:: wikimiki.org ::

Newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news and information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly. The first printed newspaper was published in 1605. The newspaper industry survived competition from 20th-century technologies, especially radio and television, but 21st-century developments on the Internet are posing major threats. General-interest newspapers are usually journals of current news. Those can include political events, crime, business, sports, and opinions (either editorials, columns, or political cartoons). Many also include weather news and forecasts. Newspapers use photographs to illustrate stories; use editorial cartoonists, usually to illustrate writing that is opinion, rather than news; and also often include comic strips and other entertainment, such as crosswords and horoscopes. horoscope, South Carolina, United States]]

Overview

A daily newspaper is issued every day, often with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday, and where they exist Sunday, editions of daily newspapers tend to be large, include more specialized sections, and cost more. Weekly newspapers are also common and tend to be smaller and less prestigious than daily papers. However, those Sunday newspapers that do not have weekday editions are not considered to be weekly newspapers, and are generally equivalent in size and prestige to daily newspapers. Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United States and Canada, there are few truly national newspapers, with the notable exceptions of USA Today in the United States and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada. Large metropolitan newspapers with expanded distribution networks such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Toronto Star can fill the role of de facto national newspapers. The owner of the newspaper, or person in charge, is the publisher. The person responsible for content is the editor, editor in chief, or executive editor. Newspapers have been developed around very narrow topic areas, such as news for merchants in a specific industry, fans of particular sports, fans of the arts or of specific artists, and participants in the same sorts of activities or lifestyles.

History

According to the World Association of Newspapers: 59 BC: Regular publications have been created and distributed by governments for millennia, including Acta Diurna, a listing of events ordered by Julius Caesar in ancient Rome. A.D. 713: The first newspaper, Mixed News in Kaiyuan, was published as a hand-written newssheet in Beijing, China. Kaiyuan was the name given to the year in which the paper was published. 1605: Johann Carolus published the first printed newspaper Relation aller fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien (Collection of all distinguished and commemorable news) in Strasbourg, now in France but at the time an independent city within the (mostly) German-speaking Holy Roman Empire. In the same year Abraham Verhoeven of Antwerp (Low Countries/Belgium) publishes Nieuwe Tydingen (source : Encyclopaedia Britannica).The continuous publication of the Nieuwe Tijdingen indicates that the demand for newspapers soon became well-established. 1621: The first English-language private newspaper, The Corante, was first published, in London. 1631: La Gazette, the first French newspaper, was founded. 1632: Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlandt, the first Dutch newspaper, was founded. 1645: the oldest newspaper still in circulation, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar of Sweden, began publishing. 1650: The world's first daily printed newspaper, Einkommende Zeitungen (Incoming news) founded in Leipzig, Germany. 1665: The oldest surviving English newspaper, The London Gazette begins publication. 1666: The first Danish newspaper, Den Danske Mercurius is published in Ribe by Anders Bording. 1690: Worcester Post-Man founded, which became Berrow's Worcester Journal in 1753, The Worcester Post-Man/Berrow's Worcester Journal is the world's oldest surviving unofficial newspaper. Also, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick in Boston became the first newspaper published in British North America. It was suppressed after one issue. 1701: (September 6) Estimated first issue of the Norwich Post in England, which was probably the first provincial newspaper. 1702: The first English daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was founded by Samuel Buckley on 11 March. (Publication ceased in 1735). 1728: St. Petersburg Vedomosti, the oldest Russian newspaper still in circulation, is founded in Saint Petersburg. 1749: Berlingske Tidende, the first surviving Danish newspaper, is founded by E.H Berling. 1763: Norske Intelligenz-Sedler, Norway's first newspaper, was published. 1780: The Bengal Gazette, India's first newspaper, was founded. 1785: The Daily Universal Register was founded by John Walters. It became The Times on January 1, 1788. 1803: Just 15 years after the first British penal colony was established, Australia's military government published the Sydney Gazette and the New South Wales Advertiser, Australia's first newspapers. 1821: The Guardian was founded. 1827: El Mercurio, the oldest continually-published Spanish language newspaper, was founded in the port city of Valparaíso, Chile. 1833: (September 3) The New York Sun, the first truly successful penny press in the United States, was first published by Benjamin H. Day. By 1936, the paper was the largest seller in the country, with a circulation of over 30,000 copies. 1851 The New York Times was first published. 1871: Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun (Yokohama Daily News) is launched as the first daily newspaper in Japan. Today, on a per-capita basis, Japan ranks first in the world in circulation of newspapers. 1884: Otto Merganthaler invented the Linotype machine, which casts type in full lines using hot lead, a quantum leap in newspaper publishing, and ushering in the era of "hot lead." The systems remained in general production in the industry well into the 1980s, when computerized pagination became prominent. 1962: The Los Angeles Times drives Linotype hot metal typesetters with perforated tape created from RCA computers speeding up the typesetting. The key was development of a dictionary and method to automate the hyphenation and justification of text in columns (tasks that had taken 40 percent of a manual operator's time). 1973: Harris introduced editing terminals, which were quickly followed by terminals from Raytheon, Atex, Digital Equipment Corporation and others. The output was strips of type on film from phototypesetters ("cold type" replacing the "hot type" of Linotype machines)). Atex worked with the Minneapolis Star to develop the first pagination system that allowed the creation and output of full editorial pages, eliminating the need for manual paste-up of strips of film. The Atex system featured "Atex Messaging" which is widely believed to be the forerunner of both e-mail and instant messenger applications.
Format
Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:
- Broadsheets: 600mm by 380mm (23½ by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards 'compact' newspapers is changing this.
- Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380mm by 300mm (15 by 11¾ inches), and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets.
- Berliner or Midi: 470mm by 315mm (18½ by 12¼ inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy or, from 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom. Newspapers are usually printed on inexpensive, off-white paper known as newsprint. Since the 1980s, the newspaper industry has largely moved away from lower-quality letterpress printing to higher-quality, four-color process, offset printing. In addition, desktop computers, word processing software, graphics software, digital cameras and digital prepress and typesetting technologies have revolutionized the newspaper production process. These technologies have enabled newspaper to make publish color photographs and graphics, as well as innovative layouts and better design. To help their titles stand out on newsstands, some newspapers are printed on coloured newsprint. For example, the Financial Times is printed on a distinctive salmon pink paper, the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is printed on pink paper, while L'Équipe (formerly L'Auto) is printed on yellow paper. Both the latter promoted major cycling races and their newsprint colours were reflected in the colours of the jerseys used to denote the race leader; thus, the leader in the Giro d'Italia wears a pink jersey, while the Tour de France leader wears a yellow jersey, or maillot jaune.
Circulation and readership
The number of copies distributed on an average day is called the newspaper's circulation, and is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not the same as copies sold since some newspapers are distributed without cost. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the common assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person. maillot jaune, February 2005]] According to United Nations data from 1995 Japan has three daily papers - the Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun - with circulations well above 4 million. Germany's Bild, with a circulation of 4.5 million, was the only other paper in that category. In the United Kingdom The Sun is the top seller, with around 3.2 million copies distributed daily (late-2004). In India, The Times of India is the largest English newspaper with 2.14 million copies daily. In the United States and the United Kingdom at least, overall newspaper circulation has been declining for many years, although some individual titles have thrived. USA Today has a daily circulation of approximately 2 million, making it the most widely distributed paper in the country. However, the validity of USA Todays circulation figures are disputed by some in the newspaper community. This is because of the newspaper's contracts with hotels; many of its papers are delivered to hotel guests who do not realise they are being charged for it. (However, this technique of increasing circulation, sometimes known as bulk sales, is not unique to USA Today.) In 2004, several large U.S. newspapers were found to have overstated their circulation.

Advertising

Most newspapers make nearly all their money from advertising. The income from the customer's payment at the news-stand is small in comparison. For that reason newspapers are not expensive to buy, and some (such as AM New York) are free. The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called editorial content, editorial matter, or simply editorial, although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles in which the newspaper expresses its opinions. Publishers of commercial newspapers strive for higher circulation so that advertising in their newspaper becomes more effective, allowing the newspaper to attract more advertisers and charge more for the service. But some advertising sales also market demographics: some newspapers might sacrifice higher circulation numbers in favor of an audience with a higher income. Many paid-for newspapers offer a variety of subscription plans. For example, someone might only want a Sunday paper, or perhaps only Sunday and Saturday, or maybe only a workweek subscription, or perhaps a daily subscription. Some newspapers provide some or all of their content on the Internet, either at no cost or for a fee. In some cases free access is only available for a matter of days or weeks, after which readers must register and provide personal data. In other cases, free archives are provided.

Newspaper journalism

Since newspapers began as a journal (record of current events), the profession involved in the making of newspapers began to be called journalism. Much emphasis has been placed upon the accuracy and fairness of the journalist - see Ethics. In the yellow journalism era of the 19th century, many newspapers in the United States relied on sensational stories that were meant to anger or excite the public, rather than to inform. The more restrained style of reporting that relies on fact checking and accuracy regained popularity around World War II. Criticism of journalism is varied and sometimes vehement. Credibility is questioned because of anonymous sources; errors in facts, spelling, and grammar; real or perceived bias; and scandals involving plagiarism and fabrication. In the past newspapers have often been owned by so-called press barons, and were used either as a rich man's toy, or a political tool. More recently in the United States, a greater number of newspapers (and all of the largest ones) are being run by large media corporations such as Gannett (the largest in the United States), Cox, The Tribune Company, etc. Many industry watchers have concerns that the growing need for profit growth natural to corporations will have a negative impact on the overall quality of journalism. Even though the opinions of the owners are often relegated to the editorial section, and the opinions of the readers are in the op-ed ("opposite the editorial page") and letters to the editors sections of the paper, newspapers have been used for political purposes by insinuating some kind of bias outside of the editorial section and into straight news. For example, The New York Times is often criticised for a leftist slant to its stories, or, by others, for supporting the American political establishment in nearly all cases, whereas The Wall Street Journal has a history of emphasising the position of the right. Some ways newspapers have tried to improve their credibility are: appointing ombudsmen, developing ethics policies and training, using more stringent corrections policies, communicating their processes and rationale with readers, and asking sources to review articles after publication. Many larger newspapers are now using more aggressive random fact-checking to further improve the chances that false information will be found before it is printed.

The future of newspapers

The future of newspapers is cloudy, with overall readership slowly declining in most developed countries due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. The 57th annual World Newspaper Congress, held in Istanbul in June 2004, reported circulation increases in only 35 of 208 countries studied. Most of the increase came in developing countries, notably China. A report at the gathering indicated that China tops total newspaper circulation, with more than 85 million copies of papers sold every day, followed by India with 72 million—China and India are the two most populous countries in the world—followed by Japan with 70 million and the United States with 55 million. The report said circulation declined by an average of 2.2 percent across 13 of the 15 countries that made up the European Union before May 1. The biggest declines were in Ireland, down 7.8 percent; Britain, down 4.7 percent; and Portugal, where numbers fell by 4.0 percent. One growth area is the distribution of free newspapers, which are not reflected in the above circulation data. Led by the [http://www.metro.lu Metro] chain of newspapers, they grew 16 percent in 2003. Another growth area is high-quality tabloids, particularly in the UK, where several of the major broadsheets are experimenting with the format (see Broadsheet#Switch to smaller sizes). Smaller and easier to hold than broadsheets, but presenting serious journalism rather than traditional tabloid fodder, they appear to have drawn some younger readers who are otherwise abandoning newspapers. Newspapers also face increased competition from the Internet for classified ads, especially for jobs, real estate, and cars, which have long been a key source of revenue.

Newspapers in different countries

:Main article: List of newspapers

Afghanistan

Printed in Afghanistan and other countries by Afghan nationals. List of newspapers in and out of print:

- Kabul Weekly
- Annis
- Issla
- Kabul Times

- Saraj-ul-Akhbar
- Omaid
- Khorasan

Argentina

In Argentina, the broadsheet format is almost non-existent. The only remaining national newspaper published in that format is La Nación.

Belgium

:Main article: List of newspapers in Belgium Belgium's quality newspapers:
- De Standaard [http://www.standaard.be] (christian, patriotically Flemish - 80,000 copies per day)
- De Morgen (left - 40,000 copies per day)
- Le Soir (French-language, centre - 100,000 copies per day) Popular newspapers:
- Het Laatste Nieuws (right, a lot of sports news - 291,000 copies per day)
- Het Nieuwsblad (christian, a lot of sports news - 200,000 copies per day)
- Vers l'avenir (French-language, catholic roots - 99,000 copies per day)
- Het Volk (left, christian - 92,000 copies per day) Source: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3737311.stm BBC: The press in Belgium]

Brazil

Most important newspapers of Brazil are:
- Folha de São Paulo
- O Estado de São Paulo (also known as Estadão)
- O Globo
- Jornal do Brasil
- Correio Braziliense
- Zero Hora

Chile

- El Mercurio
- La Tercera
- Las Últimas Noticias
- La Cuarta
- La Nación

Europe

There are several newspapers that target Europe, or the European Union, as a whole. Many are published in English, being owned both by USA-based or European-based companies.
- European Voice: Owned by the British (European Union) The Economist Group
- The Wall Street Journal Europe: Owned by the USA-based Wall Street Journal
- International Herald Tribune: Owned by USA-based The New York Times Company
- New Europe: Owned by USA-based News Corporation
- EU Reporter: (ownership unchecked), distributed without charge

Germany

:Main article: List of German newspapers Important national newspapers are the daily Die Welt and the weekly Die Zeit as well as the daily tabloid Bild, but local ones draw a much wider readership. Some local or regional newspapers assume the role of national papers, such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine of Frankfurt and the Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich. The taz (long form: Die Tageszeitung) was founded 1978, partly in reaction to the terrorist events of the German Autumn, and considers itself as an alternative to the (in 1978) mostly conservative newspaper market. The now independent Neues Deutschland was the newspaper of the Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany, which ruled the communist East Germany until 1989. The largest publishing companies are located in Hamburg, notably the Axel Springer Verlag and Gruner und Jahr. About one half of Germany's nation-wide newspapers and magazines are produced in Hamburg. The Axel Springer Verlag dominates the newspaper market with its tabloid Bild and a large number of local papers.

France

Daily: Le Figaro Libération Le Monde Weekly: Les Échos Le Canard Enchâiné

Hong Kong

:Main article: Newspapers in Hong Kong Hong Kong has a vibrant newspaper publishing industry. Most papers use the broadsheet size. Almost all newspapers focus on the local Hong Kong market, but some may also target at the markets in Macau and Pearl River Delta. Although they are broadsheets, the three papers with the largest circulation are all considered tabloid-style, with large and colourful photos and sensational coverage to attract readers. Most papers adopt a daily magazine approach, with coverage ranging from local and international news, entertainment, culture, lifestyle, economic and finance, sport and horseracing. Hong Kong Economic Journal, Hong Kong Economic Times and South China Morning Post have are stronger focus on economics and finance. Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, Singtao Daily and Oriental Daily are the mouthpieces of the communist government in Beijing (Peking). There are also papers specifically published for horse racing tips.

India

Compared with many other developing countries, the Indian press has flourished since independence and exercises a large degree of independence. In 2001, India had 45,974 newspapers, including 5364 daily newspapers published in over 100 languages. The largest number of newspapers were published in Hindi (20,589), followed by English (7,596), Marathi (2,943), Urdu (2,906), Bengali (2,741), Gujarati (2,215), Tamil (2,119), Kannada (1,816), Malayalam(1,505) and Telugu (1,289). The Hindi daily press has a circulation of over 23 million copies, followed by English with over 8 million copies. There are several major publishing groups in India, the most prominent among them being the Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, The Hindu group, the Anandabazar Patrika Group, the Malayala Manorama Group, the Sahara group, the Bhaskar group, and the Jagran group. India has more than forty domestic news agencies. The Express News Service, the Press Trust of India, and the United News of India are among the major news agencies. See Also: Mass media in India

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man publishes three weekly newspapers; Isle of Man Courier, Manx Independent and Isle of Man Examiner. All three newspapers are printed by Isle of Man Newspapers who have their publishing house in Douglas, the capital. The Courier is free and is distributed to all households on the Island every Thursday. They have no official political affiliations. The Courier is distributed to approximately 30,000 households weekly.

Mexico

In Mexico there is no publication that can be considered a national newspaper. The most important ones, such as El Universal, La Jornada and Reforma are in Mexico City, and because of a heavy national centralisation, a lot of redistribution happens (newspapers from Mexico City are sold in almost every city in the country, some with a day or two lag). The only attempts to create a national newspaper originate in Monterrey. One of them is Milenio, a midi format newspaper, which is distributed in Mexico City; Monterrey, Nuevo León; Veracruz, Veracruz; Guadalajara, Jalisco; Tampico, Tamaulipas; and the state of Tabasco. The other attempt to make a national newspaper is from the Reforma News Group, which also originated and is run in Monterrey but that has big coverage from Mexico City. Reforma publishes different newspapers with the same main content, but with specific local content in the major cities of the country: El Norte in Monterrey, Reforma in Mexico City, Mural in Guadalajara and Palabra in Saltillo. All of the newspapers by Reforma are published in the broadsheet format. Reforma is one of the most prestigious, and often considered among the most reliable news sources in Mexico, in spite of its youth (it appeared in Mexico City in 1993). It has gained its prestige with its attractive editorial design, wide-spectrum editorialists and denouncements of government corruption. Until very recently, newsprint in Mexico was a product made only by the government-owned monopoly. Importing the product from other countries was illegal. This allowed the Mexican government, for many years, to put out of circulation any dissident newspaper. Reforma survived the boycott and fought heavily until the government allowed for importing the product in the 1990s. Since then, the Mexican press has been undergoing a process towards more freedom of speech, especially after the election of President Vicente Fox in the year 2000.

Netherlands

The biggest left winged quality paper in the Netherlands is the "de Volkskrant" [http://www.volkskrant.nl De Volkskrant]. Its opposite is the right winged "NRC Handelsblad", which stands for "Nieuwe Roterdamse Courant"[http://www.nrc.nl NRC]. A right winged paper of inferior quality is "de Telegraaf". [http://www.telegraaf.nl de Telegraaf] Further there is "Trouw", a conservative and good paper. It is founded in the second World War by the Dutch resist. [http://www.trouw.nl Trouw]

Norway

- Verdens Gang (VG) (tabloid)
- Aftenposten
- Dagbladet (tabloid)
- Morgenbladet
- Stavanger Aftenblad
- Rogalands Avis (tabloid)

Philippines

The Philippine press has been flourishing, with a large number of newspapers and tabloids. A partial list is provided below:
- Philippine Daily Inquirer
- The Philippine Star
- Manila Bulletin
- Malaya
- The Manila Times
- Manila Standard Today
- BusinessWorld
- Business Mirror
- The Daily Tribune
- Abante (tabloid)
- Balita (tabloid; owned by the Manila Bulletin)
- Bulgar (tabloid)
- Pilipino Star Ngayon (tabloid; owned by the Philippine Star)
- Tonite (tabloid)
- Tiktik (tabloid)

Poland

:Main article: List of Polish newspapers List of Polish newspapers (the most popular ones)

- Gazeta Wyborcza
- Fakt (tabloid)
- Rzeczpospolita
- Super Express (tabloid)

- Życie Warszawy
- Trybuna
- Nasz Dziennik

United Kingdom

:Main article: List of newspapers in the United Kingdom :See also: History of British newspapers In the United Kingdom, newspapers can be classified by distribution as local or national, and by page size as tabloids and broadsheets. The principal newspapers of England are all nationals edited in London. Wales and Northern Ireland are also dominated by the London-based press; in Scotland, although the London-based press is widely available and widely read, two Scottish newspapers can claim quasi-national status: The Scotsman (based in Edinburgh) and the Glasgow Herald. There is often an implication that tabloids cater for more vulgar tastes than broadsheet. Within the tabloid category the most down market titles are classed as red-tops because of the design of their front pages. This term is often used deprecatingly by newspapers that consider themselves more serious. There are also "middle-market" tabloids such as The Daily Mail and The Daily Express. This distinction began to be blurred in October 2003 as two broadsheet newspapers, The Independent and The Times, began tabloid editions in some parts of the U.K. The Independent switched entirely to producing what it prefers to call a "compact" edition from May 2004, and The Times changed to this format at the beginning of November 2004, despite initial opposition from its more traditional and conservative readership. The Guardian changed to a Berliner format (larger than a tabloid, more compact than a broadsheet) in September 2005. This leaves The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times as the UK's only daily national broadsheets. Aside from The Guardian, The Independent and the Daily Mirror (combined circulation of approximately 2,500,000), all of the other daily national newspapers (combined circulation of approximately 9,500,000) are known for holding conservative or right-wing political views. Due to this, many people (especially those on the political left) argue that there is a conservative bias amongst British newspapers. The fact that many of these (e.g. The Times, The Sun, the News of the World) are owned by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch strengthens these claims. There are daily paid papers in most of the larger cities, and weekly paid papers in some other areas. These focus on local news and generally do not attempt to be a direct substitute for the London-based national newspapers, although some such as The Western Mail (based in Cardiff), Eastern Daily Press in Norwich and Yorkshire Post in Leeds offer competition to the London newspapers within their limited home territories. Most areas also typically have one or more free local papers, with extensive classified advertising. Many towns with professional football teams also have a weekly paper dedicated to that sport, usually published on Saturdays. Free morning newspapers for commuters have been launched in major metropolitan areas, offering a concise summary of the news designed to be read on public transport. In London, Glasgow and a number of other urban centres this is the Metro. There are also a wide variety of English language national newspapers catering for ethnic minority readers including The Voice, Eastern Eye and Desi Xpress.

External link

- [http://www.abc.org.uk The Audit Bureau of Circulation] provides circulation figures for British newspapers. Their research is also reproduced in digested form at [http://media.guardian.co.uk/circulationfigures/ this Media Guardian index] along with commentary.

United States

:Main article: List of newspapers in the United States List of newspapers in the United States, November 11, 1918.]] The majority of American newspapers are printed as broadsheets. A small number of daily papers are printed in the tabloid format. U.S. dailies commonly separate the physical newspaper into sections on particular topics. Most major American cities' papers will have sections covering at least a few of the following topics:
- National and international news, usually the first section. In the most prestigious newspapers like the New York Times, the majority of articles in this section are dispatched by the paper's own journalists from bureaux around the world. Smaller papers usually fill almost all of this section with stories taken from newswires like the Associated Press or Reuters.
- Local and regional news, usually the second section. This is often called the metro (from metropolitan) section. Many large newspapers use "zoning," with different zones, receiving somewhat different articles, or the same articles arranged differently. Zoning is most predominant in the local section, but also plays a role in the front page.
- Sports
- Business
- Classified ads
- Features: This may include Arts, Home furnishing, Fashion, Style, or some combination. This section usually also includes general advice columns and amusements, such as comic strips, horoscopes and puzzles.
- A weekly general-interest magazine-type feature, usually appearing on Sunday, such as Parade, USA Weekend, or their own magazine (for larger papers) such as The New York Times Magazine or the Washington Post Magazine.
- Weekend or Entertainment. This section includes advertisements for entertainment events; this section usually appears on a Friday, or the last newspaper printed before the weekend.
- Comics. Typically only a separate section on Sundays; daily papers will include a page or more of comics in another section. Although colour printing technology has seen the use of colour in comics (and other editorial content) to daily editions, for many years the expense of colour printing meant that only the Sunday editions of many newspapers carried most comics in full colour.
- Opinion or Editorial. Includes both editorials by the newspaper's editorial staff and letters to the editor from readers. Typically only a separate section on Sundays; daily papers will include these materials in the back of the national, regional, metro, or local news sections. Sometimes may include commentaries or "op-ed pieces" from nationally renowned writers.

External links

- [http://www.allyoucanread.com/ AllYouCanRead.com - 23,000 Newspapers and Magazines from 200 Countries]
- [http://www.newspaperindex.com/ Worldwide Newspaper Directory by country]
- [http://rni.nic.in/ Registrar of Newspapers for India]
- [http://www.hotbulletin.com Read hundreds of newspapers online]
- [http://library.prakashan.org/newspapers-worldwide-directory/ Newspapers List Worldwide]
- [http://www.wan-press.org/ World Association of Newspapers]
- [http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/ Daily showcase of newspaper front pages from around the world]
- [http://www.gazetelerin.com/ Turkish Newspapers]
- [http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?id=32&language=e Exhibition on the Occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the Newspaper in the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz (Germany)] Category:Newspapering Category:Ephemera Category:Serials, periodicals and journals ja:新聞 ms:Akhbar simple:Newspaper th:หนังสือพิมพ์ zh-cn:报纸 zh-tw:報紙

Publication

To publish is to make publicly known, and in reference to text and images, it can mean distributing paper copies to the public, or putting the content on a website. The word publication means the act of publishing, and it also means any writing of which copies are published, and any website. Among publications are books, and periodicals, the latter including magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers. In Taxonomy the publicon of the description of a taxon has to comply with some rules.
- It must be published in Latin.
- It must be published on paper.
- The publication must be generally available.
- The date of publication is the date the published material became generally available. Computers and the internet have changed the face of publishing, lowering the cost, and allowing more people to publish, through both desktop publishing and internet publishing. Category:Publications Category:Publishing

Newsprint

Newsprint is low-cost, low-quality, non-archival paper. It is used in the printing of newspapers, flyers, and other printed material intended for mass distribution. It is highly sensitive to sunlight, age, and humidity, and usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. Newsprint is made from wood pulp, which originally distinguished it from paper of the time, made from old rags. Charles Fenerty of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada is credited with making the first paper from wood pulp in 1838 because of concerns about the cost and supply of rags. He neglected to patent his idea, and others developed it industrially. Nowadays, virtually all paper is made from wood pulp, treated and processed in different ways to make different types of paper. Newsprint is a less expensive mix of pulp and processings, and is often made partly from recycled paper. Category:Newspapering Category:Writing paper ja:新聞紙

Journal

A journal (through French from late Latin diurnalis, daily) is a daily record of events or business. A private journal is usually an elaborated diary. When applied to a newspaper or other periodical the word is strictly used of one published each day; but any publication issued at stated intervals, such as a magazine or the record of the transactions of a learned society (a scientific or other academic journal), is commonly called a journal. "Journal", then, is sometimes used as a synonym for "magazine". The word "journalist" for one whose business is writing for the public press has been in use since the end of the 17th century. "Journal" is particularly applied to the record, day by day, of the business and proceedings of a public body. The journals of the British houses of parliament contain an official record of the business transacted day by day in either house. The record does not take note of speeches, though some of the earlier volumes contain references to them. The journals are a lengthened account written from the "votes and proceedings" (in the House of Lords called "minutes of the proceedings"), made day by day by the assistant clerks, and printed on the responsibility of the clerk to the house, after submission to the "subcommittee on the journals." In the Commons the journal is passed by the Speaker before publication. The journals of the British House of Commons begin in the first year of the reign of Edward VI (1547), and are complete, except for a short interval under Elizabeth I. Those of the House of Lords date from the first year of Henry VIII. (1509). Before that date the proceedings in parliament were entered in the rolls of parliament, which extend from 1278 to 1503. The journals of the Lords are "records" in the judicial sense, those of the Commons are not (see Erskine May, Parliamentary Practice, 1906, pp. 201-202). The United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 5) requires the Congress of the United States to keep a journal of its proceedings. This journal, the Congressional Record is published by the Government Printing Office. The term "journal" is used, in business, for a book in which an account of transactions is kept previous to a transfer to the ledger (see bookkeeping), and also as an equivalent to a ship's log, as a record of the daily run, observations, weather changes, etc.

External links

- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?gid=43 Journals of the House of Commons] vols. 1 through 23 (1547-1699) and 85 (1830)
- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?gid=44 Journals of the House of Lords] vols. 1 through 20 (1509-1717) and 62-64 (1830-1832)
- [http://www.enformatika.org/journals/1306-1216/ International Journal of Biomedical Sciences]
- [http://www.enformatika.org/journals/1304-2386/ International Journal of Computational Intelligence]
- [http://www.enformatika.org/journals/1305-5313/ Enformatika]
- [http://www.enformatika.org/journals/1305-2403/ International Journal of Information Technology]
- [http://www.enformatika.org/journals/1305-6417/ International Journal of Intelligent Technology]
- [http://www.enformatika.org/journals/1304-4478/ International Journal of Signal Processing]
- [http://www.people.vcu.edu/~cmarecha/ Le Cygne (Journal of the International Marie de France Society)]
- [http://smu.edu/arthuriana/ Arthuriana (Journal of Arthurian Studies)]
- [http://www.joan-of-arc.info/index.php?title=Journal_of_Joan_of_Arc_Studies Journal of Joan of Arc Studies] Category:Journals Category:Serials, periodicals and journals

News

News is essentially new information or current events. This article discusses news in the context of journalism. News is reported by newspapers, television and radio programs, Web sites, RSS feeds and wire services. News reporting is a type of journalism, typically written or broadcast in news style. Most news is investigated and presented by journalists (or reporters) and often distributed via news agencies. If the content of news is significant enough, it eventually becomes history To be considered newsworthy, an event usually must have broad interest due to one or more news values:
- Impact (how many people were, are or will be affected?)
- Timeliness (did the event occur very recently?)
- Revelation (is there significant new information, previously unknown?)
- Proximity (was the event nearby geographically?)
- Oddity (was the event highly unusual?)
- Entertainment (does it make for a fun story?)
- Celebrity (was anyone famous involved?) News items and journalism can be divided in various ways, although there are gray areas. Distinctions include between hard news (more serious and timely topics) and soft news (usually lighter topics) breaking news (most immediate); news analysis; and enterprise or investigative reporting. News coverage traditionally begins with the "five W's"—who, what, where, when, why. In democracies, news organizations are often expected to aim for objectivity: Reporters cover both sides in a controversy and try to eliminate bias. This is not true of all are expected to have a point of view. However, limits are set by the government agency Ofcom, the Office o , both newspapers and broadcast news programs in the United States are generally expected to remain neutral and avoid bias except for clearly indicated editorial articles or segments. Many single-party countries have operated state-run news organizations, which may present the government's views. Even in those situations where objectivity is expected, it is difficult to achieve, and individual journalists may fall foul of their own personal bias, or succumb to commercial or political pressure. Individuals and organizations who are the subject of news reports may use news management techniques to try to make a favourable impression.

