exterior of the church anticipates the upcoming neoclassical architecture, emphasizing the planar qualities of the walls. The one-nave hall type church was constructed in an east–west direction with the choir in the east wing as an aisleless church. The exterior dimensions (length, width ) correspond to the golden ratio. The excellent acoustics of the interior may be attributed to it.  The western tower, a "Welsche Haube" (Welsch canopy) does not rest on a separate foundation, but was built as a ridge turret. The tower is located to the east, which is unusual. The pole on top carries a sphere, a cross and a weathercock.

Interior.

While the exterior is kept rather simple, the interior expresses the rococo spirit in colours and vitality. The design of the sanctuary is typical for the Protestant view of the equivalence of the altar (sacrament), pulpit (sermon and exegesis) and organ (worship / community involvement). The four Corinthian columns in the sanctuary symbolize the four Gospels. Three putti symbolize the theological virtues, faith (with the cup), hope (the anchor) and - in the center - charity, according to. Charity holds the law, the Ten Commandments. A realistic representation of the crucifixion is surrounded by a golden halo. Twelve Doric columns support the galleries along the nave, representing the Twelve Apostles, the Twelve tribes of Israel and the community of the congregation. All wood carvings originate from the Frankfurt wood sculptor Johann Daniel Schnorr. The pulpit with the Coat of arms of Nassau-Usingen, the emblem of the sovereign Charles, Prince of Nassau-Usingen, is a symbol of absolutism: The subject who looks up to the preacher of the Gospel, should also see that there is a secular lord.  The altar cross originates from the contemporary metal sculptor Professor Klump (Wiesbaden), crafted from gold with rock crystal as a symbol of Christ, and twelve rubies for the Apostles and for feeding the multitude.  The Paternoster bronze bell was cast in 1430 in Mainz, bearing the inscription "Meyster John of the gos Mence mec".

Church music.

The church is a concert venue of the choir Schiersteiner Kantorei, founded here in 1962, and of the Rheingau Musik Festival. In 2011, countertenor Andreas Scholl and harpsichordist Tamar Halperin appeared in concert there.

The Christophoruskirche is a Protestant church in the borough of Schierstein, Wiesbaden, Germany. It was built in 1752 to 1754 in the style of the late Baroque and Rococo.

Die Christophoruskirche im Stadtteil Schierstein der hessischen Landeshauptstadt Wiesbaden ist eine protestantische Kirche, die 1752 bis 1754 im Stil des auslaufenden Barocks und des Rokokos errichtet wurde.


History.

1973–1976: Formative years.

The Saints' original members were Brisbane schoolmates Chris Bailey (singer-songwriter, later guitarist), Ed Kuepper (guitarist-songwriter), and Ivor Hay (drummer). They had formed Kid Galahad and the Eternals in 1973 with Irish-raised Bailey on vocals, Brisbane-born Hay on piano and German-born Kuepper on guitar. Their musical inspirations came from 1950s rock 'n' roll musicians such as Little Richard and Elvis Presley (their name referenced his 1962 film, "Kid Galahad") and 1960s proto-punk bands like the Missing Links, the Stooges and MC5. They rehearsed in a shed at the back of Hay's place, which was opposite the local police headquarters.  The band renamed themselves the Saints in 1974, inspired by Leslie Chateris' character The Saint. They played covers of Del Shannon, Connie Francis and Ike and Tina Turner – "exploding them almost beyond recognition with energy". Jeffrey Wegener joined on drums and Hay switched to bass guitar. Wegener had left by 1975, Hay moved to drums and Kym Bradshaw joined on bass guitar. Contemporaneous with Ramones, the group were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and "buzz saw" guitar that characterised early punk rock. Kuepper explained that they played faster and faster as they were nervous in front of audiences. The police would often break up their gigs, and arrests were frequent. Unable to obtain bookings, Bailey and Hay converted the Petrie Terrace house they shared into the 76 Club so they had a venue to play in. According to Australian rock historian, Ian McFarlane, they had developed their "own distinctive sound as defined by Kuepper's frenetic, whirlwind guitar style and Bailey's arrogant snarl".

1976–1977: "(I'm) Stranded".

