Early life and education.

Viktor Pshonka was born on 6 February 1954 in Serhiyivka, Slovyansk District of Donetsk Oblast. After graduating from high school he was called up for military service in the Soviet Army. Having discharged from army, he got a job at one of the enterprises in Donetsk Oblast.  In 1975, Viktor Pshonka enrolled at the Kharkiv Law Institute.

Career.

In 1980, he began work at Kramatorsk Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk Oblast, where he served as investigator, and eventually as an assistant to prosecutor of the city of Kramatorsk.  From 1986 till 1997, Viktor Pshonka served as prosecutor of Kramatorsk City.  In 1997, he was appointed first deputy prosecutor of Donetsk Oblast.  In 1998–2003, he was prosecutor of Donetsk Oblast, one of the biggest regions in Ukraine.  In November 2003, Viktor P. Pshonka was appointed Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine. He was in charge of prosecutor's supervision over observance of laws by the agencies of the Ministry of Interior, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), tax police and special units combating organized crime and corruption. He was also responsible for supervision over state customs service and border guard.  He resigned voluntarily from his office in December 2004, but returned to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine at the end of 2006.  In November 2010, members of Ukraine's Parliament voted in favor (292 votes) of Viktor Pshonka's appointment as the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.

General Prosecutor of Ukraine.

Since his appointment to office, Viktor Pshonka has laid emphasis in his activity on bringing Ukrainian prosecution service in line with European standards. Speaking on the Ukrainian TV channel Inter four days after his appointment, Pshonka called himself "a member of President Viktor Yanukovych's team".  In this regard, V. Pshonka takes active part in consultations and discussions on the issues of improving of the work of prosecution service with experts and representatives of European and international organizations, in particular, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission, etc., as well as exchange of experience with law enforcement authorities of other states.  In accordance with the new Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine CPC, which entered into force in 2012, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine led by Pshonka introduced the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations (computerized system, where all complaints and applications regarding criminal offences in Ukraine are registered), which is used by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.  In November 2012, the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for employees of the prosecution service was adopted by all-Ukrainian Conference of Members of prosecuting agencies.  On 3 March 2012, another innovation during Pshonka's tenure was establishment of the Dnipro Ecological Prosecutor's Office, the main task of which is to oversee compliance with environmental laws in respect of drainage basin of the Dnieper River within the territory of Ukraine.  In 2012, Pshonka as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine began investigating Burisma Holdings owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption during 2010-2012.

Discovery of Ukraine's Watergate papers.

Together, Viktor Pshonka, Viktor Yanukovych, and Vitaly Zakharchenko became guests on the 11th floor of the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow on 25 February 2014. On 21 February 2014, Yanukovych traveled by helicopter to Kharkiv and then to Donetsk but was denied permission to takeoff from Donetsk, so, he drove to Crimea and then left Crimea for Russia on a Russia government boat. Similarly, on 22 February 2014, Pshonka left the VIP terminal at Donetsk airport for Russia by having his security detachment occupy the Ukraine border guards.  Upon Pshonka's departure, the luxurious Pshonka mansion near Kyiv at Gorenichi, Kiev-Svyatoshinsky district () was searched and numerous files were discovered. Revealed on 31 May 2016 by Serhiy Anatoliyovich Leshchenko (), the secret bookkeeping of Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions' Black Ledger () or Barn Book () which implicated numerous persons to improper payments including Paul Manafort for which the book included the handwritten records of 22 payments over five years to Manafort from pro Kremlin and pro Putin sources, nine of which had been signed by Vitaly Anatolyevich Kalyuzhny () who was the Verkhovna Rada's foreign relations committee chairman. On 17 August 2016, Donald Trump removed Paul Manafort as Trump's campaign chairman following Trump's first national security briefing directly because of the records in the secret ledger. In September 2016, Leshchenko referred to these papers as Ukraine's Watergate.

Criminal prosecution.

On 22 February 2014, as a part of the Euromaidan Revolution, the Verkhovna Rada ousted Pshonka in a no-confidence vote. On 23 February 2014, an arrest warrant was issued to arrest Pshonka.  But, on 5 December 2015, Interpol denied a request to put former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka on the wanted list allegedly due to the weakness of the evidence submitted by the competent authorities of Ukraine.  Early March 2014, the EU froze Pshonka's accounts.

Controversies.

Murder of Ihor Aleksandrov.

who was an investigative reporter and presenter for the independent television station TOR TV () in Sloviansk was murdered in 2001 while producing a program for the series "Bez Retushi" (Without Touching Up) () which was exposing links between politicians, law enforcement, and organized crime in Kramatorsk; Pshonka was one of two men Aleksandrov had identified as godfathering the Kramatorsk underworld. Pshonka then oversaw the investigation of the murder. A homeless man was later charged but acquitted in the case, dying of'mysterious circumstances' soon after; the same fate that befell the two witnesses and investigating police officer.

Missing GPU files.

In early April 2015, Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin stated that the General Prosecutor Ukraine (GPU) files disappeared about criminal orders from former General Prosecutor Pshonka along with Pshonka's secret casework and secret materials: Viktor Shokin: I will tell you more: not only criminal cases, but secret materials are missing - secret casework. Including, as far as Victor Pshonka's orders were concerned." (). During the search for the missing files, the Head of the Special Investigations Division of the General Investigation Department of the GPU, Serhiy Viktorovych Horbatyuk (), believed that Pshonka had ordered those files and many others to be transferred to Crimea. On 10 April 2015, Mustafa Nayyem stated that he was with members of the Right Sector when they entered Pshonka's mansion and that the Right Sector recovered numerous GPU files from Pshonka's mansion including some items from under the tiles in the Pshonka mansion's sauna. On 15 April 2015, Nayyem recovered missing GPU files about Yulia Tymoshenko in Pechersk's regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kyiv. The Tymoshenko files were sent to Pechersk after the Right Sector () left the Dnipro Hotel.

Family and personal life.

Pshonka's son Artyom Pshonka was a constituency candidate in Zaporizhia for Party of Regions during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. He was elected into parliament.  After his removal as General Prosecutor of Ukraine media reported in late February 2014 that photos of Pshonka's mansion were "astonishing by their luxury".  When Pshonka and his son Artyom appealed the EU accounts freeze in late May 2014, they both had Russian citizenship, although it was unclear since when. Both Viktor and Artem listed their residences as Moscow with the European Court of Justice. The last time Pshonka appeared in public was during a joint press conference with former President Viktor Yanukovych and former Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko on 13 April 2014 in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.  In the fall of 2014, Pshonka moved his family's jewelry businesses, Gold Standard Jewelry Factory LLC () and others, from Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, to Sebastopol in Russian annexed Crimea. Russia has illegally occupied Crimea since the Russian invasion of Ukraine beginning March 2014. Pshonka dominated the gold jewelry industry in Kramatorsk which was the third largest production center in Ukraine behind only Kyiv and Kharkiv in production.

International sanctions.

For his roles in destabilizing Ukraine, his role in the Victor Yanukovych government, his support for pro-Russia individuals and entities in Ukraine, abuse of office, and embezzlement of public funds, Pshonka is under sanctions by the European Union, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Norway since 28 February 2014. and Canada since 5 March 2014.  For his roles in destabilizing Ukraine, his son, Artem or Artyom, has been under sanctions since early March 2014 by the European Union, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Norway; and since 5 March 2014 by Canada.

Awards.

In view of special accomplishments in strengthening of the due course of law in Ukraine, V. Pshonka was awarded a rank of "State Counselor of Justice of Ukraine", "Honored Jurist of Ukraine" and "Third Class Order of Merit "by the Decrees of the President of Ukraine.  In 2000, he was named "Jurist of the Year" in the nomination among prosecutors.  In 2002, he was awarded the "Certificate of Honor of the "Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.  Viktor Pshonka was awarded lapel badges of the ""Honorable Member of Prosecution Service of Ukraine”", "“Statehood. Fairness. Honesty”" of 2nd Degree.  He also received "“Acknowledgement of Honest Service in Prosecution Service of Ukraine” "of 1st Degree, as well as awards from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Viktor Pavlovych Pshonka (; born 6 February 1954,, Sloviansk district, Donetsk oblast, () Ukraine, USSR) is a former Prosecutor General of Ukraine (from 4 November 2010 until 22 February 2014), State Counselor of Justice of Ukraine and member of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine. He holds a Doctor of Laws degree, and is a member of the International Association of Prosecutors.

Wiktor Pawlowytsch Pschonka (, * 6. Februar 1954 in Serhijiwka, Oblast Donezk, Ukrainische Sozialistische Sowjetrepublik) ist ein ukrainischer Jurist. Er war von November 2010 bis Februar 2014 der Generalstaatsanwalt der Ukraine.


Personal life.

Born to Harry and Mary Baldwin on 15 March 1946,he was diagnosed with a learning disability as a child and required speech therapy. Baldwin left school at age 16 to join Sir Robert Fossett's Circus, the oldest circus in England, for whom he performed as "Nello the Clown" for three seasons. He lived with his mother until a few years before she died in 2003. He is known to be acquainted with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the footballer Gary Lineker and Prince Edward.

Keele University.

