title: Art museum

text: Since the 1970s, a number of political theorists and social commentators have pointed to the political implications of art museums and social relations. Pierre Bourdieu, for instance, argued that in spite the apparent freedom of choice in the arts, people's artistic preferences (such as classical music, rock, traditional music) strongly tie in with their social position. So called cultural capital is a major factor in social mobility (for example, getting a higher-paid, higher-status job). The argument states that certain art museums are aimed at perpetuating aristocratic and upper class ideals of taste and excludes segments of society without the social opportunities to develop such interest. The fine arts thus perpetuate social inequality by creating divisions between different social groups. This argument also ties in with the Marxist theory of mystification and elite culture.


title: Art museum

text: Furthermore, certain art galleries, such as the National Gallery in London and the Louvre in Paris are situated in buildings of considerable emotional impact. The Louvre in Paris is for instance located in the former Royal Castle of the ancient regime, and is thus clearly designed with a political agenda. It has been argued that such buildings create feelings of subjugation and adds to the mystification of fine arts. Research suggests that the context in which an artwork is being presented has significant influence on its reception by the audience, and viewers shown artworks in a museum rated them more highly than when displayed in a "laboratory" setting


title: Art museum

text: Most art museums have only limited online collections, but a few museums, as well as some libraries and government agencies, have developed substantial online catalogues. Museums, libraries, and government agencies with substantial online collections include:


title: Art museum

text: There are a number of online art catalogues and galleries that have been developed independently of the support of any individual museum. Many of these, like American Art Gallery, are attempts to develop galleries of artwork that are encyclopedic or historical in focus, while others are commercial efforts to sell the work of contemporary artists.


title: Art museum

text: A limited number of such sites have independent importance in the art world. The large auction houses, such as Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Christie's, maintain large online databases of art which they have auctioned or are auctioning. Bridgeman Art Library serves as a central source of reproductions of artwork, with access limited to museums, art dealers, and other professionals or professional organizations.


title: Art museum

text: There are also online galleries that have been developed by a collaboration of museums and galleries that are more interested with the categorization of art. They are interested in the potential use of folksonomy within museums and the requirements for post-processing of terms that have been gathered, both to test their utility and to deploy them in useful ways.


title: Art museum

text: The steve.museum is one example of a site that is experimenting with this collaborative philosophy. The participating institutions include the Guggenheim Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.


title: Art museum

text: There are relatively few local/regional/national organizations dedicated specifically to art museums. Most art museums are associated with local/regional/national organizations for the arts, humanities or museums in general. Many of these organizations are listed as follows:


title: Hwasong-17

text: The Hwasong-17 () is a North Korean two-stage ICBM, first unveiled on 10 October 2020, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) parade. This missile is the latest iteration of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. Japan has estimated its operational range at 15,000 km or more. Unlike its predecessors, the Hwasong-17 may be capable of carrying multiple warheads. North Korea claimed the first Hwasong-17 was successfully launched on 24 March 2022. Western analysts instead believe the 24 March launch was an earlier missile design, and a later test that took place on 18 November 2022 was in fact the first successful test launch.


title: Hwasong-17

text: The Hwasong-17 is assumed to be a two-stage, liquid fuelled road-mobile ICBM carried by a 22-wheeled transporter erector launcher (TEL) vehicle. The missile itself is judged from images to be 26 m long with a diameter of 2.7 m. The exact capabilities of the missile are as yet unconfirmed, though speculation by experts has fueled questions as to whether it could reach cities within the United States and potentially evade U.S. missile defenses too. It also might have the capability of carrying multiple re-entry vehicles (MRVs), which would be a less expensive way to launch multiple warheads than deploying many ICBMs with single warhead payloads. The size and configuration of the 11-axle TEL indicates North Korea has developed a domestic capacity to manufacture such vehicles, a matter of concern to observers as attempting to block procurement of foreign-built TELs was one limitation on the nation's ICBM force. The country being able to produce their own launchers lifts that constraint and enables them to have the capacity to fire greater numbers of missiles.


title: Hwasong-17

text: Japan's defense minister Yasukazu Hamada estimated the operational range of the Hwasong-17 as 15,000 km or more, if mounted with a sufficiently light warhead. Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace agreed that if the successful November missile test had been fired at the US instead of up into the air, it could easily reach anywhere in the continental United States. An alleged unsuccessful test-flight of 2 November 2022 had suggested the Hwasong-17 might be unreliable. As of November 2022, it is unknown how much a large (for example, MRV) warhead would reduce Hwasong-17 range, and it is also unknown whether North Korean ICBM technology has the ability to deliver a warhead that survives re-entry into the atmosphere.


title: Hwasong-17

text: Since the Hwasong-15 was already capable of striking most of the contiguous United States, the development of an even larger missile suggests North Korea is pursuing MRV, or even MIRV, payloads. As of 2020, the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system comprises 44 interceptors, requiring the launch of at least four to guarantee a hit, enabling it to protect against a maximum of 11 warheads. The Hwasong-17 may contain three or four warheads, or potentially a mix of decoys and real warheads, so the launch of just a few missiles would be enough to overwhelm U.S. defenses. Despite posing such a threat, the missile is greatly limited by its sheer size. The combined weight of the missile and its TEL restricts movement to North Korea's limited network of paved roads, as it would only be able to travel short distances on unpaved roads and only on sturdy ground. Unlike smaller liquid-fueled ballistic missiles, it is unlikely that it can be fueled at a secure location and then driven to and erected at a pre-surveyed site to cut down on launch preparation time, as vibrations during movement of such a large missile would risk causing damage and leaking volatile fuel. This restricts fueling to once it arrives at the launch site itself, a process requiring several hours to complete, leaving the missile exposed and vulnerable to pre-launch attack. The Hwasong-17's multiple warhead capability is also speculative, as it requires complex guidance and warhead release mechanisms needing significant flight testing to ensure reliability, and no test launches had been conducted by the time of its public unveiling.


title: Hwasong-17

text: In August 2021, commander of United States Northern Command Glen D. VanHerck stated that the "KN-28 missile has a much larger capability, and the total number of missiles tends to increase." This suggests that Hwasong-17 is designated as KN-28, not the KN-27.


title: Hwasong-17

text: With its alleged test flight in March 2022, WPK general secretary Kim Jong-un stressed the development of the missile as a 'a symbol of Juche power and fruition of self-reliance, [was] completed as a core strike means and a reliable nuclear war deterrence means of the DPRK strategic forces'.


title: Hwasong-17

text: The Hwasong-17 may also contribute to ICBM testing by acting as a satellite launch vehicle (SLV). North Korea has only fired long-range ballistic missiles on lofted trajectories, in part because tracking can only be done from land-based sensors. The ability to receive data signals is lost at a certain distance and altitude due to the Earth's curvature, and they lack ships or planes to continue monitoring an RV beyond those distances. The Hwasong-17 has more capable rocket motors and more energetic liquid propellants than country's previous Taepodong-2/Unha-3 booster, making it able to launch a satellite twice as heavy as was previously possible into low Earth orbit; the missile's first launches were claimed to be related to testing elements for a reconnaissance satellite. As an SLV, it could launch a satellite that would be in a position to monitor future ICBM flights and payload reentry from space, enabling more realistic testing by firing them on normal trajectories out to further distances.


title: Hwasong-17

text: Test launches of the Hwasong-17 were carried out first on 26 February 2022, and again on 4 March. North Korea did not publicize news of the launches, with INDOPACOM revealing them later. The United States believed the tests were not intended to demonstrate the ICBM's range but conduct early evaluations of its capabilities. North Korea publicly claimed the launches were intended to test components of a reconnaissance satellite at operational altitudes without disclosing they had been lofted by the new ICBM. It is possible the launches were done to test both satellite components and the ICBM, but only the former was admitted to limit potential international criticism. Missile expert Jeffrey Lewis also raised the possibility that these were launches of the post-boost vehicle for the second stage of the Hwasong-17. A missile launch was attempted on 16 March 2022, but it was a failure. It is suspected that it was a Hwasong-17 test, but was not acknowledged by North Korea due to the unsuccessful launch.


title: Hwasong-17

text: A test launch of a disputed missile type was carried out by North Korea on 24 March 2022. The launch was a technical success that broke many records for North Korea, for example regarding height and flight time. The footage of the launch may have been doctored, with missile analysts being unable to confirm that the missile that was launched on 24 March was a Hwasong-17, due to inconsistencies with objects in the background of the launch, which matched to satellite imagery on an earlier date than 24 March. Two shots of the observation bus that Kim Jong-un was in appeared to be taken in different locations and grass that was burnt in a controlled burn appeared to be unburnt on Korean Central Television footage. South Korean intelligence alleges that the missile launched on 24 March was likely an improved and modified Hwasong-15, though NK News also stated that there may be other reasons for using old footage, such as a camera failure.


title: Oleaceae

text: Oleaceae, also known as the olive family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales, It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct. The extant genera include "Cartrema", which was resurrected in 2012. The number of species in the Oleaceae is variously estimated in a wide range around 700. The flowers are often numerous and highly odoriferous. The family has a subcosmopolitan distribution, ranging from the subarctic to the southernmost parts of Africa, Australia, and South America. Notable members include olive, ash, jasmine, and several popular ornamental plants including privet, forsythia, fringetrees, and lilac.


title: Oleaceae

text: The following 27 extant genera are recognized in the family Oleaceae. "Linociera" is not included, even though some authors continue to recognize it. "Linociera" is not easy to distinguish from "Chionanthus", mostly because the latter is polyphyletic and not clearly defined.


title: Oleaceae

text: The type genus for Oleaceae is "Olea", the olives. Recent classifications recognize no subfamilies, but the family is divided into five tribes. The distinctiveness of each tribe has been strongly supported in molecular phylogenetic studies, but the relationships among the tribes were not clarified until 2014. The phylogenetic tree for Oleaceae is a 5-grade that can be represented as {Myxopyreae [Forsythieae (Fontanesieae <Jasmineae + Oleeae>)]}.


