title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: One theme of "Speak" is finding one's voice. Another theme in the novel is identity. The story can also be viewed as speaking out against violence and victimization. Melinda feels guilty, even though she was a victim of sexual assault. Yet, by seeing other victims, like Rachel, Melinda is able to speak. Some see "Speak" as a story of recovery. According to Latham, writing/narrating her story has a therapeutic effect on Melinda, allowing her to "recreate" herself.


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: One interpretation of Melinda's behavior is that it is symptomatic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of her rape. Like other trauma survivors, Melinda's desire to both deny and proclaim what happened produces symptoms that both attract and deflect attention. Don Latham and Lisa DeTora both define Melinda's PTSD within the context of Judith Herman's three categories of classic PTSD symptoms: "hyperarousal", "intrusion", and "constriction". Melinda displays hyperarousal in her wariness of potential danger. Melinda will not go over to David's house after the basketball game, because she is afraid of what might happen. Intrusion is depicted in the rape's disruption of Melinda's consciousness. She tries to forget the event, but the memories keep resurfacing in her mind. Constriction is illustrated in Melinda's silence and withdrawal from society. Latham views Melinda's slow recovery as "queer" in its diversion from the normal treatment of trauma. Melinda's recovery comes as a result of her own efforts, without professional help. Further, DeTora notes the connection between trauma and "the unspeakable".


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: "Speak" is a first-person, diary-like narrative. Written in the voice of Melinda Sordino, it features lists, subheadings, spaces between paragraphs and script-like dialogue. The fragmented style mimics Melinda's trauma. The choppy sentences and blank spaces on the pages relate to Melinda's fascination with Cubism. According to Chris McGee and DeTora, Anderson's writing style allows the reader to see how Melinda struggles with "producing the standard, cohesive narrative" expected in a teen novel. Melinda's distracted narrative reiterates the idea that "no one really wants to hear what you have to say". In her article, ""Like Falling Up into a Storybook"", Barbara Tannert-Smith says, By disrupting the present with flashbacks of the past, Anderson further illustrates the structure of trauma. Anderson organizes the plot around the four quarters of Melinda's freshman year, starting the story in the middle of Melinda's struggle. Anderson superimposed the fragmented trauma plot-line upon this linear high school narrative, making the narrative more believable.


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: Throughout "Speak", Anderson represents Melinda's trauma and recovery symbolically. Barbara Tannert-Smith refers to "Speak" as a "postmodern revisionary fairy tale" for its use of fairy tale imagery. She sees Merryweather High School as the "ideal fairy tale domain", featuring easily categorized characters—a witchy mother, a shape-shifting best friend, a beastly rapist. Mirrors, traditional fairy tale tools, signify Melinda's struggle with her shattered identity. After being raped, Melinda does not recognize herself in her reflection. Disgusted by what she sees, Melinda avoids mirrors. According to Don Latham, Melinda's aversion to her reflection illustrates acknowledgement of her fragmented identity. In fact, the only mirror Melinda can "see herself" in, is the three-way mirror in the dressing room. Rather than giving the illusion of a unified self, the three-way mirror reflects Melinda's shattered self. Likewise, Melinda is fascinated by Cubism, because it represents what is beyond the surface. Melinda uses art to express her voice. Her post-traumatic artwork illustrates her pain. The trees symbolize Melinda's growth. The walls of Melinda's closet are covered in her tree sketches, creating a metaphorical forest in which she hides from reliving her trauma. According to Don Latham, the closets in the story symbolize Melinda's queer coping strategies. Melinda uses the closet to conceal the truth.


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: Anderson incorporates precursor texts that parallel Melinda's experience. In the story, Melinda's English class studies Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", which features similar fairy tale imagery. Hester Prynne, an outcast protagonist like Melinda, lives in a cottage at the edge of the woods. Hester's cottage parallels Melinda's closet. For both women, the seclusion of the forest represents a space beyond social demands. The deciphering of Hawthorne's symbolism mimics the process faced by readers of Melinda's narrative. Similarly, Anderson connects Melinda's trauma to that of Maya Angelou, author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Melinda places a poster of Angelou in her closet. She admires Angelou because her novel was banned by the school board. Melinda and Angelou were both outcasts. Like Melinda, Angelou was silenced following her childhood rape.


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: "Speak" is a "New York Times" Best-Seller. The novel received several awards and honors, including the American Library Association's 2000 Michael Printz Honor and the 2000 Golden Kite Award. It was also selected as a 2000 ALA Best Book For Young Adults. "Speak" gained critical acclaim for its portrayal of the trauma caused by rape. Barbara Tannert-Smith, author of ""Like Falling Up Into a Storybook: Trauma and Intertextual Repetition in Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak."", claims the story's ability to speak the reader's language brought about its commercial success. "Publishers Weekly" says, "Speak's" "overall gritty realism and Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired". Ned Vizzini, for the New York Times, calls it "different", "a grittily realistic portrait of sexual violence in high school." Author Don Latham calls "Speak" "painful, smart, and darkly comic".


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: "Speak's" difficult subject matter has led to censorship of the novel. "Speak" is ranked 60th on the ALA's list of Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books for 2000–2009<ref name="top 100 banned/challenged"></ref> and 25th for 2010–2019. In 2020, the book was named the fourth most banned and challenged book in the United States "because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint and it was claimed to be biased against male students, and for the novel’s inclusion of rape and profanity."


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: In September 2010, Wesley Scroggins, a professor at Missouri State University, wrote an article, "Filthy books demeaning to Republic education", in which he claimed that "Speak", along with "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Twenty Boy Summer", should be banned for "exposing children to immorality". Scroggins claimed that "Speak" should be "classified as soft pornography" and, therefore, removed from high school English curriculum. In its 2010-2011 bibliography, "Books Challenged or Banned", the "Newsletter of Intellectual Freedom" lists "Speak" as having been challenged in Missouri schools because of its "soft-pornography" and "glorification of drinking, cursing, and premarital sex."


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: In the 2006 Platinum Edition of "Speak", and on her blog, Laurie Halse Anderson spoke out against censorship. Anderson wrote:


title: Speak (Anderson novel)

text: In her scholarly monograph, "Laurie Halse Anderson: Speaking in Tongues", Wendy J. Glenn claims that "Speak" "has generated more academic response than any other novel Anderson has written." Despite hesitancy to teach a novel with "mature subject matter," English teachers are implementing "Speak" in the classroom as a study of literary analysis, as well as tool to teach students about sexual harassment. The novel gives students the opportunity to talk about several teen issues, including: school cliques, sex, and parental relationships. Of teaching "Speak" in the classroom Jackett says, "We have the opportunity as English teachers to have an enormously positive impact on students' lives. Having the courage to discuss the issues found in "Speak" is one way to do just that." By sharing in Melinda's struggles, students may find their own voices and learn to cope with trauma and hardships. According to Janet Alsup, teaching "Speak" in the classroom, can help students become more critically literate. Students may not feel comfortable talking about their own experiences, but they are willing to talk about what happens to Melinda. Elaine O'Quinn claims that books like "Speak" allow students to explore inner dialogue. "Speak" provides an outlet for students to think critically about their world.


The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War (, ) was an alleged state of war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly (located off the southwest coast of Great Britain), and its existence is disputed. It is said to have been extended by the lack of a peace treaty for 335 years without a single shot being fired, which would make it one of the world's longest wars, and a bloodless war. Despite the uncertain validity of the declaration of war, and thus uncertainty about whether or not a state of war ever actually existed, peace was finally declared in 1986, bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist.


title: Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War

text: The origins of the war can be found in the English Civil War, fought between the Royalists and Parliamentarians from 1642 to 1651. Oliver Cromwell had fought the Royalists to the edges of the Kingdom of England. In the West of Britain this meant that Cornwall was the last Royalist stronghold. In 1648, Cromwell pushed on until mainland Cornwall was in the hands of the Parliamentarians. The Royalist Navy was forced to retreat to the Isles of Scilly, which lay off the Cornish coast and were under the ownership of Royalist John Granville.


text: The navy of the United Provinces of the Netherlands was at the time allied with the Parliamentarians. The Netherlands had been assisted by the English under a number of rulers in the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), starting with Queen . The Treaty of Münster ( 1648) had confirmed Dutch independence from Spain. The Netherlands sought to maintain their alliance with England and had chosen to ally with the Parliamentarians as the side likely to win the Civil War.


text: The Dutch merchant navy was suffering heavy losses from the Royalist fleet based in Scilly. On 1651, Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp arrived in Scilly to demand reparation from the Royalist fleet for the Dutch ships and goods taken by them.


text: According to Whitelocke's Memorials, a letter of 1651 explains: "Tromp came to Pendennis and related that he had been to Scilly to demand reparation for the Dutch ships and goods taken by them; and receiving no satisfactory answer, he had, according to his Commission, declared war on them." As most of England was now in Parliamentarian hands, war was declared specifically upon the Isles of Scilly.


text: In June 1651, soon after the declaration of war, the Parliamentarian forces under Admiral Robert Blake forced the Royalist fleet to surrender. The Dutch fleet, no longer under threat, left without firing a shot. Due to the obscurity of one nation's declaration of war against a small part of another, the Dutch did not officially declare peace.


text: For many years in the Isles of Scilly, the local legend was that the state of war was still in effect. In 1986, Roy Duncan, historian and Chairman of the Isles of Scilly Council, decided to investigate and wrote to the Dutch Embassy in London. Embassy staff found that no peace treaty had ever been signed, and Duncan invited the Dutch ambassador Jonkheer Rein Huydecoper to visit the islands and officially end the "conflict". Peace was declared on 17 April 1986, 335 years after the supposed declaration of war. The Dutch ambassador joked that it must have been horrifying to the Scillonians "to know we could have attacked at any moment."