In June 1976, the Saints recorded two tracks, "(I'm) Stranded" and "No Time" with Mark Moffatt producing. Unable to find any interested label, they formed Fatal Records and independently released their debut single in September. Their self-owned Eternal Promotions sent discs to radio stations and magazines both in Australia – with little local interest – and United Kingdom. In the UK, a small label, Power Exchange, issued the single. "Sounds" magazine's reviewer, Jonh Ingham, declared it, "Single of this and every week". EMI head office in London contacted the Sydney branch and directed that they be signed to a three-album contract. Over two days in December, the group recorded their first LP, "(I'm) Stranded" (February 1977), with Rod Coe producing. It included a cover version of the Missing Links' track "Wild About You". They supported AC/DC in late December 1976 and, early in 1977, relocated to Sydney. EMI re-issued the single, "(I'm) Stranded" in February and it reached the Kent Music Report Top 100 Singles Chart.  The Saints resisted being re-modelled into the English punk look and were generally ignored by the Australian press. Mainstream public was warned that punk rock is "a sinister new teenage pop cult, based on sex, sadism and violence, [which] is sweeping Britain." In May 1977, the band released their second single, "Erotic Neurotic" and then moved to the UK, where they differed with their label over how they should be marketed. EMI planned to promote them as a typical punk band, complete with ripped clothes and spiky hair – the Saints insisted on maintaining a more downbeat image. In June, bass guitarist Alasdair "Algy" Ward replaced Bradshaw. Their next single "This Perfect Day" (July) peaked at No. 34 in the UK but further improvement was frustrated by EMI's failure to press enough copies to satisfy demand.  "They were kind of god-like to me and my colleagues. They were just always so much better than everybody else. It was extraordinary to go and see a band that was so anarchic and violent." -Nick Cave "

1978–1979: "Eternally Yours" and "Prehistoric Sounds".

The Saints released their second album, "Eternally Yours", in May 1978 on EMI/Harvest with Bailey and Kuepper producing. The album showed the band moving towards a more R&B style of rock, including a brass section on songs like "Know Your Product" which had been released as a single in February. Another track, "Private Affair", focussed on what the band members saw as the pigeon-holing, hype and commercialisation of punk. The album reached the Top 100 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart.  The jazz-blues influenced third album, "Prehistoric Sounds", followed in October 1978 (January 1979 in Australia). Its commercial failure led EMI to drop the band. During 1978, relations between Kuepper and Bailey had deteriorated, with Bailey preferring rock and pop songs and Kuepper pursuing less commercial and more intellectual material. Finally Hay, Kuepper and Ward left the group in early 1979. Kuepper returned to Australia and followed a more avant-garde direction with Laughing Clowns, which would frequently feature brass, and later, the punkish the Aints. He is one of Australia's most influential and highly regarded musicians with over twenty solo albums to his credit. Hay briefly returned to Australia to join Sydney-based the Hitmen and then rejoined Bailey in London for a later version of the Saints. Ward became a member of English gothic punk band, the Damned. Bailey continued the group with Mark Birmingham on drums, Bruce Callaway on guitar, Barry Francis on guitar and Janine Hall on bass guitar.

1980s: "Paralytic Tonight, Dublin Tomorrow" to "Prodigal Son".