title: Oleaceae

text: The major centers of diversity for Oleaceae are in Southeast Asia and Australia. There are also a significant number of species in Africa, China, and North America. In the tropics the family is represented in a variety of habitats, from low-lying dry forest to montane cloud forest. In Oleaceae, the seed dispersal is almost entirely by wind or animals. In the case that the fruit is a berry, the species is mostly dispersed by birds. The wind-dispersed fruits are samaras.


title: Oleaceae

text: Some of the older works have recognized as many as 29 genera in Oleaceae. Today, most authors recognize at least 25, but this number will change because some of these genera have recently been shown to be polyphyletic.


title: Oleaceae

text: Estimates of the number of species in Oleaceae have ranged from 600 to 900. Most of the species number discrepancy is due to the genus "Jasminum" in which as few as 200 or as many as 450 species have been accepted.


title: Oleaceae

text: In spite of the sparsity of the fossil record, and the inaccuracy of molecular-clock dating, it is clear that Oleaceae is an ancient family that became widely distributed early in its history. Some of the genera are believed to be relictual populations that remained unchanged over long periods because of isolation imposed by geographical barriers like the low-elevation areas that separate mountain peaks.


title: Oleaceae

text: Members of the family Oleaceae are woody plants, mostly trees and shrubs; a few are lianas. Some of the shrubs are , climbing by scrambling into other vegetation.


title: Oleaceae

text: Leaves without stipules; simple or pinnately or ternately compound. The family is characterized by opposite leaves. Alternate or whorled arrangements are rarely observed, with some "Jasminum" species presenting a spiral configuration. The laminas are pinnately veined and can be serrate, dentate or entire at the margin. Domatia are observed in certain taxa. The leaves may be either deciduous or evergreen, with evergreen species predominating in warm temperate and tropical regions, and deciduous species predominating in colder regions.


title: Oleaceae

text: The flowers are most often bisexual and actinomorphic, occurring in racemes or panicles, and often fragrant. The calyx and corolla, when present, are gamosepalous and gamopetalous, respectively, their lobes connate, at least at the base. The androecium has 2 stamens. These are inserted on the corolla tube and alternate with the corolla lobes. The stigmas are two-lobed. The gynoecium consists of a compound pistil with two carpels. The ovary is superior with two locules. The placentation is axile. Ovules usually 2 per locule; sometimes 4, rarely many. Nectary disk, when present, encircling the base of the ovary. The plants are most often hermaphrodite but sometimes polygamomonoecious.


title: Oleaceae

text: The obvious feature that distinguishes Oleaceae and its sister family, Carlemanniaceae, from all others, is the fact that while the flowers are actinomorphic, the number of stamens is reduced to two.


title: Oleaceae

text: Many members of the family are economically significant. The olive ("Olea europaea") is important for its fruit and for the olive oil extracted from it. The ashes ("Fraxinus") are valued for their tough wood. Forsythias, lilacs, jasmines, osmanthuses, privets, and fringe trees are valued as ornamental plants in gardens and landscaping. At least two species of jasmine are the source of an essential oil. Their flowers are often added to tea.


title: Oleaceae

text: Carl Linnaeus named eight of the genera of Oleaceae in 1753 in his Species Plantarum. He did not designate what we now know as plant families, but placed his genera in artificial groups for purposes of identification. After the work of Linnaeus, names for groups that included the genera of Oleaceae were used, but none of them was a valid publication of the family name Oleaceae. For example, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, in his "Genera Plantarum" in 1789, placed them in an order which he called "Jasmineae". In 1809, in a flora of Portugal, Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg and Johann H.F. Link described at the taxonomic rank of family a group which they called "Oleinae". Their description is now regarded as the establishment of what we now know as Oleaceae.


title: Oleaceae

text: The last revision of Oleaceae was published in 2004 in a series entitled "The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants". Since that time, molecular phylogenetic work has shown that the next revision of Oleaceae must include substantial changes to the circumscription of genera.


title: Oleaceae

text: Oleaceae is most closely related to the small Indo-Malesian family Carlemanniaceae. These two families form the second most basal clade in the order Lamiales, after Plocospermataceae. The families Plocospermataceae, Carlemanniaceae, Oleaceae, and Tetrachondraceae form a polyphyletic group known as the "basal Lamiales", which is in contrast to the monophyletic "core Lamiales".


title: Oleaceae

text: Oleaceae is one of only a few major plant families for which no well-sampled molecular phylogenetic study has ever been conducted. The only DNA sequence study of the entire family sampled 76 species for two noncoding chloroplast loci, "rps16" and "trnL–F". Little was determined in this study, largely because the mutation rate in the chloroplast genome of Oleaceae is very low compared to that of most other angiosperm families.


title: Oleaceae

text: Also, the family is notorious for incongruence between phylogenies based on plastid and nuclear DNA. The most likely cause of this incongruence is reticulate evolution resulting from rampant hybridization.


title: Oleaceae

text: The delimitation of genera in Oleaceae has always been especially problematic. Some recent studies of small groups of related genera have shown that some of the genera are not monophyletic. For example, "Olea" section "Tetrapilus" is separate from the rest of "Olea". It is a distinct group of 23 species and had been named as a genus, "Tetrapilus", by João de Loureiro in 1790.


title: Oleaceae

text: The genus "Ligustrum" has long been suspected of having originated from within "Syringa", and this was confirmed in a cladistic comparison of selected chloroplast genes.


title: Oleaceae

text: "Osmanthus" consists of at least three lineages whose closest relatives are not other lineages of "Osmanthus".


title: Oleaceae

text: "Chionanthus" is highly polyphyletic, with its species scattered across the phylogenetic tree of the subtribe Oleinae. Its African species are closer to "Noronhia" than to its type species, the North American "Chionanthus virginicus". Its Madagascan species are phylogenetically within "Noronhia" and will be formally transferred to it in a forthcoming paper.


title: Oleaceae

text: The monophyly of "Nestegis" is in considerable doubt, but few of its closest relatives have been sampled in phylogenetic studies.


title: Targa Florio

text: The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973. While the first races consisted of a whole tour of the island, the track length in the race's last decades was limited to the of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, which was lapped 11 times.


title: Targa Florio

text: After 1973, it was a national sports car event until it was discontinued in 1977 due to safety concerns. It has since been run as Targa Florio Rally, a rallying event, and is part of the Italian Rally Championship.


title: Targa Florio

text: The race was created in 1906 by the wealthy pioneer race driver and automobile enthusiast, Vincenzo Florio, who had started the Coppa Florio race in Brescia, Lombardy in 1900. The Targa also claimed to be a worldly event not to be missed. Renowned artists, such as Alexandre Charpentier and Leonardo Bistolfi, were commissioned to design medals. A magazine was initiated, "Rapiditas", which aimed to enhance, with graphic and photographic reproductions of the race, the myth of the car and the typical character of modern life, speed.


title: Targa Florio

text: One of the toughest competitions in Europe, the first Targa Florio covered 3 laps equalling through winding bends and multiple hairpin curves on treacherous mountain roads, at heights where severe changes in climate frequently occurred. Alessandro Cagno won the inaugural 1906 race in nine hours, averaging 30 miles per hour (50 km/h).


title: Targa Florio

text: By the early to mid-1920s, the Targa Florio course had been shortened to 67 miles (108 km) and had become one of Europe's most important races, as neither the 24 Hours of Le Mans nor the Mille Miglia had been established yet. Grand Prix races were still isolated events, not a series like today's F1.


title: Targa Florio

text: The wins of Mercedes (not yet merged with Benz) in the 1920s made a big impression in Germany, especially that of German Christian Werner in 1924, as he was the first non-Italian winner since 1920. Rudolf Caracciola repeated a similar upset win at the Mille Miglia a couple of years later. In 1926, Eliska Junkova, one of the great female drivers in Grand Prix motor racing history, became the first woman to ever compete in the race. The 1931 race saw a one-off return to the "Grande" course after roads and bridges specifically unique to the "Medio" course near Polizzi Generosa had been destroyed by landslides during severe rainstorms; the 1932 course saw the first use of the "Piccolo" course after a road connecting Caltavuturo and Collesano was constructed on the direct orders of Benito Mussolini himself by request of Florio.


title: Targa Florio

text: In 1953, the FIA World Sportscar Championship was introduced. The Targa became part of it in 1955, when Mercedes had to win 1-2 with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR in order to beat Ferrari for the title. They had missed the first two of the 6 events, Buenos Aires and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and Porsche scored. Mercedes appeared at and won in the Mille Miglia, then pulled out of Le Mans as a sign of respect for the victims of the 1955 Le Mans disaster, but won the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod. Stirling Moss/Peter Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio/Karl Kling finished minutes ahead of the best Ferrari and secured the title.


title: Targa Florio

text: Several versions of the track were used. It started with a single lap of a circuit from 1906-1911 and 1931. From 1912 to 1914 a tour around the perimeter of Sicily was used, with a single lap of , lengthened to from 1948 to 1950. The 146 km "Grande" circuit was then shortened twice, the first time to , the version used from 1919-1930, and then to the circuit used from 1932 to 1936 and 1951 to 1977. From 1951-1958, the long coastal island tour variant was used for a separate event called the Giro di Sicilia ("Lap of Sicily").


title: Targa Florio

text: The start and finish took place at Cerda. The counter-clockwise lap lead from Caltavuturo and Collesano from an altitude over down to sea level, where the cars raced from Campofelice di Roccella on the Buonfornello straight along the coast, a straight that was even longer than the Mulsanne Straight at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans. The longest version of the circuit went south through Caltavuturo (whereas the shortest version of the open-road circuit went east just before entry into Caltavuturo, through a mountainous section directly to Collesano) through an extended route through elevation changes, and climbed uphill through the nearby towns of Castellana, Sottana, Madonnuzza and Miranti, twisting around mountains up to the highest point- at Geraci Siculo, dropping down into Castelbuono, twisting around more mountains and passing through Isnello and the village of Mongerrati and then rejoined the most recent version of the track at Collesano. The second version of the track also went south through Caltavuturo and took a shortcut starting right before Castellana to Collesano via the town of Polizzi Generosa. There was a closed circuit called Favorita Park in the Sicilian capital of Palermo used from 1937-1940. All the roads used for all the variations of the circuits are still in use today. Originally a narrow 2-lane country road, the Buonfornello straight became a lot wider in the late 1960's thanks to the development of the Autostrade motorways all over Italy.