text: Bowley (2001) argues that the letter in Whitelocke's Memorials is the probable origin of the "declaring war" legend: "Tromp had no 'Commission' from his government to declare war on the rebels in Scilly; but he did come to tryby a show of force, threats and even by violence perhaps, although this never happenedto seek reparation for Royalist piracies, but short of resorting to any action which might offend the Commonwealth even if [a war] had occurred in 1651, all matters pertaining would have been resolved in 1654 as a part of the treaty between England and the United Provinces at the end of the First Dutch War".


text: The reality of this war is also disputed by Graeme Donald. In his book "Loose Cannons: 101 Myths, Mishaps and Misadventurers of Military History" he argues that no such war could have existed because neither side was sovereign: "Tromp was an admiral, not a nation, and Scilly part of England". He goes on to describe it as "a great PR coup for the island's tourist board".


title: Mangalica

text: The Mangalica (also Mangalitsa or Mangalitza) is a Hungarian breed of domestic pig. It was developed in the mid-19th century by crossbreeding breeds from the nearby Romanian Salonta (Hungarian: "Nagyszalonta", colloquially "Szalonta") and Hungarian Bakony with the European wild boar and the Serbian Šumadija breed. The Mangalica pig grows a thick, curly coat of hair. The only other pig breed noted for having a long coat is the extinct Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig of England.


title: Mangalica

text: The blonde Mangalica variety was developed from older, hardy types of Hungarian pig (Bakonyi and Szalontai) crossed with the European wild boar and a Serbian breed (and later others like Alföldi) in Austria-Hungary (1833). That year, Prince of Serbia Miloš Obrenović sent 12 pigs of the autochthonous Serbian "Šumadinka" breed, ten sows and two boars. Pigs originally grown at the Prince's Topčider farm near Belgrade were used to create the Syrmian black lasa breed, also known as the black mangalica. Prince sent the animals to the Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary, on whose estate the new breed was to be created.


title: Mangalica

text: The new, quick-growing, "fat-type" hog did not require any special care, which caused it to become very popular in Hungary. In 1927, the National Society of Fat-Type Hog Breeders ("Mangalicatenyésztők Országos Egyesülete") was established, with the objective of improving the breed. Mangalica was the most prominent swine breed in the region until 1950 (30,000 of them were in Hungary in 1943). Since then, the popularity as well as the population of Mangalica has been decreasing, with the rising availability of food from farther away and refrigeration. In 1991, there were fewer than 200 remaining Mangalica in Hungary. Monte Nevado, a Spanish company began the breeding and recovery of Mangalica, and they were awarded with the Middle Cross of Hungary in 2016. Nowadays, the keeping of Mangalica has become a popular hobby. Slightly over 7,000 Mangalica sows in Hungary are producing around 60,000 piglets a year.


title: Mangalica

text: Apart from Hungary, the Mangalica is present in Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United States. In Serbia, the breed (which is called "mangulica" in Serbian) almost completely died out in the 1980s. In 1998, Mangalica were introduced into the Zasavica wetlands. They are left to roam free in a reservation, becoming partially feral, with cases of breeding with wild boars known. Came the early 2010s, their number grew to 1,000 in Zasavica and in populations kept in the individual farms in the Syrmia and Mačva regions. As both autochthonous Serbian breeds of domestic pig, "Šiška" and Mangalica's predecessor "Šumadinka" died out, Mangalica are considered the only surviving autochthonous breed in Serbia. In March 2006, seventeen of the pigs were exported from Austria to the United Kingdom, where they are registered with the British Pig Association. In 2007, some were exported to the United States.


title: Mangalica

text: The Mangalica produces too little lean meat, so it has been gradually replaced by modern domestic breeds. It is usually fed with a mix of wild pasture, supplemented with potatoes and pumpkins produced on the farm.


title: Mangalica

text: The primary product made from this pig is sausage, usually packed in the pig's duodenum. The minced meat is seasoned with salt, pepper, sweet paprika, and other spices. It is then eaten in slices with pickled vegetables. The pork is also served braised with sauerkraut, potatoes, and stuffed peppers as a side dish. Farmers also produce smoked hams. The fresh meat tastes strong and juicy; the suckling pigs are much preferred for their good fresh meat qualities.


title: Mangalica

text: Meat from the Mangalica can be easily found in Hungary, as Hungarian farmers produce about 60,000 animals each year.


title: Mangalica

text: There are currently three existing varieties of Mangalitsa, differing only by color. These differences are too small for them to be considered individual breeds. The three Mangalica varieties are: "blonde", "swallow-bellied", and "red". The "blonde" Mangalica is blonde, the "swallow-bellied" (originally produced by crossing the Blonde Mangalica with the extinct Black Mangalica) has a blonde lower-portion of its body while the upper-portion of its body is black, and the "red" (produced by crossing the Blonde Mangalica with the Szalonta breed) is ginger-colored.


title: Mangalica

text: Other varieties (including "black", "wolf", and "baris") have become extinct as pure-bred forms, though their reconstruction from selective breeding of mixed varieties is being debated in Hungary.


title: Mangalica

text: Bazna breed is a Romanian breed of domestic pig, first created in 1872 from crosses between the Mangalitsa sow and Berkshire boar.


title: Diana Canova

text: Diana Canova (born June 1, 1953) is an American actress, director, and professor. She is best known for her role as Corinne Tate on "Soap" (1977-1980).


title: Diana Canova

text: Canova was born Diane Canova Rivero in West Palm Beach, Florida, to actress and singer Judy Canova and Cuban musician Filberto Rivero. She was raised in the Greater Los Angeles Area, where she graduated from Hollywood High School. Canova later studied acting at Los Angeles City College.


title: Diana Canova

text: Canova made her television acting debut in a 1974 episode of "Happy Days" portraying a considerably taller date of Richie; in reality both she and Ron Howard are the same height at 5'9". She later guest-starred on episodes of "Chico and the Man" and "Starsky and Hutch" and appeared in television films. Canova then landed the role of Corinne Tate on "Soap" in 1977 opposite Katherine Helmond as her mother. She remained with the series until 1980. Canova was known for her singing, exhibited during Perry Como's Early American Christmas program in 1978. The show was filmed in Williamsburg, Virginia, featured John Wayne, and musical numbers interwoven with storytelling. In 1979, she made an appearance on "Barney Miller" as nude dancer/graduate student Stephanie Wolf.


title: Diana Canova

text: In 1980, ABC executives offered Canova her own television series starring alongside Danny Thomas in "I'm a Big Girl Now". The show lasted just one season. She then co-starred on the short-lived CBS sitcom "Foot in the Door" in 1983. A few years later, she was cast as Sandy Beatty on "Throb", a sitcom which was broadcast in syndication from 1986 to 1988. Between 1984 and 1996 she appeared in three episodes of the long-running TV show "Murder, She Wrote", including being featured as Maggie McCauley in 1990's "Murder: According to Maggie." In 1993, Canova co-starred in the ABC sitcom "Home Free" (which also featured Marian Mercer, her co-star from "Foot in the Door"). Since the mid-1990s, she has mainly done voice work for cartoons in video shorts. In 1995, she played "Jenny" in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical "Company".


title: Diana Canova

text: , Canova is an adjunct professor of voice at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, and teaches private lessons. She has been working with the school systems of Easton and Redding, Connecticut, where she directs musicals and short plays as well as a high school improv troupe that performs at local charity events. Under her leadership, Joel Barlow High School's theater program has won several awards from the Connecticut Drama Association and has set the record for winning first place two years in a row in multiple categories.


title: Diana Canova

text: Canova is married to record producer Elliot Scheiner. The couple have two children. She was previously married to Geoff Levin from 1976 until their divorce in 1979. Before marrying Scheiner, she and Steve Landesberg dated.


title: Diana Canova

text: Canova is a former member of the Church of Scientology, an organization she has since criticized. She found the Scientologists straightforward in their desire for money, declaring in 1993 in a "Premiere" magazine interview, "The first time I walked in those doors, they said, 'Just give us all the money in your bank account'". She also criticized the Church's counseling practice, called auditing, when she said, "They're telling you, 'Don't spend $100 an hour on a shrink's couch, it'll ruin your mind.' Auditing is so much better?"


title: Sejanus

text: Lucius Aelius Sejanus (c. 20 BC – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (), was a Roman soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian Guard (the Roman imperial bodyguard), of which he was commander from AD 14 until his execution for treason in AD 31.


title: Sejanus

text: While the Praetorian Guard was formally established under Emperor Augustus, Sejanus introduced a number of reforms which saw the unit evolve beyond a mere bodyguard into a powerful and influential branch of the government involved in public security, civil administration and ultimately political intercession; these changes had a lasting impact on the course of the Principate.


title: Sejanus

text: During the 20s, Sejanus gradually accumulated power by consolidating his influence over Tiberius and eliminating potential political opponents, including the emperor's son Drusus Julius Caesar. When Tiberius withdrew to Capri in AD 26, Sejanus was left in control of the administration of the empire. For a time the most influential and feared citizen of Rome, Sejanus suddenly fell from power in AD 31, the year his career culminated with the consulship. Amidst suspicions of conspiracy against Tiberius, Sejanus was arrested and executed, along with his followers.


title: Sejanus

text: Sejanus was born around 20 BC at Volsinii, Etruria, into the Seii, the family of Lucius Seius Strabo. The Seii were Romans of the Equites class (or knights), the second-highest social class of the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. Sejanus' grandfather maintained relations with senatorial families through his marriage with Terentia, a sister of the wife of Gaius Maecenas, who was one of Emperor Augustus' most powerful political allies.


title: Sejanus

text: Strabo married into equally illustrious families. One of his wives was Cosconia Gallita, sister of Servius Cornelius Lentulus Maluginensis (suffect consul in AD 10) and Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio (suffect consul in AD 2). Sejanus was once thought to have possibly been a child of this marriage, but Ronald Syme has said that Sejanus' mother was a Junia Blaesa, sister of Junius Blaesus.