Since 1960, unasked and unpaid, Baldwin has visited Keele University, where his mother worked as a cleaner, to greet new students. A testimonial football match, on 12 March 2000, featured his own team of Keele University students (the Neil Baldwin Football Club, formed in 1967, whose president was Kevin Keegan) against an all-star side of former Football League players including Lou Macari, Asa Hartford and Gordon Cowans.  He was granted honorary life membership of Keele University Students' Union in 1968. The proposal received unanimous support. His fiftieth year there was marked with a two-day celebration, including a service of thanksgiving presided over by the Bishop of Lichfield, Keele alumnus Jonathan Gledhill, and a further testimonial match. He was also awarded honorary alumni-hood.  In 2013 Baldwin received the honorary degree of Master of the University from Keele University, which said that he  In 2016, Stoke City FC and Keele University combined to celebrate Neil Baldwin's 70th birthday at Keele Hall. Guests included friends and family, professional footballers and football administrators, members of the clergy, professional actors and screenwriters, impresarios of the circus, Keele University professors, students and graduates, local dignitaries, singers from the Neil Baldwin Choir, three Cambridge University Boat Club rowers, and members of the Neil Baldwin Football Club. The highlight was a birthday greeting by video-link from Sir Alex Ferguson. Vice-Chancellor Professor Trevor McMillan remarked that "Only Neil could bring together people from such diverse walks of life to celebrate his birthday".

Stoke City.

In the 1990s Baldwin was appointed as Stoke City Football Club kit-man by then manager Lou Macari who has described him as "the best signing I ever made", as his humour was so good for team morale. In 1993, Macari played him as a substitute for Stoke City, against Aston Villa, in the final five minutes of a testimonial match for Gordon Cowans. Macari later wrote seven pages about Baldwin in his 2009 autobiography, "Football, My Life", and said that he is a "man without an angle and there aren’t many of them in football". In May 2015 Baldwin was awarded "Supporter of the year" by Stoke City FC.

"Marvellous" TV film.

Baldwin is the subject of and also appeared as himself in "Marvellous", an acclaimed 2014 biographical film in which he is played by Toby Jones who was praised by "The Guardian" for his "lovely, very human, performance". It was first broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD on 25 September 2014.  Reviewing the programme for the "Stoke Sentinel", John Woodhouse said:  The film received the 2015 BAFTA for "best single drama", and Gemma Jones received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Baldwin's mother. Toby Jones was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance. Baldwin collected the drama award, during the ceremony at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, and made an acceptance speech.

"Marvellous" book.

Baldwin's autobiography, "Marvellous: Neil Baldwin – My Story", written with the help of Keele University alumni Malcolm Clarke and Francis Beckett, was published in hardback by John Blake in August 2015.

Other honours.

On 21 May 2015 Baldwin was presented with the Freedom of Stoke-on-Trent and on 26 November 2015 was awarded the freedom of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In October 2015, he featured in an episode of the BBC television programme "Songs of Praise".  Baldwin was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2019 New Year Honours "For services to the community in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire".

Neil Baldwin BEM (born 15 March 1946) is an honorary graduate of Keele University from Westlands in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. He is a registered clown and also worked for Stoke City Football Club, for whom he once played briefly in a friendly match. He is the subject of an award-winning BBC television drama, "Marvellous", which was broadcast in 2014.

Neil Baldwin (* 1945 oder 1946 in Staffordshire) ist ein britischer Ehrenabsolvent der Keele University, der aus Westlands, Staffordshire kommt. Er ist registrierter Clown und hat zudem für den Fußballverein Stoke City gearbeitet, für dessen Team er einmal in einem Freundschaftsspiel kurz spielte. Sein Leben wurde in dem BBC TV-Drama ""Marvellous"" verfilmt, das 2014 ausgestrahlt wurde.


Roadburn Festival billings.

2020 edition.

The 2020 edition of Roadburn was set to take place on Thursday, April 16 to Sunday, April 19, 2020, but due to the coronavirus outbreak it has been cancelled with much of the program being postponed until 2021.  This edition's guest curators are Emma Ruth Rundle and James Kent, also known as Perturbator.  Thursday, April 16  Friday, April 17  Saturday, April 18  Sunday, April 19

2019 edition.

The 2019 edition of Roadburn took place on Thursday, April 11 to Sunday, April 14, 2019.  This edition's guest curator was Tomas Lindberg.  Wednesday, April 10: Roadburn's Pre Party  Thursday, April 11  Friday, April 12  Saturday, April 13  Sunday, April 14

2018 edition.

The 2018 edition of Roadburn took place on Thursday, April 19 to Sunday, April 22, 2018.  This edition's guest curator was Jacob Bannon.  Thursday, April 19  Friday, April 20  Saturday, April 21  Sunday, April 22

2017 edition.

The 2017 edition of Roadburn took place on Thursday, April 20 to Sunday, April 23, 2017.  This edition's guest curator was John Dyer Baizley  Thursday, April 20  Friday, April 21  Saturday, April 22  Sunday, April 23

2016 edition.

The 2016 edition of Roadburn took place on Thursday, April 14 to Sunday, April 17, 2016.  This edition guest curator was Lee Dorrian.  Thursday, April 14  Friday, April 15  Saturday, April 16  Sunday, April 17 : Afterburner

2015 edition.

The 2015 edition of Roadburn took place Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12, 2015.  Pre-Sales Party (Thursday, October 16, 2014)  Wednesday, April 8 : Hardrock Hideout  Thursday, April 9  Friday, April 10: Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Kvitrafn Selvik's Houses of the Holistic  Saturday, April 11  Sunday, April 12 : Afterburner

2014 edition.

The 2014 edition of Roadburn took place Thursday, April 10 to Sunday, April 13, 2014.  The main headliner of this edition was Loop.  Pre-Sales Party (Friday, October 11, 2013)  Wednesday, April 9 : Hardrock Hideout  Thursday, April 10  Friday, April 11  Saturday, April 12  Sunday, April 13 : Afterburner

2013 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg from Thursday, April 18 to Sunday, April 21, 2013.  Pre-Sales Party (Thursday, October 4, 2012)  Thursday, April 18  Friday, April 19 : Jus Oborn's The Electric Acid Orgy  master classes and performance clinics  The Electric Grindhouse Cinema  Saturday, April 20  Sunday, April 21 : Afterburner

2012 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg from April 12 to 15 at 013 and Het Patronaat.  It was sold out in 7 minutes.  Thursday, April 12  Friday, April 13 (013) : Voivod's Au-delà du Réel  The name of this event refers to Voivod's favorite sci-fi show Au-delà du réel.  Friday, April 13 (Het Patronaat) : Roadburn Festival 2012  Saturday, April 14  Sunday, April 15: Afterburner

2011 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg from April 14 to 17 at 013 and Midi Theatre.  It was sold out in 17 minutes.  Thursday, April 14 Buzzov*en cancelled their European tour including their Roadburn appearance.  Friday, April 15 Saturday, April 16 Yob (supposed to play "The Unreal Never Lived" in its entirety) cancelled their appearance in January 2011.  Sunday, April 17: Afterburner  For the first time the main stage of the 013 complex is used for the Afterburner.

2010 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg, at 013 and, for the first time, at the Midi Theatre.  It was sold-out in 30 minutes.  This edition suffered from the air travel disruption on Northern Europe due to the ash cloud from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Several bands had to cancel, some others played twice to step in.  Thursday, April 15 Friday, April 16: Tom G Warrior’s Only Death is Real Serpentcult cancelled their appearance at Only Death is Real.  Due to the closure of the North European airspace, Jesu and Evoken also cancelled.  Saturday, April 17 Due to the closure of the North European airspace, Candlemass (who was supposed to give a special set with both singers Robert Lowe and Johan Längqvist), Shrinebuilder, The Gates of Slumber, Yakuza and Black Math Horseman cancelled their appearance.  Sunday, April 18: Afterburner  Soilent Green cancelled their appearance at Afterburner.  Due to the closure of the North European airspace, Outlaw Order, Sourvein, Dixie Witch and House of Broken Promises also cancelled.

2009 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg, at 013 and another venue called V39 used for the first time.  It was sold-out in 45 minutes.  Thursday, April 23 Friday, April 24 Saturday, April 25 - Neurosis presents "Beyond The Pale" Sunday, April 26: Afterburner

2008 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg, at the 013.  Thursday, April 17: Pre-Heat / Rise Above Records 20th Anniversary Friday, April 18 Saturday, April 19 Celtic Frost cancelled and were replaced by Enslaved.  Sunday, April 20  "David Tibet's Roadburn Festival"  "Afterburner"

2007 edition.

The event took place in Tilburg, at the 013.  Friday, April 20 Saturday, April 21 Sunday, April 22: Afterburner

2006 edition.

This event took place in Tilburg at 013.  Friday, April 21  Saturday, April 22

2005 edition.

This event took place in Tilburg, at 013.  Saturday, April 9

2004 edition.

This event took place in Eindhoven, at Effenaar.  Thursday, June 17

2003 edition.

This event took place in Eindhoven, at Effenaar.  Thursday, June 27

2001 edition.

This event took place in Tilburg, at 013.  Tuesday, December 4

1999 edition.

The first edition of the festival was held the 13th of February, 1999. Its line-up featured: Cathedral, Orange Goblin, Beaver, Celestial Season, Terra Firma and 35007. Roadburn Festival 1999 informatie op Festivalinfo

Roadburn Festival is an international music festival held in Tilburg, Netherlands every April since 1999. It was set up as a spin-off from the Roadburn music blog founded by Jurgen van den Brand and Walter Hoeijmakers. Originally focused on stoner rock, Roadburn grew into a major event spanning the entire spectrum of heavy rock and experimental music. The key staff involved with running the festival are Frens Frijns (managing director), Walter Hoeijmakers (promoter, artistic director) and Becky Laverty (press, communication, side programme).

Das Roadburn Festival ist ein seit 1995 jährlich stattfindendes und international anerkanntes Festival für Doom- und Extreme Metal, bei dem auch Interpreten aus den Subgenren des Post-Industrial, Post-Punk, Psychedelic Rock und Alternative auftreten. Das niederländische Festival in Tilburg gilt mit bis zu 4000 Zuschauern aufgrund der auftretenden Künstler, des familiären Rahmens sowie der Konzertorte international bei Interpreten und Zuschauern als "legendär". Viele der auftretenden Interpreten veröffentlichen die Aufnahmen ihrer Auftritte als Livealben, darunter Ulver, Neurosis, Candlemass, Indian, Earthless und Year of No Light.