title: Targa Florio

text: The challenge of the Targa was unprecedented in its difficulty and the driving experience of any of the course variants was unlike any other circuit in the world other than perhaps that of the Nurburgring in Germany and (for motorcycles) the much faster but similar Snaefell Mountain Course on the Isle of Man. All of the variants had 18 to 23 corners per mile (11 to 14 corners per kilometer)- the original "Grande" circuit had in the realm of 2,000 corners per lap, the "Medio" had about 1,300-1,400 corners per lap and the final iteration of the course, the "Piccolo" circuit had about 800-900 corners per lap. To put that into perspective, most purpose-built circuits have between 12 and 18 corners, and the longest purpose-built circuit in the world, the 13-mile Nurburgring, has about 180 corners. So learning any of the Targa Florio courses was extremely difficult and required, like most long circuits, at least 60 laps to learn the course- and unlike the purpose-built Nurburgring, the course had to be learned properly in public traffic, and one lap of even the "Piccolo" course would take about an hour to do in a road car- if there was little to no traffic. To even finish this punishing race required a very reliable car- and it being a slow, twisty circuit it was very hard on the gearbox, brakes and the suspension of a car. Some manufacturers and entrants, particularly non-Italian ones would sometimes outright skip the Targa because of the difficulty of learning the layout and were unsure if their cars could stand the brutal pace there.


title: Targa Florio

text: Like a rally event (and events like the Isle of Man TT and the Mille Miglia), the race cars were started one by one every 15 seconds for a time trial, as a start from a full grid was not possible on the tight and twisty roads.


title: Targa Florio

text: Although the public road circuit used for the Targa was extremely challenging- it was a very different kind of circuit and race from any other race on the sportscar calendar. All of the circuit variations of the Targa had so many corners that lap speeds at the Targa never went higher than 80 mph (128 km/h), as opposed to Le Mans in France, where cars would average 150+ mph (240+ km/h) or the Nürburgring, where cars would average 110 mph (176 km/h). Helmut Marko set the lap record in 1972 in an Alfa Romeo 33TT3 at 33 min 41 s at an average of during an epic charge where he made up 2 minutes on Arturo Merzario and his Ferrari 312PB. The fastest ever was Leo Kinnunen in 1970, lapping in the Porsche 908/3 at or 33 min 36 seconds flat.


title: Targa Florio

text: Due to the track's length, drivers practised in the week before the race in public traffic, often with their race cars fitted with license plates. Porsche factory drivers even had to watch onboard videos, a sickening experience for some. The lap record for the 146 km "Grande" circuit was 2 hours 3 min 54.8 seconds set by Achille Varzi in a Bugatti Type 51 at the 1931 race at an average speed of . The lap record for the 108 km "Medio" circuit was 1 hour 21 min 21.6 seconds set by Varzi in an Alfa Romeo P2 at an average speed of at the 1930 race. The fastest completion around the short version of the island tour was done by Giovanni "Ernesto" Ceirano in a SCAT at the 1914 race, completed in 16 hours, 51 minutes and 31.6 seconds from May 24–25, 1914. The fastest completion of the long version of the island tour was by Mario and Franco Bornigia in an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione, completed in 12 hours, 26 minutes and 33 seconds flat at the 1950 race at an average speed of .


title: Targa Florio

text: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, race cars with up to 600 hp (450 kW) such as Nino Vaccarella's Ferrari 512S raced through small mountain villages while spectators sat or stood right next to, or even on, the road. Porsche, on the other hand, did not race its big and powerful Porsche 917, but rather the smaller and nimble Porsche 908/03 Spyders.


title: Targa Florio

text: Due to safety concerns, especially by Helmut Marko, who called the race "totally insane", the last Targa Florio as a World Sportscar Championship race was run in 1973; when it had become impossible to retain its international status after a number of accidents, two of which were fatal; one which privateer Charles Blyth crashed his Lancia Fulvia HF into a trailer at the end of the Buonfornello straight and was killed; and another where an Italian driver crashed his Alpine-Renault into a group of spectators, killing one. There were several other accidents during practice for the 1973 event in which a total of seven spectators sustained injuries. The event was won by a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR as the prototypes such as Jacky Ickx's Ferrari suffered crashes or other troubles.


title: Targa Florio

text: The Targa's international demise was compounded because of widespread concern about the organizers' ability to properly maintain the race on such a massive circuit, and there were not enough marshals - most spectators sat too close to the roads; and also the international automotive governing body, the FIA, mandated safety walls on all circuits that were going to hold FIA-mandated events from 1974 onwards, and the length of combined public roads made this simply impossible and totally impracticable, especially from a financial standpoint: the sport's growing professionalism was something the Targa's organizers simply could not keep up with. One example of this concern was when Briton Brian Redman crashed his Porsche 908/03 during the 1971 event 20 miles into the first lap. The steering on his car broke, and it hit a stone wall and caught fire. Redman had second-degree burns all over his body and it took 45 minutes for any medical help to reach Redman (while he was attended to by spectators who were trying to keep him cool by waving objects). The Porsche team did not know where he was for 12 hours until teammates Pedro Rodriguez and Richard Attwood found him in a local clinic.


title: Targa Florio

text: The Targa was continued as a national event for some years, before a crash in 1977 where hillclimbing specialist Gabriele Ciuti went off the road and crashed at the fast curves at the end of the Buonfornello straight after some of the bodywork flew off his BMW-powered Osella prototype. This accident killed 2 spectators and seriously injured 5 others (including Ciuti, who went into a coma, but survived), and effectively sealed the race's fate. After this accident the race was forcibly taken over by local police and was stopped on the 4th lap, and it also saw 2 other drivers having serious accidents; one of them was critically injured, but survived.


title: Targa Florio

text: Although the Targa Florio was a rally-type race that took place on closed-off public mountain roads with (aside from straw bales and weak guardrails at some of the turns, the latter were installed by the island's government) practically no safety features, only 9 people – including spectators – died at the event over the 71 year and 61 race history using a total of 6 circuit configurations. This number is relatively small compared to other open road races, like the Mille Miglia, where over a period of 30 years and 24 races, 56 people lost their lives and the Carrera Panamericana, where over a period of 5 years and 5 races, 25 people were killed. This is probably due to the fact that the mountain roads used were extremely slow and twisty, and average lap speeds never reached even even up to the final years of the race's history, even with the very long straight at the northernmost of the track, whereas most road circuits had average speeds anywhere between and even .


title: Targa Florio

text: After winning the race several times, Porsche named the hardtop convertible version of the 911 after the Targa. The name "targa" means "plaque" or "plate", see targa top.


title: Targa Florio

text: The Australian-made Leyland P76 had a special version named Targa Florio to commemorate victory by journalist-rallyist Evan Green on a Special Stage of the 1974 London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally which was held on the Targa Florio course.


title: Targa Florio

text: Since 1992 the event has lent its name to a modern recreation, staged half-a-world away in the form of the famous road rally Targa Tasmania held on the island state of Tasmania, off the Southern coast of Australia. There are also the Targa New Zealand since 1995, the Targa Newfoundland since 2002 and Targa Great Barrier Reef since 2018 where it is held in the Far North section of Queensland.


title: Targa Florio

text: 2017 will celebrate the 101st Anniversary of the Targa Florio and the first time the event has left Italy. This is an amazing attraction for Victoria, Australia and all car enthusiasts. The event, tours Victoria’s coast and countryside from November 29 to December 3 and features over 150 of the world’s most admirable cars and is expected to attract fans, celebrities and media from across the globe.


title: Targa Florio

text: The Targa Florio Australian Tribute (TFAT - https://www.targaflorioaustralia.com/) is a regularity event for classic cars produced in the years between 1906 and 1976. Cars competed over 4 days on Victoria’s open roads at regulated speed. As part of the event there were 56 trials across the 4 days. The inaugural event was a huge success and was repeated in 2018. The 3rd Targa Florio Australian Tribute 2019 will be held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 27 November to 1 December 2019.


title: Targa Florio

text: Races between 1955 and 1973 were part of the World Championship, with the 1957 race not a race but a regularity test, following the Mille Miglia accident.


title: Targa Florio

text: The list below includes all car manufacturers who have attained a podium. The table does not include the results of the 1957 edition, which was held as a regularity race.


title: Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A

text: The Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A was planned as a multi-role military aircraft to replace the Boeing 707-based E-3 Sentry and E-8 Joint STARS, the Boeing 747-based E-4B, and the RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft in US military service. The E-10 was based on the Boeing 767-400ER commercial airplane.


title: Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A

text: In 2003, the Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and Raytheon MC2A team was awarded a $215 million contract for pre-SDD (System Development and Demonstration) development of the aircraft. MC2A is an acronym for Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft. The MC2A was intended to be the ultimate theater-wide combat control center.


title: Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A

text: While the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS aircraft was a recent development, it is the last such type based on the 707. Installing the high technology systems envisaged for the MC2A on an increasingly obsolete airframe would not provide the capability required. The availability of powerful and reliable turbofans allowed a twinjet to be considered.


title: Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A

text: In August 2003, "Air International" reported that the goal of integrating air- and ground-search radars on a single airframe was abandoned. Electronic interference between the active electronically scanned array (AESA) and ground-surveillance radars as well as the power requirements for both systems were cited as the reason. Instead the USAF decided to plan two separate E-10 fleets to be integrated with the proposed space-based radar system, air- and space-based ELINT/SIGINT assets, and space-based IMINT satellites. It would have been the central command authority for all air, land, and sea forces in a combat theater. The E-10 was also considered for use as a command center for unmanned combat air vehicles.