title: Sejanus

text: Sejanus' brother Lucius Seius Tubero, who became suffect consul in AD 18, was thought to have been a paternal half-brother, from his father Strabo marrying a daughter of Quintus Aelius Tubero but Syme has rejected this, instead he believes that Lucius Seius Tubero was Junia Blaesa's son from a marriage to Quintus Aelius Tubero whom Strabo adopted upon marrying Junia.


title: Sejanus

text: Sejanus was later adopted into the Aelia gens, possibly by Gaius Aelius Gallus the prefect, or Sextus Aelius Catus his half-brother's half-brother, and by Roman custom became known as Lucius Aelius Seianus or simply as Seianus.


title: Sejanus

text: The adoptive family of Sejanus counted two consuls among their ranks: Quintus Aelius Tubero (consul in 11 BC) and Sextus Aelius Catus (consul in AD 4), who was the father of Aelia Paetina, the second wife of the future Emperor Claudius. Sejanus' uncle, Junius Blaesus, distinguished himself as a military commander; he became proconsul of Africa in AD 21 and earned triumphal honors by crushing the rebellion of Tacfarinas.


title: Sejanus

text: According to the ancient historian Tacitus, Sejanus was also a former favourite of the wealthy Marcus Gavius Apicius, whose daughter may have been Sejanus' first wife Apicata. With Apicata, Sejanus had two sons, Strabo and Capito Aelianus, and a daughter, Junilla.


title: Sejanus

text: It is likely that Sejanus' father Strabo came to the attention of Augustus through his father's connection with Maecenas. Sometime after 2 BC, Strabo was appointed prefect of the Praetorian Guard, one of the two most powerful positions a Roman knight could attain in the Empire. This office he carried on dutifully and without incident until the death of Augustus in AD 14. Little is known about the life Sejanus led prior to this date, but according to Tacitus, he accompanied Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, during his campaigns in Armenia in 1 BC. Upon the accession of Tiberius in AD 14, Sejanus was appointed prefect of the Praetorian Guard as the colleague of his father Strabo, and began his rise to prominence.


title: Sejanus

text: The Praetorian Guard was an elite unit of the Roman army formed by Augustus in 27 BC, with the specific function to serve as a bodyguard to the emperor and members of the imperial family. Much more than a guard however, the Praetorians also managed the day-to-day care of the city, such as general security and civil administration. Furthermore, their presence served as a constant reminder to the people and the Senate of the substantial armed force which served as the basis for the imperial power. Augustus was careful however to uphold the republican veneer of this regime, and only allowed nine cohorts to be formed (one fewer than in a normal Roman legion), which were inconspicuously scattered across various lodging houses in the city, and commanded by two prefects.


title: Sejanus

text: When Strabo was assigned to the governorship of Egypt in AD 15, Sejanus became the sole commander of the Praetorians and instigated reforms that helped shape the guard into a powerful tool of the principate. In AD 20 the scattered encampments inside the city were centralized into a single garrison just outside Rome and the number of cohorts was increased from nine to twelve, one of which now held the daily guard at the palace. The practice of joint leadership between two prefects was abandoned, and Sejanus himself appointed the centurions and tribunes. With these changes in effect, Sejanus now commanded the complete loyalty of a force of around 12,000 soldiers, all of which were at his immediate disposal. The facade of Augustus was no longer maintained, and Tiberius openly displayed the strength of the guard at parades.


title: Sejanus

text: In his capacity as Praetorian prefect, Sejanus quickly became a trusted advisor to Tiberius. By AD 23, he exerted a considerable influence over the decisions of the emperor, who referred to Sejanus as "Socius Laborum" (my partner in my toils). By this time he had been raised to the rank of praetor, a position which was not normally granted to Romans of the equestrian class. A statue had been erected in his honor in the Theatre of Pompey, and in the Senate, his followers were advanced with public offices and governorships. However this privileged position caused resentment among the senatorial class and the imperial family, in particular earning him the enmity of Tiberius' son Drusus Julius Caesar.


title: Sejanus

text: The history of Sejanus and Drusus dated back to at least AD 15. That year a mutiny had broken out among legions posted in Pannonia and Germania. While his adopted son Germanicus restored order in Germania, Tiberius' biological son Drusus was sent to quell the uprising in Pannonia, accompanied by Sejanus and two Praetorian cohorts. In part due to what the soldiers believed to be bad omens, Drusus quickly managed to restore stability in the army, and publicly put the chief instigators to death. The camp was purged of mutineers by the Praetorians and the legions returned to the winter barracks. Despite this success, the following years witnessed a growing animosity between Drusus and Sejanus.


title: Sejanus

text: Since the death of Germanicus, Drusus had been openly groomed as the successor of his father, successfully commanding legions in Illyricum in AD 18, and sharing the consulship with Tiberius in AD 21. In practice it was still Sejanus who was the second man in the empire, and he was ambitious to further expand his power. As early as AD 20, Sejanus had sought to solidify his connection with the imperial family by betrothing his daughter Junilla to the son of Claudius, Claudius Drusus. At the time the girl was only 4 years old but the marriage never happened, as the boy mysteriously or accidentally died a few days later of asphyxiation.


title: Sejanus

text: When this failed, it seems Sejanus turned his attention toward eliminating Drusus. By AD 23 the enmity between the two men had reached a critical point. During an argument Drusus had struck the prefect with his fist, and he openly lamented that "a stranger was invited to assist in the government while the emperor's son was alive". Tiberius was already in his sixties, thus the possibility of Drusus succeeding his father in the near future loomed large. To secure his position, Sejanus secretly plotted against Drusus and seduced his wife Livilla. With her as an accomplice, Drusus was slowly poisoned and died of seemingly natural causes on September 13, AD 23.


title: Sejanus

text: The loss of his son was a major blow to Tiberius, personally and politically. Over the years he had grown increasingly disillusioned with the position of princeps, and by sharing the tribunician powers with Drusus in AD 22 he had prepared to relinquish some of his responsibilities in favour of his son. With these hopes now dashed, Tiberius left his administration more than ever in the care of Sejanus and looked toward the sons of Germanicus (Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar and Caligula) as possible heirs.


title: Sejanus

text: Germanicus had died in AD 19, in somewhat suspicious circumstances in Syria. Following his death, his wife Agrippina the Elder returned to Rome with their six children and became increasingly involved with a group of senators who opposed the growing power of Sejanus. Her relations with Tiberius became increasingly fraught, as she made it clear that she believed that he was responsible for the death of Germanicus. The climate was further poisoned by the hatred that Tiberius' mother Livia Drusilla (the widow of Augustus) felt for her, since Agrippina's ambition, to be the mother of emperors and thus Rome's first woman, was an open secret. To Sejanus, Agrippina's sons Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar and Caligula were a threat to his power.


title: Sejanus

text: Sejanus again attempted to marry into the Julio-Claudian family. Having divorced Apicata two years earlier, he asked to marry Drusus' widow Livilla in AD 25, possibly with an eye towards placing himself, as an adopted Julian, in the position of a potential successor. The emperor denied this request, warning Sejanus that he was in danger of overstepping his rank. Alarmed by this sudden denigration, Sejanus changed his plans and began to isolate Tiberius from Rome. By fueling his paranoia towards Agrippina and the Senate, he induced the emperor to withdraw to the countryside of Campania, which he did in AD 26, and finally to the island of Capri, where he lived until his death in AD 37. Guarded by the Praetorians, Sejanus easily controlled all information that passed between Tiberius and the capital.


title: Sejanus

text: Despite the withdrawal of Tiberius from Rome's political scene, the presence of Livia seems to have checked Sejanus' overt power for a time. According to Tacitus, her death in AD 29 changed all that. Sejanus began a series of purge trials of senators and wealthy equestrians in the city, removing those capable of opposing his power as well as extending the imperial (and his own) treasury. Networks of spies and informers brought the victims to trial with false accusations of treason, and many chose suicide over the disgrace of being condemned and executed. Among those who perished were Gaius Asinius Gallus, a prominent senator and opponent of Tiberius who was linked to Agrippina's faction. Agrippina and two of her sons, Nero and Drusus were arrested and exiled in AD 30, and later starved to death in suspicious circumstances. Only Caligula, the youngest son of Germanicus, managed to survive the purges of Sejanus, by moving to Capri with Tiberius in AD 31.


title: Sejanus

text: In AD 31, despite his equestrian rank, Sejanus shared the consulship with Tiberius in absentia, and finally became betrothed to Livilla. Tiberius had not been seen in Rome since AD 26 and senators and equestrians courted Sejanus' favour as if he were Emperor. His birthday was publicly observed and statues were erected in his honour. With most of the political opposition crushed, Sejanus felt his position was unassailable. The ancient historian Cassius Dio wrote:


title: Sejanus

text: Sejanus was so great a person by reason both of his excessive haughtiness and of his vast power, that, to put it briefly, he himself seemed to be the emperor and Tiberius a kind of island potentate, inasmuch as the latter spent his time on the island of Capreae.


title: Sejanus

text: Through years of crafty intrigues and indispensable service to the emperor, Sejanus had worked himself up to become the most powerful man in the Empire.


title: Sejanus

text: But suddenly, at the end of AD 31, he was arrested, summarily executed and his body unceremoniously cast down the Gemonian stairs. What caused his downfall is unclear: ancient historians disagree about the nature of his conspiracy, whether it was Tiberius or Sejanus who struck first and in which order subsequent events occurred. Modern historians consider it unlikely that Sejanus plotted to seize power and, if he had planned so at all, rather might have aimed at overthrowing Tiberius to serve as a regent to Tiberius Gemellus, son of Drusus, or possibly Gaius Caligula. Unfortunately the relevant section pertaining to this period in the "Annals" of Tacitus has been lost. According to Josephus, it was Antonia, the mother of Livilla, who finally alerted Tiberius to the growing threat Sejanus posed (possibly with information provided by Satrius Secundus), in a letter she dispatched to Capri in the care of her freedman Pallas. According to Juvenal, a letter was sent from Capri with orders to execute Sejanus without a trial.