Etymology

The word "news" comes from a special use of the plural of the word "new", and not as the common backronym claims, from the four cardinal directions (North, East, West, and South). Old spellings of the word varied widely—newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, etc.—doubt on popular etymological theory.

External links (directories of news sites)

- [http://home.wxs.nl/~hend2438/MOTW/r5-Literature/newspapers/bodystart.html News and information] Collection of links to newspapers and other news, also streaming medialinks
- [http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317836/us317916/us147927/ LookSmart - Directory of News & Magazines]
- [http://dmoz.org/News Open Directory Project - News]
- [http://www.hotbulletin.com Hot Bulletin] View hundreds of news sources at once
- [http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/ Yahoo - Directory of News and Media]
- [http://www.openpressroom.com Open Press Room - Open Source News Directory]
- [http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikinews project]
- [http://www.news.mxfull.com News Finder]
- [http://www.cnn.com CNN]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk BBC News]
- [http://www.itn.com ITN]
- [http://www.sky.com/skynews Sky News]
- [http://www.google.com/news Google News]
- [http://www.news.mxfull.com Online News] Category:Journalism ja:ニュース

Politics

Politics is the process by which decisions are made for a given society. The method of making decisions for groups varies, but the act of decision making is the key component that characterises politics. Although it is generally applied to governments, politics is also observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Political science is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power, i.e. the ability to impose one's will on another. One theorist, Harold Lasswell, has defined politics as "who gets what, when, and how." Another definition of 'politics' is: "how power is distributed within a group or system".

A natural state

In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published his most famous work, Leviathan, in which he proposed a model of early human development to justify the creation of human associations. Hobbes described an ideal state of nature wherein every person had equal right to every resource in nature and was free to use any means to acquire those resources. He noted that such an arrangement created a “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes). Further, he noted that men would enter into a social contract and would give up absolute rights for certain protections. While it appears that social cooperation and dominance hierarchies predate human societies, Hobbes’s model illustrates a rationale for the creation of societies (polities).

Early history

V.G. Childe describes the transformation of human society that took place around 6000 BCE as an urban revolution. Among the features of this new type of civilization were the institutionalization of social stratification, non-agricultural specialised crafts (including priests and lawyers), taxation, and writing. All of which require clusters of densely populated settlements - city-states. The word "Politics" is derived from the Greek word for city-state, "Polis". Corporate, religious, academic and every other polity, especially those constrained by limited resources, contain dominance hierarchy and therefore politics. Politics is most often studied in relation to the administration of governments. The oldest form of government was tribal organization. Rule by elders was supplanted by monarchy, and a system of Feudalism as an arrangement where a single family dominated the political affairs of a community. Monarchies have existed in one form or another for the past 5000 years of human history.

Definitions

- Power is the ability to impose one's will on another. It implies a capacity for force, i.e violence.
- Authority is the power to enforce laws, to exact obedience, to command, to determine, or to judge.
- Legitimacy is an attribute of government gained through the acquisition and application of power in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles.
- A government is the body that has the authority to make and enforce rules or laws.

Political power

Samuel Gompers’ often paraphrased maxim,"Reward your friends and punish your enemies," hints at two of the five types of power recognized by social psychologists: incentive power (the power to reward) and coercive power (the power to punish). Arguably the other three grow out of these two. Legitimate power, the power of the policeman or the referee, is the power given to an individual by a recognized authority to enforce standards of behavior. Legitimate power is similar to coercive power in that unacceptable behavior is punished by fine or penalty. Referent power is bestowed upon individuals by virtue of accomplishment or attitude. Fulfillment of the desire to feel similar to a celebrity or a hero is the reward for obedience. Expert power springs from education or experience. Following the lead of an experienced coach is often rewarded with success. Expert power is conditional to the circumstances. A brain surgeon is no help when your pipes are leaking.

Authority and legitimacy

Max Weber identified three sources of legitimacy for authority known as (tripartite classification of authority). He proposed three reasons why people followed the orders of those who gave them:

Traditional

Traditional authorities receive loyalty because they continue and support the preservation of existing values, the status quo. Traditional authority has the longest history. Patriarchal (and more rarely Matriarchal) societies gave rise to hereditary monarchies where authority was given to descendants of previous leaders. Followers submit to this authority because "we've always done it that way." Examples of traditional authoritarians include kings and queens.

Charismatic

Charismatic authority grows out of the personal charm or the strength of an individual personality (see cult of personality for the most extreme version). Charismatic regimes are often short lived, seldom outliving the charismatic figure that leads them. Examples include Hitler, Napoleon, and Mao.

Legal-rational

Legal-Rational authorities receive their ability to compel behavior by virtue of the office that they hold. It is the authority that demands obedience to the office rather than the office holder. Modern democracies are examples of legal-rational regimes.

References

GOMPERS,SAMUEL; “Men of Labor! Be Up and Doing,” editorial, American Federationist, May 1906, p. 319

Business

Business refers to at least three closely related commercial topics. The first is a commercial, professional or industrial organization or enterprise, generally referred to as "a business." The second is commercial, professional, and industrial activity generally, as in "business continues to evolve as markets change." Finally, business can be used to refer to a particular area of economic activity, such as the "record business" or the "computer business" (see Industry). This article is concerned primarily with the first definition of individual businesses, but also contains links to general business and management topics, in the sense of the second definition. Individual businesses are established in order to perform economic activities. With some exceptions (such as cooperatives, non-profit organizations and generally, institutions of government), businesses exist to produce profit. In other words, the owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for expending time, effort and capital.

Types of Businesses

There are many types of businesses, and, as a result, businesses can be classified in many ways. One of the most common focuses on the primary profit-generating activities of a business, for example:
- Manufacturers produce products, from raw materials or component parts, which they then sell at a profit. Companies that make physical goods, such as cars or pipes, are considered manufacturers.
- Service businesses offer intangible goods or services and typically generate a profit by charging for labor or other services provided to other businesses or consumers. Organizations ranging from house painters to consulting firms to restaurants are types of service businesses.
- Retailers and Distributors act as middle-men in getting goods produced by manufacturers to the intended consumer, generating a profit as a result of providing sales or distribution services. Most consumer-oriented stores and catalogue companies are distributors or retailers.
- Agriculture and mining businesses are concerned with the production of raw material, such as plants or minerals.
- Financial businesses include banks and other companies that generate profit through investment and management of capital.
- Information businesses generate profits primarily from the resale of intellectual property and include movie studios, publishers and packaged software companies.
- Utilities produce public services, such as heat, electricity, or sewage treatment, and are usually government chartered.
- Real estate businesses generate profit from the selling, renting, and development of properties, homes, and buildings.
- Transportation businesses deliver goods and individuals from location to location, generating a profit on the transportation costs. There are many other divisions and subdivisions of businesses. The authoritative list of business types for North America (although it is widely used around the world) is generally considered to be the NAICS, or North American Industry Classification System. The equivalent European Union list is the [http://www.fifoost.org/database/nace/nace-en_2002AB.php NACE].

Business departments

Within businesses one can often find similar departments, named (and not limited to):
- Administration
- Finance & controlling
- Human ressources
- Management
- Marketing & sales
- Production/service
- Purchasing

Business and Government

Most legal jurisdictions specify the forms that a business can take, and a body of commercial law has developed for each type. Some common types include partnerships, corporations (also called limited liability companies), and sole proprietorships.

Business and Management

The study of the efficient and effective operation of a business is called management. The main branches of management are financial management, marketing management, human resource management, strategic management, production management, service management, information technology management, and business intelligence.

External links

- [http://business-articles.us/ Business Articles]
- [http://www.growfolio.com/ growFolio - Online Business Magazine for Fresh Thinkers]
- [http://finance.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! Finance] Aggregates some really good business articles
- Category:Academic disciplines Category:School subjects ja:ビジネス th:ธุรกิจ

Sportswriting

Sportswriting is a form of journalism who writes and reports on sports topics and events. Ernest Hemingway's writing could perhaps be considered in this category due to his love for hunting, fishing and boxing. Bernard Malamud also wrote powerfully about baseball in his novel The Natural. The Associated Press Sports Editors runs training programs in the USA for sports journalists. Within newspapers, the sports department is sometimes called the "toy department," but sportswriters face much more deadline pressure than most other reporters.

Historical sportswriters

- Pierce Egan
- Leonard Koppett
- Ring Lardner
- Grantland Rice
- Red Smith

Current sportswriters for major publications

Arizona Republic

- Dan Bickley [http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sportscolumns.html]
- Paola Boivin [http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sportscolumns.html]
- John Davis [http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sportscolumns.html]
- John Gambadoro [http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sportscolumns.html]
- Jim Gintonio [http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sportscolumns.html]
- Don Ketchum [http://www.azcentral.com/sports/sportscolumns.html]

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

- Tony Barnhart [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/barnhart]
- Furman Bisher [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/bisher]
- Mark Bradley [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/bradley]
- Curtis Bunn [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/bunn]
- Michelle Hiskey [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/hiskey]
- Steve Hummer [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/hummer]
- Darryl Maxie [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/maxie]
- Terence Moore [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/moore]
- Jeff Schultz [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/schultz]
- MikeTierney [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/tierney]
- Tim Tucker [http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/columns/tucker]

Baltimore Sun

- John Eisenberg [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-columnist-eisenberg,1,587835.columnist?coll=bal-sports-columnists]
- Ray Frager [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-columnist-frager,1,3659856.columnist?coll=bal-sports-columnists]
- Milton Kent [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/bal-columnist-kent,1,4584554.columnist?coll=bal-sports-columnists]
- Rick Maese [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-columnist-maese,1,5702923.columnist?coll=bal-sports-columnists]
- Mike Preston [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-columnist-preston,0,3619615.columnist?coll=bal-sports-columnists]
- Peter Schmuck [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-columnist-schmuck,1,5937575.columnist?coll=bal-home-columnists]
- David Steele [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-columnist-steele,1,2147938.columnist?coll=bal-sports-columnists]

Boston Globe

- Will McDonough [http://www.globe.com/globe/columns/mcdonough]
- Jackie MacMullan [http://www.globe.com/globe/columns/macmullan]
- Bob Ryan [http://www.globe.com/globe/columns/ryan]
- Dan Shaughnessy [http://www.globe.com/globe/columns/shaughnessy]

Boston Herald

- Jim Baker [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- Steve Buckley [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- Gerry Callahan [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- Michael Gee [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- Karen Guregian [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- George Kimball [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- Kevin Mannix [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]
- Tony Massarotti [http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists]

The Buffalo News

- Bob Dicesare [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/bobdicesare.asp]
- Larry Felser [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/larryfelser.asp]
- Mark Gaughan [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/markgaughan.asp]
- Bucky Gleason [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/buckygleason.asp]
- Mike Harrington [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/mikeharrington.asp]
- Amy Moritz [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/amymoritz.asp]
- Jerry Sullivan [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/jerrysullivan.asp]
- Allen Wilson [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/allenwilson.asp]
- Other Columns [http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/othercolumns.asp]

Charlotte Observer

- Rick Bonnell [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/rick_bonnell]
- Gregg Doyel [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/gregg_doyel]
- Scott Fowler [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/scott_fowler]
- Ron Green Sr. [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/ron_green_sr]
- Ron Green Jr. [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/ron_green_jr]
- Stan Olson [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/stan_olson]
- David Poole [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/david_poole]
- David Scott [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/david_scott]
- Tom Sorensen [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/tom_sorensen]
- Pat Yasinskas [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/columnists/pat_yasinskas]

Chicago Sun-Times

- Lacy J. Banks [http://www.suntimes.com/index/banks.html]
- John Jackson [http://www.suntimes.com/index/jackson.html]
- Jay Mariotti [http://www.suntimes.com/index/mariotti.html]
- Ron Rapoport [http://www.suntimes.com/index/rapoport.html]
- Carol Slezak [http://www.suntimes.com/index/slezak.html]
- Rick Telander [http://www.suntimes.com/index/telander.html]

Chicago Tribune

- Mike Downey [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-mike-downey,1,5795154.columnist]
- Rick Morrissey [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-rick-morrissey,1,5139914.columnist]
- Lew Freedman [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-lew-freedman,1,2877084.columnist]
- Melissa Isaacson [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-melissa-isaacson,1,2024092.columnist]
- Fred Mitchell [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-fred-mitchell,1,3821064.columnist]
- Don Pierson [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-don-pierson,1,5664087.columnist]
- Phil Rogers [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-phil-rogers,1,2841436.columnist]
- Steve Rosenbloom [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-steve-rosenbloom,1,699609.columnist]
- Ed Sherman [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-ed-sherman,1,722378.columnist]
- Sam Smith [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-sam-smith,1,2643602.columnist]
- Barry Temkin [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-barry-temkin,1,2736840.columnist]
- Bob Verdi [http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-bob-verdi,1,7895659.columnist]

Cincinnati Enquirer

- Paul Daugherty [http://enquirer.com/columns/daugherty/]
- Tim Sullivan [http://enquirer.com/columns/sullivan/]

Cleveland Plain Dealer

- Roger Brown [http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/roger_brown]
- Bill Livingston [http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/bill_livingston]
- Bud Shaw [http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/bud_shaw]

The Dallas Morning News

- Kevin B. Blackistone [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/columnists/kblackistone/vitindex.html]
- Tim Cowlishaw [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/columnists/tcowlishaw/vitindex.html]
- Gerry Fraley [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/columnists/gfraley/vitindex.html]
- Frank Luksa [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/columnists/fluksa/vitindex.html]
- Kevin Sherrington [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/columnists/ksherrington/vitindex.html]

The Denver Post

- Jim Armstrong [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E102%257E,00.html]
- Neil H. Devlin [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~103~,00.html]
- Terry Frei [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~104~,00.html]
- Mark Kiszla [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E107%257E,00.html]
- Mike Klis [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~108~,00.html]
- John Meyer [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~109~,00.html]
- Charlie Meyers [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~110~,00.html]
- Woody Paige [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E111%257E,00.html]
- Adam Schefter [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~112~,00.html]
- Marc J. Spears [http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,36~113~,00.html]

Deseret News

- Rich Evans [http://deseretnews.com/dn/columnists/0,1443,68,00.html]
- Loren Jorgensen [http://deseretnews.com/dn/columnists/0,1443,63,00.html]
- Doug Robinson [http://deseretnews.com/dn/columnists/1,1443,0:2,00.html]
- Brad Rock [http://deseretnews.com/dn/columnists/1,1443,0:3,00.html]
- Mike Sorensen [http://deseretnews.com/dn/columnists/0,1443,66,00.html]

Detroit Free Press

- Mitch Albom [http://www.freep.com/index/albom.htm]
- Drew Sharp [http://www.freep.com/index/drewsharp.htm]

Detroit News

- Joe Falls [http://www.detnews.com/2002/sports/0201/31/f02-404438.htm]
- Terry Foster [http://www.detnews.com/2002/sports/0201/31/f02-404437.htm]
- Jerry Green [http://www.detnews.com/2002/sports/0201/31/f01-404460.htm]
- Rob Parker [http://www.detnews.com/2002/sports/0201/30/g01-403527.htm]
- Bob Wojnowski [http://www.detnews.com/2002/sports/0201/31/f01-404465.htm]

Florida Times-Union

- Larry Dennis [http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/spodennis/]
- Gene Frenette [http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/spfrenette]
- Joe Julavits [http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/spoujulavits]

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

- Wendell Barnhouse [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/wendell_barnhouse]
- Jimmy Burch [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/jimmy_burch]
- Jeff Caplan [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/jeff_caplan]
- Mac Engel [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/mac_engel]
- Jennifer Floyd [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/jennifer_floyd]
- Randy Galloway [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/randy_galloway]
- Art Garcia [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/art_garcia]
- Len Hayward [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/len_hayward]
- Brett Hoffman [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/brett_hoffman]
- Bob Hood [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/bob_hood]
- Mike Jones [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/mike_jones]
- Gil LeBreton [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/gil_lebreton]
- Kathleen O'Brien [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/kathleen_obrien]
- Charles Polansky [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/charles_polansky]
- Tim Price [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/tim_price]
- Jim Reeves [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/jim_reeves]
- John Sturbin [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/john_sturbin]
- T.R. Sullivan [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/tr_sullivan]
- Laura Weisskopf [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/laura_weisskopf]
- Richie Whitt [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/richie_whitt]
- Charean Williams [http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/sports/columnists/charean_williams]

The Fresno Bee

- John Branch [http://fresnobee.com/columnists/branch/]
- Milo F. Bryant [http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/bryant]
- John Canzano [http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/canzano]

Green Bay News-Chronicle

- Bill Huber [http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/packers/page.html?article=112073]
- Todd McMahon [http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/packers/page.html?article=112180]
- Doug Ritchay [http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/packers/page.html?article=112277]

Houston Chronicle

- David Barron [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/barron]
- Fran Blinebury [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/blinebury/home]
- MK Bower [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/bower/home]
- Steve Campbell [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/campbell/home]
- Joe Doggett [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/outdoors/doggett/home]
- Jonathan Feigen [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/feigen/home]
- Niki Herbert [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/herbert/home]
- Mickey Herskowitz [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/herskowitz/home]
- Richard Justice [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/justice/home]
- John P. Lopez [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/lopez/home]
- Megan Manfull [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/manfull/home]
- John McClain [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/mcclain/home]
- Doug Pike [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/outdoors/pike/home]
- Dale Robertson [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/sports/robertson/home]
- Shannon Tompkins [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/outdoors/tompkins/home]

The Indianapolis Star

- C. Jemal Horton [http://www.indystar.com/sports/columnists/horton]
- Bob Kravitz [http://www.indystar.com/sports/columnists/kravitz]

The Kansas City Star

- Jeffrey Flanagan [http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/jeffrey_flanagan]
- Blair Kerkhoff [http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/blair_kerkhoff]
- Joe Posnanski [http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/joe_posnanski]
- Jason Whitlock [http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock]

Las Vegas Review Journal

- Richard Eng [http://www.reviewjournal.com/columnists/eng.html]
- Royce Feour [http://www.reviewjournal.com/columnists/feour.html]
- Joe Hawk [http://www.reviewjournal.com/columnists/hawk.html]
- Jeff Wolf [http://www.reviewjournal.com/columnists/wolf.html]

Las Vegas Sun

- Jeff Haney [http://www.lasvegassun.com/sports/columnists]
- Brian Hildebrand [http://www.lasvegassun.com/sports/columnists]
- Ron Kantowski [http://www.lasvegassun.com/sports/columnists]

Long Island Newsday

- Barbara Barker [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Robert Cassidy [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Chuck Culpepper [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Michael Dobie [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Joe Gergen [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Bob Glauber [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Alan Hahn [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Mark Herrmann [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Jon Heyman [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Johnette Howard [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Steve Jacobsen [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Steven Marcus [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Jason Molinet [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Ed McNamara [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Shaun Powell [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Tim Rock [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Jerry Trecker [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Jeff Williams [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]
- Steve Zipay [http://www.newsday.com/sports/sportscolumns.htm]

Los Angeles Daily News

- Steve Dilbeck [http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E23148%257E,00.html]
- Kevin Modesti [http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E21656%257E,00.html]

Los Angeles Times

- J.A. Adande [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Thomas Bonk [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Bill Christine [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Lisa Dillman [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Chris Dufresne [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Helene Elliott [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Sam Farmer [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Shav Glick [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Randy Harvey [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Mark Heisler [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Ross Newhan [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Grahame L. Jones [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Robyn Norwood [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Mike Penner [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Diane Pucin [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Bill Plaschke [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- T.J. Simers [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Steve Springer [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Larry Stewart [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Pete Thomas [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]
- Lonnie White [http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/]

Miami Herald

- Greg Cote [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/greg_cote]
- Dan Le Batard [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/dan_le_batard]
- Jeff Miller [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/jeff_miller]
- Edwin Pope [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/edwin_pope]
- Linda Robertson [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/linda_robertson]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

- Gary D'Amato [http://www.jsonline.com/columns/scgolf.asp]
- Tom Enlund [http://www.jsonline.com/sports/col/enlund/]
- Dale Hofmann [http://www.jsonline.com/sports/col/hofmann]
- Michael Hunt [http://www.jsonline.com/sports/col/hunt/]
- Drew Olson [http://www.jsonline.com/sports/col/olson/]
- Bob Wolfley [http://www.jsonline.com/sports/col/wolfley]

Minneapolis Star Tribune

- Sid Hartman [http://www.startribune.com/sid/]
- Patrick Reusse [http://www.startribune.com/reusse/]
- Jim Souhan [http://www.startribune.com/souhan/]

New Orleans Times-Picayune

- John DeShazier [http://www.nola.com/sports/]
- Peter Finney [http://www.nola.com/sports/]
- Dave Lagarde [http://www.nola.com/sports/]

New York Daily News

- Filip Bondy [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/bondy]
- Bill Gallo [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/gallo]
- Hank Gola [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/gola]
- John Harper [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/harper]
- Edward Jackowski [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/jackowski]
- Jerry Kenney [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/kenney]
- Mitch Lawrence [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/lawrence]
- Mike Lupica [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/lupica]
- Bill Madden [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/madden]
- Gary Myers [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/myers]
- Lisa Olson [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/olsonl]
- Mighty Quinn [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/mquinn]
- Bob Raissman [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/braissman]
- Sherry Ross [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/sross]
- The Slammer [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/theslammer]
- Tim Smith [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/tsmith]
- Dick Weiss [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/dweiss]
- Vic Ziegel [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/vziegel]

New York Post

- Marc Berman [http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/knicks.htm]
- Larry Brooks [http://www.nypost.com/sports/rangers/rangers.htm]
- Mark Cannizzaro [http://www.nypost.com/sports/jets/jets.htm]
- George King [http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/yankees.htm]
- Tom Keegan [http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/knicks.htm]
- Fred Kerber [http://www.nypost.com/sports/nets/nets.htm]
- Kevin Kernan [http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/mets.htm]
- Andrew Marchand [http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/mets.htm]
- Michael Morrissey [http://www.nypost.com/sports/mets/mets.htm]
- Paul Schwartz [http://www.nypost.com/sports/giants/giants.htm]
- Peter Vecsey [http://www.nypost.com/sports/nets/nets.htm]

The New York Times

- Dave Anderson [http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/bio-anderson.html]
- Harvey Araton [http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/bio-araton.html]
- Ira Berkow [http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/bio-berkow.html]
- Mike Freeman [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=ctax&v1=Top%2fNews%2fSports%2fColumns%2fMike%20Freeman%20&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate-7&sort=newest&ac=Sports]
- William C. Rhoden [http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/bio-rhoden.html]
- Richard Sandomir [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=ctax&v1=Top%2fNews%2fSports%2fColumns%2fRichard%20Sandomir%20&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate-7&sort=newest&ac=Sports]
- George Vecsey [http://www.nytimes.com/library/sports/backtalk/bio-vecsey.html]

Oakland Tribune

- Dave Del Grande [http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1749%257E,00.html]
- Dave Newhouse [http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1748%257E,00.html]
- Monte Poole [http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1743%257E,00.html]
- Art Spander [http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1741%257E,00.html]
- Carl Steward [http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1747%257E,00.html]

The Orange County Register

- Steve Bisheff [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=46299]
- Steve Fryer [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=44246]
- Michael Lev [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=45370]
- John Reger [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=47250]
- Marcia Smith [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=47875]
- Dave Strege [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=47877]
- Mark Whicker [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=47882]
- Randy Youngman [http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=47240]

The Oregonian

- Jerry Boone [http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/jerry_boone]
- John Canzano [http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano]
- Brian Meehan [http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/brian_meehan]
- Bill Monroe [http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/bill_monroe]
- Bob Robinson [http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/bob_robinson]

Orlando Sentinel

- Mike Bianchi [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-bianchi.columnist]
- Jerry Brewer [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-brewer.columnist]
- George Diaz [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-diaz.columnist]
- Jerry Greene [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-greene.columnist]
- Chris Harry [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-harry.columnist]
- Brian Schmitz [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-schmitz.columnist]
- David Whitley [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-whitley.columnist]

Palm Beach Post

- Karen Crouse [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/columnists.html#sports]
- Charles Elmore [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/columnists.html#sports]
- Dave George [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/columnists.html#sports]
- Greg Stoda [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/columnists.html#sports]

Philadelphia Daily News

- Bill Conlin [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/bill_conlin]
- Paul Domowitch [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/paul_domowitch]
- Sam Donnellon [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/sam_donnellon]
- Bernard Fernandez [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/bernard_fernandez]
- Rich Hofmann [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/rich_hofmann]
- Phil Jasner [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/phil_jasner]
- Dick Jerardi [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/dick_jerardi]
- Kevin Mulligan [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/kevin_mulligan]
- John Smallwood [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/john_smallwood]

The Philadelphia Inquirer

- Mike Bruton [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/mike_bruton]
- Sam Carchidi [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/sam_carchidi]
- Bob Ford [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/bob_ford]
- Joe Logan [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/joe_logan]
- Bill Lyon [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/bill_lyon]
- Tim Panaccio [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/tim_panaccio]
- Jim Salisbury [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/jim_salisbury]
- Phil Sheridan [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/phil_sheridan]
- Stephen A. Smith [http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/stephen_a_smith]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

- Ron Cook [http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/cook.asp]
- Chuck Finder [http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/finder.asp]
- Mark Madden [http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/madden.asp]
- Stan Savran [http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/savran.asp]
- Bob Smizik [http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/smizik.asp]

Providence Journal-Bulletin

- Tom E. Curran [http://www.projo.com/sports/tomcurran/]
- Jim Donaldson [http://www.projo.com/sports/tommeade/]
- Tom Meade [http://www.projo.com/sports/tommeade/]
- Bill Reynolds [http://www.projo.com/sports/billreynolds/]
- Mike Szostak [http://www.projo.com/sports/mikeszostak/]

Rocky Mountain News

- Sam Adams [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_100,00.html]
- Jim Benton [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_9184,00.html]
- B.G. Brooks [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_169,00.html]
- Lynn DeBruin [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_213,00.html]
- Jack Etkin [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_102,00.html]
- Dave Krieger [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_130,00.html]
- Bernie Lincicome [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_73,00.html]
- Marcia Neville [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_2643,00.html]
- Paula Parrish [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_2367,00.html]
- Chris Tomasson [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_4023,00.html]
- Tracy Ringolsby [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_101,00.html]
- Rick Sadowski [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_155,00.html]
- Gerry Valerio [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_1166,00.html]
- Scott Stocker [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_83_1567,00.html]

The Sacramento Bee

- Marcos Bretón [http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/columns/breton]
- Joe Davidson [http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/columns/davidson]
- Scott Howard-Cooper [http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/columns/howard_cooper]
- Mark Kreidler [http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/columns/kreidler]
- Ailene Voisin [http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/columns/voisin]

The Salt Lake Tribune

- Patrick Kinahan [http://www.sltrib.com/]
- Steve Luhm [http://www.sltrib.com/]
- Gordon Monson [http://www.sltrib.com/]
- Dick Rosetta [http://www.sltrib.com/]

San-Antonio Express-News

- Dan Cook [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=870]
- Mike Finger [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1170]
- David Flores [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=920]
- Tim Griffin [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=510]
- Buck Harvey [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1010]
- David King [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1421]
- Richard Oliver [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1640]
- Tom Orsborn [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1650]
- Harry Page [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1200]
- Ken Rodriguez [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=213]
- Glenn Rogers [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1290]
- Ron Henry Strait [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1390]
- John Whisler [http://news.mysanantonio.com/index.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1430]

San Francisco Chronicle

- Bruce Adams [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=Bruce+Adams]
- Betting Fool [http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/fool/]
- David Bush [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=david+bush]
- Mark Camps [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=mark+camps]
- Dwight Chapin [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=dwight+chapin]
- John Crumpacker [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=john+crumpacker]
- Jake Curtis [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=jake+curtis]
- Glenn Dickey [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=glenn+dickey]
- Mark Fainaru-Wada [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=mark+fainaru]
- Tom FitzGerald [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=tom+fitzgerald]
- Susan Fornoff [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=susan+fornoff]
- Nancy Gay [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=nancy+gay]
- Dan Giesin [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=dan+giesin]
- Brian Hoffman [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=brian+hoffman]
- Bruce Jenkins [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=bruce+jenkins]
- Gwen Knapp [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=gwen+knapp]
- Ron Kroichick [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=ron+kroichick]
- Steve Kroner [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=steve+kroner]
- Kevin Lynch [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=kevin+lynch]
- Paul McHugh [http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/mchugh/]
- Ross McKeon [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=ross+mckeon]
- Ira Miller [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=ira+miller]
- Brian Murphy [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=brian+murphy]
- Jorge L. Ortiz [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=jorge+ortiz]
- Scott Ostler [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=scott+ostler]
- Ray Ratto [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=ray+ratto]
- Henry Schulman [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=henry+schulman]
- John Shea [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=john+shea]
- Susan Slusser [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=susan+slusser]
- Michelle Smith [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=michelle+smith]
- David Steele [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=david+steele]
- Mitch Stephens [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=mitch+stephens]
- Tom Stienstra [http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/stienstra/]
- Brad Weinstein [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/columnists.cgi?waisdbname=/web/wais-indexes/chronicle/&byline=brad+weinstein]