title: Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A

text: In January 2006, the Air Force FY07 budget request revealed a reshaping of the E-10 program with the cancellation of the SDD program. Funding was maintained for the development and testing of a single demonstration aircraft, now known as the E-10A Technology Development Program (TDP). The TDP phase would flight test the MP-RTIP Wide-Area Surveillance (WAS) radar, and conduct flight demonstrations of the E-10A's Cruise Missile Defense (CMD) Capability. The SDD elimination was designed to be a cost-cutting measure and part of a larger reorganization and redefinition of the Air Force's mission including the retirement of the Boeing E-4B and Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk fleets, as well as the elimination of all but 58 Boeing B-52H Stratofortresses.


title: Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A

text: The E-10 finally disappeared at the end of FY2007 as budget pressures and competing priorities pushed it completely out of the budget. The USAF maintained funding for the MP-RTIP radar and may eventually put the radar on the E-8, or on a new aircraft, possibly the same airframe as the next aerial tanker. The smaller version of the MP-RTIP AESA radar designed to be flown on the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk is being flight tested on the Scaled Composites Proteus aircraft. Boeing had kept the E-10 prototype (767-400ER) at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, until it was sold to Bahrain in January 2009 for conversion into a VIP transport.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, and others. Protestant opinions on it are varied.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: It met in AD 787 in Nicaea (site of the First Council of Nicaea; present-day İznik, Bursa, in Turkey), to restore the use and veneration of icons (or holy images), which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III (717–741). His son, Constantine V (741–775), had held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression official.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The veneration of icons had been banned by Byzantine Emperor Constantine V and supported by his Council of Hieria (754 AD), which had described itself as the seventh ecumenical council. The Council of Hieria was overturned by the Second Council of Nicaea only 33 years later, and has also been rejected by Catholic and Orthodox churches, since none of the five major patriarchs were represented. The emperor's vigorous enforcement of the ban included persecution of those who venerated icons and of monks in general. There were also political overtones to the persecution—images of emperors were still allowed by Constantine, which some opponents saw as an attempt to give wider authority to imperial power than to the saints and bishops. Constantine's iconoclastic tendencies were shared by Constantine's son, Leo IV. After the latter's early death, his widow, Irene of Athens, as regent for her son, began its restoration for personal inclination and political considerations.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: In 784 the imperial secretary Patriarch Tarasius was appointed successor to the Patriarch Paul IV—he accepted on the condition that intercommunion with the other churches should be reestablished; that is, that the images should be restored. However, a council, claiming to be ecumenical, had abolished the veneration of icons, so another ecumenical council was necessary for its restoration.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: Pope Adrian I was invited to participate, and gladly accepted, sending an archbishop and an abbot as his legates.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: In 786, the council met in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. However, soldiers in collusion with the opposition entered the church, and broke up the assembly. As a result, the government resorted to a stratagem. Under the pretext of a campaign, the iconoclastic bodyguard was sent away from the capital – disarmed and disbanded.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The council was again summoned to meet, this time in Nicaea, since Constantinople was still distrusted. The council assembled on September 24, 787 at the church of Hagia Sophia. It numbered about 350 members; 308 bishops or their representatives signed. Tarasius presided, and seven sessions were held in Nicaea.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The twenty-two canons drawn up in Constantinople also served ecclesiastical reform. Careful maintenance of the ordinances of the earlier councils, knowledge of the scriptures on the part of the clergy, and care for Christian conduct are required, and the desire for a renewal of ecclesiastical life is awakened.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The council also decreed that every altar should contain a relic, which remains the case in modern Catholic and Orthodox regulations (Canon VII), and made a number of decrees on clerical discipline, especially for monks when mixing with women.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The papal legates voiced their approval of the restoration of the veneration of icons in no uncertain terms, and the patriarch sent a full account of the proceedings of the council to Pope Hadrian I, who had it translated (Pope Anastasius III later replaced the translation with a better one). The papacy did not, however, formally confirm the decrees of the council till 880. In the West, the Frankish clergy initially rejected the Council at a synod in 794, and Charlemagne, then King of the Franks, supported the composition of the "Libri Carolini" in response, which repudiated the teachings of both the Council and the iconoclasts. A copy of the "Libri" was sent to Pope Hadrian, who responded with a refutation of the Frankish arguments. The "Libri" would thereafter remain unpublished until the Reformation, and the Council is accepted as the Seventh Ecumenical Council by the Catholic Church.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: The council, or rather the final defeat of iconoclasm in 843, is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine Rite as "The Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy" each year on the first Sunday of Great Lent, the fast that leads up to Pascha (Easter), and again on the Sunday closest to October 11 (the Sunday on or after October 8). The former celebration commemorates the defeat of iconoclasm, while the latter commemorates the council itself.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: Many Protestants who follow the French reformer John Calvin generally agree in rejecting the canons of the council, which they believe promoted idolatry. He rejected the distinction between veneration ("douleia", "proskynesis") and adoration ("latreia") as unbiblical "sophistry" and condemned even the decorative use of images. In subsequent editions of the "Institutes", he cited an influential Carolingian source, now ascribed to Theodulf of Orleans, which reacts negatively the council's acts. Calvin did not engage the apologetic arguments of John of Damascus or Theodore the Studite, apparently because he was unaware of them.


title: Second Council of Nicaea

text: There is no up-to-date English monograph on either the council or the iconoclast controversy in general. But see L. Brubaker and J. Haldon, Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era c. 680 to 850: A History (Cambridge 2011).


title: Sound of Silver

text: Sound of Silver is the second studio album by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. The album was released jointly through DFA and Capitol Records in the United States and EMI elsewhere, first on March 12, 2007, in the United Kingdom. "Sound of Silver" was produced by the DFA and recorded during 2006 at Long View Farm in North Brookfield, Massachusetts and DFA Studios in New York, New York. Upon release, "Sound of Silver" received acclaim from music critics, and it was later nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. The group's later released EP, entitled "A Bunch of Stuff", was composed entirely of songs from this album.


title: Sound of Silver

text: James Murphy recorded "Sound of Silver" at the Long View Farm in Massachusetts, where he had previously recorded LCD Soundsystem's eponymous debut album. Murphy was uncomfortable recording his own vocals, calling the experience "horrifying". Murphy covered the entire studio in silver fabric and tin foil. For the recording of LCD Soundsystem's following album "This Is Happening", Murphy brought one of the original pieces of silver fabric to the album's recording studio in Los Angeles and hung it in Rick Rubin's recording den, the Mansion.


title: Sound of Silver

text: Musically, "Sound of Silver" has been described as dance-punk, dance-rock, electronica, electronic rock, and indie rock. Some songs use instrumentals from the band's six-part, 46-minute long 2006 composition "".


title: Sound of Silver

text: The album was dedicated to "the memory of Dr. George Kamen (1942–2006), one of the great minds of his or any generation." The Bulgarian-born doctor was a pioneer of group therapy and had opened a practice in New York City. It is insinuated the loss of 'someone' in the track "Someone Great" is Kamen.


title: Sound of Silver

text: For several weeks before and after the album's release the entire album was available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. The video for the track "North American Scum" was also posted to the band's MySpace on February 8, 2007. On March 12, 2007, to coincide with its official UK release, an underground remix version of the album was released online in aid of charity.


title: Sound of Silver

text: "Sound of Silver" received widespread critical acclaim and holds a score of 86 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic, based on reviews from 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". "The Guardian"s Dorian Lynskey singled out the "devastating emotional punch" of "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" for praise and described the album as "dance-rock for grown-ups: extraordinary." Andy Kellman of AllMusic felt that "Sound of Silver", compared to "LCD Soundsystem", was "less silly, funnier, less messy, sleeker, less rowdy, more fun, less distanced, more touching." "Los Angeles Times" critic Ann Powers wrote that Murphy "succeeds by stretching in two directions -- finding a new musical center, and showing his humanity beyond the laughs." Mark Pytlik of "Pitchfork" complimented Murphy's production sense and the album's "deep, spacious, and full-blooded" sound, concluding that "it's an absolute joy to listen to, for every possible reason, not the least of which is because, these days, those epiphanies feel like they're coming fewer and farther between."


title: Sound of Silver

text: Tim Jonze of "NME" wrote that while "Murphy's wise enough never to let his showing off spoil the fun, he can't avoid investing these songs with heart and soul ... that's what'll keep you hooked long after the beats have worn you out". "Uncut"s John Mulvey stated that "Murphy's talent is to proudly flaunt his influences, and to mix them up with belligerence, an exhilarating grasp of rock and dance dynamics, and a powerfully snarky sense of humour." Robert Christgau, writing in MSN Music, remarked that the album contained "one song so irresistible it makes you think the other tracks are songs too, which sometimes they are," later assigning it a two-star honorable mention rating.


title: Sound of Silver

text: James Murphy stated that he would like the album to be in the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Charts. It debuted on the "Billboard" 200 at number 46. As of January 2016, the album has sold about 225,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. About 123,000 of those are physical copies, and about 101,000 of those are digital copies. The album reached number 28 on the UK charts.


title: Sound of Silver

text: In December 2007, "Sound of Silver" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album, eventually losing to "We Are the Night" by The Chemical Brothers. The album was also nominated for the 2007 Shortlist Prize, where it lost out to "The Reminder" by Feist.


title: Sound of Silver

text: It was also named album of the year by "The Guardian", Uncut and Drowned in Sound. "Pitchfork" named two of the album's tracks ("Someone Great" and "All My Friends") in the top ten tracks of 2007 and the album itself was named the second best album of 2007. "Entertainment Weekly" and "Rolling Stone" both ranked it as the 7th best album of 2007. In 2008 Entertainment Weekly ranked it as one of the top 50 albums of the last 25 years. In January 2008, it was named the album of the year in both the 2007 "Village Voice" Pazz & Jop and Idolator Pop '07 polls. "Time" magazine named "All My Friends" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #4. The album placed fifth in "The Wire"s annual critics' poll.