title: Sejanus

text: Further details concerning Sejanus' fall are provided by Cassius Dio, writing nearly 200 years later in his "Roman History". It appears that, when Tiberius heard to what extent Sejanus had already usurped his authority in Rome, he immediately took steps to remove him from power. However, he realised that an outright condemnation could provoke Sejanus to attempt a coup. Instead, Tiberius addressed a number of contradictory letters to the Senate, some of which praised Sejanus and his friends and some of which denounced them. Tiberius variously announced that he would arrive in Rome the next day or that he was at the point of death. He stepped down as consul, forcing Sejanus to do the same and conferred an honorary priesthood upon Caligula, rekindling popular support for the house of Germanicus. The ensuing confusion was successful in alienating Sejanus from many of his followers. With the intentions of the emperor no longer clear, it was now deemed a safer course of action in Rome to withdraw from overtly supporting Sejanus until the matter was clearly resolved.


title: Sejanus

text: When it became obvious to Tiberius that support for Sejanus was not as strong as the emperor had feared, his next step was to choose Naevius Sutorius Macro, previously prefect of the vigiles (Roman police and fire department), to replace Sejanus and effect his downfall. On October 18, AD 31, Sejanus was summoned to a Senate meeting by a letter from Tiberius, ostensibly to bestow the tribunician powers upon him. At dawn, he entered the Senate; while the letter was being read, Macro assumed control of the Praetorian Guard, and members of the vigiles, led by Publius Graecinius Laco, surrounded the building. The senators at first congratulated Sejanus, but when the letter, which initially digressed into completely unrelated matters, suddenly denounced him and ordered his arrest, he was immediately apprehended and imprisoned in the Tullianum.


title: Sejanus

text: That same evening the Senate convened at the Temple of Concord and summarily condemned Sejanus to death. He was taken from prison and strangled, after which his body was cast onto the Gemonian stairs, where the crowd tore it to pieces. Riots ensued, in which mobs hunted down and killed anyone they could link to Sejanus. The Praetorians also resorted to looting when they were accused of having conspired with the former prefect. Following the issue of "damnatio memoriae" by the Senate, Sejanus' statues were torn down and his name obliterated from all public records, even from coins, as in the one pictured opposite. On October 24, Sejanus' eldest son Strabo was arrested and executed. Upon learning of his death, Apicata committed suicide on October 26, after addressing a letter to Tiberius which claimed that Drusus had been poisoned with the complicity of Livilla. The accusations were further corroborated by confessions from Livilla's slaves, who, under torture, admitted to having administered the poison to Drusus.


title: Sejanus

text: Enraged upon learning the truth, Tiberius soon ordered more killings. Livilla committed suicide or was starved to death by her mother Antonia Minor. The remaining children of Sejanus, Capito Aelianus and Junilla, were executed in December of that year. Because there was no precedent for the capital punishment of a virgin, Junilla was said to have been raped first, with the rope around her neck and her body thrown down the Gemonian stairs along with her brother's. At the beginning of the following year, "damnatio memoriae" was also passed on Livilla.


title: Sejanus

text: Although Rome at first rejoiced at the demise of Sejanus, the city was quickly plunged into more extensive trials as Tiberius persecuted all those who could in any way be tied to the schemes of Sejanus or had courted his friendship. The Senatorial ranks were purged; the hardest hit were those families with political ties to the Julians. Even the imperial magistracy was not exempted from Tiberius' wrath. Arrests and executions were now supervised by Naevius Sutorius Macro, who succeeded Sejanus as the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. The political turmoil continued until the death of Tiberius in AD 37, after which he was succeeded by Caligula.


title: Sejanus

text: Most historical documentation of Tiberius' revenge is given by Suetonius and Tacitus; their portrayal of a tyrannical, vengeful emperor has been challenged by several modern historians. Edward Togo Salmon wrote that,


title: Sejanus

text: The reforms of Sejanus most significantly included the founding of the Castra Praetoria, which established the Praetorian Guard as the powerful political force, for which it is primarily known today. Henceforth the Guard was at the disposal of the emperors, and the rulers were equally at the mercy of the Praetorians. The reality of this was seen in AD 31, when Tiberius was forced to rely upon the vigiles against the soldiers of his own guard. Although the Praetorian Guard proved faithful to the aging Tiberius, their potential political power had been made clear. The power Sejanus attained in his capacity as prefect proved Maecenas right in his prediction to Augustus, that it was dangerous to allow one man to command the guard. Cassius Dio notes that after Sejanus, no other prefect except Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, who commanded the Guard under Septimius Severus, would rise to such influence.


title: Sejanus

text: With the exception of Velleius Paterculus, ancient historians have universally condemned Sejanus, although accounts differ regarding the extent to which Sejanus was manipulated by Tiberius or the other way around. Suetonius Tranquillus asserts that Sejanus was merely an instrument of Tiberius, to hasten the downfall of Germanicus and his family and that he was quickly disposed of once he ceased to be useful. Tacitus, on the other hand, attributes much of the decline of Tiberius' rule after AD 23 to the corrupting influence of Sejanus, although he is generally also harsh on Tiberius.


title: Sejanus

text: Among the writers who fell victim to the regime of Sejanus and its aftermath, were the historians Aulus Cremutius Cordus and Velleius Paterculus and the poet Phaedrus. Cordus was brought to trial in AD 25 by Sejanus, under accusations of treason. He was charged for having eulogized Marcus Junius Brutus and spoken of Gaius Cassius Longinus as the last of the true Romans, which was considered an offence under the "Lex Maiestatis"; the Senate ordered the burning of his writings. His fall is elaborated upon by Seneca the Younger, in his letter to Cordus' daughter Marcia "To Marcia, On Consolation". Seneca tells us that her father most likely incurred Sejanus' displeasure for criticising him because he had commissioned a statue of himself. We also know from this source that Cordus starved himself to death. Marcia was instrumental in saving her father's work so that it could be published again under Caligula.


title: Sejanus

text: Phaedrus was suspected of having alluded to Sejanus in his "Fables" and received some unknown punishment short of death (Cf. Fables I.1, I.2.24, and I.17). Velleius Paterculus was an historian and contemporary of Sejanus, whose two-volume "The Roman History" details a history of Rome from the fall of Troy until the death of Livia Augusta in AD 29. In his work he praised Tiberius and Sejanus, even defending the latter's high position in the government, despite not ranking higher than equestrian. It has been conjectured that he was put to death as a friend of Sejanus.


title: Sejanus

text: Sejanus' fall is depicted in the section in Juvenal's Satire X on the emptiness of power. This reviews the destruction of his statues after the "damnatio memoriae" judgment and reflects on the fickleness of public opinion. The dramatist Ben Jonson borrowed from the poem for some passages in his "". The play is seen as a topical reference to the fall of the former royal favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, executed for treason two years before. Sejanus is also a leading figure in another Roman history play of about this time, the anonymous "Tragedy of Claudius Tiberius Nero" (1607).


title: Sejanus

text: Making contemporary political points in this way through reinterpretation of distant historical episodes was now common. In 17th century France, the fall of the powerful Cardinal Mazarin was celebrated in a political pamphlet that also drew parallels with the career of Sejanus, "L'Ambitieux ou le portraict d'Aelius Sejanus en la personne du Cardinal Mazarin" (Paris, 1642). In England other royal favourites were seen in these terms too. George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, is the target of an anonymous manuscript Roman tragedy, "The Emperor’s Favourite". The prudent need for anonymity is suggested by the arrest of Sir John Eliot, who was sent to the Tower of London for his outspoken criticism of the Duke in the 1626 parliament, comparing him to Sejanus.


title: Sejanus

text: Following Buckingham's death in 1628, when it was safer to do so, a translation of a history by Pierre Matthieu was published under the title, "The Powerful Favourite, the life of Aelius Sejanus". This was followed in 1634 by another translation, Sir Thomas Hawkins' "Politicall Observations upon the Fall of Sejanus", which had originally been titled "Della peripetia di fortuna" (Of Changes of Fortune) by its author, Giovanni Battista Manzini. Later in the century Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, was the target of the four-page political pamphlet "Sejanus, or The popular favourite, now in his solitude, and sufferings", signed with the pseudonym Timothy Tory (1681). The story of Sejanus, with reference to the Earl's imprisonment in the Tower on a charge of treason, is interpreted as an argument for absolute monarchy, direct rule without the intermediary of politicians.


title: Sejanus

text: The name of Sejanus continued to be pressed into political service during the 18th century. Prime Minister Robert Walpole was attacked in 1735 in the course of a popular skit, "C----- and country: A play of seven acts...the whole concluding with the grand masque, call'd, The downfall of Sejanus"; its authorship is attributed to 'a masquerader' and in the printed version the masque precedes the play, although it is performed last. This gives the clue of how to take what is to follow and consists of a conversation between Punch and the Hangman, opening with the question 'Is this same Sejanus to go out of the World like a Man, or to die the Death of a mad Dog? For he has lived like a sad One, from the first Day that the Emperor Tiberius took him into Favour.' A subtler attack on a later prime minister occurred in 1769 when Jonson's "Sejanus" was reissued under the title of "The Favourite". This was prefaced with a tongue-in-cheek dedication to Lord Bute, denying that there can be any comparison between the conduct of Sejanus and that of his lordship.