The San Diego Union-Tribune

- Alan Drooz [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/drooz]
- Chris Jenkins [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/baseball/cjenkins]
- Jerry Magee [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/nfl/magee]
- Tim Sullivan [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/sullivan]

San Jose Mercury

- Skip Bayless [http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/columnists/skip_bayless]
- Bud Geracie [http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/columnists/bud_geracie]
- Tim Kawakami [http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/columnists/tim_kawakami]
- Ann Killion [http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/%20/mld/mercurynews/sports/columnists/ann_killion]
- Mark Purdy [http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/columnists/mark_purdy]

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

- John Levesque [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/levesque/]
- Jim Moore [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/moore/]
- Art Thiel [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/thiel/]
- Laura Vecsey [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/vecsey/]

The Seattle Times

- Les Carpenter [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/lescarpenter]
- Ron C. Judd [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ronjudd/]
- Steve Kelley [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/stevekelley]
- Blaine Newnham [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/blainenewnham]
- Dwight Perry [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/sidelinechatter]
- Craig Smith [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/craigsmith]
- Larry Stone [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/larrystone]

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

- Jeff Gordon [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Jeff+Gordon?Opendocument]
- Bernie Miklasz [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Bernie+Miklasz?Opendocument]
- Bryan Burwell [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Bryan+Burwell?Opendocument]
- Dan O'Neill [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Dan+O'Neill?Opendocument]
- Rick Hummel [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Rick+Hummel?Opendocument]
- Dan Caesar [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Dan+Caesar?Opendocument]
- Tim Renken [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Tim+Renken?Opendocument]
- Kathleen Nelson [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Kathleen+Nelson?Opendocument]
- Vahe Gregorian [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Vahe+Gregorian?Opendocument]
- Tom Timmermann [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/Columnist/Tom+Timmermann?Opendocument]

St. Paul Pioneer Press

- Tom Powers [http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/columnists/tom_powers]
- Bob Sansevere [http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/columnists/bob_sansevere]
- Charley Walters [http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/columnists/charley_walters]

St. Petersburg Times

- Hubert Mizell [http://www.sptimes.com/columns/mizell.shtml]
- John Romano [http://www.sptimes.com/columns/romano.shtml]
- Gary Shelton [http://www.sptimes.com/columns/shelton.shtml]

Tampa Trib

Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who produces a specific form of writing for publication called a "column". Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Some Internet columns are called blogs or Weblogs. What differentiates a column from other forms of journalism is that it meets each of the following criteria:
- It is a regular feature in a publication
- It is personality-driven by the author
- It contains an opinion or point of view

Types of columns

- advice
- critic reviews
- editorial opinion
- gossip
- humor

Columnists of note

- Shana Alexander
- Barbara Amiel
- Army Archerd
- Mike Barnicle (Boston Herald, USA)
- Dave Barry (Miami Herald, USA)
- Christie Blatchford (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
- David Brooks (New York Times, USA)
- Ann Coulter (Universal Press Syndicate, USA)
- Andrew Coyne
- Maureen Dowd (New York Times, USA)
- John Doyle (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
- Matt Drudge
- Gwynne Dyer
- Roger Ebert
- Allan Fotheringham
- Benjamin Franklin
- Thomas Friedman (New York Times, USA)
- David Frum
- Robert Fulford (National Post, Canada)
- Carl Hiaasen (Miami Herald, USA)
- Simon Heffer, UK
- Peter Hitchens, UK
- Molly Ivins
- Michael Kinsley
- Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post, USA)
- Paul Krugman (New York Times, USA)
- Ann Landers
- Michele Landsberg (Toronto Star)
- Richard Littlejohn (The Sun and Daily Mail, UK)
- Charlie Madigan (Chicago Tribune, USA)
- Michelle Malkin
- Heather Mallick (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
- Dan Margalit
- Vinod Mehta
- Ward Morehouse III www.wardmorehouseiii.com
- Rex Murphy
- Al Neuharth
- Peter C. Newman
- Robert Novak
- Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune, USA)
- Adam J. Pearce, UK
- Daniel Pipes
- Dennis Prager
- Will Rogers
- Amnon Rubinstein (Maariv, Israel)
- William Safire (New York Times, USA)
- Mary Schmich (Chicago Tribune, USA)
- Jeffrey Simpson
- Thomas Sowell
- Mark Steel
- Mark Steyn
- Andrew Sullivan
- Ellie Tesher
- Cal Thomas
- Polly Toynbee
- Mark Twain
- George Will
- Fareed Zakaria

External links

- [http://www.journaliststoolbox.com/newswriting/columnists.html American Press Institute columnist tool box] Category:Opinion journalism

Political cartoon

: Editorial cartoon

Weather

Weather comprises all the various phenomena that occur in the atmosphere of a planet. "Weather" is normally taken to mean the activity of these phenomena over short periods of time, usually no more than a few days in length. Average weather conditions over significantly longer periods is known as climate, which is studied by climatologists for signs of climate change.

Terrestrial weather

On Earth, the regular events include wind, thunderstorms, rain, sleet, hail, snow, and fog which occur in the troposphere or the lower part of the atmosphere. Weather is driven by differences in energy received from the sun. Due to the different angles that sunlight intersects the earth, different parts of it are heated to different extents. This causes temperature differences, which lead to global wind, as well as, indirectly, all other weather phenomena. Direct causes of weather are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, cloud cover, wind speed, and elevation. The Earth's atmosphere is one large inter-related system so small changes to one part can have large effects in other parts, i.e., it is a chaotic system. This makes it very difficult to accurately predict short term weather changes more than a few days in advance, though weather forecasters large and small are continually working to improve this limit through the science of the study of weather: meteorology.

Extra-terrestrial weather

meteorology Weather phenomena and systems on other planets are thought to be similar to those on Earth, but often occur on a much bigger scale. Extra-terrestrial weather systems can be extremely stable; one of the most famous landmarks in the solar system, Jupiter's Great Red Spot is an anticyclonic storm known to have existed for at least 300 years. On other gas giants, the lack of a surface allows the wind to reach enormous speeds: gusts of up to 400 metres per second have been measured on the planet Neptune. This has created a puzzle for planetary scientists: The weather is created by the differential action of the Sun's energy on different places and the amount of energy received by Neptune is very, very small, relative to the Earth, yet the strength and magnitude of weather phenomena on Neptune is far, far greater than on Earth. This mystery is still to be solved. Earth's weather appears to behave based on about a half-dozen latitudinal weather zones. Jupiter's banded appearance shows over a dozen such zones, while Venus appears to have no zones at all. Studying how the weather works on other planets has been seen as helpful in understanding how it works on Earth.

Extra-planetary weather

Weather is not limited to just planetary bodies however. A star's corona is constantly being lost to space, creating what is essentially a very thin atmosphere throughout the solar system, known as the solar wind. Inconsistencies in this wind and larger events on the surface of the star, such as Coronal Mass Ejections, form a system that has features analogous to conventional weather systems (i.e. pressure and wind), and though not true weather, is known as space weather. The activity of this system can affect planetary atmospheres and occasionally surfaces. The interaction of the solar wind with the terrestrial atmosphere can produce spectacular aurorae, but can play havoc with electrically sensitive systems such as electricity grids and radio signals.

Photograph

:Photo redirects here. For the French magazine, see Photo (magazine). A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image (or a representation of that on e.g. paper) created by collecting and focusing reflected electromagnetic radiation. The most common photographs are those created of reflected visible wavelengths, producing permanent records of what the human eye can see. Most photographs are made with a camera, which focuses the light onto either photographic film or a CCD or CMOS image sensor. Photographs can also be made by placing objects on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light (the result is often called a photogram) or by placing objects on the platen of a flatbed scanner (see scanner art).

History and special effects

Most traditional photographs are produced with a two-step chemical process. In the two-step process, the film holds a negative image (colours and lights/darks are inverted), which is then transferred onto photographic paper as a positive image. Another widely used film is the positive film used for producing transparencies, usually mounted in cardboard or plastic frames called slides. Slides are widely used by professionals mostly due to their sharpness and accuracy of colour rendition. Most photographs published in magazines are still originally taken on colour transparency film. transparencies Originally almost all photographs were black and white. Although methods for developing color photos were available as early as the late 19th century, they did not become widely available until the 1940s or 50s, and even in until the 1960s most photographs were taken in black and white. Since then, color photography has dominated popular photography, although the black and white format remains popular for amateur photographers and artists. Black and white film is considerably easier to develop than colour. Panoramic format Images can be taken by using special cameras like the Hasselblad Xpan on standard film. Since the 1990s, panoramic photos have been relatively easy for the general population to take on Advanced Photo System film. APS was developed by several of the major film manufacturers to provide a "smart" film with different formats and computerized options available, though APS panoramas were created using a mask in panorama-capable cameras, far less desirable than a true panoramic camera which achieves its effect through wider film format. As with many past ideas in consumer film formats, APS has become less popular and will be discontinued in the near future. Digital photos can be stored in various file formats, of which JPEG is one of the most popular. Many other graphic formats are used, including TIFF, PNG, GIF, and RAW.

Editorial cartoonist

An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. The most common outlet for political cartoonists is the editorial page of the newspaper, although there have also been a few political cartoonists who have established a presence alongside "mainstream" comic strips. Doonesbury is the best example of this style of editorial cartoon. There is Pulitzer Prize awarded every year for America's top editorial cartoonist — see Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.

Famous editorial cartoonists

Australia

- Pat Oliphant (now a U.S. citizen)

Canada

- Aislin
- Thomas Boldt (TAB)
- Michael deAdder
- Brian Gable
- Bruce MacKinnon
- Len Norris
- Roy Petersen

Finland

- Kari Suomalainen

Israel

- Ranan Lurie (now a U.S. citizen)

Comic strips

:This article is about the sequential art form. See also Daily strip and Sunday strip. For the British comedy group, see The Comic Strip. A comic strip is a short strip or sequence of drawings, telling a story. Drawn by a cartoonist, they are published on a recurring basis (usually daily or weekly) in newspapers or on the Internet. In the UK and Europe they are also published within comic magazines, with a strip's story sometimes continuing over three pages or more. They usually communicate to the reader via speech balloons. As the name implies, they can be humorous (as in "gag-a-day" strips like Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois, or Hagar the Horrible) but not by necessity. Serious soap-opera continuity strips (like Judge Parker or Little Orphan Annie) have serious story lines in serial form. They are, however, nonetheless known as "comics" – though the term "sequential art", coined by cartoonist Will Eisner, is becoming increasingly popular.

Origins

In America, the great popularity of comics sprang from the newspaper war between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The Little Bears was the first American comic with recurring characters; The Yellow Kid the first color comic, part of the first Sunday comic section in 1897 and the source of the term "yellow journalism"); Mutt and Jeff the first daily comic strip, first appearing in 1907. The comic strip, in a manner of speaking, began in 1865 in Germany with Max and Moritz, a strip about two trouble-making boys. It was more a series of severely moralistic tales in the vein of German children's stories like "Struwwelpeter" ("Shockheaded Peter"): in one, the boys, after perpetrating some mischief, are tossed into a sack of grain, run through a mill, and consumed by a flock of geese. Max and Moritz did provide an inspiration for German immigrant Rudolph Dirks, leading to the debut of The Katzenjammer Kids in 1897, probably the first comic strip in the modern sense of the term. Familiar comic-strip iconography such as stars for pain, speech and thought balloons, and sawing logs for snoring originated in Dirks' strip. Hugely popular, Katzenjammer Kids was responsible for one of the first comic-strip copyright ownership suits in the history of the medium. When Dirks left Hearst for the promise of a better salary under Pulitzer (unusual, since cartoonists regularly deserted Pulitzer for Hearst) Hearst in a highly unusual court decision retained the rights to the name "Katzenjammer Kids", while creator Dirks retained the rights to the characters. Hearst promptly hired a cartoonist named Harold Knerr to draw his own version of the strip. Dirks renamed his version Hans and Fritz (later, The Captain and The Kids). Thus, two versions distributed by rival syndicates graced the comics pages for decades. Dirks' version, eventually distributed by United Feature Syndicate, ran until 1979. Hundreds of comic strips followed, with many running for decades.

Conventions and genres

Most comic strip characters stay the same age throughout the strip's life, but in strips like Lynn Johnston's award-winning For Better or For Worse characters age. The first strip to feature aging characters was Gasoline Alley. The history of comic strips also includes series that are not humorous, but tell an ongoing dramatic story. Examples include Prince Valiant, Dick Tracy, Mary Worth, Modesty Blaise and Tarzan. Sometimes these are spin-offs from comic books, for example Superman, Batman, and The Amazing Spider-Man. All the comic strips mentioned so far in this article are centered on human beings, but a number of strips have also included animals as main characters. Some are non-verbal (Marmaduke), some have verbal thoughts but aren't understood by humans, (Garfield, Snoopy in Peanuts), and some can converse with humans (Get Fuzzy). Other strips have centered entirely on animals, as in Pogo or Donald Duck. Gary Larson's The Far Side was unique, as there were no central characters. Instead The Far Side used a wide variety of characters such as humans, monsters, aliens, chickens, cows, worms, amoebas and more. Wiley Miller not only mixes human, animal and fantasy characters, he does several different comic strip continuities under one umbrella title, Non Sequitur. Newspaper comic strips come in two formats, daily strips and Sunday strips. Daily strips usually run Monday through Saturday, and are usually in black and white. Sunday strips are much larger and are usually in color.

Social and political influence

The comics have long held a distorted mirror to contemporary society, and almost from the beginning have been used for political or social commentary. This ranged from the staunch conservative values of Little Orphan Annie to the unabashed liberalism of Doonesbury. The aforementioned Pogo used animals to particularly devastating effect, caricaturing many prominent politicians of the day as animal denizens of Pogo's Okeefenokee Swamp. In a fearless move, Pogo's creator Walt Kelly took on Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, caricaturing him as a bobcat named Simple J. Malarkey, a megalomaniac bent on taking over the characters' birdwatching club and rooting out all undesirables. Kelly also defended the medium against possible government regulation in the McCarthy era. At a time when comic books were coming under fire for supposed sexual, violent, and subversive content, Kelly feared the same would happen to comic strips. Going before the congressional subcommittee, he proceeded to charm the members with his drawings and the force of his personality. The comic strip was safe for satire. Some comic strips, such as Doonesbury and Boondocks, are often printed on the editorial or op-ed page rather than the comics page, because of their regular political commentary. Conservatives have long warred against Doonesbury, and were recently successful in convincing a major printer of Sunday comics sections to refuse to print the strip (see Media bias in the United States). In another case, Dilbert is sometimes found in the business section of a newspaper instead because of the strip's commentary about office politics. The world's longest comic strip is 88.9 metres long and on display at Trafalgar Square as part of the London Comedy Festival. The record was previously 81 metres and held in Florida. The London Cartoon Strip was created by fifteen of Britain's best known cartoonists and depicts the history of London. The Reuben, named for cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is the most prestigious award for U.S. comic strip artists. Reuben awards are presented annually by the National Cartoonists' Society (NCS). Today's comic-strip artists, with the help of the NCS, enthusiastically promote the medium, which is considered to be in decline due to fewer markets and ever-shrinking newspaper space. One particularly humorous example of such promotional efforts is the Great Comic Strip Switcheroonie, held on April Fool's Day, 1997. For that day, dozens of prominent comic-strip artists took over each other's strips. Garfield’s Jim Davis, for example, switched with Blondie’s Stan Drake, while Scott Adams (Dilbert) traded strips with Bil Keane (The Family Circus). Even the United States Postal Service got into the act, issuing a series of commemorative stamps marking the comic-strip centennial in 1996.

Internet comics

The advent of the World Wide Web in the 1990s led to an explosion of amateur webcomics, comic strips created solely for Web sites. Webcomics differ from published comic strips, in that anyone can start his own comic strip and publish it on the Web; there is no longer any need to for a creator to meet the approval of a publisher or syndicate. Currently there are hundreds of webcomics, most of which are low-quality and sporadically updated. However, a number of webcomics have endured, and the best webcomics rival their newspaper and magazine counterparts in terms of quality and quantity. Megatokyo, Penny Arcade, PvP, Sluggy Freelance, and User Friendly are considered to be among the best of the webcomics. The majority of traditional newspaper comic strips now have some Internet presence. Syndicates often provide archives of recent strips on their websites. Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, started a trend by including his e-mail address in each strip.

- List of comic strips
- Comic book
- List of movies based on comic strips
- Webcomic
- Yonkoma - Japanese comic strip

External links

- [http://forums.delphiforums.com/bhob2 Fusebox Vintage Newspaper Comic Strips]
- [http://www.HavenWorks.com/comics/links HavenWorks' list of comic strips available online]
- [http://cartoons.osu.edu/ Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library]
- [http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards2.asp Reuben Awards]
- [http://www.marklansdown.com/pinbacks Comic strip pinbacks]
- [http://www.mainada.net/comics Comics @ Mai'Nada.net - Sketch your own comics online]
- Category:Comics Category:Pop culture ko:연재 만화

Crossword

The crossword is the most common variety of word puzzle in the world. Modern crosswords take the form of a square grid of black and white squares; the aim is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words (or word phrases) reading across and down, by solving clues which yield the words. The black squares (commonly called "blanks") have no letters, and are used to separate words (all contiguous blocks of white squares spell words or phrases). Squares in which answers begin are numbered, left to right, top to bottom. The clues are then referred to by these numbers (ambiguities are resolved by the common practice of referring to clues by both number and direction – for example, "1-Across" or "17-Down"); at the end of the clue the total number of letters is sometimes given for the convenience of the solver, although in many widely distributed American crosswords such as the New York Times and Dell Magazines this is often omitted. The creating of crosswords is sometimes (perhaps facetiously) called cruciverbalism, and a creator may be called a cruciverbalist, setter or compiler.

Types of grid

Dell Magazines Dell Magazines Crossword grids such as those appearing in most North American newspapers and magazines feature solid chunks of white squares, every letter is checked (that is, it is part of an answer reading across and another reading down), and usually each answer is required to contain at least three letters. In such puzzles black squares, used to separate answers, are traditionally limited to about one-sixth of the design. Crossword grids elsewhere, such as in Britain and Australia, have a lattice-like structure, with a higher percentage of black squares, leaving up to half the letters in an answer unchecked. Another tradition in puzzle design (in North America particularly) is that the grid should have 180-degree rotational symmetry, so that its pattern appears the same if the paper is turned upside down. In addition, many weekday puzzles such as the New York Times crossword are 15×15 squares, while weekend puzzles may be 21×21, 23×23 or 25×25. Substantial variants from the usual forms exist. Two of the common ones are barred crosswords which use bold lines between squares (instead of black squares) to separate answers, and circular designs, with answers to be entered either radially or in concentric circles. Free form crosswords have simple designs and are not symmetric. The British-style crossword often is laden with wordplay, and known in the US as a cryptic crossword. This type of crossword was imported in 1968 by composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim in New York magazine. The Atlantic Monthly regularly features a cryptic crossword "puzzler" by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, which combines cryptic clues with diabolically ingenious variations on the construction of the puzzle itself. In both cases, no two puzzles are alike in construction, and the intent of the puzzle authors is to entertain with novelty, not to establish new variations of the crossword genre.

Types of clues

In some crosswords, often called straight or quick, the clues are usually simple definitions for the answers. Some clues may feature anagrams, but these are usually explicitly described as such. Often, a straight clue is not in itself sufficient to distinguish among several possible answers (often synonyms), and the solver must make use of checks to establish the correct answer with certainty. A key point to remember when solving crosswords is that crossword answers and their clues always agree in tense and number. If a clue is in the past tense, then so is the answer: "Traveled on horseback" = RODE, but never RIDE. Similarly, "Family members" would be a valid clue for AUNTS but not UNCLE (since the latter is singular while the clue is plural). Some clue examples:
- The clue "PC key" for a three-letter answer could be ESC, ALT, TAB, or even DEL, but until a check is filled in, giving at least one of the letters, the correct answer cannot be determined.
- A common clue is "Compass point", where the desired answer is one of eight possible abbreviations for a position on a compass, i.e. NNW (for north-northwest) or ESE (for east-southeast). The desired answer is determined by a combination of logic - since the third letter can be only E or W, and the second letter can be only N or S - and a process of elimination using checks. Alternatively, compass point answers are often clued as "XXX to YYY direction", where XXX and YYY are two placenames. For example, SSW might be clued as "New York to Washington direction".
- Abbreviations, use of foreign language, variant spellings, or other unusual word tricks are indicated in the clue. A crossword creator might choose to clue the answer SEN (as in the abbreviation for "Senator") as "Washington bigwig: Abbr." or "Member of Cong.", with the abbreviation in the clue indicating that the answer is to be similarly abbreviated. The use of "Var." indicates the answer is a variant spelling (e.g., EMEER instead of EMIR), while the use of foreign language or a foreign place name within the clue indicates that the answer is also in a foreign language. For example, ETE (French for "summer") might be clued as "Summer, in the Sorbonne" while ROMA could be clued as "Italia's capital."
- Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the easiest in a given puzzle, and a good place to start solving. Ex.: "__ Boleyn" = ANNE
- A question mark at the end of clue usually signals that the clue/answer combination involves some sort of pun. Ex.: "Grateful?" = ASHES (since a grate might be full of them).
- Most widely distributed American crosswords today (e.g., The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, etc.) also contain "speech"-like answers, i.e., entries in the puzzle grid that try to replicate our everyday colloquial language. In such a puzzle, one might see phrases such as WHAT'S UP, AS IF, or WHADDYA WANT.

Crossword themes

Many crossword puzzles contain a "theme," consisting of a number of long entries (generally 3-5 in a standard 15x15-square "weekday"-size puzzle) that share some relationship, type of pun, or other element in common. As an example, the New York Times crossword of April 26, 2005 written by Sarah Keller and edited by Will Shortz, featured five theme entries ending in the different parts of a tree: SQUAREROOT TABLELEAF WARDROBETRUNK BRAINSTEM BANKBRANCH The above is an example of a category theme, where the theme elements are all members of the same set. Other types of themes include quote themes, featuring a famous quote broken up into parts to fit in the grid (and usually clued as "Quote, part 1", "Quote, part 2", etc.); rebus themes, where multiple letters or even symbols occupy a single square in the puzzle (e.g., BERMUDAΔ); pun-based themes (perhaps the most common), where all the answers are similar puns; commemorative themes, based on a particular event or person (often published on an appropriate anniversary); and other less common types.

Quiz crosswords

In quiz crosswords, the clues take the form of questions. These may be on general knowledge or on a single topic.

The first entries

In the Daily Telegraph newspaper (Sunday and Daily, UK), it has become a convention also to make the first few words (usually 2 or 3 but can be up to 5) into a phrase. Examples of this could be Dimmer, Allies would make Demoralise or You, ill, never, whore, Cologne would become You will never walk alone. This generally aids the solver in that if they have one of the words then they can attempt to guess the phrase. This has also become popular among other British newspapers.

Indirect clues

In many puzzles, some clues are to be taken metaphorically or in some sense other than their literal meaning. Depending on the puzzle creator or the editor, this might be represented either with a question mark at the end of the clue or with a modifier such as "maybe" or "perhaps". Examples:
- The clue "Half a dance?" for a 3-letter answer might be CAN (half of CANCAN) or CHA (half of CHACHA).
- The clue "Pay addition, perhaps", without the modifier might be something akin to "BONUS". However, with the modifier, the answer could be "OLA" (the addition of OLA to PAY is the word PAYOLA).

Cryptic crosswords

In cryptic crosswords, often called cryptics for short, the clues are puzzles in themselves. A typical clue contains a definition, located at the beginning or end of the clue, and wordplay, which describes the word indicated by the definition, and which may not parse logically, but should be at least grammatical. Cryptics usually give the length of their answers in parentheses after the clue. In cryptics, answers are given in all capitals, with certain signs indicating different wordplay. Cryptics have a steeper "learning curve" than standard crosswords as learning to interpret the different types of cryptic clues can take some practice. In Great Britain, cryptics are the most common variety of crossword puzzle. There are several types of wordplay used in cryptics. One is straightforward definition substitution using parts of a word. For example, in one puzzle by Mel Taub, the answer IMPORTANT is given the clue "To bring worker into the country may prove significant". The explanation is that to "import" means "to bring into the country"; the "worker" is a worker ant; and "significant" means "important." Note that in a cryptic clue, there is almost always only one answer that fits both the definition and the wordplay, so that when you see the answer, you know it is the right answer, although it can sometimes be a challenge to figure out why it is the right answer. A good cryptic clue should exactly explain the answer, while at the same time giving a meaningful surface reading. In our sample clue, a more exact wordplay phrasing would be "To bring into the country a worker may prove significant", since "ant" follows "import:" IMPORT + ANT. Note however, that the surface reading is then not as smooth as the original. Some cryptic clue devotees would also be upset by the extraneous words like may prove. Another type of wordplay used in cryptics is homophones. For example, the clue "Counts spots aloud (4)" is solved by ADDS. The definition is "Counts", meaning "adds". The solver must guess that "aloud" here indicates a homophone, and so a homophone of a synonym of "spots" is the answer. In this case "spots" means advertisements, or ads, in mainly British usage. ADS = "ADDS". Another wordplay commonly used is the double meaning. For example, "Cat's tongue (7)" is solved by PERSIAN, since this is a type of cat, as well as a tongue, or language. Cryptics very often include anagrams. The clue "Ned T.'s seal cooked is rather bland (5,4)" is solved by NEEDS SALT. The meaning is "rather bland", and the word "cooked" is a hint to the solver that this clue is an anagram (the letters have been "cooked", or jumbled up). "Nedtsseal" (ignoring all punctuation, of course) is an anagram for NEEDS SALT. Besides "cooked", other common hints that the clue contains an anagram are words such as "scrambled," "mixed up," "confused," "baked," "twisted," etc. In answer sheets, an anagram is commonly indicated by an asterisk. Embedded words are another common trick in cryptics. The clue "Bigotry aside, I'd take him (9)" is solved by APARTHEID. The meaning is "bigotry", and the wordplay explains itself, indicated subtly by the word "take" (since one word "takes" another): "aside" means APART and I'd is simply ID, so APART and ID "take" HE (which is, in cryptic crossword usage, a perfectly good synonym for "him"). The answer would be elucidated as: APART(HE)ID. And then there is the oft-used hidden clue, where the answer is literally hidden in the text of the clue itself. For example, "Made a dug-out, buried, and passed away (4)" is solved by DEAD. The answer is written in the clue: "maDE A Dug-out". The word "buried" is there to indicate to the solver that the answer is literally embedded within the clue somewhere. Actually, there is no end to the wordplay found in cryptic clues. Backward words can be indicated by words like "climbing", "retreating", or "coming down"; letters can be replaced or removed with indicators such as "nothing rather than excellence" (meaning replace E in a word with O); the letter I can be indicated by "me" or even "one;" the letter O can be indicated by "nought" or even "a ring" (since it visually resembles one); the letter X might be clued as "a cross", or "ten" (as in the Roman numeral), or "an illiterate's signature", or even "sounds like your old flame" (homophone for "ex"); and so forth. Another example is this: "senselessness" is solved by "e", because "e" is what remain after removing (less) "ness" from "sense". With the different types of wordplay and definition possibilities, the composer of a cryptic puzzle is often presented with many different possible ways to clue a given answer. Most desirable are clues that are clean but deceptive, with a smooth surface reading. The Usenet newsgroup rec.puzzles.crosswords has a number of clueing competitions where contestants all submit clues for the same word and a judge picks the best one. In principle, each cryptic clue is usually sufficient to uniquely define its answer, so it should be possible to answer each clue without use of the grid. In practice, the use of checks is an important aid to the solver. (Cryptic crosswords are not to be confused with cryptograms, a different form of puzzle based on a substitution cipher.)

Translation crosswords

In Translation Crosswords, the clue is given in a foreign language. This makes them an entertaining vocabulary trainer. An example of [http://www.translationcrosswords.com Translation Crosswords]created by David Andersen, uses headlines from newspapers as a part of the clue. This enables the user to see the word used in a context, while also being introduced to newspapers in the language he/she wants to learn. A more basic kind of Translation Crosswords can be seen on the pages of [http://www.yourdictionary.com/crossword/index.html yourDictionary].

Other puzzles

Any type of puzzle may contain cross-references, where the answer to one clue forms part of another clue, in which it is referred to by number. When an answer is composed of multiple or hyphenated words, some crosswords (especially in Britain) indicate the structure of the answer, while others do not. For example, "(3,5)" after a clue would indicate that the answer is composed of a three letter word followed by a five letter word.

