Security

Rekayasa perangkat lunak

2011-09-26T17:07:00.001+07:00

Rekayasa perangkat lunak (RPL, atau dalam bahasa Inggris: Software Engineering atau SE) adalah satu bidang profesi yang mendalami cara-cara pengembangan perangkat lunak termasuk pembuatan, pemeliharaan, manajemen organisasi pengembanganan perangkat lunak dan manajemen kualitas.

IEEE Computer Society mendefinisikan rekayasa perangkat lunak sebagai penerapan suatu pendekatan yang sistematis, disiplin dan terkuantifikasi atas pengembangan, penggunaan dan pemeliharaan perangkat lunak, serta studi atas pendekatan-pendekatan ini, yaitu penerapan pendekatan engineering atas perangkat lunak

MODEL SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
Krisis software tidak dapat hilang dalam satu satu malam, di mana tidak ada suatu pendekatan
yang baik dalam mengatasi krisis software, namun gabungan dari metode untuk semua fase
dalam pengembangan siftware seperti peralatan yang lebih baik untuk mengautomatisasi
metode-metode ini, tehnik yang lebih baik untuk mengontrol kualitas, dan filosofi untuk
koordinasi kontrol, serta manajemen dipelajari dalam suatu disiplin ilmu yang kita sebut
software engineering.
Software engineering terdiri dari 3 elemen kunci yang memungkinkan manajer
mengontrol proses pengembangan software dan memberikan praktisi dasar yang baik untuk
pembentukan software berkualitas tinggi., yaitu :
1. Metode,
2. Peralatan (tools),
3. Prosedur,
1. Metode Software Enginnering
Metode software engineering memberikan tehnik-tehnik bagaimana membentuk software.
Metode ini terdiri dari serangkaian tugas :
à Perencanaan & estimasi proyek
à Analisis kebutuhan sistem dan software
à Desain struktur data
à Arsitektur program dan prosedur algoritma
à Coding
à Testing dan pemeliharaan
2. Peralatan Software Engineering
Peralatan software engineering memberikan dukungan atau semiautomasi untuk metode.
Contohnya :
à CASE (Case Aided Software Engineering), yaitu suatu software yang menggabungkan
software, hardware, dan database software engineering untuk menghasilkan suatu
lingkungan software engineering.
à Database Software Engineering, adalah sebuah struktur data yang berisi informasi penting
tentang analisis, desain, kode dan testing.
à Analogi dengan CASE pada hardware adalah : CAD, CAM, CAE
3. Prosedur Software Engineering
Terdiri dari :
à urut-urutan di mana metode tersebut diterapkan
à dokumen
à laporan-laporan
à formulir-formulir yang diperlukan
à mengontrol kualitas software
à mengkoordinasi perubahan yang terjadi pada software

untuk modul anda bisa mendapatkannya di link di bawah ini

http://prizto.blog.unsoed.ac.id/files/2009/06/software-engineering.pdf

Hillsborough disaster

2011-04-15T20:42:00.000+07:00

The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people,^[1] and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C. It remains the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the worst ever international football accidents.^[2] It was the second of two stadium-related disasters involving Liverpool supporters, the other being the Heysel Stadium Disaster in 1985.

The match, an FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, was abandoned six minutes into the game.

The inquiry into the disaster, the Taylor Report, named the cause as failure of police control, and resulted in the conversion of many football stadiums in the United Kingdom to all-seater and the removal of barriers at the front of stands.

[edit]Before the disaster

At the time, most United Kingdom football stadiums had placed high steel fencing between the spectators and the pitch, in response to hooliganism which had plagued the sport for several years.^[3] Hooliganism was particularly virulent in England, where it often involved pitch invasions, the throwing of missiles, or both pre- and post-match violence; the Heysel Stadium Disaster is a prominent example, where Liverpool fans themselves were involved.^[4] From 1974, when these security standards were largely put in place, English stadiums had an increasing amount of crushes.^[5]

Hillsborough Stadium was a regular venue for FA Cup semi-finals during the 1980s, hosting a total of five. A previous crush had occurred at Hillsborough during the 1981 semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers, causing 38 injuries.^[5] This prompted Sheffield Wednesday to alter the design of the Leppings Lane end, dividing it into three separate pens. This was further divided into five pens when Wednesday were promoted to the First Division in 1984.^[6] Liverpool and Nottingham Forest had also met at the semi-final stage of the same competition at the same ground the previous year with many Liverpool fans reporting crushing in the Leppings Lane end, leading to Liverpool FC lodging a complaint prior to the 1989 FA Cup Semi-Final.

Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield

[edit]The disaster

[edit]Build-up

As is usual at all important matches, Hillsborough was segregated between the opposing fans. The police chose to put the Nottingham Forest fans in the Spion Kop End of the ground, which had a capacity of 21,000. The Liverpool supporters were assigned to the Leppings Lane End of the stadium, which could only hold 14,600 fans, even though Liverpool were regarded as having a larger support than Nottingham Forest.^[7]Kick-off for the match was scheduled for 3:00 pm, with fans advised to take up their positions fifteen minutes beforehand. On the day of the match both radio and television advised that supporters without tickets should not attend.

It was reported that fans had been delayed by unannounced roadworks on the M62 motorway over the Pennines and the resulting road congestion. Between 2:30 pm and 2:40 pm, there was a considerable build-up of fans in the small area outside the turnstile entrances to the Leppings Lane End, all eager to enter the stadium quickly before the match started.^[8]

The scene outside the ground as the disaster began.

A bottleneck developed with more fans arriving than could enter the two cages set in the middle of the Leppings Lane Stand. People who had been refused entry could not leave the area because of the crush behind them but remained as an obstruction. The fans outside could hear the cheering from inside as the teams came on the pitch ten minutes before the match started, and again as the match kicked off, but could not get in; the start was not delayed while the fans got in. A small gate was opened to eject someone, and twenty people got in through it.^[9] A side gate was opened to ease the build-up. With an estimated 5,000 fans trying to get through the turnstiles, and increasing security concerns over crushing outside the turnstiles, the police, to avoid deaths outside the ground, opened a set of gates, intended as an exit, which did not have turnstiles (Gate C).^[10] This caused a rush of supporters through the gate into the stadium.

[edit]The crush

The result was that an influx of many thousands of fans through a narrow tunnel at the rear of the terrace, and into the two already overcrowded central pens, caused a huge crush at the front of the terrace, where people were being pressed up against the fencing by the weight of the crowd behind them. The people entering were unaware of the problems at the fence; police or stewards would normally have stood at the entrance to the tunnel if the central pens had reached capacity, and would have directed fans to the side pens, but on this occasion they did not, for reasons which have never been fully explained.^[11] A BBC TV news report said that if the police had posted two police horses correctly, they would have acted as breakwaters directing some fans into the side pens, but that was not done.

For some time, the problem at the front of the pen was not noticed by anybody other than those affected; the attention of most people was absorbed by the match, which had already begun. It was not until 3:06 pm that the referee, Ray Lewis, after being advised by the police, stopped the match several minutes after fans had started climbing the fence to escape the crush. By this time, a small gate in the fencing had been forced open and some fans escaped via this route; others continued to climb over the fencing, and still other fans were pulled to safety by fellow fans in the West Stand directly above the Leppings Lane terrace. The intensity of the crush had broken the crush barriers on the terraces, later holes in the perimeter fencing were due to the desperate tearing at them from fans attempting rescue.^[11]

Liverpool fans desperately try to climb the fence onto the safety of the pitch.

The fans were packed so tightly in the pens that many of the fatalities died standing up of compressive asphyxia. The pitch quickly started to fill with people sweating and gasping for breath and injured by cdtydyhetyertyertyrushing, and with the bodies of the dead. The police, stewards and St John ambulance service present at the stadium were overwhelmed. Uninjured fans helped as best they could, many attempting CPRand some tearing down advertising boards to act as temporary stretchers.^[11]

As these events unfolded, some police officers were still being deployed to make a cordon three-quarters of the way down the pitch, with the aim of preventing Liverpool supporters reaching the Nottingham Forest supporters at the opposite end of the stadium. Some fans tried to break through the police cordon to ferry injured supporters to waiting ambulances, and were forcibly turned back. Forty-four ambulances had arrived at the stadium but police prevented all but one from entering.

Only 14 of the 96 fatalities ever arrived at a hospital.^[11]

[edit]Aftermath

94 people whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years died on the day,^[12] with 766 other fans injured: around 300 of whom were hospitalised.^[13] Four days later, on 19 April, the death toll reached 95 when a 14-year-old boy named Lee Nicol - attached to a life support machine - succumbed to the crush injuries he had received at Hillsborough.^[14]^[15] The final death toll reached 96 in March 1993, when artificial feeding and hydration of 22-year-old Tony Bland was withdrawn after nearly four years, during which he had been in a Persistent vegetative stateand shown no sign of improvement.^[14]

Andrew Devine, aged 22 at the time of the disaster, suffered similar injuries to Tony Bland and was later diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state, but in March 1997 - a month before the eighth anniversary of the disaster - it was reported that he had emerged from the condition and was now able to communicate using a touch-sensitive pad.[1]

79 of the fatalities were aged 30 or younger. Two sisters, three pairs of brothers and a father and son were among the fatalities.^[12]

BBC Television's cameras were at the ground to record the match for their Match of the Day programme, but as the disaster unfolded the events were then relayed to their live sports show, Grandstand, resulting in an extreme emotional impact on the general British population. There was commentary afterwards on television^{[citation needed]} about the lack of administrable oxygen and metal-cutting tools, and that there was no way to get ambulances onto the pitch.

Jon-Paul Gilhooley, cousin of current Liverpool F.C. captain Steven Gerrard, was the youngest person to die at Hillsborough, aged 10. Gerrard has stated that it was this tragedy that has inspired him and led him to lead his boyhood team and reach the heights of his career.^[16]

[edit]The Taylor inquiry

Main article: Taylor Report

Following the disaster, Lord Justice Taylor was appointed to conduct an inquiry into the disaster. Taylor's inquiry sat for 31 days and published two reports, one interim report that laid out the events of the day and immediate conclusions and one final report that made general recommendations on football ground safety. This became known as the 'Taylor Report'.^[17] As a result of the report, fences in front of fans were removed and many of the top stadiums were converted to become all-seated.^[18]

The Leppings Lane end after the tragedy.

[edit]Police control

There was considerable debate over some aspects of the disaster; in particular, attention was focused on the decision to open the secondary gates. It was suggested that it would have been better to delay the start of the match as had often been done at other venues and matches. In defence, the police pointed out that the crush outside the stadium was getting out of control.

[edit]Stadium design

Although it was noted that Hillsborough was considered "one of the best in the country" , Sheffield Wednesday were criticised for the low number of turnstiles at the Leppings Lane End and the poor quality of the crush barriers on the terraces there. However, the Taylor Reportstated that the official cause of the disaster was the failure of police control. Due to the low number of turnstiles, it has been estimated that it would have taken until 3:40 pm to get all ticket holders into the Leppings Lane End had an exit gate not been opened. Gate C was opened to let more fans in, but the total number of fans entering the terrace is not thought to have been more than the capacity of the standing area.

The disaster happened because most of the fans entering the terraces headed for the central pens 3 and 4 as directed by the large notice pointing them that way above the tunnel. Normally a police officer or steward would direct fans away from full pens, but on that day this did not happen. There were no stewards in that area at all. The official capacity of these pens was around 2,000, but the Health and Safety Executive later found that this should have been reduced to around 1,600 as the crush barriers did not conform to the 'Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds 1986'. It is estimated that over 3,000 people were in these pens shortly after kick off at 3:00 pm. This overcrowding caused the fatal crush.^[19]^[20]

[edit]Other aggravating factors

There were accusations that the behaviour of the Liverpool fans contributed to the disaster. These centered around consumption of alcohol before the game and attempts to enter the ground without a ticket. Although Lord Taylor acknowledged that these aggravated the situation, they were only secondary factors.

Witness estimates of the number of fans who were drunk varied from a minority to a large proportion of the crowd. Although it was clear that many fans had been drinking, Lord Taylor unequivocally stated that most of them were: "not drunk, nor even the worse for drink". He concluded that they only formed an exacerbating factor.

The possibility of fans attempting to gain entry without tickets or with forgeries contributing to the disaster was also suggested. South Yorkshire Police also suggested that the late arrival of fans amounted to a conspiracy in order to gain entry without tickets. However, analysis of the electronic monitoring system, Health and Safety Executive analysis and eyewitnessaccounts showed that the total number of people who had already entered the Leppings Lane End was far below the capacity of the stand. Additionally, eye witness reports suggested that tickets were easily available on the day of the game, and that tickets for the Leppings Lane End were still on sale from Anfield until the day before the game. The report dismissed the conspiracy theory.

[edit]Impact on new stadium safety standards

The Taylor Report has had a deep impact on safety standards for stadia built since its publication until today. Most notably, all new stadia built in the Premier League and most Football League teams since then have been all-seater stadia,^[21] the first having been Millwall's New Den stadium, which opened in 1993. The Deva Stadium of Chester City F.C., opened the year before, had been the first English football stadium to fulfill the safety recommendations of the Taylor Report, although not an all-seater stadium.

[edit]Memorials

[edit]Permanent memorials

A number of memorials have been erected in memory of the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy, all are listed below:

Flowers are laid in memory of the dead at the Hillsborough memorial, which is engraved with the names of each of the 96 victims.

The Memorial at Hillsborough.

Flames were added either side of the Liverpool F.C. crest in memory of the 96 who lost their lives.
Alongside the Shankly Gates at Anfield, Liverpool's home stadium.
A memorial at Hillsborough stadium, unveiled on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy on 15 April 1999, reads: In memory of the 96 men, women, and children who tragically died and the countless people whose lives were changed forever. FA Cup semi-final Liverpool v Nottingham Forest. 15th April 1989. "You’ll never walk alone."
A memorial stone in the pavement on the south side of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral.
A headstone at the junction of Middlewood Road, Leppings Lane and Wadsley Lane, near the ground and by the Sheffield Supertram route.
A Hillsborough Memorial Rose Garden in Port Sunlight, Wirral.
A memorial rose garden on Sudley Estate in South Liverpool (also known as the APH). Each of the six rose beds has a centre piece of a white standard rose, surrounded by the red variety, named 'Liverpool Remember'. There are brass memorial plaques on both sets of gates to the garden, and a sundial inscribed with the words: 'Time Marches On But We Will Always Remember'.
In the grounds of Crosby Library, to the memory of the 18 football fans from Sefton who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster. The memorial, sited in a raised rose bed containing the Liverpool Remembers red rose, is made of black granite. It is inscribed 'In loving memory of the 96 football supporters who died at Hillsborough, Sheffield on 15 April 1989. Of those who lost their lives the following young men were from Sefton families'. The memorial was unveiled on 4 October 1991 (before the final death toll reached 96 on the death of Tony Bland) by the Mayor of Sefton, Councillor Syd Whitby. The project was carried out by the Council after consultation with the Sefton Survivors Group.^[22]

On Portland,Dorset on one of the costal walks there is a stone that is dedicated to the '96'

[edit]Memorial ceremonies

The tragedy has been acknowledged on 15 April each year by the community of Liverpool and football in general. An annual memorial ceremony is held at Anfield and at a church in Liverpool. The 10th and 20th anniversaries were marked by special services to remember the 96 victims.

Since 2007 there has been a Hillsborough Memorial service held at Spion Kop, KZN South Africa. The significance of this particular ceremony is that it is held on the Spion Kop Battlefield which gave its name to the Kop Stand at Anfield. There is also a permanent memorial to the 96 fans who died, in the form of a bench, positioned in view of the battlefield at a nearby lodge. Dean Davis and David Walters, members of the Official South African Liverpool Supporters Club (Gauteng Branch), are responsible for the creation of the service and the bench was commissioned by Guy Prowse in 2008.

[edit]Tenth anniversary

In 1999 Anfield was packed with a crowd of around 10,000 people ten years on from the disaster.^[23] An individual candle was lit for each of the 96 people killed. The clock at the Kop End stood still at 3:06 pm, the exact time that the referee had blown his whistle in 1989 and the ground held a minute's silence, signalled by the match referee from that day, Ray Lewis. A service was led by the Right Reverend James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool and was attended by past and present Liverpool players, includingRobbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Alan Hansen. According to the BBC report: "The names of the victims were read from the memorial book and floral tributes were laid at a plaque bearing their names."^[24] A gospel choir performed and the ceremony ended with a rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. The anniversary was also marked by a minute's silence at the weekend's league games and FA Cup semi-finals.

[edit]Twentieth anniversary

In 2009, on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, Liverpool were granted their request that their Champions League quarter-finals return leg, scheduled for 15 April, be played the day before (at Chelsea, 4-4).^[25]

Liverpool fans unfurl a banner displaying the names of the fatalities on the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy.

The event was remembered with another ceremony at Anfield attended by over 28,000 people.^[26]^[27] The Kop, Centenary and Main Stands were opened early to the public before part of the Anfield Road End was opened to supporters. The memorial service, led by the Rt Reverend James Jones began at 14:45 BST and a two minutes silence (observed across Liverpool and in Sheffield and Nottingham, including public transport coming to a stand-still)^[28]^[29] was held at the exact time of the disaster twenty years earlier, 15:06 BST. The Sports Minister Andy Burnham addressed the crowd but was heckled by supporters chanting "Justice for the 96".^[30] The ceremony was attended by survivors of the tragedy, the families of victims and the current Liverpool team, with goalkeeper Pepe Reina leading the team and managerial team onto the pitch. One of the main events of the ceremony was when team captain Steven Gerrard and vice-captain Jamie Carragher handed over freedom of the city to the families of all the victims. Candles were lit for each of the 96 fatalities. Kenny Dalglish, the manager at the time of the disaster, read a passage from the Bible, 'Lamentations of Jeremiah' . The Liverpool manager at that time, Rafael Benítez, was also on hand to set 96 balloons free. The ceremony ended with 96 rings of the church bell across the city of Liverpool and a rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.^[31]

Other services took place at the same time, including at Liverpool's Anglican and Catholic Cathedrals. After the two minutes' silence bells on civic buildings rang out through out Merseyside.^[32]

A song was also released to mark the 20th Anniversary, entitled 'Fields of Anfield Road' which peaked at #14 in the UK charts.^[33]

Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United players showed their respects by wearing black armbands during their Champions League matches on 14 and 15 April.

On 14 May, more than 20,000 people packed Anfield for a match held in memory of the 96. The Liverpool Legends, comprising ex-Liverpool footballers beat the All Stars, captained by actor Ricky Tomlinson by 3-1. The event marked the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and raised cash for the Marina Dalglish Appeal which will be put towards a new radiotherapy centre at University Hospital in Aintree.^[34]^[35]

With the imminent release of police documents relating to events on 15 April 1989, the Hillsborough Family Support Group launched Project 96, a new fundraising initiative on 1 August 2009. At least 96 current and former Liverpool footballers are being lined up to raise £96,000 through the auctioning of limited edition (of 96) signed photographs.

[edit]Tributes from other clubs

The Hillsborough disaster touched not only Liverpool themselves, but also clubs in England and around the world as well.^[36] For example, even supporters of Everton, Liverpool's local rivals, laid down flowers and blue & white scarves to show their respect for the dead and unity with their fellow Merseysiders shortly after the tragedy.

On 19 April 1989, the Wednesday after the disaster, a European Cup semi final between AC Milan and Real Madrid was played. The referee blew his whistle 3:06 minutes into the game to stop play and hold a minute's silence for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough. Half way through the minute's silence, the A.C. Milan fans sang Liverpool's 'You'll Never Walk Alone'as a sign of respect.^[37]^[38]

As a result of the disaster, Liverpool's game against Arsenal was delayed to the end of the season and eventually decided the league title. The Arsenal players brought flowers onto the pitch and presented them to the Liverpool fans around the stadium before the game. Arsenal won the game 2 - 0 and thus claimed the league title.

In 2006, Celtic F.C. fans produced a banner featuring the Liverpool crest and the Celtic crest with a flame in the middle surrounded by the words 'Justice For The 96, You'll Never Walk Alone' and presented it to the Kopites during their Champions League quarter-finals return leg (vs PSV Eindhoven, 1–0) at Anfield.^[39]

On 11 April 2009 Liverpool fans sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' as a tribute to the upcoming anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy. This was prior to their home game against Blackburn Rovers (which ended in Liverpool winning 4-0) and was followed by the former Liverpool player, now at Aston Villa, Stephen Warnock presenting a memorial wreath to the Kop showing the figure 96 in red flowers.

[edit]Charges against officials

[edit]Inquests

The process of inquests into the deaths of those who died at Hillsborough proved controversial. The coroner, Dr Stefan Popper, limited the main inquest to events up until 3:15 pm on the day of the disaster - just nine minutes after the match was halted and the crowd began to spill onto the pitch. Popper said this was because all of the victims were either dead, or brain dead, by 3:15 pm. This decision angered the families of the victims, many of whom felt this meant the inquest was not able to consider the response of the police and the other emergency services after that time.^[40] The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.

Relatives have failed in their attempts to have the inquest reopened, to allow for more scrutiny of the police actions at Hillsborough, as well as closer examination of the circumstances of individual cases. Anne Williams, who lost her 15-year-old son, Kevin Williams, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, on the strength of witness statements that her son was still showing signs of life at 4:00 pm. Her case was rejected in March 2009.^[41]

It was announced on 19 April 2009 that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had requested that secret files concerning the disaster should be made public.^[42]

On 8 March 2011 the Hillsborough Independent Panel announced that they would examine previously-hidden documents to determine what took place after the 3:15 PM cutoff imposed during the inquest of 1991. A HIP spokesman said: “We have a wide remit to analyse all documents relating to the context, circumstances and consequences of the tragedy and its aftermath.” ^[43]

[edit]Prosecution

A private prosecution was brought against David Duckenfield and another officer on duty, Bernard Murray. Prosecutor Alun Jones QC told the court that Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield gave the order to open gates that allowed hundreds of fans to flood on to the already crowded terraces at the Hillsborough stadium. Mr Jones then stated that minutes after the disaster, [Duckenfield] "deceitfully and dishonestly" told senior FA officials that the supporters had forced the gate open themselves. Duckenfield admitted that he had lied about certain statements regarding the causes of the disaster. Several other officers, including Norman Bettison, were accused of manipulating evidence. Bettison was later to be appointedChief Constable of Merseyside in controversial circumstances. The prosecution was abandoned when Duckenfield's doctor declared him unfit to stand trial due to illness. Because he was unavailable, it was decided that it would be unfair to proceed with the charges against Bernard Murray. Duckenfield took medical retirement on a full police pension.^[44]^[45]^[46]

[edit]Psychiatric injury claims

Various negligence cases were brought against the police by spectators who had been at the ground on the day, but had not been in the pens, and by people who had watched the incident unfolding on television (or heard about it on the radio). A case, Alcock and others v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C. 310, was eventually appealed to the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and was an important milestone in the law of claims of secondary victims for negligently inflicted psychiatric injury. It was held that claimants who watched the disaster on television/listened on radio were not 'proximal' and their claims were rejected.

Another psychiatric injury claim was also brought to the House of Lords, White v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 2 A.C. 455. It was brought by the police officers on duty on that day against the Chief Constable who was said to have been vicariously liable for the disaster. Their claims were dismissed and the Alcock decision was upheld. It affirmed the position of the courts once again towards claims of psychiatric injuries of secondary victims.

[edit]Controversies

[edit]The Sun newspaper

On the Wednesday following the disaster, Kelvin MacKenzie, then editor of The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper with national distribution owned by Rupert Murdoch, used the front page headline "THE TRUTH", with three sub-headlines: "Some fans picked pockets of victims", "Some fans urinated on the brave cops" and "Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life".

The controversial front page of the Sun.

The story accompanying these headlines claimed that "drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and "police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon". A quotation, attributed to an unnamed policeman, claimed a dead girl had been "abused", and that Liverpool fans were "openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead". These allegations contradicted the reported behaviour of many Liverpool fans, who actively helped the security personnel to stretcher away a large number of victims and gave first aid to many injured.^{[citation needed]}

In their history of The Sun, Peter Chippendale and Chris Horrie wrote:

As MacKenzie's layout was seen by more and more people, a collective shudder ran through the office (but) MacKenzie's dominance was so total there was nobody left in the organisation who could rein him in except Murdoch. (Everyone in the office) seemed paralysed - "looking like rabbits in the headlights" - as one hack described them. The error staring them in the face was too glaring. It obviously wasn't a silly mistake; nor was it a simple oversight. Nobody really had any comment on it—they just took one look and went away shaking their heads in wonder at the enormity of it. It was a 'classic smear'.

Following The Sun's report, the newspaper was boycotted by most newsagents in Liverpool, with many refusing to stock The Sun and large numbers of readers cancelling orders and refusing to buy from shops that stocked it. The Hillsborough Justice Campaign also organised a less successful national boycott that nevertheless did have an impact on the paper's sales, which some commentators have given as a cause for continued drops in price, the introduction of free magazines, and video and free DVD offers.^[47] The issue was also addressed on the documentary Alexei Sayle's Liverpool on BBC Two^[48] when it covered the subject of Hillsborough. The segment saw comedian Alexei Sayle with a newsagent attempting to give away copies of The Sun, but every customer declined. Eventually, Alexei and the newsagent took the copies outside and, despite the newsagent's concern, set them alight.

MacKenzie explained his reporting in 1993. Talking to a House of Commons National Heritage Select Committee, he said: "I regret Hillsborough. It was a fundamental mistake. The mistake was I believed what an MP said. It was a Tory MP. If he had not said it and the Chief Superintendent (David Duckenfield) had not agreed with it, we would not have gone with it."

MacKenzie repudiated this apology in November 2006, saying that he only apologised because the newspaper's owner Rupert Murdoch ordered him to do so. He said, "I was not sorry then and I'm not sorry now" for the paper's coverage.^[49] MacKenzie refused again to apologise when appearing on the BBC's topical Question Time on 11 January 2007.^[50]

The Sun issued an apology for their treatment of the Hillsborough disaster "without reservation" in a full page opinion piece on 7 July 2004, saying that it had "committed the most terrible mistake in its history" by publishing it. The Sun was responding to the intense criticism of Wayne Rooney, a Liverpool-born football star who still played in the city (for Everton, now forManchester United) who had sold his life story to the newspaper. Rooney's actions had incensed Liverpudlians still angry with The Sun. The Sun's apology was somewhat bullish, saying that the "campaign of hate" against Rooney was organised in part by the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo, owned by Trinity Mirror, who also own the Daily Mirror - arch-rivals of The Sun. Thus the apology actually served to anger some Liverpudlians further. The Liverpool Echo itself did not accept the apology, calling it "shabby" and "an attempt, once again, to exploit the Hillsborough dead".

On 6 January 2007, during their team's FA Cup defeat to Arsenal at Anfield, Liverpool fans in the Kop held up coloured cards spelling out "The Truth" and chanted "Justice for the 96" for six minutes at the start of the game. The protest was directed at Kelvin MacKenzie and The Sun, and at the BBC for employing MacKenzie as a presenter.

Many people in the Liverpool area continue to reject buying The Sun as a matter of principle, and the paper's sales figures within Merseyside remain very poor. It is the only major newspaper not to have articles published on Liverpool's official website. As of 2004, the average daily circulation of The Sun in Liverpool was just 12,000 copies a day; an estimated 200,000 fewer than before the controversial article was published.^[51] Some Liverpudlians refer to the paper as simply: The Scum.^[52]

The controversy was referred to during the 2009 Labour Party conference. On 30 September 2009, after the decision by The Sun to switch its support to the Conservative Party in advance of the forthcoming general election, Union Leader Tony Woodley ripped up a copy of The Sun, saying "In Liverpool we learnt a long time ago what to do."^[53]

However, subsequent articles in The Sun have since acknowledged that hooliganism was not a cause of the tragedy; on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy (15 April 2009) an article by journalist Mike Ellis condemned the 1991 inquest verdict of death by misadventure into the deaths of the 95 victims (the 96th victim Tony Bland did not die for another two years after this) as "tosh" and claimed that "death by negligence would have been a more accurate description".^[54]

[edit]FHM

The November 2002 edition of FHM in Australia was forced to be withdrawn from sale, and a public apology made in both the Australian and British editions, because it contained jokes mocking the disaster.^[55] As a result of the controversy, Emap Australia pledged to make a donation to the families of the victims.