title: Sejanus

text: Elsewhere in Europe there were other dramatic adaptations of the story. They included Jean de Magnon's rhyming tragedy, "Sejanus" (1647) and Henri van der Zande's "De dood van Elius Sejanus of Spiegel voor der vorsten gunstelingen" (The death of Sejanus, a mirror for the favourites of princes, Amsterdam 1716). Later there was another recycling of Jonson's tragedy in England by the Irish actor Francis Gentleman. Abridged and ‘improved’ by some additions of his own, he published his "Sejanus, a tragedy: as it was intended for the stage" (1752), when he could not get it acted. Later plays include a 5-act tragedy by A.Arterton (1875) and the privately printed "Sejanus: A Tragedy in Five Acts" by P. J. A. Chaulk (1923)


title: Sejanus

text: A later fictional treatment of the historical episode appeared as the first story of Edward Maturin's "Sejanus, and Other Roman Tales" (New York 1839). It also figures in Robert Graves' "I, Claudius" (1934), which was given new life when it was adapted for television as "I, Claudius" in 1976. In this Antonia sends the letter of accusation to Tiberius via Claudius, after discovering her daughter is plotting with Sejanus. And since Pontius Pilate was a nominee of Sejanus and implicated in his anti-Jewish policies, it encouraged the inclusion of Sejanus in novels dealing with the circumstances of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. The first of these was Miles Gerald Keon's "Dion and the Sibyls: A Classic Christian Novel" (London, 1866); later examples include Paul L. Maier's "Pontius Pilate" (Grand Rapids MI 1968) and Chris Seepe's "The Conspiracy to Assassinate Jesus Christ" (Toronto 2012).


title: Sejanus

text: The aim of some later novels has been to concentrate as much on local colour as on the story. This was true of William Percival Crozier's historical romance "The Fates Are Laughing" (1945), which was written by a classicist with an eye for detail and set during the fall of Sejanus and the reign of Caligula. It is equally true of some recent detective novels set in Roman times. David Wishart's "Sejanus" (London, 1998) features Marcus Corvinus, and James Mace's "Empire Betrayed: The Fall of Sejanus" (2013) focused on a military colleague, Aulus Nautius Cursor.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: Space Ghost is an American Saturday morning superhero animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It first aired on CBS from September 10, 1966, to September 16, 1967, and continued reruns until September 7, 1968. The series was composed of two unrelated segments, "Space Ghost" and "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley". The series was created by Alex Toth and produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Sometimes, it is alternatively called "Space Ghost & Dino Boy" to acknowledge the presence of both shows.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: The Space Ghost segments were seen again in the 1976 series "Space Ghost and Frankenstein Jr." (which replaced the "Dino Boy" segments with the "Frankenstein Jr." ones from fellow Hanna-Barbera show "Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles"), which aired on NBC from November 27, 1976, to September 4, 1977, after NBC put "The Kids From C.A.P.E.R." on hiatus.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: Space Ghost, along with teenaged sidekicks Jan and Jace and their pet monkey Blip, fight villains in outer space. Usually, Space Ghost's sidekicks would get captured or trapped by the villains, and Space Ghost would have to defeat the villains and save the day. His enemies included Zorak, Brak and his brother Sisto, the Creature King, the Black Widow (a.k.a. the Spider Woman), Lokar, Moltar, and Metallus.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: Dino Boy is a young boy called Todd who parachuted out of a crashing plane with his parents still on board.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: He lands in an unknown South American valley where dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, and cavemen have somehow survived extinction and now live alongside some strange creatures and various tribes like the Moss Men, the Rock Pygmies, the Worm People and the Vampire Men, amongst others.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: Dino Boy then meets the caveman Ugh (who saves Dino Boy from a "Smilodon" when he first arrives) and his pet baby "Brontosaurus" Bronty who become his friends in the episodes to come. The cartoon also features a woolly mammoth named Tusko who Ugh would enlist in certain episodes to help him, Dino Boy, and Bronty out.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: With the exception of the final two half-hour shows (the "Council of Doom" episodes), each episode featured two Space Ghost segments with one Dino Boy segment between them.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: The final two half-hour shows only feature Space Ghost. Additionally, they feature cameos from other characters (the Herculoids, Moby Dick, the Mighty Mightor, and Shazzan) that would appear in their own Hanna-Barbera series broadcasts on CBS the following (1967–68) season.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: "Space Ghost & Dino Boy" were released on multiple VHS tapes in the 1980s put out by Worldvision Home Video and later re-released by GoodTimes Home Video under the Kids Klassics label. The episodes on the VHS tape for "Space Ghost" were "The Heat Thing", "Zorak", "The Creature King" and the "Dino Boy" episode "The Worm People". Worldvision released another VHS tape, "Space Ghost and Dino Boy: Ghostly Tales"; this contained the episodes "The Robot Master", The Energy Monster", "Hi-Jackers", "The Lure", and "The Schemer". The "Dino Boy" episodes were "Marooned" and "The Red Ants". These same episodes were released in the UK by The Video Collection.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: Warner Home Video (via Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released "Space Ghost & Dino Boy: The Complete Series" on DVD in Region 1 on July 17, 2007.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: The DVD edition presents the episodes on two double-sided DVDs, but alters the order from the original air-date order. This episode order is also present on Blu-ray and digital sell-throughs.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: A Blu-ray set of the series was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (under the Warner Archive Collection label), on October 13, 2020. The release is a two-disc set containing all 20 episodes.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: The TV series was adapted into a comic strip by Dan Spiegle, distributed by Gold Key Comics. He has also appeared in comics published by Marvel Comics, and Archie Comics.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: A manga adaptation by Kentaro Nakajo was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday by Shogakukan in 1967. The manga was compiled into one volume.


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: In 1994, nearly three decades after the finale of the original series, Mike Lazzo pitched the idea of an adult animated parody talk show using the Space Ghost character to Cartoon Network. Voice actors George Lowe, C. Martin Croker, and Andy Merrill joined the project, which Cartoon Network would soon air as "Space Ghost Coast to Coast". The series premiered on April 15, 1994, and originally ended on December 17, 1999. The series was revived on May 7, 2001, and was moved to the new Adult Swim late-night programming block on September 2 of that year, where new episodes premiered until April 12, 2004. Two final seasons were released on GameTap from 2006 to 2008. Over 11 seasons, 108 episodes aired. The show gained spin-offs in the form of "The Brak Show" (2000–2007) and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (2000–2015), and has been cited as inspiration for a variety of Adult Swim programming in the years since its debut. In a 2014 interview, Eric Andre spoke about the show's influence on "The Eric Andre Show", saying, "Before we started shooting, I rented as many seasons I could get my hands on and did a Space Ghost marathon by myself in my house, just so I could absorb as much Space Ghost as I could."


title: Space Ghost (TV series)

text: In 2016, Space Ghost and his allies and Dino Boy played a major role in the DC Comics series "Future Quest", that also featured characters from various animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera such as "Jonny Quest", "The Herculoids", "Birdman and the Galaxy Trio", "Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles" and "Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor".


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The economy of the Czech Republic is a developed export-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing, and innovation that maintains a high-income welfare state and the European social model. The Czech Republic participates in the European Single Market as a member of the European Union, and is therefore a part of the economy of the European Union. It uses its own currency, the Czech koruna, instead of the euro. It is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Czech Republic ranks 12th in inequality-adjusted human development and 24th in World Bank Human Capital Index, ahead of countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom or France. It was described by "The Guardian" as "one of Europe’s most flourishing economies".


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The industry sector accounts for 37% of the economy, while services account for 61% and agriculture for 2%. The principal industries are high tech engineering, electronics and machine-building, steel production, transportation equipment (automotive, rail and aerospace industry), chemicals, advanced materials and pharmaceuticals. The major services are research and development, ICT and software development, nanotechnology and life sciences. Its main agricultural products are cereals, vegetable oils and hops.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: As of 2022, the Czech GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is $46,811 and $28,077 at nominal value. As of September 2021, the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic was the lowest in the EU at 2.6%, and the poverty rate is the second lowest of OECD members, following Denmark. The Czech Republic ranks 21st in the Index of Economic Freedom (ranked behind Chile), 24th in the Global Innovation Index (ranked behind Australia), 32nd in the Global Competitiveness Report, 41st in the ease of doing business index and 25th in the Global Enabling Trade Report (ranked behind Canada). The largest trading partner for both export and import is Germany, followed by other members of the EU. The Czech Republic has a highly diverse economy that ranks 7th in the 2019 Economic Complexity Index.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The Czech lands were among the first industrialized countries in continental Europe during the German Confederation era. The Czech industrial tradition dates back to the 19th century, when the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the economic and industrial heartland of the Austrian Empire and later the Austrian side of Austria-Hungary. The Czech lands produced a majority (about 70%) of all industrial goods in the Empire, some of which were almost monopolistic. The Czechoslovak crown was introduced in April 1919. Introduced at a 1:1 ratio to the Austro-Hungarian currency, it became one of the most stable currencies in Europe. The First Republic became one of the 10 most developed countries of the world (behind the U.S., Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Argentina, Britain, France, Sweden and Belgium).