Double clue lists

Sometimes newspapers publish one grid which can be filled by solving either of two lists of clues - usually a straight and a cryptic. The solutions given by the two lists may be different, in which case the solver must decide at the outset which list they are going to follow, or the solutions may be identical, in which case the straight clues offer additional help for a solver having difficulty with the cryptic clues. For example, the solution APARTHEID might be clued as "Bigotry aside, I'd take him (9)" in the cryptic list, and "Racial separation (9)" in the straight list. Every issue of GAMES Magazine contains a large crossword with a double clue list, under the title The World's Most Ornery Crossword; both lists are straight and arrive at the same solution, but one list is significantly more challenging than the other. The solver is prompted to fold a page in half, showing the grid and the hard clues; the easy clues are tucked inside the fold, to be referenced if the solver gets stuck. A variant of the double clue list is commonly called Siamese Twins: two matching grids are provided, and the two clue lists are merged together such that the two clues for each entry are displayed together in random order. Determining which clue is to be applied to which grid is part of the puzzle.

Example

Here is a small example of a regular crossword, to illustrate the format:

Across

1. Sheep sound (3)
3. Neither liquid nor gas (5)
5. Humour (3)

Down

1. Road passenger transport (3)
2. Permit (5)
4. Shortened form of Dorothy (3) The solution to this crossword is:

Major crossword variants

These are common crossword variants which vary more from a regular crossword than just an unusual grid shape or unusual clues; these crossword variants may be based on different solving principles and require a different solving skill set.

Cipher crosswords

Published under various trade names, and not to be confused with cryptic crosswords (which happens due to ciphertext puzzles being commonly known as cryptograms), a cipher crossword replaces the clues for each entry with clues for each white cell of the grid - an integer from 1 to 26 inclusive is printed in the corner of each. The objective, as any other crossword, is to determine the proper letter for each cell; in a cipher crossword, the twenty-six numbers serve as a cipher for those letters: cells that share matching numbers are to be filled with matching letters, and no two numbers stand for the same letter. All resultant entries must be valid words. Usually, at least one number's letter is already given at the outset. Cipher crosswords are always pangrammatic (all letters of the alphabet appear in the solution). As these puzzles are closer to codes than quizzes, they require a different skillset; many basic cryptographic techniques, such as determining likely vowels, are key to solving these. Given their pangrammaticity, a frequent start point is locating where 'Q' and 'U' must appear.

Diagramless crosswords

In a diagramless crossword, often called a diagramless for short or a skeleton crossword in the UK, the grid offers overall dimensions, but the locations of most of the clue numbers and black squares are unspecified. A successful solver must deduce not only the answers to individual clues, but how to fit together partially built-up clumps of answers into larger clumps with properly set black squares. Some of these puzzles follow the traditional symmetry rule, others have left-right mirror symmetry, and still others have greater levels of symmetry or outlines suggesting other shapes. If the symmetry of the grid has been given, then the solver can use it to his/her advantage. A variation is the Blankout puzzle in the Daily Mail Weekend magazine. In this version, the clues are not individually numbered, but given in terms of the rows and columns of the grid, which has rectangular symmetry. The list of clues gives hints of the locations of some of the black squares even before one starts solving them, e.g. there must be a black square where a row having no clues intersects a column having no clues.

Fill-in crosswords

A fill-in crossword features a grid and the full list of words to be entered in that grid, but does not give explicit clues for where each word goes. The challenge is figuring out how to integrate the list of words together within the grid so that all intersections of words are valid. Fill-in crosswords may often have somewhat longer word length than regular crosswords to make the crossword easier for the solver, as fitting together several long words is easier than fitting together several short words because there are fewer possibilities for how the long words intersect together.

Crossnumbers

A crossnumber is the exact numerical analogy of a crossword, in which the solutions to the clues are numbers instead of words. Clues are usually arithmetical expressions, but can also be general knowledge clues to which the answer is a number or year. The Daily Mail Weekend magazine used to feature crossnumbers under the misnomer Number Word. This kind of puzzle should not be confused with a different puzzle that the Daily Mail refers to as Cross Number.

Crosswords in non-English languages

Although the crossword is an English-language invention and predominately an English-language exercise, crosswords are not uncommon in other countries, with clues and entries in other languages. It is common for diacritical markings in such languages to be ignored when placing entries into the solution grid. French language crosswords are smaller and not necessarily square: usually 8–13 rows and columns, totalling 81–130 squares. They need not be symmetric and two-letter words are allowed, unlike in most English-language puzzles. Compilers strive to minimize use of black squares. 10% is typical; Georges Perec compiled many 9×9 grids for Le Point with 4 or even 3. [http://homepage.urbanet.ch/cruci.com/textes/histoire6.htm] Answers are printed in upper case letters. This ensures a proper name can have its initial capital letter checked with a non-capitalizable letter in the intersecting clue. In French-language puzzles, diacritics are omitted for similar reasons (e.g. the initial Ê of answer ÊTRE could double as the final É of CONGÉ when written ETRE and CONGE). German language crosswords usually don't number the clues, instead they are found in small print in boxes embedded within the puzzle itself, with a little arrow indicating in which direction from that box the answer is to be written. Those "clue boxes" are usually the only or almost the only "black squares" in German crosswords. When filling in the puzzle, only capital letters are used, the umlauts ä, ö, ü, are dissolved into ae, oe, ue, and ß is dissolved into ss. Particularly curious is the Japanese language crossword; due to the writing system of that nation's language, one syllable (typically katakana) is entered into each white cell of the grid rather than one letter, resulting in the typical solving grid seeming rather small in comparison to those of other languages. Even cipher crosswords have a Japanese equivalent, although pangrammaticity does not apply.

History

katakana On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New York World which embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle, which can be seen at [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html this website], is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. Later, the name of the puzzle was changed to "crossword." A more complete history of the crossword puzzle, as well as a reprint of that very first crossword, can be found at a page maintained by New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html here]. Crossword puzzles became a regular weekly feature in the World. The first book of crossword puzzles, however, did not appear until 1924, published by Simon and Schuster. The book was an instant hit and crossword puzzles became the craze of 1924. The term crossword first appeared in a dictionary in 1930. Today, there are many popular crosswords distributed in American newspapers and online. The most prestigious (and among the most difficult to solve) are the New York Times crossword puzzles, which have been running continuously since 1942. The first editor of the Times crossword was Margaret Farrar, who was editor from 1942 to 1969. Since 1993, they have been edited by Will Shortz, the fourth crossword editor in Times history. In addition to editing the Times puzzles, in 1978 Shortz founded and still directs the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

History in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Sunday Express newspaper published the first British crossword on November 2, 1924. Several crossword experts were recruited into code-breaking activities during World War II at Bletchley Park in England.

Crossword puzzles in World War II

In 1944, Allied security officers were disturbed by the appearance, in a series of crossword puzzles published in The Daily Telegraph, of words that happened to be secret code names for military operations. "Utah" (the code name for one of the landing sites) appeared in a puzzle published on May 2, 1944. Subsequent puzzles included the words "Omaha" and "Mulberry" (the highly-secret artificial harbours). On June 2, just four days before the invasion, the puzzle included both the words "Neptune" (the naval operations plan) and "Overlord". That was the last straw, and the author of the puzzles, a schoolteacher named Leonard Dawe, was arrested and interrogated. The investigators finally concluded that the appearance of the words was just a coincidence. The event has been so described in histories, and has even been used as an illustration of how seemingly meaningful events can arise out of pure coincidence. According to [http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature1/ National Geographic], though, in 1984 the schoolteacher revealed that one of his students had picked up the words while hanging around army camps. When the teacher had asked his students to provide unusual words as ingredients for his puzzles, he had innocently passed them on.

Notation

A notation has evolved to allow crosswords to be rendered compactly, and enjoyed by the blind or partially sighted. It consists of giving the locations of the black squares in each row as letters (A=1,B=2, etc.), e.g. for the example crossword above: # D E # B D E # # A B D # A B Although the numbering scheme could be consistently applied from this information, it is customary to quote the starting square of each clue in (number-letter) format to assist the solver.

External links

Thesauri

Wikinews features:

daily crosswords

- [http://www.Crossdown.com/ Crossdown software for crosswords, acrostics and cryptograms]
- [http://jaywalker.ca/Jaywalker_Magazine/Crosswords/crosswords.htm Online Crosswords]
- [http://www.TranslationCrosswords.com/ Daily Translation Crosswords]
- [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thehinduxword/ The Hindu Crossword Yahoogroup]
- [http://vinodraman.blogspot.com/ Daily solutions to The Hindu Crossword by Vinod Raman]
- [http://www.crossword-puzzles.co.uk Crossword Puzzles]
- [http://www.todayscrossword.info Play one of seven Online Daily Crossword Puzzle Games]
- [http://www.primate.wisc.edu/people/hamel/cp.html Crosswords (by Ray Hamel)]
- [http://goobix.com/crosswords/ Goobix Crossword Puzzles] (3x3 and 4x4 dimensions)
- [http://membres.lycos.fr/jeuxdelettres/ Crossword Puzzles for students of English]
- [http://wims.unice.fr/wims/wims.cgi?module=tool/lang/wfind.en Online word searching tool]
- [http://www.oneacross.com OneAcross.com Crossword Clue Solver]
- [http://www.andyscouse.com/pages/wordfind.htm WordFind - program to find words, anagrams and palindromes]
- [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/ American Crossword Puzzle Tournament]
- [http://word-games.yoogi.com/ccw/ Coded Cross-words] Cipher crosswords
- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_174b.html Why are crossword puzzles symmetrical?] (from The Straight Dope)
- [http://www.cruciverb.com/ Website for those interested in creating their own crosswords]
- [http://www.ihsan.biz/#xword Mindgames Xword (freeware)] Create crossword puzzles in a flexible manner
- [http://barelybad.com/crossword.htm Monograph on crosswords]
- [http://abs.kulichki.com/crossw/ Russian crosswords site] Category:Word games Category:Puzzle games Category:1920s fads ja:クロスワードパズル

Horoscope

In astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the planets, other celestial bodies, and sensitive angles at the time of any event, such as a person's birth. The term horoscope is derived from Greek words meaning, "a look at the hours." Other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, natus, birth chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, nativity, cosmogram, Vitasphere, soulprint, radical chart, radix, or simply chart, among others. natal chart) - Y2K Chart -- This particular chart is calculated for January 1, 2000 at 12:01:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time in New York City, New York, USA. (Longitude: 074W00'23" - Latitude: 40N42'51")]]

Introduction

Opinions about the validity of astrology, or its classification as a pseudoscience, vary. ...are considered in the...to erect a formatted horoscope. This diagram, called a chart, is a stylized map of the heavens. The Sun or the Earth is placed in the centre (depending on whether the ephemeris was heliocentric or geocentric) with the remaining elements around the outside: the planets, the lunar nodes, the ascendant and midheaven, and the houses. Then the angles between the planets are determined. These angles are the astrological aspects. Different systems of tri-secting arcs produce houses of different size. In common usage, the word horoscope also refers to the astrologer's interpretation of the astrological chart. In particular, many newspapers and magazines carry horoscope columns, describing planetary positions and influences for the various astrological signs. Most astrologers regard those as nearly worthless, since a horoscope is actually highly personalized, and cannot be generalized to thousands of readers. A definition of a horoscope is: the illustration of the position of the sun, moon, and planets from a given location on earth, usually at birth. Which simply means, where everything in the universe was in relation to everything else when a person was born. The earliest known horoscope was from 409 B.C. where it started to spread in the East with the conquerors of the Roman Empire. From there, it started spreading all the way across to Western Europe, where it was almost considered a science itself by all learned people.

How to cast a horoscope

In order to understand and visualize the spherical geometry of the construction of a horoscope, we need to begin with some basic terms. The techniques described here belong to western astrology. # The native refers to the time and place of the event being charted, and considered to be at the centre of the celestial sphere. This term is a general one that includes not only birth times as they are commonly understood, but any event for which a horoscope may be drawn. # The celestial sphere is a sphere of arbitrary radius upon which the items appearing on the horoscope are projected without regard to their distance from the native. # The plane of the equator is the plane of the earth's equator projected into space. # The plane of the ecliptic is defined by the orbits of the earth and the sun. For practical purposes the plane of the equator and the plane of the ecliptic maintain a constant inclination to each other of approximately 23.5°. # The plane of the horizon is centred on the native, and is tangential to the earth at that point. In a sphere whose radius is infinitely large this plane may be treated as nearly equivalent to the parallel plane with its centre at the earth's center. This greatly simplifies understanding the geometry of the horoscope. Some writers on astrology have considered the effects of parallax, but most would agree that (apart from that of the Moon) they are relatively minor, and are beyond the scope of this article. # The axis of the plane of the horizon has end points above, the zenith, and below, the nadir. # The zodiac refers to a band on the celestial sphere containing the signs. It is centered on the ecliptic, and its width is sufficient to allow for the fact that the orbits of the moon and all other planets are not parallel to the plane of the ecliptic. It is approximately 18º wide. # The medium coeli or mid-heaven is the point on the ecliptic that is furthest above the plane of the horizon; its opposite point is known as the imum coeli. For events occurring where the planes of the eccliptic and the horizon coincide the limiting position for these points is at 90º from the ascendant. # The ascendant is the eastern point where the ecliptic and horizon intersect. Its opposite point in the west is the descendant. In draughting a horoscope the ascendant is traditionally placed as the left-hand side point of the chart. During the course of a day, because of the earth's rotation, the entire circle of the ecliptic will pass through the ascendant and will be advanced by about 1º. This provides us with the term rising sign, which is the sign of the zodiac on the native's ascendant. # The sun sign is the sign of the zodiac in which the sun is located for the native. This is the single astrological fact most familiar to people. If an event occurs at sunrise the ascendant and sun sign will be the same; other rising signs can then be estimated at approximately two hour intervals from there. # The houses are a series of twelve divisions of the plane of the ecliptic. Astrologers have devised at least nine different ways of calculating these house divisions. Just as this article does not seek to discuss the validity of astrology, it is also beyond its scope to attempt to resolve questions which may be disputed among astrologers. The use of a particular system of house division is often more a result of what calculations are available than of any conscious consideration of one system's merits over that of another. Similarly, explanations in this article based on the Equal House System are not meant to give any theoretical preference to that system; it is simply the system whose geometry is easiest to understand. In the case of the Equal House System the ecliptic is divided into twelve equal houses of 30º each. The first house begins at the ascendant and the others are numbered counterclockwise from that point. The first six are therefore below the horizon, and the other six are above. The positions of these houses remains fixed relative to the native. The signs and planets all move through the twelve houses during the course of a day, and the planets move through the signs over the course of months or years. # Most Western Astrologers use the Tropical Zodiac in which the astrological year begins with the vernal equinox, when the sun crosses the celestial equator and enters the zodiac sign of Aries. Many students confuse the difference between Sidereal Constellations and Zodiac Signs. Because of a "wobble" in the earth's axis of rotation over a period of about 26,000 years the point at which the vernal equinox advances in the sky rate is 0 deg, 0 min, 50.23 secs a year. Precession of the equinox is roughly 5 minutes of a degree every 6 years. Sidereal Astrologers use constellations, though there's no validating research for this preference. Tropical Astrologers use Zodiac Signs rather than arbitrary constellations. # A cusp is the boundary between two signs or houses. For some the cusp includes a small portion of the two signs or houses under consideration. The chart thus begins with a framework of 12 houses. Upon this the signs of the zodiac are superimposed. In an equal house system the cusp between any two houses will fall at the same degree for each of the signs. Thus for a native whose ascendant is at 12º of Leo, the second house will begin at 12º of Virgo, the third at 12º Libra, and so on. In house systems that take into consideration the effects of the angle of intersection between the planes of the horizon and the ecliptic, the calculations are more complicated. For these calculations it is essential to know the latitude of the event. Tables are available for these calculations, but they are now normally calculated by computer. Most computer programs allow the user to choose from a variety of house systems. The most commonly used is the Placidus house system, though most research Astrologers find that the Koch domification system gets best results. Longitude is also necessary in order to determine the position of the ascendant. This is because charts use Local Time. Time zones were developed in the 19th century as a by-product of the development of railways. This permitted train schedules to be written based on the certainty that any two places in a time zone used the same time. In reality there is an hour's difference between points at the beginning and end of a 15º average time zone. For political reasons the time zones cannot all be the same size. It would not be practical for a time zone boundary to cut through the middle of a town or small country. Time zone boundaries were also the subject of political manipulation in the Pacific islands when they sought to be the first places on earth to see the new millennium. Adjustments are therefore made for the difference in one's actual longitude and the longitude of the nominal meridian associated with clock time. railways as most commonly used in Western Astrology]] Having established the relative positions of the signs in the houses, the horoscopist positions the sun, moon and planets at their rightful celestial longitudes. Some astrologers also take note of minor planetary bodies, fixed stars, asteroids (for example, Chiron) and other mathematically calculated points and angles such as the Ascendant (ASC), the MC, the DC, and the IC, the Vertex, Equatorial Ascendant, etc. Many astrologers also use what are commonly referred to as Arabic Parts (or Greek Lots), the most famous of which is the Part of Fortune (Pars Fortuna). To complete the horoscope the astrologer will consider the aspects or relative angles between pairs of planets. Certain aspects are considered more important than others. Those generally recognized by the astrological community are Conjunction (0º), Opposition (180º), Square (90º), Trine (120º), Sextile (60º), Semi-Square (45º), Sesqisquare (135º), and Quincunx (150º). Other aspects are used by some astrologers. Understandably these aspects are more significant when they are exact, but they are considered to function within an orb of influence, the size of which varies according to the importance of each aspect. Thus conjunctions are believed to operate with a larger orb than sextiles. Most modern astrologers use an orb of 8º or less for aspects involving the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter; and smaller orbs for the other points. Reference: Dona Marie Lorenz, Tools of Astrology: houses, Topanga, Eomega Grove Press, 1973 Category:Astrology category:divination

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Southern region of the United States. The Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. It was the first state to secede from the Union to found the Confederate States of America. The state is named after King Charles II of England, as Carolus is Latin for Charles. As of 2004, the state's population is 4,198,068. Several ships in the United States Navy have been named USS South Carolina in honor of this state.

History and government

Main article: History of South Carolina The colony of Carolina was settled by English settlers sent by the Lords Proprietors in 1670, followed by French Huguenots. The Carolina upcountry was settled largely by Scotch-Irish migrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia. Carolina became a royal colony in 1712. North Carolina was split off in 1729. The state declared its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government on March 15, 1776. On February 5, 1778 South Carolina became the first state to ratify the first constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation. South Carolina seceded from the United States on December 20, 1860. The rest of the Southern states seceded in the following months; together, they organized themselves as the Confederate States of America. President James Buchanan took little action, preferring to let the newly elected President Abraham Lincoln decide the matter. On April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries began shelling Fort Sumter, which stands on an island in Charleston harbor, thus precipitating the Civil War. Students from The Citadel were among those firing the first shots of the war, though Edmund Ruffin is usually credited with firing the first shot. After the American Civil War, South Carolina was reincorporated into the United States during Reconstruction. The state became a hotbed of racial and economic controversy during the Populist and Agrarian movements of the late 1800s. In the 20th century, South Carolina developed a thriving textile industry, converted its agricultural base from cotton to more profitable crops, attracted large military bases and, most recently, attracted European manufacturers.

State Government

South Carolina's state government consists of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. The Governor, elected for a (once) renewable four-year term, heads the Executive branch (some officers of which are elected). The bicameral South Carolina General Assembly consists of the 46-member Senate and the 124-member House of Representatives. The two bodies meet in the South Carolina State House. The Judicial Branch consists of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Circuit Court, Family Court, and other divisions.

Judicial Branch

The Family Court deals with all matters of domestic and family relationships, as well as generally maintaining exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving minors under the age of seventeen, excepting traffic and game law violations. Some criminal charges may come under Circuit Court jurisdiction. The Circuit Court is the general jurisdiction court for South Carolina, comprised of the Civil Court, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of General Sessions, which is the criminal court. The court maintains limited appelate jurisdiction over the Probate Court, Magistrate's Court, Municipal Court, and the Administrative Law Judge Division. The state has sixteen judicial circuits, each with at least one resident circuit judge. The Court of Appeals handles Circuit Court and Family Court appeals, excepting appeals that are within the seven classes of exclusive Supreme Court jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals is selected by the General Assembly for staggered, six-year terms. The Court is comprised of a Chief Judge, and eight associate judges, and may hear cases as the whole Court, or as three panels with three judges each. The Court may preside in any state county. The Supreme Court is South Carolina's highest court. Comprised of the Chief Justice, and four Associate Justices, Supreme Court judges are appointed to ten year terms by the General Assembly. Terms are staggered, and there are no limits on the number of terms a justice may serve. See also List of Governors of South Carolina

Demographics

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2003, South Carolina's population was estimated at 4,147,152 people. The racial makeup of the state is:
- 66.1% White
- 29.5% Black
- 2.4% Hispanic
- 0.9% Asian
- 0.3% Native American
- 1.0% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in South Carolina are African American (29.5%), American (13.9%), German (8.4%), English (8.4%), Irish (7.9%). It is probable that most of those claiming American ancestry are descended from the early Scots-Irish settlers of the upstate region. For most of its history, black slaves made up a large majority of South Carolina's population (as much as 75%). African-Americans still dominate most of the Lowcountry (especially the inland Lowcountry) and much of the Piedmont; areas where cotton, rice, and indigo plantations once dominated the landscape. Whites, primarily of American and British ancestry, live in much of the upstate and in certain urban and suburban areas. 6.6% of South Carolina's population were reported as under 5, 25.2% under 18, and 12.1% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.4% of the population.

Religion

South Carolina, like most other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant Christian, and has a significantly lower percentage of non-religious people than the national average. The religious affiliations of the people of South Carolina are as follows:
- Christian – 92%
- Protestant – 84%
- Baptist – 45%
- Methodist – 15%
- Presbyterian – 5%
- Other Protestant – 19%
- Roman Catholic – 7%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 7%

Famous People from South Carolina

- Shelton Benjamin (1976—) Born and raised in Orangeburg, SC, Shelton Benjamin is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler now working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s RAW brand.
- John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) Born near Abbeville, SC, John Caldwell Calhoun was an American statesman and political philosopher. From 1811 until his death, Calhoun served in the federal government successively as congressman, secretary of war, vice president, senator, secretary of state and again as senator. He has been declared one of the five greatest senators of all time.
- Wilson Casey (1954—) Born in Woodruff, SC of Spartanburg County. Trivia Guinness World Record Holder. Nationally Syndicated Newspaper Trivia Columnist. Appeared as contestant on NBC's "Weakest Link".
- Stephen Colbert has been a correspondent for Comedy Central's The Daily Show for several years. In 2005 he became host of The Colbert Report on the same network. A native of Charleston, he attended Porter Gaud Academy.
- Kevin Garnett The famous "go-to" main man (nicknamed "The Big Ticket") for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the (NBA) National Basketball Asociation was born and raised in Greenville County (Mauldin), SC.
- [http://www.LeezaGibbons.com Leeza Gibbons] of Entertainment Tonight and other Hollywood news shows grew up in Irmo, SC, near the capital of Columbia.
- Andrew Jackson(1767-1845) Born near Lancaster, Jackson was the hero of the Battle of New Orleans and seventh President of the United States 1829 to 1837
- Jesse Jackson Famous political figure that followed in the footsteps of the famous Atlantan Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is originally from Greenville, SC.
- Dr. Ronald McNair (1950–1986) Born in Lake City, SC, Dr. Ronald McNair, was one of the seven astronauts to die when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after take-off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 28, 1986.
- Melanie Thornton (1967–2001 Plane Crash) R&B/Pop/Dance Singer (former La Bouche), born in Charleston, died near Bassersdorf (Zurich), (Switzerland).
- Strom Thurmond (1902–2003) Born in Edgefield, SC, in 1902. He was South Carolina governor from 1947–1951, and in 1954 became the first and only United States Senator to be elected by a write-in vote. In 1997, Sen. Thurmond became the oldest and longest serving member of the U.S. Senate. In January 2003, at age 100, Thurmond retired from public service after his eighth term. He returned to his hometown of Edgefield, where he died June 26, 2003.
- Aaron Tippin grew up in Greenville, SC and started singing as a way to pass time while plowing on his family’s farm. He is now a country music star with several country hits to his credit.
- Shawn Weatherly was Miss Universe 1980, the second woman from SC and fifth from USA to win the title. She also played Jill Riley in Season 1 of Baywatch.
- Vanna White Wheel of Fortune game show hostess since 1982, hails from North Myrtle Beach, SC.
- Althea Gibson(1927-2003) was born in Silver; she was the first black female tennis player to win the Wimbledon singles title.
- Darius Rucker(1966-) Lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish was born in Charleston, SC.
- Francis Marion (1732-1795) Also knows as the "Swamp Fox", he was an American Brigadier General in the American Revolutionary War. The main character in the movie The Patriot is based largely on his exploits. Marion was born in Georgetown, SC.
- Joe Frazier The 1964 Olympic heavyweight champion and the world heavyweight champ 1970-73. Frazier fought Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title three times. He is most remembered for the fight at Madison Square Garden in March 1971, where he defeated Ali to become the undisputed heavyweight champ. Frazier was born in Beaufort, SC on January 12, 1944.
- Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) John Birks 'Dizzy' Gillespie is considered by some as the greatest jazz trumpeter of all time. He was born in Cheraw, SC.
- 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson (1887–1951) Considered to be one of the most outstanding hitters in the history of baseball. His career .356 batting average is the third highest in history, after Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby. He was born in Brandon Mills, SC.
- Eartha Kitt (1927- ) Actress and singer, she is one of only a handful of performers to be nominated twice for both a Tony Award and a Grammy Award as well as for an Emmy. She hails from North, SC.
- Edwin McCain Recording Artist who reached Platinum status with his hit single "I'll Be" from his second album Misguided Roses in 1998. McCain was born in Greenville, SC.
- Andie McDowell American Film Actress and model, most well-known for her roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral,Michael, and Green Card. She was born in Gaffney, SC.
- William Perry Better known as "The Refrigerator", he became a household name after helping lead the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl in the 1985/86 season. He played college football at Clemson University. He continues to live in his hometown of Aiken, SC.
- Charles Townes (1915-) Physicist and astronomer from Greenville, SC. Graduated from Furman University (Greenville, SC). Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Physics for his contributions to the invention of the laser and maser. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of California-Berkeley.

Geography

Charles Townes South Carolina is bounded to the north by North Carolina, to the south and west by Georgia, located across the Savannah River, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. The capital and largest city is Columbia. Other important cities are Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg, Sumter, and Florence. South Carolina is composed of four geographic areas, whose boundaries roughly parallel the northeast/southwest Atlantic coastline. The lower part of the state is the Coastal Plain, which is nearly flat, composed entirely of recent sediments such as sand, silt, and clay. Areas with better drainage make excellent farmland, though some land is swampy. The coastline contains many salt marshes and estuaries, as well as natural ports such as Georgetown and Charleston. An unusual feature of the coastal plain is a large number of Carolina bays, the origins of which are uncertain, though one prominent theory suggests that they were created by a meteor shower. The bays tend to be oval, lining up in a northwest to southeast orientation. Just west of the coastal plain is the Sand Hills region, which is thought to contain remnants of old coastal dunes from a time when the land was sunken, or the oceans were higher. Carolina bays] The Piedmont area contains the roots of an ancient, eroded mountain chain. It tends to be hilly, with thin, stony clay soils, and contains few areas suitable for farming. Much of the Piedmont was once farmed, with little success, and is now reforested. At the edge of the Piedmont is the fall line, where rivers drop to the coastal plain. The fall line was an important early source of water power, and mills built to harness this resource encouraged the growth of several cities, including the capital, Columbia. The larger rivers are navigable up to the fall line, providing a trade route for mill towns. The upper part of the Piedmont is also known as the Foothills. The Cherokee Parkway contains a scenic driving route through this area. Highest in elevation is the Upcountry, containing an escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which continue into North Carolina and Georgia, as part of the southern Appalachian chain. Sassafras Mountain, South Carolina's highest point (elevation 3560 ft.) is located in this area. Also located in the Upcountry is Table Rock State Park and Caesar's Head State Park. The Chattooga River, located on the border between South Carolina and Georgia, is a favorite whitewater rafting destination. See: List of South Carolina counties.

Higher Education

- See :Category:Universities and colleges in South Carolina

External links

- [http://sc.gov/ SC.gov] - The new official website of South Carolina
- [http://www.myscgov.com My SC] - The current official website of South Carolina
- [http://www.discoversouthcarolina.com/ Discover South Carolina] - The official tourism website of South Carolina
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/45000.html US Census Bureau]
- [http://www.southcarolinacountymaps.com/ South Carolina County Maps] Full color maps. List of cities, towns and county seats
- Category:States of the United States ko:사우스캐롤라이나 주 ja:サウスカロライナ州 simple:South Carolina

Sunday

:This article is about the day of the week. For the Australian news and current affairs television programme see Sunday (TV series). Sunday is considered either the first or the seventh day of the week, between Saturday and Monday, and the second day of the weekend in some cultures. It is considered a holiday in lands of Christian tradition, the day Christians most commonly attend Church (Saturday is the other day that some consider to be the Sabbath). In the Gregorian calendar, no century can start on a Sunday. In the Hebrew calendar, no year can start on a Sunday. Any month beginning on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th.