The Australian editor of FHM, Geoff Campbell, released a statement which read: 'We deeply regret the photograph captions published in the November issue of the Australian edition ofFHM, accompanying an article about the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from sale - which we will be doing. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies.'^[55] The British edition disassociated itself from the controversy, stating 'FHM Australia has its own editorial team and these captions were written and published without consultation with the UK edition, or any other edition of FHM.' ^[56]

The vice-chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Philip Hammond, said that he wanted all football fans to boycott the magazine, saying, "I am going to write to every fanzine in the country - including Liverpool FC's - telling them to ban FHM. People are very upset by it. I think there will be a real boycott." He also added that it would be like him making jokes about the 2002 Bali bombings, in which eight fewer Australians were killed than the Hillsborough disaster.^[56]

[edit]EastEnders

In November 2007, the BBC soap opera EastEnders caused controversy when the character Minty Peterson (played by Cliff Parisi) made a reference to the disaster. During the episode car mechanic Minty said: "Five years out of Europe because of Heysel, because they penned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch and then what did we end up with? Hillsborough."This prompted 380 complaints and the BBC apologised, saying that the character was simply reminding another character, former football hooligan Jase Dyer, that the actions of hooligans led to the fencing-in of football fans. Ofcom also received 177 complaints.^[57]

[edit]Charles Itandje's disrespect in 2009

Liverpool reserve goalkeeper Charles Itandje was accused of having shown disrespect towards the Hillsborough victims during the 2009 remembrance ceremony, as he was spotted on camera "smiling and nudging" team-mate Damien Plessis. Other players and persons in the crowd were seen to be looking directly at Itandje as he was nudging Plessis. He was suspended from the club for a fortnight and many fans felt he should not play for the club again.^[58]

[edit]Jeremy Hunt

On 28 June 2010, following England's departure from the World Cup competition in South Africa, the UK's Culture and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt praised the England fans for their behaviour during the competition, saying "I mean, not a single arrest for a football-related offence, and the terrible problems that we had in Heysel and Hillsborough in the 1980s seem now to be behind us." He later apologised and said "I know that fan unrest played no part in the terrible events of April 1989 and I apologise to Liverpool fans and the families of those killed and injured in the Hillsborough disaster if my comments caused any offence." Margaret Aspinall, chairperson of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, asked for a face to face meeting with Mr Hunt before deciding if she would accept the apology.^[59]

[edit]"Cracker: To Be A Somebody" television drama

In 1994, Liverpudlian scriptwriter Jimmy McGovern used the Hillsborough disaster as a motivation for serial killer Albie Kinsella (played by actor Robert Carlyle) in the plot of To Be A Somebody, the opening story of the second series of the crime drama Cracker. One of Albie's targets includes a fictional, unscrupulous reporter for The Sun, Clare Moody, responsible for writing the controversial TRUTH frontpage about the disaster and many other fabricated articles on the basis that "it's the truth", regardless of whether or not it was really true. Albie attempts to butcher Moody in her car during the second act, but she escapes. She is killed at the end of the third and final act when she opens a letter bomb sent by Albie, who has already stabbed to death an Asian shopkeeper, a psychologist, an off duty police officer and a security guard at a quarry.

To Be a Somebody led to complaints from several victims' families.^[60]^[61] In response, McGovern agreed to write a television drama about the Hillsborough disaster, which was screened in December 1996^[62] on ITV television network in the United Kingdom.

[edit]"Hillsborough" television drama

Produced for the network by Granada Television and titled Hillsborough, the drama starred Christopher Eccleston (who also featured in To Be a Somebody) as Trevor Hicks, whose story formed the focus of the script. Hicks lost his only children; teenage daughters Sarah (19), and Victoria (15) in the Hillsborough disaster, and went on to campaign for safer stadiums, as well as helping form the Hillsborough Families Support Group. Other families featured were those of Ian Glover (20) and Adam Spearritt (14). Ricky Tomlinson was another notable actor to appear in the film, portraying the father of Ian Glover.

Hillsborough has since been screened on two further occasions within the United Kingdom; in 1998, two years after its original screening, and on the twentieth anniversary of the disaster.^[63]

In 1997, Hillsborough was awarded both the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Royal Television Society awards for Best Single Drama (TV) and was listed by theBritish Film Institute as #54 in its 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, published in 2000. The programme inspired the Manic Street Preachers song "S.Y.M.M. (South Yorkshire Mass Murderer)" on the album This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.^[64] The Independent Television Commission praised Granada for the drama in its annual programme review, describing it as'arguably the most powerful drama on the screen in 1996'.^[65]

Five months after the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, on 7 September 2009, the Hillsborough docu-drama was released on DVD.^[66]

[edit]See also

Love Parade disaster - On 24 July 2010, 21 people were killed and another 510 were injured during a human crush in Duisburg, Germany, at the Love Parade 2010 electronic music festival.
Ibrox disaster - A 1971 crowd crush in Glasgow following the failure of crowd control barriers, killing 66 and injuring over 200.
Riverfront Coliseum stampede - 11 fans were crushed to death and dozens injured during a 1979 concert by rock band The Who in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Luzhniki Disaster - a similar crush which happened in Moscow in October 1982, news of which was suppressed for 7 years; 66 fans are officially recorded as having died, with unofficial estimates as high as 340.
Bradford City stadium fire - A fire in one of the stands of Valley Parade during a 1985 match between Bradford City A.F.C. and Lincoln City F.C. led to a crush as fans tried to escape. 56 people died, and at least 265 were injured.
Burnden Park disaster - A 1946 crowd crush in Bolton which killed 33 people due to lack of crowd control.
Kathmandu Stadium Disaster, Nepal. On 12 March 1988 at least 93 people were killed and 100 more were injured when fans attempted to flee from a hailstorm inside the stadium.
Orkney Stadium Disaster - a 1991 riot in South Africa which caused 42 deaths at a soccer match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
Ellis Park Stadium Disaster - a 2001 stampede in Johannesburg, also at a match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, which left 43 people dead and 158 injured.
Accra Sports Stadium Disaster - a 2001 stampede at a soccer match in Accra, which caused 127 deaths.
The 2009 Birmingham, Millennium Point stampede in which a pop-concert in Birmingham left 60 injured (4 critically) after a stampede by fans.
1955 Le Mans disaster - 84 people were killed, along with driver Pierre Levegh (most in auto racing history)
Football culture
Youth culture
Herd instinct
Crowd manipulation
Crowd control barrier
Crowd control

[edit]Further reading

Ground safety and public order: Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, report of Joint Working Party on Ground Safety and Public Order (Report/Joint Executive on Football Safety); Joint Working Party on Ground Safety and Public Order; ISBN 0-901783-73-0
No Last Rights: The Denial of Justice and the Promotion of Myth in the Aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster; Phil Scraton, Ann Jemphrey and Sheila Coleman ISBN 0-904517-30-6
Hillsborough: The Truth; Phil Scraton; ISBN 1-84018-156-7
'Death on the Terraces: The Contexts and Injustices of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster' Phil Scraton in P. Darby eta al (eds) Soccer and Disaster: International Perspectives ISBN 0-7146-8289-6
Scrutiny of Evidence Relating to the Hillsborough Football Stadium Disaster (Command Paper); Home Office; ISBN 0-10-138782-2
Sports Stadia After Hillsborough: Seminar Papers; RIBA, Sports Council, Owen Luder (Ed.); ISBN 0-947877-72-X
The Day of the Hillsborough Disaster; Rogan Taylor (Ed.), Andrew Ward (Ed.), Tim Newburn (Ed.); ISBN 0-85323-199-0
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, 15 April 1989: Inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor (Cm.: 765); Peter Taylor; ISBN 0-10-107652-5
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: Inquiry Final Report (Command Paper); Home Office; ISBN 0-10-109622-4
Words of tribute: An anthology of 95 poems written after the Hillsborough tragedy, 15 April 1989; ISBN 1-871474-18-3
The Hillsborough Football Disaster: Context & Consequences; ISBN 978-0-9562275-0-8

Ray William Johnson

2011-04-15T20:41:00.001+07:00

Ray William Johnson is a comedian best known for his YouTube videos, which have made him one of the most-subscribed content creators on that site as of 2010.^[1]^[2] Many of his videos include commentary on other videos under the show title Equals Three.^[3] Many of the videos he comments on often enjoy a sudden growth in popularity, as noted by numerous press reports.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

As of April 2011, his channel is the second most subscribed on YouTube,^[10] with over 3.2 million subscribers, and over 900 million video views.^[11] Industry watcher Tubefilter has predicted he may become the most-subscribed user later in 2011.^[1] In February 2011, one industry publication noted that Johnson currently had 6 of the top 20 most watched videos of the month.^[12]

[hide]

Projects

Capitol Hill Gangsta

One of Johnson's first projects was a show called Capitol Hill Gangsta in which Johnson discussed news and politics. All of these videos have since been removed from YouTube.^[13]^[14]

Equals Three

In Equals Three (stylized "=3"), Johnson reviews viral videos, adding commentary to them.^[3] He interacts with his audience through viewers answering a "comment question of the day" − either on the YouTube comment feature, or networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter - and then featuring comments from the previous video. It is one of the most popular video series on YouTube, regularly obtaining millions of views per episode.^{[citation needed]}

Fatty Spins

In mid 2009, Johnson started a comedy music project called Fatty Spins in which he wrote and and performed the hit song "Doin' Your Mom".^[15] The project has since been abandoned. The YouTube channel notes "Fatty Spins was a fun project, but we are no longer making music together. We're leaving these videos up for archive purposes."^[16]

Your Favorite Martian

"Your Favorite Martian" redirects here. For the American sitcom, see My Favorite Martian.

In January 2011, Johnson started a new YouTube channel called "Yourfavoritemartian", which features animated music videos of comedic nature.^[17] He writes lyrics and sings, and collaborates with other musicians to produce the songs.^{[citation needed]} The first song released was "My Balls", which debuted on YouTube and iTunes on January 26, 2011.^[18] Since "My Balls", he has released "Zombie Love Song" (February 9, 2011), "Bottles of Beer" (February 23, 2011), "Club Villain" (March 9, 2011), "The Stereotypes Song" (March 23, 2011) and "Smithers Love Song" (April 6, 2011).^[19] The music videos to these songs also become popular quickly, often appearing on YouTube's 'most viewed' lists.^[20]

References

^ ^a ^b Hustvedt, Marc (March 10, 2011). Quick Clicks: YouTube Creator Institute, Vimeo Party, Ray William Johnson, Angry Birds, Tubefilter
^ (April 12, 2010). 5 YouTubers On Their Way Up, Tubefilter (noting that Johnson had exceeded Universal Music Group in subscribers)
^ ^a ^b Gasch, David (February 7, 2011). Pop!shots: ‘Equals Three’ goes viral, Boise StateArbiter
^ (March 4, 2011). Lo más visto del mes en YouTube Argentina, Canal-AR (in Spanish, Argentine technology publication)
^ Murphy, Shannon (March 3, 2011). Bay City man's Taco Bell order goes viral with spot-on Elmo impression. The Bay City Times
^ Vnouček, Petr (March 5, 2001). Nejlepší videa: Bowling s kočkou a polský Pat a Mat,Týden (in Czech)
^ Hathaway, Jay (March 2, 2011). Co Za Asy - What Is It, and Why Is Everyone Posting It in YouTube, Urlesque (AOL) ("Superstar YouTuber Ray William Johnson")
^ (December 12, 2010). Reinangrep på NRK-reporter sees av millioner på YouTube-kanal, NRK (in Norwegian) (noting rise in popularity of video about a reindeer attack due to Johnson's coverage; notes that Johnson is one of YouTube's biggest celebrities, "en av YouTubes aller største kjendiser," with over two million subscribers, with the largest comedy channel on YouTube with over 373 million views)
^ (May 22, 2010). Türkiye'den YouTube'tan en popüler kişi kim?, Beyaz Gazette (in Turkish)
^ (January 8, 2011). Secrets of YouTube Superstars: CES 2011 Session Recap,Tubefilter
^ "RayWilliamJohnson's Channel". YouTube. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
^ Balleck, Matt (February 14, 2011). Three Ways Brands Can Act More Like Partners On YouTube, MediaPost Publications
^ "Raywilliamjohnson." MeeFeedia. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
^ "Ray William Johnson First Video." Exploredia. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
^ Biggs, John (28 September 2009). “I fell in love at the Apple Store,” the catchiest Apple song you’ll hear all day, CrunchGear
^ FattySpins YouTube Channel, Retrieved March 25, 2011 ("About Me: Fatty Spins was a fun project, but we are no longer making music together. We're leaving these videos up for archive purposes.")
^ Bradshaw (January 24, 2011). Ray William Johnson's New Project "Yourfavoritemartian" Finally Rolls Out January 26, 2011, www.zimbio.com
^ “My Balls” Music Video by RayWilliamJohnson, BuzzFeed, Retrieved March 25, 2011
^ Your Favorite Martian Music Chart Performance Summary
^ YouTube spotlight: "The Stereotypes Song". The Independent. Retrieved 2 April 2011.

External links

Honorary titles
Preceded by nigahiga	Top Subscribed Channel on YouTube RayWilliamJohnson Ranked second as of April 2011	Succeeded by ShaneDawsonTV
Preceded by kipkay	Top Subscribed Channel on YouTube Yourfavoritemartian Ranked 45 as of April 2011	Succeeded by BrittaniLouiseTaylor
Preceded by Onision	Top Subscribed Channel on YouTube BreakingNYC Ranked 80 as of April 2011	Succeeded by LadyGaga VEVO

Emma Watson

2011-04-15T20:38:00.000+07:00

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and model who rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger, one of three starring roles in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays.^[2] From 2001 to 2010, she starred in seven Harry Potter films alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint; she will return for the final installment: the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.^[3] Watson's work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million.^[4] She made her modelling debut for Burberry's Autumn/Winter campaign in 2009.

In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in two non-Harry Potter productions: the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on 26 December 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million, and The Tale of Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed over US $70 million in worldwide sales.^[5]^[6]

[hide]

Early life

Emma Watson was born in Paris to Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both British lawyers.^[7]^[8] Watson has one French grandmother,^[9]and lived in Paris until the age of five. Later, following her parents' divorce, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Oxfordshire.^[7]From the age of six, Watson wanted to become an actress,^[10] and for a number of years she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting.^[11] By the age of ten, she had performed in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince,^[12] but she had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film series," she stated in a 2007 interview with Parade; "If I had I would have been completely overwhelmed."^[13]

Career

Harry Potter

In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States), the film adaptation of British author J. K. Rowling's bestselling novel. Casting agents found Watson through her Oxford theatre teacher,^[10] and producers were impressed by her confidence. After eight auditions,^[14] producerDavid Heyman told Watson and fellow applicants Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint that they had been cast for the roles of the schoolfriends Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley respectively. Rowling supported Watson from her first screen test.^[10]

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001 was Watson's debut screen performance. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001.^[15]^[16] Critics praised the performances of the three leads, often singling out Watson for particular acclaim; The Daily Telegraph called her performance "admirable",^[17] and IGN said she "stole the show".^[18] Watson was nominated for five awards for her performance in Philosopher's Stone, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.^[19]

A year later, Watson again starred as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second installment of the series. Although the film received mixed reviews, reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances. The Los Angeles Times said Watson and her peers had matured between films,^[20] while The Times criticised director Chris Columbusfor "under-employing" Watson's hugely popular character.^[21] Watson received an Otto Award from the German magazine Bravo for her performance.^[22]

In 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. Watson was appreciative of the more assertive role Hermione played, calling her character "charismatic" and "a fantastic role to play".^[23] Although critics panned Radcliffe's performance, labelling him "wooden", they praised Watson; The New York Times lauded her performance, saying "Luckily Mr. Radcliffe's blandness is offset by Ms. Watson's spiky impatience. Harry may show off his expanding wizardly skills ... but Hermione ... earns the loudest applause with a decidedly unmagical punch to Draco Malfoy's deserving nose."^[24] Although Prisoner of Azkaban remains the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film as of April 2009, Watson's personal performance won her two Otto Awards and the Child Performance of the Year award from Total Film.^[25]^[26]^[27]

Watson at premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005

With Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), both Watson and the Harry Potter film series reached new milestones. The film set records for aHarry Potter opening weekend, a non-May opening weekend in the US, and an opening weekend in the UK. Critics praised the increasing maturity of Watson and her teenage co-stars; the New York Times called her performance "touchingly earnest".^[28] For Watson, much of the humour of the film sprang from the tension among the three lead characters as they matured. She said, "I loved all the arguing. ... I think it's much more realistic that they would argue and that there would be problems."^[29] Nominated for three awards for Goblet of Fire, Watson won a bronze Otto Award.^[30]^[31]^[32]Later that year, Watson became the youngest person to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue,^[33] an appearance she reprised in August 2009.^[34] In 2006, Watson played Hermione in The Queen's Handbag, a special mini-episode of Harry Potter in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday.^[35]

Watson signing autographs for fans outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, 2007

The fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was released in 2007. A huge financial success, the film set a record worldwide opening-weekend gross of $332.7 million.^[36] Watson won the inaugural National Movie Award for Best Female Performance.^[37] As the fame of the actress and the series continued, Watson and fellow Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint left imprints of their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on 9 July 2007.^[38]

Handprints, footprints and wand prints of (from left to right) Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint.

Despite the success of Order of the Phoenix, the future of the Harry Potter franchise became surrounded in doubt, as all three lead actors were hesitant to sign on to continue their roles for the final two episodes.^[39] Radcliffe eventually signed for the final films on 2 March 2007,^[39] but Watson was considerably more hesitant.^[40] She explained that the decision was significant, as the films represented a further four-year commitment to the role, but eventually conceded that she "could never let [the role of] Hermione go",^[41] signing for the role on 23 March 2007.^[42] In return for committing to the final films, Watson's pay was doubled to £2 million per film;^[43] she concluded that "in the end, the pluses outweighed the minuses".^[13] Principal photography for the sixth film began in late 2007, with Watson's part being filmed from 18 December to 17 May 2008.^[44]^[45]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premiered on 15 July 2009,^[46] having been controversially delayed from November 2008.^[47] With the lead actors now in their late teens, critics were increasingly willing to review them on the same level as the rest of the film's all-star cast, which the Los Angeles Times described as "a comprehensive guide to contemporary UK acting".^[48] The Washington Post felt Watson to have given "[her] most charming performance to date",^[49] while The Daily Telegraph described the lead actors as "newly-liberated and energized, eager to give all they have to what's left of the series".^[50]

Watson's filming for the final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, began on 18 February 2009^[51] and ended on 12 June 2010.^[52] For financial and scripting reasons, the original book has been divided into two films which were shot back to back.^[53]^[54] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 was released in November 2010, and the second film is scheduled for release in July 2011.^[55]

Other acting work

Watson's first non-Potter role was the 2007 BBC film Ballet Shoes, an adaptation of the novel of the same title by Noel Streatfeild.^[56]^[57] The film's director Sandra Goldbachercommented that Watson was "perfect" for the starring role of aspiring actress Pauline Fossil: "She has a piercing, delicate aura that makes you want to gaze and gaze at her."^[58] Ballet Shoes was broadcast in the UK on Boxing Day 2007 to an audience of 5.7 million viewers, despite generally poor reviews.^[59]^[60]^[61]^[62]^[63]

Watson also lent her voice to the role of Princess Pea in the animated film The Tale of Despereaux, a children's comedy starring Matthew Broderick.^[64] The Tale of Despereaux was released in December 2008 and grossed $87 million worldwide.^[5]

In December 2008, Watson stated she wanted to go to university after she completed the Potter series.^[65]

In May 2010, Watson was reported to be in talks to star in a film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.^[66] She confirmed she will star in the adaptation and that filming would begin in summer 2011.^[67] Also that month, she announced that she would appear in a music video for One Night Only after meeting lead singer George Craig at the 2010 Winter/Summer Burberry advertising campaign. Watson also expressed an interest to be in a musical film after being involved in the Harry Potter films.^[68] The video, "Say You Don't Want It", was screened on Channel 4 on 26 June 2010 and released on 16 August.^[69]

In her first post-Harry Potter film, Watson has been cast in the upcoming My Week with Marilyn as Lucy, a wardrobe assistant who has a few dates with the main character, Colin Clark.^[70]^[71]

Fashion and modelling

As she has grown older, Watson has become something of a fashion devotee, saying that she sees fashion as very similar to art, which she studied in school. In September 2008, she told a blogger, "I've been focusing on art a lot, and fashion's a great extension of that."^[72]

In 2008, the British press reported that Watson was to replace Keira Knightley as the face of the fashion house Chanel, but this was flatly denied by both parties.^[73]^[74] In June 2009, following several months of rumours, Watson confirmed that she would be partnering Burberry as the face of their new campaign; she received an estimated six-figure fee for modelling Burberry's Autumn/Winter 2009 collection.^[75]^[76]^[77] She later appeared in Burberry's 2010 Spring/Summer campaign alongside her brother Alex, musicians George Craig and Matt Gilmour, and Max Hurd.^[78]^[79]

In September 2009, Watson announced her involvement with People Tree, a Fair Trade fashion brand.^[80] Watson worked as a 'creative advisor' for People Tree to create a spring line of clothing, which was released in February 2010;^[80]^[81] the range featured styles inspired by southern France and the City of London.^[81]^[82] The collection, described by The Times as "very clever" despite their "quiet hope that [she] would become tangled at the first hemp-woven hurdle",^[83] was widely publicised in tabloids such as You magazine, Heat Magazine, Teen Vogue,^[84] Cosmopolitan, and People. Watson, who was not paid for the collaboration,^[85] admitted that competition for the range was minimal,^[83] but argued that "Fashion is a great way to empower people and give them skills; rather than give cash to charity you can help people by buying the clothes they make and supporting things they take pride in";^[86] adding, "I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren't many options out there."^[83] Watson continued her involvement with People Tree, resulting in a release of a 2010 Autumn/Winter collection.^[87]

Personal life

Watson at premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princein July 2009

Watson's extended family has grown, as her divorced parents each have new partners. Her father has a son, and identical twin girls.^[88] Her mother's partner has two sons who "regularly stay with her".^[89] Watson's full brother, Alexander, has appeared as an extra in two Harry Potter films,^[79] and her half-sisters were cast as the young Pauline Fossil in the BBC's Ballet Shoes adaptation.^[88]

After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, Watson attended The Dragon School, an independent preparatory school, until June 2003 and then moved to Headington School, an independent school for girls, also in Oxford.^[7] While on film sets, Watson and her peers were tutored for up to five hours a day;^[90] despite the focus on filming she maintained high academic standards. In June 2006, Watson took GCSE examinations in 10 subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades;^[7]^[91] she was a target of friendly ribbing on the Harry Potter set because of her straight-A exam results.^[33] She received A grades in her 2008 A level examinations in English Literature, Geography and Art,^[92] and in her 2007 AS (advanced subsidiary) level in History of Art.^[7]

After leaving school, Watson took a gap year^[92] to film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows beginning in February 2009,^[54] but said she "definitely want[ed] to go to university".^[65] Despite numerous contradictory news stories, some from highly reputable sources, claiming that she would "definitely" attend Trinity College, Cambridge;^[93] Columbia University;^[94]^[95] Brown University or Yale University,^[96] Watson was reluctant to commit publicly to any one institution, saying that she would announce her decision first on her official website.^[97] In interviews with Jonathan Ross and David Lettermanin July 2009, she confirmed that she was planning to study liberal arts in the United States,^[1] saying that – having missed so much school as a child for filming – the "broad curriculum" of American higher education appealed to her more than British universities, "where you have to just choose one thing to study for three years".^[14] In July 2009, after a second storm of rumour,^[98] The Providence Journal reported that Watson had "grudgingly admitted" that she had chosen Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island.^[99]^[100] Watson defended her attempts to avoid announcing her choice of university – accidentally slipped by Daniel Radcliffe and producer David Heyman,^[101]^[102] during interviews publicising the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and finally confirmed in September 2009 after the university's academic year had started^[103] – saying that she "want[ed] to be normal. ... I want to do it properly, like everyone else. As long as I don't walk in and see ...Harry Potter posters everywhere, I'll be fine."^[100] In March 2011, after 18 months at the university, Watson announced that she was deferring her course for "a semester or two",^[104] to give her more time to participate in the advertising buildup for the release of the second Deathly Hallows film, and other projects.^[105]

As of July 2007, Watson's work in the Harry Potter series had earned her more than £10 million, and she acknowledged she would never have to work for money again.^[4] In March 2009, she was ranked 6th on the Forbes list of "Most Valuable Young Stars",^[106] and in February 2010, she was named as Hollywood's highest paid female star, having earned an estimated £19 million in 2009.^[107] However, she has declined to leave school to become a full-time actress, saying "People can't understand why I don't want to ... but school life keeps me in touch with my friends. It keeps me in touch with reality."^[13] She has been positive about working as a child actress, saying her parents and colleagues helped make her experience a positive one.^[33]^[89]^[108] Watson enjoys a close friendship with her fellow Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, describing them as a "unique support system" for the stresses of film work, and saying that, after working with them for the ten years of the film series, "they really are like my siblings".^[14]

Watson lists her interests as dancing, singing, field hockey,^[12]^[109] tennis, art,^[72] and she supports the Wild Trout Trust.^[110]^[111]^[112] She describes herself as "a bit of a feminist",^[13]^[89]and admires fellow actors Johnny Depp and Julia Roberts.^[113]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Hermione Granger	Released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US and India
2002	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Hermione Granger
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Hermione Granger
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Hermione Granger
2007	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Hermione Granger
2007	Ballet Shoes	Pauline Fossil	Television film shown on BBC One
2008	The Tale of Despereaux	Princess Pea	Voice part
2009	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Hermione Granger
2010	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	Hermione Granger
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2	Hermione Granger
2011	My Week with Marilyn	Lucy	In production

Awards

Year	Organisation	Award	Film	Result
2002	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Won^[19]
2002	Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films	Saturn Award	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Nominated^[114]
2002	Empire	Empire Award	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Nominated^[115]
2002	American Moviegoer Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Nominated^[116]
2003	Otto Awards	Best Female Film Star (Silver)	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Won^[22]
2004	Otto Awards	Best Female Film Star (Silver)	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Won^[25]
2004	Total Film	Child Performance of the Year	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Won^[27]
2004	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Young Actress	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Nominated^[117]
2005	Otto Awards	Best Female Film Star (Gold)	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Won^[26]
2005	Broadcast Film Critics Association	Best Young Actress	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Nominated^[31]
2006	Otto Awards	Best Female Film Star (Bronze)	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Won^[30]
2006	MTV Movie Awards	Best On-Screen Team	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Nominated^[32]
2007	ITV National Film Awards	Best Female Performance	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Won^[37]
2007	UK Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Best Movie Actress	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Won^[118]
2008	UK Sony Ericsson Empire Awards	Best Actress	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Nominated^[119]
2008	Constellation Award	Best Female Performance	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Won^[120]
2008	Otto Awards	Best Female Film Star (Gold)	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Won^[121]
2008	SyFy Genre Awards	Best Actress	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Won^[122]
2008	Glamour Awards	Best UK TV Actress	Ballet Shoes	Nominated^[123]
2009	Scream Awards	Best Fantasy Actress	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Nominated^[124]
2010	National Movie Awards	Performance of the Year	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Nominated^[125]
2010	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Nominated^[126]
2010	Teen Choice Awards	Actress Fantasy	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Nominated^[127]
2011	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Star Under 25	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	Nominated^[128]
2011	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	Nominated^[129]
2011	National Movie Awards	Performance of the Year	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	Nominated^[130]

Hells Angels

2011-04-15T20:37:00.000+07:00

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate^[3]^[10]^[11]^[12]whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as theHells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto is "When we do right, nobody remembers. When we do wrong, nobody forgets".^[13]

Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service classify the Angels as one of the "big four"motorcycle gangs, contending that members carry out widespread violence, drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, and extortion.^[14]^[15]Members of the organization have continuously asserted that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies.^[16]^[17]^[18]

[edit]History

The Hells Angels were originally formed in 1948 in Fontana, California.^[2] through an amalgamation of former members from different motorcycle clubs, such as The Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington. The Hells Angels website denies that the name was inspired by any military units, and objects to the suggestion that any misfit or malcontent troops are connected with the the motorcycle club.^[19] The name "Hells Angels" was believed^{[by whom?]} to have been inspired by the common historical use, in both World War I and World War II, to name squadrons or other fighting groups by a fierce, death-defying name. The Flying Tigers (American Volunteer Group) in Burma and China fielded three squadrons of P-40s; the Third Squadron was named "Hell's Angels". The 1930 Howard Hughes film Hell's Angels displayed extraordinary and dangerous feats of aviation.