Gameplay.

"Assassin's Creed Syndicate" is an action-adventure, stealth game played from a third-person perspective, that features similar gameplay elements to the previous games in the series. Players complete quests—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of quests, the player can freely roam the open world. Composed of the greater area of Victorian London, consisting of seven boroughs, the world of "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" is much larger than previous entries in the series. The player can also perform side missions, which were designed to reflect the fight for power in London, and are cohesive to the game's main story. In keeping with a historical context that more closely resembles the modern-day, the city guard of previous iterations is replaced by a Victorian-era police force, who will rarely attack the player unless a crime is committed in their presence; the player's main enemy is instead a Templar-controlled street gang called the "Blighters." The game lets the player control two characters: twins Jacob and Evie Frye. Jacob is a hot-headed brawler, specialising in close-ranged combat, while Evie is strong in stealth and relies on her intelligence and wit. Additionally, Evie is the first playable female protagonist of the main series. The main weapons of "Syndicate" include brass knuckles, a compact revolver, a cane-sword, and the traditional Nepalese curved kukri knife. The game also introduces new systems to navigate the world: a rope launcher, which allows the player to rappel up structures, or create a zip-line between buildings; carriages, which can be piloted or simply occupied by the player, and can be the setting of fights and parkour chases; and a train, which serves as the main base for the player throughout the game. Unlike its predecessor, the game has no multiplayer mode, and does not feature a companion app, which was introduced in "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag".

Plot.

Setting.

In 1868, at the tail end of the Industrial Revolution, with the Assassin Brotherhood all but eradicated in Victorian London, twins Jacob (Paul Amos) and Evie Frye (Victoria Atkin) leave Crawley for London and arrive to find a city controlled by the Templars, with both the Church and the Monarchy losing their power. Raised as Assassins to follow the Creed, Jacob and Evie aim to take back the city from Templar control by infiltrating and uniting London's criminal underworld, aided by notable figures of the era such as novelist Charles Dickens, biologist Charles Darwin, inventor Alexander Graham Bell, political theorist Karl Marx, nurse Florence Nightingale, Duleep Singh (the last maharajah of the Sikh Empire), Sergeant Frederick Abberline of the Metropolitan Police Service (known for his investigation of Jack the Ripper), and Queen Victoria. Additionally, Jacob's granddaughter, Lydia Frye (Lisa Norton), appears in a separate World War I segment, where she aids Winston Churchill in defending London against a new enemy espionage faction.

Story.

In the present day, the Helix player, now an Assassin Initiate, is once again contacted by Bishop from the Assassin Brotherhood and is tasked with reliving the memories of twin Assassins, Jacob and Evie Frye, to find a Piece of Eden hidden in London. Meanwhile, Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings have infiltrated an Abstergo facility and, against orders, decide to spy on a secret Templar meeting.  In 1868, Henry Green—born Jayadeep Mir, the son of Indian Assassin, Arbaaz Mir—writes to the Assassin Brotherhood begging for aid. Green explains that the Brotherhood in London has fallen, leaving the city at the mercy of Templar Grand Master Crawford Starrick, a powerful figure in London's industry and its criminal underworld. Starrick plots to use his wealth and influence to increase the Templars' political power within Britain and, through its holdings, the world, effectively making the British Empire an arm of the Templar Order. Outside of London, the Frye twins begin their work, with Jacob assassinating a corrupt factory boss, Rupert Ferris. Evie infiltrates a lab owned and run by David Brewster and Templar occultist Lucy Thorne. Inside, Evie finds Brewster experimenting on a Piece of Eden and assassinates him. Brewster tells Evie that Starrick knows of a second, more powerful Piece of Eden when the first Piece of Eden becomes unstable and explodes, forcing Evie to flee. With their missions successful, the Frye twins decide to disobey orders from the Brotherhood and head for London. In the present, Rebecca and Shaun spy on a meeting between senior Templar figure Isabelle Ardant and Álvaro Gramática. Rebecca and Shaun attempt to capture Isabelle but she had anticipated the ambush, revealing that Sigma Team leader Otso Berg and Violet da Costa were there to intercept the two assassins. Nevertheless, the two manage to flee when Bishop detonates a pre-planted explosive.  In the past, the Frye twins arrive in London and meet with Henry Green, who reveals himself as an old acquaintance of their father. They have different ideas on how to liberate London: Jacob advocates that they take the fight straight to the Templars, while Evie advises they find the Piece of Eden first. They agree to begin liberating the various boroughs of London by defeating Templar-controlled gangs, sabotaging Templar-controlled businesses, assassinating high ranking Templars, and building up their own criminal gang called the Rooks. Along the way, they enlist the help of various people including Charles Dickens, Frederick Abberline, Alexander Graham Bell, Florence Nightingale, Ned Wynert (Ferelith Young), Edward Hodson Bayley, and a young Arthur Conan Doyle.  Jacob decides to investigate the mysterious and addictive "Soothing Syrup" that Starrick has been distributing all across London and is slowly poisoning the populace. He meets Charles Darwin, who is also investigating the syrup. Together, they destroy the factory producing the syrup and interrogate Richard Owen. Owen informs them that John Elliotson has been manufacturing the syrup. Jacob and Darwin then head to Lambeth Asylum, where Jacob assassinates Elliotson. Next, Jacob decides to assist Pearl Attaway, one of Starrick's competitors in the omnibus business. He sabotages Starrick's omnibus company and assassinates its boss, Malcolm Milner. However, Milner warns Jacob that Starrick and Attaway are cousins and that Attaway is a Templar. In response, Jacob assassinates Attaway. Jacob then learns of Templar banker Philip Twopenny's plot to rob the Bank of England and steal its gold reserve. With Abberline's assistance, Jacob breaks into the Bank and assassinates Twopenny. Jacob then heads to Parliament to prevent a Templar plot to assassinate British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who is pushing to pass the Corrupt Practices Act. Jacob assassinates the mastermind, the Earl of Cardigan.  Jacob is then contacted by Maxwell Roth, the leader of the Templar-controlled gang, the Blighters. Roth offers to betray the Templars and form an alliance with the Rooks, which Jacob accepts. After assisting Roth in several missions against Starrick, Jacob breaks off the alliance when Roth tricks him into bombing a building full of child laborers. Jacob infiltrates Roth's headquarters at the Alhambra Theatre and assassinates Roth.  Meanwhile, Evie looks for the Piece of Eden, managing to steal an Assassin journal from Thorne. Analyzing the journal, Evie discovers that it refers to the Shroud of Eden, a Piece of Eden that can heal any injury, including old age, and makes the wearer immortal. She follows the trail of clues underneath the mansion of, where she finds a map detailing the locations of all of the Assassin vaults hidden in London. Her search leads her to famous landmarks such as the Monument to the Great Fire of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. She obtains the key needed to access the Shroud's vault, but it is stolen by Thorne. Evie then heads to the Tower of London, where the vault is located and assassinates Thorne. Thorne explains the Shroud is not in the Tower and claims that the Assassins have no idea of the true power of the Shroud before dying. Green believes the real vault is hidden in Buckingham Palace, and enlists the aid of the Maharajah Duleep Singh to find the schematics for the building. Unfortunately, the Templars manage to seize the schematics first. In addition to her hunt for the Shroud, Evie also helps correct the unintended consequences Jacob's assassinations have caused such as medicine shortages and currency inflation.  With all of his lieutenants dead, Starrick moves to retrieve the Shroud personally. Throughout the latter part of the game, the twins' different views on approaching their time in London come to a boiling point when Jacob and Evie get into an argument over Jacob's recklessness and Evie's apparent inaction. Henry warns the Frye twins that Starrick plans to break into Buckingham Palace, steal the Shroud, and kill all of Britain's heads of church and state. The Frye twins agree to work together to stop Starrick before going their separate ways. The twins infiltrate a ball being held at the palace, where they meet Queen Victoria and Starrick himself. Starrick beats them to the vault and obtains the Shroud for himself, which grants him superhuman strength and regeneration from wounds. Working together, the Frye twins and Green manage to defeat and kill Starrick. After the battle, Jacob and Evie return the Shroud to the vault, reconcile their differences, and agree to continue working together. In recognition of their deeds, Queen Victoria knights the Frye twins and Green.  In the present, with the location of the Shroud confirmed, Shaun, Rebecca, and Russian Assassin Galina Voronina head to the vault. Unfortunately, Otso Berg, da Costa, and Ardant beat them there and a fight ensues in which Berg is knocked unconscious, Rebecca is shot and wounded and Ardant is killed by Shaun while da Costa escapes with the Shroud. Hacking Isabelle's computer, the Assassins find out the Templars plan to use the Shroud to construct a living Precursor. The recording also shows that Juno is secretly manipulating certain employees within Abstergo from behind the scenes to sabotage the company, and has her own plans for the Shroud. Juno also contacts the Initiate through the simulation, leading them into a new memory segment of Lydia Frye, where she tracks down and kills a Sage in a war-torn London during World War I.

"The Dreadful Crimes".

The Frye twins are approached by Henry Raymond, a penny dreadful writer, as well as his follower, a young Arthur Conan Doyle. They team up to investigate a series of murders across London, visiting crime scenes, gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses and suspects, and ultimately solving the crimes by accusing the true perpetrators.  The twins are eventually summoned to Buckingham Palace by Queen Victoria, in order to solve the murder of one of her guards. It turns out that it is, in fact, Raymond who has posed as a guard and faked his own death, so he may steal the Queen's Sceptre of the Dove by observing up close the combination to the safe that holds it. He has also left a series of false clues suggesting a bomb threat in the palace in order to cover his escape. However, Doyle has already uncovered his plan and set out to stop him, but is held hostage on the palace roof in the process. One of the Fryes manages to distract Raymond while the other sneaks up and kills him, saving Doyle and recovering the Sceptre. In the aftermath, the Fryes encourage Doyle to try his own hand at writing detective fiction.