The name Sunday

In English, Sunday gets its name from Sunna, or Sunne the Germanic sun goddess. In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Christians in Seventh-day Adventist, 7th day Church of God, and Seventh Day Baptist churches, and many Messianic Jews believe that Saturday remains the Sabbath ([http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%204:9;&version=47; Hebrews 4:9]). Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and what they call the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow — at least in colloquial language — the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath, though this is not a universal Protestant practice. Quakers traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name. The first historical reference to "the day called Sun" by any involved with Christianity was by Justin Martyr around 150 A.D. However, the Christians in Smyrna, still observed the seventh day Sabbath later than that as can be found in the letter known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Sunday was declared the day of worship by the Council of Nicea circa 325 A.D. Groups that accepted the authority of that Council have kept Sunday ever since.

Position during a week

In many countries, including most of Europe and South America (except Brazil), Sunday is held to be the last day of the week. In others, including the United States and Canada, it is seen as the first day, a traditional view derived from ancient Jews, Egyptians and the Holy Roman Empire. ISO 8601 defines Monday as the first day of the week, making Sunday the seventh.

Common Sunday occurrences

Among Christians (with the exception of seventh-day sabbatarians, such as the denominations listed above) Sunday is considered holy and often a day of rest and church-attendance. In orthodox Christian families and communities some activities are not done, e.g. working, doing something that requires somebody else to work such as buying goods or services (including the use of public transport), driving a car, gardening, washing a car, etc. Exceptions which are allowed are making use of religious services, and, usually, using electricity, and urgent medical matters. In the United States, professional football is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday and Monday (via Monday Night Football) also see some professional games. College football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community. Also in the United States, many federal government buildings are closed on Sunday. Privately owned businesses also tend to close or are open for shorter periods of the day than on other days of the week. Many American and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows on Sunday mornings. Many American and British daily newspapers publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color comic strips, a magazine, and a coupon section. In Ireland, Gaelic football and hurling matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the second and fourth Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.

Named days

- Easter Sunday, the day in the Bible on which Christ rose from the dead, celebrated across the Christian world and regarded as the most important day in the Christian calendar.
- Low Sunday, first Sunday after Easter, is also known as White Sunday, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, and Divine Mercy Sunday.
- Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter.
- Passion Sunday, formerly denoting the fifth Sunday of Lent, since 1970 the term applies to the following Sunday also known as Palm Sunday.
- Septuagesima Sunday, before 1970, was the third from the last Sunday before Lent.
- Stir-up Sunday, is the last Sunday before Advent.
- Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost.
- Laetare Sunday
- Gaudete Sunday
- Whitsunday

Sunday in popular culture

- In the popular rhyme, "The child born on Sunday is fair and wise and good and gay".

External links

- [http://www.fisheaters.com/lordsday.html Keeping the Lord's Day Holy] traditional Catholic practices for Sundays
- [http://www.cogwriter.com/justin.htm Justin Martyr: Saint, Heretic, or Apostate?] Includes comments by Justin Martyr, including the Greek he used for "the day called Sun" Category:Days of the week ko:일요일 ms:Ahad ja:日曜日 simple:Sunday th:วันอาทิตย์

List of holidays by country

This is the list of holidays by country. Most holidays are mentioned although some are not public holidays.

Albania

See Public holidays in Albania for more information.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 5 - Labour Day
- October 19 - Mother Teresa Day
- November 28 - Independence Day
- December 25 - Christmas Day

Armenia

See Public holidays in Armenia.

Australia

For more information see Australian public holidays.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 6 - Epiphany - not a public holiday
- January 26 - Australia Day
- Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday - variable dates
- April 25 - ANZAC Day
- Second Tuesday in May - Adelaide Cup Day (South Australia only)
- Second Monday in June - Queen's Birthday (except Western Australia)
- First Tuesday in November - Melbourne Cup Day (Victoria only, although observed by many businesses across the country)
- November 11 - Remembrance Day- not a public holiday
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day (except South Australia)
- December 26 - Proclamation Day (South Australia only)
- Labour Day (localised holiday, on a different day in each region)
- Show Day (localised holiday, on a different day in each region)

Belgium

See the list at Public holidays in Belgium for the names of the holidays in Flemish and Walloon.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday - variable dates
- May 1 - Labour Day
- Ascension - (variable date)
- Pentecost - (variable date)
- Pentecost Monday - (variable date)
- July 11 - Flemish Community Holiday only held in Flanders
- July 21 - National holiday
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- September 27 - French Community Holiday only held in Wallonia
- November 1 - All Saints
- November 2 - All Souls Day - not a public holiday
- November 11 - Armistice Day
- November 15 - German Community Holiday only held in German speaking areas
- December 25 - Christmas Day

Bhutan

- (lunar) - Offerings Day
- (lunar) - Losay (Lunar New Year)
- May 2 - The King's Birthday
- (lunar) - Shabdrung Kuchoe (birthday of the Shabdrung)
- (lunar) - Third King's Birthday
- June 2 - Coronation Day
- (lunar) - Buddha Parinirvana
- (lunar) - Buddha's First Sermon
- (lunar) - Third King's Death
- (lunar) - Guru Rinpoche's Birthday
- (lunar) - Blessed Rainy Day
- (lunar) - Dashaim
- (lunar) - Buddha Descension Day
- December 17 - National Day
- December 21 - Winter Solstice

Brazil

See Public holidays in Brazil for more information.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 20 - Civil holiday - Rio de Janeiro City only
- April 21 - Tiradentes
- April 23 - Civil holiday - Rio de Janeiro State only
- May 1 - Labour Day
- July 9 - Civil Holiday - São Paulo State only
- September 7 - Independence Day
- September 8 - Civil Holiday - Curitiba City only
- October 12 - Our Lady Aparecida
- November 2 - Finados
- November 15 - Proclamation of the Republic
- December 8 - Immaculate Conception (in some rural areas)
- December 24 - Christmas Eve
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 31 - New Year's Eve : 2010 holidays :
- February 15..17 - Carnival
- April 2 - Paixão de Cristo
- April 4 - Easter
- June 3 - Corpus Christi : 2009 holidays :
- February 23..25 - Carnival
- April 10 - Paixão de Cristo
- April 12 - Easter
- June 11 - Corpus Christi : 2008 holidays :
- February 4..6 - Carnival
- March 21 - Paixão de Cristo
- March 23 - Easter
- May 22 - Corpus Christi : 2007 holidays :
- February 19..21 - Carnival
- April 6 - Paixão de Cristo
- April 8 - Easter
- June 7 - Corpus Christi : 2006 holidays :
- February 27..March 1 - Carnival
- April 14 - Paixão de Cristo
- April 16 - Easter
- June 15 - Corpus Christi : 2005 holidays :
- February 7..9 - Carnival
- March 25 - Paixão de Cristo
- March 27 - Easter
- May 26 - Corpus Christi

Bulgaria

See Public holidays in Bulgaria for more information.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- March 3 - National Holiday
- May 1 - Labour Day
- May 6 - St. George's Day and Army Day
- May 24 - Education and Culture Day and Day of the Slavic Heritage
- September 6 - Day of the Union of Eastern Rumelia with the Bulgarian Principality in 1885
- September 22 - Independence Day
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Second Day of Christmas
- December 31 - New Year's Eve

Canada

See Holidays in Canada for a full list of holidays.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday - variable dates
- First Monday on or before May 24 - Victoria Day
- June 24 - St. John the Baptist Day - Quebec only
- July 1 - Canada Day
- First Monday in August - Civic Holiday - most provinces
- First Monday in September - Labour Day
- Second Monday in October - Thanksgiving Day
- November 11 - Remembrance Day
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day

Chile

See Holidays in Chile for a full list of holidays.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- March/April - Good Friday
- March/April - Easter
- May 1 - Labour Day
- May 21 - Navy Day
- June - Corpus Christi
- June 27 (29) - Saint Peter and Saint Paul
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- September 18 - Independence Day
- October 12 (10) - Columbus Day
- November 1 - All Saints
- December 8 - Immaculate Conception
- December 25 - Christmas Day

China

Traditional holidays:
- Month 1 Day 1 - Chinese Lunar New Year
- Month 1 Day 15 - Lantern Festival
- April 4/April 5 - Qing Ming Jie
- Month 5 Day 5 - Dragon Boat
- Month 7 Day 7 - Qi Xi
- Month 7 Day 15 - Ghost Festival
- Month 8 Day 15 - Mid-Autumn Festival
- Month 9 Day 9 - Double Ninth Festival Holidays in People's Republic of China:
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 2 - New Year's Day Holiday
- May 1-May 3 - Labour Day
- July 1 - CPC Founding Day
- August 1 - Army Day
- October 1-October 3 - National Day Holidays in Taiwan (Republic of China): (See Holidays in Taiwan for a full list).
- January 1 - New Year's Day Holiday
- January 3 - Bank Holiday
- January 31 - Chinese New Year's Eve
- February 1-February 3 - Chinese New Year's Holiday
- February 28 - Peace Memorial Day
- April 5 - Tomb Sweeping Day
- July 1 - Bank Holiday
- October 10 - Double Tenth Day
- October 25 - Retrosession Day
- December 25 - Constitution Day See also:
- Chinese calendar
- Public holidays in Hong Kong
- Public holidays in Macau

Cyprus

See Holidays in Cyprus for the complete list.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday - variable dates
- March 25 - Greek Independence Day
- April 1 - Cyprus National Day
- May 1 - Labour Day
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- October 1 - Cyprus Independence Day
- October 1 - Independence Day
- October 28 - Greek National Day
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day

Denmark

See Holidays in Denmark for a complete list of holidays.
- June 5 - Constitution Day

Egypt

- January 7 - Coptic Christmas Day
- April 25 - Day of Sinai Liberation (observed in the Sinai only)
- May 1 - Labour Day
- June 18 - Evacuation Day
- July 23 - Revolution Day
- August 15 - Flooding of the Nile
- October 6 - Armed Forces Day
- October 24 - Suez Victory Day
- December 23 - Victory Day
- Eid ul-Adha - variable date
- Eid ul-Fitr - variable date
- Easter Sunday and Easter Monday - variable date
- Islamic New Year - variable date In addition, the following holidays are reserved for observance by Copts, though are not national holidays:
- September 11 - Coptic New Year's Day

Estonia

Holidays in 2006
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- February 24 - Independence Day
- April 14 - Good Friday - variable date
- April 16 - Easter Day - variable date
- May 1 - Spring Day
- June 4 - Whitsunday - variable date
- June 23 - Victory Day
- June 24 - Midsummer Day
- August 20 - Day of Restoration of Independence
- December 24 - Christmas Eve
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day

Finland

See Holidays in Finland


Date	English Name	Local Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year's Day	Uudenvuodenpäivä
January 6	Epiphany	Loppiainen
Moveable Friday	Good Friday	Pitkäperjantai	The Friday before Easter Sunday
Moveable Sunday	Easter Sunday	Pääsiäispäivä
Moveable Monday	Easter Monday	2. Pääsiäispäivä	The day after Easter Sunday
May 1	May Day	Vappu	See Walpurgis Night
Moveable Thursday	Ascension Day	Helatorstai	40 days after Easter
Moveable Sunday	Pentecost	Helluntaipäivä	50 days after Easter
Friday between June 19 and June 25	Midsummer Eve	Juhannusaatto	Non official - however a de facto full holiday
Saturday between June 20 and June 26	Midsummer Day	Juhannuspäivä
Saturday between October 31 and November 6	All Saints' Day	Pyhäinpäivä	Moved from November 1
December 6	Independence day	Itsenäisyyspäivä
December 24	Christmas Eve	Jouluaatto	Non official - however a de facto full holiday
December 25	Christmas Day	Joulupäivä
December 26	Boxing Day	2. Joulupäivä or Tapaninpäivä
All Sundays			Official holidays - names follow the Liturgical year

France

See Holidays in France for a complete list.
- February 2 - Candlemas - not a public holiday
- July 14 - Bastille Day
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary

Germany

See Holidays in Germany.

Greece

- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 6 - Epiphany Day
- March 25 - Greek Independence Day
- Shrove Monday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Holy Spirit Day - variable dates
- May 1 - Labour Day
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- October 28 - Greek National Day
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day

Georgia

See Public holidays in Georgia

Gibraltar

- January 3 - New Year's Day
- March 14 - Commonwealth Day
- March 25 - Good Friday
- March 28 - Easter Monday
- May 2 - May Day
- May 30 - Spring Bank Holiday
- June 13 - Queen's Birthday
- August 29 - Late Summer Bank Holiday
- September 12 - Gibraltar National Day ; But Gibraltar and 10 September pages say it is on 10 September, and National Day says 2nd Monday in March...
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day Source: Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce

Hungary

See Public holidays in Hungary.

India

See Holidays in India for a complete list.
- January 26 - Republic Day
- August 15 - Independence Day
- October 2 - Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi

Indonesia

See Public holidays in Indonesia for a complete list.
- August 17 - Independence Day

Iran

See holidays in Iran.

Ireland

See public holidays in the Republic of Ireland.

Italy

See Holidays in Italy for a complete list.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 6 - Epiphany
- April 21 - Rome's foundation (in Rome only)
- April 25 - Liberation Day
- June 2 - Anniversary of the Republic
- June 29 - St. Peter and Saint Paul (in Rome only)
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- November 1 - All Saints' Day
- November 4 - The Victory in WWI
- December 8 - Immaculate Conception
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - St. Stephen's Day
- December 31 - New Year's Eve

Japan

See Holidays of Japan.

Latvia

See Holidays in Latvia.

Luxembourg

- June 23 - National Day

Malaysia

- New Year's Day (January 1)
- Chinese New Year (late January to early February)
- Labour Day - Workers' Day (May 1)
- Wesak Day (mostly May)
- King's Birthday (first Saturday of June)
- National Day (August 31)
- Deepavali (late October to early November)
- Christmas "Drifting" Holidays
- Hari Raya Puasa
- Hari Raya Haji
- Awal Muharram
- Prophet Muhammad's Birthday See Holidays in Malaysia for a complete list.

Mexico

- Día de la Constitución (February 5)
- Natalicio de Benito Juárez (March 21)
- Día del Trabajo (May 1)
- Cinco de Mayo (May 5)
- Dieciséis de Septiembre (September 16), Mexican independence day
- Día de la Revolución (November 20) See Holidays and celebrations in Mexico.

The Netherlands

- Queen's day (April 30)
- Remembrance of the dead (May 4)
- Liberation day (May 5) See the complete list of public holidays in the Netherlands.

New Zealand

- New Year's Day and the day following. (January 1 and January 2) (Monday-ised)
- Waitangi Day (February 6) - The day the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. (Has also been known as New Zealand Day)
- Easter - Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday
- ANZAC Day (also Australia) (April 25)
- Queen's Birthday (First Monday in June)
- Labour Day (Fourth Monday in October)
- Christmas Day and Boxing Day (December 25 and December 26) (Monday-ised)
- Provincial Anniversary Day. Date varies depending on locality. (most are Monday-ised) See Holidays in New Zealand.

North Korea

See Public holidays in North Korea.

Norway

See Holidays in Norway.

Philippines

Poland

See Holidays in Poland for background information.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- Easter Sunday
- Easter Monday
- May 1 - State Holiday
- May 3 - Constitution Day
- Pentecost Sunday
- Corpus Christi
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- November 1 - All Saints' Day
- November 11 - Independence Day
- December 25 - 1st day of Christmas
- December 26 - 2nd day of Christmas

Portugal

See Public holidays in Portugal for more information.
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- Mardi Gras
- Good Friday
- Easter
- April 25 - Carnation Revolution
- May 1 - Labour Day
- Corpus Christi
- June 10 - National Day
- August 15 - Assumption of Mary
- October 5 - Proclamation of the Republic
- November 1 - All Saints' Day
- December 1 - Restoration of Independence
- December 8 - Immaculate Conception
- December 25 - Christmas Day

Romania

- 1-2 January (New Year)
- Easter
- 1 December (National Day)
- 25-26 December (Christmas) See Holidays in Romania.

Russia

See Public holidays in Russia.

Singapore

See Holidays in Singapore.

Solomon Islands

See Public holidays in the Solomon Islands

South Africa

See Public holidays in South Africa.

South Korea

See Public holidays in South Korea.

Sweden

See Holidays in Sweden.

Thailand

See Public holidays in Thailand.

Tibet

[February 8]-[Paranirvana] Day. Death of [Gautama Buddha]

Turkey

See Holidays in Turkey.

Ukraine

- January 1—New Year
- January 6—Orthodox Christmas
- February 14—St. Valentine's Day
- March 8—International Women's Day
- Easter
- May 1 & 2—Spring holiday (Formerly May Day)
- May 9—Victory Day
- June 6—Ivan Kupala Day
- August 24—Independence Day
- November 7 & 8—anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917 Religious holidays are observed according to the Julian calendar. When an official holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday will be an official day off.

United Kingdom and Crown dependencies

- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 2 - (Scotland Only)
- March 17 - St Patrick's Day Northern Ireland only
- Good Friday
- Easter Sunday
- Easter Monday
- May Day (First Monday in May)
- May 9 - Liberation Day (Jersey, Guernsey)
- Spring Bank Holiday (Monday following final Sunday in May) - See Bank Holiday
- July 5 - Tynwald Day (Isle of Man)
- July 12 - Battle of the Boyne, otherwise known as "The Twelfth". Northern Ireland only
- August Bank Holiday - England and Wales (Last Monday in August)
- August Bank Holiday - Scotland (First Monday in August)
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Boxing Day An official list can be found [http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/bankhol.htm here] on the webpage on the DTI.

United States

See also: Holidays of the United States Unlike countries where holidays are required by law, there are no national holidays in the United States. However, the United States Congress has created federal holidays for employees of the United States Government and the District of Columbia. Most states have declared state holidays to coincide with these federal holidays. In spite of numerous attempts, the United States has never established true national holidays. (However, most labor contracts provide for extra pay or other special consideration for those required to work on officially-recognized holidays.) On June 28, 1968, The United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which essentially evolved into Presidents' Day), Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day. The law took effect in 1971 at the federal level. After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years. Veteran's Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. For the holidays not observed on a specified Monday, when the date falls on a Saturday, it is observed the previous Friday, and when the date falls on a Sunday, it is observed the following Monday. The holidays, and the days on which they are normally celebrated, are:
- January 1 - New Year's Day (federal observed)
- Third Monday in January - Birthday of Martin Luther King (observed)
- January 15 - Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. (traditional)
- January 20 - Inauguration Day
- February 1 - National Freedom Day (signing of 13th Am.; pres. procl)
- Groundhog Day is Wednesday, 2 February, 2005.
- February 12 - Lincoln's Birthday
- February 14 - Valentine's Day
- Third Monday in February - President's Day (observed)
- February 22 - Washington's Birthday
- St. Patrick's Day is Thursday, 17 March, 2005.
- April 1 - April Fool's Day
- Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday, 3 April, 2005.
- Federal Income Taxes are due Friday, 15 April, 2005.
- April 22 - Earth Day
- Administrative Professionals' Day is Wednesday, 27 April, 2005.
- Arbor Day in many locations is Friday, 29 April, 2005, but please see The List of Arbor Dates for States.
- Loyalty Day is 1 May.
- Mother's Day is Sunday, 8 May, 2005.
- Armed Forces Day is Saturday, 21 May, 2005.
- Memorial Day is last Monday in May.
- Flag Day is Tuesday, 14 June, 2005.
- Father's Day is Sunday, 19 June, 2005.
- Canada Day is Friday, 1 July, 2005.
- July 4 - United States of America Independence Day
- Parents' Day is Sunday, 24 July, 2005.
- Labor Day is the first Monday in September.
- Grandparents Day is Sunday, 11 September, 2005.
- Citizenship Day is Saturday, 17 September, 2005.
- Columbus Day (observed) is the second Monday in October
- Columbus Day (traditional) is Wednesday, 12 October, 2005.
- United Nations Day is Monday, 24 October, 2005.
- Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, 30 October, 2005.
- October 31 - Halloween
- Election Day is Tuesday, 8 November, 2005.
- November 11 - Veterans' Day. The federal government still observes Veterans' Day on November 11. Incidentally, the state of Washington does also, because it was admitted to statehood on November 11 1889.
- Fourth Thursday of November - Thanksgiving Day
- Bill of Rights Day is Thursday, 15 December, 2005.
- December 25 - Christmas Day
- December 26 - Christmas Day (federal observed)

Puerto Rico

Mondays are public holidays for any public holiday that falls on a Sunday or Saturday. For holidays in Puerto Rico, include all of the US holidays plus the following:
- January 6 - Epiphany Day
- January 11 - Eugenio María de Hostos
- March 22 - Abolition of Slavery
- Holy Friday - Friday before Easter
- April 16 - José de Diego
- July 17 - Luis Muñoz Rivera
- July 25 - Constitution of Puerto Rico
- July 27 - José Celso Barbosa
- November 19 - Discovery of Puerto Rico See also Holidays in Puerto Rico.

Venezuela

Refer to:Holidays in Venezuela
- January 1 - New Year's Day
- January 6 - Epiphany
- Monday and Tuesday previous Ash Wednesday - Carnival
- Holy Week, Easter
- March 19 - Saint Joseph's Day
- April 19 - Begining of the Independence Movement
- May 1 - Labour Day
- June 24 - Birth of Simón Bolívar
- October 12 - Día de la Raza (Columbus Day)
- November 1 - All Saints Day
- December 8 - Immaculate Conception
- December 25 - Christmas
- December 31 - New Year's Day

External links

- [http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/world_holiday.pl?hdnAction=search_countries Holidays by country and by day]
-

Canada

Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of area, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean with claims extending to the North Pole. The northern-most country on the mainland of North America, Canada has land borders only with the United States. Governed as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, Canada is a federation of ten provinces with three territories. Initially constituted in 1867, the country's constitution was patriated in 1982 from the United Kingdom. Canada's head of state is its monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented in Canada by the Governor General, presently Michaëlle Jean. The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Paul Martin; his minority government recently lost a vote of non-confidence in the Canadian House of Commons and asked for the dissolution of the Parliament by the Governor General, who then issued a Royal proclamation authorising the issue of election writs, and stating a federal election will take place on 2006 January 23. Canada's official languages are English and French. As of 2005, its official population estimate is approximately 32.4 million ^{[http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/clock/population.htm]}.

Overview

The capital city is Ottawa, Ontario, the seat of Canada's Parliament. The Governor General, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Loyal Opposition, and the Speaker of the House of Commons have official residences in the National Capital Region.National Capital Region, Ontario.]] Originally a union of British colonies with significant French influence and entitled as a "dominion", Canada is a founding member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and La Francophonie. Canada defines itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation:
- English is the official (and majority) language in most provinces of Canada.
- French is the official language of Quebec, an official language of New Brunswick, and is spoken in various areas throughout the country.
- Several Aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories; Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut and has official status there. Canada is a technologically advanced and industrialized nation. It is a net exporter of energy because of its large fossil fuel deposits, nuclear energy generation, and hydroelectric power capacity. Its diversified economy relies heavily on an abundance of natural resources and trade, particularly with the United States, with which it has had a long and complex relationship. Canada has ten provinces and three territories: Canada's major cities that are not capital cities include Montreal, Quebec; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Calgary, Alberta.

Canada's name

The name Canada is believed to come from the Huron-Iroquois word kanata, which means "village" or "settlement". In 1535, locals used the word to tell Jacques Cartier the way to Stadacona, site of present-day Quebec City. Cartier used Canada to refer not only to Stadacona, but also to the entire area subject to Donnacona, Chief at Stadacona; by 1547, maps began referring to this and the surrounding area as Canada.

History

Aboriginal tradition holds that the First Peoples have inhabited parts of what is now called Canada since the dawn of time. Archaeological records show that these lands have been inhabited for at least 10,000 years. Several Viking expeditions occurred circa AD 1000, with evidence of settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. British claims to North America date from 1497, when John Cabot reached what he called Newfoundland, though it is unclear whether Cabot landed in current Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, or Maine. French claims date from explorations by Jacques Cartier (from 1534) and Samuel de Champlain (from 1603). Neither Cabot's nor Cartier's explorations left any permanent settlers behind. On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland as England's first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1604, French settlers were the first Europeans to settle permanently in what is now Canada. After an unsuccessful winter in St. Croix Island (today in Maine), they settled Port-Royal in what is now the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, but moved to found Quebec City in 1608. The current Acadians are descendants of settlers who came later in the same century and re-founded Port-Royal. New France was generally the name given to the French colonies of Canada and Acadia (and later Louisiana).Louisiana, depicts British General Wolfe's final moments during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.]] British settlements were established along the Atlantic seaboard and around Hudson Bay. As these colonies expanded, a struggle for control of North America took place between 1689 and 1763 (see French and Indian Wars), exacerbated by wars in Europe between France and Great Britain. France progressively lost territory to Great Britain, surrendering peninsular Nova Scotia in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht and the remainder of New France including what was left of Acadia in the Treaty of Paris (1763). During and after the American Revolution approximately 70,000 [http://www.uelac.org/whatis.html] Loyalists fled the Thirteen Colonies. Of these, roughly 50,000 United Empire Loyalists [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0850061.html] settled in the British North American colonies which then consisted of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the Province of Quebec, and Prince Edward Island (created 1769). To accommodate the Loyalists, Britain created the colony of New Brunswick in 1784 from part of Nova Scotia, and divided Quebec into Lower Canada and Upper Canada under the Constitutional Act of 1791. The War of 1812 began when the U.S. attacked British forces in Canada in an attempt to end British influence in North America (and particularly, the British seizures of American merchant ships in the Atlantic). In April 1813, U.S. forces burned York (now Toronto). The British/Canadians retaliated with the burning of Washington (DC) in a surprise attack in August 1814, but were subsequently turned back at Plattsburgh, Baltimore, and New Orleans. The Treaty of Ghent was signed in December 1814. It was only after the French and Napoleonic wars ended in Europe that large-scale immigration to Canada resumed. The Canadas were merged into a single colony, the United Province of Canada, with the Act of Union (1840) in an attempt to assimilate the French Canadians. Once the U.S. agreed to the 49th parallel north as its border with western British North America, the British government created the colonies of British Columbia in 1848 and Vancouver Island in 1849. By the late 1850s, politicians in the Province of Canada had launched a series of western exploratory expeditions with the intention of assuming control of Rupert's Land (administered by the Hudson's Bay Company) and the Arctic. In 1864 and 1866, British North American politicians, in what became known as the Great Coalition, held three conferences to create a federal union. Spearheaded by John A. Macdonald, on July 1, 1867, three colonies—Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were granted a constitution, the British North America Act, by the United Kingdom, creating the Dominion of Canada. The term "Canadian Confederation" refers to this 1867 unification of the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec (formerly Canada East or Lower Canada), and Ontario (formerly Canada West or Upper Canada). The remaining British colonies and territories soon joined Confederation. By 1880 Canada included all of its present area except for Newfoundland and Labrador, which joined in 1949. (It should be noted that, although part of Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan did not gain Provincial status until 1905.) Newfoundland and Labrador In 1919, Canada became a member of the League of Nations and, in the Imperial Conference of 1926, Canada assumed full control of its own through the Balfour Declaration. In 1927, Canada appointed its first ambassador to a foreign country, the United States. In 1931, the Statute of Westminster gave the Balfour Declaration constitutional force, confirming that no act of the UK's parliament would thereafter extend to Canada without its consent. Canadian citizenship was first distinguished from British in 1947; judicial appeals to the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ended in 1949. The power to amend Canada's constitution remained with the British parliament, although subject to the Statute of Westminster, until it was finally "patriated" to Canadian control by the Canada Act 1982. The Quebec sovereignty movement has led to two referendums held in 1980 and 1995, with votes of 59.6% and 50.6% respectively against its proposals for sovereignty-association. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unilateral secession by a province to be unconstitutional.

Geography

unconstitutionalCanada occupies the northern portion (precisely 41%) of North America. It is bordered to the south by the contiguous United States and to the northwest by Alaska. The length of these borders are 6,416 km (3,987 mi) and 2,477 km (1,539 mi), respectively. Off the southern coast of Newfoundland lies Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas community of France. The country stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west (hence the country's motto). To the north lies the Arctic Ocean; Greenland is to the northeast. Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60° and 141° W longitude ([http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/maps/historical/territorialevolution/1927/1]); this claim is not universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada (and in the world) is Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island – latitude 82.5° N – just 834 kilometres (518 mi) from the North Pole. Also, the magnetic North Pole lies within Canadian boundaries (although is moving towards Siberia). Canada is the world's second-largest country in total area, after Russia. Much of Canada lies in Arctic regions, however, and thus Canada has only the fourth-most arable land area behind Russia, China, and the U.S. The population density of 3.5 people per square kilometre (9.0/mi²) is among the lowest in the world: Canada has more land area than the U.S., but only one-ninth of its population. The most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City-Windsor Axis in the east. To the north of this region is the broad Canadian Shield, an area of rock scoured clean by the last ice age, thinly soiled, rich in minerals, and dotted with lakes and rivers—over 60% of the world's lakes are in Canada. The Canadian Shield encircles the immense Hudson Bay, extending from Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories at its westernmost point, to the Atlantic coast in Labrador in the east. Newfoundland, North America's easternmost island if Greenland is excluded, is at the mouth of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary. The Canadian Maritimes protrude eastward from the southern coasts of Quebec. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are divided by the Bay of Fundy, which experiences the world's largest tidal variations. Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province. Prince Edward Island; at 5 959 m (19,551 ft), Canada's highest point and second highest in North America.]]West of Ontario, the broad, flat Canadian Prairies spread toward the Rocky Mountains, which separate them from British Columbia. Northern Canadian vegetation tapers from coniferous forests to tundra and finally to Arctic barrens in the far north. The northern Canadian mainland is ringed with a vast archipelago containing some of the world's largest islands. Some specific geographical features of note include the world's largest freshwater island, Manitoulin Island, which divides Georgian Bay and Lake Huron and the world's longest freshwater beach, Wasaga Beach, on the Georgian Bay shoreline. Thanks to past glacial activity in the Canadian Shield, Canada boasts a considerable reserve of fresh water and more lakes than any other nation, roughly two million in all, the overwhelming majority of which are relatively small.