Some of the early history of the HAMC is not clear, and accounts differ. According to Ralph 'Sonny' Barger, founder of the Oakland chapter, early chapters of the club were founded inSan Francisco, Gardena, Fontana, as well as his chapter in Oakland, and other places independently of one another, with the members usually being unaware that there were other Hells Angels clubs.

Other sources^[20] claim that the Hells Angels in San Francisco were originally organized in 1953 by Rocky Graves, a Hells Angel member from San Bernardino ("Berdoo"). This implies that the "Frisco" Hells Angels were very much aware of their forebearers. According to another account,^[21] the Hells Angels club was a successor to "P.O.B.O.B." Motorcycle club,^[22]The "Frisco" Hells Angels were reorganized in 1955 with thirteen charter members; Frank Sadliek, who designed the original death's head logo, served as President. The Oaklandchapter, at that time headed by Barger, used a larger version of the patch nicknamed the "Barger Larger" which was first used in 1959 and later became the club standard.

The Hells Angels are sometimes depicted in a similar mythical fashion as the James-Younger Gang, as modern day legends, or as free spirited and iconic of an era of brotherhood and loyalty. Others describe them as a violent criminal gang and a scourge on society.^[23] The 1966 Roger Corman film, The Wild Angels depicts the gang as violent and nihilistic.

[edit]Insignia

The patch worn by members of Hells Angels France

The Hells Angels official web site attributes the official "death's head" insignia design to Frank Sadilek, past president of the San Francisco Chapter.^[24]The colors and shape of the early-style jacket emblem (prior to 1953) were copied from the insignias of the 85th Fighter Squadron and the 552nd Medium Bomber Squadron.^[24]

The Hells Angels utilize a system of patches, similar to military medals. Although the specific meaning of each patch is not publicly known, the patches identify specific or significant actions or beliefs of each biker.^[25] The official colors of the Hells Angels are red lettering displayed on a white background—hence the club's nickname "The Red and White". These patches are worn on leather or denim jackets and vests.

Red and white are also used to display the number 81 on many patches, as in "Support 81, Route 81". The 8 and 1 stand for the respective positions in the alphabet of H and A. These are used by friends and supporters of the club, as only full members can wear any Hells Angels imagery.

The diamond-shaped one-percenter patch is also used, displaying '1%', in red on a white background with a red merrowed border. The term one-percenter is said to be a response to the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) comment on the Hollister incident, to the effect that 99% of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens and the last 1% were outlaws. The AMA has no record of such a statement to the press, and call this story apocryphal.^[26]

Most members wear a rectangular patch (again, white background with red letters and a red merrowed border) identifying their respective chapter locations. Another similarly designed patch reads "Hells Angels".

When applicable, members of the club wear a patch denoting their position or rank within the organization. The patch is rectangular, and, similarly to the patches described above, displays a white background with red letters and a red merrowed border. Some examples of the titles used are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant at Arms. This patch is usually worn above the 'club location' patch.

Some members also wear a patch with the initials "AFFA", which stands for "Angels Forever; Forever Angels", referring to their lifelong membership in the biker club (i.e., "once a member, always a member").

The book Gangs, written by Tony Thompson (a crime correspondent for The Observer newspaper), states that Stephen Cunningham, a member of the Angels, sported a new patch after he recovered from attempting to set a bomb: two Nazi-style SS lightning bolts below the words 'Filthy Few'. Some law enforcement officials claim that the patch is only awarded to those who have committed, or are prepared to commit, murder on behalf of the club. According to a report from the R. v. Bonner and Lindsay case in 2005 (see related section below), another patch, similar to the 'Filthy Few' patch, is the 'Dequiallo' patch. This patch "signifies that the wearer has fought law enforcement on arrest".^[27] There is no common convention as to where the patches are located on the members' jacket/vest.

In March 2007, the Hells Angels filed suit against Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group alleging that the film entitled Wild Hogs used both the name and distinctive logo of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation without permission.^[28] The suit was eventually voluntarily dismissed,^[29] after it received assurances that its references would not appear in the film.^[30]

In October 2010, the Hells Angels filed a lawsuit against Alexander McQueen for "misusing its trademark winged death heads symbol"^[31] in several items from its Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. The lawsuit is also aimed at Saks Fifth Avenue and Zappos.com, which stock the jacquard box dress and knuckle duster ring which bear the symbol which is protected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since at least 1948.^[32] A handbag and scarf was also named in lawsuit.^[33] The lawyer representing Hells Angels claimed "This isn’t just about money, it’s about membership. If you’ve got one of these rings on, a member might get really upset that you’re an imposter."^[34] Saks refused to comment, Zappos had no immediate comment and the company's parent company, PPR, could not be reached for comment.^[35] The company settled the case with the Hells Angels after agreeing to remove all of the merchandise featuring the logo from sale on their website, stores and concessions and recalling any of the goods which have already been sold and destroying them.^[36]^[37]^[38]

[edit]Membership

Hells Angels member at a biker gathering in Australia, 2008.

The full requirements to become a Hells Angel are the following: candidates must be male, have a valid driver's licence, have a working motorcycle and cannot be a child molester or have applied to become a police officer or prison guard.^[39]

After a lengthy, phased process, a prospective member is first deemed to be a 'Hang-around', indicating that the individual is invited to some club events or to meet club members at known gathering places.

If the Hang-around is interested, he may be asked to become an 'Associate', a status that usually lasts a year or two. At the end of that stage, he is reclassified as 'Prospect', participating in some club activities, but not having voting privileges, while he is evaluated for suitability as a full member. The last phase, and highest membership status, is 'Full Membership' or 'Full-Patch'.^[40] The term Full-Patch refers to the complete four-piece crest, including the 'Death Head' logo, two rockers (top rocker: 'Hells Angels'; bottom rocker: State or Territory claimed) and the rectangular 'MC' patch below the wing of the Death's Head. Prospects are allowed to wear only a bottom rocker with the State or Territory name along with the rectangular 'MC' patch.

To become a full member, the Prospect must be voted on by the rest of the full club members. Prior to votes being cast, a Prospect usually travels to every chapter in the sponsoring chapter's geographic jurisdiction (state/province/territory) and introduces himself to every Full-Patch. This process allows each voting member to become familiar with the subject and to ask any questions of concern prior to the vote. Successful admission usually requires more than a simple majority, and some clubs may reject a Prospect for a single dissenting vote. Some form of formal induction follows, wherein the Prospect affirms his loyalty to the club and its members. The final logo patch (top Hells Angels rocker) is then awarded at this initiation ceremony. The step of attaining full membership can be referred to as "being patched".

Even after a member is patched-in, the patches themselves remain the property of HAMC rather than the member. On leaving the Hells Angels, or being ejected, they must be returned to the club.^[41]

[edit]Official chapters

A Hells Angels wall mural in Southampton, UK, a well-known local landmark that can be seen by rail passengers on the London Waterloo to Weymouth south coast main line as they approach Southampton Central station.

The HAMC acknowledges more than one hundred chapters spread over 29 countries. The first official chapter outside of the U.S. was formed in New Zealand in 1961. Europe did not become home to the Hells Angels until 1969, when two London chapters were formed after the Beatle George Harrison invited some members of the HAMC San Francisco to London.^[42] Two people from London visited California, "prospected", and ultimately joined. Two charters were issued on July 30, 1969; one for "South London", the other for "East London" but by 1973 the two charters came together as one, simply called "London". The London Angels provided security at a number of UK Underground festivals including Phun City in 1970 organized by anarchist International Times writer and lead singer with The Deviants Mick Farren. They even awarded Farren an "approval patch" in 1970 for use on his first solo album Mona, which also featured Steve Peregrin Took (who was credited as "Shagrat the Vagrant").^[43] The 1980s and 1990s saw a major expansion of the club into Canada.

A list of acknowledged chapters can be found on the HAMC club's official web site.^[44]

[edit]Criminal activities

[edit]Australia

[edit]Canada

An April 2009 CBC News article stated that the Hells Angels have 34 chapters operating in Canada with 460 full-fledged (patched) members.^[48] The Hells Angels have 15 chapters inOntario, 8 in British Columbia, 5 in Quebec, 3 in Alberta, 2 in Saskatchewan and 1 in Manitoba.^[48]

The Vancouver Sun newspaper reports that Canada has more Hells Angels members per capita than any other country, including the U.S., where there are chapters in about 20 states.^[49] Mr. Réal Ménard (Montréal, PQ) testified in Parliament that the Hells Angels had 38 chapters in Canada in 1995–1997.^[50]

The Hells Angels established their first Canadian chapters in the province of Quebec during the seventies. The Outlaws and several affiliated independent clubs were able to keep the Angels from assuming a dominant position in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, until the nineties, while the Grim Reapers of Alberta, Los Bravos in Manitoba, and several other independent clubs across the prairies formed a loose alliance that kept the Hells Angels from assuming dominance in the prairie provinces until the late nineties. By 1997, under the leadership of Walter "Nurget" Stadnick, the Hells Angels had become the dominant club not just in BC and Quebec, but all across Canada, with chapters in at least seven of ten provinces and two of the three territories.^[51]

Lindsay and Bonner trial

In 2002 Crown Prosecutor Graeme Williams sought to have the Hells Angels formally declared a "criminal organization" by applying the anti-gang legislation (Bill C-24)^[52] to a criminal prosecution involving the Hells Angels and two of its members, Stephen (Tiger) Lindsay and Raymond (Razor) Bonner.

The prosecution team launched a three year investigation with the aim of collecting evidence for the trial.

At the conclusion of the trial in June 2005, Ontario Justice Michelle Fuerst ruled that Lindsay and Bonner had committed extortion in association with a criminal organization and had used the Hells Angels' reputation as a weapon.^[53]^[54]

[edit]British Columbia

Project E-Pandora

Investigations
In late 2004 to 2005 the culmination of investigations into the actions of the motorcycle club led to charges against 18 people including members of the Hells Angels and other associates of the gang.^[55]

Background
In July 2003, a man offered to give police information. He became the police agent around whom much of the E-Pandora investigation ensued. Charges arose from project E-Pandora, an extensive police investigation, into the alleged criminal activities of the East End Charter of the Hells Angels (the "EEHA"). The evidence in this case included intercepted private communications including telephone and audio recordings, physical surveillance, and expert evidence. The case would eventually be dubbed the trial of R. v. Giles and see 3 charged individuals appear before the Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). 72 appearances would span from May 14, 2007 until February 20, 2008 and, by order of Madam Justice Anne MacKenzie, include a publication ban on related trials.^[56]

Ruling
On March 27, 2008, the SCBC Justice MacKenzie ruled against prosecutors who had attempted to convict a Hells Angels member of possession for the benefit of a criminal organization. Although two associates of the Hells Angels, David Roger Revell, 43, and Richard Andrew Rempel, 24, were convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking, Justice MacKenzie concluded that with the acquittal of the only Hells Angel member being tried, David Francis Giles, on a charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, a second charge against him (count two) of possessing it for the benefit of a criminal organization had to fail as well.^[57] In summary, Revell and Rempel were found guilty but Giles was found not guilty on either count. Also, Revell and Rempel were found not guilty on the charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

In her acquittal of Giles, Justice MacKenzie said she found the evidence against him was "weak" and intercepted communications were "unreliable" because they were difficult to hear. She further stated that the Crown prosecutors had failed to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt the group was working to the "benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a criminal organization, to wit: the East End charter of the Hells Angels".

[edit]Ontario

Project Tandem Raids

In September 2006, after an 18 month Investigation conducted by numerous law enforcement agencies, 500 officers and 21 tactical teams raided property connected to the Hells Angels chapters in Ontario. At least 27 members were arrested of which 15 were members of the Hells Angels. Property seized was worth more than 1 million dollars and included $470,000 in cash, $300,000 in vehicles and $140,000 in motorcycles. During the raids, drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy were seized; the total street value of drugs seized was more than 3 million dollars.^[58]^[59]^[60]

Project Develop

In April 2007, after another 18 month investigation, 32 Club Houses were raided in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia. The Hells Angels Clubhouse on 498 Eastern Avenue in Toronto was raided by the Biker Enforcement Unit of the OPP and members of the Toronto Police Service on April 4, 2007, at least 15 members of the Hells Angels were detained and charged with drug and weapons offenses at the Eastern Avenue Clubhouse raid.^[61]^[62]^[63] According to police, Project Develop seized some 500 litres of GHB worth an estimated $996,000, nine kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of hashish and oxycodone and Viagra pills. Police also seized $21,000 in cash. Project Develop also seized 67 rifles, five handguns, three pairs of brass knuckles and a police baton.^[62]

[edit]Manitoba

The Hells Angels' expansion into Manitoba began with a relationship with Los Brovos, a local motorcycle club. In 2000 Los Bravos were "patched over," becoming a full-fledged Hells Angels chapter.^[64] The following investigations over the last two years have been executed with the following charges.

Project Defense

On February 15, 2006 the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force, along with over 150 police officers from the RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service and Brandon Police Service, made numerous arrests and conducted searches as part of the investigation of Project Defense.^[65] Thirteen people were indicted on a variety of charges, including drug trafficking, extortion, proceeds of crime, and organized crime related offences. Only 3 were members of the Hells Angels.

Project Defense was initiated in November 2004 and focused on high level members of drug trafficking cells in the province of Manitoba, including members of the Manitoba Hells Angels. During the investigation police made numerous seizures that totaled in excess of seven kilograms of cocaine and three kilograms of methamphetamine from drug traffickers within the Manitoba Hells Angels organization and other drug trafficking cells. Arrest warrants were issued for thirteen individuals and 12 search warrants were authorized for locations in Winnipeg and area.

This long-term covert investigation was initiated by the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force, which was established in the spring of 2004 when an Agreement was signed between the Winnipeg Police Service, the RCMP, the Brandon Police Service and the Province of Manitoba. The mandate of the task force was to disrupt and dismantle organized crime in the province of Manitoba.

Project Drill

On December 12, 2007 Project Drill^[66] came to an end, with Winnipeg Police raiding the Hells Angels clubhouse on Scotia Street. Project Drill started the previous evening with arrests in Thompson and continued throughout the night and early morning in Winnipeg and St. Pierre-Jolys. During the course of Project Drill, police seized vehicles, approximately $70,000 cash, firearms, marijuana, Hells Angel related documents/property and other offence related property. As of December 12, 14 people were in custody and four were still being sought.

Police said it was the second time the chapter president was the target in a police sting since the gang set up shop in the city in 2001. Hells Angels prospect member Al LeBras was also arrested at his Barber Street home in Wednesday's raids.

The recently^[when?] amended Criminal Property Forfeiture Act gives the province the power to seize the proceeds of crime. Police have exercised similar authority against Hells Angels members in other Canadian cities.^[67]^[68]

Project Divide

On December 2, 2009 Project Divide^[69] culminated with 26 arrests, and 8 arrest warrants still outstanding after the year long investigation. The investigation and arrests targeted alleged drug-trafficking and related activities of the Zig Zag Crew - a puppet club of the Hells Angels Winnipeg chapter.

Joint investigations

Other joint investigations include:

Project Develop,^[70] a joint 18-month investigation with Ontario, New Brunswick, and British Columbia
In January 2006, Project Husky,^[71] a two-year investigation involving police forces in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, resulted in the arrest of twenty-seven suspects,^[72] including fivefull-patch Angels from across Eastern and Central Canada
Project Koker,^[73] 23-month investigation in Edmonton and Calgary
Project Halo,^[74] a three-year investigation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Team of the RCMP, into alleged criminal activity with the Nanaimo chapter. The investigation culminated in the search warrant being executed on December 12, 2003. On November 9, 2007 a seizure order was executed, under Section 467.12(1) of the Criminal Code, on the clubhouse by dozens of heavily armed RCMP officers.^[75]

[edit]Quebec

Main article: Quebec Biker war

Main article: Lennoxville massacre

The Quebec Biker war between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine that began in 1994 and continued until late 2002 claimed more than 150 lives,[1] including some innocent bystanders.

The emergence of biker gangs in Quebec happened at the same time as they were emerging in the United States. Although instead of the gangs being created by World War II veterans, it began as a part of Quebec's social history because of the economic crisis of the 1920s many of Quebec's urban population began heading for the rural communities in order to cultivate lands to provide for themselves and their families. The settlers children , like many youth of this era wanted to rebel, resulting in the formation of motorcycle clubs which was seen as an expression of rebellion. By the 1960s there were about 150 motorcycle clubs in Quebec that mimicked almost all the same characteristics as the American biker clubs although they operated in rural communities instead of in major cities. The expansion of these groups really began flourishing during the 1970s as a few popular gangs notably the Hells Angels and the Outlaws grew almost 45 % due to Quebec's biker groups affiliated themselves with their America counterparts. The Quebec chapter of the Hells Angels at its prime included various clubhouses across Quebec which housed many of the gang’s puppet groups who would often carry out many of the gangs criminal activity. Every Quebec region had its own puppet club: Rowdy Crew Montreal, Evil Ones Drummondville, Satan’s Guard Saguenay, and Jokers St-Jean, which includes Maurice Boucher's son Francis Boucher as a full-fledged member.

Maurice (aka Mom) Boucher was the leader of the Quebec chapters and second-in-command of the Canadian Nomad chapter, a chapter with no fixed geographic base. In May 2002 Boucher received an automatic life sentence, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years, after conviction two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of two Canadian prison guards, ambushed on their way home.^[76] On April 15, 2009, operation SharQc was conducted by the provincial police force Sûreté du Québec.^[77]

The Wolverine Task Force

The first specialized organized crime law enforcement task force in the province was composed of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) , the Sûreté du Québec and the Montréal Police. Their goal was to ultimately investigate the Nomad chapter of the Hells Angels in the Montreal and Quebec City region until it was dismantled two years later to make way for a bigger, province -wide Task force. The Hells Angels threat in Quebec and Canada resulted in the first anti-gang law in Canadian legislation, as they saw its success in the United States after the establishment of their anti-gang legislation known as RICO. Furthermore, this was not the only reason for the establishment of such legislation, because during the period it was created, many Montrealers were experiencing a high volume of violent acts which threatened innocent civilians.

Operation SharQc

The tough shell of secrecy that protected the Hells Angels for years finally cracked during an investigation that has resulted in the arrests of almost every member of the gang in Quebec. On April 15, 2009, operation SharQc was conducted by the provincial police force Sûreté du Québec. It is the biggest strike at the HAMC in Canada's history and probably in all of HAMC's history. In all, 177 strikes were conducted by the police, 123 members were arrested, charges were mostly for first-degree murder, attempted murder, gangsterism or drug trafficking. The police seized $5 million in cash, dozens of kilograms of cocaine, marijuana and hashish, and thousands of pills. The operation could lead to the closing of 22 unsolved murders. Operation SharQc involved a full-patch member of the gang turning informant, a very rare occurrence in Quebec.^[77]^[78]

[edit]Germany

The first German charter of the Hells Angels was founded in the 1970 in Hamburg and was active in the red-light districts of St. Pauli and Sternschanze.

In 1980, Hells Angels members murdered a nightclub manager on the island of Sylt. On August 11, 1983, 500 police officers stormed the clubhouse "Angels Place" in the red-light district Sternschanze and arrested the leaders of the Hells Angels of Hamburg. In 1986, thirteen members were sentenced between 6 months to 7 years in prison and the Hamburg charter and its symbols were banned.^[79] Despite the ban, today there is again a Hells Angels charter in Hamburg under the name of "Harbor City", because the association is not prohibited as such, but only wearing its symbols.

The other Hells Angels members and 250 of 497 members of the motorcycle club "Bones" in Hannover under its President Frank H., who is a colorful character in the red-light scene of Hannover, took over the power in the Hamburg Kiez and controlled numerous brothels, including the „Laufhaus“ and the „Pascha“, on the Reeperbahn. Some women were forced intoprostitution with brutal violence. At the height of its power in the summer of 2000, the monthly brothel sales amounted to €150.000 (DM300.000). After a leading member of the Hells Angels, Norbert "Butcher" S., 34,^[80] had beaten up a 42-year old woman, waitress, prostitute, cocaine addict and drug courier, who tried to burn herself to death, she pointed him to the police and disappeared. Meanwhile, Butcher fled to Brazil because the Hells Angels had set a bounty on him. German investigators tracked him to South America and persuaded him to give evidence. On November 1, 2000, 400 police officers moved to a major raid and arrested the new leadership of the association. In Germany, Sweden and Poland 17 suspects were arrested and more than 50 kilograms of narcotics were seized. The witnesses are now living under police protection because they fear for their lives.^[81]^[82]

Karlsruhe club house in Waghäusel

Helmut "Miko" M., leading figure of the Karlsruhe Hells Angels, a 42-year-old brothel owner and notorious red-light figure in Karlsruhe, was shot dead in January 2004 in a coffee shop downtown in broad daylight. Previously, in December 2003, a bomb attack perpetrated on him failed due to an intermittent contact in the explosive device. Background of the crime were disputes over open money claims in the red-light district.^[83]

In March 2006, a group of Hells Angels raided a Bandidos clubhouse in Stuhr where they assaulted and robbed five Bandidos members. Three were given jail sentences and another eleven were handed down suspended sentences at the trial which took place in Hannover on December 16, 2008.^[84]

On May 27, 2007, five Hells Angels members attacked, robbed and injured one Bandidos member in Hohenschönhausen, Berlin. Nineteen police vehicles were in use and shots were made. A witness filmed the scene. All people involved including the Hells Angels, Bandidos and the witness were silent in court. Sources say there are two high ranking Hells Angels members involved in the conflict. One is the former President of the "Hells Angels of Berlin" and the other was a high ranking "Road Captain" who is now the "Treasurer" of the "Hells Angels of Berlin."^[85]

On June 11, 2008, Heino B., 48 and Thomas K., 36, two Bandidos members were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the Hells Angels member Robert K. inIbbenbüren. Reports say they drove to his Harley-Davidson shop and shot him there on May 23, 2007. After the first day of a related lawsuit on December 17, 2007, riots between the two gangs and the police were reported.^[86] Robert K. was 47-years old and "Road Captain" of the Bremen Hells Angels but lived in the area of Osnabrück, where their rivals Bandidos claim supremacy.^[87]

Also in June 2008, eight Hells Angels members of the "Hells Angels Westside" and one unidentified rocker, who is not a Hells Angels member, were arrested on the A27 near Walsrode. Five private apartments and the clubhouse "Angels Place" in Bremen were searched. Police reports say the BKA-Bremen seized firearms, baseball bats, knifes and illegal drugs. Later on the day the BKA (Bundeskriminalamt) arrested another Hells Angels member. Police reports also say five Hells Angels members are on the run.^[88]

On July 17, 2008,^[89] 34 persons of a group of 50 were arrested in Oranienburg street in Berlin Mitte. Sources say the persons are supporters of the Hells Angels and bouncers and hooligans in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern scene. Other sources say the persons are members of the "Brigade 81", a murderous group of the Hells Angels. One of the hooligans (now ex-hooligan and vice-president of the Potsdam Hells Angels^[90]) was a famous and dangerous fighter, who had beaten the French police officer David Nivel into coma in 1998. David Nivel was police officer of the Gendarmes during the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. Today, he is disabled, incapacitated and has difficulty in speaking and expressing himself. The police seized white masks, knuckle dusters, telescopic batons, quartz-sand-gloves and illegal drugs. Background of the incident was that a group of Bandidos appeared in the „Gold Club“ and wanted to play power games. It's about the staking of areas and the protection of illegal sources of income, a police statement said.^[91]

Later in 2008, Bandidos members attacked a Hells Angels member in Berlin^[92] and shots were fired at an Hells Angels member in the city of Cottbus.^[93] In Kiel, it came to a mass brawl between members of the Hells Angels and alleged right-wing extremists. During the brutal conflict a Hells Angels member and tattooist from Neumünster was seriously injured with a knife.^[94]

On December 6, 2008, Rayk F., who is the front man of the Hells Angels "Nomads", lined with scars and a living fighting machine, was brutally beaten in the nightclub „Omega“ inEberswalde. The perpetrators were members of the Chicanos, a support group of the Bandidos motorcycle gang.^[95]

In February 2009, the Hells Angels published a statement about the mass brawl in Kiel. The statement said, the rocker club distances itself from contacts to the right-wing scene. "The Hells Angels MC was, is and remains a non-politically motivated club" and "new members have to leave the right-wing scene", Frank H., President and leading figure of the Hannover Hells Angels, said in the statement. The attempt to draw the club in the right-wing haze is a personal insult for every member, the Hells Angels indicate. "We have eight different nations in our club. One comes from Israel, one from Palestine, one even from Surinam. And we are xenophobic?", he asked.^[96]

On June 5, 2009, the clubhouse of the Chicanos was completely destroyed from inside. Several members of the Chicanos suffered skull fractures and elbow fractures. The attackers belong to the notorious "Brigade 81".^[97]

On July 17, 2009, a passer-by discovers a glittering silver object under a black BMW in Eberswalde. Reports say the object was a homemade bomb and the car belongs to Rene H., who is the President of the local Chicanos. Police reports say the greatest rocker gangs in the world wage a fierce battle for East Germany. The region serves as a strategically important springboard in prosperous countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, the Baltic states and Russia. Countries, where people disappear every day.^[98]

In August 2009, a leading member of the Berlin Bandidos was stabbed and shot to death in Hohenschönhausen, Berlin. A news channel claimed, the 33-year-old Michael B.,^[99] who is a well known rocker in the district of Lichtenberg, Berlin, was the President of the chapters of the Berlin Bandidos MC and former member of the Hells Angels. Police reports say there is a continuing war over territorial claims between the Bandidos and the Hells Angels.^[100]

On the night of October 31 to November 1, 2009, it came to a confrontation between members of opposing groups. The clubhouse of the Bandidos in Duisburg was attacked and damaged from the outside, in Solingen shots were fired at the residence of some members of the Midland charter, a hand grenade was thrown against the building but did not explodeand was later blown up by the police.^[101]

Also in October 2009, at the opening ceremony of a new Hells Angels pub in Potsdam, 70 police officers controlled 159 persons, 39 vehicles and arrested one member, who was a fugitive, of the Hells Angels group "Nomads." The man was wanted for violation of the Arms Act. Two baseball bats and a banned one-handed knife was also found.^[102]