"The Last Maharaja".

After an unpleasant conversation with Duleep Singh regarding his lack of commitment to the people of India, Henry Green decides to enlist the help of the Frye twins so the Maharaja could be persuaded to reclaim his birthright. The twins manage to recover Singh's letters to his mother, which were previously intercepted by the British Indies Company (B.I.C.) in order to stop any correspondence. This finally convinces Singh that he should take action.  Singh orders the twins to locate and recover the stolen Punjabi gold, before arranging for transports to ship the gold back to India. He then proposes to recover the Koh-i-Noor, a diamond in the possession of Queen Victoria, currently kept in the Tower of London. The twins accomplish the goal by infiltrating a gala held at that location; however Henry shows that the diamond they recover is a replica, and the true Koh-i-Noor is in fact in the safe hands of the British Assassins, thanks to Jayadeep's father Arbaaz Mir handing over the diamond to Jacob and Evie's father Ethan Frye.  The twins head to a B.I.C. factory and put an end to the company's production of biological weapons. In the process, they also discover that Brinley Ellsworth, a close friend of Singh's, is in fact behind the plots against the Maharaja. Singh arranges for a meeting where he confronts Ellsworth. With Evie's help, Ellsworth is subdued. However, as Evie prepares to execute Ellsworth, she is stopped by Singh, who chooses to exercise mercy. Singh thanks the twins for their contribution before parting ways with them, continuing to fight for his heritage.

"Jack the Ripper".

In 1888, Jacob Frye meets Mr. Weaversbrook and warns him not to publish Jack's letters as he wants to spread fear in London. He then receives word of another murder and goes to investigate. Jacob goes after the Ripper, who begin following him before eventually attacking. As the Ripper pursues Jacob, it is revealed that he knows Jacob personally, and possesses Assassin abilities. After escaping, Jacob reaches his lodgings, but the Ripper arrives and attacks again, with Jacob seemingly being killed.  Following the incident, Jacob's sister Evie arrives from India, having been summoned by Jacob sometime before, where she is greeted by police inspector Frederick Abberline, who informs her that Jacob is missing and presumed dead. He also tells her that she may be the last Assassin remaining in London, and the only one capable of stopping the Ripper. After finding Jacob's lodgings, Evie takes some non-lethal fear tools used by the Indian Brotherhood. She also deduces that the Ripper is, in fact, one of Jacob's Assassin Initiates. Afterward, she kills the Ripper's lieutenants who have been aiding in his crimes and frees a number of prisoners he had been keeping hostage. All the while, the Ripper stalks Evie.  With more murders occurring, Evie is pressured to find the Ripper quickly; after the Ripper's final murder, Abberline makes it plain unless she delivers the Ripper, he will not be able to stop her from being arrested for the crimes – Evie vows to stop the Ripper or die trying. She re-examines all of his old crime scenes and finds hidden clues that lead to him, as well as learning the fact that all of the women he murdered were Assassins. She later finds a message left by the Ripper, which reveals that he never forgave Jacob for failing to protect his mother from being killed by Starrick's men. Evie deduces that the Ripper is waiting for her at Lambeth Asylum, where he was imprisoned before Jacob recruited him into the Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the Ripper returns to the Asylum and murders his former tormentors and destroys all records of his true identity. Evie arrives shortly after the Ripper and kills him in battle. Afterward, she finds an imprisoned but still alive Jacob. With the Ripper dead, Abberline agrees to cover up the Ripper's identity as an Assassin in order to protect the Brotherhood.

"Time Anomaly".

Following the game's events, Jacob has at least one child (whether out of wedlock or by marriage is unknown), who was inducted into the Brotherhood. Jacob's child marries and later has a daughter named Lydia Frye, born in 1893. She was likewise inducted into the Brotherhood and trained under both Jacob and Evie. She later marries an Assassin named Sam Crowder, but she keeps her maiden name.  At the outbreak of World War I, by 1914, Jacob and Evie were removed to the safety of the countryside, while Lydia remained in London to fight off German spies and Templar terrorists.  In 1916, at the behest of Winston Churchill, Lydia infiltrated and eliminated a German Templar spy facility in Tower Bridge. She later sought out, on his request, the rest of the group and their Sage leader that he deemed to be a pressing matter of national security which he was unable to broach with the government as he lacked strong enough evidence. In exchange for her services, Churchill promised Lydia that he would do what he could for the enfranchisement of women when he had returned to parliament after the War.  Lydia later conquers every single Templar-infested area, killing German spies and Templar captains, finally flushing the Sage out of his hiding place and killing him.  For every target and objective Lydia killed and completed, Juno appeared and told of her past and rise. Juno ultimately learns of the mentioned Sage's fate, and thanks to the initiate for finding it out, before suggesting her hope that she and the Assassins can work together in the future.

Development.

"Assassin's Creed Syndicate" is the second major entry in the series not to be developed by Ubisoft Montreal, following 2014's "Assassin's Creed Rogue". Instead, on July 2, 2014, Ubisoft announced that Ubisoft Quebec would handle lead development as part of "a major investment" in the studio, who had assisted in the making of the six prior games as well as "The Tyranny of King Washington" and "", downloadable content for "Assassin's Creed III" and "" respectively. Marc-Alexis Côté serves as the creative director for the game after working in various positions on "", "", "Assassin's Creed III", and "Freedom Cry" while François Pelland returns as a senior producer after "Assassin's Creed III", has also been an executive director on all three in-between entries. Lydia Andrew is the game's audio director, returning from "Assassin's Creed III", "Black Flag", and "Unity". Historian Jean-Vincent Roy served as a consultant on the game, having previously consulted on "Assassin's Creed III", and held various other positions at Ubisoft. The game is also first in the series to feature a non-playable transgender character.  Information on the game, then titled "Assassin's Creed Victory", first leaked on December 2, 2014, through the website "Kotaku", which published details and screenshots from a seven-minute "target gameplay footage" video the site had acquired. "Kotaku" received a large amount of backlash for this article due to the article being placed up with very little information whilst proclaiming several facts that were proven false. Ubisoft confirmed the news later that same day in a statement where the company expressed disappointment that "internal assets, not intended for public consumption" had been leaked but said that they were "excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date". The game was officially revealed on May 12, 2015, and was released worldwide on October 23, 2015, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on November 19, 2015, for Microsoft Windows.  Life-size toy replicas of weapons used by Evie and Jacob in the game, the "Cane-sword" and the "Gauntlet with Hidden blade", were available for purchase at launch. On May 13, 2015, five different editions of the game were announced for Europe.  The game was supported with multiple downloadable contents, as well as a Season Pass. The "Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy" downloadable content was available for players who pre-ordered the game and was also later bundled into the Streets of London DLC on January 19, 2016. It adds three missions involving Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens into the game. A DLC called "The Dreadful Crimes", which was exclusive for the PlayStation 4 until March 2016, is also available for players to purchase (but was NOT included in the Season Pass for the PC). The DLC expands upon "Unity"s murder investigation system and tasks players to solve multiple murder cases. A DLC entitled "Jack the Ripper", loosely based on the notorious crimes committed by the serial killer in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888, was released on December 15, 2015, for consoles and December 22, 2015, for Microsoft Windows. "The Last Maharaja", the final DLC following Duleep Singh's quest to reclaim his heritage, was released on March 1, 2016, for all platforms.

Music.

The score to "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" was composed by American composer Austin Wintory. The lyrical songs in the game, murder ballads, were composed by Wintory and Australian musical comedy band, Tripod. The soundtrack was released on Amazon MP3 and iTunes on October 23, 2015.

Reception.

"Assassin's Creed Syndicate" received "generally favorable" reviews for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, while the PC version of the game received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.  Alexa Corriea from GameSpot praised the fluidity of "Syndicate"s new combat system, as well as the beauty of the map and the addition of the rope launcher. She hailed the game as "a triumphant return to form for the franchise". Daniel Krupa from IGN gave the game an 8.2/10, citing the design of the city and the lighthearted plot as high points, while criticizing the repetitive combat, yet saying it was better than "Unity"s combat. Brett Makedonski from Destructoid gave the game 7.5/10, praising its cast of memorable characters and the uniqueness of its assassination missions. However, he also stated "almost all of its missteps are in the gameplay", criticizing its combat and carriage-driving mechanics. Besides, while acknowledging that the grappling hook has indeed made traversing London easier, he believed it "feels like cheating" and takes the pleasure of climbing out of the series. Christopher Livingston from PC Gamer gave the game 66/100. He praised the characters and the main missions, though noting that the side missions are repetitive and not as enjoyable, and "the novelty ends hours before the game does".  In December 2015, "Game Informer" ranked the game as the fourth-best game in the "Assassin's Creed" series to date.

Sales.

"Assassin's Creed Syndicate" debuted at number one in the UK according to Chart-Track. However, in its first week, it was the second worst-selling game of the franchise in the UK, only outselling "Assassin's Creed Rogue". According to reports from Ubisoft, these lower sales in the first week were due to the release of "Assassin's Creed Unity" (2014) having a negative impact on the sales due to its notorious number of bugs and glitches at launch. "Syndicate"s second week sales beat those of "Unity"s. The game was the ninth best-selling retail game in the UK. As of February 2016, the game has sold over 4.12million units worldwide.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. It was released on October 23, 2015, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on November 19, 2015, for Microsoft Windows. It is the ninth major installment in the "Assassin's Creed" series, and the successor to 2014's "Assassin's Creed Unity".

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate ist das neunte Videospiel der "Assassin’s-Creed"-Reihe und wurde im Oktober 2015 von Ubisoft für die Systeme PlayStation 4 und Xbox One veröffentlicht. Die Version für Windows erschien im November 2015.