The Saints' first release after Kuepper's departure was the live EP, "Paralytic Tonight, Dublin Tomorrow", in March 1980 on Lost Records with Bailey producing. It was followed by a studio album, "The Monkey Puzzle", co-produced by Bailey and Gerry Nixon for Mushroom Records in February 1981. It reached the Top 100 on the Australian Albums Chart. They had shifted to a more melodic pop-rock sound and included Hay on keyboards in the line-up. Hay left again before the next album was released in Australia in 1982 as "I Thought This Was Love, But This Ain't Casablanca" on Mushroom Records and elsewhere as "Out in the Jungle... Where Things Ain't So Pleasant" on New Rose Records. Production was credited to Ricardo Mentalban, and with Bailey, in the Saints, were Hall on bass guitar and Iain Shedden (ex-Jolt) on drums. Additional musicians included Roger Crankwell on saxophone and clarinet, Denis Haines on piano, Paul Neiman on trombone, Steve Sidwell on trumpet and Jess Sutcliffe on piano. The Damned's Brian James guested on lead guitar.  In late 1982, the group toured Australia with Bailey, Hall and Shedden joined by Chris Burnham on guitar (ex-Supernaut) and Laurie Cuffe on guitar. In 1983, Bailey released his first solo album, "Casablanca", on New Rose. In 1984, Bailey was based in Sydney, and the Saints' album, "A Little Madness to Be Free", was released in July on RCA with production credited to Lurax Debris (Bailey's pseudonym). It contains the popular track "Ghost Ships", which was issued as a single in May. "A Little Madness to Be Free" was "more rock-oriented, with extensive use of acoustic guitar, brass and strings set among tightly focused arrangements". In mid-1984, the band toured as Bailey, Burnham, Shedden and Tracy Pew on bass guitar, (ex-Birthday Party), who was briefly replaced by Kuepper in July. By 1985, the Saints were Bailey, Richard Burgman on guitar (ex-Sunnyboys) and Arturo 'Archie' Larizza on bass guitar (the Innocents), while Louise Elliot on saxophone and Jeffrey Wegener on drums (both ex-Laughing Clowns) completed the line-up. A live album, "Live in a Mud Hut... Somewhere in Europe", recorded in 1984 with production credited to Mugumbo, was released by New Rose in 1985.  Hay returned and, with Bailey, Burgman and Larizza, the group recorded "All Fools Day" in Wales with Hugh Jones producing. It was issued by Mushroom Records in Australia and Polydor in United States, in April 1986. The album reached the Top 30 in Australia and included a Top 30 single, "Just Like Fire Would" (March). The group joined the Australian Made Tour in December 1986 – January 1987 with other local acts Mental as Anything, I'm Talking, the Triffids, Divinyls, Models, Jimmy Barnes and INXS.  "Prodigal Son" followed in April 1988, which reached the Top 50. The line-up was Bailey, Francis, Larizza, Shedden and Joe Chiofalo on organ. It was produced by Bailey, Brian McGee and Vanda & Young. The single, "Grain of Sand", from "Prodigal Son" peaked at No. 11 on the United States "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart. In March 1989, the Saints had an Australian Top 40 hit with a cover of the Easybeats' song "Music Goes 'Round My Head", which also featured in the 1988 film "Young Einstein"s soundtrack. Their version of "The Music Goes Round My Head" reached No. 19 on the US Alternative Songs chart.

1990–present: later years.

The Saints issued a compilation album, "Songs of Salvation and Sin 1976–1988" in 1990 on Raven Records with liner notes penned by Glenn A. Baker. Over the years, Kuepper had grown unhappy with Bailey's ongoing use of the Saints name and, in particular, with Baker crediting Bailey for the band's original creative direction. In April 1991, Kuepper formed the Aints, which performed versions of vintage the Saints' material. The Saints issued "Permanent Revolution" in 1991 on Mushroom Records, and while Bailey released solo albums, the group went into hiatus.  By 1994, Bailey had moved to Sweden where he recorded a solo album, "54 days at sea", and in 1996 issued the Saints' album, "Howling", which was produced by the band for Blue Rose Records. Bailey provided vocals, guitars and organ, and was joined by Andreas Jornvill on drums, Joakim Täck on bass guitar, Ian Walsh on guitar and Mons Wieslander on guitar. The group toured Australia in February 1997 – their first tour there in eight years. "Everybody Knows the Monkey" followed in May 1998 on Last Call Records with Bailey were Michael Bayliss on bass guitar, Martin Bjerregaard on drums and Andy Faulkner on guitar – it was produced by Bailey and Martin Hennel.  Mushroom Records celebrated their 25th anniversary with the Mushroom 25 Live concert in November 1998, Bailey performed "Ghost Ships" and "Just Like Fire Would", and a duet with Paul Kelly on "Wide Open Road", as a tribute to David McComb of the Triffids.  "Spit the Blues Out" was issued in 2000 in France by Last Call Records with production credited to Debris. It displayed "'60s-era blues-rock" and "Brit-pop" with Patrick Mathé of French label New Rose providing harmonica and guitar.  On September 11, 2001, the original line-up of the Saints came together for a one-off reunion when the writer Clinton Walker, a long-time friend and champion of the band, inducted them into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.  By 2005, the group had re-located to Amsterdam, Netherlands, with Bailey were the line-up of Marty Willson-Piper on guitar, Caspar Wijnberg on bass guitar and Pete Wilkinson on drums. They issued "Nothing Is Straight in My House" in 2005 and after Willson-Piper left they released "Imperious Delirium" in 2006. They undertook a European tour to promote it and continued to tour America through late 2007.  On 14 July 2007, Bailey, Kuepper and Hay re-united for another one-off gig at the Queensland Music Festival, with current member Wijnberg on bass guitar. In January 2009, as part of the All Tomorrows Parties touring festival – curated by Mick Harvey, the Saints with Bailey, Hay, Kuepper and LaRizza played shows in Brisbane, Sydney and in Mount Buller, Victoria. This was followed by a Melbourne show on 14 January as part of the Don't Look Back sideshow concerts, where they performed the "I'm Stranded" album in its entirety. In 2010 the band returned to a three piece with Wilkinson returning as drummer and to the line-up with addition of a new bassist Jane Mack. In May 2010, Kuepper & Bailey reunited for a monthlong tri-residency series of shows in Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne. With Kuepper on electric guitar/vocals and Bailey on acoustic guitar/bass guitar/vocals, they played a selection of songs from early Saints, both solo careers and post-Kuepper Saints, as well as a few covers.  2012 saw the recording of " King of the Sun". The album was recorded at the Trackdown studios in Sydney, where Bailey had previously recorded "Savage Entertainment". Released in Australia in late 2012, "King of the Sun" was delayed in European countries until April 2013.  On 7 November 2013, the Saints appeared as a 4-piece at the Borderline club in London, England. Alongside Bailey were stalwart Saints Barrington Francis and Peter Wilkinson. The band was augmented with Chris Dunne on keyboards.