Since December 22, 2009, two members of the Hells Angels are standing trial in Kaiserslautern. They are accused, along with another Hells Angels member who is a fugitive, having murdered the 45-year-old^[103] President of the chapters of the Donnersberg Outlaws MC in June 2009.^[104]

Also in December 2009, a 38-year-old member of the Hells Angels was stabbed and critically injured in Erfurt. After an emergency surgery the victim was out of danger. The rocker was stabbed in the parking lot of a motorcycle business. Shortly after the attack, the police arrested four suspects in Weimar, including two members of the Jena Bandidos.^[105]

In January 2010, the President of the Flensburg Hells Angels was arrested. The 36-year-old, Stefan R., is accused of attempted homicide and hit-and-run driving. He has hit a Bandidos member with his car on the A7, reports say. The 24-year-old Bandidos member was heavily injured and is fighting for his life.^[106] On the same day, police raided the homes of two other Hells Angels members. Investigators searched for additional evidence in connection with the discovery of a weapons depot in a car repair shop in Flensburg. In November 2009, police had discovered explosives, five machine guns, ten shotguns and pump guns, revolvers and pistols and lots of ammunition.^[107]^[108]

Since January 10, 2010, six members of the Weimar Bandidos are standing trial in Erfurt. The 29 to 40-year-olds are accused of forming a criminal organization and attempted murder. Reports say the Bandidos are striving for supremacy in the bouncer, tattoo and red-light scene.^[109]

On February 19, 2010, a 41-year-old member of the Flensburg Hells Angels was attacked by supporters of the Bandidos and seriously injured with an iron bar. His car had to be towed away.^[110]

Since February 23, 2010, a 20-year-old female decoy of the Hells Angels is standing trial in Neumünster. She is accused having lured a Bandidos member in an ambush. The victim was killed with five shots.^[111]

Also in February 2010 in Potsdam, about 70 supporters of the Berlin chapter of the Bandidos MC, who usually are hostile to the Hells Angels, moved to the Berlin chapter of the Hells Angels. Police reports say the background of this step is unknown. Specialists say it could have something to do with a fight on June 21, 2009 in Finowfurt where one rocker was badly injured with an ax and suffered a split leg and the President of the "Brigade 81", André S.,^[112] was stabbed in the back.^[113] Other sources say it could have something to do with the immigrant background of the Berlin chapter of the Bandidos. German Bandidos probably have a problem with members of foreign origin. In general, the rockers are set nationally and felt like "real German men." Therefore, members with Turkish roots are not welcome. A leading Hells Angels member confirmed the defection and said the new members will be part of the "Hells Angels of Turkey." The President of the "Hells Angels of Germany" was also present.^[114]

On March 15, 2010, a 21-year-old supporter of the Bandidos was stabbed and badly injured in Kiel. In the same night, police raided meeting points of the Hells Angels. A few days earlier, shots were fired at the house of the local Hells Angels leader.^[115]

On March 17, 2010, a Bonn Hells Angels member shot dead a 42-year-old^[116] police officer of the SEK (Spezialeinsatzkommando) during a house search.^[117]^[118] The district court ofKoblenz issued arrest warrant for murder. Reports also say there are investigations against seven persons, including two Hells Angels members, because of clashes in the red-light districts of Westerwald.^[119]

Also in March 2010, a report claims that the Hells Angels are now selling beer, hard alcohol, cigarettes and clothing using 190 retailers and the German supermarket chain "Real." The brand is called "Original 81" meaning "Original Hells Angels." NDR-Online claims that the Hells Angels have successfully managed the way out of the shadow economy. After the report the supermarket chain "Real" claimed to be unaware and would take the brand off the shelves.^[120]

Since March 2010, a Hells Angels member is standing trial in Duisburg. The 31-year-old, Timur A., a ethnic Turk, is accused having murdered the 32-year-old Oberhausen Bandidos member and former hooligan "Ashley" in Hochfeld, Duisburg on October 8, 2009. The Bandidos member was shot dead in the red-light district of Duisburg. He was executed with a headshot.^[121] Police reports say the scene is very nervous because there are nine Hells Angels charters, four-teen Bandidos chapters, eight Gremium chapters and four Outlaws chapter in North Rhine-Westphalia. And the Hells Angels are expanding in Köln, Bielefeld and Siegen, where their rivals claim supremacy.^[122]

In April 2010, a member of the Flensburg Hells Angels, who is a witness in a double murder case, and a businessman are accused having extorted €380.000 of another businessman, who after a dispute with his wife stabbed her and his 7-year-old daughter to death and set his house on fire in February 2009. Background of the crimes are economic difficulties.^[123]

In May 2010, the warring gangs declared an armistice, but investigators doubt whether hostilities will cease.^[124]

[edit]The Netherlands

The Hells Angels control much of the drug trade in the Netherlands, and are also involved in prostitution.^[6] The Dutch police have stated that the Hells Angels smuggle cocaine into the country through terrorist organizations and drug cartels in Curaçao and Colombia, and also deal in ecstasy and illegal firearms.^[125]

In October 2005, the Dutch police raided Hells Angels' clubhouses in Amsterdam, Haarlem, IJmuiden, Harlingen, Kampen and Rotterdam as well as a number of houses. Belgian policealso raided two locations over the border. Police seized a grenade launcher, a flame thrower, hand grenades, 20 hand guns, a machine pistol and €70,000 (US$103 285) in cash. A number of Hells Angels members were later imprisoned on charges of international trafficking of cocaine and ecstasy, the production and distribution of marijuana, money laundering and murder, after an investigation that lasted over a year.^[126]

In 2006 two Dutch newspapers reported that the Amsterdam whorehouse Yab Yum had long been controlled by the Dutch Hells Angels, who had taken over after a campaign of threats and blackmailing.^[127] The city council of Amsterdam revoked the license of Yab Yum in December 2007. During a subsequent trial the city's attorney repeated these allegations and the brothel's attorney denied them.^[128] The brothel was closed in January 2008.^[129]

[edit]Scandinavia

A gang war over drugs and turf between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos, known as the "Great Nordic Biker War", raged from 1994 until 1997 and ran across Norway, Sweden, Denmark and even parts of Finland and Estonia. By the end of the war, machine guns, hand grenades, rocket launchers and car bombs had been used as weapons, resulting in 11 murders, 74 attempted murders, and 96 wounded members of the involved motorcycle clubs. This led to fierce response from law enforcement and legislators, primarily in Denmark. A law was passed that banned motorcycle clubs from owning or renting property for their club activities. The law has subsequently been repealed on constitutional grounds.^[130]

In 2007, a Hells Angels-associated gang named Altid Klar-81 ("Altid Klar" is Danish for "Always Ready" and 81 is synonymous with the letters HA) was formed in Denmark to combatimmigrant street gangs in a feud over the lucrative illegal hash market. AK81 has been recruiting much quicker than the mainstream Hells Angels as members are not required to own a motorcycle or wear a patch, and racial tensions are running high in parts of Denmark.^[131] On August 14, 2008, Osman Nuri Dogan, a 19-year-old Turk, was shot and killed by an AK81 member in Tingbjerg.^[132] Later that year, on October 8, there was a shoot-out between AK81 members and a group of immigrants in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, during which one man was injured.^[133]

The Hells Angels also featured in the ITV documentary Police Camera Action! on the 1996 episode International Patrol where footage from the Rigspolitiet was shown of an individual carrying a knife, who was later arrested.

[edit]Southeast Europe and Turkey

On July 30, 2010, the European police agency Europol issued a warning on an increase of Hells Angels and Bandidos activities in Southeast Europe and Turkey.^[134]

[edit]Spain

Spanish police carried out a number of raids against the club on April 21, 2009, arresting 22 members in Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, Madrid and Las Palmas. Two of them were members of the club's Italian chapters. The Hells Angels arrested were charged with drugs and weapons trafficking, and extortion. Law enforcement seized military-style weapons and ammunition, bulletproof vests, a kilo of cocaine, neo-Nazi literature and €200,000 in cash during the searches of 30 properties. One suspect also attempted to use a firearm against police officers as he was being arrested.^[135] It was part of an investigation into the club, known as Valkiria, which began in October 2007 and also led to eight arrests in December 2007.^[136] Prior to this, the only operation against the club in Spain took place in March 1996.^[137]

[edit]United Kingdom

In August 2007 a Hells Angels member, Gerry Tobin, was shot dead on the M40 motorway by members of a rival motorcycle gang, the Outlaws.^[138] Those responsible received life sentences in November 2008. Tobin was returning home to London, where he worked as a Harley service manager, from the Bulldog Bash.

In January 2008, there was a brawl between up to 30 Hells Angels and Outlaws at Birmingham International Airport. Police recovered various weapons including Knuckledusters,hammers and a meat cleaver. Seven Outlaw members and five Hells Angels faced trial as a result.^[139]

[edit]United States

[edit]California

Altamont

One major event in Hells Angels' history involved the December 6, 1969, Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway — partially documented in the 1970 film Gimme Shelter^[140] — featuring Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and The Rolling Stones. The Grateful Dead were also scheduled to perform but canceled at the last minute owing to the ensuing circumstances at the venue. The Angels had been hired by The Rolling Stones as crowd security for a fee which was said to include $500 worth of beer.^[141] The Angels parked their motorcycles in front of the stage in order to create a buffer between the stage and the tens of thousands of concertgoers.

Crowd management proved to be difficult, resulting in both spectator injury and death. Over the course of the day, the Hells Angels became increasingly agitated as the crowd turned more aggressive. At a later murder trial of Hells Angel Alan Passaro, a security guard testified he heard the Hells Angels being summoned over the loudspeakers when the helicopter bearing The Rolling Stones landed. Debate after the event was over whether or not the Hells Angels were to manage security for the entire concert or just for The Rolling Stones. Sam Cutler, the Stones' agent who had arranged to pay the Hells Angels said their role was as bodyguards to the Rolling Stones. This was denied by the Hells Angels as well as others connected to the event. During the opening act of Santana, the Hells Angels surged into the crowd numerous times to keep persons off stage.^[142]

By the time The Rolling Stones took stage, numerous incidents of violence had occurred both between the Hells Angels and internally within the crowd, not the least of which featured a circus performer weighing over 350 pounds stripping naked and running amok amid the concertgoers. Audience members attempted to detain him. Eventually, the irate man was subdued after Angels intervened with fists and makeshift weapons, while a crowd of 4,000–5,000 looked on from the edge of the stage.

The aggression did not subside there. After an Angel's motorcycle was toppled, club members' tempers continued to escalate, their ire spread wide between the audience and performers alike. At one point, Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane was knocked unconscious following an altercation with an Angel, an event later depicted in Gimme Shelter. The Grateful Dead refused to play following the Balin incident, and left the venue.

A shoving match erupted near the stage during a rendition of the song "Under My Thumb".^[143]^[144]^[145] A man in the audience named Meredith Hunter produced a handgun.^[146]^[147]Hunter was stabbed to death. A Hells Angel member, Alan Passaro, was later acquitted of murder on grounds of self-defense. After the concert and critical media attention given to the HAMC, Sonny Barger went on a local California radio station to justify the actions of the Hells Angels and to present their side of the story. He claimed that violence only started once the crowd began vandalizing the Hells Angels' motorcycles. Barger would later claim that Meredith fired a shot which struck a Hells Angels member with what he described as "just a flesh wound."^[148]

In 2005, after a two year exhaustive cold-case renewal of the file, the Alameda County District Attorney's office permanently closed the case. An enhanced and slowed down version of the original film footage was produced for the police, and after examining it Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Dudek said Passaro, who died in 1985, was the only person to stab Hunter and he did so only after Hunter pointed a handgun at the stage where the Stones were performing.

Alan Passaro is the only person who stabbed Meredith Hunter, Dudek said, adding that Passaro's lawyer confirmed his client was the sole assailant. "Passaro acted with a knife to stop Meredith Hunter from shooting."

In addition, enhanced and slowed-down footage from the film shows Hunter brandishing the handgun just before Passaro stabs him.^[149]

[edit]Nevada

River Run Riot

The River Run Riot occurred on April 27, 2002, at the Harrah's Casino & Hotel in Laughlin, Nevada. Members of the Hells Angels and the Mongols motorcycle clubs fought each other on the casino floor. As a result, Mongol Anthony Barrera, 43, was stabbed to death, and two Hells Angels, Jeramie Bell, 27, and Robert Tumelty, 50, were shot to death. On February 23, 2007 Hells Angels members James Hannigan and Rodney Cox were sentenced to two years in prison. Cox and Hannigan were captured on videotape confronting Mongols members inside the casino. A Hells Angel member can be clearly seen on the casino security videotape performing a front kick on a Mongol biker member, causing the ensuing melee.

However, prior to this altercation, several incidents of harassment and provocation were noted in the Clark County, Nevada Grand Jury hearings as having been perpetrated upon The Hells Angels. Members of the Mongols accosted a vendor's table selling Hells Angels trademarked items, had surrounded a Hells Angel and demanded he remove club clothing. In addition, nine witnesses claimed the fight began when a Mongol kicked a member of the Hells Angels. Regardless of which minor physical incident can be said to have "caused the melee", it is clear that The Hells Angels had come to confront the Mongols concerning their actions.

Attorneys for the Hells Angels claimed that the Hells Angels were defending themselves from an attack initiated by the Mongols.

Charges were dismissed against 36 other Hells Angels originally named in the indictment.^[150]

[edit]New York

Roberta Shalaby assault

On January 28, 2007 a woman named Roberta Shalaby was found badly beaten on the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' clubhouse at 77 East Third Street in the East Village, Manhattan. The resulting investigation by the NYPD has been criticized by the group for its intensity. The police were refused access to the Hells Angels clubhouse and responded by closing off the area, setting up sniper positions, and sending in an armored personnel carrier.^[151] After obtaining a warrant, the police searched the clubhouse and arrested one Hells Angel who was later released. The group claims to have no connection with the beating of Shalaby. Five security cameras cover the entrance to the New York chapter's East 3rd Street club house, but the NY HAMC maintains nobody knows how Shalaby was beaten nearly to death at their front door. A club lawyer said they intended to sue the city of New York for false arrest and possible civil rights violations.^[152]

[edit]Ohio

On February 27, 1988 David Hartlaub was murdered in his van at a bank parking lot close by the Musicland record store that he managed. He was dropping off the nightly deposit. The bag contained about $4000 in cash and was not taken. Three members of Hells Angels motorcycle gang; Wayne Yee, Mark Verdi, and John Ray Bonds were carrying out a hit. Cleveland Hells Angels were planning to retaliate against a Sandusky Outlaw gang member for the Joliet, IL. shooting of an Hells Angels member the previous year, at which Bonds had been present. The Outlaw member drove a van almost identical to Hartlaub's. The trio mistook Hartalub's van for their enemies and shot and killed him by mistake. Both the gun and the van's carpet were spattered with blood, allowing police to use DNA evidence, and discovered that John Ray Bonds was the shooter who had hid inside Hartlaub's van and was waiting to kill him. He shot him with a MAC-11 9-mm semi-automatic pistol fitted with a homemade silencer. Bond's DNA profile analyzed by the FBI matched the bloodstains found in Yee's car and based on this they were able to use it as key evidence. This was one of the first cases of DNA being used for criminal conviction. The trial and legal wranglers lasted nearly two years and ended in long prison terms for all three Hells Angels members, who may remain in prison on sentences up to life.^[153]

[edit]Washington

Michael Walsh murder, racketeering

In 2001 Hells Angels Rodney Lee Rollness (Former Hells Angel) and Joshua Binder murdered Michael "Santa" Walsh, who had allegedly falsely claimed to be a member of the Hells Angels.^[154] Paul Foster, hoping to join the Hells Angels, aided in the murder by luring Walsh to a party at his house and helping cover up the crime.^[155] West Coast leader Richard "Smilin' Rick" Fabel, along with Rollness and Binder, were also convicted of various racketeering offenses

Burkina Faso

2011-04-15T20:34:00.001+07:00

Burkina Faso (ⁱ /bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH-soh; French: [byʁkina faso]) – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is alandlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo andGhana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.

Its size is 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on August 4, 1984, by President Thomas Sankara to mean "the land of upright people" in Mòoré andDioula, the major native languages of the country. Figuratively, "Burkina" may be translated, "men of integrity," from the Mòoré language, and "Faso" means "father's house" in Dioula. The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè ( /bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-KEE-nə-bay).

Burkina Faso was populated between 14,000 and 5000 BC by hunter-gatherers in the country's northwestern region. Farm settlements appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC. What is now central Burkina Faso was principally composed of Mossi kingdoms. These Mossi Kingdoms would become a French protectorate in 1896. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes until arriving at its current form, a semi-presidential republic. The president is Blaise Compaoré.

Burkina Faso's capital is Ouagadougou. It is a member of the African Union, Community of Sahel-Saharan States, La Francophonie,Organization of the Islamic Conference and Economic Community of West African States.

[edit]History

Main article: History of Burkina Faso

[edit]Early history

The territory of today's Burkina Faso was populated early, between 14,000 and 5000 BC, by hunter-gatherers in the northwestern part of the country, whose tools, such as scrapers, chisels and arrowheads, were discovered in 1973 by Simran Nijjar. Settlements with farmers appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC. On the basis of traces of the farmers' structures, the settlements appear to have been permanent. The use of iron, ceramics and polished stone developed between 1500 and 1000 BC, as well as a preoccupation with spiritual matters, as shown by burial remains.

Relics of the Dogon are found in Burkina Faso's north and northwest regions. Sometime between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Dogon left the area to settle in the cliffs of Bandiagara. Elsewhere, the remains of high walls are localized in the southwest of Burkina Faso (as well as in the Côte d'Ivoire), but the people who built them have not yet been identified.

The central part of Burkina Faso included a number of Mossi kingdoms, the most powerful of which were those of Wagadogo (Ouagadougou) and Yatenga. These kingdoms emerged probably in the early sixteenth century from obscure origins veiled by legend featuring a heterogeneous set of warrior figures.^[5]

[edit]From colony to independence

Traditional homes in south-east Burkina Faso

After a decade of intense rivalry and competition between the English and the French, waged through treaty-making expeditions under military or civilian explorers, the Mossi kingdom of Ouagadougou was defeated by French colonial forces and became a French protectorate in 1896. The eastern region and the western region, where a standoff against the forces of the powerful ruler Samori Ture complicated the situation, came under French occupation in 1897. By 1898, the majority of the territory corresponding to Burkina Faso today was nominally conquered; however, control of many parts remained uncertain.

The French and English convention of 14 June 1898 ended the scramble between the two colonial powers and drew the borders between the countries' colonies. On the French side, a war of conquest against local communities and political powers continued for about five years. In 1904, the largely pacified territories of the Volta basin were integrated into the Upper Senegal and Niger colony of French West Africa as part of the reorganization of the French West African colonial empire. The colony had its capital in Bamako.

Draftees from the territory participated in the European fronts of World War 1 in the battalions of the Senegalese Rifles. Between 1915 and 1916, the districts in the western part of what is now Burkina Faso and the bordering eastern fringe of Mali became the stage of one of the most important armed oppositions to colonial government, known as the Volta-Bani War.^[6] The French government finally suppressed the movement, but only after suffering defeats and being forced to gather the largest expeditionary force of its colonial history up to that point. Armed opposition also wracked the Sahelian north when the Tuareg and allied groups of the Dori region ended their truce with the government.

French Upper Volta was established on March 1, 1919. This move was a result of French fears of the recurrence of armed uprising along with economic considerations, and to bolster its administration, the colonial government separated the present territory of Burkina Faso from Upper Senegal and Niger. The new colony was named Haute Volta and François Charles Alexis Édouard Hesling became its first governor.Hesling initiated an ambitious road-making program and promoted the growth of cotton for export. The cotton policy – based on coercion– failed, and revenue stagnated. The colony was later dismantled on September 5, 1932, being split up between the Côte d'Ivoire, French Sudan and Niger. Côte d'Ivoire received the largest share, which contained most of the population as well as the cities of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.

Children of the 1983–1987 revolution

The decision to split the colony was reversed during the intense anti-colonial agitation that followed the end of World War II. On September 4, 1947, the colony was revived as a part of the French Union, with its previous boundaries. On 11 December 1958, it achieved self-government and became the Republic of Upper Volta and a member of the Franco-African Community. A revision in the organization of French Overseas Territories began with the passage of the Basic Law (Loi Cadre) of July 23, 1956. This act was followed by reorganizational measures approved by the French parliament early in 1957 to ensure a large degree of self-government for individual territories. Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French community on December 11, 1958. Full independence from France was attained in 1960.

[edit]Upper Volta

Main article: Republic of Upper Volta

The Republic of Upper Volta (French: République de Haute-Volta) was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within theFrench Community. The name Upper Volta indicated that the country contains the upper part of the Volta River system. The river's three tributaries are called the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta, and the colors of the national flag corresponded to these parts of the river system.

Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union. On August 5, 1960, it attained full independence from France. The first president, Maurice Yaméogo, was the leader of the Voltaic Democratic Union (UDV). The 1960 constitution provided for election by universal suffrage of a president and a national assembly for five-year terms. Soon after coming to power, Yaméogo banned all political parties other than the UDV. The government lasted until 1966 when after much unrest—mass demonstrations and strikes by students, labor unions, and civil servants—the military intervened.

The military coup deposed Yaméogo, suspended the constitution, dissolved the National Assembly, and placed Lt. Col. Sangoulé Lamizana at the head of a government of senior army officers. The army remained in power for four years, and on June 14, 1970, the Voltans ratified a new constitution that established a four-year transition period toward complete civilian rule. Lamizana remained in power throughout the 1970s as president of military or mixed civil-military governments. After conflict over the 1970 constitution, a new constitution was written and approved in 1977, and Lamizana was reelected by open elections in 1978.

Lamizana's government faced problems with the country's traditionally powerful trade unions, and on November 25, 1980, Col. Saye Zerbo overthrew President Lamizana in a bloodless coup. Colonel Zerbo established the Military Committee of Recovery for National Progress as the supreme governmental authority, thus eradicating the 1977 constitution.

Colonel Zerbo also encountered resistance from trade unions and was overthrown two years later, on November 7, 1982, by Maj. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo and the Council of Popular Salvation (CSP). The CSP continued to ban political parties and organizations, yet promised a transition to civilian rule and a new constitution.

Factional infighting developed between moderates in the CSP and the radicals, led by Capt. Thomas Sankara, who was appointed prime minister in January 1983. The internal political struggle and Sankara's leftist rhetoric led to his arrest and subsequent efforts to bring about his release, directed by Capt. Blaise Compaoré. This release effort resulted in yet another military coup d'état on August 4, 1983.

After the coup, Sankara formed the National Council for the Revolution (CNR), with himself as president. Sankara also established Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) to "mobilize the masses" and implement the CNR's revolutionary programs. The CNR, whose exact membership remained secret until the end, contained two small intellectual Marxist-Leninist groups. Sankara, Compaore, Capt. Henri Zongo, and Maj. Jean-Baptiste Lingani—all leftist military officers—dominated the regime.

On August 4, 1984, as a final result of President Sankara's zealous activities, the country's name was eventually changed from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which translates to "land of honest people".^[7]

[edit]Burkina Faso

On October 15, 1987 Sankara was killed by an armed gang with twelve other officials in a coup d'état organised by his former colleague, Blaise Compaoré. Deterioration in relations with neighbouring countries was one of the reasons given, with Compaore stating that Sankara jeopardised foreign relations with former colonial power France and neighbouring Ivory Coast. Prince Johnson, a former Liberian warlord allied to Charles Taylor, told Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that it was engineered by Charles Taylor. After the coup and although Sankara was known to be dead, some CDRs mounted an armed resistance to the army for several days.

Sankara's body was dismembered and he was quickly buried in an unmarked grave, while his widow and two children fled the nation. Compaoré immediately reversed the nationalizations, overturned nearly all of Sankara's policies, returned the country back under the IMF fold, and ultimately spurned most of Sankara's legacy. As of 2010, Compaoré is entering his 23rd year in power. He "has become immensely wealthy" and purchased a presidential plane to reflect his personal prestige, while landlocked Burkina Faso ranks as the third least developed country in the world.

In February-April 2011, the death of a schoolboy provokes an uprising in all the country, which is coupled with a military mutiny and with a strike of the magistrates. See Burkina uprising^(fr).

[edit]Politics

Main article: Politics of Burkina Faso

Current prime minister Tertius Zongo

The incumbent Blaise Compaoré seized power in a coup d'état in 1987, betraying his long-time friend and ally Thomas Sankara, who was killed in the coup. The constitution of 2 June 1991 established a semi-presidential government with a parliament which can be dissolved by the President of the Republic, who is elected for a term of seven years. In 2000, however, the constitution was amended to reduce the presidential term to five years. The amendment took effect during the 2005 elections. The amendment also would have prevented the incumbent president,Blaise Compaoré, from being reelected; however, notwithstanding a challenge by other presidential candidates, the constitutional council ruled in October 2005 that because Compaoré was the sitting president in 2000, the amendment would not apply to him until the end of his second term in office. This cleared the way for his candidacy in the 2005 election. On 13 November, Compaoré was reelected in a landslide because of a divided political opposition.

The parliament consists of one chamber known as the National Assembly which has 111 seats with members elected to serve five year terms. There is also a constitutional chamber, composed of ten members, and an economic and social council whose roles are purely consultative.

Political freedoms are severely restricted in Burkina Faso, with human rights organisations decrying numerous acts of state-sponsored violence against journalists and other politically active members of society.

[edit]Regions, provinces, and departments

Main articles: Regions of Burkina Faso, Provinces of Burkina Faso, and Communes of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is divided into thirteen regions, forty-five provinces, and 301 departments. The regions are:

[edit]Military, police, and security forces

Main article: Military of Burkina Faso

The country employs numerous police and security forces, generally modeled after organizations used by French police, and France continues to provide significant support and training to police forces in Burkina Faso.^[8] The Gendarmerie Nationale is organized along military lines, with most police services delivered at the brigade level.^[9] The Gendarmerie operates under the authority of the Minister of Defence, and its members are employed chiefly in the rural areas and along borders.^[9]

There is also a municipal police force controlled by the Ministry of Territorial Administration; a national police force controlled by the Ministry of Security; and an autonomous Presidential Security Regiment (Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle, or RSP), a ‘palace guard’ devoted to the protection of the President of the Republic.^[9] Both the gendarmerie and the national police are subdivided into both administrative and judicial police functions; the former are detailed to protect public order and provide security, the latter are charged with criminal investigations.^[9]

All foreigners and citizens are required to carry photo ID passports, or other forms of identification or risk a fine, and police spot identity checks are commonplace for persons traveling by auto, bush-taxi, or bus.^[10]^[11]

The army consists of some 6,000 men in voluntary service, augmented by a part-time national People's Militia composed of civilians between 25 and 35 years of age who are trained in both military and civil duties. According to Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessment, Burkina Faso's Army is small and poorly equipped, but has numbers of wheeled light-armour vehicles, and may have developed useful combat expertise through interventions in Liberia and elsewhere in Africa.

The army is relatively well-funded and motivated by African standards, although undermanned for its force structure. The regular army is believed to be neglected in relation to the élite Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) and reports have emerged in recent years of disputes over pay and conditions.^[12] There is an air force with some 19 operational aircraft, but no navy, as the country is landlocked. Military expenses constitute approximately 1.2% of the nation’s GDP.

[edit]Geography and climate

Satellite image of Burkina Faso

Main articles: Geography of Burkina Faso and Climate of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso lies mostly between latitudes 9° and 15°N (a small area is north of 15°), and longitudes 6°W and 3°E.