Background.

Tarasios was born and raised in the city of Constantinople. A son of a high-ranking judge, Tarasios was related to important families, including that of the later Patriarch Photios the Great. Tarasios had embarked on a career in the secular administration and had attained the rank of senator, eventually becoming imperial secretary ("asekretis") to the Emperor Constantine VI and his mother, the Empress Irene. Originally he embraced Iconoclasm, but later repented, resigned his post, and retired to a monastery, taking the Great Schema (monastic habit).  Since he exhibited both Iconodule sympathies and the willingness to follow imperial commands when they were not contrary to the faith, he was selected as Patriarch of Constantinople by the Empress Irene in 784, even though he was a layman at the time. Nevertheless, like all educated Byzantines, he was well versed in theology, and the election of qualified laymen as bishops was not unheard of in the history of the Church.  He reluctantly accepted, on condition that church unity would be restored with Rome and the oriental Patriarchs. To make him eligible for the office of patriarch, Tarasios was duly ordained to the deaconate and then the priesthood, prior to his consecration as bishop.

Seventh Ecumenical Council.

Before accepting the dignity of Patriarch, Tarasios had demanded and obtained the promise that the veneration of icons would be restored in the church. As a part of his policy of improving relations with Rome, he persuaded Empress Irene to write to Pope Hadrian I, inviting him to send delegates to Constantinople for a new council, to repudiate heresy. The Pope agreed to send delegates, although he disapproved of the appointment of a layman to the patriarchate. The council convened in the Church of the Holy Apostles on 17 August 786. Mutinous troops burst into the church and dispersed the delegates. The shaken papal legates at once took ship for Rome. The mutinous troops were removed from the city, and the legates reassembled at Nicaea in September 787. The Patriarch served as acting chairman (Christ was considered the true chairman). The council, known as the Second Council of Nicaea, condemned Iconoclasm and formally approved the veneration of icons. The patriarch assumed a moderate policy towards former Iconoclasts, which incurred the opposition of Theodore the Studite and his partisans.

Divorce of Constantine VI.

About a decade later, Tarasios became involved in a new controversy. In January 795, Emperor Constantine VI divorced his wife, Maria of Amnia, and Tarasios reluctantly condoned the divorce. The monks were scandalised by the patriarch's consent. The leaders of the protest, Abbot Plato of Sakkoudion and his nephew Theodore the Studite, were exiled, but the uproar continued. Much of the anger was directed at Tarasios for allowing the subsequent marriage of the emperor to Theodote to take place, although he had refused to officiate. Under severe pressure from Theodore, Tarasios excommunicated the priest who had conducted Constantine's second marriage.

End of Patriarchate.

Tarasios continued to loyally serve the subsequent imperial regimes of Irene and Nikephoros I. The patriarch's reputation suffered from criticism of his alleged tolerance of simony. On the other hand, his pliability proved most welcome to three very different monarchs and accounts for Tarasios' continuation in office until his death. The later selections of the laymen Nikephoros and Photios as patriarchs may have been in part inspired by the example set by Tarasios.

Sainthood.

Though some later scholars have been critical of what they perceive as Tarasios' weakness before imperial power, he continues to be revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches for his defence of the use of icons, and his struggle for the peace and unity of the Church. His feast day is celebrated on February 25 by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine-rite Catholic churches and on February 18 by Roman-rite Catholics. (This date on the Julian Calendar at present corresponds to March 10 on the Gregorian Calendar).

Saint Tarasios (also Saint Tarasius; ; c. 730 – 25 February 806) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 25 December 784 until his death on 25 February 806.

Tarasios (; * 730; † 25. Februar 806) war von 784 bis 806 Patriarch von Konstantinopel. Er wird in der orthodoxen und der katholischen Kirche als Heiliger verehrt. Gedenktage sind der 25. Februar (orthodox) und der 18. Februar (katholisch).


Teams.

Super League XVIII was the second year of a licensed Super League. Under this system, promotion and relegation between Super League and Championship was abolished, and 14 teams were granted licences subject to certain criteria. For the 2013 season, all fourteen teams from the previous season will compete, including the Bradford Bulls, who were given a one-year probationary licence after going into administration and taken over by the Omar Khan consortium in the 2012 season.  Geographically, the vast majority of teams in Super League are based in the north of England, five teams – Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan and Widnes – to the west of the Pennines in Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and seven teams to the east in Yorkshire – Huddersfield, Bradford, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers. Catalans Dragons are the only team based in France and are outside of the UK and London Broncos are the only team to be based in a capital city (London).  The maps below indicate the locations of teams that competed in Super League XVIII.

Rule changes.

For the 2013 season, the Rugby Football League has introduced a number of rule changes, which will also apply to the 2013 RFL Championship and Championship 1 seasons. This follows trial runs of the proposed rules during Boxing Day friendlies between Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats  Rule changes include changes to the advantage rule, scrummage, marker tackle ruling, plus various changes to the out of play (ball-in-touch, touch-in-goal and dead-in-goal) rulings.

Season statistics.

Results.

The regular league season sees the 14 teams play each other twice (one home, one away) plus an additional match, as part of the Magic Weekend, over 27 matches. The team who finishes 1st at the end of the regular season win the League Leaders' Shield.

Play-offs.

The play-offs commenced following the conclusion of the 27-round regular season. To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, Super League uses its unique play-off system. The finals concluded with the 2013 Super League Grand Final.

End of season awards.

Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:  The winners of the 2013 awards are:

Media.

Television.

2013 is the second year of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 70 matches per season. The deal which runs until 2016 is worth £90million.  Sky Sports coverage in the UK see two live matches broadcast each week – one on Friday night, which kicks-off at 8:00 pm and another usually on Saturday evenings at 5:45 pm, although for 2013, some matches between May and August will be scheduled for Monday nights, following the introduction during the 2012 season at 8:00 pm, filling the gap vacated by the summer break of Premier League football. The Monday night fixtures switched to Thursday nights from August 2013 following the resumption of the football season and also applies to the play-off fixtures.  Regular commentators were Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Shaun McRae, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Sky will broadcast highlights this season in a new show on Sunday Nights called "Super League - Full Time", usually airing at 10pm.  BBC Sport broadcast a highlights programme called the "Super League Show", presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme. The first is only to the BBC North West, Yorkshire & North Midlands, North East & Cumbria, and East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 11:35pm on BBC One, while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30pm. The "Super League Show" is also available for one week after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only. End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.  Internationally, Super League is shown live or delayed on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Maori Television (New Zealand), TV 2 Sport (Norway), NTV+ (Russia), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Eurosport (Australia) or Sportsnet World (Canada).

Radio.

BBC Coverage:  Commercial Radio Coverage:  All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.

Internet.

ESPN3 has worldwide broadband rights.  Starting from Thursday 9 April 2009, all of the matches shown on Sky Sports will also be available live online via Livestation everywhere in the world excluding the US, Puerto Rico, UK, Ireland, France, Monaco, Australia and New Zealand. List of Super League games available on Livestation.com

The 2013 Super League season was the 18th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield over 27 rounds (including the Magic Weekend), after which the highest finishing teams entered the play-offs to compete for a place in the Grand Final and a chance to win the championship and the Super League Trophy.

Die Super League XVIII war im Jahr 2013 die achtzehnte Saison der Super League in der Sportart Rugby League. Den ersten Tabellenplatz nach Ende der regulären Saison belegten die Huddersfield Giants, die im Halbfinale gegen die Warrington Wolves ausschieden. Diese verloren im Finale 16:30 gegen die Wigan Warriors, die damit die Super League zum dritten Mal gewannen.


Plot.

After seven years at college, Thomas R. "Tommy" Callahan III (Chris Farley) barely graduates from Marquette University and returns to his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio. His father, industrialist, and widower, Thomas R. "Big Tom" Callahan, Jr. (Brian Dennehy), gives him an executive job at the family's auto parts plant, Callahan Auto. In addition to the new job and office, Big Tom reveals that he plans to marry Beverly Barrish-Burns (Bo Derek), a woman he had met at a fat farm, and that her son, Paul (Rob Lowe), will become Tommy's new stepbrother. However, Big Tom dies from a sudden heart attack during the wedding reception. After the funeral, doubting the future of the company without Big Tom, the bank reneges on promises of a loan for a new brake pad division and seeks immediate payment of Callahan Auto's debts. Tommy suggests a deal: he will let the bank hold his few inherited shares and house in exchange for the bank giving time to sell enough brake pads to prove the new division's viability. If enough brake pads are sold by the deadline, the bank will grant the loan. Tommy sets out on a cross-country sales trip with his father's sycophantic assistant, Richard Hayden (David Spade), a childhood acquaintance who is annoyed over Tommy's ability to be lazy and yet be rewarded.  Meanwhile, Beverly and Paul are shown kissing romantically. They are not mother and son, but rather married con artists with criminal records. Instead of eventually suing for divorce and taking half of Big Tom's estate, Beverly has inherited controlling interest in the company. To turn that into cash, she seeks a quick sale to self-described "auto parts king" Ray Zalinsky (Dan Aykroyd). On the road, Tommy's social anxiety and hyperactivity alienate several potential buyers. The lack of any progress leads to tension between Tommy and Richard. When all seems lost, Tommy persuades a surly waitress to serve him after the kitchen has closed and Rich suggests he use his skill at reading people to make sales. The two start to become friends and quickly make their sales goal. However, Paul sabotages the company's computers, causing sales posted by sales manager Michelle Brock (Julie Warner) to be lost or rerouted. With half of the sales now canceled, the bank, backed by Beverly and Paul, decides to sell Callahan Auto to Zalinsky. Hoping that they can persuade Zalinsky to reconsider, Tommy and Richard travel to Chicago boarding a plane posing as flight attendants. In Chicago, they get a brief meeting with Zalinsky, but he tells them he wants only the reputation connected with the Callahan brand and will close down the company and lay off its workers.  Tommy and Richard are denied entrance to the Zalinsky board room since Tommy has no standing. As they wallow on the curb in self-pity, Michelle arrives with Paul and Beverly's police records. Tommy devises a plan: dressed as a suicide bomber by using road flares, he attracts the attention of a live television news crew and then, along with Michelle and Richard, forces his way back into the board room. Back in Sandusky, Callahan workers watch the drama on a television. In a final move of pure persuasion, Tommy quotes Zalinsky's own advertising slogan, that he is on the side of the "American working man." As the TV audience watches, Zalinsky signs Tommy's purchase order for 500,000 brake pads. Although Zalinsky says that the purchase order is meaningless as he will soon own Callahan Auto, Michelle shows her police records, which includes Paul's outstanding warrants for fraud. Since Beverly is still married to Paul, her marriage to Big Tom was bigamous and therefore never legal. Thus, all of Big Tom's controlling shares actually belong to Tommy, the rightful heir. Since Tommy does not want to sell the shares, the deal with Zalinsky is off, and since Tommy still holds Zalinsky's purchase order, the company is saved. Paul attempts to escape, but is arrested. Zalinsky admits that Tommy outplayed him and invites Beverly to dinner. The film ends as Tommy is appointed the president of Callahan Auto and starts a romance with Michelle.