Climate

Canada has a reputation for cold temperatures in the winter months. Winters can be harsh in many regions of the country, particularly in the Prairie Provinces. Temperatures can reach lows of -50°C (-58°F) in the far North however, such low temperatures are not the norm; the record coldest temperature in North America was -63°C (-81°F), at Snag, Yukon, in 1947. Coastal British Columbia is an exception: it enjoys a temperate climate with much milder winters than the rest of the country however, rainy winters are common. Summers in Canada range from mild (low 20s Celsius [70°F]) on the east and west coasts, to hot (mid 20s to low 30s Celsius [75-90°F]) in Central Canada, the Prairies and the intermontane regions of British Columbia. The highest recorded temperature in Canada was 45°C (113°F) at both Midale and Yellow Grass in Saskatchewan on July 5, 1937. For a more complete description of weather norms around Canada, go to www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climate_normals/index_e.html

Politics

1937] Canada's head of state is the monarch, currently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and commonly referred to as the Queen of Canada. However, the day-to-day duties of head of state are exercised by the Governor General, who is generally a retired politician, military leader, or other notable Canadian; the current Governor General is Michaëlle Jean. All government authority is derived from the monarch, and executive power is wielded by the Prime Minister of Canada and the cabinet. The Governor General is formally appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister and is a non-partisan figure who fulfils many ceremonial and symbolic roles including providing Royal Assent to bills, reading the Speech from the Throne, officially welcoming dignitaries of foreign countries, presenting honours such as the Order of Canada, signing state documents, formally opening and ending sessions of Parliament, and dissolving Parliament for an election. The Governor General is also the titular Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces. The position of Governor General also beholds considerable reserve powers, but these have been rarely used. The last to do so was Jeanne Sauvé, who ignored the National Capital Commission and closed the grounds of Rideau Hall in the late 1980s; the most famous use of the Governor General's extraordinary powers was during the King-Byng Affair in 1926. Canada's constitution governs the legal framework of the country and consists of [http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/const/index.html written text] and unwritten traditions and conventions (see Westminster system). The federal government and the governments of nine provinces agreed to the patriation of the constitution, with procedures for amending it, at a meeting of First Ministers in November 1981. The Quebec government did not agree to the changes, and Quebec nationalists refer to that night as the Night of the Long Knives. The patriation of the Constitution included the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees basic rights and freedoms for Canadians that, generally, cannot be overridden by legislation of any level of government in Canada. It contains, however, a "notwithstanding clause", which allows the federal parliament and the provincial legislatures the power to override other sections of the Charter temporarily, for a period of five years. notwithstanding clause]]The position of Prime Minister, Canada's head of government, in practice belongs to the leader of the political party who can command a majority in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister and his or her cabinet are formally appointed by the Governor General; however, the Prime Minister effectively chooses the cabinet and the Governor General, by convention, has to appoint the Prime Minister's desired choices. The Cabinet is drawn, by convention, from members of the prime minister's party in both legislative houses, though mostly from the Commons. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of Canada and become ministers of the Crown. The Prime Minister exercises a great deal of individual political power, especially in terms of the appointment of other officials within the government and civil service. The legislative branch of government has two houses: the elected House of Commons and the appointed Senate. Each member in the Commons is elected by simple plurality in one electoral district or "riding"; general elections are called by the Governor General when the prime minister so advises, and must occur every five years or less. Members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, are chosen by the prime minister and formally appointed by the Governor General, and serve until age 75. electoral district]]Canada has four main political parties today. The traditionally centrist / left-of-centre Liberal Party of Canada formed the government in Canada for most of the 20th century, and is the party of the current Prime Minister Paul Martin. The only other party to have formed a government is the now-defunct, right-of-centre Progressive Conservative (PC) Party and its predecessor, the Conservative Party, which was the dominant political party in the 19th century. The PC Party merged with the Canadian Alliance to form a new rightist Conservative Party of Canada in December 2003. The New Democratic Party (NDP) is the major party furthest to the political left. The Bloc Québécois promotes Quebec independence from Canada and currently holds a majority of Quebec's seats in the Commons. There are many smaller parties and, while none have current representation in Parliament, the list of historical parties with elected representation is substantial. Canada's judiciary plays an important role in interpreting laws and has the power to strike down laws that violate the constitution. The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court and final arbiter; its nine members are directly appointed by Cabinet. All judges at the superior and appellate levels are selected and appointed by the federal government, after consultation with non-governmental legal bodies. The federal cabinet also appoints justices to superior courts at the provincial and territorial levels. Judicial posts at the lower provincial and territorial levels are filled by their respective governments (see Court system of Canada for more detail). Common law prevails everywhere except in Quebec, where civil law predominates. Criminal law is solely a federal responsibility and is uniform throughout Canada. Law enforcement, including criminal courts, is a provincial responsibility, but in most provinces policing is contracted to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The RCMP is one of few police forces in the world to perform three different levels of enforcement: municipal, provincial, and federal.

Foreign relations

Canada has a close relationship with the United States, sharing the world's longest undefended border, co-operating on some military campaigns and exercises, and being each other's largest trading partners. Canada also shares a history and long relationship with the United Kingdom as its "mother country". United Kingdom.]] In the last century, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to reach out to the rest of the world and promoting itself as a "middle power" able to work with large and small nations alike. This was clearly demonstrated during the Suez Crisis when Lester B. Pearson mollified the tension by introducing the idea of peacekeeping and the inception of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. In 1957, Pearson was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In that spirit, Canada developed and has tried to maintain a leading role in UN peacekeeping efforts. Canada has cumulatively contributed more troops to peacekeeping operations worldwide than all other nations combined and currently serves in over 40 different peacekeeping missions, most recently in Afghanistan. Canada has contributed in some way to all UN peacekeeping missions. Canada is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, La Francophonie, the Organization of American States (OAS), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization, the G8, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Military

Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationA founding member of the NATO alliance, Canada currently employs about 62,000 regular and 26,000 reserve military personnel.[http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/about/family_e.asp] The unified Canadian Forces (CF) are comprised of army, navy, and air force branches. Major CF equipment deployed includes 2,400 armoured fighting vehicles, 34 combat vessels, and 140 combat aircraft. Defence is an exclusive federal jurisdiction: defence spending in fiscal year 2004-5 was approximately $14 billion.[http://www.vcds.forces.gc.ca/dgsp/pubs/rep-pub/ddm/rpp/rpp05-06/sec3c_e.asp] However, in the 2005 federal budget, the Liberal government allocated an additional $12.8 billion over five years to the armed forces, and committed to increasing troop levels by an additional 8,000 regular and reserve personnel over the same period.[http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget05/speech/speeche.htm] Canadian forces have served in various wars including World War I, World War II, the Korean War and recently, in Afghanistan. Since Lester B. Pearson proposed the first UN peacekeeping force in 1956, the Canadian Forces have served in 42 peacekeeping missions — more than any other country. Canada was also the prime destination of American draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. These factors – along with its comparatively low level of military spending, other positions such as nuclear non-proliferation, and an international treaty banning personnel land mine usage – have led to Canada sometimes being referred to as a pacifist country. Battles significantly contributing to Canada's development and self-identity include the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the Second Battle of Ypres, the Third Battle of Ypres, and Juno Beach. Currently, CF personnel are involved in the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Smaller missions are also taking place in Haiti and Kosovo. Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has participated in two relief operations in the last year. The two-hundred member relief crew helped in Southeast Asia after the December 2004 tsunami, and DART was also deployed in response to the devastating earthquake that struck the Kashmir region in South Asia in October 2005. Moreover, CF (and RCMP) personnel recently assisted in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Provinces and territories of Canada

Canada is composed of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces have a large degree of autonomy from the federal government, the territories somewhat less. Each has its own provincial or territorial symbols. The provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (such as health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. The federal government can initiate national policies that the provinces can opt out of, but this rarely happens in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces. All provinces have unicameral, elected legislatures headed by a Premier selected in the same way as the Prime Minister of Canada. Each province also has a Lieutenant-Governor representing the Queen, analogous to the Governor General of Canada, appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, though with increasing levels of consultation with provincial governments in recent years. Lieutenant-Governor.]] Most provinces have provincial counterparts to the three national federal parties. However, some provincial parties are not formally linked to the federal parties that share the same name. Some provinces have regional political parties, such as the Saskatchewan Party. The provincial political climate of Quebec is quite different: the main split is between separatism, represented by the Parti Québécois, and federalism, represented by the Parti Libéral du Québec. The three territories have fewer political powers than provinces, having been created by acts of the national Parliament rather than having their status enshrined in the Constitution. There is no lieutenant-governor to represent and fulfil the functions of the Queen, but each has a politically neutral Commissioner appointed by the federal government to act as its senior representative. Only Yukon's legislature follows the same political system as the provincial legislatures. The other two territories use a consensus government system in which each member runs as an independent and the premier is elected by and from the members. There is also interest within Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands, an overseas UK territory in the Caribbean, for the latter to enter into Confederation.

Economy

Caribbean, depicting (from top to bottom) Wilfred Laurier, John A. Macdonald, Queen Elizabeth II, William Lyon Mackenzie King, and Robert Borden.]]As an affluent, high-tech industrial society, Canada today closely resembles the U.S. in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and high living standards. In the last century, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. Canada has vast deposits of natural gas on the east coast and in the west, and a plethora of other natural resources contributing to self-sufficiency in energy. The 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which included Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the U.S. Since 2001, Canada has successfully avoided economic recession and has maintained the best overall economic performance in the G8. Two long-term concerns loom. One is the continuing political differences over the Constitution between Quebec and the rest of Canada, periodically raising the possibility of Quebec independence. As the economy becomes stronger, notably in Quebec, fears of separation have generally waned. Another concern is the "Brain Drain", the emigration of professionals to the U.S. in search of higher pay, lower taxes, and high-tech opportunities. (However, a [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1124920225033&call_pageid=971358637177&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes recent Toronto Star article] claims that the "Brain Drain" of doctors has abated, as more are returning to Canada due to high insurance rates in the U.S. and a more efficient medicare system in Canada.) Simultaneously, a larger, under-recognised "Brain Gain" is occurring, as educated immigrants (particularly from developing countries, a controversy in and of itself) continue to enter Canada [http://www.statcan.ca/english/indepth/81-003/feature/eqhi2000006003s1a01.htm].

Demographics

The 2001 national census recorded 30,007,094 people, and as of October 2005 the population has been estimated by Statistics Canada as 32.3 million people[http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/clock/population.htm], an increase of some 2.3 million people by both immigration and natural growth. About three-quarters of Canada's population live within 150 km of the U.S. border, and a similar proportion live in urban areas. In the 2001 census, 39.42% of respondents reported their ethnic origins as "Canadian", most of whom are believed to be of British, Irish, and French heritage of earlier immigrants. In addition, 20.17% identified their origin as English, 15.75% as French, 14.03% as Scottish, and 12.90% as Irish. Numerous other groups were also reported. Ethnic origins reported by more than 1 million people included: German (9.25%), Italian (4.29%), Chinese (3.69%), Ukrainian (3.61%) and North American Indian (3.38%). Close to four million people reported they were members of a visible minority, amounting to 13.44% of the total population. (Note that Aboriginal peoples are not considered visible minorities). Also, the 2001 census reported that Canada had 5,448,480 immigrants. [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/Immigration/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=0&View=1&Table=1&StartRec=1&Sort=2&B1=Counts] According to the last census[http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/rel/contents.cfm], 72% of Canadians identified as being Christians; of this, Catholics make up the largest group – 43% of Canadians. One-sixth of Canadians declared no religious affiliation, and the remaining 12% were affiliated with religions other than Christianity.

Language

Catholics]] Canada's two official languages are English and French. On July 7, 1969, under the Official Languages Act, French was made commensurate to English throughout the federal government. This started a process that led to Canada redefining itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation:
- English and French have equal status in federal courts, Parliament, and in all federal institutions.
- Any defendant in a criminal case has the right to a trial in either English or French.
- The public has the right, where there is sufficient demand, to receive federal government services in either English or French.
- Official language minority groups in most provinces and territories have the right to be educated in their language, in their own schools, with their own elected school boards, where they exist in sufficient numbers.
- While multiculturalism is official policy, to become a citizen one must be able to speak either English or French.
- More than 98% of Canadians speak English or French or both. While the nation remains officially bilingual, the majority of Canadians are fluent only in English. The official language of Quebec is French, as defined by the province's Charter of the French Language, which was introduced by the Parti Quebecois in 1976. However, the charter also provides certain rights for speakers of English and aboriginal languages. Quebec provides most government services in both French and English. French is mostly spoken in Quebec with pockets in New Brunswick, eastern and northern Ontario, Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba. In the 2001 census, 6,864,615 people listed French as a first language, of whom 85% lived in Quebec. 17,694,835 people listed English as a first language. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, a status specifically guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Some provincial governments, notably Manitoba and Ontario, offer many services to their French minority populations. Aboriginal languages are co-official in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Non-official languages are also important in Canada, with 5,470,820 people listing a non-official language as a first language. (The above three statistics include those who listed more than one first language.) Among the most important non-official first language groups are Chinese (853,745 first-language speakers), Italian (469,485), German (438,080), and Punjabi (271,220).

Aboriginal peoples

The Constitution Act of 1982 recognizes three groups of aboriginal peoples in Canada: the Indians (now often called First Nations), Inuit, and Métis. The aboriginal population is growing almost twice as fast as the rest of the population in Canada. According to the Canada 2001 Census, people identified themselves as aboriginal numbered 976,305 people (or 3.3% of Canada's population) of whom about 62% are First Nations, 30% are Métis, and 5% are Inuit. Also, ethnic origin figures from the Census show that 1.3 million Canadians stated that they were partially of fully of aboriginal ancestry, including about one million people claiming full or partial First Nation ancestry, 307,000 Métis ancestry and 56,000 Inuit ancestry.

Culture

Canada 2001 Census originated from Canada when residents began playing hurley on ice.]] Due to its colonial past, Canadian culture has historically been heavily influenced by British and French cultures and traditions. In more modern times, Canadian culture is now greatly influenced by American culture, due to the proximity and the migration of people, ideas, and capital. Amidst this, Canadian culture has developed unique characteristics. In many respects, a more robust and distinct Canadian culture has developed in recent years, partially because of the civic nationalism that pervaded Canada in the years prior to and following the Canadian Centennial in 1967, and also due to a focus by the federal government on programs to support culture and the arts. There were and are many distinct First Nations across Canada, each with its own culture, language and history. Their culture was transmitted largely through oral means and stories were passed down through the elders to the younger generations. Various tribes created unique styles of artifacts such as woven baskets, painted pictures, and carved sculptures of animals. Much of this artistic legacy remains celebrated in Canada to this day. The emblem of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is the inukshuk, a stack of rocks in human form that is a part of Inuit culture. [http://www.vancouver2010.com/Emblem/home.htm] From as early the 1500s, European explorers, traders, and fishermen from England, Ireland and France helped form the basis of Canadian culture. During their colonization of Canada, settlers created a folklore about the land around them. The tales of Paul Bunyan are a product of French-Canadian folklore and the style of jigs from Newfoundland found their origins in Ireland. Canada and the United Kingdom share a common history and continue to work together through many organizations such as the Commonwealth, G-8, and NATO. The two countries share the same head of state, and have among the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world. They still share many of the same customs, values, and traditions, which have been reinforced by working side by side in two world wars and over half a century of expanding peace and prosperity. The United Kingdom is Canada’s third largest trading partner and is the second largest source of tourists visiting Canada. The Canadian and U.S. governments share a variety of close working partnerships in trade, economic, legal, security, and military matters. These are occasionally strained by domestic politics; for instance, the ongoing softwood lumber dispute and the war in Iraq. This has led to successive drives by Canadian leaders to diversify trade with other countries; examples include Diefenbaker's efforts to increase trade with the U.K., Trudeau's efforts with Europe, and current efforts with China and India. As well, the decision to switch to the metric system in 1970 (though, like the U.K., both the metric and Imperial systems are in common usage) has similar roots. As Canada and the U.S. grew closer after World War 2 (the U.S. became Canada's largest trading partner in the late-1940s), many Canadians started to develop complex feelings and concerns regarding what makes Canada "distinct" within North America. The large American cultural presence in Canada has prompted some fears of a "cultural takeover" that have led to the establishment of laws and institutions to protect Canadian culture, including the CBC, the National Film Board of Canada, and the CRTC. Many American movies, authors, TV shows, and musicians are equally popular in Canada (and vice versa), many have been successful worldwide. Most cultural products of these types are now increasingly marketed toward a unified "North American" market, and not specifically a Canadian or American one. Though debatable, Canada has increasingly distinguished itself politically in recent years by being more fiscally conservative on issues such as balanced budgets, tax cuts, and reductions in government, while also being more socially liberal: the Canadian government currently supports universal health care, same-sex marriage, and decriminalization of marijuana. All of these issues are of varying contention amongst Canadians. Many Canadian citizens see Canadian culture as based on the policy of multiculturalism.

Sports

multiculturalism.]] Notable sports which are enjoyed throughout Canada include ice hockey, curling, lacrosse, basketball and the home-grown Canadian Football League. Although CFL teams compete in a variant of American football, traditional football (soccer) is hardly an unknown in Canada, and in 1986 the Canucks qualified for their only appearance at the World Cup in Mexico. In addition, as the vast majority of Canadians live in very close proximity to the United States, Canadians can also watch sporting events from the professional leagues in that country, such as NASCAR and the National Football League. The National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, the National Lacrosse League and Major League Baseball are comprised of teams from both Canada and the United States. Major League Baseball As of the 1994 National Sports of Canada Act, Canada officially has two national sports. Ice hockey is the national winter sport and lacrosse is the national summer sport.

National symbols

Major League Baseball The use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates back to the early 18th century, and is depicted on its current and previous flags, the penny, an

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail is a large Canadian English language national newspaper based in Toronto. The paper was founded as The Globe in 1844 by George Brown, who was later a Father of Confederation. Brown selected as the motto for the editorial page a quotation from Junius, "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." The quotation is carried on the editorial page daily to this day. In 1936, after a merger with The Mail and Empire (ironically, the Mail was the paper of Brown's arch-rival, Sir John A. Macdonald), the Globe became The Globe and Mail. In 1962, the paper added its popular Report on Business section. Report on Business Magazine, published by and carried in the newspaper, would follow, as would the specialty channel Report on Business Television. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries the newspaper was strictly a Toronto-oriented daily, competing with The Toronto Star in a heated newspaper war. As The Globe and Mail lost ground to the Star locally, the newspaper began to circulate nationally in search of subscribers, adopting the masthead slogan "Canada's National Newspaper" in the process. Long owned by Kenneth Thomson and his family, in 2001 control of the paper was sold to a BCE Inc., also owners of the CTV network. The network and paper are now owned by Bell Globemedia, owned 20% by Bell Canada Enterprises and 40% by the Thomson family and 20% by Torstar(Parent company of the Toronto Star). Editorially, The Globe and Mail has historically been seen as a conservative and business-oriented paper. Since the 1998 launch of rival conservative paper The National Post, the Globe has been seen as increasingly centrist or even liberal; however, no media studies have yet examined whether the editorial thrust of the paper has actually changed (as opposed to the zeitgeist changing around it) and recent anecdotal observations are typically made in comparison to the Post. Following the tenure of chief editor Edward Greenspon in 2002, The Globe and Mail has been criticized for returning to its conservative tradition; its editorial cartoonist Brian Gable has mocked it as sensationalistic, and its columnist Lawrence Martin has called for the creation of a new national newspaper [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050303/COMARTIN03/TPComment/?query=lawrence+martin] (paid subscription required). Possibly due to this competition the paper has made other changes such as the introduction of colour photographs and the creation of the "Review" section on arts, entertainment and culture. Though promoted as a national paper and sold throughout Canada, The Globe and Mail also serves as a Toronto metropolitan paper, publishing several special sections in its Toronto edition which are not included in the national edition. As such it is sometimes popularly ridiculed as being too focused on the GTA, which could be seen as part of a wider humourous notion of Torontonians sometimes being blind to the wider concerns of the nation. (A similar criticism is sometimes applied to The New York Times). For this reason, critics sometimes refer to the paper as the Toronto Globe and Mail or as Toronto's National Newspaper. Other satirical nicknames for the paper include Mop and Pail or Grope and Flail, both of which were coined by longtime Globe and Mail humour columnist Richard J. Needham. The Globe and Mail outsold the National Post throughout the so-called "national newspaper war" and has begun to regain some of the lost ground as the Posts new owner, CanWest, has been reluctant to invest in expansion.
Regular contributors

- Christie Blatchford
- John Barber
- Scott Colbourne
- John Doyle
- Marcus Gee
- John Ibbitson
- Lawrence Martin
- Heather Mallick
- Leah McLaren
- Rex Murphy
- Eric Reguly
- Lorne Rubenstein
- Rick Salutin
- Jeffrey Simpson
- Russell Smith
- Norman Spector
- William Thorsell
- Bob Weeks
- Margaret Wente
- Hugh Winsor
- Jan Wong
- Ken Wiwa
See also

- Media in Canada
External links

- [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ Official website]
- [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/services/site/history.html Official history]
- [http://www.cna-acj.ca/client/cna/cna.nsf/web/FactsReadership The Canadian Newspaper Association: Readership Facts]. Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail, The

The New York Times

The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. It is owned by The New York Times Company, which also publishes some 40 other newspapers including International Herald Tribune and The Boston Globe. The newspaper is nicknamed the "Gray Lady" and is often considered the newspaper of record in the United States.

History

United States The New York Times was founded on September 18, 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones. Raymond was also a founding director of the Associated Press in 1856. Adolph Ochs acquired the Times in 1896, and under his guidance the newspaper achieved an international scope, circulation, and reputation. In 1897 he coined the paper's slogan "All The News That's Fit To Print," widely interpreted as a jab at competing papers in New York (the New York World and the New York Journal American) that were known for yellow journalism. After relocating the paper's headquarters to a new tower on 42nd Street, the area was named Times Square in 1904. Nine years later, the Times opened an annex at 229 43rd Street, their current headquarters, later selling Times Tower in 1961. The Times was originally intended to publish every morning except on Sundays; however, during the Civil War the Times started publishing Sunday issues along with other major dailies. It won its first Pulitzer Prize for news reports and articles about World War I in 1918. In 1919 it made its first trans-atlantic delivery to London. The crossword began to appear in 1942 as a feature, and the paper bought the classical station WQXR in the same year. The fashion section started in 1946. The Times also started an international edition in 1946, but stopped publishing it in 1967 and joined with the owners of the New York Herald Tribune and The Washington Post to publish the International Herald Tribune in Paris. The Op-Ed section started appearing in 1970. More recently, in 1996 The New York Times went online, giving access to readers all over the world on the Web at [http://www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com]. A new headquarters for the newspaper, a skyscraper designed by Renzo Piano, is currently under construction at 41st Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. In 1964, the paper was the defendant in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which established the actual malice legal test for libel.

Times today

Today The New York Times is probably the most prominent American daily newspaper, sometimes being referred to as America's "newspaper of record". It has traditionally printed full transcripts of major speeches and debates. The newspaper is currently owned by The New York Times Company, in which descendants of Ochs, principally the Sulzberger family, maintain a dominant role. The Times has won 90 Pulitzer Prizes – the most prestigious award for journalism in the US, presented each year by Columbia University – including a record 7 in 2002. In 1971 it broke the Pentagon Papers story, publishing leaked documents revealing that the U.S. government had been painting an unrealistically rosy picture of the progress of the Vietnam War. This led to New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), which declared the government's prior restraint of the classified documents was unconstitutional. In 1972, the Times exposed the Tuskegee experiment, in which African Americans suffering from syphilis were surreptitiously denied treatment over a period of decades. More recently, in 2004 the Times won a Pulitzer award for a series written by David Barstow and Lowell Bergman on employers and workplace safety issues. The Times has been going through a downsizing, for several years, laying off workers and cutting expenses [http://www.wnbc.com/money/4998266/detail.html], in common with a general trend among print newsmedia. The Times is based in New York City. It has 16 news bureaus in the New York region, 11 national news bureaus and 26 foreign news bureaus.[http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt] For the year ending Dec. 26, 2004, the reported circulation data for The New York Times were: 1,124,700 Weekday[http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt] and 1,669,700 Sunday[http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt]. The newspaper continues to own classical WQXR (96.3 FM) and WQEW (1560 AM). The classical format was simulcast on both frequencies until the early 1990s, when the big-band and standards format of WNEW-AM (now WBBR) moved from 1130 AM to 1560. The AM station changed its call letters from WQXR to WQEW. By the beginning of the 21st century, The Times had begun leasing WQEW to ABC Radio for its Radio Disney format, which continues on 1560 AM to this day.

The New York Times is printed at the following sites: Ann Arbor, Michigan; Austin, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Billerica, Massachusetts; Canton, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; College Point, New York; Concord, California; Dayton, Ohio (Sunday only); Denver, Colorado; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Gastonia, North Carolina; Edison, New Jersey; Lakeland, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Springfield, Virginia; Kent, Washington and Torrance, California. [http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt]

Major sections
The newspaper is organized in three sections: ;1. News : Includes International, National, Washington, Business, Technology, Science, Health, Sports, New York Region, Education, Weather, Obituaries, and Corrections. ;2. Opinion : Includes Editorials, Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor. ;3. Features : Includes Arts, Books, Movies, Theater, Travel, NYC Guide, Dining & Wine, Home & Garden, Fashion & Style, Crossword/Games, Cartoons, Magazine, and Week in Review
Style
Stylistically, the newspaper is quite conservative (see also: The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage). When referring to people, it uses titles, rather than unadorned last names (except among the sports pages, in which last names stand alone). Its headlines tend to be verbose, and, for major stories, come with subheadings giving further details, although it is moving away from this style. It stayed with an 8-column format years after other papers had switched to 6, and it was one of the last newspapers to adopt color photography. In the absence of a major headline, the day's most important story generally appears in the top-righthand column.
Web presence
The Times has had a strong presence on the web since 1995, and has been ranked one of the top web sites. It has a general policy of keeping articles freely available for a week and charges subscription for older articles. The website had 555 million pageviews in March 2005.[http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/nyt-digital/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20050418006138&ndmHsc=v2
- A1039266000000
- B1133914259000
- DgroupByDate
- J2
- N1001162&newsLang=en&beanID=555004527&viewID=news_view] In September 2005 the paper decided to experiment with TimesSelect by charging subscription for daily columns.
Famous mistakes
In 1920, a New York Times editorial ridiculed Robert Goddard and his claim that a rocket would work in space: :That Professor Goddard, with his "chair" in Clark College and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution, does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react – to say that would be absurd. Of course he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. In 1969, days before Apollo 11's landing on the moon, the newspaper published a tongue-in-cheek correction: :Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th century, and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error. On several occasions the Times has erroneously published premature obituaries, including:
- William Baer (a New York University professor) in 1942, as a result of a hoax by his students
- Alan Abel in 1980, who had faked his own death as an elaborate hoax
- Katharine Sergava (ballet dancer) in 2003, based on an earlier incorrect obituary in the Daily Telegraph.
Allegations of bias
The Times, like many major news organizations, has often been accused of giving too little or too much play to various events for reasons not related to objective journalism. One of the most serious of these charges is that before and during World War II, the New York Times downplayed evidence that the Third Reich had targeted Jews for genocide, at least in part because the publisher feared the taint of taking on any 'Jewish cause'.
Too liberal
More generally, many people believe that the Times hard news and soft news reportage have a consistent and pronounced liberal slant, particularly on social issues. Riccardo Puglisi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has written a paper about the editorial choices of the New York Times from 1946 to 1994, entitled, "Being the New York Times: The Political Behaviour of a Newspaper" (December 6, 2004). [http://ssrn.com/abstract=573801] [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID630598_code363330.pdf?abstractid=573801&mirid=1]. He finds that the Times displays Democratic partisanship, with some watchdog aspects. For example, during presidential campaigns, the paper systematically gives more coverage to Democratic topics, but only so when the incumbent president is a Republican. Among other things, the intermix of political commentary with art criticism in the Arts section of the paper is pointed to as evidence of bias. For example, A. O. Scott's film reviews sometimes contain barbs directed at social conservatives, and Frank Rich's Arts columns regularly attacked conservatives. The op-ed section, the Times regular columnists — who operate largely independently of the rest of the paper, and are subject to relatively little editorial oversight — have a mixed range of political orientations. However, some claim that this mix is unbalanced, and that this imbalance demonstrates a liberal bias at the newspaper. The 2005 roster of regular columnists ranges in political position from Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, and Bob Herbert on the left, to Nicholas Kristof in the center-left, to Thomas Friedman in the center, to David Brooks, formerly of The Weekly Standard magazine, and John Tierney on the right. However, attempts to place these columnists' positions on a one-dimensional American political spectrum do not completely characterize their actions or views. For example, Dowd strongly criticized President Clinton; Krugman (a professional economist) spoke as an economic centrist before he began criticizing the George W. Bush administration; and libertarian-conservative former columnist William Safire criticized the Patriot Act. The editorial page of the Times has not endorsed a Republican Party candidate for president since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.
Too conservative
Conversely, many liberals and progressives have professed a belief that the Times hard reporting of foreign policy issues tends to be biased towards conservative views. In the film Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, Noam Chomsky's allegations of the paper's deliberate downplaying of Indonesia's brutal invasion and occupation of East Timor are extensively illustrated as an example of this. Some liberals also believe that the Times reporting of economic policy issues tends to be biased towards upper-middle class or upper-class concerns over the concerns of the poor or working-class. During the 1980s a magazine called Lies of our Times was published as a regular critique of alleged right-wing bias in the newspaper, particularly on international issues.
Distinctions between news, comment, ads
On November 25, 2002, the Times ran a front-page story with the headline, "CBS Staying Silent in Debate on Women Joining Augusta" — part of a string of stories focusing on the Augusta National Golf Club, the host of the Masters Tournament, effectively demanding a boycott. Critics complained that this was an editorial usurping news space. Mickey Kaus wrote that the editor-in-chief, Howell Raines, was "on the verge of a breakthrough reconceptualization of 'news' here, in which 'news' comes to mean the failure of any powerful individual or institution to do what Howell Raines wants them to do." The Times has also been criticized for allowing Exxon-Mobil Corporation to run a regular paid "advertorial" commentary piece on its editorial page, although the practice is common in other U.S. newspapers. Some studies have shown that the Times selection of op-ed pieces and letters to the editor seem to "bracket" their editorial position, making the editorials appear to be moderate — although again this practice is hardly unique to the Times.