It is made up of two major types of countryside. The larger part of the country is covered by a peneplain, which forms a gently undulating landscape with, in some areas, a few isolated hills, the last vestiges of a Precambrian massif. The southwest of the country, on the other hand, forms a sandstone massif, where the highest peak, Ténakourou, is found at an elevation of 749 meters (2,457 ft). The massif is bordered by sheer cliffs up to 150 meters (492 ft) high. The average altitude of Burkina Faso is 400 meters (1,312 ft) and the difference between the highest and lowest terrain is no greater than 600 meters (1,969 ft). Burkina Faso is therefore a relatively flat country.

The country owes its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon). The Black Volta is one of the country's only two rivers which flow year-round, the other being the Komoé, which flows to the southwest. The basin of the Niger River also drains 27% of the country's surface.

The Niger's tributaries – the Béli, the Gorouol, the Goudébo and the Dargol – are seasonal streams and flow for only four to six months a year. They still, however, can cause large floods. The country also contains numerous lakes – the principal ones are Tingrela, Bam and Dem. The country contains large ponds, as well, such as Oursi, Béli, Yomboli and Markoye. Water shortages are often a problem, especially in the north of the country.

Savannah near the Gbomblora Department, on the road from Gaoua toBatié.

Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons. In the rainy season, the country receives between 600 and 900 millimeters (23.6 and 35.4 in) of rainfall; in the dry season, the harmattan – a hot dry wind from the Sahara – blows. The rainy season lasts approximately four months, May/June to September, and is shorter in the north of the country. Three climatic zones can be defined: the Sahel, the Sudan-Sahel, and the Sudan-Guinea. The Sahel in the north typically receives less than 600 millimeters (23.6 in) ^[13] of rainfall per year and has high temperatures, 5–47 degrees Celsius (41–116.6 °F).

A relatively dry tropical savanna, the Sahel extends beyond the borders of Burkina Faso, from the Horn of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the Sahara to its north and the fertile region of the Sudan to the South. Situated between 11°3' and 13°5' north latitude, the Sudan-Sahel region is a transitional zone with regards to rainfall and temperature. Further to the south, the Sudan-Guinea zone receives more than 900 millimeters (35.4 in)^[13] of rain each year and has cooler average temperatures.

Burkina Faso's natural resources include manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice, salt and small deposits of gold.

Burkina Faso's fauna and flora are protected in two national parks and several reserves: see List of national parks in Africa, Nature reserves of Burkina Faso.

[edit]Economy

Shop in Burkina Faso.

Main article: Economy of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has one of the lowest GDP per capita figures in the world: $1,200.^[14] Agriculture represents 32% of its gross domestic product and occupies 80% of the working population. It consists mostly of livestock but also, especially in the south and southwest, of growingsorghum, pearl millet, maize (corn), peanuts, rice and cotton.

A large part of the economic activity of the country is funded by international aid.

Remittances used to be an important source of income to Burkina Faso until the 1990s, when unrest in Côte d'Ivoire, the main destination for Burkinabe emigrants, forced many to return home. Remittances now account for less than 1% of GDP.

Burkina Faso is part of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UMEOA) and has thus adopted the CFA Franc, which is issued by the Central Bank of the West African States (BCEAO), situated in Dakar, Senegal. The BCEAO is not only responsible for the monetary and reserve policy of the member states, but also for the regulation and oversight of financial sector and banking activity. A legal framework regarding licensing, bank activities, organizational and capital requirements, inspections and sanctions (all applicable to all countries of the Union) is in place and underwent significant reforms in 1999. Micro-finance institutions are governed by a separate law, which regulates micro-finance activities in all WAEMU countries. The insurance sector is regulated through the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (CIMA).^[15]

There is mining of copper, iron, manganese and, gold. These operations provide employment, international aid, and in some cases hospitals at mines for the public.

Burkina Faso also hosts the International Art and Craft Fair, Ouagadougou, better known by its French name as SIAO, Le Salon International de l' Artisanat de Ouagadougou, one of the most important African handicraft fairs.

Burkina Faso is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).^[16]

[edit]Demographics

United Nations Square in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Main articles: Demographics of Burkina Faso and Languages of Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso's 15.3 million people belong to two major West African cultural groups—the Voltaic and the Mande (whose common language isDioula). The Voltaic Mossi make up about one-half of the population. The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso from Ghana and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years. Predominantly farmers, the Mossi kingdom is still led by the Mogho Naba, whose court is in Ouagadougou.^[17]

Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state. Most of Burkina's people are concentrated in the south and center of the country, sometimes exceeding 48 per square kilometer (125/sq. mi.). Hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe migrate to Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, many for seasonal agricultural work. These flows of workers are obviously affected by external events; the September 2002 coup attempt in Côte d'Ivoire and the ensuing fighting there have meant that hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe returned to Burkina Faso.^[17]

[edit]Health

Main article: Health in Burkina Faso

Average life expectancy at birth in 2004 was estimated at 52 for females and 50 for males.^[18] The median age of its inhabitants is 16.7. The estimated population growth rate is 3.109%.^[1] Central government spending on health was 3 % in 2001.^[19] As of 2009, it was estimated that there were as few as 10 physicians per 100,000 people.^[18] In addition there were only 41 nurses, and 13 midwives per 100,000 people.^[18] Demographic and Health Surveys has completed three surveys in Burkina Faso since 1993 and is currently in the process of performing another.^[20]

According to the World Health Organization in 2005 an estimated 72.5% of Burkina Faso's girls and women have suffered female genital mutilation.^[21]

[edit]Religion

The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso

Cathedral of Ouagadougou

Main article: Religion in Burkina Faso

Exact statistics on religion in Burkina Faso are approximate because Islam and Christianity are consistently practiced in tandem with indigenous religious beliefs, the Government of Burkina Faso stated in its most recent census (2006) that 60.5% of the population practiceIslam, and that the majority of this group belong to the Sunni branch,^[22]^[23] while a growing minority adheres to the Shi'a branch. A significant numbers of Sunni Muslims identify with the Tijaniyah Sufi order. The Government also estimated that some 23.2% are Christians (19% beingRoman Catholics and 4.2% members of various Protestant denominations), 15.3% follow Traditional indigenous beliefs, 0.6% have other religions, and 0.4% have none (atheism is virtually nonexistent).^[22]^[23]

A popular saying in Burkina Faso claims that "50% are Muslim, 50% are Christian, and 100% are animist". This shows the large level of acceptance of the various religions amongst each other. Even for Muslims and Christians, ancient animist rites are still highly valued. The Great Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso was built by people of all faiths working together.

[edit]Culture and cuisine

Main article: Culture of Burkina Faso

Cinema Sanyon in Bobo-Dioulasso.

Literature in Burkina Faso is based on the oral tradition, which remains important. In 1934, duringFrench occupation, Dim-Dolobsom Ouedraogo published his Maximes, pensées et devinettes mossi(Maximes, Thoughts and Riddles of the Mossi), a record of the oral history of the Mossi people.^[24]The oral tradition continued to have an influence on Burkinabè writers in the post-independence Burkina Faso of the 1960s, such as Nazi Boni and Roger Nikiema.^[25] The 1960s saw a growth in the number of playwrights being published.^[24] Since the 1970s, literature has developed in Burkina Faso with many more writers being published.^[26]

The theatre of Burkina Faso combines traditional Burkinabè performance with the colonial influences and post-colonial efforts to educate rural people to produce a distinctive national theatre. Traditional ritual ceremonies of the many ethnic groups in Burkina Faso have long involved dancing with masks. Western-style theatre became common during colonial times, heavily influenced by French theatre. With independence came a new style of theatre inspired by forum theatre aimed at educating and entertaining Burkina Faso's rural people.

The cuisine of Burkina Faso, typical of west African cuisine, is based around staple foods of sorghum, millet, rice, maize, peanuts, potatoes, beans, yams and okra.^[27] The most common sources of protein are chicken, chicken eggs and fresh water fish. A typical Burkinabè beverage is Banji or Palm Wine, which is fermented palm sap, and Zoom-kom. Especially the town of Banfora is known for its good quality Banji, though one should be wary of the Banji sold by hawkers as it is often not very fresh and may contain added water.

August 30, 2009, Burkina Faso experienced the worst flood in the country's recent history, leaving 150,000 people homeless, and more than 8 people dead. Burkina Faso people requested international aid to help the victims and rebuild the country. Japan, France, Ivory Coast and the European Union responded, while the Burkina American community requested that the president of the United States of America extend a helping hand to the victims of the flood.

[edit]Cinema

Main article: Cinema of Burkina Faso

The cinema of Burkina Faso is an important part of West African and African film industry.^[28] Burkina's contribution to African cinema started with the establishment of the film festival FESPACO (Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou), which was launched as a film week in 1969. Many of the nation's filmmakers are known internationally and have won international prizes. For many years the headquarters of the Federation of Panafrican Filmmakers (FEPACI) was in Ouagadougou, rescued in 1983 from a period of moribund inactivity by the enthusiastic support and funding of President Sankara (In 2006 the Secretariat of FEPACI moved to South Africa but the headquarters of the organization is still in Ouagaoudougou). Among the best known directors from Burkina Faso are: Gaston Kaboré, Idrissa Ouedraogo and Dani Kouyate,^[29] Burkina also produces popular television series such as Bobodjiouf. The internationally known filmmakers such as Ouedraogo, Kabore, Yameogo, and Kouyate also make popular television series.

[edit]Sports

Main article: Sport in Burkina Faso

Sport in Burkina Faso is widespread and includes football (soccer),basketball, cycling, Rugby union, handball, tennis, athletics, boxing and martial arts. Football is very popular in Burkina Faso, played both professionally, and informally in towns and villages across the country. The national team is nicknamed "Les Etalons" ("the Stallions") in reference to the legendary horse of Princess Yennenga. In 1998, Burkina Faso hosted the African Cup of Nations for which the Omnisport Stadium in Bobo-Dioulasso was built.The country is currently ranked 41st in the FIFA World Rankings.^[30]

[edit]Education

Main article: Education in Burkina Faso

School children in Dourtenga

Education in Burkina Faso is divided into primary, secondary and higher education.^[31] However schooling costs approximately CFA 50,000 ($97 USD) per year, which is far above the means of most Burkinabè families. Boys receive preference in schooling; as such, girls' education and literacy rates are far lower than their male counterparts. An increase in girls' schooling has been observed because of the government's policy of making school cheaper for girls and granting them more scholarships. In order to proceed from elementary to middle school, middle to high school or high school to college, national exams must be passed. Institutions of higher education include the University of Ouagadougou, The Polytechnical University in Bobo-Dioulasso and the University of Koudougou, which is also a teacher training institution. There are private colleges in the capital city of Ouagadougou but these are affordable by only a small portion of the population.

There is also an International School of Ouagadougou (ISO), which is an American-based private school located in Ouagadougou.

The United Nations Development Program Report ranks Burkina Faso as the country with the lowest level of literacy in the world, despite a concerted effort to double its literacy rate from 12.8% in 1990 to 25.3% in 2008.^[32]

[edit]National and independent media

Main article: Media of Burkina Faso

The nation's principal media outlet is its state-sponsored combined television and radio service, Radiodiffusion-Télévision Burkina (RTB).^[33] RTB broadcasts on two medium-wave (AM) and several FM frequencies. Besides RTB, there are also a number of privately owned sports, cultural, music, and religious FM radio stations. RTB also maintains a worldwide short-wave news broadcast (Radio Nationale Burkina) in the French language from the capital at Ouagadougou using a 100 kW transmitter on 4.815 and 5.030 MHz.^[34]

Attempts to develop an independent press and media in Burkina Faso have been intermittent. In 1998, investigative journalist Norbert Zongo, his brother Ernest, his driver, and another man were assassinated by unknown assailants, and the bodies burned. The crime was never solved.^[35] However, an independent Commission of Inquiry later concluded that Norbert Zongo was killed for political reasons because of his investigative work into the death of David Ouedraogo, a chauffeur who worked for François Compaoré, President Blaise Compaoré's brother.In January 1999, François Compaoré was charged with the murder of David Ouedraogo, who had died as a result of torture in January 1998. The charges were later dropped by a military tribunal after an appeal. In August 2000, five members of the President's personal security guard detail (Régiment de la Sécurité Présidentielle, or RSP) were charged with the murder of Ouedraogo. RSP members Marcel Kafando, Edmond Koama, and Ousseini Yaro, investigated as suspects in the Norbert Zongo assassination, were convicted in the Ouedraogo case and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.^[36]^[37]

Since the death of Norbert Zongo, several protests regarding the Zongo investigation and treatment of journalists have been prevented or dispersed by government police and security forces. In April 2007, popular radio reggae host Karim Sama, whose programs feature reggae songs interspersed with critical commentary on alleged government injustice and corruption, received several death threats.^[38] Sama's personal car was later burned outside the private radio station Ouaga FM by unknown vandals.^[39] In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote to President Compaoré to request his government investigate the sending of e-mailed death threats to journalists and radio commentators in Burkina Faso who were critical of the government.^[35] In December 2008, police in Ouagadougou questioned leaders of a protest march that called for a renewed investigation into the unsolved Zongo assassination. Among the marchers was Jean-Claude Meda, the president of the Association of Journalists of Burkina Faso

coachella

2011-04-15T20:32:00.000+07:00

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella or Coachella Festival) is a three-day (formerly a one or two-day) annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice (a subsidiary of AEG Live) and held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley. The event features many genres of music including alternative rock, indie, and electronic music as well as large sculptural art. The event has several stages/tents set-up throughout the grounds, each playing live music continuously. The main stages are: Coachella Stage, Outdoor Theatre, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, and the Sahara Tent (2006 also saw the addition of a smaller Oasis Dome).

The Coachella Music Festival has a desert setting (the city of Indio is a part of the California Desert), with daytime temperatures frequently rising to over 100 °F (38 °C). The festival enjoys little cloud cover or shade. The temperature drops drastically after sunset.

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[edit]History

On the evening of November 5, 1993 the rock band Pearl Jam performed before almost 25,000 fans who stood and sat through the night on the lawns of Indio's historic and previously rock-festival free Empire Polo Club.^[1] Although band management had chosen this untested and under-developed site as part of the boycott of Ticketmaster and the Southern California auditoriums it controlled, the event established the new venue's suitability for large-scale rock events. Such suitability was not a given: the grounds, essentially one vast irrigated desert lawn, sit in one of America's hottest and driest spots, and the region's lightly populated towns, while having a history as resorts, are several hours' drive from regional population centers (San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix).

Six years later, on October 9 and 10, 1999 (a mere three months after the disastrous Woodstock 99 festival) the first actual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (usually abbreviated simply as "Coachella Fest") was held. Due to Woodstock 99's fires and riots, Coachella promoters weren't allowed to offer on site camping, a ban that continued until the 2002 festival.

About 25,000 people attended the two-day inaugural event, supporting headlining acts Beck, The Chemical Brothers, Tool, Morrissey, and Rage Against the Machine. Other acts includedJurassic 5, DJ Shadow, and Underworld. Originally, promoters had hoped to make the event three days (Friday-Sunday) and even considered the UK band Massive Attack to be the third day headliner - but those plans never came to fruition. The event went smoothly, with the biggest complaint being the blistering heat. It is reported, however, that the event failed to generate any profit, which nearly put an end to the festival.

No festival took place in 2000, likely due to the financial troubles of the inaugural festival. In 2001, however, festival organizers decided to give it another try. They decided to move the event to April (to avoid the intense heat of the late summer), and it was only scheduled for one day, most likely due to a tighter budget. However, the 2001 organizers once again ran into some trouble organizing the festival. Just months before the event was to occur, promoters still did not have a big headliner, and the festival was once again at risk of turning a net loss. In a surprise move, promoters turned to friend Perry Farrell, and were able to bring a reunited Jane's Addiction to the main stage as the event's headlining act.

Madonna performing at Coachella, 2006

In 2002, the event once again returned to the two-day format, and saw a reunited Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as headlining acts Björk and Oasis. The strong supporting acts helped prove to the community of Indio, California that the event was capable of bringing in money and ending without conflict.

Following the 2002 festival, Coachella began to generate large-scale interest, and the 2003 festival featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beastie Boys (as well as a reunited Iggy Pop and The Stooges) drew the largest crowd yet. (This record, however, was broken by Rage Against the Machine's 2007 reunion performance which drew nearly 100,000 attendees.) Around this time, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival began to develop worldwide interest.

The 2006 event, featuring a reunion of the Pixies, as well as Radiohead, Kraftwerk, The Cure and a number of other major bands, was the event's first sellout, with 50,000 tickets sold for each Saturday and Sunday. Since then, the festival has continued to generate large draws due to strong lineups from top to bottom, including such bands as Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Tool, Daft Punk, and Massive Attack.

The 2007 show was extended to three days and included headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, a reunited Rage Against the Machine, and Björk, with all three headlining for their second time. Other notable performers included Arcade Fire, which had made a memorable 2005 Coachella appearance, LCD Soundsystem, Manu Chao, a rare American performance by former Pulp-frontman Jarvis Cocker, and Scarlett Johansson singing with a reunited the Jesus and Mary Chain.

Sea of legs watching Grizzly Bear, 2010

The 2008 event did not sell out, for the first time since 2003, while featuring headliners Prince, Roger Waters, and Jack Johnson, along with notable rare appearances from Portishead, a reunited The Verve, Kraftwerk,Aphex Twin, a reunited Love and Rockets, and a reunited Swervedriver.

The 2009 event was hosted a week earlier than normal. The new dates were April 17, 18 and 19 with the third annual edition of the country-music Stagecoach Festival, to start the week after. The event featured notable performances such as Paul McCartney, The Cure, The Killers, My Bloody Valentine, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, M.I.A., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and rare appearances from artists Leonard Cohen and Throbbing Gristle.

From April 16–18, 2010 the 11th installment of Coachella drew a reported 75,000 spectators or more each day. Over the course of three days, the festival attracted an estimated average aggregate of 225,000 attendees, not 225,000 individuals as only 60,000+ 3 day pass tickets were sold. Headliners included Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz, along with LCD Soundsystem, a reunited Faith No More, a reunited Pavement, Thom Yorke of Radiohead and his live band Atoms for Peace, Tiesto, and supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. Other notable acts were Fever Ray, Porcupine Tree, deadmau5, La Roux,MGMT, Florence and the Machine, Spoon, Bassnectar, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, CéU, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Specials, a reunited Public Image Ltd., a reunited Orbital, a rarePlastikman live set from Richie Hawtin, Sly Stone, and David Guetta.

Each year, the festival also features interesting installation art and sculptures. Most of the pieces are interactive, and provide entertainment and eye candy for attendees walking throughout the Polo grounds. Some of the works were initially created for the Burning Man festival. In contrast to the largely non-repeating roster of musical artists represented at the festival, a few of the visual artists, such as Hotshot the Robot, Robochrist Industries, the Tesla Coil (Cauac), Cyclecide, and The Do LaB, along side avant-garde performance troupeLucent Dossier Experience, have appeared during several consecutive years at Coachella. Another installation to the art of Coachella includes the limited edition posters produced by poster artist Emek. Emek started designing posters for the festival in 2007 and has continued to do so each year since.

[edit]Camping

In 2003 Coachella started to include tent camping as an option for staying at the festival. The campground site is on an adjacent polo field next to the venue grounds. The campground has its own separate festival entrance on the southside of the venue. Goldenvoice/AEG Live contracted out Kevin Lyman, owner/promoter of Warped Tour, Taste of Chaos, and Mayhemfestivals, to coordinate and run the Campgrounds.^[2] Lyman's campground employees are usually his friends or employees from the Production Office of his tours. Lyman also has a series of interns come out from Citrus College, they are paid a minimal day rate and given free camping for helping work the grounds. The first year saw camping attendance around 10,000. For the 2007 festival, it was reported that camping attendance was in upwards of 17,000. The campground includes a karaoke lounge, general store, and shower trucks (semi trucks with around 6 showers in each trailer).^[3] Kevin Lyman was also contracted out to do the Stagecoach Festival camping, which is usually the weekend succeeding Coachella. 2010 introduced many new features to camping such as re-entry from the campsite to the festival grounds, parking your car next to your tent and a limited number of recreational vehiclecamping spots.

[edit]Sustainability

The Coachella festival tries to reduce its carbon footprint on the environment every year which involves not just employees but also attendees. The festival highly promotes carpooling for its attendees which include rewards for people who participate. For attendees who choose to carpool with four or more people in one car and have the word "carpoolchella" displayed somewhere on their car they have a chance to be selected by a secret spotter for a chance to win VIP tickets/pass for Life for everyone in the car. In 2007 Coachella teamed up with Global Inheritance to start a 10 for 1 recycling program, in which anyone who brings ten empty water bottles will be given a fresh new water bottle for free. In 2009 the festival introduced refillable water bottles for attendees to purchase for ten dollars in which purchasers would get free refills at a number of refill stations inside the festival and within the campgrounds.

[edit]Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival by year

[edit]Musicians reunited at Coachella

Main article: Musical Reunifications at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

[edit]Performers who have played more than once

Main article: List of artists who have played at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on multiple occasions

In order to keep each festival unique and fresh, the organizers of Coachella tend to book performers who have not appeared at the festival previously. To date, there have been only 22 individuals or artists who have played at Coachella more than twice.

Bac (Blood alcohol content)

2011-04-15T20:30:00.000+07:00

lood alcohol content, or BAC, (also called Blood alcohol content, blood alcohol concentration, blood ethanol concentration, Blood Alcohol Level (BAL)) is most commonly used as a metric of intoxication for legal or medical purposes. It is usually expressed as a fractional percentage in terms of volume of alcohol per liter of blood in the body. That is commonly expressed without units, or as a decimal with 2-3 significant digits followed by a percentage sign, which means 1/100 of the previous number (e.g., 0.0008 expressed as a percentage = 0.08%). Each country or state may define BAC differently. For example, the U.S. state of California defines their BAC as a ratio of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood,^[1] which is equal to grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood.

Since measurement must be accurate and inexpensive, several measurement techniques are used as proxies to approximate the true parts per million measure. Some of the most common are listed here: (1) Mass of alcohol per volume of exhaled breath (e.g. 0.38 mg/L; see also breath gas analysis), (2) Mass per volume of blood in the body (e.g.: 0.08 g/dL), and (3) Mass of alcohol per mass of the body (e.g.: 0.0013 g/Kg).

The number of drinks consumed is often a poor measure of blood alcohol content, largely because of variations in weight, sex and body fat.

An ethanol level of 0.10% is equal to 22 mmol/l or 100 mg/dl of blood alcohol.^[2]^[3] This same 0.10% BAC also equates to 0.10 g/dL of blood alcohol or 0.10 g/210L of exhaled breath alcohol or 0.476 mg/L of exhaled breath alcohol. Likewise, 0.10 mg/L of exhaled breath alcohol converts to 0.02% BAC, 0.022 g/dL of blood alcohol or 0.022 g/210L of exhaled breath alcohol.

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[edit]Effects at different levels

Progressive effects of alcohol^[4]
BAC (% by vol.)	Behavior	Impairment
0.010–0.029	Average individual appears normal	Subtle effects that can be detected with special tests
0.030–0.059	Mild euphoria Sense of well-being Relaxation Joyousness Talkativeness Decreased inhibition	Concentration
0.06–0.09	Blunted feelings Disinhibition Extroversion	Reasoning Depth perception Peripheral vision Glare recovery
0.10–0.19	Over-expression Emotional swings Angriness or sadness Boisterousness Super human feeling Decreased libido	Reflexes Reaction time Gross motor control Staggering Slurred speech
0.20–0.29	Stupor Loss of understanding Impaired sensations	Severe motor impairment Loss of consciousness Memory
0.30–0.39	Severe CNS depression Unconsciousness Death is possible	Bladder function Breathing Heart rate
≥0.40	General lack of behavior Unconsciousness Death	Breathing Heart rate

Standard drink chart (US)^[5]
Alcohol	Amount (ml)	Amount (fl oz)	Serving size	Alcohol (% by vol.)	Alcohol
80 proof liquor	44	1.5	One shot	40	0.6 US fl oz (18 ml)
Table wine	148	5	One glass	12	0.6 US fl oz (18 ml)
Beer	355	12	One can	5	0.6 US fl oz (18 ml)

Male Female	Approximate blood alcohol percentage (by vol.)^[6] One drink has 0.5 US fl oz (15 ml) alcohol by volume
Drinks	Body weight
	40 kg	45 kg	55 kg	64 kg	73 kg	82 kg	91 kg	100 kg	109 kg
	90 lb	100 lb	120 lb	140 lb	160 lb	180 lb	200 lb	220 lb	240 lb
1	– 0.05	0.04 0.05	0.03 0.04	0.03 0.03	0.02 0.03	0.02 0.03	0.02 0.02	0.02 0.02	0.02 0.02
2	– 0.10	0.08 0.09	0.06 0.08	0.05 0.07	0.05 0.06	0.04 0.05	0.04 0.05	0.03 0.04	0.03 0.04
3	– 0.15	0.11 0.14	0.09 0.11	0.08 0.10	0.07 0.09	0.06 0.08	0.06 0.07	0.05 0.06	0.05 0.06
4	– 0.20	0.15 0.18	0.12 0.15	0.11 0.13	0.09 0.11	0.08 0.10	0.08 0.09	0.07 0.08	0.06 0.08
5	– 0.25	0.19 0.23	0.16 0.19	0.13 0.16	0.12 0.14	0.11 0.13	0.09 0.11	0.09 0.10	0.08 0.09
6	– 0.30	0.23 0.27	0.19 0.23	0.16 0.19	0.14 0.17	0.13 0.15	0.11 0.14	0.10 0.12	0.09 0.11
7	– 0.35	0.26 0.32	0.22 0.27	0.19 0.23	0.16 0.20	0.15 0.18	0.13 0.16	0.12 0.14	0.11 0.13
8	– 0.40	0.30 0.36	0.25 0.30	0.21 0.26	0.19 0.23	0.17 0.20	0.15 0.18	0.14 0.17	0.13 0.15
9	– 0.45	0.34 0.41	0.28 0.34	0.24 0.29	0.21 0.26	0.19 0.23	0.17 0.20	0.15 0.19	0.14 0.17
10	– 0.51	0.38 0.45	0.31 0.38	0.27 0.32	0.23 0.28	0.21 0.25	0.19 0.23	0.17 0.21	0.16 0.19
Subtract approximately 0.01 every 40 minutes after drinking.

[edit]Units of measurement

There are several different units in use around the world for defining blood alcohol concentration. Each is defined as either a mass of alcohol per volume of blood or a mass of alcohol per mass of blood (never a volume per volume). 1 milliliter of blood is approximately equivalent to 1.06 grams of blood. Because of this, units by volume are similar but not identical to units by mass. In the U.S. the concentration unit 1% w/v (percent weight/volume, equivalent to 10g/l or 1g per 100ml) is in use^[7]. This is not to be confused with the amount of alcohol measured on the breath, as with a breathalyzer. The amount of alcohol measured on the breath is generally accepted to be proportional to the amount of alcohol present in the blood at a rate of 1:2100. Therefore, a breathalyzer measurement of 0.10 mg/L of breath alcohol converts to 0.021 g/210L of breath alcohol, or 0.021 g/dL of blood alcohol (the units of the BAC in the United States).

Unit	Dimensions	Equivalent to	Used in
1 percent (%) BAC by volume	1/100 g/mL = 1 cg/mL	9.43 mg/g, 217.4 mmol/L	United States, Australia, Canada, Spain
1 permille (‰) BAC by volume	1/1000 g/mL = 1 mg/mL	0.943 mg/g, 21.7 mmol/L	Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Turkey
1 basis point (‱) BAC by volume	1/10,000 g/mL = 100 μg/mL	94.3 ppm, 2.17 mmol/L	Britain
1 permille (‰) BAC by mass	1/1000 g/g = 1 mg/g	1.06 mg/mL, 23 mmol/L	Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany
1 part per million (ppm)	1/1,000,000 g/g = 1 μg/g	1.06 μg/mL, 23 μmol/L

[edit]Legal limits

For purposes of law enforcement, blood alcohol content is used to define intoxication and provides a rough measure of impairment. Although the degree of impairment may vary among individuals with the same blood alcohol content, it can be measured objectively and is therefore legally useful and difficult to contest in court. Most countries disallow operation of motor vehicles and heavy machinery above prescribed levels of blood alcohol content. Operation of boats and aircraft are also regulated.