Influence.

The Saints are one of the first and most influential punk rock groups. According to Bob Geldof, "Rock music in the seventies was changed by three bands—the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Saints".  In May 2001, Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) celebrated its 75th anniversary and named "(I'm) Stranded" in its Top 30 Australian songs of all time. The band was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in September. In 2007, "I'm Stranded" was one of the first 20 songs stored on the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry. Their début album, "(I'm) Stranded" was listed at No. 20 in the book, "100 Best Australian Albums", in October 2010. Their third album, "Prehistoric Sounds", also appeared in the list, at No. 41.

The Saints are an Australian rock band originating in Brisbane in 1973. The band was founded by Chris Bailey (singer-songwriter, later guitarist), Ivor Hay (drummer), and Ed Kuepper (guitarist-songwriter). Contemporaneously with American punk rock band the Ramones, the Saints were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and "buzz saw" guitar that characterised early punk rock. With their debut single, "(I'm) Stranded", in September 1976, they became the first "punk" band outside the US to release a record, ahead of better-known acts including the Sex Pistols and the Clash. They are one of the first and most influential groups of the genre.

The Saints (engl. "„die Heiligen“") sind eine australische Rockband, die 1973 in Brisbane gegründet wurde. Die Band gehört zu den Pionieren des Punk, nahm später jedoch auch Elemente aus Pop und Blues auf.


Background and production.

On 21 October 2005, after the "Once Upon a Tour", the band's lead singer Tarja Turunen was dismissed via an open letter. In search of a replacement, the band conducted auditions from 17 March 2006 to 15 January 2007, receiving over 2000 demo tapes in the process. Amidst much speculation the new singer was officially announced on 24 May 2007 to be Anette Olzon, previously the singer for the Swedish AOR band Alyson Avenue. In an interview, Holopainen said they had made the decision in January 2007 based on the impression she made while performing the song "Ever Dream" from the album "Century Child".  The recording process started in the spring 2006 in different studios across Europe; the drums were recorded by Nevalainen in Hollola, Finland, at the Petrax Studios, Emppu Vuorinen recorded the guitars in Kerava, Finland, were also record the keyboards by Holopainen and the bass parts by Marco Hietala. Hietala is also the band's male singer, and in 2006 Hietala sung some of the new songs to record the demo versions as a base for the final recordings, with definitive vocals being recorded by Olzon at the Petrax in March 2007, immediately after being chosen to replace Tarja Turunen, and nearly two months before her name was given to the media and the fans.  When the drummer Jukka Nevalainen was asked about the overall cost of the new album, he was quoted as saying "Roughly half a million... We don't know the exact sum down to the euros and cents as yet." Half of this cost was incurred in London, over an expensive eight days at the Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, during which time the London Session Orchestra, the Metro Voices Choir, a gospel choir and two Irish musicians recorded their parts at the studio. In an interview with "Kerrang!" on 16 August 2008 Tuomas Holopainen recalled: "When I think back to it, it was such a crucial point to so many people, we didn't even realise back then but it showed us what we would be doing for the next year of our lives. We were never nervous about Anette, or the album being good, but we just couldn't tell how people would take it. Would they like Anette? Would they like the music? That was in the back of our minds all the time. And there was such a huge amount of money involved, over 800.000 euros, that we needed to sell at least a few albums to get going," Tuomas Holopainen was recalling in 2008. According to Decibel, the album's studio bill was around 680,000 USD.  The orchestral line-up featured 66 members from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, 32 singers from The Metro Voices and twelve gospel singers. The final mixing process spent more than 75 days at the Finnvox Studios in Kitee, Finland, the same place where Nightwish recorded all their previous albums.