Times self-examination of bias

In summer 2004, the Times public editor (ombudsman), Daniel Okrent, wrote a piece on the Times alleged liberal bias. He concluded that the Times did have a liberal bias in coverage of certain social issues, gay marriage being the example he used. He claimed that this bias reflected the paper's cosmopolitanism, which arose naturally from its roots as a hometown paper of New York City. Okrent did not comment at length on the issue of bias in coverage of "hard news", such as fiscal policy, foreign policy, or civil liberties. However, he noted that the paper's coverage of the Iraq war was, among other things, insufficiently critical of the George W. Bush administration (see below). (In May 2005 Okrent was succeeded by Byron Calame.)
Recent controversies
In 2003, the Times admitted to journalism fraud committed over a span of several years by one of its reporters, Jayson Blair, and the general professionalism of the paper was questioned, though Blair immediately resigned following the incident. Questions of affirmative action in journalism were also raised, since Blair was African American. The paper's top two editors – Howell Raines, the executive editor, and Gerald Boyd, managing editor – resigned their posts following the incident. Since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Times has persistently referred to "insurgents" rather than "terrorists" being responsible for the bombing and other acts of violence. This has been aggressively criticized, such as by frequent Times contributor Christopher Hitchens, as carrying a connotation of justification; Times columnist Thomas Friedman refers to them as "terrorists" or "Islamo-fascists". In April, 2004 the Times [http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=New_York_Times reversed its policy] of not using the term Armenian Genocide. Despite publishing [http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Genocide_Contemporary_Articles dozens of articles about the Armenian Genocide] as it progressed, the Times for a period shied away from using the term in its articles as part of its editorial policy. The Turkish Government still actively denies a genocide occurred. Incidentally, Times columnist and former reporter Nicolas Kristof, a Pulitzer prize winner, has mentioned being of Armenian descent and has criticized the ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government, in his Times column. On May 26, 2004, the Times published another significant admission of journalistic failings, admitting that its flawed reporting during the buildup to war with Iraq helped promote the misleading belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/international/middleeast/26FTE_NOTE.html] While this "From the Editors" piece didn't mention names, a large part of the incriminated articles had been written by Times reporter Judith Miller. A second self-criticism by Okrent went further. "The failure was not individual, but institutional," he wrote. "War requires an extra standard of care, not a lesser one. But in the Times's WMD coverage, readers encountered some rather breathless stories built on unsubstantiated 'revelations' that, in many instances, were the anonymity-cloaked assertions of people with vested interests. Times reporters broke many stories before and after the war - but when the stories themselves later broke apart, in many instances Times readers never found out. ... Other stories pushed Pentagon assertions so aggressively you could almost sense epaulets sprouting on the shoulders of editors. ... The aggressive journalism that I long for, and that the paper owes both its readers and its own self-respect, would reveal not just the tactics of those who promoted the WMD stories, but how the Times itself was used to further their cunning campaign." [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30bott.html] In August 2005, the Times was accused of attempting to unseal the adoption records of United States Supreme Court nominee Justice John Roberts's children, an unprecendented investigation by a newspaper. Journalist Brit Hume, of Fox News reported that the Times has been asking lawyers that specialize in adoption cases for advice on how to get into the sealed court records. The report went on, "Sources familiar with the matter tell Fox News that at least one lawyer turned the Times down flat, saying that any effort to pry into adoption case records, which are always sealed, would be reprehensible." The Times admitted, "Our reporters made initial inquiries about the adoptions." However they also claimed, "They did so with great care, understanding the sensitivity of the issue." The Times was condemned by the National Council for Adoption, “NCFA denounces, in the strongest possible terms, the shocking decision of The New York Times to investigate the adoption records of Justice John Roberts’ two young children. The adoption community is outraged that, for obviously political reasons, the Times has targeted the very private circumstances, motivations, and processes by which the Roberts became parents." [http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packages/election2004/12316546.htm] Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, The Times has referred to those displaced by the hurricane as "refugees", while most news media refer to them as "evacuees". The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines "refugees" as those who have crossed a national border to escape unbearable conditions at home, while those who have been driven from home within their own nation are referred to as "internally displaced persons" (or "IDP's"). The The American Heritage Dictionary, however, defines refugee as "one who flees in search of refuge." In October 2005, Judith Miller was released from prison after an 85-day stay, when she agreed to testify to Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury. She said she finally relented only after receiving a personal waiver, both on the phone and in writing, of her earlier confidential source agreement with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, although Libby's lawyer claimed the offer of a waiver had been standing for a year. After Miller's appearance before the grand jury, she was released from her contempt of court finding, after which the New York Times became free to write their own account of the affair. This account [http://nytimes.com/2005/10/16/national/16leak.html] was published on October 16, along with a personal account by Miller [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/national/16miller.html]. However, these accounts were widely criticized as revealing even more flaws and failings of both Miller and the Times than they answered, including uncooperativeness and dissembling by Miller to the Times and a lack of reasonable oversight of Miller’s work by the Times, as summarized for example in the Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101601040.html]. This included several predictions and calls for Miller to be fired, including by Alex Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University (and a former New York Times reporter); Jay Rosen, journalism professor at New York University; and Editor and Publisher columnist Greg Mitchell. Mitchell said Miller was guilty of “crimes against journalism” and “did far more damage to her newspaper than did Jayson Blair, and that’s not even counting her WMD reporting, which hurt and embarrassed the paper in other ways.” [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001306699] Miller resigned from the paper on 9 November, 2005.
Management and Employees

Publishers

- Adolph Ochs (1896-1935)
- Arthur Hays Sulzberger (1935-1961)
- Orvil Dryfoos (1961-1963)
- Punch Sulzberger (1963-1992)
- Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. (1992- )
Executive editors

- Turner Catledge (1964-1968)
- James Reston (1968-1969)
- position vacant (1969-1976)
- Abe Rosenthal (1977-1986)
- Max Frankel (1986-1994)
- Joseph Lelyveld (1994-2001)
- Howell Raines (2001-2003)
- Bill Keller (2003- )
Current columnists

- David Brooks
- Maureen Dowd
- Thomas L. Friedman
- Bob Herbert
- Nicholas D. Kristof
- Paul Krugman
- Frank Rich
- John Tierney
- William Safire (retired as an Op-Ed columnist as of late January 2005, but continues as Language columnist)
See also

- CIA leak grand jury investigation
- New York Times bestseller list
- Current History
- Bulldog edition
Further reading

- Alex S. Jones, Susan E. Tifft. The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times. Back Bay Books (2000), ISBN 0316836311.
- Hess, John. My Times: A Memoir of Dissent, Seven Stories Press (2003), cloth, ISBN 1583226044; trade paperback, Seven Stories Press (2003), ISBN 1583226222
- Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power, World Publishing Company, New York, Cleveland (1969), ISBN 0844662844.
- Leff, Laurel. Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Famous Newspaper, Cambridge University Press (2005), cloth, ISBN 100521812879.
- Mnookin, Seth. Hard News: The Scandals at The New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media, Random House (2004), cloth, ISBN 1400062446.
- Campomenosi, Louis Joseph, III. New York Times Editorial Coverage of the American Involvement in Vietnam, 1945-1965: A Case Study to Test the Huntington Thesis of the Existence of an Oppositional Press in the United States.. Tulane University (1994)
- The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, revised edition. Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly. New York: Times Books, 1999. ISBN 0812963881. Self-indexed.

External links

- [http://www.nytimes.com/ The New York Times on the Web]
- [http://www.wqxr.com/ WQXR, the Times radio station]
- [http://www.nytco.com/company-timeline-1851.html Official history of the Times]
- [http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1618 Celebrated NYT reporter was a federal informant] citing David Cay Johnston Perfectly Legal ISBN 1591840198
- "[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/international/middleeast/26FTE_NOTE.html The Times and Iraq]," New York Times, May 26, 2004.
- Daniel Okrent, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/weekinreview/30bott.html Weapons of Mass Destruction? Or Mass Distraction?]" New York Times, May 30, 2004.
- "[http://www.timeswatch.com/ Times Watch]", documents alleged liberal bias in the Times, run by the Media Research Center
- [http://www.newsfollowup.com/leakgate1.htm Plamegate timeline, AIPAC / Franklin Pentagon mole indictment, Niger yellowcake connections? at NewsFollowUp.com]. New York Times Category:The New York Times New York Times, The ja:ニューヨーク・タイムズ

Washington Post

:This article concerns the newspaper. The Washington Post is also a patriotic march by John Philip Sousa The Washington Post is the largest and oldest newspaper in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It gained worldwide fame in the early 1970s for its Watergate investigation by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, which played a major role in the undoing of the Nixon presidency. It is generally considered among the best three daily American newspapers along with the The New York Times, which is known for its general reporting and international coverage, and The Wall Street Journal, which is known for its financial reporting. The Post, unsurprisingly, has distinguished itself through its reporting on the workings of the White House, Congress, and other aspects of the U.S. government. Unlike the Times and the Journal, however, it sees itself as a strictly regional newspaper, and does not print a national edition for distribution away from the East Coast. The majority of its readership is in the District of Columbia, as well as in the well-to-do suburbs of Maryland and Northern Virginia. As of September 2004, its average daily circulation was 707,690 and its Sunday circulation was 1,007,487, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, making it the fifth largest newspaper in the country by circulation, behind The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. While its circulation (like almost all newspapers) has been slipping, it has one of the highest market-penetration rates of any metropolitan news daily.

History

The paper was founded in 1877 by Stilson Hutchins and in 1880 became the first newspaper in Washington, D.C. to publish daily. In 1899, during the Spanish-American War, the Post printed Clifford K. Berryman's illustration Remember the Maine. In 1905 Washington McLean and his son John Roll McLean, owners of the Cincinnati Enquirer, purchased a controlling interest. When John died in 1916 he put the paper in trust, having little faith in his playboy son Edward "Ned" McLean with his inheritance. Ned went to court and broke the trust, quickly driving the paper to ruin. It was purchased in a bankruptcy auction in 1933 by a member of the Federal Reserve's board of governors, Eugene Meyer, who restored the paper's health and reputation. Philip L. Graham, Meyer's son-in-law, would work his way up to become publisher upon Meyer's death in 1959. In 1954 the Post acquired its chief rival, the Washington Times-Herald, to become the only morning daily in Washington. Thenceforth its main competition was the Washington Star (Evening Star) until that paper's demise in 1981. Subsequently, the conservative Washington Times, established in 1982, has been a local rival, although as of 2005 the Times had a readership only around one-eighth of the Posts. After Graham committed suicide in 1963, control of the Washington Post Company passed to Meyer's daughter, Katharine Graham. She was publisher of the newspaper from 1969 to 1979, chairman of the board from 1973 to 1991 and chairman of the executive committee from 1993 until her death in 2001. Her son, Donald Graham, was publisher from 1979 to 2000 when Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr. took over as publisher and CEO of the Post. As of 2005 the Post had been honored with 18 Pulitzer Prizes, 18 Nieman Fellowships, and 368 White House News Photographers Association Awards, among others. It is part of the Washington Post Company, which owns a number of other media and non-media companies, including Newsweek magazine, the online magazine Slate, and the Kaplan test preparation service.
Political leanings
The Post is generally seen as being politically liberal, particularly on its opinion pages. For example, it usually supports Democratic candidates when making political endorsements. Conservative pundits often cite it along with The New York Times as epitomizing the "liberal media." The paper argues that its news coverage is politically neutral, an assessment that has its supporters but also draws fire from many directions.
Criticism by Ombudsmen
After the 1981 publication of [http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/markport/lit/litjour/spg2002/cooke.htm 'Jimmy's World'] (a story for which Post reporter Janet Cooke had been nominated by Bob Woodward for the Pulitzer Prize, which she subsequently won and later returned after it was established the story was a fabrication), Post Ombudsman Bill Green concluded an investigation with several comments and recommendations, including "The scramble for journalistic prizes is poisonous. The obligation is to inform readers, not to collect frameable certificates, however prestigious. Maybe the Post should consider not entering contests."[http://academics.smcvt.edu/dmindich/Jimmy%27s%20World.htm] In 1998 the Post printed a series of denials regarding public leaks of depositions given by President Clinton in the Jones v. Clinton case contrary to an Order of the Court. Dr. Deni Elliot of the Practical Ethics Center, after reviewing the matter, concluded that the Post knew the source of the illegal leaks yet "knowingly deceived its readers" by alleging the leaks could have come from the Court or the opposing counsel's office. "The Post," Dr. Elliot wrote in the Organization of News Ombudsmen’s publication, "intentionally lied to its readers in printing this set of denials...None of this sounds like the making of ethical principles". [http://www.newsombudsmen.org/elliott.html]
Notable contributors

- Anne Applebaum (writer)
- Carl Bernstein (writer)
- Herb Block (cartoonist)
- David Broder (writer)
- Tina Brown (writer)
- Art Buchwald (writer)
- Richard L. Coe (theatre critic/writer)
- Richard Cohen (writer)
- Janet Cooke (writer)
- E.J. Dionne (writer)
- Leonard Downie, Jr. (editor)
- Michel duCille (photo editor, photographer)
- Dan Froomkin (columnist)
- Meg Greenfield (editor)
- Jim Hoagland (writer)
- Colbert King (writer)
- Tony Kornheiser (writer)
- Charles Lane (writer)
- Mary McGrory (writer)
- Dana Milbank (writer)
- Alex Hummer (writer)
- Shirley Povich (writer)
- William Raspberry (writer)
- Ken Ringle (writer)
- Tom Shales (writer)
- Howard Simons (editor)
- Tom Toles (cartoonist)
- Gene Weingarten (writer)
- James Russell Wiggins (editor)
- Michael Wilbon (writer)
- George F. Will (columnist)
- Bob Woodward (writer)
- Robin Wright (writer)
- Colman McCarthy (columnist)
- Steve Coll (editor)
- Mike Grunwald (writer)
Executive Officers and Editors - Past and Present

- Philip Bennett
- Ben Bradlee
- Milton Coleman
- Jackson Diehl
- Leonard Downie, Jr.
- Donald Graham
- Katharine Graham
- Philip Graham
- Fred Hiatt
- Stephen P. Hills
- Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr.
- Colbert I. King
- Eugene Meyer
External links

- [http://www.washingtonpost.com Official website]
- [http://washpost.com/gen_info/history/timeline/index.shtml Timeline of the history of The Washington Post]
- Scott Sherman, Columbia Journalism Review, May 2002, [http://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/5/wash-stability.asp "Donald Graham's Washington Post"] Washington Post, The Washington Post, The Washington Post, The ja:ワシントン・ポスト nb:The Washington Post

The Toronto Star

The Toronto Star is a major metropolitan newspaper produced in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation in the country, in excess of 400,000 daily, and is noted for its overall Liberal stance. The paper emphasizes coverage of regional news stories from the Greater Toronto Area. While most of Canada's high-circulation newspapers and chains were acquired by large media conglomerates during the 1990s in a process called 'convergence' (the Globe and Mail by BCE, the National Post by CanWest Global), Torstar, the Toronto Stars parent company, has limited itself to several Southern Ontario local newspapers and various publishing ventures, including Harlequin romance novels. However, it has launched a license-exempt infomercial channel on Southern Ontario cable television systems (featuring rolling news at a certain point of the hour), and has attempted to win television licenses in Toronto and nearby cities.
History
Describing itself as a "paper for the people", the Star (originally known as the Evening Star and then the Toronto Daily Star) was created in 1892 by striking Afternoon News printers and writers. The paper did poorly in its first few years, but it prospered under editor Joseph "Holy Joe" Atkinson from 1899 until his death in 1948. Atkinson had a strong social conscience and, in keeping with the paper's tradition, championed many left-wing causes. By 1913 it had the largest circulation of any Toronto newspaper, and Atkinson was the majority shareholder. Ernest Hemingway was a Star writer in this period.
Atkinson principles
Shortly before his death Atkinson had ownership of the paper transferred to a charitable organization given the mandate of continuing the paper's liberal tradition (known today as the "Atkinson Principles"). Ontario's Conservative government of the time did not like the Stars editorial stance, however, and passed a law barring charitable organizations from owning a large part of a profit-making business, therefore requiring the Star to be sold. To circumvent this requirement, the trustees of the charitable organization bought the paper themselves and swore before court to continue the Atkinson Principles. Retention of the Atkinson Principles has led some detractors to say that 'the Star is the only newspaper in the world run by a dead man.' Editorially, the Star is considered to be more left-wing when compared to the right and centre newspapers such as the National Post and the Globe and Mail, respectively. It has been said that the Star urges readers to "think NDP and vote Liberal".

External links

- [http://www.thestar.com/ Toronto Star Website]
- [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&inifile=futuretense.ini&c=Page&cid=972403844690&pubid=968163964505 History of the Toronto Star] Category:Canadian newspapers Category:Torstar publications Category:Toronto media

Publisher

Publishing is the activity of putting information into the public arena. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books and newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of publishing has expanded to include websites, blogs, and other forms of new media. As a business, publishing includes the development, marketing, production, and distribution of news and non-fiction magazines and books, literary works, musical works, software, and so on. This article is concerned with the production of books, magazines, and other literary material (whether in printed or electronic formats). The publication of software is covered in software publishing. Publication is also important as a legal concept; (1) as the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to marry or enter bankruptcy, and; (2) as the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel must have been published.

Process of publishing

libel A modern book or periodical publishing company (or publisher) is the gateway through which authors must pass to see their work in print (whether hard copy or electronic).

Content

- Author/agent submission Publishers spend a significant proportion of their time buying or commissioning content. At a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material but, as activity increases, the need for content may outstrip the publisher's established circle of authors, so the door is open for others to submit material for consideration. The majority of unsolicited submissions come from previously unpublished authors. Such manuscripts must go through the slush pile, which acquisitions editors sift through to identify manuscripts of sufficient quality or revenue potential to be referred to the editorial staff. Authors who are represented by a literary agent are more likely to succeed with major publishers. Publishers thrive only when they are able to produce and sell books that match the needs of the target readers.
- Acceptance/negotiation Once a work is accepted, the commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of intellectual property (IP) rights and agree royalty rates.
- The authors of traditional printed materials sell exclusive territorial IP rights that match the list of states in which distribution is proposed (i.e. the rights match the legal systems under which copyright protections can be enforced). In the case of books, the publisher must also agree on the intended formats of publication — mass market paperback, trade paperback and hardback are the most common options.
- The situation is slightly more complex if electronic formatting is to be used. Where distribution is to be by CD-R or other physical media, there is no reason to treat this form differently from a hard-copy format and a territorial copyright is an acceptable approach. But the possibility of internet download without the ability to restrict physical distribution within national boundaries presents legal problems that are usually solved by selling language/translation rights rather than territorial rights. Thus, internet access across the European Union is relatively open because of the laws forbidding discrimination based on nationality, but the fact of publication in, say, French, limits the target market to those who read French.
- Having agreed on the scope of the publication and the formats, the parties must then agree royalty rates, i.e. the percentage of the gross retail price that will be paid to the author. This is a difficult risk management exercise because the publisher must estimate the potential sales in each market and balance projected revenue against production costs.
- Editorial stage Once the immediate commercial decisions are taken and the technical legal issues resolved, the author may be asked to improve the quality of the work through rewrite(s) or the in-house staff will edit the work. Almost all publishers operate a house style, and staff will copy edit to ensure that the work matches the style and grammatical requirements of each market.
- Pre-press When a final text is agreed, the next phases are design (i.e. artwork is commissioned, layout is confirmed, etc.) and preparing the work for printing (i.e. typesetting, dust jacket composition, specification of paper quality, binding method and casing, and proofreading). The activities of typesetting, page layout, the production of negatives, plates from the negatives and, for hardbacks, the preparation of brasses for the spine legend and imprint are now all computerised. The final act before sending the work to the printer is to output the PostScript files. If the target is electronic distribution, the final files are saved as PDF files or other formats appropriate to the target operating systems of the hardware used for reading.

Business

The publisher usually controls the advertising and other marketing tasks, but may subcontract various aspects of the process described above. In smaller companies, editing, proof-reading and layout might be done by freelancers. Dedicated in-house sales forces for books are rapidly being replaced by specialised companies who handle sales to bookshops, wholesalers and chain stores for a fee. This trend is accelerating as retail book chains and supermarkets have centralised their buying. If the entire process up to the stage of printing is handled by an outside company or individuals, and then sold to the publishing company, it is known as book packaging. This is a common strategy between smaller publishers in different territorial markets where the company that first buys the IP Rights, sells a package to other publishers and gains an immediate return on capital invested. Indeed, the first publisher will often print sufficient copies for all territories and thereby obtain the maximum quantity discounts on the print run for all. Any company will maximise its profit margin through vertical integration. Although newspaper and magazine companies still often own printing presses and binderies, book publishers rarely do. Similarly, the trade usually sells the finished products through a distributor who stores and distributes the publisher's wares for a percentage fee or sells on a sale or return basis. The advent of the internet has therefore posed an interesting question to the publishers, the distributors and the retailers. In 2005, Amazon.com announced its purchase of Booksurge, a major Print On Demand (P.O.D) operation. This is probably intended as a preliminary move towards establishing an Amazon imprint. One of the largest bookseller chains, Barnes & Noble, already runs its own successful imprint with both new titles and Classics — hardback editions of out-of-print former best sellers. Similarly, Ingram Book Company, the world’s largest book wholesaler, having flirted with Barnes & Noble, now includes its own P.O.D. division called Lighting Source. From the publishers, Simon & Schuster recently announced that it will start selling its backlist titles directly to consumers through its website. Perseus, one of the largest independent publishers, also announced its purchase of Client Distribution Services, a company that distributes titles by independent publishers. Book clubs are almost entirely direct-to-retail, and niche publishers pursue a mixed strategy to sell through all available outlets — their output is insignificant to the major booksellers and so lost business is no threat to the traditional symbiotic relationships between the four activities of printing, publishing, distribution and retail.

Academic publishing

The development of the printing press represented a revolution for communicating the latest hypotheses and research results to the academic community and supplemented what a scholar could do personally. Ironically, this improvement in the efficiency of communication created a challenge for libraries which have had to accommodate the weight and volume of literature. To understand the scale of the problem: about two centuries ago, the number of scientific papers published annually was doubling approximately every fifteen years. Today, the number of published papers doubles about every ten years. Modern academics can now run electronic journals and distribute academic materials without the need for publishers. Not surprisingly, publishers perceive this emancipation as a serious threat to their business model. In reality, the interests of scholars and publishers have long been in conflict. The purpose of copyright is to protect the capital invested in the "work" by the publisher and the wish of the scholar is to have the work as widely distributed as possible. Today, publishing academic journals and textbooks is a large part of an international industry. The shares of the major publishing companies are listed on national stock exchanges and management policies must satisfy the dividend expectations of international shareholders. Critics claim that these standardised accounting and profit-oriented policies have come to the fore and now constrain more altruistic leanings. An alternative to the corporate model is open access, the online distribution of individual articles and academic journals without charge to readers and libraries.

Tie-in publishing

Technically, radio, television, cinemas, VCDs and DVDs, music systems, games machines, computer hardware and mobile telephony publish information to those who watch and/or listen. Indeed, the marketing of a major film will require a novelisation, a graphic novel or comic version, the soundtrack album, a game, model, toys and endless promotional publications (including SMS messages). Some of the major publishers have entire divisions devoted to a single franchise, e.g. Ballantine Del Rey Lucasbooks has the exclusive rights to Star Wars in the U.S; Random House UK(Bertelsmann)/Century LucasBooks holds the same rights in the UK. The gaming industry self-publishes through BL Publishing/Black Library (Warhammer) and Wizards of the Coast (DragonLance, Forgotten Realms, etc). The BBC has its own publishing division which does very well with long-running series such as Doctor Who. These multi-media works are cross-marketed aggressively and sales frequently outperform the average stand-alone published work making them a focus of corporate interest.

Criticism of the publishing industry

There has been some controversy in recent times over what is perceived as a crisis in Western publishing. The general complaint is that conglomerates or large corporations have bought and merged a significant number of key publishing houses or bookstores. Consequently, an oligopoly is arising and now exercises more real influence over various aspects of publishing. It is suggested that there has been some reduction in competition but there is no reduction in the number of titles published in the national markets. This is not to deny that consolidation has produced a number of consequences:
- The corporations have concentrated on their big name authors, attempting to drive up the market share of a bestseller.
- Editorial policy now requires imprints to keep fewer authors under contract — this has resulted in economic insecurity for the midlist authors who previously enjoyed stability of employment;
- Companies now wish to extend the payment schedule for the payment of author royalties — in part this is a response to the demands of the retail trade for extended periods of credit, but it also maximises the amount of circulating capital available to the publisher;
- Critics claim that these events have led to the following problems:
- Not only a loss of diversity in the range of authors published in mass market outlets, but also to a decline in the quality of a bestseller as most of the middle and lower level authors must have other employment to provide income while writing the work and waiting for the royalties.
- The consolidation of companies has also made it easier to impose a political bias on the works released by the commercial publishers based in New York.
- There is an excess of transient in the mass market, a bestseller is often used as promotional tools for a possible movie deal.

Independent publishing alternatives

In spite of the fact that middle and lower level authors now need to keep a day job, they have managed to find smaller alternatives to the mass market in the form of small press such as self-publishing, print on demand, and through the eBook format as well. Even though there is little market exposure in addition to the royalty checks that are few and far between, these publishing alternatives provide an avenue that expresses diversity in styles and political views that the mass markets haven't seen in the last 10-15 years. Rather than try to write a bestseller, most of these small press authors shoot for the long range goal of writing the Great American Novel.

References

- Schiffrin, André (2000). The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read.
- Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future.
- Ugrešić, Dubravka (2003). Thank You for Not Reading.