The alcohol level at which a person is considered to be legally impaired varies by country. The list below gives limits by country. These are typically blood alcohol content limits for the operation of a vehicle. In the United States, the legal limit can vary by state but (for all states as of 2011) is 0.08 blood alcohol content as measured by a breath device, urinalysis or blood test. This legal limit is down from 0.15 just a few decades previously.^[8]

Zero tolerance, (It is illegal to have any alcohol in your blood while driving in these countries.)

Since there is always some amount of alcohol even in non-drinkers' bodies, they have to have some legal guidelines for determining what behavior is illegal. Often that guideline is something like impairment in driving to any degree that can be shown to be probably caused by recent alcohol consumption.

Czech Republic
Slovakia
Romania (beyond 0.08% drivers will not only receive a fine and have their license suspended, the offense will also be added to their criminal records.)
Russia
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Brazil
Bangladesh
Hungary
Canada - new drivers undergoing graduated licensing in Ontario, Quebec, Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; drivers under the age of 22 in Ontario^[9]

0.02%

China
Estonia
Poland
Norway (road vehicles)
Netherlands (for drivers in their first five years after gaining a driving license^[10])
Sweden
Puerto Rico (for drivers 18–20 years old)^[11]

0.03%

India (note: In the State of Kerala, a policy of zero tolerance has developed.)^[12]
Serbia
Japan^[13]
Uruguay^[14] (0.00% for truck/taxi/bus drivers)^[15]

0.04%

Lithuania (0.02% for drivers in their first two years after gaining a driving license)
Canada: Saskatchewan - provincial offense

0.05%

Argentina (0.02% for motorbikes, 0.00% for truck/taxi/bus drivers)
Australia (0.00% for Australian Capital Territory learner, probationary & convicted DUI drivers (changed down from 0.02% on December 1, 2010), 0.02% for truck/bus/taxi, 0.00% for learner drivers, provisional/probationary drivers (regardless of age), truck and bus drivers, driving instructors and DUI drivers in all other states)
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada: British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia - provincial offence
Costa Rica^[16]
Croatia
Denmark
Finland
France (0.025% for bus drivers)^[17]
Germany (0.00% for learner drivers, all drivers 18-21 and newly licensed drivers of any age for first two years of licence; also, if the BAC exceeds 0.03%, driving is illegal if the driver is showing changes in behavior ("Relative Fahruntüchtigkeit"))
Greece
Hong Kong
Iceland
Ireland (0.02% for learner drivers and professional drivers) ^[18]
Israel (240μg/L of air. 50μg/L of air for drivers under 24 and professional drivers)
Italy
Latvia (0.02% for drivers in their first two years after gaining a driving license)
Luxembourg
Macedonia (0.00% for drivers in their first two years after gaining a driving license)
Netherlands (0.02% for drivers in their first five years after gaining a driving license)^[10]
Peru
Portugal
Slovenia (0.00% for drivers in their first two years after gaining a drivers licence, drivers under 21 and common drivers, such as buses, trucks...)
South Africa
Spain (0.03% for drivers in their first two years after gaining a driving license and common carriers, such as buses, trucks...)
Switzerland
Thailand
Taiwan
Turkey

0.08%

Canada^[19] - criminal offence
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
New Zealand (0.03% for drivers under 20)
Norway (legal limit for some sea vessels)
Puerto Rico (for drivers 21 years and older)^[11]
Singapore^[20]
United Kingdom^[21] (0.02% for operators of fixed-wing aircraft)
United States

Drivers under 21 (the most common US legal drinking age), however, are held to stricter standards under zero tolerance laws. Adopted in varying forms in all states, these laws hold the driver to much lower blood alcohol content levels for criminal and/or license suspension purposes, commonly 0.01% to 0.05%. Many states have statutory regulations regarding driving while "under the influence" of an intoxicant and a different law for driving beyond the legal blood alcohol concentration. A large number of laws apply from Federal regulatory bodies, states, counties, and cities. For further information on U.S. laws restrictions on alcohol sales, see Alcohol laws of the United States by state. Federal Aviation Administration: 0.01% for operators of common carriers, such as buses, for pilots 0.019% to fly, .039 without loss of medical (no fly until .019 or below), .04 permanent revocation of license for pilots, no alcohol within 8 hours per Federal Aviation Regulations^[22] Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: 0.04% for drivers driving a commercial vehicle which requires a Commercial Driver's License otherwise 0.08%.^[23]

Blood alcohol content measures and proxies (such as breath PPM and blood alcohol content measured as mass/volume) are commonly coded into the law to provide prima-facie cases (much like speed limits). A driver measured to be over the allowed blood alcohol content limit has automatic penalties. But even below those levels, drivers can have civil liability and other criminal guilt. For example, in some state statutes (e.g., AZ), any driving impairment to any degree caused by alcohol consumption can be a civil or criminal offense in addition to other offenses at higher blood alcohol content levels.

0.1%

Legally drunk in some jurisdictions

0.15%

Norway (legal limit for other sea vessels)

[edit]Limits by country (BrAC: Breath Alcohol Content)

In certain countries, alcohol limits are determined by the Breath Alcohol Content (BrAC), not to be confused with blood alcohol content (BAC).

In Greece, the BrAC limit is 25 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The limit in blood is 0.50 g/l.
- BrAC 25–40 = €200 fine
- BrAC 40–60 = €700 fine, plus suspension of driving license for 90 days(introduced in 2007,^[24])
- BrAC >60 = 2 months imprisonment, plus suspension of driving license for 180 days, plus €1,200 fine
In Hong Kong, the BrAC limit is 220 microgrammes per litre of breath (as well as other defined limits)
In The Netherlands and Finland, the BrAC limit is 220 microgrammes of alcohol per litre of breath (μg/l, colloquially known as "Ugl").
In Singapore, the BrAC limit is 350 microgrammes of alcohol per litre of breath.^[20]
In Spain the BrAC limit is 250 microgrammes of alcohol per litre of breath and 150 microgrammes per litre of breath for drivers in their first two years after gaining a driving licence and common carriers.
In the United Kingdom the BrAC limit is 350 microgrammes of alcohol per litre of breath (as well as the above defined blood alcohol content).

[edit]Other limitation schemes

For South Korea, the penalties for different blood alcohol content levels include
- 0.01–0.049 = No Penalty
- 0.05–0.09 = 100 days license suspension
- >0.10 = Cancellation of car license.

[edit]Test assumptions

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Blood alcohol tests assume the individual being tested is average in various ways. For example, on average the ratio of blood alcohol content to breath alcohol content (the partition ratio) is 2100 to 1. In other words, there are 2100 parts of alcohol in the blood for every part in the breath. However, the actual ratio in any given individual can vary from 1300:1 to 3100:1, or even more widely. This ratio varies not only from person to person, but within one person from moment to moment. Thus a person with a true blood alcohol level of .08 but a partition ratio of 1700:1 at the time of testing would have a .10 reading on a Breathalyzer calibrated for the average 2100:1 ratio.

A similar assumption is made in urinalysis. When urine is analyzed for alcohol, the assumption is that there are 1.3 parts of alcohol in the urine for every 1 part in the blood, even though the actual ratio can vary greatly.

Breath alcohol testing further assumes that the test is post-absorptive—that is, that the absorption of alcohol in the subject's body is complete. If the subject is still actively absorbing alcohol, their body has not reached a state of equilibrium where the concentration of alcohol is uniform throughout the body. Most forensic alcohol experts reject test results during this period as the amounts of alcohol in the breath will not accurately reflect a true concentration in the blood.

[edit]Metabolism and excretion

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Alcohol is removed from the bloodstream by a combination of metabolism, excretion, and evaporation. The relative proportion disposed of in each way varies from person to person, but typically about 95% is metabolised by the liver. The remainder of the alcohol is eliminated through excretion in breath, urine, sweat, feces, milk and saliva. ^[25] Excretion into urine typically begins after about 40 minutes, whereas metabolisation commences as soon as the alcohol is absorbed, and even before alcohol levels have risen in the brain.

Alcohol is metabolised mainly by the group of six enzymes collectively called alcohol dehydrogenase. These convert the ethanol into acetaldehyde (an intermediate that is actually more toxic than ethanol). The enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase then converts the acetaldehyde into non-toxic Acetic acid.

Many physiologically active materials are removed from the bloodstream (whether by metabolism or excretion) at a rate proportional to the current concentration, so that they exhibitexponential decay with a characteristic halflife (see pharmacokinetics). This is not true for alcohol, however. Typical doses of alcohol actually saturate the enzymes' capacity, so that alcohol is removed from the bloodstream at an approximately constant rate. This rate varies considerably between individuals; Another gender based difference is in the elimination of alcohol. Persons below the age of 25^{[citation needed]}, women ^[26] persons of certain ethnicities, and persons with liver disease may process alcohol more slowly. Many East Asians (e.g. about half of Japanese) have impaired acetaldehyde dehydrogenase; this causes acetaldehyde levels to peak higher, producing more severe hangovers and other effects such as flushing and tachycardia. Conversely, members of certain ethnicities that traditionally did not brew alcoholic beverages have lower levels of alcohol dehydrogenases and thus "sober up" very slowly, but reach lower aldehyde concentrations and have milder hangovers. Rate of detoxification of alcohol can also be slowed by certain drugs which interfere with the action of alcohol dehydrogenases, notably aspirin, furfural (which may be found in fusel oil), fumes of certain solvents, many heavy metals, and some pyrazole compounds. Also suspected of having this effect are cimetidine (Tagamet), ranitidine (Zantac), and acetaminophen (Tylenol) (paracetamol).

Currently, the only known substance that can increase the rate of metabolism of alcohol is fructose. The effect can vary significantly from person to person, but a 100g dose of fructose has been shown to increase alcohol metabolism by an average of 80%.^[27]

Alcohol absorption can be slowed by ingesting alcohol on a full stomach. Spreading the total absorption of alcohol over a greater period of time decreases the maximum alcohol level, decreasing the hangover effect. Thus, drinking on a full stomach or drinking while ingesting drugs which slow the breakdown of ethanol into acetaldehyde, will reduce the maximum blood levels of this substance, and decrease the hangover. Alcohol in non-carbonated beverages is absorbed more slowly than alcohol in carbonated drinks.^[28]

[edit]Retrograde extrapolation

Retrograde extrapolation is the mathematical process by which someone's blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving is estimated by projecting backwards from a later chemical test. This involves estimating the absorption and elimination of alcohol in the interim between driving and testing. The rate of elimination in the average person is commonly estimated at .015 to .020 grams per deciliter per hour (g/dl/h)^{[citation needed]}, although again this can vary from person to person and in a given person from one moment to another. Metabolism can be affected by numerous factors, including such things as body temperature, the type of alcoholic beverage consumed, and the amount and type of food consumed.

In an increasing number of states, laws have been enacted to facilitate this speculative task: the blood alcohol content at the time of driving is legally presumed to be the same as when later tested. There are usually time limits put on this presumption, commonly two or three hours, and the defendant is permitted to offer evidence to rebut this presumption.

Forward extrapolation can also be attempted. If the amount of alcohol consumed is known, along with such variables as the weight and sex of the subject and period and rate of consumption, the blood alcohol level can be estimated by extrapolating forward. Although subject to the same infirmities as retrograde extrapolation—guessing based upon averages and unknown variables—this can be relevant in estimating BAC when driving and/or corroborating or contradicting the results of a later chemical test.

[edit]Blood alcohol content calculation

Blood alcohol content can be roughly estimated using a mathematical approach. Mathematical estimations can be useful for calculating a blood alcohol content level that is not currently testable, or a level that may be present in the future. While there are several ways to calculate it, one of the most effective ways is to simply measure the total amount of alcohol consumed divided by the total amount of water in the body—effectively giving the percent alcohol per volume water in the blood.

Gender plays an important role in the total amount of water that a person has. In general, men have a higher percent of water (58%) than women (49%). This fact alone strongly contributes to the generalization that men require more alcohol than women to achieve the same blood alcohol content level. Additionally, men are, on average, heavier than women. The more water a person has, the more alcohol is required to achieve the same alcohol:blood ratio, or blood alcohol content level. Further, studies have shown that women's alcohol metabolism varies from that of men due to such biochemical factors as different levels of alcohol dehydrogenase (the enzyme which breaks down alcohol) and the effects of oral contraceptives.^[29]

It is not strictly accurate to say that the water content of a person alone is responsible for the dissolution of alcohol within the body, because alcohol does dissolve in fatty tissue as well. When it does, a certain amount of alcohol is temporarily taken out of the blood and briefly stored in the fat. For this reason, most calculations of alcohol to body mass simply use the weight of the individual, and not specifically his water content.

[edit]Cases of high blood alcohol levels

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2011)

In November 2007, a driver was found passed out in her car in Oregon in the United States. A blood test showed her blood alcohol level was 0.550%. She was charged with several offenses, including two counts of driving under the influence of an intoxicant, reckless endangerment of a person, criminal mischief and driving with a suspended license. Her bail was later set at USD 50,000 since she had several previous convictions for similar offenses.^[30]^[31]^[32]

In December 2007, a driver was arrested in Klamath County, Oregon after she was found unconscious in her car which was stuck in a snow bank with its engine running. Police were forced to break a car window to remove her. After realizing she was in alcohol induced-coma, they rushed her to the hospital where a blood test showed her blood alcohol level was 0.720%. She reportedly was released from the hospital the next day.^[30]^[33] She was subsequently charged with drunk driving.^[34]

In July 2008, a driver was arrested after he ran into a highway message board on Interstate 95 in Providence, Rhode Island. A breath test showed his blood alcohol level was at 0.491% and he was raced to the hospital where he was sedated and placed in a detoxification unit. He was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest.^[35]^[36] He was later sentenced to one year probation, a $500 fine, 40 hours of community service and a one-year loss of his driver's license. The police later stated that his blood alcohol level was the highest they had ever seen for someone who hadn't died of alcohol poisoning.^[37] It was later estimated that the driver had consumed 10-14 drinks over the course of 1–2 hours.,^[30] based on the standard levels of elimination which as documented previously can vary by up to 300%.

In December 2009, a South Dakota woman was found behind the wheel of a stolen car with a measured blood alcohol content of .708%, almost nine times the state's limit of .08%, thus becoming the highest recorded level of alcohol toxicity for the state. After she was hospitalized, she was released on bond and subsequently found in another stolen automobile while under the influence.^[38]

[edit]Highest recorded blood alcohol level/content

In 1995, a man in Wrocław, Poland had a car accident. At the hospital, his BAC was determined to be 1.48%. He died a few days later from wounds from a car accident. Police were baffled as to how an individual could attain such a high blood alcohol. Later, police discussions with his brother in-law Francois Hughes revealed that he had "beer bonged" pure grain alcohol allegedly stolen from his place of work, a chemical plant.^[39]

In December 2004, a man was admitted to the hospital in Plovdiv, Bulgaria after being struck by a car. After detecting a strong alcohol odor, doctors at a hospital conducted a breath test which displayed the man's blood alcohol content at 0.914. Concerned that their equipment was malfunctioning, doctors also performed five separate lab tests, all of which confirmed the man's blood alcohol content.^[40] The man was treated for serious injuries sustained in the crash and survived.^[41]

In February 2005, French gendarmes from Bourg-en-Bresse, France conducted a breath test on a man who had lost control of his car. He had an alcohol content of 0.976.^[42] He was not injured in the accident but was charged with a € 150 fine and his driving license was canceled.

There have been reported cases of blood alcohol content higher than 1.00. In March 2009, a 45-year-old man was admitted to the hospital in Skierniewice, Poland after being struck by a car. The blood test showed blood alcohol content at 1.23. The man survived but did not remember either the accident or the circumstances of his alcohol consumption.^[43] One such case was reported by O'Neil, et al. in 1984. They report on a 30-year old man who survived a blood alcohol concentration of 1,500 mg/100ml blood after vigorous medical intervention.^[44]

In 1982, a 24 year old woman was admitted to the UCLA emergency room with a serum alcohol concentration of 1.5 (1510 mg/dL). She was alert and oriented to person and place (Reported in the Lancet, Dec 18 1982, pg 1394). Serum Alcohol Concentration of course is not equal to nor calculated in the same way as Blood Alcohol Content.^[45]

In South Africa a man driving a Mercedes-Benz Vito and was arrested on December 22, 2010, near Queenstown in Eastern Cape. His blood had an alcohol content of 1,6g/100ml. Five boys as well as a woman who were also in the vehicle with 15 sheep, allegedly stolen from nearby farms, were also arrested.^[46]

In Poland a homeless man was found sleeping half-naked on January 28, 2011, in Cieszyn. His blood had an alcohol level of 1.024 %. Despite the temperature of -10 °C and extremely high blood alcohol content the man survived.^[47]

A 20 year old woman, Erica Lopez, was found dead in the northern section of Sherwood Park with a blood alcohol content of 1.4% in Paso Robles, California on July 26, 2010. The authorities note that it was simply from organ failure.

Paul Simon

2011-04-15T20:28:00.000+07:00

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter.

Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles charts, "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water".^[1] In 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years.^[2] In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music that helped fuel the anti-apartheid movement.^[3] Besides music, Simon wrote and starred in the film One Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.^[4]

Through his solo and collaborative work, Simon has earned 13 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award.^[5] In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame^[6] and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Timemagazine.^[7] Among many other honors, Simon was named the first recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007.^[8]

[edit]Biography

[edit]Early life and career

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Paul Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey to Jewish Hungarian parents Belle (b. 1910, d. June 16, 2007), an elementary school teacher, and Louis Simon (b. circa 1916, d. January 17, 1995), a college professor, bassist, and dance bandleader who performed under the name "Lee Sims". His father had been one of the first musicians on radio,^{[citation needed]} when he lived in Hungary. In 1941 his family moved to Kew Garden Hills, Queens in New York City.

Simon's musical career began at Forest Hills High School after meeting Art Garfunkel when they were both 11. They performed in a production of Alice in Wonderland for their sixth grade graduation, and began singing together when they were 13,^[9] occasionally performing at school dances. Their idols were the Everly Brothers, whom they imitated in their use of close two-part harmony. Simon also developed an interest in jazz, folk and blues, especially musical legends Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly.

In 1957, while in their mid-teens, Simon and Garfunkel recorded the song "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name Tom and Jerry, given to them by their label Big Records. The single reached number forty-nine on the pop charts.

After graduating from high school, Simon attended Queens College, while Garfunkel studied at Columbia University in Manhattan. Simon was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Simon earned a degree in English literature and briefly attended Brooklyn Law School, but his real passion was rock and roll.

Between 1957 and 1964, Simon wrote, recorded, and released more than thirty songs, occasionally reuniting with Garfunkel as Tom & Jerry for some singles, including "Our Song" and "That's My Story". Most of the songs Simon recorded in the six years after 1957 were performed alone or with musicians other than Garfunkel. They were released on several minor record labels, such as Amy, Big, Hunt, King, Tribute, and Madison. He used several different pseudonyms for these recordings, including Jerry Landis, Paul Kane (from Orson Welles's film Citizen Kane) and True Taylor. Simon enjoyed some moderate success in recording a few singles as part of a group called Tico and the Triumphs, including a song called "Motorcycle" which reached No. 97 on the Billboard charts in 1962. Tico and the Triumphs released four 45s. Marty Cooper, known as Tico, sang lead on several of these releases.Bobby Susser, children's songwriter and record producer, and childhood friend of Simon's, co-produced the Tico 45s with Simon. That year, Simon reached No. 99 on the pop charts as Jerry Landis with the hit "The Lone Teen Ranger." Both chart singles were released on Amy Records.

In 1965 Simon moved to England and started touring folk clubs and coffee houses. At the first club he played, the Railway Inn Folk Club in Brentwood, Essex, he met Kathy Chitty who became his girlfriend and inspiration for "Kathy's Song", "America" and others. He performed at Les Cousins in London and toured provincial folk clubs where he was exposed to a wide range of musical influences. In 1965 he recorded his solo LP The Paul Simon Songbook in England. During his time in the UK Simon co-wrote several songs with Bruce Woodley of the Australian pop group The Seekers including "I Wish You Could Be Here," "Cloudy", and "Red Rubber Ball"; Woodley's co-author credit was omitted from "Cloudy" on the Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album. The American group The Cyrkle recorded a cover of "Red Rubber Ball", which reached number two in the US. Simon also contributed to The Seekerscatalogue with "Someday One Day," which was released in March 1966, charting at around the same time as Simon and Garfunkel's Homeward Bound.

[edit]Simon & Garfunkel

Main article: Simon & Garfunkel

In early 1964, Simon and Garfunkel got an audition with Columbia Records, whose executive Clive Davis was impressed enough to sign the duo to a contract to produce an album. Columbia decided that the two would be called simply "Simon & Garfunkel," a replacement for the group's previous name "Tom and Jerry." Simon claimed in 2003 that this renaming as "Simon & Garfunkel" was the first time that artists' ethnic names had been used in pop music.^[10]

Simon and Garfunkel's first LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was released on October 19, 1964 and consisted of twelve songs in the folk vein, five of them written by Simon. The album initially flopped, but East Coast radio stations began receiving requests for one of the tracks, Simon's "The Sounds of Silence". Their producer, Tom Wilson, overdubbed the track withelectric guitar, bass, and drums, releasing it as a single that eventually went to number one on the pop charts in the USA.

Simon had gone to England in 1965 after the initial failure of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., pursuing a solo career. But he returned to the US to reunite with Garfunkel after "The Sounds of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success. Together they recorded four more influential albums, Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme; Bookends; and the hugely successful Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel also contributed extensively to the soundtrack of the 1967 Mike Nichols film The Graduate (starring Dustin Hoffmanand Anne Bancroft). While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally toyed with the title "Mrs. Roosevelt." When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied, "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!"^[11] Simon and Garfunkel returned to England in the Fall of 1968 and did a church concert appearance at Kraft Hall which was broadcast on the BBC, and also featured Paul's brother Ed sitting in on a performance of the instrumental "Anji".^[12]

Simon pursued solo projects after the duo released their popular album Bridge over Troubled Water. Occasionally, he and Garfunkel did reunite, such as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town", which Simon originally wrote for Garfunkel, claiming Garfunkel's solo output was lacking "bite." The song was included on their respective solo albums; Paul Simon'sStill Crazy After All These Years, and Garfunkel's Breakaway. Contrary to popular belief, the song is not at all autobiographical of Simon's early life in New York City.^[13] In 1981, they got together again for the famous concert in Central Park, followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album Think Too Much, which was eventually released (without Garfunkel) asHearts and Bones. Together, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 2003, the two reunited again when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This reunion led to a U.S. tour—the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series—followed by a 2004 international encore, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. That final concert drew 600,000 people.^[14] In 2005, the pair sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Aaron Neville in a benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2010, the pair reunited in New Orleans for their first concert in six years, at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.^[15]

[edit]1971–1976: There Goes Rhymin' Simon

After Simon and Garfunkel split in 1970, Simon began to write and record solo material. His eponymous album Paul Simon was released in January 1972, preceded by his first experiment with world music, the Jamaican-inspired "Mother and Child Reunion", considered one of the first examples of reggae attempted by a white musician. The single was a hit, reaching both the American and British Top 5. The album was particularly well received, with critics praising the variety of styles and the confessional lyrics, reaching No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the UK and Japan. It later spawned another Top 30 hit with "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Simon's next project was the pop-folk masterpiece, There Goes Rhymin' Simon, released in May 1973. It contained some of his most popular and polished recordings - the lead single, "Kodachrome", was a No. 2 hit in America, and the follow-up, the gospel-flavored "Loves Me Like a Rock" was even bigger, topping the Cashbox charts. Other songs, like the weary "American Tune" or the melancholic "Something So Right" – a tribute to Simon's first wife, Peggy – became standards in the musician's catalogue. Critical and commercial reception for this second album were even stronger than for his debut. At the time, it was remarked how the songs were very fresh and unworried on the surface while they were exploring socially and politically conscious themes on a deeper level.^{[citation needed]} The album reached No. 1 on the Cashbox album charts. As a souvenir for the tour that came next, in 1974 it was released as a live album, Live Rhymin', which was moderately successful and displayed some changes in Simon's music style, adopting world and religious music.

Highly anticipated, Still Crazy After All These Years was his next album. Released in October 1975 and produced by Simon and Phil Ramone, it marked another departure. The mood of the album was darker, as he wrote and recorded it in the wake of his divorce. Preceded by the feel-good duet with Phoebe Snow, "Gone at Last" (a Top 25 hit) and the Simon & Garfunkel reunion track "My Little Town" (a No. 9 on Billboard), the album managed to be his only No. 1 on the Billboard charts to date. The 18th Grammy Awards named it the Album of the Yearand Simon's performance the year's Best Male Pop Vocal. With Simon in the forefront of popular music, the third single from the album, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reached the top spot of the Billboard charts, his only single to reach No. 1 on this list. Also, on May 3, 1976, Simon put together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also performed. The concert produced over $30,000 for the Library.

[edit]1977–1985: Slip Slidin' Away

After three back-to-back successful studio albums, Simon became less productive during the second half of the seventies. He dabbled in various projects, including writing music for the film Shampoo and acting (he was cast as Tony Lacey in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall). He achieved another hit in this decade, with the lead single of his 1977 compilation, Greatest Hits, Etc., "Slip Slidin' Away", reaching No. 5 in America.

In 1980 he released One Trick Pony, his debut album with Warner Bros. Records and his first in almost five years. It was paired with the motion picture of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. Although it produced his last Top 10 hit with the upbeat "Late in the Evening" (also a No. 1 hit on the Radio & Records American charts), the album did not sell well, in a music market dominated by disco music. Simon recorded Hearts and Bones, a polished and confessional album that was eventually viewed as one of his best works, but that marked a lull in his commercial popularity; both the album and the lead single, "Allergies", missed the American Top 40. Hearts and Bones included "The Late Great Johnny Ace", a song partly about Johnny Ace, an American R&B singer, and partly about slain Beatle John Lennon. A successful US solo tour featured Simon and his guitar, with a recording of the rhythm track and horns for "Late In The Evening."^{[citation needed]} In January 1985, Simon lent his talent to USA for Africa and performed on the relief fundraising single "We Are the World".

[edit]1986–1992: Thrown Up The Pop Charts

Graceland (1986) album cover.

As he commented years later, after the disappointing commercial performance of Hearts and Bones, Simon felt he had lost his inspiration to a point of no return, and that his commercial fortunes were unlikely to change. While driving his car in late 1984 in this state of frustration, Simon listened to a cassette of the Boyoyo Boys' instrumental "Gumboots: Accordion Jive Volume II". Interested by the unusual sound, he wrote lyrics to the number which he sang over a re-recording of the song. It was the first composition of a new musical project that became the celebrated album Graceland, an eclectic mixture of musical styles including pop, a cappella, isicathamiya, rock, and mbaqanga. Simon felt that he had nothing to lose. He traveled to South Africa in an attempt to embrace the culture and find the most comfortable environment for recording the album. Sessions in Johannesburg took place in February 1985. Overdubbing and additional recording was done in April, 1986, in New York. The sessions featured many South African musicians and groups, particularly Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon also collaborated with several artists of his own culture, singing a memorable duet with Linda Ronstadt in "Under African Skies", and playing with Los Lobos in "All Around the World or The Myth of the Fingerprints". Warner Bros. Records had serious doubts about releasing an album of this eclecticism to the mainstream, but when it did in August 1986, Graceland was praised by critics and the public and became Simon's most successful solo album. Slowly climbing the worldwide charts, it reached #1 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and peaked at #3 in the U.S. It was the second-best-selling album of 1987 in the U.S., selling five million copies and eventually reaching 5x Platinum certification. Another seven million copies were sold internationally to become his best-selling album. Much of the success of the album was due to the lead single, the upbeat "You Can Call Me Al", whose lyrics describe a man experiencing an identity crisis. The track featured many memorable elements – a catchy synthesizer riff, an easywhistle solo, and an unusual bass run in which the second half was a reversed recording of the first half. "You Can Call Me Al" was accompanied with a humorous video featuring actorChevy Chase, which introduced Simon to a new audience through MTV. In the end, the track reached UK Top 5 and the U.S. Top 25. Further singles, including the title track, "The Boy in the Bubble" and "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", were not commercial hits but became radio standards and were highly praised.