title: Sound of Silver

text: In 2009, "Pitchfork" named the track "All My Friends" as the second best song of the decade, while a month later "Sound of Silver" was ranked at number 17 in the website's list of the best albums of the 2000s. Rhapsody ranked the album at number five on its "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list. It was also named the twenty-third best album of the decade by "Resident Advisor".


title: Sound of Silver

text: In 2012, "Rolling Stone" ranked the album at number 395 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: Sound of Silver

text: In 2019, "The Guardian" ranked the album at number 5 on its list of 'The 100 best albums of the 21st century'.


title: Sound of Silver

text: On October 27, 2022, the song "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down", was the final song played on WNYL Alt 92.3 before flipping to a simulcast of heritage all-news radio station WINS.


title: Sound of Silver

text: A few months after the release of "Sound of Silver", the band released the digital-only compilation EP "A Bunch of Stuff", released on . It is a US-only release as all the songs on the EP were included on the Someone Great" single which was released in all other territories (excluding the Franz Ferdinand cover of "All My Friends", which since became a B-side to their 2008 single "Can't Stop Feeling").


title: ResMed

text: ResMed Inc. is a San Diego, California-based medical equipment company. It primarily provides cloud-connectable medical devices for the treatment of sleep apnea (such as CPAP devices and masks), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other respiratory conditions. ResMed produced hundreds of thousands of ventilators and bilevel devices to help treat the respiratory symptoms of patients with COVID-19. ResMed also provides software to out-of-hospital care agencies to streamline transitions of care into and between these care settings for seniors and their care providers (i.e. home health, hospice, skilled nursing facilities, life plan communities, senior living centers, and private duty).


title: ResMed

text: ResMed employs more than 8,000 employees worldwide as of June 2022. The company operates in more than 140 countries worldwide, and has manufacturing facilities in Australia, Singapore, France, and the United States. Revenue was US$3.6 billion in fiscal year 2022.


title: ResMed

text: ResMed was established in 1989 by Peter Farrell in Australia. It relocated to San Diego in 1990. On March 1, 2013, Peter's son Mick Farrell became the company's new CEO. Peter transitioned to a non-executive role at the end of the year.


title: ResMed

text: In January 2020, ResMed Inc. agreed to pay more than $37.5 million to resolve alleged kickbacks paid to DME suppliers, sleep labs, and other healthcare providers in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: Batman: The Ride is an inverted roller coaster based on the DC Comics character Batman and found at seven Six Flags theme parks in the United States. Built by consulting engineers Bolliger & Mabillard, it rises to a height of between and reaches top speeds of . The original roller coaster at Six Flags Great America was partially devised by the park's general manager Jim Wintrode. Batman: The Ride was the world's first inverted roller coaster when it opened in 1992, and has since been awarded Coaster Landmark status by the American Coaster Enthusiasts. Clones of the ride exist at amusement parks around the world.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: The concept of an inverted roller coaster with inversions was developed by Jim Wintrode, the general manager of Six Flags Great America, in the early 1990s. To develop the idea for the park, Wintrode worked with Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard – from Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard – and engineer Robert Mampe. The ride soft opened to the public on May 2, 1992, with an official opening one week later on May 9. The ride cost 7 million dollars to build. At the time, it was the single biggest investment made by Six Flags Great America on one attraction.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: Following the ride's success, then-parent company Time Warner devised an expansion plan to install clones of the original at the rest of the US parks in the Six Flags chain throughout the 1990s. In 1992, Six Flags Great Adventure announced the addition of Batman: The Ride in place of Lightnin' Loops. It opened to the general public on May 1, 1993. Six Flags Magic Mountain opened their installation on March 26, 1994.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: On September 7, 1994, Six Flags St. Louis announced that they would be receiving their installation of Batman: The Ride. The attraction opened on April 22, 1995 and was the first location to feature a unique queue line. Six Flags Over Georgia announced the ride in 1996 as part of a new Gotham City section, which became the largest investment in 30 years for the park. It opened for the first time on May 3, 1997.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: Six Flags Over Texas announced a copy of Batman: The Ride on November 4, 1998. The ride would sit next to Mr. Freeze, being located towards the back of the park in a new Gotham City area. Batman: The Ride made its debut at Six Flags Over Texas on May 26, 1999. This location features a unique loading station themed as the Wayne Foundation Industrial Park, unlike the others which are labeled Gotham Public Works. As new Batman films were being released, Six Flags St. Louis opened their installation to coincide with 1995's "Batman Forever", while Six Flags Over Georgia debuted theirs to coincide with 1997's "Batman & Robin".


title: Batman: The Ride

text: In 2002, La Ronde in Montreal opened a mirror clone of the ride under the name Le Vampire (The Vampire). The name was the result of La Ronde, which is not a branded Six Flags park, lacking the necessary brand licensing agreement with Warner Bros. and DC Comics. It was expected to receive the "Batman" label when the park was scheduled to be converted to a Six Flags park in the mid-2000s, however, the plans were abandoned. Also in 2002, Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid opened another clone named (Batman: The Escape).


title: Batman: The Ride

text: The final installation was constructed at Six Flags New Orleans in 2003, which was formerly located at Japanese amusement park Thrill Valley, where it operated as Gambit from 1995 to 2002. In 2005, the effects of Hurricane Katrina resulted in Six Flags abandoning the New Orleans park. The coaster remained abandoned for two years and was then relocated to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, where it was refurbished and repainted. The ride reopened as Goliath on April 18, 2008.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: From 2013 to 2015, the Batman: The Ride coasters at five locations operated backwards at different times throughout the three years. On February 1, 2018, it was announced that the St. Louis location would run backwards for the first half of the 2018 season.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: The original installation of the ride at Six Flags Great America features a maximum height of , while the installations to follow reached . Each installation of Batman: The Ride has a track length of approximately . The rides reach a top speed of and exert up to four times the force of gravity. There are five inversions, which are two vertical loops, a zero-g roll and two corkscrews.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: Batman: The Ride clones operate with two steel and fiberglass trains, each containing eight cars. Each car seats four riders in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: The ride's original layout was specifically designed to fit in the Yankee Harbor (now DC Universe) themed area at Six Flags Great America, on the space previously occupied by Tidal Wave. The layout for each successive attraction is either identical or a mirror image of the original.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: While some later Batman: The Ride clones opened with dark blue track and supports, the originals were all black. Over the years there have been modifications in Batman: The Ride color schemes, with more incorporating yellows, blues and purples. The original ride at Six Flags Great America retained the original black color scheme until 2004, when the track was painted yellow and supports dark purple. Six Flags Great Adventure's originally featured a black color scheme with yellow rails until 2004, when the track was repainted yellow. For the 2010 season, the clone at Six Flags Magic Mountain was repainted medium blue with black supports. As of 2019, the only installation of Batman: The Ride to retain its all-black color scheme is Six Flags St. Louis.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: The decorative theme of Batman: The Ride attempts to capture the spirit of the fictional Gotham City for those queuing to board the ride. As the queue moves through Gotham City Park, the theme transitions from bright and peaceful, to dark and ominous. Modeled after Nigel Phelps' award-winning art direction on the 1989 film "Batman", the atmosphere indicates a crime-ridden and dirty environment, with discarded pieces of equipment, crumbling concrete, and in some versions, a Gotham City Police Department car riddled with bullet holes. After the outside queue, guests enter the ride structure through an entrance themed after an access to a storm drain. The ride passenger loading area is modeled after Batman's Batcave and features a replica of the Batsuit from the 1989 film.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: Batman: The Ride begins with the track floor in the station descending. The train moves out of the station and up a chain lift hill. At the top of the hill, the train dips down through a Bolliger & Mabillard pre-drop, coasts down a 190-degree swoop to the left and drops into the first vertical loop. It then flips through a Heartline Spin (zero-G roll), followed by another vertical loop. The train then travels upward around a tight spiral to the left, then through a wider turn to the right, drops slightly and quickly turns through the first corkscrew (referred to as a "flatspin" by the manufacturer). Following this is a tight right turn and another flatspin, then a tight left turnaround before the train enters the final brake run.


title: Batman: The Ride

text: Batman: The Ride has generally received positive reviews. "The Dallas Morning News" stated the ride "is proof that new thrills on the cutting edge of technology generate excitement". They also praise the theme of the "smooth-riding coaster" stating "the mysterious crime-fighter is a proven crowd-pleaser". American Coaster Enthusiasts have also praised the ride, awarding it Coaster Landmark status in 2005. They describe the ride as a "revolutionary design" which offers "unprecedented intensity, while maintaining remarkable smoothness, comfort, and pacing". Ultimate Rollercoaster describes Batman: The Ride as "the ride of your life". They state "the sensation created by an inverted coaster is very different from that of traditional roller coasters. It is a sensation that every coaster fan must experience".


title: Batman: The Ride

text: In "Amusement Today"s Golden Ticket Awards for Best Steel Roller Coasters, Batman: The Ride ranked in the late 1990s before dropping off the poll and returning once in 2005. The original installation at Six Flags Great America was ranked 23 and 25 in 1998 and 1999, before returning in 2005 at position 45. In 1998, the Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags St. Louis installations ranked 19 and 21, respectively.


title: Jim Shooter

text: James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comics' ninth editor-in-chief, and his work as editor in chief of Valiant Comics.


title: Jim Shooter

text: Jim Shooter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to parents Ken and Eleanor "Ellie" Shooter, who are of Polish descent. Shooter read comics as a child, though he stopped when he was about eight years old. His interest in the medium was rekindled in 1963, at the age of twelve, through the comics in the children's ward of the hospital where he convalesced after undergoing minor surgery. He found the DC Comics stories to be similar to the DC stories he had previously read, but was impressed with the style of the Marvel Comics, which had only begun publication two years earlier. Thinking that if he learned to write the types of stories that Marvel published, he would be an asset to DC Comics – whose books, Shooter felt, "needed the help" – Shooter spent about a year reading and studying comics from both companies.