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The consequences of the 1938 Munich Agreement and subsequent occupation were disastrous for the economy. After the occupation and forced subordination of the economy to German economic interests, the crown was officially pegged to the mark at a ratio of 1:10, even though the unofficial exchange rate was 1 to 6-7 and Germans immediately started buying Czech goods in large quantities.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: In accordance with Stalin's development policy of planned interdependence, all the economies of the socialist countries were tightly linked to that of the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia was the most prosperous country in the Eastern Bloc, however it continued to lag further behind the rest of the developed world. With the disintegration of the communist economic alliance in 1991, Czech manufacturers lost their traditional markets among former communist countries in the east.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Today, this heritage is both an asset and a liability. The Czech Republic has a well-educated population and a densely developed infrastructure.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The "Velvet Revolution" in 1989, offered a chance for profound and sustained political and economic reform. Signs of economic resurgence began to appear in the wake of the shock therapy that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) labelled the ""big bang"" of January 1991. Since then, consistent liberalization and astute economic management has led to the removal of 95% of all price controls, low unemployment, a positive balance of payments position, a stable exchange rate, a shift of exports from former communist economic bloc markets to Western Europe, and relatively low foreign debt. Inflation has been higher than in some other countries – mostly in the 10% range – and the government has run consistent modest budget deficits.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Two government priorities have been strict fiscal policies and creating a good climate for incoming investment in the republic. Following a series of currency devaluations, the crown has remained stable in relation to the US dollar. The Czech crown became fully convertible for most business purposes in late 1995.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: In order to stimulate the economy and attract foreign partners, the government has revamped the legal and administrative structure governing investment. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country, till that point highly dependent on exports to the USSR, had to make a radical shift in economic outlook: away from the East, and towards the West. This necessitated the restructuring of existing banking and telecommunications facilities, as well as adjusting commercial laws and practices to fit Western standards. Further minimizing reliance on a single major partner, successive Czech governments have welcomed U.S. investment (amongst others) as a counterbalance to the strong economic influence of Western European partners, especially of their powerful neighbour, Germany. Although foreign direct investment (FDI) runs in uneven cycles, with a 12.9% share of total FDI between 1990 and March 1998, the U.S. was the third-largest foreign investor in the Czech economy, behind Germany and the Netherlands.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Progress toward creating a stable investment climate was recognized when the Czech Republic became the first post-communist country to receive an investment-grade credit rating by international credit institutions.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The country boasts a flourishing consumer production sector and has privatized most state-owned heavy industries through the voucher privatization system. Under the system, every citizen was given the opportunity to buy, for a moderate price, a book of vouchers that represents potential shares in any state-owned company. The voucher holders could then invest their vouchers, increasing the capital base of the chosen company, and creating a nation of citizen share-holders. This is in contrast to Russian privatization, which consisted of sales of communal assets to private companies rather than share-transfer to citizens. The effect of this policy has been dramatic. Under communism, state ownership of businesses was estimated to be 97%. Privatization through restitution of real estate to the former owners was largely completed in 1992. By 1998, more than 80% of enterprises were in private hands. Now completed, the program has made Czechs, who own shares of each of the Czech companies, one of the highest per-capita share owners in the world.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The country's economic transformation was far from complete. Political and financial crises in 1997, shattered the Czech Republic's image as one of the most stable and prosperous of post-Communist states. Delays in enterprise restructuring and failure to develop a well-functioning capital market played major roles in Czech economic troubles, which culminated in a currency crisis in May. The formerly pegged currency was forced into a floating system as investors sold their Korunas faster than the government could buy them. This followed a worldwide trend to divest from developing countries that year. Investors also worried the republic's economic transformation was far from complete. Another complicating factor was the current account deficit, which reached nearly 8% of GDP.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: In response to the crisis, two austerity packages were introduced later in the spring (called vernacularly "The Packages"), which cut government spending by 2.5% of GDP. Growth dropped to 0.3% in 1997, −2.3% in 1998, and −0.5% in 1999. The government established a restructuring agency in 1999 and launched a revitalization program – to spur the sale of firms to foreign companies. Key priorities included accelerating legislative convergence with EU norms, restructuring enterprises, and privatising banks and utilities. The economy, fueled by increased export growth and investment, was expected to recover by 2000.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Growth in 2000–05 was supported by exports to the EU, primarily to Germany, and a strong recovery of foreign and domestic investment. Domestic demand is playing an ever more important role in underpinning growth as interest rates drop and the availability of credit cards and mortgages increases. Current account deficits of around 5% of GDP are beginning to decline as demand for Czech products in the European Union increases. Inflation is under control. Recent accession to the EU gives further impetus and direction to structural reform. In early 2004 the government passed increases in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and tightened eligibility for social benefits with the intention to bring the public finance gap down to 4% of GDP by 2006, but more difficult pension and healthcare reforms will have to wait until after the next elections. Privatization of the state-owned telecommunications firm Český Telecom took place in 2005. Intensified restructuring among large enterprises, improvements in the financial sector, and effective use of available EU funds should strengthen output growth.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Growth continued in the first years of the EU membership. The credit portion of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010 did not affect the Czech Republic much, mostly due to its stable banking sector which has learned its lessons during a smaller crisis in the late 1990s and became much more cautious. As a fraction of the GDP, the Czech public debt is among the smallest ones in Central and Eastern Europe. Moreover, unlike many other post-communist countries, an overwhelming majority of the household debt – over 99% – is denominated in the local Czech currency. That's why the country wasn't affected by the shrunken money supply in the U.S. dollars.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: However, as a large exporter, the economy was sensitive to the decrease of the demand in Germany and other trading partners. In the middle of 2009, the annual drop of the GDP for 2009 was estimated around 3% or 4.3%, a relatively modest decrease. The impact of the economic crisis may have been limited by the existence of the national currency that temporarily weakened in H1 of 2009, simplifying the life of the exporters.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: From the financial crisis of 2007–2010, Czech Republic is in stagnation or decreasing of GDP. Some commenters and economists criticising fiscally conservative policy of Petr Nečas' right-wing government, especially criticising ex-minister of finance, Miroslav Kalousek. Miroslav Kalousek in a 2008 interview, as minister of finance in the center-right government of Mirek Topolánek, said "Czech Republic will not suffer by financial crisis". In September 2008, Miroslav Kalousek formed state budget with projection of 5% GDP increase in 2009. In 2009 and 2010, Czech Republic suffered strong economical crisis and GDP decreased by 4,5%. From 2009 to 2012, Czech Republic suffered highest state budget deficits in history of independent Czech Republic. From 2008 to 2012, the public debt of Czech Republic increased by 18,9%. Most decrease of industrial output was in construction industry (-25% in 2009, -15,5% in 2013). From 4Q 2009 to 1Q 2013, GDP decreased by 7,8%.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: In 2012, Czech government increased VAT. Basic VAT was increased from 20% in 2012 to 21% in 2013 and reduced VAT increased from 14% to 15% in 2013. Small enterprises sales decreased by 21% from 2012 to 2013 as result of increasing VAT. Patria.cz predicting sales stagnation and mild increase in 2013.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Another problem is foreign trade. The Czech Republic is considered an export economy (the Czech Republic has strong machinery and automobile industries), however in 2013, foreign trade rapidly decreased which led to many other problems and increase of state budget deficit. In 2013, Czech National Bank, central bank, implemented controversial monetary step. To increase export and employment, CNB wilfully deflated Czech Crown (CZK), which inflation increased from 0.2% in November 2013, to 1.3% in 1Q 2014.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: In 2014, GDP in the Czech Republic increased by 2% and is predicted to increase by 2.7% in 2015. In 2015, Czech Republic's economy grew by 4,2% and it's the fastest growing economy in the European Union. On 29 May 2015, it was announced that growth of the Czech economy has increased from calculated 3,9% to 4,2%.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: In August 2015, Czech GDP growth was 4.4%, making the Czech economy the highest growing in Europe. On 9 November 2015, unemployment in the Czech Republic was at 5.9%, the lowest number since February 2009. Dividends worth CZK 289 billion were paid to the foreign owners of Czech companies in 2016.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Since its accession to the European Union in 2004, the Czech Republic has adopted the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union and it is bound by the Treaty of Accession 2003 to adopt the Euro currency in the future.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The Czech Republic also receives €24.2bn between 2014 and 2020 from the European Structural and Investment Funds, however, this sum does not outweigh the amount of capital outflow of profits of foreign owned firms from the Czech Republic into other EU members, at which the funds are aimed to compensate for.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: As of 2016, the Czech Republic has the second lowest poverty rate of OECD members only behind Denmark. The Czech healthcare system ranks 13th in the 2016 Euro health consumer index.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The Czech Republic is a long-term net-exporter of electricity. 97% -98% of oil used in the Czech Republic is imported.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The government's 2015 energy policy designates nuclear power as main source of energy and its share is projected to rise to between 46% and 58% by 2040. Coal-powered energy is planned to fall to 21%, while renewables would rise to 25% and gas range from 5 to 15%.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: The updated energy strategy of 2019 envisions a gradual phase out of coal power share in total electricity generation from 2015's 46.2% down to 15.5% by 2040. The strategy sees nuclear energy as a non-carbon source of energy to be used during a slow transition to renewables in order to minimize the use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels that cause climate change. The increase in the share of nuclear, renewables and natural gas is to fill in the energy demand created by the impending gradual shutdowns of coal power stations. This 2015-approved energy strategy expects construction of an additional nuclear reactor in the Temelín Nuclear Power Station and another one in the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station with the possibility of further expansion to two reactors in each power station. The older station of the two, Dukovany, is to be expanded before Temelín. As of 2019, the financing models and contractor selection for the planned reactors are being negotiated by the government.


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Export partners: Germany 32.4%, Slovakia 8.4%, Poland 5.8%, UK 5.2%, France 5.2%, Italy 4.3%, Austria 4.2% (2016)


title: Economy of the Czech Republic

text: Import partners: Germany 30.6%, Poland 9.6%, China 7.5%, Slovakia 6.3%, Netherlands 5.3%, Italy 4.1% (2016)


title: Magic number (physics)

text: In nuclear physics, a magic number is a number of nucleons (either protons or neutrons, separately) such that they are arranged into complete shells within the atomic nucleus. As a result, atomic nuclei with a 'magic' number of protons or neutrons are much more stable than other nuclei. The seven most widely recognized magic numbers as of 2019 are 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126 .