Reception.

Box office.

"Tommy Boy" opened on March 31, 1995 and grossed $8 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office. The film had a total box office gross of $32.7 million.

Critical reception.

"Tommy Boy" received mixed reviews from critics upon its release. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 42% approval rating, based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though it benefits from the comic charms of its two leads, "Tommy Boy" too often feels like a familiar sketch stretched thin." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A- on scale of A to F.  Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Daily News" gave the film a positive review, calling it "sweet natured..." and a "good belly laugh of a movie". Brian Webster of the Online Film Critics Society also received the film positively, saying that the film would please Farley fans. Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi of the "Broomfield Enterprise" said the film was "Farley at his best", and Scott Weinberg of DVDTalk.com said that it was "pretty damn funny". In the 2015 film "I Am Chris Farley", many of his fellow "SNL" peers praised Farley's performance; Dan Aykroyd stated that the movie showcased Farley's quality and range as an actor, while Jay Mohr noted that audiences were able to see Farley's sensitive and vulnerable side.  Among the negative reviews, "Chicago Sun-Times" film critic Roger Ebert wrote: ""Tommy Boy" is one of those movies that plays like an explosion down at the screenplay factory. You can almost picture a bewildered office boy, his face smudged with soot, wandering through the ruins and rescuing pages at random. Too bad they didn't mail them to the insurance company instead of filming them." The film is on Ebert's "Most Hated" list. Caryn James of "The New York Times" wrote that the film was "the very poor cousin of a dopey Jim Carrey movie". Owen Gleiberman graded the film a "C" on an A+ to F scale, and Ken Hanke of "Mountain Xpress" said that it was a "Passably funny star vehicle. Nothing great."  Bo Derek was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress.

Tommy Boy is a 1995 American adventure comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring former "Saturday Night Live" castmates and close friends Chris Farley and David Spade. This was the first of many movies that Peter Segal has filmed with former "SNL" castmates. The film was shot primarily in Toronto and Los Angeles under the working title "Rocky Road". It tells the story of a socially and emotionally immature man (Farley) who learns lessons about friendship and self-worth following the sudden death of his industrialist father. The film did well commercially, but received mixed reviews from critics. However, since its release, "Tommy Boy" has become a cult classic due to being very successful on home video.

Tommy Boy – Durch dick und dünn (Originaltitel: "Tommy Boy") ist eine US-amerikanische Filmkomödie von Regisseur Peter Segal aus dem Jahr 1995. Die Hauptrollen spielten die ehemaligen "Saturday Night Live"-Komiker Chris Farley und David Spade.


History.

Before the introduction of the National Division, the former Turkish Football Championship was held as a national championship in Turkey. Its tournament system was based on a knockout tournament, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues. In the late 1920s the demand for a national football league was growing in the general Turkish public, which showed in the country's newspapers and magazines, where the European counterparts were given as examples. In 1937 that demand was fulfilled, as the "Millî Küme" was founded and began in March that year. Eligible for the league competition where the top placed teams of the Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir regional leagues, which where the strongest leagues in those decades. An exception was made in 1941, when 1940 Turkish Football Championship winners Eskişehir Demirspor (the only club from outside the three major cities) and a third club from Ankara were included. In 1940 the Turkish Football Federation decided to resume the Turkish Football Championship. As a result both national championships were held at the same time from 1940 to 1950. The main differences between both tournaments were the competition systems and the qualification criteria. The National Division became the most popular and most important football competition in Turkey, overshadowing the Turkish Football Championship, since it was played in a league format with away matches. In 1944 a special super cup, the Prime Minister's Cup, was introduced by the TFF. It was competed by the winners of both championships. The Prime Minister's Cup was one of the earliest football super cups in the world. The cup was held in that format until 1950, when the National Division concluded.

Competition format.

There were eight clubs in the National Division. The four highest placed teams in the Istanbul Football League and the top two teams from the Ankara League and İzmir League at the end of the season qualified for the National Division. The competition was played within a year, it started just after the conclusion of the aforementioned regional leagues. The competition format was based on a double round-robin system, that means each club played the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents', for 14 games. Teams received three points for a win, two points for a draw, and one point for a loss. No points were awarded for a forfeit/regulation loss. Teams were ranked by total points, then goal average (the number of goals scored divided by the number of goals conceded). There was no system of promotion and relegation, since the National Division was the only national league and there was no lower division.

The National Division or National League () was a top-level football competition organised by the Turkish Football Federation, including the most successful teams from Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir in Turkey. It was the first national league in Turkish football history. The league was played from 1937 to 1950.

Die Millî Küme (deutsch "Nationale Liga" oder "Nationale Klasse"), auch "Millî Küme Şampiyonası" genannt, war von 1937 bis einschließlich 1950 die höchste Spielklasse und erste landesweite Ligameisterschaft im türkischen Fußball. Ausgetragen wurde sie seitens des türkischen Fußballverbandes. An der Liga nahmen die bestplatzierten Mannschaften der drei stärksten Regionalligen teil: Istanbul, Ankara und İzmir. Die Liga wurde zweimal umbenannt, einmal in Maarif Mükâfâtı und später in Millî Eğitim Kupası. Rekordmeister dieses Wettbewerbs ist Fenerbahçe Istanbul mit sechs gewonnenen Meisterschaften.


Early life.

Wilson graduated from Atwood High School in 1914 and began a career in education the following school year by teaching in a country school for two years. He enrolled at the University of Illinois in 1916 and studied agriculture.

College athletics.

Wilson was a multi-sport athlete, playing for the Fighting Illini on the 1919 team and named captain for the 1920 team. During the 1920 season, Wilson would play with Helms Athletic Foundation All-American Chuck Carney. He also played end for the football team and was best known for his prowess in track and field. Wison threw the discus, javelin and shot, making the U.S. Olympic Team in javelin and discus. He competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp by throwing the discus and placing tenth.

Post-graduate.

Wison graduated from Illinois in 1920 but remained at the university as an assistant to the athletic director, George Huff. He utilized his experiences at Illinois to take the role of athletic director and head track coach at Drake from 1922-25. All of these experiences catapulted Wison into the athletic director position at Northwestern University where he remained until 1945. In 1945 Wison would be named commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, remaining in that position until 1961. Wilson also served as a member of the President's Council on Youth Fitness under President Eisenhower and Kennedy.

Personal information.

Wilson married Dorothy Estelle Shade in 1924. His nickname, ""Tug"" was passed down from his father, Charles Wesley ""Tug"" Wilson.

Kenneth Leon "Tug" Wilson (March 27, 1896 – February 2, 1979) was an American track and field athlete and amateur athletics administrator. He competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics, finishing tenth in the discus throw competition. Wilson served as the second commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, from 1945 to 1961, and as the president of the United States Olympic Committee from 1953 to 1965.

Kenneth Leon Wilson (* 27. März 1896 in Atwood (Illinois); † 2. Februar 1979 in Wilmette, Illinois) war ein US-amerikanischer Leichtathlet und Sportfunktionär, der in den frühen 1920er-Jahren als Diskus- und Speerwerfer aktiv war.


Challenge details.

The Robotics Challenge will focus on disaster or emergency-response scenarios. Although the requirements may change as the contest progresses, the initial task requirements for robot entries is:  The competition has been broken into multiple tracks. Tracks A and B receive DARPA funding, while Tracks C and D will receive no DARPA funding initially. Tracks B and C will go through the Virtual Robotics Challenge (VRC), after which successful teams may receive funding for subsequent stages. Applications for tracks A and B closed in May 2012. The track C application window closed on 18 December 2012, though late applications were still being considered as of January 2013, though participants may still download the DRC Simulator, an open-source application created by the Open Source Robotics Foundation. Track D was open for registration through October 2013.  The signup site for Tracks C and D (no funding) shows illustrations of robots with most largely conforming to humanoid layouts (bipedal with two arms). Other configurations may be possible, however, as illustrated by the "Robosimian" illustration proposed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Differences.

Unlike previous Challenges, entrants to the DRC need not build their robots from scratch. DARPA will provide to some participants "a robotic hardware platform with arms, legs, torso and head. In August 2012, DARPA announced that it would pay about $10.9 million to Boston Dynamics to build seven platforms based on the PETMAN project by August 2014.  The contest will also include "supervised autonomy" tasks in which non-expert operators will be allowed/required to complete tasks using the robotic vehicle. The Challenge will focus on the ability to complete such supervised autonomy tasks "despite low fidelity (low bandwidth, high latency, intermittent) communications."