title: Jim Shooter

text: At age 13, in mid-1965, Shooter wrote and drew stories featuring the Legion of Superheroes, and sent them in to DC Comics. On February 10, 1966, he received a phone call from Mort Weisinger, who wanted to purchase the stories Shooter had sent, and commissioned Shooter to write Supergirl and Superman stories. Weisinger eventually offered Shooter a regular position on "Legion", and wanted Shooter to come to New York to spend a couple of days in his office. Shooter, who was 14 and lived in Pittsburgh, had to wait until school was in recess, after which he went to New York with his mother, spurred in part by the need to support his financially struggling parents.


title: Jim Shooter

text: According to Shooter, his father earned very little as a steelworker, and Shooter saw comic-book writing as a means of helping economically. Shooter reflected in a 2010 interview:


title: Jim Shooter

text: At 14, Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics, writing for both "Action Comics" and "Adventure Comics", beginning with "Adventure Comics" No. 346 (July 1966), and providing pencil breakdowns as well. With considerable study of the writing style of DC Comics and of the recently rising Marvel Comics Shooter created several characters for the "Legion of Super-Heroes" that benefited by Shooter being one of the few writers at DC to understand the competitor's successful character-based narrative approach. This included Karate Kid, a teenage superhero who predated the martial arts fad of the 1970s; Ferro Lad, a teenage superhero who can transform to living iron; and Princess Projectra, who could cast realistic illusions; as well as the Sun-Eater and the group of ultra-powerful villains known as The Fatal Five. He also created the Superman villain the Parasite in "Action Comics" No. 340 (Aug. 1966). Shooter and artist Curt Swan devised the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their super-speed powers, in "Superman's Race with the Flash!" in "Superman" No. 199 (Aug. 1967). Shooter wrote the first issue of "Captain Action" (Oct.-Nov. 1968), which was DC's first toy tie-in.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In 1969 Shooter was accepted into New York University, but after graduating from high school he successfully applied for a job at Marvel Comics. Unable to pursue both his studies and work for Marvel, he decided against going to New York University and quit working for DC as well. While at Marvel he worked as an editor and occasional co-plotter, taking his residence at the YMCA, but after only three weeks his financial situation compelled him to give up the post and return home to Pittsburgh.


title: Jim Shooter

text: After leaving Marvel, Shooter took up work in advertising concepts, writing, and illustration for several years, supporting himself through an assortment of menial jobs during periods when advertising work was unavailable. An interview for a "Legion of Super-Heroes" fanzine led to his again applying to both Marvel and DC. Though both companies offered him work, Shooter opted to return to DC because they had offered him more prestigious assignments: "Superman" and a chance to again write Legion of Super-Heroes, now in their own book, "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes". However, his relationships with both Superman editor Julius Schwartz and Legion editor Murray Boltinoff were unpleasant, and Shooter claims that for varying reasons the two editors forced him to do a number of unnecessary rewrites. In December 1975, Marvel editor-in-chief Marv Wolfman called to offer him an editorial position.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In the mid-1970s, Marvel Comics was undergoing a series of changes in the position of Editor-in-Chief. After Roy Thomas stepped down from the post to focus on writing, a succession of other editors, including Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, and Archie Goodwin, took the job during a relatively short span of time, only to find the task too daunting as Marvel continued to grow and add new titles and a larger staff to turn out material. On January 2, 1976, Shooter joined the Marvel staff as an assistant editor and writer.


title: Jim Shooter

text: With the quick turnover at the top, Shooter rapidly found himself rising in the ranks, and on the first working day of January 1978, he succeeded Archie Goodwin to become Marvel's ninth editor-in-chief. During this period, publisher Stan Lee relocated to Los Angeles to better oversee Marvel's animation, television and film projects, leaving Shooter largely in charge of the creative decision-making at Marvel's New York City headquarters. Although there were complaints among some that Shooter imposed a dictatorial style on the "Bullpen", he cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, successfully managed to keep the line of books on schedule (ending the widespread practice of missed deadlines), add new titles, and develop new talent. Shooter in his nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief oversaw Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the "Uncanny X-Men", Byrne's work on "Fantastic Four", Frank Miller's series of "Daredevil" stories, Walt Simonson's crafting of Norse mythology with the Marvel Universe in "Thor", and Roger Stern's runs on both "Avengers" and "The Amazing Spider-Man".


title: Jim Shooter

text: In 1981, Shooter brought Marvel into the lucrative comic book specialty shop market with "Dazzler" #1. Featuring a disco-themed heroine with ties to the X-Men (based upon an unproduced motion picture set to star Bo Derek), the first issue of this series was sold only through specialty stores, bypassing the then-standard newsstand/spinner rack distribution route altogether, as recognition by Marvel of the growing comics shop sector. Subsequent issues of "Dazzler", however, were sold through newsstand <nowiki>[</nowiki>returnable<nowiki>]</nowiki> accounts as well. "Dazzler" was the first direct sales-only ongoing series from a major publisher; other Marvel titles, such as "Marvel Fanfare" and "Ka-Zar", soon followed. Later that same year, Shooter wrote "Marvel Treasury Edition" No. 28 which featured the second Superman and Spider-Man intercompany crossover. Additionally in 1981, Shooter was recognized as one of six "New Yorkers of the Year" by the New York chapter of the JayCees, for his "contributions toward revitalizing the comics industry and helping Marvel Comics achieve a new pinnacle of success." Shooter also institutionalized creator royalties, starting the Epic imprint for creator-owned material in 1982; introduced company-wide crossover events, with "Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions" and "Secret Wars"; and launched a new, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, line named "New Universe", to commemorate Marvel's 25th anniversary, in 1986.


title: Jim Shooter

text: Despite his success in revitalizing Marvel, Shooter angered and alienated a number of long-time Marvel creators by insisting on strong editorial control and strict adherence to deadlines. Although he instituted an art-return program, and implemented a policy giving creators royalties when their books passed certain sales benchmarks or when characters they worked on were licensed as toys, Shooter occasionally found himself in well-publicized conflicts with some writers and artists. Creators such as Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, John Byrne, and Doug Moench left to work for DC (Encouraged by its new publisher, Jenette Kahn, aggressively taking advantage of the opportunity) or other companies.


title: Jim Shooter

text: During Shooter's tenure, he enforced a policy forbidding the portrayal of gay characters in the Marvel universe. According to John Byrne, he initially had to conceal Northstar's sexuality, since Shooter personally told him that portraying a gay character would not be allowed. Marvel nonetheless published the first gay-themed story in mainstream superhero comics during this time, written by Shooter himself; in it, two gay men attempt to rape the Bruce Banner in the shower at the YMCA. Comics historian Frederick Luis Aldama says that Marvel under Shooter's tenure "was widely considered homophobic."


title: Jim Shooter

text: Roy Thomas, who left Marvel following a contract dispute with Shooter, reflected in 2005 on Shooter's editorial policies:


title: Jim Shooter

text: Shooter and his investors then founded a new company, Voyager Communications, which published comics under the Valiant Comics banner, entering the market in 1989 with comics based on Nintendo and WWF licensed characters. Two years later Valiant entered the superhero market with a relaunch of the Gold Key Comics character Magnus, Robot Fighter. Another Gold Key character, Solar, Man of the Atom was also relaunched later in the same year. Shooter brought many of Marvel's creators to Valiant, including Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith, as well as industry veterans such as Don Perlin. Valiant also established "knob row", in which creators were taught how to render the company's comics in the Valiant style.


title: Jim Shooter

text: Occasionally over the years, Shooter was required to fill in as penciller on various books he wrote and/or oversaw as editor. During his period as Valiant's publisher, money and talent were often at a premium, and Shooter was sporadically forced to pencil a story. To conceal this fact, he drew under the pseudonym of Paul Creddick, which is the name of his brother-in-law.


title: Jim Shooter

text: After being ousted from Valiant in 1992, Shooter and several of his co-workers went on to found Defiant Comics in early 1993. Despite some initial success with the first title, the new company failed to secure an audience in the increasingly crowded direct sales market and went out of business after thirteen months of publishing.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In 1995, Shooter founded Broadway Comics, which was an offshoot of Broadway Video, the production company that produces "Saturday Night Live", but this line ended after its parent sold the properties to Golden Books. In 1998, he spoke of a planned self-publishing, Daring Comics, with a projected eight titles including "Anomalies" and "Rathh of God", with artist Joe James scheduled to draw at least one.


title: Jim Shooter

text: Shooter returned to Valiant, by now called Acclaim Comics, briefly in 1999 to write "Unity 2000" (an attempt to combine and revitalize the older and newer Valiant Universes) but Acclaim went out of business after the completion of only three of the planned six issues.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In 2003, Jim Shooter joined custom comics company Illustrated Media as creative director and editor in chief.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In 2005, former Marvel Comics letterer Denise Wohl approached Shooter to create "Seven", a series based on the Kabbalah. Writer Shooter created a team of seven characters, one from each continent, who are brought together in New York because they share a higher consciousness. The project, which was to be self-published by Wohl, was announced at the 2007 New York Comic Con, to debut in July of that year, and was projected to "evolve into television and film projects, video games, blogs, interactive Q&A, animation, trading cards, apparel, accessories, [and] school supplies." Wohl was to donate a portion of her proceeds to the "Spirituality for Kids Foundation." Only the first issue of the series has been published.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In September 2007, DC Comics announced that Shooter would be the new writer of the "Legion of Super-Heroes" vol. 5 series, beginning with issue #37. Shooter's return to the "Legion", a little over 30 years from his previous run, was his first major published comic book work in years. Shooter co-created the new Legionnaire Gazelle with artist Francis Manapul while on the title. His run on the series ended with issue No. 49, one issue before the book was canceled.