At age 45, Simon found himself back at the forefront of popular music. He received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 and also Grammy Award for Record of the Year for the title track one year later. He also embarked on the very successful Graceland Tour, which was documented on music video. Simon found himself embracing new sounds, a fact that some critics viewed negatively – however, Simon reportedly felt it as a very natural artistic experiment, considering that "world music" was already present on much of his early work, including such Simon & Garfunkel hits as "El Condor Pasa" and his early solo recording "Mother and Child Reunion", which was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica. One way or another, Warner Bros. Records (who by this time now controlled and reissued all his previous Columbia albums) re-established Simon as one of his most successful artists and, in an attempt to capitalize on his renewed success, released the album Negotiations and Love Songs in November 1988, a mixture of greatest hits and personal favorites that covered Simon's entire career and became an enduring seller in his catalog.

After Graceland, Simon decided to extend his roots with the Brazilian music-flavored The Rhythm of the Saints. Sessions for the album began in December 1989, and took place in Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring guitarist J. J. Cale and many Brazilian and African musicians. The tone of the album was more introspective and relatively low-key compared to the mostly upbeat numbers of Graceland. Released on October 1990, the album received excellent critical reviews and achieved very respectable sales, peaking at #4 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the UK. The lead single, "The Obvious Child", featuring the Grupo Cultural Olodum, was a Top 20 hit in the UK and appeared near the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100. Although not as successful as Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints was received as a competent successor and consistent complement on Simon's attempts to explore (and popularize) world music, and also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Here are also more songs about past loves; his ex-wife Carrie Fisher says in her autobiography Wishful Drinking that the song "She Moves On" is about her. It's one of several she claims, followed by the line, "If you can get Paul Simon to write a song about you, do it. Because he is so brilliant at it." ^[16]

The importance of both albums allowed Simon to stage another New York concert, and on August 15, 1991, almost a decade after his concert with Garfunkel, Simon staged another concert in Central Park with both African and South American bands. The success of the concert surpassed all expectations, and reportedly over 750,000 people attended, becoming one of the largest concert audiences in history. He later remembered the concert as the "most memorable moment in my career". The success of the show led to both a live album and anEmmy-winning TV special. In the middle, Simon embarked on the successful Born at the Right Time Tour and promoted the album with further singles, including "Proof" – accompanied with a humorous video featuring, again, Chevy Chase. On March 4, 1992 he appeared on his own MTV Unplugged, offering renditions of many of his most famous compositions. Broadcast in June, the show was a success, though it did not receive an album release.

[edit]1993–1998: Hiatus and disaster

After Unplugged, Simon's place in the forefront of popular music dropped notably. A Simon & Garfunkel reunion took place in 1993, and in another attempt to capitalize on the occasion, Columbia released Paul Simon 1964/1993 in September, a three-disc compilation that received a reduced version on the two-disc album The Paul Simon Anthology one month later. In 1995 he only made news for appearing at The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he performed the song "Ten Years", which he composed specially for the tenth anniversary of the show. Also that year, he was featured on the Annie Lennox version of his 1973 song "Something So Right", which appeared briefly on the UK Top 50 once it was released as a single in November.

Since the early stages of the nineties, Simon was fully involved on The Capeman, a musical that finally opened on January 29, 1998. Simon worked enthusiastically on the project for many years and described it as "a New York Puerto Rican story based on events that happened in 1959—events that I remembered." ^[17] The musical tells the story of real-life Puerto Rican youth Salvador Agron, who wore a cape while committing two murders in 1959 New York, and who went on to become a writer in prison. Featuring Marc Anthony as the young Agron and Ruben Blades as the older Agron, the play received terrible reviews and very poor box office receipts from the very beginning, and ended up closing on March 28 after just 68 performances, becoming a failure from which Simon reportedly lost 11 million dollars. Simon recorded an album of songs from the show, which was released in November 1997. It was received with very mixed reviews, though many critics praised the combination of doo-wop, rockabilly and Caribbean music that the album reflected. In commercial terms, Songs from The Capeman was a failure—it found Simon missing the Top 40 of the Billboard charts for the first time in his career. The cast album was never released on CD but eventually became available online.

[edit]1999–2007: Back in the saddle

After the disaster of The Capeman, Simon's career was again in an unexpected crisis. However, entering the new millennium he maintained a respectable reputation, offering critically acclaimed new material and receiving commercial attention. In 1999, Simon embarked on a North American tour with Bob Dylan where each alternated as headline act with a "middle" section where they performed together, starting on the first of June and ending September 18. The collaboration was generally well-received, with just one critic, Seth Rogovoy, from theBerkshire Eagle, questioning the collaboration.^[18]

In an attempt to return successfully to the music market, Simon wrote and recorded a new album very quickly, with You're the One arriving in October 2000. The album consisted mostly of folk-pop writing combined with foreign musical sounds, particularly grooves from North Africa. While not reaching the commercial heights of previous albums, it managed at least to reach both the British and American Top 20. It received favorable reviews and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. He toured extensively for the album, and one performance in Paris was released to home video.

On September 21, 2001, Simon sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on "America: A Tribute to Heroes", a multinetwork broadcast to benefit the September 11 Telethon Fund. In 2002, he wrote and recorded "Father and Daughter", the theme song for the animated children's movie The Wild Thornberrys Movie, The track was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. In 2003, he participed on another Simon & Garfunkel reunion. One year later, Simon's studio albums were re-released both individually and together in a limited-edition nine-CD boxed set, Paul Simon: The Studio Recordings 1972-2000.

At the time, Simon was already working on a new album with Brian Eno called Surprise, which was released in May 2006. Most of the album was inspired by the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq invasion and the war that followed. In personal terms, Simon was also inspired by the fact of being over 60 years old, an age that he turned in 2001 and that he humorously referred already on his single "Old" from the You're the One. Simon showed special care about the musical venture he traveled since 1986's Graceland. As he put it, "Once you go away for a bit, you wonder who people think you are. If they don't know what you're up to, they just go by your history. I'm so often described as this person that went to other cultures, which is true, but I never thought of it that way. I suspect people are thinking, 'What culture did you go to?' But this record is straight-ahead American." Surprise was a commercial hit, reaching #14 in the Billboard 200 and #4 in the UK. Most critics also praised the album, and many of them called it a real "comeback" for the artist. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic paid attention to the attempts of Simon in embracing his classic folk sound with Eno's electronic textures, and wrote that "Simon doesn't achieve his comeback by reconnecting with the sound and spirit of his classic work; he has achieved it by being as restless and ambitious as he was at his popular and creative peak, which makes Surprise all the more remarkable." The album was supported with the successful Surprise Tour.

On March 1, 2007, Simon made headlines again when he was announced as the first recipient of the recently-created Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The Prize, created by the Library of Congress, was awarded to Simon during a Concert Gala featuring his music at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., on the evening of May 23. The event was nationally broadcast on PBS on the evening of June 27, 2007.^[19] Performers at the concert included Shawn Colvin, Philip Glass, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Lyle Lovett,James Taylor, and Stevie Wonder as well as Simon's former collaborator Art Garfunkel.^[20] On June 26, Warner Bros. released the definitive Paul Simon greatest-hits collection. The Essential Paul Simon consisted of two discs that reviewed 36 songs from his ten studio albums, and was also released on a special edition featuring a DVD of music videos and memorable live performances. The album was a commercial hit, reaching #12 in the UK.

[edit]2008–2011: Recent events

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2010)

Simon performing live in Germany, in 2008.

Paul Simon resides in New Canaan, Connecticut.^[21] He is one of a small number of performers who are named as the copyright owner on their recordings (most records have the recording company as the named owner of the recording). This noteworthy development was spearheaded by the Bee Gees after their successful $200 million lawsuit against RSO Records, which remains to this day the largest successful lawsuit against a record company by an artist or group.

All of Simon's solo recordings, even the ones originally issued by Columbia Records, are currently distributed by Sony Records' Legacy Recordings unit. His recordings were issued by Warner Music until mid-2010.^[22]

In February 2009, Simon performed back-to-back shows in his native New York City at the Beacon Theatre, which had recently been renovated. Simon was reunited with Art Garfunkel at the first show as well as with the cast of The Capeman; also playing in the band wasGraceland bassist Bakithi Kumalo.

In May 2009, Simon toured with Art Garfunkel in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

In October 2009, Simon appeared alongside Art Garfunkel at the 25th Anniversary of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The pair performed four of their most popular songs, "The Sounds of Silence", "The Boxer", "Cecilia", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water".

On April 21, 2010 it was announced that Paul Simon would be an honorary degree recipient at the Brandeis University Commencement ceremony to be held on May 23, 2010. Due to student interest expressed through Facebook, Simon performed "The Boxer" at the 59th Commencement Exercises at the University.

In mid-2010, Simon moved his catalogue of solo work from Warner Bros. Records to Sony/Columbia Records ^[22] where Simon and Garfunkel's catalogue is. Simon's back catalogue of solo recordings would be marketed by Sony Music's Legacy Recordings unit.

Simon's latest album entitled So Beautiful or So What,^[23] was released on the Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011.^[24] The bluegrass-influenced album ^[25] received high marks from the artist, "It's the best work I've done in 20 years."^[22] It was reported that Paul Simon attempted to have Bob Dylan guest on the album.^[22]

Simon released a new Christmas song called "Getting Ready for Christmas Day". It premiered on National Public Radio on November 16, 2010,^[26] and will be on the forthcoming SBOSW album. The song samples a 1941 sermon by the Rev. J.M. Gates, also entitled "Getting Ready for Christmas Day".^[27] Simon performed the song live on The Colbert Report on December 16, 2010.^[28] The song is available for free download or viewing with two videos at www.paulsimon.com. The first video features J.M. Gates' giving the sermon and his church in 2010 with its display board showing many of Simon's lyrics; the second video illustrates the song with cartoon images.

In the premiere show of the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 10, 2010, Simon surprised Oprah and the audience with a song dedicated to Oprah and her show lasting 25 years (an update of a song he did for her show's 10th anniversary).^[29]

[edit]Projects

[edit]Music for Broadway

In the late 1990s, Simon wrote and produced a Broadway musical called The Capeman, which lost $11 million during its 1998 run. In April 2008, the Brooklyn Academy of Music celebrated Paul Simon's works, and dedicated a week to Songs From the Capeman with a good portion of the show's songs performed by a cast of singers and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Simon himself appeared during the BAM shows, performing "Trailways Bus" and "Late In the Evening".

[edit]Film and television

Simon has also dabbled in acting. He played music producer Tony Lacey in the 1977 Woody Allen film Annie Hall, and wrote and starred in 1980's One Trick Pony as Jonah Levin, a journeyman rock and roller. Simon also wrote all the songs in the film. Paul Simon also appeared on The Muppet Show (the only episode to use only the songs of one songwriter, Simon). In 1990, he played the character of—appropriately enough—Simple Simon on the Disney channel TV movie, Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme.

Simon has also appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL) either as host or musical guest for a total of 12 times. On one appearance in the late 1980s, he worked with his political namesake, Illinois Senator Paul Simon.^[30]

Simon's most recent SNL appearance was the May 13, 2006 episode hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He performed two new songs from his Surprise album, "How Can You Live in the Northeast?" and "Outrageous". In one SNL skit from 1986 (when he was promoting Graceland), Simon plays himself, waiting in line with a friend to get into a movie. He amazes his friend by remembering intricate details about prior meetings with passers-by, but draws a complete blank when approached by Art Garfunkel, despite the latter's numerous memory prompts.

Simon also appeared alongside George Harrison as musical guest on the Thanksgiving Day episode of SNL (November 20, 1976). The two performed "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound"" together, while Simon performed "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" solo earlier in the show. On that episode, Simon opened the show performing "Still Crazy After All These Years" in a turkey outfit, since Thanksgiving was the following week. About halfway through the song, Simon tells the band to stop playing because of his embarrassment. After giving a frustrating speech to the audience, he leaves the stage, backed by applause. Lorne Michaels positively greets him backstage, but Simon is still upset, yelling at him because of the humiliating turkey outfit. This is one of SNL's most played sketches.

On September 29, 2001, Simon made a special appearance on the first SNL to air after the September 11, 2001 attacks. On that show, he performed "The Boxer" to the audience and the NYC firefighters and police officers. He is also friends with former SNL star Chevy Chase, who appeared in his video for "You Can Call Me Al" lip synching the song while Simon looks disgruntled and mimes backing vocals and the playing of various instruments beside him. He is a close friend of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who produced the 1977 TV show The Paul Simon Special, as well as the Simon and Garfunkel concert in Central Park four years later. Simon and Lorne Michaels were the subjects of a 2006 episode of the Sundance channel documentary series, Iconoclasts.

He has been the subject of two films by Jeremy Marre, the first on Graceland, the second on The Capeman.

On November 18, 2008, Simon was a guest on The Colbert Report promoting his book Lyrics 1964-2008. He did an interview with Stephen Colbert and then performed "American Tune".

Simon performed a Stevie Wonder song at the White House in 2009, at an event honoring Wonder's musical career and contributions.

In May 2009, The Library of Congress: Paul Simon and Friends Live Concert was released on DVD, via Shout! Factory. The PBS concert was recorded in 2007.

[edit]Awards and honors

Simon won 12 Grammy Awards (one of them a Lifetime Achievement Award) and five Grammy nominations, the most recent for his album You're the One in 2001. In 1998 he received aGrammy Hall of Fame Award for the Simon & Garfunkel album Bridge over Troubled Water. He received an Oscar nomination for the song "Father and Daughter" in 2002. He is also a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; as a solo artist in 2001, and in 1990 as half of Simon & Garfunkel.

In 2001, Simon was honored as MusiCares Person Of The Year. The following year, he was one of the five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest tribute to performing and cultural artists.

In 2005, Simon was saluted as a BMI Icon at the 53rd Annual BMI Pop Awards. Simon's songwriting catalog has earned 39 BMI Awards including multiple citations for "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Mrs. Robinson," "Scarborough Fair" and "The Sound of Silence". As of 2005, he has amassed nearly 75 million broadcast airplays, according to BMI surveys.^[31]

In 2006, Simon was selected by Time Magazine as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World."

In 2007, Simon received the first annual Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were to follow in 2009 and 2010. Named in honor of George and Ira Gershwin, this newly created award recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. Upon being notified of receiving this honor, Simon said, “I am grateful to be the recipient of the Gershwin Prize and doubly honored to be the first. I look forward to spending an evening in the company of artists I admire at the award ceremony in May. I can think of a few who have expressed my words and music far better than I. I’m excited at the prospect of that happening again. It’s a songwriter’s dream come true." Among the performers who paid tribute to Simon were Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Marc Anthony, Yolanda Adams, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The event is professionally filmed, broadcasted and now available as Paul Simon and Friends.

In 2010, Simon received an honorary degree from Brandeis University, where he also performed "The Boxer" at the main commencement ceremony.

[edit]Personal life

Simon has been married three times, first to Peggy Harper in late autumn 1969. They had a son, Harper Simon, in 1972 and divorced in 1975. The song "Train in the Distance," from Simon's 1983 album, is about this relationship.^[32] Simon's 1972 song "Run That Body Down," from his debut solo album, casually mentions both himself and his then-wife ("Peg") by name.

His second marriage, from 1983 to 1984, was to actress and author Carrie Fisher to whom he proposed after a New York Yankees game.^[33] (The song "Hearts and Bones" was written about this relationship. The song "Graceland" is also thought to be about seeking solace from the end of this relationship by taking a road trip). A year after divorcing, Simon and Fisher resumed their relationship for several years.

He married folk singer Edie Brickell on May 30, 1992. They have three children together.

Though Simon is left-handed, he plays the guitar right-handed.

[edit]Philanthropy

Simon is a proponent of music education for children. In 1970, after recording his "Bridge Over Troubled Water," at the invitation of the NYU School of the Arts, Simon held auditions for a young songwriter's workshop. Advertised in the Village Voice, the auditions brought hundreds of hopefuls to perform for Simon. Among the six teenage songwriters Simon selected for tutelage were Melissa Manchester, Tom Mandell and rock/beat poet Joe Linus, with Maggie and Terre Roche (the Roche Sisters), who later sang back-up for Simon, joining the workshop in progress through an impromptu appearance.

Simon invited the six teens to experience recording at Columbia studios with engineer Roy Halee at the board. During these sessions, Bob Dylan was downstairs recording the albumSelf-Portrait, which included a version of Simon's "The Boxer". Violinist Isaac Stern also visited the group with a CBS film crew, speaking to the young musicians about lyrics and music after Joe Linus performed his song "Circus Lion" for Stern.

Manchester later paid homage to Simon, on her recorded song, "Ode to Paul." Other younger musicians Simon has mentored include Nick Laird-Clowes, who later co-founded the bandThe Dream Academy. Laird-Clowes has credited Simon with helping to shape the band's biggest hit, "Life In A Northern Town".^[34]

In 2003, Simon signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S. He sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member.

Simon is also a major benefactor and one of the co-founders, with Dr. Irwin Redlener, of the Children's Health Project and The Children's Health Fund^[35]^[36] which started by creating specially equipped "buses" to take medical care to children in medically underserved areas, urban and rural. Their first bus was in the impoverished South Bronx of New York City but they now operate in 12 states, including the Gulf Coast. It has expanded greatly, partnering with major hospitals, local public schools and medical schools and advocating policy for children's health and medical care.

Portal 2

2011-04-15T20:26:00.000+07:00

Portal 2 is an upcoming first-person action/puzzle video game, developed by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2007 video game Portal and was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game.^[7] Though initially slated for release in the last quarter of 2010,^[8]^[9] the game was postponed to the week of April 18, 2011.^[10] The game will be released by Valve, through both retail and Steam, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X; PlayStation 3^[11] andXbox 360 versions of the game will be distributed by Electronic Arts.^[12] All versions of the game will become available simultaneously.

In Portal 2 the player returns as Chell, having been in stasis for several hundred years while GLaDOS and the rest of the Aperture Science facility has fallen into disrepair. Chell is awakened by one of GLaDOS's personality cores, and inadvertently wakes GLaDOS; GLaDOS is immediately displeased at Chell's return and begins testing her again through numerous chambers as she rebuilds the dilapidated facility.Portal 2 continues to challenge the player through numerous platforming and physics-based puzzles using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (ASHPD, also dubbed the "portal gun"), a device that can create a temporary wormhole between almost any two flat surfaces. Other gameplay elements are added to Portal 2 including tractor beams, laser redirection, and special paint-like gels, taken from the Independent Games Festival-winning DigiPen student project Tag: The Power of Paint, that imparts special properties to objects it touches, such as increased momentum. Portal 2 also includes a two-player co-operative mode in which each player-character is a robot that has become self-aware due to GLaDOS' influence, and requires the players to work together with their own portal guns to complete each level.

[hide]

[edit]Gameplay

Portal 2 will continue to challenge players to use portals to traverse rooms in unusual manners, such as flinging, in which the player uses the magnitude of the momentum gained by gravitational acceleration through the blue portal to cross a wide gap out of the orange portal.

[edit]Plot

Portal 2 takes place several hundred years after the first game; as part of the Half-Life series, the game takes place sometime after Half-Life 2.^[26] Despite her apparent destruction at the end of Portal, GLaDOS, an artificial intelligence computer system, remains functional but dormant. The player controls Chell, the previous protagonist of Portal. Retroactively patched just prior to the sequel's official announcement, the ending of the first game shows Chell being dragged away by an unseen figure with a robotic voice, after which she is placed in stasis for a period of many years.^[9] The game will again take place in the Aperture Science Labs, untouched by human hands but overrun by decay and nature.^[9] At the start of the game, Chell finds herself in what appears to be a motel room, and after a robotic voice guides her through some test, she is put to sleep. When she next gains consciousness, the age of the room's decor implies a long number of years have passed. Wheatley, a personality sphere, helps Chell to escape as the room—located in one of hundreds of shipping containers among a giant warehouse—shifts and moves, and she finds herself back in the test chambers of the Aperture facility.^[27]^[28] Wheatley is one of many personality cores which have become active and gained independence from GLaDOS in the intervening years, using the automated systems of Aperture Science to create their own microcosms within the facility.^[9] The cores themselves are only able to move through overhead rail systems. Wheatley has become concerned about the state of decay and seeks to correct it. Wheatley acts as the player's guide during the tutorial and initial stages. Soon, the two encounter the dormant GLaDOS and accidentally wake her; she accuses Chell of murdering her years ago.^[9] GLaDOS begins to rebuild the ruined facility, and puts Chell under more tests, stating "I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."^[29]^[30]

Parts of the story are bookended by the "Rat Man", an unseen character in the first game who escaped from the neurotoxin released by GLaDOS that wiped out the rest of the Aperture staff, and slowly became insane. He wrote messages on walls to guide and warn Chell during the events of the first game; having witnessed GLaDOS' defeat at the end of the first game, the Rat Man's drawings created in the months after the events summarize the first game during Portal 2's introduction. Rat Man, though able to escape after GLaDOS' destruction, returns to the facility following the robot that drags the unconscious Chell back inside. As a final act, he assures that Chell is kept in indefinite cryostorage, before he himself enters a cryogenic unit after being severely wounded by turrets.^[23]^[31]^[32]^[33]

Two new characters will be introduced for the two-player cooperative mode, which will have its own unique plot and setting.^[19] These two characters are Atlas and P-body, a modified personality core and turret gun, respectively;^[34] both units are bipedal and equipped with their own portal guns.^[9] Though once part of the networked facility, they have become separate entities and are treated to similar abuse by GLaDOS through a series of complicated test chambers through her "Cooperative Testing Initiative".^[9]^[35] The robots will make "expressive noises" in place of distinguishable dialogue, according to Valve's Doug Lombardi.^[36] From previews, the robots' mannerisms suggest a double act similar to Laurel and Hardy, according to some journalists.^[16]^[37] GLaDOS appears to be troubled by the robots working together, and will attempt to aggravate their relationship through verbal trickery such as praising one robot over the other.^[16] Though the co-op story takes place chronologically after the single player campaign and has some ties into it, Wolpaw claimed that players "don't need to necessarily need to [sic] play them in that order".^[38]

[edit]Development

Valve's Doug Lombardi commented that Portal was originally included as an add-on product to The Orange Box as, to Valve, it was a piece of trial software and had considered The Orange Box as a safety net if it failed; Lombardi stated, "There was no way we could have planned for the success of Portal."^[9] After receiving high praise and proving its worth, Valve determined that Portal 2 should be its own product, committing more resources than it did for the first game for its release.^[9] Compared to the previous Portal team that consisted of about 8 people, Portal 2 had a dedicated 30-person staff working on its development.^[39] Valve President Gabe Newell has stated that they know what players are looking for in the full sequel, and expect that Portal 2 will be "the best game we’ve ever done."^[40] Project manager Erik Johnson commented that the first Portal caught people by surprise and "made them think about games in a different way".^[30] Johnson believed their goal with Portal 2 was to find a way to "re-surprise" players, and considered that a "pretty terrifying" prospect.^[30] OriginalPortal designer Kim Swift, however, has left Valve to join Airtight Games.^[41]

[edit]Design

Portal 2 introduces paint-like gels that affect the physical nature of surfaces they coat. Here, the blue Repulsion Gel, carried over the turret guns by the faint blue Excursion Funnel beam, causes the painted turrets to bounce off any other surface.

Work on Portal 2 began almost immediately after the release of Portal in The Orange Box.^[39] Initial ideas for Portal 2 considered dropping the portal aspect from the game; instead, the player would still participate in Aperture Science Laboratories testing a device centered around a new type of physics-based puzzle. When Valve presented these ideas to others for comment, the lack of portals was criticized. Valve therefore returned to the portal mechanic and sought what other physics mechanics could be incorporated with portals into the larger game.^[21] One of these was a gel mechanic that can alter the physics of surfaces coated with that gel. Valve found that this addition gave players more control over the game world, but as a result, required the chamber designer to be more devious with their solutions to account for the various possibilities of the gel mechanics.^[42] The gel mechanic comes from Tag Team's Tag: The Power of Paint, a DigiPen student-developed game that won the 2009 Independent Games Festival Student Competition prize. Valve's vice president of marketing, Doug Lombardi, said that upon viewing the student game then, "the decision to combine their tech with Portal 2 came naturally".^[36] Wolpaw recalled that they had already considered the nature of surfaces in Portal in a binary fashion, whether or not it would allow for a portal to be created on it, and the ability to modify surface properties in the manner that Tag did was an obvious extension on that.^[39] Subsequently, Tag Team was hired by Valve, though initially their work was to "develop Tag in an interesting way", according to Wolpaw, only some time later being brought into the Portal 2team.^[36]^[39] The Tag Team members were able to work out the interaction of the paint mechanics with portals, leading to new types of puzzle features in the game.^[21] Journalists compared this to the evolution of Narbacular Drop, another DigiPen student project, into the basis ofPortal.^[43]^[44]^[45] While Tag features three paint types, only two have been shown to be included with Portal 2; the third, one that allowed the player to walk on any surface coated with the paint, was originally included, but this induced motion-sickness in playtesters and was dropped.^[46] New gel types may still be included in the game, according to Wolpaw.^[21]

An example test chamber inPortal 2, showing the effect of flora overgrowth and deterioration on the Aperture Science facilities

Portal 2 was designed to give the player incremental steps in understanding portals and their use within the game.^[42] This approach led to two basic types of chambers. The first type, which Valve calls "checklisting", provides a relatively safe environment for the player to experiment with a fundamental aspect of a new gameplay concept. The second type of chamber is one that combines these elements in new ways to make the playerthink laterally, giving the player a rewarding experience for completing the chamber.^[42] Chambers were first developed through whiteboard via isometric drawings, with the developers performing a sanity check on the chamber, before being created into simple levels through the Hammer level editor. Extensive playtesting was used to make sure the solutions to each chamber were neither overtly obvious nor difficult to see, and to observe alternative solutions discovered by playtesters; based on their input, the design team would keep these alternate solutions viable within the level, or would work around and block the alternate solutions if they were too easy.^[42] Once a chamber was considered ready to proceed, the Valve artists then would add elements such as detailed texturing, dynamic lighting, and vegetation, using an advanced version of the Source engine.^[23] These versions would then be sent back for further playtesting to verify the new elements did not prevent players from finding proper solutions, with further iterations between artists and playtesters until such issues were resolved.^[42] Portal 2 also contains advanced rendering techniques for liquids that were developed from Left 4 Dead 2. Portal 2 combines the concepts of "flowing" surface maps to mimic the motion of water in a setting, along with "debris flow" maps and random noise to create realistic real-time rendering of water effects.^[47] Johnson stated that Valve's aim was not to make Portal 2 more difficult than its predecessor, but instead wanted to keep the same idea of a game "where you think your way through particular parts of the level, and feel really smart when you solve it".^[30]

The co-operative gameplay came about from requests from players as well from anecdotes of players working together on the same computer or console to solve the game's puzzles, likened by Wolpaw to players working together on the same computer to solve point-and-click adventure games.^[30]^[36]^[39] The co-operative campaign was also inspired by Valve's Left 4 Dead co-operative games, where players would find enjoyment after playing the game, discussing their personal experiences with the game.^[22] While the single player campaign in Portal 2 is designed to avoid frustrating the player, the co-operative levels are more focused on coordination and communication, and are recognized by Valve as being much more difficult than the single-player puzzles.^[48] Valve had avoided including timed puzzles into the single player experience in both Portal and Portal 2, but found that the inclusion of these into the co-operative mode was effective, giving players a positive feeling after being able to plan and execute difficult maneuvers.^[21] Other puzzle elements, such as the light bridges, are further inspirations from Left 4 Dead.^[22] Each puzzle chamber in the co-operative mode was assured of requiring four portals to solve as to prevent puzzles being solved by only the actions of one player.^[21] Except in few cases, the chambers were designed where neither player would remain out of sight of the other in order to promote communication and cooperation. Some of the puzzle chambers were designed as asymmetric chambers, where one player would manipulate portals and controls to allow the other player to cross the room, helping to emphasize that the two characters, while working together, are also separate entities.^[21] The ability to tag surfaces with instructional icons for one's partner was soon realized as a necessary element, as it was found to be much more effective for cooperation than through simple verbal instruction.^[39]

In addition to the cooperative mode, Valve had considered a competitive mode. According to writer Erik Wolpaw, the mode resembled a variation of speedball where one team would attempt to transport a ball from one side of the playing field to the other using portals, while the other team would attempt to stop them with their own use of portals. While Wolpaw said the matches would begin with this objective in mind, they would quickly descend into chaos. Instead, they realized people enjoyed solving puzzles with portals more, and focused on the cooperative mode.^[49]

[edit]Art, writing, and casting

Chell, the player-character, was given a new look, retaining her orange jumpsuit from the first game but partially disrobed, to make the character stand out as an individual. Chell equips the portal gun in her hands, and long fall resistance boots to reduce the shock from falling large distances.