Trials.

The DRC Trials occurred on December 20 and 21, 2013 in Florida. During the trials the robots were still teleoperated for the vast majority of tasks. The 16 teams that competed in the Trials were: <nowiki>*</nowiki> Maximal attainable number of points was 32  X = Did not Attempt  The top 8 teams (SCHAFT through TROOPER) were initially eligible for funding. However, after the completion of the trials, Team SCHAFT elected to move to Track D, as a self-funded project. SCHAFT was acquired by Google, which also acquired autonomous vehicle technologies from teams that competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge. The move of SCHAFT to track D frees up DARPA funding for additional finalists. THOR, ViGIR, and KAIST, each of which earned 8 points during the trials, will now compete in the finals, with KAIST continuing as a track D self-funded team. Team THOR and Team ViGIR will split the DARPA funding, and Team THOR will further split into two teams after the move of its leader to a different university.

Finals.

The DRC Finals took place at the Fairplex in Pomona, California on June 5 and 6, 2015. Twenty-five of the top robotics organizations in the world gathered to compete for $3.5 million in prizes as they attempted a simulated disaster-response course. The 25 teams competing for the Finals are:

Results.

In the Finals, three teams had a perfect score of 8. The tie was broken by their total time. First place went to Team KAIST with their DRC-Hubo robot and a winning time of 44 minutes and 28 seconds. Second place went to IHMC for Running Man, and third to Tartan Rescue of CMU NREC for Chimp.  The robots performed better than expected. But there were a variety of failures indicating how difficult robotics remains. For example, Running Man fell over while waving to the crowd after successfully completing all 8 tasks.

The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) was a prize competition funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Held from 2012 to 2015, it aimed to develop semi-autonomous ground robots that could do "complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments." The DRC followed the DARPA Grand Challenge and DARPA Urban Challenge. It began in October 2012 and was to run for about 33 months with three competitions: a Virtual Robotics Challenge (VRC) that took place in June 2013; and two live hardware challenges, the DRC Trials in December 2013 and the DRC Finals in June 2015. Besides spurring development of semi-autonomous robots, the DRC also sought to make robotic software and systems development more accessible beyond the end of the program. To that end, the DRC funded the adaptation of the GAZEBO robot simulator by the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) for DRC purposes and the construction of six Boston Dynamics ATLAS robots that were given to the teams that performed best in the VRC.

Die DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) war ein von der DARPA ausgerichteter internationalen Robotikwettbewerb zur Förderung und Entwicklung von Technologien, die bei Rettungseinsätzen genutzt werden können. Er fand von 2012 bis 2015 in den USA statt. Er folgte den DARPA-Grand-Challenge-Wettbewerben und erforderte semi-autonome Roboter, die „komplexe Aufgaben in gefährlichen, zerstörten, mensch-gemachten Umgebungen“ erfüllen können. Die DARPA Robotics Challenge war insgesamt mit über 30 Millionen US-Dollar (23 Millionen Euro) ausgestattet.


History.

In 2009, Russian Railways has made an order with Siemens for a development of an electric multiple unit adapted to the Russian environment. The new trains were planned to be used in Sochi for suburban passenger traffic during the 2014 Winter Olympics and then to be partially transferred to other train lines with non-stop service routes.  Previously, Siemens had already produced dual-system "Sapsan" trains (Velaro RUS) for Russian Railways. The design of the new trains were to be based on the five-car Siemens Desiro ML electric train. On 29 December 2009, Russian Railways signed a contract with the German company Siemens for the production of 54 Siemens Desiro RUS electric trains worth €410 million.  The trains received the ES1 () series designation and were branded as "Lastochka". All 54 trains were manufactured in Germany.

Train design.

Dual-system trains with automatic system transfer were the ideal solution for amalgamating pre-existing railway lines in the region of the Olympic Games. There, the main railway network operating in flat terrain along the coast of the Black Sea had been electrified with direct current at 3 kV, while the lines built in the mountainous section of Adler – Krasnaya Polyana had been electrified with AC voltage at 25 kV, 50 Hz, appropriate for the steep gradients, and hence much higher power demands. Dual-system electric trains allow commuter rail routes covering sections of both DC and AC track with no need to stop at places where the electric power changes. With the technology, the trains are able to run directly from Adler to Krasnodar without stopping at the Goryachiy Klyuch changeover station.  All technical solutions adopted by Siemens in the design of the new Desiro ML RUS electric trains were discussed with the experts from specialized research institutes and were approved by the Russian Railways. Siemens consulted many Russian experts in high-speed railways—especially those involved in the Velaro RUS high-speed trains construction—for the design decisions concerning the Desiro ML train design and construction.  In particular, the base platform of the Desiro ML train had to undergo adaptation to the Russian network's gauge of 1,520 mm and the demands of the harsh Russian winter. The topographical conditions in the region of the Olympic Games present higher requirements for automated systems and traction equipment. The design and construction efforts were focused particularly on the head car of the train.  In March 2011, LLC Ural Locomotives—a joint venture of Siemens AG and Sinara Group—and LLC Aeroexpress formed a joint venture to manufacture electric trains in Russia at the Ural Locomotives plant in Verkhnyaya Pyshma (Sverdlovsk Oblast). Production started in late 2013 with the aim of producing around 200 train carriages per year for Russian Railways. By 2017, 80 percent of the production of these trains is expected be localized in Russia.  On 7 September 2011, Russian Railways placed an order for up to 1,200 Desiro RUS train carriages. The contract was signed by the President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, Siemens CEO and Chairman of the Management Board Peter Löscher, and President of Sinara Group Dmitry Pumpyansky at the international railway business forum Expo 1520 in Shcherbinka.  Russian Railways also has a maintenance contract with Siemens for 54 trains, ordered in 2009 and 2010. The contract with a value exceeding 500 € million was signed by Vladimir Yakunin and Peter Löscher and came into force in 2013 for a period of 40 years.  On 11 November 2013, on the Ural Locomotives started manufacturing a new model developed for 3 kV-only routes with the interior designed for city lines. It was designated as ES2G (). In 2014, manufacturing ES1 on Siemens factory was finished. On the third quarter of 2016 ES2G started their work on MCC, earlier and now they are working as suburban trains on Moscow–Tver line (Moscow–Zelenograd and Moscow–Tver) and on Yekaterinburg suburban lines. In August 2017, 72 trains were produced.  In March 2016, Ural Locomotives transferred to RZD a new train designated as ES2GP (), which is technically similar to ES2G, but designed for intercity lines and has not only standard 3rd-class seats like ES2G, but also 1st- and 2nd-class seats. In March 2017 train have only trial runs.

The Lastochka () is a German and Russian train. It is a commuter intercity electric multiple unit train used across multiple Russian cities, based on the Siemens Desiro design and manufactured by Siemens and Ural Locomotives.

RŽD-Baureihe ЭС1 und ЭС2Г „Lastotschka“ (; dt.: Schwalbe) bezeichnet einen fünfteiligen Elektrotriebwagenzug der Russischen Staatsbahnen (RŽD) aus dem von Siemens Rail Systems entwickelten Fahrzeugkonzept Desiro Mainline. Die Fertigung der Triebzüge hatte im April 2011 begonnen. Seit Ende Januar 2013 werden die ersten Züge im Regionalverkehr im Raum St. Petersburg eingesetzt und ab Herbst 2013 sollen weitere Züge im Großraum Sotschi in den Fahrgastbetrieb gehen. Außerdem werden diese seit 2016 auf der von RŽD betriebenen Metro-Linie 14 Moskaus eingesetzt.


Life and career.

McNeill was born on October 6, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois. His father was the noted University of Chicago historian William H. McNeill, with whom he published a book, "The Human Web: A Bird's-eye View of World History", in 2003.  McNeill received his BA from Swarthmore College in 1975, then went on to Duke University where he completed his MA in 1977 and his PhD in 1981.  In 1985 he became a faculty member at Georgetown University, where he serves in both the History Department and the Walsh School of Foreign Service. In 2003 he held the Cinco Hermanos Chair in Environmental History and International Affairs, until he was appointed a full university professor in 2006. He has held two Fulbright Awards, a Guggenheim fellowship, a MacArthur Grant, and a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Center. He was president of the American Society for Environmental History (2011–13) and headed the Research Division of the American Historical Association, as one of its three Vice Presidents (2012–15). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017, awarded the Heineken Prize in History in 2018, and elected President of the American Historical Association for 2019.

Research.

McNeill focuses on environmental history, a field in which he has been recognized as a pioneer. In 2000, he published his best-known book, "Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World", which argues that human activity during the 20th century led to environmental damage on an unprecedented scale. He notes that before 1900, human activity did lead to a degree of local pollution, but that it barely registered on the environment compared to meteors, tectonic activity, and volcanoes; this has not been the case since 1900. His tone has been praised for its being dispassionate, impartial, and lacking the moral outrage that often accompanies books about the environment.  In 2010, he published "Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1640–1914", where he argues that mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever and malaria and the "differential resistance" between local and European populations has shaped the arc of Caribbean history. Specifically, he says that it explains how Spain and Portugal were able to protect their colonies from their European rivals for so long and also why imperial Spain and Britain ultimately lost their mainland empires in the Americas late 18th and early 19th centuries. The book won the Beveridge Prize from the American Historical Association, a PROSE award from the Association of American Publishers, and was listed by the "Wall Street Journal" among the best books in early American history.  In 2016 McNeill and co-author Peter Engelke published "The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene Since 1945". The "Great Acceleration" of the title refers to the starting decades of the Anthropocene, which is a proposed era of greater human interference in the Earth's ecology. He is working on an environmental history of the Industrial Revolution.