Music description.

Before the album's release, band leader Tuomas Holopainen said in an interview that the album would have a lot in common with the previous album "Once". For example, the band have kept the new kind of heavier songs, such as "Master Passion Greed", "Whoever Brings the Night", "7 Days to the Wolves", and "Bye Bye Beautiful", but additionally there are softer ballads, such as "Meadows of Heaven", "Eva", and "The Islander". This album includes lots of guest musicians and orchestral parts, just like "Once", but with a bigger level.  Just like the album "Once", Nightwish included many new influences and experimentations in several tracks. On "Once", much inspiration came from Native American music, especially "Creek Mary's Blood", which featured Lakota Indian musician John Two-Hawks. However, on "Dark Passion Play", much inspiration comes from Finnish and Irish culture and music, which can be clearly heard on "Last of the Wilds". Songs like "Master Passion Greed" and "Cadence of Her Last Breath" included thrash metal and alternative metal elements as well, displaying the newer, more modern sound of the band. In a later interview, Hietela said the band "didn't get as far with it [the song] as we wanted to when we recorded the song in the studio – we wanted it to be a little bit more impressive".  Holopainen also said that there are darker pieces reminiscent of the album "Century Child", such as "The Poet and the Pendulum", and some others. It will be a dark album, both musically and lyrically. Even though the album is much more upbeat than "Century Child". Songs that reflect this mood are for example the second single "Amaranth" and "Bye Bye Beautiful"'s B-side "Escapist."

Reception.

The album has sold more than 130,000 copies in Finland to date, placing 26th on the list of best-selling Finnish albums ever released, which has granted it a platinum certification four times. Worldwide, it has sold over 700,000 copies by the end of 2007 and about 2 million copies to date. It has been certified as Platinum in Germany and Hungary, and Gold in Austria, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland; Dark Passion Play is also the most successful Nightwish album in UK and USA with sales in the United States of over 134,000 copies.  As of January 2008, the album has topped the album charts in six countries; the singles, "Amaranth" and "Erämaan Viimeinen" have both reached the first position on Finnish charts. According to Last.fm, "Dark Passion Play" is their most played album, and its successful single "Amaranth" has as of February 2009 been holding the position of most played song since its release.  The album was also critically acclaimed in most reviews. "Allmusic" called the album a "sort of opera aria" and praised "Bye Bye Beautiful", on a track pic and "Eva", that they say it focus on the new vocalist vocal abilities.  The album was also given a positive review by "Blabbermouth"'s Keith Bergman, who gave the album a 7.5 out of 10 and stated that it "may not be a masterpiece throughout, but it's got enough moments of symphonic metal bliss to warrant a high recommendation. "About.com" writer, Chad Bowar, gave the album a score of 4 out of 5 stars, calling "Dark Passion Play" "an excellent album that's right up there with the best the band has done."

Legacy.

In 2016, an article by Teamrock considers Dark Passion Play as one of the "best albums of this century", ranking it at number 60 on their countdown of the "21st century's greatest albums".  In November 2014, the NHL hockey team Minnesota Wild featured the album's first track "The Poet and the Pendulum" in their season trailer.  The instrumental version of Whoever Brings the Night was featured in a 2011 puzzle-platformer video game, LittleBigPlanet 2.

Promotion.