Erik Wolpaw will return to write out the game's script in addition to Chet Faliszek, main writer for the Left 4 Dead games, and National Lampoon veteranJay Pinkerton.^[9] Valve has stated that the game contains over 13,000 lines of dialog between the single player and cooperative campaign.^[50] The game's story was developed in tight coordination with the gameplay, developing the plot alongside each testing build for the game.^[51]

Portal 2 was initially envisioned to be a prequel for the first game, years before GLaDOS' takeover of the Aperture Science facility, but eventually became a sequel set hundreds of years after Portal.^[46] The story for Portal 2 mirrors ideas from the first game; to contrast the destruction of the Aperture Science facility by the player in Portal, the new game starts with the reconstruction of the facility by GLaDOS.^[39] This helped to create the image of Aperture Science as a "living, breathing place", with GLaDOS given full control to restructure and arrange the setting as she needed it, according to Wolpaw.^[39] While they introduced new characters into the game, the focus of the story in Portal 2 remained the connection and interaction between Chell and GLaDOS, and focuses more on the fallout from Chell's destruction of GLaDOS from the first game.^[39] In considering the interaction between Chell and GLaDOS, Johnson compared GLaDOS to "a jealous ex-girlfriend", noting "[Chell is] the only person she can have interaction with, but the problem is her only way of interacting with anyone is to test them".^[25] Wolpaw also compared GLaDOS to The Sopranoscharacter of Livia Soprano, being "incredibly passive-aggressive and mildly sarcastic".^[52] GLaDOS will introduce each chamber and congratulate the player on completing it; though they could have included intermediate dialog from GLaDOS while the player attempts to solve each chamber, they found this would be distracting to players, and limited her presence in the game to only these points.^[42] GLaDOS will continue to be voiced by Ellen McLain, who worked with Valve every two weeks to record the majority of the dialog for the game.^[52] The frequency of her voice sessions allowed Valve to experiment with GLaDOS' lines and how they came out within the final game.^[52]

Valve originally had explored using other characters for the protagonist in Portal 2 before returning to the silent player-protagonist character of Chell fromPortal.^[53] In early playtesting for the game, Valve had omitted Chell, believing her story to have been done with Portal, and introduced a new player-character; though playtesters were able to accept playing as a different character for the first part of the game, they became disoriented when GLaDOS did not recognize their player-character. Valve reintroduced Chell as the player-character, believing that it was not so much the specific character but the "continuation of the player’s experience", and what they did to GLaDOS in Portal that was valued, according to Wolpaw.^[54] Early envisioning of Chell included a more utilitarian outfit, something that would have been designed by a computer for identifying and tracking its test subject.^[53] These images also included a hat, envisioned by the artists to help to keep Chell's appearance as a test subject similar to test pilots, as well as adorned with the number 6 to serve as a tracking means for the facilities' computers.^[53] However, later in development, they returned to the orange "dehumanizing" jumpsuit used in the first game, but now partially disrobed to the waist, giving the sense of more freedom of movement.^[55] This gives Chell the appearance of standing out as an individual compared to being a numbered test subject, according to Valve's art team.^[55] The reuse of the jumpsuit gives those people that have played Portal a sense of familiarity while reflecting the changes in the Aperture Science center.^[55] They also designed Chell to appear physically capable of completing the test chambers, but with some vulnerability.^[53]

Stephen Merchant (top) and J.K. Simmons voice the characters of Wheatley, the personality sphere and the eccentric CEO of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson, respectively.

Personality spheres represent new characters within the game; Johnson contrasted them to non-player characters from Half-Life 2, as the personality spheres are "story-delivery type of character[s]" help to establish more of the game's backstory than they could do in Portal.^[25] The writing team noted that the use of the personality modules allowed them more freedom than in other games for developing these as characters; they would not require facial or body animations, and they could envision the use of more recognizable voice actors for each module.^[56] At the 2010 E3 conference, the demonstration version included the voice of Valve animator Richard Lord for the Wheatley personality sphere; Doug Lombardi noted that the audio was simply a placeholder for the demo, but Lord's performance was well-received and made the character as likable as the Weighted Companion Cube from the first game, urging critics to request Valve retain Lord's voice in the final game.^[57] Valve eventually revealed that Stephen Merchant will voice Wheatley in the shipped product.^[58] Part of their selection of Merchant was based on his "vocal silhouette" to distinguish the Wheatley character from GLaDOS; to contrast from the slow deliberate pace of GLaDOS' lines, Wheatley is meant to be more "frantic", a quality that Merchant's voice work was able to bring.^[22] They also wanted Wheatley to speak informally, with dialog that seemed as if it was created on the spot in response to occurring events, and considered Merchant's ability to ad lib and to provide a lot of information in a short period of time while still being understood to be strengths for the character.^[23] They had envisioned a British voice from the start, having been in contact with The IT Crowd's writer Graham Linehan to try to get Richard Ayoade to perform the role, but later stuck with Merchant who they felt was a better match.^[23] Another character, the voice of Aperture Science's founder and CEO, Cave Johnson, will be portrayed by J.K. Simmons as announced at the 2011 PAX East exposition.^[59] Pictures of Cave Johnson appear throughout Portal 2, and though Valve used a casting call to try to find someone to use as a template, they turned back to their own lead animator, Bill Fletcher, for Cave's face.^[46]

Wolpaw and Faliszek also consider the Aperture Science facility as its own character within the game.^[31] Faliszek described Aperture Science as "a science company that's gone mad with science, where they put that first in front of everything else".^[31] Though parts of the history of Aperture Science were revealed within the first game and through ancillary materials associated with it, Faliszek says that the player will learn more about the company including "lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff".^[31] Parts of this will be through triptych-like artwork left behind by the Rat Man character, which the player will see at the start of the game and in playing through some levels.^[31] Rat Man's art has been created by in-house artist Andrea Wicklund, who was assigned to develop the graffiti-like style for the game.^[31] Though never named within the game, the Rat Man character will be further developed in "ancillary" material outside of the game surrounding the game's release.^[23] One such path is the release of a two-part comic, "Portal 2: Lab Rat", developed in-house by Valve with the aid of Michael Avon Oeming, who had previously helped Valve with comics for Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. The comic, made available online about two weeks before Portal 2's release, includes Wicklund's art contrasted against Oeming's own style and layout, along with an overall story written by Ted Kosmatka. The artists worked with the game's writers, Laidlaw, Faliszek, Wolpaw, Pinkerton and team leader Josh Weir to tie the comic's story, taking place between the two games, to the plot of Portal 2.^[60]^[32]^[33]

The co-operative campaign contains a separate story between the two robotic characters and GLaDOS. The co-operative campaign will include additional dialog from GLaDOS; the original dialog Wolpaw wrote for GLaDOS was aimed to two women, Chell and a new character "Mel", with the assumption of "image issues", but this dialog remains in place even after the change of the co-op characters to robots.^[48] The dialog written for GLaDOS in the co-operative campaign is aimed to try to break the bond between the two robot characters. Valve considered initially to have separate lines for GLaDOS that would be given to each player individually, but found this to be a significant effort for minimal benefit. The writers also attempted adding GLaDOS lines that would make the players attempt to compete against each other, such as the awarding of meaningless points, but playtesters did not respond well to these lines.^[21] Faliszek noted that in co-operative games, it can be difficult to deliver key dialog or in-game events to the unpredictable players, who may not been looking in the right direction at the right time; instead, using lessons learned from Left 4 Dead, Faliszek and Wolpaw kept the story and key comedic lines short but frequently repeated.^[61] The two robotic characters created for the co-operative mode were originally based on designs similar to the movie Westworld, looking more human and less robotic. They eventually redesigned the two characters as a modified personality sphere and turret gun, reflecting the character of the Aperture Science facility. This change also took into account the likely numerous deaths players would endure while trying to solve the puzzles together; with human or human-like characters, the deaths would be rather gruesome, but with robotic characters, Valve was able to provide more comical animations as the robots met their fate, such as struggling from being crushed by a lowering ceiling.^[48] The artists found the robot design alone related much of the character's background, in part due to the imagery from the previous game, as well as emphasizing the co-operative mode through the robots holding hands.^[53]

The indie band The National will provide some of Portal 2's music.

After finding that Jonathan Coulton's song "Still Alive" was a large part of Portal's success, Valve will include more music in Portal 2, including further involvement from Coulton.^[9] Another song will be provided by the indie band The National.^[62] The National had expressed interest to Bug Music, their publishing label, in doing music for Valve, which the label forwarded on to Valve in discussing other music opportunities for the game. Valve and Bug Music identified The National would fit well into Portal 2, as their "raw and emotive music evokes the same visceral reactions from its listeners that Portal does from its players" according to Bug Music's spokesperson Julia Betley.^[63] Other music in the game is procedurally generated, generated in real-time based on the player's actions; Mike Morasky, the game's lead composer, claims that one track of music will only be hear every "76,911 years, 125 days, 7 hours, 56 minutes and 30.3 seconds".^[46] Wolpaw commented that while many story elements of Portal will be revisited in the sequel, he will likely not return to some of the memes, such as "the cake is a lie", that have been retread over the past few years; Wolpaw stated, "If you thought you were sick of the memes, I was sick of it way ahead of you".^[64]However, Wolpaw stated that "we couldn’t resist putting in just one" cake joke within the game.^[23] Faliszek stated that they did not attempt to predict or write to lead to any other memes, believing that "you can't really plan for [dialog to become a meme] because if you do it probably seems weird and forced".^[65] There will be separate ending sequences for both the single player and the co-operative campaign, including different surprises similar to "Still Alive".^[66]

[edit]Announcement

Part of the alternate reality game that led up to Portal 2's announcement was the decoding of SSTV images embedded in an update of the original game.

After Portal's release and critical success, Valve employees Doug Lombardi and Kim Swift, indicated that "more Portal" will be coming.^[67]^[68]^[69] Swift suggested the sequel may contain a multiplayer element, but only if this "from a technology standpoint is possible".^[70]Previous comments from Swift had suggested that a multiplayer Portal was "less fun than you'd think."^[71] On June 10, 2008, Kotaku reported that Valve was seeking voice actors for the character role of Aperture Science CEO Cave Johnson and suggested that the second game may be a prequel to the events in Portal.^[72] However, a later update suggested it could be a sequel, with Johnson as another AI.^[73]

The sequel was officially announced on March 5, 2010, but events within the week before this foreshadowed the announcement. On March 1, 2010, a patch was released for Portal. The patch included an additional achievement, "Transmission Received", requiring the player to manipulate the in-game radios in an appropriate manner. This revealed new sound effects that became part of an alternate reality game-style analysis by fans of the game;^[74] the effects included Morse code strings that implied the restarting of a computer system, and SSTV images from a grainy Aperture Science video. These images embedded further hints of a BBS phone number that when accessed, provided a large number of ASCII-based images relating to Portal and segments of fictional documents for Aperture Science; many of these ASCII pictures were published art assets for the game as shown in the Game Informer reveal of the title.^[9] A second patch two days later altered the game's original ending to suggest Chell's current fate, with additional digital files and resources to further the alternate reality game.^[75] These events were seen by gaming journalists to be leading to a forthcoming Portal 2 or other Half-Life game announcement.^[76]^[77]^[78] Following these events, in time with a countdown timer on the BBS, Portal 2 was officially announced.^[79]

Gabe Newell continues the alternate reality game surrounding Portal 2's announcement during the 2010 Game Developers Conference.

The alternate-reality game continued after the game's announcement. New ASCII images continued to appear on the BBS after the official announcement. At his acceptance speech for the Pioneer Award at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, occurring the week following Portal 2's announcement, Gabe Newell ended his speech presentation with a fake blue screen of death, purporting to be from GLaDOS and hinting at further Portal 2 news at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3).^[80] Two weeks prior to Valve's planned presentation at E3, a cryptic e-mail received by game journalists, purportedly sent as a press release from Aperture Science, hinted that the presentation of Portal 2 was canceled but was to be replaced with "a surprise" jointly by Aperture Science and Valve; this has led to some speculation that Half-Life 2: Episode Three may be announced alongside further reveal of Portal 2.^[81] In the week prior to E3, Valve reiterated that the "surprise" at E3 would still be about Portal 2, but noted that the game's release has slipped to sometime in 2011, humorously referring to the preservation of "the fabric of Valve Time".^[82] The surprise at E3 was revealed to be the development of the PlayStation 3 version of Portal 2 with partial support for Steamwork on the console, a dramatic reverse of Valve's previous statements on the console.^[11]^[83]^[84]

On February 18, 2011, Newell confirmed that Valve had completed the development work on Portal 2, and that they were "waiting for final approvals and to get the discs manufactured".^[85] At the PAX East exposition in March 2011, Wolpaw stated they would provide material before the game's release to tie the timeline between Portal and Portal 2 together.^[86]

[edit]PlayStation 3 support

As part of the Sony press conference at E3, it was revealed by Newell that Portal 2 will be available for the PlayStation 3 and will be the only console version to include some features of Steamworks used in the PC and Mac versions, making the game in Newell's words "the best console version".^[11] The news came as a surprise to many journalists,^[83]^[87] as previously, Newell has made negative comments about the system, calling it "a total disaster on so many levels" in reference to the difficulties in porting The Orange Box to the console.^[84] Newell jokingly referred to these comments by thanking Sony for "their gracious hospitality and not repeatedly punching me in the face", and said that he was nervous because he was introduced to Sony marketing character Kevin Butler as the "VP of sharpening things".^[88]

Portal 2 will be the first game on the PlayStation 3 to support a subset of features from Steamworks, including auto-updates, downloadable content, and community support.^[89] The game will support cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3 and the Windows and Mac OS X versions, allowing users to save their game in the Steam Cloud to reuse on any of these three platforms;^[90] this was a sought after goal with the use of Steamworks on the PlayStation 3.^[91] On the PlayStation 3, the Steamworks overlay will show the player's friends on both Steam and the PlayStation Network, and achievements earned in Portal 2 will be rewarded for both Steam and PlayStation Network trophies.^[92]

Because of the integration of Steamworks on the PlayStation 3, Valve will be able to collect data on bugs and other problems that may arise after shipping, and can release patches regularly to fix these or normalize features across the three Steamworks platforms.^[23] Valve stated they did not plan on integrating other PlayStation 3 features, such as 3D television orPlayStation Move support.^[93] Despite some reports that Move support would be included,^[94] Valve has clarified that the game will not support Move.^[95] Valve contrasted this to the support the game will have for the Razer USA Hydra Motion Controller, including additional levels designed specifically for the controller;^[96] according to Faliszek, the Razer developers spent nine months in-house with Valve to help bring in the controller compatibility with the Microsoft Windows version, while they would have needed a similar level of effort to incorporate the PlayStation Move controller.^[97] Faliszek further explained that the initial reports on the Move support were due to a translation error during an interview.^[97]

[edit]Promotion and release

Portal 2 ad on the back of a Seattle city bus

Portal 2 will be the first Valve product that will simultaneously be released for Windows and Mac OS X computers through the Steam platform.^[98] As part of the PlayStation 3 release, those who purchase the PlayStation 3 version of Portal 2 will also be able to unlock the game on the Steam platform for Windows and Mac OS X for free by linking their PlayStation Network and Steam accounts, and using a redeemable code within the PlayStation 3 packaging.^[90]^[92] Faliszek explained that despite the additional support for the PlayStation 3 version, "the core game, whether you buy it on PS3 or 360 is the same, you’re not going to lose out anything on that".^[99]

Valve have created their own series of television commercials for promoting Portal 2. According to Lombardi, though they had worked with advertising agencies in the past to create ads, Valve found the agencies to provide little ingenuity towards their games; Lombardi's frustrations included "Copycat treatments. Cliché treatments. Treatments that reveal the agency wasn’t listening in the initial meeting."^[100] By creating the ads themselves, Valve was able to tailor the content based on feedback until they were satisfied with the results. The ads took eight weeks to complete.^[100] Valve has also developed additional online promotional videos, featuring J.K. Simmons narrating as Cave Johnson to promote new elements of Portal 2's gameplay. These videos are part of a larger effort described by Newell as a "documentary-style investment opportunity" for Portal 2.^[101] The forementioned "Lab Rat" comic, produced by Valve, providing a tie-in story between Portal and Portal 2, was released about two weeks before Portal 2's availability.^[32]^[33]

Portal 2 on all systems will support end user-made levels; on the Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation 3, these will be made available by Steamworks, while Valve will provide more direct support for providing these levels on the Xbox 360; some reporters believe they will use a similar method that the developers used for Super Meat Boy to bypass the Xbox Live Marketplace for additional content.^[102] The tools to make these levels will only be available on the Windows platform due to software dependencies.^[66]

Journalists believe that Portal 2 is at the center of another alternate reality game supported across thirteen independently-developed games included in a Steam software sale called the "Potato Sack" launched on April 1, 2011. Though several of the games jokingly replace some assets with potatoes or variants of this, gamers have found symbols, text phrases, graphics, and other art aspects that seem unrelated to the games themselves. One asset includes a map of a research facility that is similar to what players witnessed at the end of Portal, while other assets seem to be phrases that GLaDOS would state.^[103]^[104] Later puzzles provided concept art and alternative cover assets for Portal 2.^[105]About a week after the sale began, emails from Newell to various press outlets revealed parts of a picture that when assembled and decoded, provided part of the fiction of the alternative reality game, and other clues.^[106] A further update after certain puzzles were solved included Portal-themed updates to each of the games in the Potato Sack, such as complete levels based on Aperture Science for The Ball and Killing Floor.^[107] Some have postulated, based on the hidden messages in the solutions found by those playing the alternate reality game, that Portal 2 may be released a few days earlier, as soon as April 15, 2011

Record Store Day

2011-04-15T20:25:00.001+07:00

Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music^[1]. The day brings together fans, artists, and the over 700 independently owned record stores in the United States, along with hundreds of independent record stores across the world.^[2]

Record Store Day was officially founded in 2007^[1] by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner and is now celebrated globally^[1] with hundreds of recording and other artists participating in the day by making special appearances, performances, meet and greets with their fans, the holding of art exhibits, and the issuing of special vinyl and CD releases along with other promotional products to mark the occasion.

[hide]

History

Record Store Day 2008

Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day 2008 at Rasputin Music in Mountain View on April 19, 2008. There were approximately 10 special Record Store Day releases in the first year, including releases by Death Cab For Cutie, R.E.M., Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, The Teenagers, Black Kids, and Jason Mraz. Billy Bragg met Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz in an airport and agreed to help kick off Record Store Day in the UK with a special live appearance. Approximately 300 stores launched Record Store Day in the USA, including Waterloo Records, Silver Platters, Twist & Shout, School Kids Records, Vintage Vinyl, Easy Street, Zia Records, Criminal Records, and Grimey's. The first organized involvement by UK stores included Piccadilly Records in Manchester, Jumbo Records in Leeds, Resident in Brighton, Sister Ray and Rough Trade in London, Rapture in Witney, Oxfordshire, Spillers in Cardiff and Avalanche Records in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Record Store Day 2009

Official Ambassador: Jesse Hughes^[3]

The second annual Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 18, 2009 with approximately 85 special releases and appearances by the likes of Slayer^{[citation needed]}, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Iron & Wine, The Stooges, MC5, Wilco, Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, The Eagles of Death Metal.^{[citation needed]} The total number of artist appearances in the US was approximately 500. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy announced that "there would be no Wilco if it weren't for independent record stores" and the band made a surprise appearance on Record Store Day @ the Disc Exchange in Knoxville, TN. Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes announced that he was the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day" and the band made an appearance at Rhino Records. Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that the City of New York officially recognized Record Store Day as a city-wide event and the judges on American Idol talked about their favorite records in honor of Record Store Day in the episode of American Idol prior to the event. Even though 95% of the special releases made for Record Store Day were for the USA, the event began to grow internationally with over 1,000 record stores in the US, the UK, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany all participated in the international event.^{[citation needed]}

Record Store Day 2010

Official Ambassador: Joshua Homme

The third annual Record Store Day took place on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Them Crooked Vultures' Josh Homme was announced the official "Ambassador of Record Store Day 2010"^[3]and the band issued a special 10" vinyl record with unreleased music. Blur released "Fool's Day", their first single since since 2003, available to record stores in the UK. The Smashing Pumpkins announced that they will kick off their new album with a special Record Store Day concert at Amoeba in Hollywood, CA. Other artists to announce special appearances included Frank Black, Exene Cervenka, Angie Stone, Jason Derulo, Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Josh Ritter, HIM, Slash, Sick Puppies, Eagle Us Pets, Care Bears on Fire, and Emmylou Harris. Over 150 special limited edition releases were released that year, including pieces from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Devo, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Gogol Bordello, Built to Spill, Gorillaz, The Rolling Stones, LCD Soundsystem, Terrible Things, Ani DiFranco, Hold Steady, Muse, Credible Threats, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter and Great Lake Swimmers. The official book of Record Store Day 2010 is "Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops by Graham Jones".^{[citation needed]} KCRW's Gary Calamar and Phil Gallo released their book "Record Store Days" about independent record stores, with artist quotes provided by www.recordstoreday.com used throughout the book, with a chapter devoted to Record Store Day. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and New York City once again honored the day.

Record Store Day was also celebrated by giving young artists an opportunity to showcase their talent in the form of a national "Record Store Day: High School Battle of the Bands".^[1]Local, participating independent record stores nominated one local high school band by picking a cut from the band's supplied recording and entered their name and song cut into the contest. A panel of record executives and members from the Fender Corporation judged the entrants. Nine national semi-finalists were chosen to appear on a limited edition, compilation vinyl LP of their winning songs. Pressed by Gotta Groove, the LP features digital convenience. On Record Store Day, April 17, 2010, it was announced that the grand prize winning band was SANUK, an indie band of HS students from Indianapolis, Indiana.^{[citation needed]} They received a generous prize package of musical gear from the Fender Corporation and recording time with recording greats - Jack Ponti and Kevin "The Caveman" Shirley. SANUK was championed by their local record store, Indy CD & Vinyl. The sponsors of the contest were Caroline Distribution and EMI Label Services, Fender,^[4] and Fender Music Foundation. Aside from the Band Battle contest, many participating record stores had a line-up of live talent performing throughout the day.

In 2010, more than 1,400 independent record stores participated in the unofficial holiday. More than 1,000 were from the US alone. Record stores saw a 41% increase in sales over the previous year's celebration, and a 109% increase over the previous Saturday's sales.^[5]

Record Store Day has become such a nationally recognized event in the USA that it was even referenced on "Saturday Night Live."^[6]

Record Store Day 2011

Official Ambassador: Ozzy Osbourne^[3]

The fourth annual Record Store Day will take place on Saturday, April 16, 2011. The Experience Music Project in Seattle is kicking off Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses,^[7] an exhibit based around the grunge band Nirvana. Panda Bear has brought forward the release of his fourth studio album Tomboy. The Flaming Lips are to release a new box-set collection of their Warner Brothers albums issued under the title Heady Nuggs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992 – 2002. Sugar Hill Records will release a trio of Nickel Creek titles on deluxe vinyl. The Rolling Stones will be releasing a limited edition 7-inch of Brown Sugar. Superchunk and Coliseum will release a limited edition 7-inch covering Misfits' Horror Business bundled with Bullet. Phish will release Two Soundchecks, a Limited Edition 7-inch vinyl record, marking the band's first ever live vinyl release and their first release in conjunction with Record Store Day. Phish bassist Mike Gordon will also be releasing his 2003 solo debut Inside In on vinyl for the first time as a deluxe double-LP set with three previously unreleased outtake tracks, as well as Moss Remixes, a Limited Edition 7-inch with two remixes from his latest solo album Moss."^[8] Gorillaz are going to release a limited edition version of their fourth studio albumThe Fall for the event. The album gets a CD release two days later. Green Day and Husker Du are releasing a split for Record Store Day,^[9] while Foo Fighters have announced they are releasing a covers album.^[10] Radiohead will be releasing a two-song release that contains the songs "Supercollider" and "The Butcher".^[11]

Security

Rekayasa perangkat lunak

Hillsborough disaster

Contents

[edit]Before the disaster

[edit]The disaster

[edit]Build-up

[edit]The crush

[edit]Aftermath

[edit]The Taylor inquiry

[edit]Police control

[edit]Stadium design

[edit]Other aggravating factors

[edit]Impact on new stadium safety standards

[edit]Memorials

[edit]Permanent memorials

[edit]Memorial ceremonies

[edit]Tenth anniversary

[edit]Twentieth anniversary

[edit]Tributes from other clubs

[edit]Charges against officials

[edit]Inquests

[edit]Prosecution

[edit]Psychiatric injury claims

[edit]Controversies

[edit]The Sun newspaper

[edit]FHM

[edit]EastEnders

[edit]Charles Itandje's disrespect in 2009

[edit]Jeremy Hunt

[edit]"Cracker: To Be A Somebody" television drama

[edit]"Hillsborough" television drama

[edit]See also

[edit]Further reading

Ray William Johnson

Contents

Projects

Capitol Hill Gangsta

Equals Three

Fatty Spins

Your Favorite Martian

References

External links

Emma Watson

Contents

Early life

Career

Harry Potter

Other acting work

Fashion and modelling

Personal life

Filmography

Awards

Hells Angels

Contents

[edit]History

[edit]Insignia

[edit]Membership

[edit]Official chapters

[edit]Criminal activities

[edit]Australia

[edit]Canada

[edit]British Columbia

[edit]Ontario

[edit]Manitoba

[edit]Quebec

[edit]Germany

[edit]The Netherlands

[edit]Scandinavia

[edit]Southeast Europe and Turkey

[edit]Spain

[edit]United Kingdom

[edit]United States

[edit]California

[edit]Nevada

[edit]New York

[edit]Ohio

[edit]Washington

Burkina Faso

Contents