title: Magic number (physics)

text: For protons, this corresponds to the elements helium, oxygen, calcium, nickel, tin, lead and the hypothetical unbihexium, although 126 is so far only known to be a magic number for neutrons. Atomic nuclei consisting of such a magic number of nucleons have a higher average binding energy per nucleon than one would expect based upon predictions such as the semi-empirical mass formula and are hence more stable against nuclear decay.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: The unusual stability of isotopes having magic numbers means that transuranium elements could theoretically be created with extremely large nuclei and yet not be subject to the extremely rapid radioactive decay normally associated with high atomic numbers. Large isotopes with magic numbers of nucleons are said to exist in an island of stability. Unlike the magic numbers 2–126, which are realized in spherical nuclei, theoretical calculations predict that nuclei in the island of stability are deformed.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Before this was realized, higher magic numbers, such as 184, 258, 350, and 462 , were predicted based on simple calculations that assumed spherical shapes: these are generated by the formula formula_1 (see Binomial coefficient). It is now believed that the sequence of spherical magic numbers cannot be extended in this way. Further predicted magic numbers are 114, 122, 124, and 164 for protons as well as 184, 196, 236, and 318 for neutrons. However, more modern calculations predict 228 and 308 for neutrons, along with 184 and 196.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Upon working on the Manhattan Project, the German physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer became interested in the properties of nuclear fission products, such as decay energies and half-lives. In 1948, she published a body of experimental evidence for the occurrence of closed nuclear shells for nuclei with 50 or 82 protons or 50, 82, and 126 neutrons.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: It had already been known that nuclei with 20 protons or neutrons were stable: that was evidenced by calculations by Hungarian-American physicist Eugene Wigner, one of her colleagues in the Manhattan Project. Two years later, in 1950, a new publication followed in which she attributed the shell closures at the magic numbers to spin-orbit coupling.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: According to Steven Moszkowski (a student of Maria Goeppert Mayer), the term "magic number" was coined by Wigner: "Wigner too believed in the liquid drop model, but he recognized, from the work of Maria Mayer, the very strong evidence for the closed shells. It seemed a little like magic to him, and that is how the words 'Magic Numbers' were coined."


title: Magic number (physics)

text: These magic numbers were the bedrock of the nuclear shell model, which Mayer developed in the following years together with Hans Jensen and culminated in their shared 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Nuclei which have neutron number and proton (atomic) numbers each equal to one of the magic numbers are called "doubly magic", and are especially stable against decay. The known doubly magic isotopes are helium-4, helium-10, oxygen-16, calcium-40, calcium-48, nickel-48, nickel-56, nickel-78, tin-100, tin-132, and lead-208. However, only the first, third, fourth, and last of these doubly magic nuclides are completely stable, although calcium-48 is extremely long-lived and therefore naturally occurring, disintegrating only by a very inefficient double beta minus decay process. Double beta decay in general is so rare that several nuclides exist which are predicted to decay by this mechanism but in which no such decay has yet been observed. Even in nuclides whose double beta decay has been confirmed through observations, half lives usually exceed the age of the universe by orders of magnitude and emitted beta- or gamma radiation is for virtually all practical purposes irrelevant.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Doubly-magic effects may allow existence of stable isotopes which otherwise would not have been expected. An example is calcium-40, with 20 neutrons and 20 protons, which is the heaviest stable isotope made of the same number of protons and neutrons. Both calcium-48 and nickel-48 are doubly magic because calcium-48 has 20 protons and 28 neutrons while nickel-48 has 28 protons and 20 neutrons. Calcium-48 is very neutron-rich for such a relatively light element, but like calcium-40, it is stabilized by being doubly magic.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Magic number shell effects are seen in ordinary abundances of elements: helium-4 is among the most abundant (and stable) nuclei in the universe and lead-208 is the heaviest stable nuclide. Alpha decay (the emission of a He-4 nucleus - also known as an alpha particle - by a heavy element undergoing radioactive decay) is common in part due to the extraordinary stability of Helium-4 which makes this type of decay energetically favored in most heavy nuclei over neutron emission, proton emission or any type of cluster decay other than He-4 emission. The stability of He-4 also leads to the absence of stable isobars of mass number 5 and 8 - indeed all nuclides of those mass numbers decay within fractions of a second to produce alpha particles.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Magic effects can keep unstable nuclides from decaying as rapidly as would otherwise be expected. For example, the nuclides tin-100 and tin-132 are examples of doubly magic isotopes of tin that are unstable, and represent endpoints beyond which stability drops off rapidly. Nickel-48, discovered in 1999, is the most proton-rich doubly magic nuclide known. At the other extreme, nickel-78 is also doubly magic, with 28 protons and 50 neutrons, a ratio observed only in much heavier elements, apart from tritium with one proton and two neutrons (Ni: 28/50 = 0.56; U: 92/146 = 0.63).


title: Magic number (physics)

text: In December 2006, hassium-270, with 108 protons and 162 neutrons, was discovered by an international team of scientists led by the Technical University of Munich, having a half-life of 9 seconds. Hassium-270 evidently forms part of an island of stability, and may even be doubly magic due to the deformed (American football- or rugby ball-like) shape of this nucleus.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Although "Z" = 92 and "N" = 164 are not magic numbers, the undiscovered neutron-rich nucleus uranium-256 may be doubly magic and spherical due to the difference in size between low- and high-angular momentum orbitals, which alters the shape of the nuclear potential.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: Magic numbers are typically obtained by empirical studies; if the form of the nuclear potential is known, then the Schrödinger equation can be solved for the motion of nucleons and energy levels determined. Nuclear shells are said to occur when the separation between energy levels is significantly greater than the local mean separation.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: In the shell model for the nucleus, magic numbers are the numbers of nucleons at which a shell is filled. For instance, the magic number 8 occurs when the 1s, 1p, 1p energy levels are filled, as there is a large energy gap between the 1p and the next highest 1d energy levels.


title: Magic number (physics)

text: The atomic analog to nuclear magic numbers are those numbers of electrons leading to discontinuities in the ionization energy. These occur for the noble gases helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, radon and oganesson. Hence, the "atomic magic numbers" are 2, 10, 18, 36, 54, 86 and 118. As with the nuclear magic numbers, these are expected to be changed in the superheavy region due to spin–orbit coupling effects affecting subshell energy levels. Hence copernicium (112) and flerovium (114) are expected to be more inert than oganesson (118), and the next noble gas after these is expected to occur at element 172 rather than 168 (which would continue the pattern).


title: Magic number (physics)

text: In 2010, an alternative explanation of magic numbers was given in terms of symmetry considerations. Based on the fractional extension of the standard rotation group, the ground state properties (including the magic numbers) for metallic clusters and nuclei were simultaneously determined analytically. A specific potential term is not necessary in this model.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Stanisław Szukalski (13 December 1893 – 19 May 1987) was a Polish sculptor and painter who became a part of the Chicago Renaissance. Szukalski's art exhibits influence from ancient cultures such as Egyptian, Slavic, and Aztec combined with elements of art nouveau, from the various currents of early 20th century European modernism - cubism, expressionism, futurism and pre-Columbian art. During the 1920s, he was hailed as Poland's "greatest living artist". The style of his art was called "Bent Classicism".


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: He also developed the pseudoscientific-historical theory of Zermatism, positing that all human culture was derived from post-deluge Easter Island and that humankind was locked in an eternal struggle with the Sons of Yeti ("Yetinsyny"), the offspring of Yeti and humans.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Szukalski was born in Warta, Congress Poland and was raised in Gidle. He arrived at New York with his mother, Konstancja, and sister, Alfreda, on June 27, 1907; they then went to Chicago to join his father, Dyonizy Szukalski, a blacksmith. A child prodigy in sculpture, he enrolled at age 13 at the Art Institute of Chicago. A year later, Sculptor Antoni Popiel persuaded Szukalski's parents to send him back to Poland, to enroll at Kraków's Academy of Fine Arts in 1910. There he studied sculpture under Konstanty Laszczka for three years. He returned to Chicago in 1913.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Back in the U.S., Szukalski joined the arts scene in Chicago, becoming a vital part of the "Chicago Renaissance." In November 1914, he exhibited seven of his sculptures at the Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculpture in the Art Institute's galleries. He had two solo exhibitions at the Art Institute, in 1916 and 1917, as well as one at the progressive Arts Club in 1919; he also exhibited regularly in the juried annuals at the Art Institute. In 1922, he married Helen Walker, the artist daughter of Dr. Samuel J. Walker, a prominent member of Chicago society.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: The first design proposed for a monument of Adam Mickiewicz (a Polish poet, dramatist and political activist) to be built in the city of Vilnius, was promoted by Zbigniew Pronaszko of Vilnius University (then, Stefan Batory University in the Second Polish Republic). However, in May 1925, a contest was declared for the design of the monument. The period for submitting designs was extended a number of times, with 67 designs ultimately submitted. The jury consisted of Vilnius's municipal authorities and representatives of the arts scene, with General Lucjan Żeligowski at the helm.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Szukalski won first prize in the contest. His design for the monument showed Mickiewicz, naked, lying upon a sacrificial altar. The sculpture was to be situated on a large pedestal in the shape of an Aztec pyramid. A White Eagle, Poland's national symbol, was perched at the figure's side, where it symbolically drank blood from the poet's wound.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Szukalski's design was highly divisive among Poland's intelligentsia, leadership, and art critics, as well as ordinary individuals. The polarized atmosphere led the monument committee to arrange for a new contest, this time limited to concepts by artists who were invited to participate. The winner was Henryk Kuna, whose proposal was then chosen to be built. However, due to a number of problems involving financing as well as a suitable location, the monument's construction dragged on. With the outbreak of World War II and the incorporation of Vilnius into Lithuania, the project was abandoned.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In 1925 Szukalski participated in the International Exhibition of Modern and Decorative Arts in Paris, where he won numerous awards. However, his success was criticized by the Polish press because Szukalski, representing Poland in the exhibition, did not even live in that country. On June 20, 1926, in Paris, Helen Walker Szukalski gave birth to Szukalski's only child, a daughter, Elżbieta Kalina (Kalinka) Szukalski.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: After traveling in Europe from 1926 to 1928, Szukalski went to Kraków, Poland, where he had a retrospective exhibition in 1929. In 1929 he was a founder of an artistic movement called Tribe of the Horned Heart (Szczep Rogate Serce), centered on Polish artists who sought inspiration in the pagan or pre-Christian history of Poland.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In 1929, Szukalski published "Projects in Design: Sculpture and Architecture", containing drawings that ranged from highly detailed ornamental architectural elements -fireplaces, doorways, and windows - to idealized city plans, bridges, tombstones and monuments befitting the heroes of Poland. In 1932, he and Helen divorced.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Ben Hecht, who had met Szukalski in 1914, described Szukalski in his 1954 autobiography, "A Child of the Century", "For twenty years my friend ... experienced disasters which would have killed off a dozen businessmen. Sickness, poverty and hunger yipped everlasting at his heels. ... during his struggles he heard only the catcalls of critics and the voices of derision. Yet when I saw him in 1934, I saw a man who had feasted on power and whose eyes smiled with triumph."