To promote the release of the album, Nightwish played the "Dark Passion Play World Tour", that took place from 2007 to 2009.  On 22 September 2007, the band hosted a secret concert at Rock Café in Tallinn, Estonia, disguising itself as a Nightwish cover band called "Nachtwasser". Their first official concert with the new singer was in Tel Aviv, Israel on 6 October 2007. The "Dark Passion Play" tour thus started, visiting the United States, Canada, most of Europe, Asia, and Australia. In 2008, the band played over 100 shows, with dates in Oceania, Europe and Asia. In November, the band played in South America, and before this leg they took a three-month break; Nightwish began the third leg in 2009, with dates in North America and Europe, and also playing in several summer metal festivals, including Graspop Metal Meeting and Masters of Rock. The last show was played in Helsinki, Finland, in front of 10,000 fans.  The support bands were changing throughout the tour. The frequent acts were the Finnish pop rock female group Indica, Swedish metal band Sonic Syndicate and the Swedish industrial metal band Pain. The USA tour was supported by Gothic metal band Paradise Lost. In the last concert, the opening band was the Finnish act Apocalyptica. On 11 March 2009, was released an EP/DVD, "Made in Hong Kong", with 8 live tracks recorded during the tour in various concerts; the DVD contains three music videos as well as a documentary featuring material from Israel to South America, directed by Ville Lipiäinen.

Personnel.

Credits for "Dark Passion Play" adapted from liner notes.

Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 26 September 2007 in Finland, 28 September in Europe and 2 October 2007 in the United States. It is the first album without original vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was dismissed in 2005, as well as the first album involving future member Troy Donockley on uilleann pipes and tin whistle. It is the first of only two albums with vocalist Anette Olzon, who was eventually dismissed in 2012 after the release of the band's subsequent album, "Imaginaerum". Tuomas Holopainen has referred to it as the "album that saved his life".

Dark Passion Play ist das sechste Studioalbum der finnischen Symphonic-Metal-Band Nightwish. Das Album wurde im deutschsprachigen Raum am 28. September 2007 bei Nuclear Blast veröffentlicht. Bereits zwei Tage zuvor veröffentlichte Spinefarm Records das Album in Finnland. Es ist das erste Album mit der neuen Sängerin Anette Olzon, der Nachfolgerin von Tarja Turunen.


Background.

Al Hajj was arrested in Pakistan on December 15, 2001. He was on his way to work in Afghanistan as a cameraman for Al Jazeera and had a legitimate visa. He was held as an "enemy combatant" at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, with Guantanamo Internment Serial Number 345, and was the only journalist to be held in Guantanamo.  British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith represented al-Hajj, and was able to visit him in 2005. According to Stafford Smith, Al Hajj had "endured horrendous abuse - sexual abuse and religious persecution" and that he had been beaten, leaving a "huge scar" on his face. Stafford Smith also said that Al Hajj had witnessed "the Quran being flushed down the toilet by US soldiers in Afghanistan" and "expletives being written on the Muslim holy book".  On 23 November 2005, Stafford Smith said that, during (125 of 130) interviews, U.S. officials had questioned Al Hajj as to whether Al Jazeera was a front for al-Qaeda.  Stafford Smith stated of his client that: Al Jazeera responded that Al Hajj reported his passport stolen in Sudan in 1999, and that anything done with the passport after that date was likely the work of identity thieves.  During Al Hajj's time in captivity, Reporters Without Borders repeatedly expressed concern over his detention, mentioning Al Hajj in its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index, and launched a petition for his release.  In January 2007, Al Hajj and several other inmates went on hunger strike in protest of their treatment in Guantanamo, during which Al Hajj lost over 55 pounds. In response to the hunger strike, Al Hajj and the other inmates were force-fed. Al Hajj's hunger strike lasted 438 days until he was set free on 1 May 2008.  On 18 April 2007, the Sudanese Minister of Justice, Mohammad Ali Al-Marazi, condemned the United States' detention of Al Hajj. Al-Marazi called Al Hajj's detention an "illegal act", which ran counter to human rights. He claimed it exposed American claims of supporting human rights as "false".  When Alan Johnston, former Gaza Correspondent for the BBC, was abducted on 12 March 2007 in Gaza City by gunmen from the Army of Islam and held for 113 days, Sami Al Hajj made a plea to Johnston's captors to let the journalist go. Following his release, Johnston made a similar plea for the release of Al Hajj, being held by the United States Government in Guantanamo.

Interrogation and treatment.

On 20 April 2007, the UK newspaper, "The Guardian", started publishing excerpts from Clive Stafford Smith's book, "Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons". According to Stafford Smith:

Health and hunger strike.