title: Jim Shooter

text: Shooter was hired by Valiant Entertainment, a company that bought Valiant's intellectual property in a bankruptcy auction of Acclaim Entertainment, to write from the end of 2008 into the summer of 2009.


title: Jim Shooter

text: In July 2009 Dark Horse Comics announced at the San Diego Comic-Con International that Shooter would oversee the publication of new series based on Gold Key Comics characters from the Silver Age of Comic Books, such as Turok, Doctor Solar, and Magnus: Robot Fighter, and write some of them as well. Valiant sued Shooter over his moving to write the Gold Key characters for Dark Horse as they expected to get the rights and that he interfered with their ability to license the Key characters by indicating that he would write them for Dark Horse. As of January 2010, Valiant had given up the lawsuit against Shooter. He subsequently wrote the relaunched "Magnus: Robotfighter", "Turok" and "Dr. Solar" series as well as "Mighty Samson", another Gold Key character (that had not been picked up by Valiant Comics), for Dark Horse, beginning in 2010.


title: Jim Shooter

text: As of 2017, Shooter still works as consulting editor and freelance writer for custom comics company Illustrated Media.


title: Jim Shooter

text: Jim Shooter is the subject of a volume of the University Press of Mississippi's "Conversations with Comic Artists" series, published in 2017.


title: Dauphiné

text: The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.


title: Dauphiné

text: In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon (c. 1095–1142) bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed "le Dauphin" (French for dolphin). His descendants changed their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois. The state took the name of Dauphiné. It became a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century. However, the Dauphin of France was the title of the eldest son of a king of France and the heir apparent to the French crown, from 1350 to 1830. The title was established by the royal house of France through the purchase of lands known as the Dauphiné in 1349 by the future Charles V of France.


title: Dauphiné

text: The Dauphiné is best known for its transfer from the last non-royal Dauphin (who had great debts and no direct heir) to the King of France in 1349. The terms of the transfer stipulated that the heir apparent of France would henceforth be called "le Dauphin" and included significant autonomy and tax exemption for the Dauphiné region, most of which it retained only until 1457, though it remained a province until the French Revolution.


title: Dauphiné

text: The historical capital is Grenoble and the other main towns are Vienne, Valence, Montélimar, Gap and Romans-sur-Isère. The demonym for its inhabitants is "Dauphinois".


title: Dauphiné

text: Under the Ancien Régime, the province was bordered in the North by the River Rhône which separated the Dauphiné from the Bresse ("Brêsse") and Bugey ("Bugê"). To the east it bordered the Savoy and Piedmont, and to the south the Comtat Venaissin and Provence. The western border was marked by the Rhône to the south of Lyon. The Dauphiné extended up to what is now the centre of Lyon. It was divided into the "High Dauphiné" and "Low Dauphiné". The first covered:


title: Dauphiné

text: The province also included the current Italian Dauphiné, which belonged to France and to Briançonnais until 1713. Vivaro-Alpine dialect was still spoken there until the 20th century:


title: Dauphiné

text: The province offers a range of terrain, from the alpine summits of the High-Dauphiné (the Barre des Ecrins is 4,102 meters at its highest point), the Prealps (Vercors and Chartreuse), and the plains of the Drôme, which resemble the landscapes of Provence.


title: Dauphiné

text: The area of the future Dauphiné was inhabited by the Allobroges and other Gaulish tribes in ancient times. The region was conquered by the Romans before the Gallia conquest by Julius Caesar. Vienne became a Roman colony and one of the most important cities of Gallia.


title: Dauphiné

text: After the end of the Western Roman Empire, the region suffered from invasions of Visigoths and Alans tribes. The Burgundians settled in Vienne. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the region became part of the kingdom of Lotharingia. However, the King of France Charles the Bald soon claimed authority over this territory.


title: Dauphiné

text: The governor of Vienne, Boson of Provence, proclaimed himself king of Burgundy and the region became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, which remained independent until 1032, when it became part of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: Dauphiné

text: At that time, the development of feudal society and the weakness of the Emperor's rule allowed for the creation of several small ecclesiastic or secularist States (the region of Viennois, for example, was under the rule of the archbishop of Vienne). In the middle of that chaos, the Counts of Albon succeeded in uniting these different territories under their rule.


title: Dauphiné

text: Amidst the chaos of feudal rule, the Counts of Albon began to rise above other feudal lords and acquire dominance over the region. Their story begins with Guigues I the Old (died 1070), Lord of Annonay and Champsaur. During his reign, he gained significant territories for his province: a part of the Viennois, the Grésivaudan and the Oisans. Moreover, the Emperor gave him the region of Briançon. The territories combined under his personal rule became a sovereign mountain principality within the Holy Roman Empire. The count made a significant decision when he chose the small city of Grenoble as capital of his state instead of the prestigious city of Vienne, which was the long-established seat of a powerful bishop. This choice allowed him to assert authority over all his territories.


title: Dauphiné

text: In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon (c.1095–1142) bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed "le Dauphin" (French for "dolphin"). His descendants changed their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois. The state took the name of Dauphiné.


title: Dauphiné

text: However, the Dauphiné did not, at this point, have its modern borders. The region of Vienne and Valence were independent and even in Grenoble, the capital, the authority was shared with the bishop. Furthermore, the cities of Voiron and la Côte-Saint-André were parts of the County of Savoy, while the Dauphins had the Faucigny and territories in Italy. This tangle between Dauphiné and Savoy resulted in several conflicts. The last Dauphin, Humbert II of Viennois, made peace with his neighbour. He also acquired the city of Romans. He finally created the Conseil Delphinal and the University of Grenoble and enacted the Delphinal Status, a kind of constitution that protected the rights of his people.


title: Dauphiné

text: The significant debts of Humbert II and the death of his son and heir led to the sale of his lordship to King Philip VI in 1349, by the terms of the treaty of Romans, negotiated by his protonotary, Amblard de Beaumont. A major condition was that the heir to the throne of France would be known as , which was the case from that time until the French Revolution; the first was Philippe's grandson, the future Charles V of France. The title also conferred an appanage on the region. Charles V spent nine months in his new territory.


title: Dauphiné

text: Humbert's agreement further stipulated that Dauphiné would be exempted from many taxes (like the gabelle); this statute was the subject of much subsequent parliamentary debate at the regional level, as local leaders sought to defend this regional autonomy and privilege from the state's assaults.


title: Dauphiné

text: The nobility of the Dauphiné took part in the battles of Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415). The province was also the setting for military events during the war. The Duke of Savoy and the Prince of Orange, with the help of the English and Burgundian authorities, planned to invade the Dauphiné, but at the battle of Anthon in 1430, the army of the Principality of Orange was defeated by the troops of the Dauphiné, preventing the invasion.


title: Dauphiné

text: Louis XI was the only Dauphin of France to administer his territory, from 1447 to 1456. It was during his reign as Dauphin that the Dauphiné became totally integrated into France. At that time, it was an anarchic state, with conflicts between nobles still common. Louis XI prohibited these conflicts and forced the nobles to recognize his authority. The became the third Parlement of France. Moreover, Louis XI politically united the Dauphiné. He forced the archbishop of Vienne, the bishop of Grenoble and the abbot of Romans all to pledge allegiance to him. He also acquired Montélimar and the Principality of Orange.


title: Dauphiné

text: In addition, he developed the economy of the province, by constructing roads and authorizing markets. He finally created the University of Valence founded 26 July 1452, by letters patent. Nevertheless, he also tried to institute the without referring the issue to the estates of the province, resulting in discontent on the part of the nobility and the people of the province. Because of his opposition to his father, Charles VII, he was forced to leave the Dauphiné. The King took back the control of the province and forced the Estates to pledge allegiance in 1457.


title: Dauphiné

text: Imperial suzerainty was not entirely forgotten in the 15th century. The Emperor Sigismund negotiated with King Henry V of England to give the Dauphiné to an English prince. The Dauphinois also did not forget their autonomy. The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (1438), which exposed Gallicanism, and the Concordat of Bologna (1516), which rectified France with the Papacy, were both promulgated for France and the Dauphiné distinctly. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539), on the other hand, which made French the official language of France, since it was not issued by the king as dauphin was not recognised in the Dauphiné. A second ordinance was promulgated at Abbeville on 9 April 1540 by the king as dauphin and this the Dauphinois parliament accepted.


title: Dauphiné

text: During the Italian Wars (1494–1559), French troops were quartered in Dauphiné. Charles VIII, Louis XII and Francis I stayed often in Grenoble, but the people of the province suffered the exactions of the soldiers. Moreover, the nobility of the region took part in the different battles (Marignano, Pavia) and gained an immense prestige. The best-known of its members was Pierre Terrail de Bayard, "the knight without fear and beyond reproach".


title: Dauphiné

text: The province suffered from the French Wars of Religion (1562–98) between Catholics and Protestants at the end of the 16th century. The Dauphiné was a center of Protestantism in France, in cities such as Gap, Die, and La Mure. François de Beaumont, the Huguenot leader, became famous for his cruelty and his destructions.


title: Dauphiné

text: The cruel execution of Charles du Puy-Montbrun, leader of the Protestants, by the king of France, led to more violence and struggles between the two parties.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1575, Lesdiguières became the new leader of the Protestants and obtained several territories in the province. After the accession of Henry IV to the throne of France, Lesdiguières allied with the governor and the lieutenant general of Dauphiné. However, this alliance did not put an end to the conflicts. Indeed, a Catholic movement, "la Ligue", which took Grenoble in 1590, refused to make peace. After months of assaults, Lesdiguières defeated the Ligue and took back Grenoble. He became the leader of the entire province.


title: Dauphiné

text: The conflicts were over, but Dauphiné was destroyed and its people exhausted. The enactment of the Edict of Nantes (1598) restored some civil rights to the Huguenots and brought peace for a short time, but the wars resumed soon afterward.