John Robert McNeill (born 1954) is an American environmental historian, author, and professor at Georgetown University. He is best known for "pioneering the study of environmental history". In 2000 he published "Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World", which argues that human activity during the 20th century led to environmental damage on an unprecedented scale.

John Robert McNeill (* 6. Oktober 1954 in Chicago) ist ein US-amerikanischer Historiker mit Forschungsschwerpunkt Umweltgeschichte. Er ist Professor für Geschichte an der Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.


Pre season.

New Zealand Warriors salary cap breach.

The salary cap for the 2006 season was A$3.366 million per club for their 25 highest-paid players. The New Zealand Warriors were investigated by the National Rugby League over alleged salary cap breaches committed by the team's previous administrators. The club admitted to inflating its salary cap to the tune of nearly $1 million during the 2005 season. The National Rugby League fined the Warriors $430,000 and ordered the team to start the season with a four premiership point deficit. It was the first time in 99 years of rugby league in Australia that a team has started a season on less than "zero" premiership points.  The Warriors appealed the decision by the NRL to deduct the four competition points but accepted the financial penalty. Prior to the beginning of the season, the National Rugby League confirmed that the points penalty would stand. The penalty would prove the decisive factor in the Warriors missing the finals for the third year in succession.

Season summary.

The season began on March 10 with a match between defending premiers Wests Tigers and the St George Illawarra Dragons, played at Telstra Stadium. The Melbourne Storm won 20 out of 24 regular season matches to win the minor premiership eight points clear of the Bulldogs. However, in April 2010, the Storm were retroactively stripped of their minor premiership as a result of salaray cap breaches occurring over the course of the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Venues.

Sixteen stadiums regularly hosted National Rugby league matches, with a further six hosting at least one match in season 2006.

Advertising.

In 2006 the NRL and their advertising agency MJW Hakuhodo stayed with the Hoodoo Gurus' "That's My Team" soundtrack for a fourth year, producing a treatment aimed to appeal to the fundamental hope of all players and fans: that it would be ‘their team’ who would win the Grand Final.  Capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Wests Tigers triumph of 2005 in only their sixth season, the campaign line and song chorus was changed to ‘That’s My Dream’.  All fifteen NRL club captains featured heavily in the television and outdoor ads holding aloft the Telstra trophy. Eight young real life fans also featured in the TV commercial reflecting the origins of the game from backyard football scenes to Sydney beaches. Each was a fan of one of eight clubs who had not till then won the Telstra Premiership trophy and four different broadcast versions of the ad told the stories of their love of the game and each's dream of their own team's victory.

Dally M Awards.

The Dally M Awards were introduced in 1980 by News Limited. The most prestigious of these awards is the Dally M Medal which is awarded to the Player Of The Year. The other prestigious award is the Provans Summons Medal which is the season's best player as voted by the public. As well as honouring the player of the year the awards night also recognises the premier player in each position, the best coach, the best captain, representative player of the year and the most outstanding rookie of the season. The awards night and Player of the Year medal are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger.  Team of the Year

Finals series.

The Melbourne Storm went into the finals for the first time as Minor Premiers. They had a week off after their first finals win against the Parramatta Eels 12-6 to prepare for a Preliminary Final encounter, again the St. George Illawarra Dragons which was won by the Storm 24-10, earning them a spot in the Grand Final against the Brisbane Broncos. The Broncos had surprised everyone in the previous two months. After a slight hiccup in the Qualifying Final, going down against St. George Illawarra Dragons 20-4, they came back in the next two weeks, beating the Newcastle Knights 50-6 in the Semi Final and coming from 20-6 down at halftime to win 37-20 against the Bulldogs in the Preliminary Final.

The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership. Throughout the 26 rounds of the regular season ten teams from New South Wales (9 of them from the Sydney basin), two from Queensland and one each from Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand competed for the minor premiership. Eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series, with the Brisbane Broncos eventual victors over the Melbourne Storm in the grand final. Melbourne finished the regular season first so were awarded the minor premiership, but this was later revoked due to the Melbourne Storm salary cap breach.

Die NRL 2006 war die neunte Saison der National Rugby League, der australisch-neuseeländischen Rugby-League-Meisterschaft. Den ersten Tabellenplatz nach Ende der regulären Saison belegten die Melbourne Storm, die im Finale 8:15 gegen die Brisbane Broncos verloren. Diese gewannen damit zum dritten Mal die NRL.


Biography.

Early life.

He was born as the 3rd and youngest son of Yi Gwang, Prince Jeon'gye-"gun" (who died in 14 December 1841), and his 1st concubine Lady Yeom, in Ganghwa. His name was originally Yi Won-beom (이원범), but upon ascending the throne his name was legally changed to Yi Byeon (이변) (or Seong).  In 1841, the 10th year of King Heonjong's reign, seeking to take advantage of Heonjong's lack of heirs, Min Jin-yong (of the Noron faction), Lee Won-deok, Park Sun-su and others secretly conspired a rebellion to enthrone Yi Won-gyeong, Yi Gwang's firstborn son as well as only legitimate child, as the next king. However, Min Jin-yong's rebellion was exposed and along with Yi Won-gyeong were executed. By dint of guilt by association, Yi Won-gyeong's half brothers Yi Gyeong-eung & Yi Won-beom were exiled to Ganghwa.

Background.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Andong Kim clan, who had provided the Joseon state with several queens, had seized power almost everywhere in Korea. The social stagnation that resulted was a breeding ground for unrest. Corruption and embezzlement from the treasury and its inevitable exploitation were taken to extreme levels, and reached staggering proportions. One rebellion after another was accompanied by natural disasters. Indeed, it was one of the most gloomy periods in the country’s history.  The only aim of the Andong Kim clan was the preservation of their influence. Their fierce campaign to dominate the royal house had led to a situation in which almost all of the representatives of the royal family fled from Seoul. When the royal family produced intelligent and appropriate candidates for the accession, they were either accused of treason and executed or sent into exile, so when Heonjong died, leaving no son, no acceptable candidate could be found to succeed to the throne.

Reign.

Cheoljong ascended to the throne in 1849 at the age of 19 after King Heonjong died without an heir. As a distant relative of both the recently deceased king as well as a descendant of King Yeongjo, Cheoljong was selected for adoption by the Senior Dowager Queen (King Sunjo's widow) at the time and to allow him to ascend to the throne. The future Cheoljong was found on Ganghwa Island where his family had been in exile since the Catholic Persecution of 1801.  When the envoys (dispatched in order to seek for the future king) arrived on Ganghwa Island, they found the exiled remnants of the royal clan barely surviving in wretched poverty, and in the midst of that degradation, 19-year old Yi Won-beom was proclaimed King. Though from the start of the Joseon Dynasty Korean kings had given top priority to the education of their sons, Cheoljong could not even read a single word on the notice delivering congratulations to him on his elevation to the royal throne.  For the Andong Kims, Cheoljong was an excellent choice. His illiteracy made him manipulable and vulnerable to their control. Proof of this was that even though Cheoljong ruled the country for 13 years, until his very last days he had not yet learned how to move with dignity or how to wear royal clothes, so that in even the most luxurious of robes he still looked like a fisherman.  As part of the Andong Kim's manipulation of Cheoljong, in 1851, the clan married Cheoljong to Kim Mun-geun's daughter, known posthumously as Queen Cheor'in.

Death.

Cheoljong died at the age of 32 in 16 January 1864 (by suspected foul play by the Andong Kim clan, the same clan which made him king), without any surviving male heirs. Once again, it became necessary to search far back in the Yi lineage to find a candidate for the throne.

Cheoljong of Joseon (25 July 1831 – 16 January 1864) was the 25th king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He was a second cousin to the heirless Heonjong of Joseon, as well as a great-great grandson of Yeongjo of Joseon.

Cheoljong (koreanisch: ) (* 25. Juli 1831 in Hanseong, Joseon; † 16. Januar 1864 ebenda) war während seiner Regierungszeit von 1849 bis 1864 der 25. König der Joseon-Dynastie () (1392–1910) in Korea.


Travels.

Michaux accompanied his father to the United States, and his "Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale" (three volumes, 1810–13) contains the results of his explorations, giving an account of the distribution and the scientific classification of the principal American timber trees north of Mexico and east of the Rocky Mountains. Michaux trekked the Allegheny Mountains in 1789 when trans-Allegheny travel was limited to indigenous peoples' trails and one military trail, Braddock Road, built in 1751. He travelled with friend and botanist John Fraser to the summit of the Great Roan.

Work.

Under the title "The North American Sylva" Michaux's work was translated by Augustus Lucas Hillhouse. The work was reissued in 1852 by Robert Smith of Philadelphia, again in three quarto volumes, and again with 156 hand colored lithographs of American trees and shrubs. A supplement of three additional volumes, trees, "...not Described in the Work of F. Andrew Michaux" was issued by Smith in 1853, in the same quarto format and with 121 additional hand colored plates. The later work, by Thomas Nuttall, describes trees of the Rockies and Pacific Coast.  François André Michaux published this monumental work first in French and then in English translation, between 1811 and 1819. With illustrations by Pierre-Joseph Redouté and Pancrace Bessa, two masters of botanical art, his opus rapidly became a landmark in American literature and the foundation of American forestry. His work was augmented by the British botanist, Thomas Nuttall, whose work added 121 hand-colored plates to the 156 originally published with Michaux's "Sylva". His additions cover eastern species overlooked by Michaux, and new species that he had gathered on his excursions in the Midwest and West.

François André Michaux (16 August 1770 – 23 October 1855) was a French botanist, son of André Michaux and the namesake of Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania. Michaux "père" botanized in North America for nearly a dozen years (1785–96) as royal collector for France.

François André Michaux (* 16. August 1770 in Satory bei Versailles; † 23. Oktober 1855) war ein französischer Botaniker. Sein offizielles botanisches Autorenkürzel lautet „“