In 1998, Al Hajj was treated for throat cancer and prescribed a course of anti-cancer drugs that he was to take every day for the rest of his life. In letters from the detention camp, he claimed that he was being denied these medications by the authorities.  The authorities were also reported to have "refused to provide him with a support for his knee as this contains metal and is classified as a security threat."  On 7 January 2007, Al Hajj went on a hunger strike. Al Jazeera's website published his demands which included:  Zachary Katznelson, senior counsel of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group representing Al Hajj, visited the cameraman at Guantanamo Bay on February 1. U.S. military officials declined to confirm whether Al Hajj was among the 12 detainees on hunger strike at the time.  On 22 August 2007, Clive Stafford Smith told Reporters Without Borders that he had found Al Hajj's health had seriously deteriorated since his last visit. He said that Al Hajj looked more frail, and visibly had trouble concentrating.  On 10 September 2007, Clive Stafford said that Al Hajj was focussed on the worry that he would be the next captive to die and losing his ability to speak English.  On 11 September 2007, Al Jazeera reported that Al Hajj was suffering from depression and losing the will to live.  By 19 October 2007, Al Hajj had lost over 55 pounds since beginning his hunger strike in January.

Guantanamo detainee file.

On 26 April 2011, a classified file from Guantanamo on Al Hajj's detention was released by WikiLeaks. The file, dated 4 April 2008, describes Al Hajj as a high risk detainee with "direct ties to Al-Qaida, al-Haramayn non-governmental organization (NGO) and Taleban leadership."  According to the file, Al Hajj "admitted shipping supplies and carrying funds to Chechnya" but had "not been forthcoming regarding his activities in support of terrorist organizations as reported by other sources." The file said that he had been "careful not to implicate himself as a member of an extremist organization, or to have had any dealings with extremists beyond performing interviews as a journalist."  Among the reasons for Al Hajj's transfer to the facility, the file listed:

Reviews by U.S. authorities.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Stafford Smith summarized the allegations from Al Hajj's Combatant Status Review Tribunal: According to Al Jazeera, the U.S. authorities labelled Al Hajj an "enemy combatant" and announced a number of charges against him, including:  Ahmad Ibrahim, a colleague of Al Hajj who documented his case in the documentary "Prisoner 345", denied each these charges.

Subsequent Administrative Review Boards.

On 23 February 2007, it was reported that Al Hajj's continued detention had been reviewed by a subsequent Administrative Review Board. Al Hajj was not one of the eighty captives who that round of Administrative Review Boards had recommended for release or transfer.  His colleagues at Al Jazeera said "his detention is American harassment of an Arabic TV network whose coverage has long angered U.S. officials." Lamis Andoni, a Middle East analyst for Al Jazeera, said in reference to the November 2001 and April 2003 bombings of Al Jazeera's offices: "When you are targeted once, it could be a mistake, but when you are bombed twice, it's something else."  The director of the Joint Intelligence Group, Paul Rester, said: "I consider the information that we obtained from him to be useful", though he declined to offer any substantiation for this claim.  During his first Administrative Review Board hearing, Al Hajj said he was going to decline to reply to the charges, on legal advice. However, Al Hajj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said that:

Release negotiation and release.

On 15 August 2007, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State stated of Al Hajj's case: On the same day, Ali Sadiq, an official of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, stated: Sami Al Hajj was released on 1 May 2008 from Guantanamo Bay and flown to Sudan. He arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on a US military plane in the early hours of Friday, May 2. Al Jazeera showed footage of him being carried into the hospital on a stretcher, looking frail but smiling and surrounded by well-wishers.

After Guantánamo Bay.

Upon release, al-Hajj announced his intention to sue George W Bush and other leaders involved in his detention at Guantanamo Bay. He co-founded the Guantánamo Justice Centre as part of these efforts. In a later interview, he claimed that the organisation received no external support.  He returned to work for Al Jazeera after his release, leading a new section covering civil liberties and human rights.

Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj (), aka Sami Al-Haj (Khartoum, Sudan, February 15, 1969) is a Sudanese journalist for the Al Jazeera network. In 2001, while on his way to do camera work for the network in Afghanistan, he was arrested by the Pakistani army and held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba for over six years. After his release, al-Hajj wrote a book titled "Prisoner 345". He was released without charge on May 1, 2008. He later attempted to launch legal action against George W. Bush.

Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj (, auch bekannt als Sami Al-Haj; * 15. Februar 1969 in Khartum) ist ein sudanesischer Staatsbürger und Kameramann des Fernsehsenders Al Jazeera, der fast sechs Jahre ohne Anklage und Gerichtsverfahren im Gefangenenlager der Guantanamo Bay Naval Base auf Kuba gefangen gehalten wurde. Er ist Mitbegründer der Organisation Guantánamo Justice Centre, eine Organisation ehemaliger Insassen des Gefangenenlagers, deren Ziel die Eröffnung eines gemeinschaftlichen Strafverfahrens gegen George W. Bush und andere US-Regierungsbeamte ist.


Life.

The supposed story of Metrocles' conversion to Cynicism is reported by Diogenes Laërtius. Metrocles had apparently farted while practicing a speech, and became so upset that he shut himself up in his home, attempting to commit suicide by starving himself. Crates visited him and made him a dinner of lupines, explaining to him that what he had done was according to nature and therefore nothing to be ashamed of. When Crates himself farted to demonstrate how natural it was, Metrocles was persuaded to let go of his shame.  Whether or not this story is true, the symbolism for the Cynics is that it demonstrated the worthlessness of Metrocles' education up until that time. As a pupil of Theophrastus he may have learned a lot of information, but he was still obsessed with social conventions and good manners, to the point of being ready to die from embarrassment. With Crates' help he was able to let go of his old ways and embrace a Cynic life free from convention, and find true happiness.  Equally significant is a passage preserved in the writings of Teles, who tells how Metrocles as a young student of the Lyceum and the Academy could not keep up with the extravagant life-style requirements: When he was studying with Theophrastus and Xenocrates, although many things were being sent to him from home, he was in constant fear of dying from hunger and was always destitute and in want. But when he later changed over to Crates, he could feed even another person though nothing was sent from home. For in the former case he had to have shoes... then a cloak, a following of slaves, and a grand house; for the common table he had to see that the breads were pure, the delicacies above the ordinary, the wine sweet, the entertainment appropriate, so that here there was much expense. For among them such a way of life was judged to be 'liberal.'  According to Hecato of Rhodes, Metrocles burned all his writings, but others said it was only the notes he took in the school of Theophrastus that he burned. It may have been via Metrocles that his sister Hipparchia met Crates, whom she later married, thus also becoming a Cynic. Plutarch represents Metrocles as sleeping in the winter amongst sheep, and in the summer in the porches of temples. He apparently knew the Megarian philosopher Stilpo and disputed with him, and Stilpo wrote a dialogue called "Metrocles". In his biography of Metrocles, Diogenes Laërtius seemingly lists a number of his pupils, but the list probably refers to Crates. Metrocles died at a great age, and is said to have deliberately suffocated himself.

Writings.

Metrocles was a man of great ability, and wrote several works, but little of his thought survives. He objected to wealth unless it was put to good use; and he divided things into those that can be bought with money (such as a house), and those that take time and care, like education. One of his works was called "Chreiai" (), that is, "Anecdotes", or "Maxims". Thus he became one of the first to contribute to the most important literary art-form for the Cynics: thousands of anecdotes were accumulated (and invented) concerning Diogenes, Crates and other Cynics, all of them providing moral messages through the actions of the Cynics. An anecdote written by Metrocles concerning Diogenes is preserved by Laërtius: On one occasion Diogenes went with his head half-shaved into an entertainment of young men, as Metrocles tells us in his "Chreiai", and so was beaten by them. And afterwards he wrote the names of all those who had beaten him, on a white tablet, and went about with the tablet round his neck, so as to expose them to insult, as they were generally condemned and reproached for their conduct.

Metrocles (; fl. c. 325 BC) was a Cynic philosopher from Maroneia. He studied in Aristotle’s Lyceum under Theophrastus, and eventually became a follower of Crates of Thebes who married Metrocles’ sister Hipparchia. Very little survives of his writings, but he is important as one of the first Cynics to adopt the practice of writing moral anecdotes ("chreiai") about Diogenes and other Cynics.

Metrokles (altgriechisch Μητροκλῆς "Mētroklḗs", latinisiert "Metrocles"; * im 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr.; † im 3. Jahrhundert v. Chr.) war ein antiker griechischer Philosoph. Er zählt zur Strömung des Kynismus.