title: Dauphiné

text: Lesdiguières defeated the army of Savoy several times and helped the reconstruction of the region. His most famous construction is the Palace of Vizille, built for his personal use.


title: Dauphiné

text: The last meeting of the Estates of Dauphiné took place in 1628. It symbolizes the end of the liberty of the province. From that time, the important decisions were taken by the representatives of the king. It shows the progress of Absolutism.


title: Dauphiné

text: The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 caused the departure of 20,000 Protestants from Dauphiné, weakening the economy of the province. Some valleys lost half of their inhabitants.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1692, during the Nine Years' War, the Duke of Savoy invaded the Dauphiné. Gap and Embrun were badly damaged. But the Savoy armies were defeated by the French Marshal Nicolas Catinat and Philis de La Charce leading a peasant army.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht changed the borders of Dauphiné. The province gained the town of Barcelonette but lost the major part of the Briançonnais.


title: Dauphiné

text: The 18th century was a period of economic prosperity for the region, with the development of the industry (glove-making in Grenoble, silk mills in the Rhône valley). Important trade shows also occurred at Grenoble or Beaucroissant.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1787, the province was one of the first to demand the meeting of the Estates General of France. The turning point occurred in 1788 with the Day of the Tiles. The King ordered the expulsion of the parliamentarians from Grenoble. In part because the economy of the city was dependent on its Parliament, the local people attacked the royal troops by throwing tiles from roofs to prevent the expulsion of the magistrates. This event allowed the sitting of the Assembly of Vizille, which instigated the meeting of the old Estates General, thus beginning the Revolution.


title: Dauphiné

text: During the French Revolution, Dauphiné was highly represented in Paris by two illustrious notables from Grenoble, Jean Joseph Mounier and Antoine Barnave.


title: Dauphiné

text: The approval of the establishment of the Empire was clear and overwhelming in the Dauphiné. In Isère, the results showed 82,084 yes and only 12 no.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1813, Dauphiné was under the threat of the Austrian army which had invaded Switzerland and Savoy. After having resisted at Fort Barraux, the French troops withdrew to Grenoble. The city, well-defended, contained the Austrian attacks, and the French army defeated the Austrians, forcing them to withdraw at Geneva. But the invasion of France in 1814 resulted in the capitulation of the troops in Dauphiné.


title: Dauphiné

text: During his return from the island of Elba in 1815, the Emperor was welcomed by the people in the region. At Laffrey, he met the royalist 5th Infantry Regiment of Louis XVIII. Napoleon stepped towards the soldiers and said those famous words: "If there is among you a soldier who wants to kill his Emperor, here I am." The men all joined his cause. Napoleon was then acclaimed at Grenoble. After the defeat at Waterloo, the region suffered from a new invasion of Austrian and Sardinian troops.


title: Dauphiné

text: This century corresponds to a significant industrial development of Dauphiné, particularly in the region of Grenoble (glove-making reached its Golden Age at that time) and the Rhone Valley (silk mills). The shoemaking industry also developed in Romans.


title: Dauphiné

text: During the Second Empire, the Dauphiné saw the construction of its railway network (the first trains arrived at Valence in 1854 and Grenoble in 1858). The driving of new roads in the Vercors and Chartreuse ranges allowed the beginning of tourism in the province. Moreover, several notable persons such as Queen Victoria came in the region with the success of thermal stations such as Uriage-les-Bains.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1869, Aristide Berges played a major role in industrializing hydroelectricity production. With the development of his paper mills, industrial development spread to the mountainous region of Dauphiné.


title: Dauphiné

text: During the Belle Époque, the region benefited from major transformations thanks to its economic growth. The Romanche Valley became one of the most important industrial valleys of the country. World War I accelerated that trend. Indeed, in order to sustain the war efforts, new hydroelectric industries settled next to different rivers of the region. Several other businesses moved into armament industries. Chemical companies also settled in the region of Grenoble and near Roussillon in the Rhone Valley.


title: Dauphiné

text: The textile industry of Dauphiné also benefited from the war. The occupation of northern France resulted in the settlement of many textile enterprises in the region. Vienne for instance produced one fifth of the national production of sheets for the army in 1915.


title: Dauphiné

text: Several Alpine troops, the Chasseurs Alpins, were killed at war. They were nicknamed the "Blue Devils" for their courage on the field.


title: Dauphiné

text: The economic development of the region was highlighted by the organisation at Grenoble of the International Exposition of the "Houille Blanche" in 1925, visited by thousands of people.


title: Dauphiné

text: The interwar period was also characterized by the beginning of the winter sports in Dauphiné. The ski resort of l'Alpe d'Huez was constructed in 1936, and Jean Pomagalski created there the first platter lift in the world.


title: Dauphiné

text: In World War II, during the Italian invasion of France, the Chasseurs Alpins contained the Italian troops, preventing an invasion of the region. But the German victories in northern France quickly threatened the troops in Dauphiné. The Nazis were stopped near Grenoble, at Voreppe. The French forces resisted until the armistice. The Dauphiné was then part of the French State, before being occupied by the Italians from 1942 to 1943, when the Germans occupied southern France.


title: Dauphiné

text: Due to its mountainous character, Dauphiné was the seat of strong partisan activity. The best known was the "Maquis du Vercors". In 1944, its members suffered from German attacks. The martyr village of Vassieux as well as Grenoble were made Compagnon de la Libération by General Charles de Gaulle, to underline their actions against the Nazis.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1947, a bicycle race was created by a newspaper "Le Dauphiné libéré" to promote its circulation. After World War II, as cycling recovered from a universal five- or six-year hiatus, the Grenoble-based newspaper decided to create and organize a cycling stage race covering the Dauphiné region. This created the "Critérium du Dauphiné" before 2010 known as the "Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré", is an annual cycling road race in the Dauphiné region. The race is run over eight days during the first half of June. It is part of the UCI World Tour calendar and counts as one of the foremost races in the lead-up to the Tour de France in July, along with the Tour de Suisse in the latter half of June.


title: Dauphiné

text: In 1968, Grenoble welcomed the Xth Olympic Winter Games, allowing a major transformation of the city, the development of infrastructure (airport, motorways, etc.) and new ski resorts (Chamrousse, Les Deux Alpes, Villard-de-Lans, etc.).


title: Dauphiné

text: The various territories of Dauphiné experienced diverging demographic evolutions. The plains of Low Dauphiné and the large cities saw their population strongly increase during the 20th century (thanks to the industrial development and immigrant workers' arrival), while the mountainous regions of High-Dauphiné suffered from a pronounced exodus.


title: Dauphiné

text: These days, the entire territory is experiencing population growth because of economic development and tourism.


title: Dauphiné

text: The population of the Dauphiné was relatively stable until the mid-20th century, when growth became more rapid. However it should be remembered that several cities of northern Dauphiné (Villeurbanne, Vénissieux, Bron and others) are included in the Lyon Metropolis. In 1999, the population of these cities was over 460,000.


title: Dauphiné

text: Dauphiné has a population density of 98.0/km, with a very clear differentiation between Isère (169/km) and Hautes-Alpes (26/km).


title: Dauphiné

text: Grenoble concentrates around a third of the population of Dauphiné, and Valence is now the second largest Dauphiné metropolis. Dauphiné also has a network of mid-sized cities covering all its territory (Vienne, Montélimar, Gap, etc.). A considerable part of the Isère department lies in the functional urban area of Lyon, including the cities Vienne, L'Isle-d'Abeau and Bourgoin-Jallieu.


title: Dauphiné

text: The Dauphiné, or the "Critérium du Dauphiné" (formerly the ["Critérium du"] "Dauphiné libéré", after the newspaper "Le Dauphiné libéré" that until 2010 had been sponsoring the event since its creation in 1947), is a multiple stage bicycle race. Amongst its winners one saw many of the most famous cyclists, e.g.: Louison Bobet, Henry Anglade, Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor, Luis Ocaña, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Thévenet, Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond (by disqualification of the first arrived Pascal Simon), Phil Anderson, Luis Herrera, Charly Mottet, Miguel Indurain, Alexander Vinokourov, Tyler Hamilton, Alejandro Valverde, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Annually during a week in June, cycling fans in most European countries watch the prestigious road race in and around the Dauphiné area on live television.


title: Cruiser (motorcycle)

text: A cruiser motorcycle is a motorcycle in the style of American machines from the 1930s to the early 1960s, including those made by Harley-Davidson, Indian, Excelsior and Henderson. The riding position usually places the feet forward and the hands up, with the spine erect or leaning back slightly. Typical cruiser engines emphasize easy rideability and shifting, with plenty of low-end torque but not necessarily large amounts of horsepower, and are traditionally V-twins, but inline engines have become more common. Cruisers with greater performance than usual, including more horsepower, stronger brakes and better suspension, are often called power cruisers.


title: Cruiser (motorcycle)

text: Japanese companies began producing models evocative of the early cruisers in the mid-1980s, and by 1997 the market had grown to nearly 60 percent of the US market, such that a number of motorcycle manufacturers including BMW, Honda, Moto Guzzi, Yamaha, Suzuki, Triumph and Victory have currently or have had important models evocative of the American cruiser.


title: Cruiser (motorcycle)

text: Harley-Davidsons and other cruisers with extensive luggage for touring have been called, sometimes disparagingly or jocularly, baggers, or full baggers, as well as dressers, full dressers, or full dress tourers. These terms are no longer limited to cruisers, but may be any touring motorcycle.


title: Cruiser (motorcycle)

text: Cruisers are often the basis for custom motorcycle projects that result in a bike modified to suit the owner's ideals, and as such are a source of pride and accomplishment.


title: Cruiser (motorcycle)

text: Power cruiser is a name used to distinguish bikes in the cruiser class that have higher levels of power. They often come with upgraded brakes and suspensions, better ground clearance, and premium surface finishes, as well as more exotic or modern muscular (non-traditional cruiser) styling.