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In September 1934, in Hollywood, Szukalski married Joan Lee Donovan (b. 1910), who had been his daughter's kindergarten teacher in Chicago. The wedding was at the home of screenwriter Wallace Smith, who was the best man.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In 1936, Szukalski returned to Poland, supported financially by the Minister of the Treasury. He completed several sculptures, most notably the monument of Bolesław Chrobry, and decorated the façade of the Silesian Museum in Katowice, as well a local government building in that city. Poland declared Szukalski the country's greatest living artist. The government gave him a studio, the largest in Warsaw, and proclaimed it the Szukalski National Museum. It contained many of his intricate paintings and massive sculptures, notable for their dramatic mythological imagery; Szukalski had brought much of his lifetime work with him to Poland.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: During the siege of Warsaw by the German army in September 1939, Szukalski was hurt in the initial bombing attack on Warsaw, which destroyed much of his studio. With two suitcases, Szukalski and his wife took refuge in the US embassy, since both were American citizens. By early November they were among about 100 Americans remaining in Warsaw. The two eventually escaped from Poland and were able to make their way back to the United States.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Szukalski had come to Poland with all his unsold works, encouraged by the prospect of building a museum devoted to his art; he left almost all of his work in Poland. Most of what had not been lost in the bombing attacks was destroyed by the occupying Germans.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In 1940, Szukalski and his wife settled in Los Angeles. Szukalski did odd jobs in film studios, designing scenery; occasionally sculpted; and did drawings. There he became friends with the family of George DiCaprio, Leonardo DiCaprio's father.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: During the last years of his 75-year-long career Szukalski's major projects as a sculptor were "Prometheus" (1943), designed for Paris in homage to the French partisans; the "Rooster of Gaul" (1960), a gigantic and complex structure that he wanted the U.S. to give France to reciprocate for the Statue of Liberty; "Katyn" (1979), a monument to commemorate the death of more than 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals killed by the Soviets during World War II; and a monument intended for the city of Venice (1982), featuring the Polish pope John Paul II. None of these projects went much further than Szukalski's immediate friends.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In 1971, Glenn Bray, a publisher who had previously specialized in the work of "Mad Magazine" artist Basil Wolverton, befriended Szukalski, and introduced many of his friends to Szukalski. Bray published a book of Szukalski's art and philosophy, "A Trough Full of Pearls / Behold! The Protong", in 1980, and a second volume of his art, "Inner Portraits," in 1982. Those books led others, including George Di Caprio, to contact Szukalski; Di Caprio immediately became a close friend of Szukalski and his wife.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Szukalski's second wife, Joan, died in 1980. Following Szukalski's death in 1987, a group of his admirers spread his ashes on Easter Island, in the rock quarry of Rano Raraku.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Beginning in 1940, Szukalski devoted most of his time to examining the mysteries of prehistoric ancient history of mankind, the formation and shaping of languages, faiths, customs, arts, and migration of peoples. He tried to unravel the origin of geographical names, gods, and symbols that have survived in various forms in various cultures. Through his research in these subjects, Szukalski claimed to have discovered Polish origins for various ancient places and people, in a language called Protong. According to Szukalski, Protong could be seen in phenomena ranging from the apparent Polish origins of Babylon to Jesus's Polish identity. The culmination of this work was a massive book called "Protong" (in Polish, "Macimowa"), its writing continued uninterruptedly for over 40 years. He wrote a manuscript of 42 volumes, totaling more than 25,000 pages, and including 14,000 illustrations. The volumes covered a variety of issues; his pen drawings of artifacts, which he considered "witnesses", were done to confirm his theories.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Zermatism, Szukalski's concept of world history, postulated that all human culture derived from post-deluge Easter Islanders who settled in Zermatt (hence the name) and that in all human languages one could find traces of the original, ancient mother-tongue of mankind (one with archaic Polish origins). In his view, humanity was locked in an eternal struggle with the Sons of Yeti ("Yetinsyny"), the offspring of Yeti and humans, who had enslaved humanity from time immemorial. He claimed that the figures of the god Pan on Greek vases depict creatures that actually existed, the product of Yeti apes raping human women. Szukalski used his considerable artistic talents to illustrate his theories, which, despite their lack of scientific merit, have gained a cult following largely on their aesthetic value.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Bray and his wife Lena Zwalve maintain Szukalski's estate and the great bulk of his existing art under the name "Archives Szukalski." In 1990, they published "The Lost Tune: Early Works (1913-1930)", a collection of photographs taken by Szukalski of his own work in that period.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Among Szukalski's admirers are Leonardo DiCaprio, who sponsored a retrospective exhibition entitled "Struggle" at the Laguna Art Museum in 2000; the Church of the SubGenius, which incorporates the Yetinsyny elements of Zermatism; Rick Griffin, Richard Sharpe Shaver, Robert Williams, H. R. Giger the band Tool and Ernst Fuchs, who said "Szukalski was the Michelangelo of the 20th century. And probably also of an age to come."


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: Szukalski's works are on permanent display at the Polish Museum of America in Chicago. None of his work in Warsaw survived the destruction during WWII. In addition to the Laguna retrospective, notable exhibitions of his work include "The Self-Born" at Varnish Fine Art, San Francisco, in 2005, and "Mantong and Protong," where Szukalski is paired with another unorthodox theorist of earth history, Richard Sharpe Shaver, at Pasadena City College in 2009.


title: Stanisław Szukalski

text: In 2018, Leonardo DiCaprio produced a documentary entitled "", which was released on Netflix as of December 21, 2018.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: Zamenhof first developed the Esperanto language in 1873 while still in school. He grew up fascinated by the idea of a world without war and believed that this could happen with the help of a new international auxiliary language. The language would be a tool to gather people together through neutral, fair, equitable communication. He successfully formed a community that continues today despite the World Wars of the 20th century, attempts to reform the language, and more modern IALs (the only other language like it at the time was Volapük). Additionally, Esperanto has developed like other languages: through the interaction and creativity of its users.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: In light of his achievements, and his support of intercultural dialogue, UNESCO selected Zamenhof as one of its eminent personalities of 2017, on the 100th anniversary of his death. As of 2019, there are a minimum of 2 million people speaking Esperanto, including an estimated 1,000 native speakers.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: Born into an Ashkenazi family, at his birth Zamenhof was given the common Hebrew name "Eliezer" by his parents, the equivalent of the English Lazarus. However, as the area was a part of the Russian Empire at the time, his name was recorded on his birth certificate as , using the Yiddish form of the forename and a russified version of his surname; many later Russian language documents also include the patronymic « son of Mark » (in reference to his father, Markus), as is the custom in the language. His family name is of German origin and was originally written "Samenhof"; this was later transcribed into Yiddish as , then re-romanized back as "Zamenhof". The change of the initial letter from « S » to « Z » is not unusual, as in German an initial « s » is pronounced .


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: In his adolescence he used both the Yiddish "Leyzer" and the Russian "Lazar" when writing his first name. While at university, Zamenhof began using the Russian name "Lyudovik" (also transcribed "Ludovic" or translated as "Ludwig") in place of "Lazar", possibly in honor of Francis Lodwick, who in 1652 had published an early conlang proposal. When his brother Leon became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof", Zamenhof reclaimed his birth name "Lazar" and from 1901 signed his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof" to avoid confusion with his brother. The two L's do not seem to have specifically represented either name, and the order "Ludwik Lejzer" is a modern convention.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: Zamenhof was born on 15 December 1859, the son of Mark and (), in the multi-ethnic city of Belostok (now Białystok in Poland). At that time, the city was in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire. His parents were of Litvak Jewish descent. He appears to have been natively bilingual in Yiddish and Russian. His father was a teacher of German and French. From him, Zamenhof learned both languages, as well as Hebrew. He also spoke some major languages of Białystok, such as Polish and Belarusian. Polish became the native language of his children in Warsaw. In school, he studied the classical languages Latin, Greek, and Aramaic. He later learned some English, though in his own words not very well. He had an interest in Lithuanian and Italian and learned Volapük when it came out in 1880. By that time, his international language project was already well developed.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: In addition to the Jewish Yiddish-speaking minority, the population of Białystok included Roman Catholic Poles and Eastern Orthodox Russians (mainly government officials), with smaller groups of Belarusians, Germans and other ethnic groups. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels among these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in the mutual misunderstanding caused by the lack of a common language. If such a language existed, Zamenhof postulated, it could play the role of a neutral communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: As a student at secondary school in Warsaw, Zamenhof attempted to create an international language with a grammar that was rich, but complex. When he later studied English, he decided that the international language must have a simpler grammar. Apart from his parents' native languages Russian and Yiddish and his adopted language Polish, his projects were also aided by his mastery of German, a good passive understanding of Latin, Hebrew and French, and a basic knowledge of Greek, English and Italian.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: By 1878, his project "Lingwe uniwersala" was finished. However, Zamenhof was too young then to publish his work. Soon after graduation he began to study medicine, first in Moscow, and later in Warsaw. In 1885, Zamenhof graduated from university and began his practice as a doctor in Veisiejai. After 1886, he worked as an ophthalmologist in Płock and Vienna. While healing people there, he continued to work on his project of an international language.


title: L. L. Zamenhof

text: For two years, he tried to raise funds to publish a booklet describing the language, until he received the financial help from his future wife's father. In 1887, the book titled "Международный язык. Предисловие и полный учебникъ" (International language: Introduction and complete textbook) was published in Russian under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto" (Doctor Hoper, or literally "Doctor One Who Hopes"). Zamenhof initially called his language "Lingvo internacia" (international language), but those who learned it began to call it "Esperanto" after his pseudonym, and this soon became the official name for the language. For Zamenhof, this language, far from being merely a communication tool, was a way to promote peaceful coexistence between people of different cultures.