External links

- [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media_control_propaganda/Book_busters.html Book-Busters: Corporate Consolidation in Book Publishing and Selling and the Decline of Diversity by William Petrocelli (1999)]
- [http://www.stanford.edu/~boyd/schol_pub_crisis.html Crisis in Scholarly Publishing: Executive Summary, by Stephen Boyd and Andrew Herkovic (1999)]
- [http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/crisis.html The Crisis in Scholarly Publishing]
- [http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/StatementOnCrisis.htm The Crisis in Scholarly Communication]
- [http://www.math.umd.edu/research/crisis.shtml The Crisis in Scientific Publishing]
- [http://www.LanguageMonitor.com LanguageMonitor Media Metrics and Analysis]
- [http://www.magazinelaunch.com Magazine Publishing Startup Resource Web Site for Publishers]
- [http://www.authorsguild.org/miscfiles/midlist.pdf A Report to the Authors Guild which reveals a "Crisis in Midlist Publishing"]: Study (PDF file)
- [http://chronicle.com/free/v50/i06/06b00701.htm Understanding the Economic Burden of Scholarly Publishing By Cathy N. Davidson]
- [http://ivyspring.com/steveLawrence/SteveLawrence.htm Articles freely available online are more highly cited] Category:Graphic design Category:Publishing ja:出版

Editor

An editor is a person who prepares text—typically language, but also images and sounds—for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. In career terms, the word has four major senses:
- Print media There are various levels of editorial positions in publishing. Typically one finds junior editorial assistants reporting to senior level editorial managers and directors, who themselves report to senior executive editors responsible for project development to final releases. :See related articles at Journalism
- Visual media Editors in the visual mediums, who may be described as film or video editors, perform a variety of tasks. Assistant editors and production assistants perform preliminary screening and logging of motion picture footage; senior editors are responsible for creative placement of scenes and shots, structural placement of major elements and organization of the entire presentation. Other editors are involved with assembly of the final product and preparation for distribution. :See related articles at film editor, video editor
- Sound media Motion pictures have many sound editors, this team works with various aspects of the picture or program's sound designers. These editors construct tracks consisting of assembled pre-recorded dialogue, the audio mixing in of sound effects, foley and music to achieve the desired effect for the motion pictures and television programs. :See related articles at sound recording, sound effects, DAW
- Computer editor is a program used to make changes to files of a particular type. There are computer editing systems for visual and sound mediums as well as still images. Other types of editors are more technical and edit computer code in various ways needed by programmers and technicians. :See related articles at word processor, Avid, electronic journalism Onto these career categories are mapped the categories in which individual professionals specialize, including language, still images, cinema/video, sound, computer programming code, and music scores. These areas sometimes overlap in individual practitioners; for example, language editors may comment on or make alterations to graphics and photographs embedded in a job that mostly comprises language; sound editors may make alterations in the linguistic text of, for example, a sound interview, to improve the intended meaning or reduce the duration of an item. 'Editing', as applied to language, is sometimes contrasted with terms that imply more restricted functions: 'copyediting' (checking for consistency and accuracy) and 'proofreading' (marking errors). The boundaries between the meanings of these terms are not universally accepted.
Etymology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, editor comes from the Latin phrase e ditus which means "to put forward". The editor ludorum in Ancient Rome was the person who put on the games. In French, editeur means "publisher". Also in Italian editore means "publisher". The word came into English from French. The verb to edit is a back formation from editor.
Print media
Human editors in the print publishing industry include people who are responsible for:
- newspapers and wire services; see below.
- organizing anthologies and other compilations.
- organizing and publishing a magazine —. The top editor may be called editor-in-chief.
- producing a definitive edition of a classic author's works — a scholarly editor.
- organizing and managing contributions to a multi-author book — symposium editor or volume editor.
- finding marketable ideas and presenting them to appropriate authors — a sponsoring editor.
- obtaining copy or recruiting authors — such as the acquisitions editor or commissioning editor for a publishing house.
- improving an author's writing so that they indeed say what they want to say, in an effective manner — a substantive editor. Depending on the writer's skill, this editing can sometimes turn into ghost writing. Substantive editing is seldom a title. Many types of editors do this type of work, either in-house at a publisher or on an independent basis.
- correcting spelling, grammar, and matters of house style — a copy editor. But copy editors at newspapers usually also have greater and higher responsibilities, which may include the design of pages and the selection of news stories for inclusion. At U.K. newspapers, the term is "sub-editor."
- choosing the layout of the publication and communicating with the printer — a production editor. This and similar jobs are also called "layout editor," "design editor," "news designer," or -- more so in the past -- "makeup editor." The smaller the publication, the more these roles run together. In particular, the substantive editor and copy editor often overlap:
- Fact-checking can be the responsibility of either.
- Copy editors who find an inappropriate term or phrase will often suggest or make an improvement.
Executive editor
The top editor sometimes has the title executive editor or editor-in-chief (the former is replacing the latter in the language). This person is generally responsible for the content of the publication. The exception is that newspapers that are large enough usually have a separate editor for the editorials and opinion pages. The executive editor sets the publication standards for performance, and is responsible for assuring the highest standards of ethical conduct in the process of gathering and presenting information, as well as for motivating and developing the staff. The executive editor is also responsible for developing and maintaining the publication budget. In concert with the publisher and the operating committee, the executive editor is responsible for strategic and operational planning.
Newspapers
Editors at newspapers supervise journalists and improve their work. Newspaper editing encompasses a variety of titles and functions. These include:
- copy editors; see above;
- department editors;
- managing editors and assistant or deputy managing editors (the managing editor is often second in line after the top editor);
- news editors, who oversee the news desk;
- photo or picture editors;
- section editors and their assistants, such as for business, features, and sports;
- top editors, who may be called editor in chief or executive editor;
- readers' editors, sometimes known as the ombudsman, who arbitrate complaints;
- wire editors, who choose and edit articles from various international wire services, and are usually part of the copy desk;
- and administrative editors (who actually don't edit but perform duties such as recruiting and directing training). The term city editor is used differently in North America, where it refers to the editor responsible for the news coverage of a newspaper's local circulation area (also sometimes called metro editor), and in the United Kingdom, where (normally with a capital C) it refers to the editor responsible for coverage of business in the City of London and, by extension, coverage of business and finance in general.
External links
Professional associations:
- [http://www.aasfe.org/index.html American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors]
- [http://www.copydesk.org/ American Copy Editors Society]
- [http://www.asbpe.org/ American Society of Business Publication Editors], for trade magazines
- [http://www.magazine.org/Editorial/ American Society of Magazine Editors]
- [http://www.asne.org/ American Society of Newspaper Editors], mainly for top editors at daily newspapers
- [http://www.apme.com/ Associated Press Managing Editors]
- [http://apse.dallasnews.com/ Associated Press Sports Editors]
- [http://www.psu.edu/dept/comm/aope/ Association of Opinion Page Editors]
- [http://www.the-efa.org/ Editorial Freelancers Association], based in the USA
- [http://www.editors.ca/ Editors' Association of Canada]
- [http://www.mssu.edu/iswne/ International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors]
- [http://www.newsombudsmen.com/ Organization of News Ombudsmen] for readers' editors and ombudsmen
- [http://www.wan-press.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=8 World Editors Forum] Online resources:
- [http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Editing EServer TC Library: Editing]
- [http://www.sfwa.org/beware/bookdoctors.html Writer Beware on Independent Editors] Articles:
- [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1542959,00.html Black day for the blue pencil]
- an extensive article from The Guardian, August 6, 2005 by Blake Morrison suggesting that the art of literary editing is in decline and discussing the relationship between famous authors and their editors. Category:Publishing Category:Media occupations Category:Journalism jobs ja:編集者 nb:Redaktør

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (Classical Latin: IMP·C·IVLIVS·CAESAR·DIVVS) (b. July 13, 100 BC; d. March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader. He played an important part in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, with the first Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, as well as a brilliant politician; and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders along with Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great Alexander the Great Caesar fought and won a civil war which left him undisputed master of the Roman world, and began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He was proclaimed dictator for life, and heavily centralized the already faltering government of the weak Republic. Caesar's friend Marcus Brutus conspired with others to assassinate Caesar in hopes of saving the Republic. The dramatic assassination on the Ides of March sparked a new civil war between the Caesarians: Octavian, Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Republicans: Brutus, Cassius, and Cicero among others. This conflict ended with a Caesarian victory at the Battle of Philippi, and the formal establishment of the Second Triumvirate in which Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus shared control of Rome. Tensions between Octavian and Antony soon plunged Rome into further civil war, culminating in Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium, and leaving Octavian as the undisputed leader of the Roman world. This period of civil wars transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire with Caesar's great nephew and adopted son Octavian, later known as Caesar Augustus, installed as the first Emperor. Caesar's military campaigns are known in detail from his own written Commentaries (Commentarii), and many details of his life are recorded by later historians such as Suetonius, Plutarch, and Cassius Dio.

Early Life

Caesar was born in Rome into a well-known patrician family (gens Julia), which supposedly traced its ancestry to Julus, the son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who according to myth was the son of Venus. According to legend, Caesar was born by Caesarian section and is its namesake, though this is unlikely because it was only performed on dead women, and his mother lived long after he was born, this legend is more likely a modern invention, as the origin of the Caesarian section is in the Latin word for to cut, caedo, -ere, caesus sum. Caesar was raised in a modest apartment building (insula) in the Suburra, a lower-class neighborhood of Rome. The Julii Caesares, although of impeccable aristocratic patrician stock, were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility. Thus, no member of his family had achieved any outstanding prominence in recent times, though in his father's generation there was a renaissance of their fortunes. He was the namesake of his father (a praetor, who died in 85-84 BC) and his mother was Aurelia Cotta. His elder sister Julia Caesaris, was grandmother to Caesar Augustus. His paternal aunt, Julia, married Gaius Marius, a talented general and reformer of the Roman army. Marius became one of the richest men in Rome at the time and while he gained political influence, the Caesar family gained the wealth. Towards the end of Marius' life in 86 BC, internal politics reached a breaking point. During this period Roman politicians were generally divided into two factions: the Populares, which included Marius, and the Optimates, which included Lucius Cornelius Sulla. A string of disputes between these two factions led to civil war and eventually opened the way to Sulla's dictatorship. Caesar was tied to the Populares through family connections. Not only was he Marius' nephew, he was also married to Cornelia, the youngest daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Marius' greatest supporter and Sulla's enemy. To make matters worse, in the year 85 BC, just after Caesar turned 15, his father grew ill and soon died. Both Marius and his father had left Caesar much of their property and wealth in their wills. Thus, when Sulla emerged as the winner of this civil war and began his program of proscriptions, Caesar, not yet 20 years old, was in a bad position. Sulla ordered Caesar to divorce Cornelia in 82 BC, but Caesar refused and prudently left Rome to hide. Sulla pardoned Caesar and his family and allowed him to return to Rome. In a prophetic moment, Sulla was said to comment on the dangers of letting Caesar live. According to Suetonius, the dictator in relenting on Caesar's proscription said, "He whose life you so much desire will one day be the overthrow of the part of nobles, whose cause you have sustained with me; for in this one Caesar, you will find many a Marius." Despite Sulla's pardon, Caesar did not remain in Rome and left for military service in Asia and Cilicia. While still in Asia Minor, Caesar was involved in several military operations. In 80 BC, while still serving under Marcus Minucius Thermus, he played a pivotal role in the siege of Miletus. During the course of the battle Caesar showed such personal bravery in saving the lives of legionaries, that he was later awarded the corona civica (oak crown). The award was of the highest honor given to a non-commander, and when worn in public, even in the presence of the Roman Senate, all were forced to stand and applaud his presence. Back in Rome in 78 BC, when Sulla died, Caesar began his political career in the Forum at Rome as an advocate, known for his oratory and ruthless prosecution of former governors notorious for extortion and corruption. The great orator Cicero even commented, "Does anyone have the ability to speak better than Caesar?" Aiming at rhetorical perfection, Caesar traveled to Rhodes in 75 BC for philosophical and oratorical studies with the famous teacher Apollonius Molo. On the way, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates

Caesar's cursus honorum

pirates Caesar was elected quaestor by the Assembly of the People in 70 BC, at the age of 30, as stipulated in the Roman cursus honorum. This office brought with it membership in the senate. He drew the lots and was assigned with a quaestorship in Hispania Ulterior, a Roman province roughly situated in modern Portugal and southern Spain. As an administrative and financial officer, the trip was largely uneventful, but while in Hispania he had the now famous encounter with a statue of Alexander the Great. Perhaps because of his weakened emotional state coupled with a growing and now obvious personal ambition, he had a definitive and prophetic reaction to the site of the statue. At the temple of Hercules in Gades, it was said that he either broke down and cried or at the very least was deeply saddened in reaction to it. When asked why he would react so, he responded: "Do you think I have not just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable." Caesar was released early from his office as quaestor, and allowed to return to Rome. Despite any personal grief over the loss of his wife, whom all accounts suggest he loved dearly, Caesar was set to remarry in 67 BC for political gain. This time, however, he chose an odd alliance. The granddaughter of Sulla, and daughter of Quintus Pompey, Pompeia became his next wife. Although seeming to align himself with the Senatorial optimates, Caesar's other actions had little to do with conservative policy and he continued his course of support for a populares policy. Caesar supported the Lex Gabinia which granted Pompey the Great unlimited powers in dealing with Cilician Pirates. Later, and once again in the face of bitter Optimate resistance, Caesar supported the Lex Manilia which granted Pompey the unique and comprehensive command of the entire east against Mithridates. Obviously building a relationship with Rome’s great general would play into his hands later. The rivalry between Pompey and Caesar’s benefactor Crassus, seemed to have little effect on Caesar. Crassus continued to support Caesar’s enormous debts over the next few years. Between the support of the two laws regarding Pompey’s command, Caesar served as the curator of the Appian Way. The maintenance of this road, which stretched from Rome through Cumae to the heel of Italy’s boot, was an important and high profile position. While it was enormously expensive to him personally, it gave a great deal of prestige to the young Senator, and Crassus’ support made it an achievable task for Caesar. All the while, Caesar continued pursuing his judicial career until his election as curule aedile in 65 BC, along with Bibulus, a young rival and member of the optimate faction. This magisterial position was the next step in the Roman cursus honorum and provided a grand opportunity for the master of the public spectacle. The curule aediles were responsible for the construction and care of temples, maintenance of public buildings, traffic, and other aspects of Rome's daily life. Perhaps most importantly, the aediles staged public games on state holidays and managed the Circus Maximus. Caesar indebted himself to the point of near financial ruin during this time, but enhanced his image irreversibly with the common people. His games were spectacular affairs, and building projects during his term were ambitious. In a spectacle to honor his father, Caesar displayed 320 pairs of gladiators clad in silver armor at an enormous expense. Caesar pushed his agenda further by erecting statues of Marius for public display. The senate was outraged, but Caesar’s popularity made him nearly untouchable. They could, however, attempt to block his political path through other means. Caesar may have been nominated to take charge of quelling a disturbance in Egypt but was unable to win enough support to take the position. Caesar ended his year as aedile in both glory and bankruptcy. His debts reached several hundred gold talents (millions of Euros in today's currency) and threatened to hinder his future political career. His co-aedile Bibulus was so unspectacular in comparison that he later commented in frustration that the entire year’s aedile ship was credited to Caesar alone, instead of both. Roman satirists ever after referred to the year as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar". His success as aedile, however, enormously helped his election as Pontifex Maximus (high priest) in 63 BC, following the death of the previous pontifex Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius. This office came with a house — the Domus Publica (public house) — in the Forum, the responsibility of all Roman religious affairs and the custody of the Vestal virgins under his roof. For Caesar, it also meant a relief of his debts. This election bestowed considerable power on Caesar, with the opportunity for income. The Pontifex was elected to a lifetime term. While technically not a political office, the pontificate provided considerable advantages in dealing with the Senate and legislation. Scandal marred Caesar's debut as Pontifex. Following Cornelia's death, Caesar had married Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla, in 67 BC. As the wife of the Pontifex and an important matrona, Pompeia was responsible for the organization of the Bona Dea festival in December. These sacred rites were exclusive to women. However, Publius Clodius Pulcher managed to sneak in the house disguised as a woman. This was absolute sacrilege and Pompeia received a letter of divorce. Caesar himself admitted that she might be innocent of wrongdoing, but that: "Caesar's wife, like the rest of Caesar's family, must be above suspicion." Sixty-three BC proved especially difficult, not only for Caesar, but for the Roman Republic itself. Caesar won the office of urban Praetor, but before he could take office, the Catiline Conspiracy erupted, putting Caesar in direct conflict with the optimates once again. Lucius Sergius Catilina, twice a candidate for consul, faced charges of plotting to overthrow the Republic through armed rebellion. Catiline's guilt is disputed. In the elections held in late 63 BC, Marcus Tullius Cicero defeated Catiline in the consular election. Soon afterwards, Crassus received anonymous letters informing various Senators to leave Rome in order to avoid a coming massacre of government leaders. Crassus took the letters to Cicero, who presented the conspiracy concept to the Senate. Many in the Senate disbelieved him, thinking that Cicero fabricated the affair for political gain. Cicero’s oratorical eloquence, however, convinced the Senate that plot warranted extreme steps. Senatus consultum ultimum followed granting Cicero the authority to deal with the conspirators. Catiline, among others, became the prime target. In response he decided to flee Rome, but not before being implicated in a plot to assassinate Cicero. The plot failed, and Catiline left to join the rebellion in Etruria. Five notable Romans, allies of Catiline, were sentenced to death without trial. Imprisonment before trial was unheard of and if banished the men might have joined Catiline's armies in Etruria. During the Senate's deliberation, Caesar was one of the few men to argue against a death sentence. His position was defeated, due to Cato the younger's insistence, and the men were executed on the same day. This was also the day on which Caesar's affair with Servilia Caepionis was exposed to the public eye. Caesar's opposition prompted accusations — never proved — of his involvement with the conspiracy. If Caesar was implicated in the Catiline affair, it did him no lasting damage. In the following year, Caesar began a term as urban praetor. From this elite position, he once again pushed his populares policies. He asked for an account of the cost of restoring the capital, in which he was opposed by the optimates. Unsuccessful in that attempt, he strengthened his standing with Pompey, who was soon to return to Rome from his eastern campaigns. Pompey’s return troubled the optimates, who feared a Sullan-style march to Rome and dictatorship. They needed to present the city, and the surrounding countryside, as a stable environment not in need of Pompey to ‘restore order’. Pompey’s ally, Caecilius Metellus Nepos, however, took the matter to the Senate demanding that Pompey be allowed to land in Italy and do just that. Caesar supported Nepos and Pompey, but Cato defeated the motion. Nepos fled Rome to join Pompey, and Caesar was eventually stripped of the Praetorship. When a mob in support of Caesar threatened violence his position was restored. Caesar quelled the mob before any violence ensued. Towards the end of his Praetorship, Caesar again faced the serious jeopardy of prosecution for his debts. Crassus, rescuing his ally, paid off a quarter of his 20 million denarii balance. By 61 BC, Caesar was assigned the Propraetorian governorship of further Hispania, the province in which he had served as quaestor. With this appointment to a potentially profitable position, his creditors relaxed their demands. Not taking chances, Caesar left Rome earlier than this new responsibility required. Caesar and his staff rode hard, reaching the Rhone in only 8 days, and presaging his future ability to move armies at remarkable speeds. On the way, several members of his entourage noted the barbaric, and, in their view, wretched standard of living in the local villages. Caesar, demonstrating his ambition replied, "For my part, I’d rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome." During his term as governor, Caesar strengthened his relationship with these Gallic peoples, which proved to be an important factor in his later plans. Arriving in Hispania, Caesar earned a remarkable reputation for military command. Between 61 BC and 60 BC, he won considerable victories over the Gallaecians and Lusitanians. He advanced to the Atlantic Ocean and subdued tribes in the northwest part of the country that had never before bowed to the Romans. He secured sufficient spoils of war to pay off all of his debts, provide his men a considerable share of booty, and add to the Roman treasury. During one of his victories, his men hailed him as Imperator in the field, which was a vital consideration in being eligible for a triumph back in Rome. But a terrible dilemma faced Caesar. He wanted to run for Consul for 59 BC, which required his presence in Rome, but he also wanted the honor of a triumph. The optimates could use this against him, forcing him to wait outside the city, as was the custom, until they confirmed his triumph. This delay could force Caesar to miss his chance to run for Consul. In the summer of 60 BC, Caesar entered Rome to run for the highest political office in the Roman Republic, foregoing his triumph.

The First Triumvirate and the Gallic War

In 60 BC (or 59 BC) the Centuriate Assembly elected Caesar senior Consul of the Roman Republic. His junior partner was his political enemy Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, an Optimate and personal friend of Marcus Porcius Cato. Bibulus' first act as Consul was to retire from all political activity in order to search the skies for omens. This apparently pious decision was designed to make Caesar's life difficult during his Consulship. Thus leading to the informal name of the two consuls in the consulship "Julius and Caesar." Caesar needed allies and he found them where none of his enemies expected. The leading general of the day, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), was unsuccessfully fighting the Senate for farmlands for his veterans. A former Consul, Marcus Licinius Crassus, allegedly the richest man in Rome, was also having problems in obtaining his long-desired military command against the Parthian Empire. Caesar desperately needed Crassus's money and Pompey's influence, and an informal alliance soon followed: The First Triumvirate (rule by three men). To confirm the alliance, Pompey married Julia Caesaris, Caesar's only daughter. Despite their differences in age and upbringing, this political marriage proved to be a love match. Following a difficult year as Consul, Caesar was appointed to a five year term as Proconsular Governor of Transalpine Gaul (current southern France) and Illyria (the coast of Dalmatia). Not content with an idle governorship, Caesar started the Gallic Wars (58 BC–49 BC) in which he conquered all of Gaul (the rest of current France) and parts of Germania and annexed them to Rome. Among his legates were his cousins Lucius Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, Titus Labienus and Quintus Tullius Cicero, the younger brother of Caesar's political opponent, Cicero. Caesar defeated the Helvetii (in Switzerland) in 58 BC, the Belgic confederacy and the Nervii in 57 BC and the Veneti in 56 BC. On August 26th 55 BC he attempted an invasion of Britain and, in 52 BC he defeated a union of Gauls led by Vercingetorix at the battle of Alesia. He recorded his own accounts of these campaigns in De Bello Gallico ("On the Gallic War"). According to Plutarch, the whole campaign resulted in 800 conquered cities, 300 subdued tribes, one million men sold to slavery and another three million dead in battle fields. Ancient historians notoriously exaggerated numbers of this kind, but Caesar's conquest of Gaul was certainly the greatest military invasion since the campaigns of Alexander the Great. The victory was also far more lasting than those of Alexander's - Gaul never regained its Celtic identity, never attempted another nationalist rebellion, and remained loyal to Rome until the fall of the Western Empire in 476. Despite his successes and the benefits to Rome, Caesar remained unpopular among his peers, especially the conservative faction, who suspected him of wanting to be king. In 55 BC, his partners Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls and honored their agreement with Caesar by prolonging his proconsulship for another five years. This was the last act of the First Triumvirate. In 54 BC, Julia Caesaris died in childbirth, leaving both Pompey and Caesar heartbroken. Crassus was killed in 53 BC during his campaign in Parthia. Without Crassus or Julia, Pompey drifted towards the Optimates. Still in Gaul, Caesar tried to secure Pompey's support by offering him one of his nieces in marriage, but Pompey refused. Instead, Pompey married Cornelia Metella, the daughter of Metellus Scipio, one of Caesar's greatest enemies.

The civil war

Metellus Scipio In 50 BC, the Senate, led by Pompey, ordered Caesar to return to Rome and disband his army because his term as Proconsul had finished. Moreover, the Senate forbade Caesar to stand for a second consulship in absentia. Caesar thought he would be prosecuted and politically marginalized if he entered Rome without the immunity enjoyed by a Consul or without the power of his army. Pompey accused Caesar of insubordination and treason. On January 10, 49 BC Caesar crossed the Rubicon (the frontier boundary of Italy) with only one legion and ignited civil war. Historians differ as to what Caesar said upon crossing the Rubicon; the two competing lines are "Alea iacta est" ("The die is cast"), and "Let the dice fly high!" (a line from the New Comedy poet Menander). This minor controversy is occasionally seen in modern literature when an author attributes the less popular Menander line to Caesar. The Optimates, including Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger, fled to the south, not knowing that Caesar had only his Tenth Legion with him. Caesar pursued Pompey to Brundisium, hoping to restore their alliance of ten years prior. Pompey eluded him, however, and Caesar made an astonishing 27-day route-march to Hispania where he defeated Pompey's lieutenants. He then returned east, to challenge Pompey in Greece where on July 10, 48 BC at Dyrrhachium Caesar barely avoided a catastrophic defeat. He decisively defeated Pompey, despite Pompey's numerical advantage (nearly twice the number of infantry and considerably more cavalry), at Pharsalus in an exceedingly short engagement in 48 BC. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered by an officer of King Ptolemy XIII. In Rome, Caesar was appointed dictator, with Mark Antony as his master of the horse; Caesar resigned this dictatorate after eleven days and was elected to a second term as consul with Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus as his colleague. He pursued Pompey to Alexandria, where he camped his army and became involved with the Alexandrine civil war between Ptolemy and his sister, wife, and co-regnant queen, the Pharaoh Cleopatra VII. Perhaps as a result of Ptolemy's role in Pompey's murder, Caesar sided with Cleopatra; he is reported to have wept at the sight of Pompey's head, which was offered to him by Ptolemy's chamberlain Pothinus as a gift. In any event, Caesar defeated the Ptolemaic forces and installed Cleopatra as ruler, with whom he fathered his only known biological son, Ptolemy XV Caesar, better known as "Caesarion". Caesar and Cleopatra never married. After spending the first months of 47 BC in Egypt, Caesar went to the Middle East, where he annihilated King Pharnaces II of Pontus in the battle of Zela; his victory was so swift and complete that he commemorated it with the words Veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered"). Thence, he proceeded to Africa to deal with the remnants of Pompey's senatorial supporters. He quickly gained a significant victory at Thapsus in 46 BC over the forces of Metellus Scipio (who died in the battle) and Cato the Younger (who committed suicide). Nevertheless, Pompey's sons Gnaeus Pompeius and Sextus Pompeius, together with Titus Labienus, Caesar's former propraetorian legate (legatus propraetore) and second in command in the Gallic War, escaped to Hispania. Caesar gave chase and defeated the last remnants of opposition in the Munda in March 45 BC. During this time, Caesar was elected to his third and fourth terms as consul in 46 BC (with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus) and 45 BC (without colleague).

After the war

Caesar returned to Italy in September, 45 BC. Among his first tasks he filed his will, naming Octavian as his sole heir. The Senate had already begun bestowing honors on Caesar in absentia. Even though Caesar had not proscribed his enemies, instead pardoning nearly every one of them, there seemed to be little open resistance to him. Great games and celebrations were held on April 21 to honor Caesar’s great victory. Along with the games, Caesar was honored with the right to wear triumphal clothing, including a purple robe (reminiscent of the kings of Rome) and laurel crown, on all public occasions. A large estate was being built at Rome’s expense, and on state property, for Caesar’s exclusive use. The title of Imperator became a legal title that he could use in his name for the rest of his life. An ivory statue in his likeness was to be carried at all public religious processions. Images of Caesar show his hair combed forward in an attempt to conceal his baldness, Another statue of Caesar was placed in the temple of Quirinus with the inscription To the Invincible God. Since Quirinus was the deified likeness of the city and its founder and first King, Romulus, this act identified Caesar not only on equal terms with the gods, but with the ancient kings as well. A third statue was erected on the capitol alongside those of the seven Roman Kings and with that of Lucius Junius Brutus, the man who led the revolt to expel the Kings originally. In yet more scandalous behavior, Caesar had coins minted bearing his likeness. This was the first time in Roman history that a living Roman was featured on a coin. When Caesar returned to Rome in October of 45 BC, he gave up his fourth Consulship (which he held without colleague) and placed Quintus Fabius Maximus and Gaius Trebonius as suffect consuls in his stead. This irritated the Senate because he completely disregarded the Republican system of election, and performed these actions at his own whim. He celebrated a fifth triumph, this time to honor his victory in Hispania. The Senate continued to encourage more honors. A temple to Libertas was to be built in his honor, and he was granted the title Liberator. They elected him Consul for life, and allowed to hold any office he wanted, including those generally reserved for Plebeians. Rome also seemed willing to grant Caesar the unprecedented right to be the only Roman to own imperium. In this, Caesar alone would be immune from legal prosecution and would technically have the supreme command of the legions. More honors continued, including the right to appoint half of all magistrates, which were supposed to be elected positions. He also appointed magistrates to all provincial duties, a process previously done by draw of lots or through the approval of the Senate. The month of his birth, Quintilis, was renamed July (Latin Julius) in his honor and his birthday, July 13, was recognized as a national holiday. Even a tribe of the people’s assembly was to be named for him. A temple and priesthood, the Flamen maior, was established and dedicated in honor of his family. Caesar, however, did have a reform agenda and took on various social ills. He passed a law that prohibited citizens between the ages of 20 and 40 from leaving Italy for more than 3 years unless on military assignment. This theoretically would help preserve the continued operation of local farms and businesses and prevent corruption abroad. If a member of the social elite did harm or killed a member of the lower class, then all the wealth of the perpetrator was to be confiscated. Caesar demonstrated that he still had the best interest of the state at heart, even if he believed that he was the only person capable of running it. A general cancellation of one-fourth of all debt also greatly relieved the public and helped to endear him even further to the common population. Caesar tightly regulated the purchase of state-subsidized grain, prostitutes, and forbade those who could afford privately supplied grain from purchasing from the grain dole. He made plans for the distribution of land to his veterans and for the establishment of veteran colonies throughout the Roman world. One of his most wide-ranging reforms came after his election to Pontifex Maximus for life. Caesar ordered a complete overhaul of the Roman calendar, establishing a 365-day year with a leap year every fourth year (this Julian Calendar was subsequently modified by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 into the modern calendar). As a result of this reform, the year 46 BC was in fact 445 days long to bring the calendar into line. Additionally great public works were undertaken. Rome was a city of great urban sprawl and unimpressive brick architecture and Rome desperately needed a renewal. A new Rostra of marble, along with court houses and marketplaces were built. A public library under the great scholar Varro was also under construction. The Senate house, the Curia Hostilia, which had been recently repaired, was abandoned for a new marble project to be called the Curia Julia. The city Pomerium (sacred boundary) was extended allowing for additional growth. Pomerium Plutarch records that at one point, Caesar informed the Senate that his honours were more in need of reduction than augmentation, but withdrew this position so as not to appear ungrateful. He was given the title Pater Patriae ("Father of the Fatherland"). He was appointed dictator a third time, and then nominated for nine consecutive one-year terms as dictator, effectually making him dictator for ten years. He was also given censorial authority as prefect of morals (praefectus morum) for three years. At the onset of 44 BC, the honors heaped upon Caesar continued and the rift between him and the aristocrats deepened. He had been named Dictator Perpetuus, making him dictator for the remainder of his life . This title even began to show up on coinage bearing Caesar’s likeness, placing him above all others in Rome. Some among the population even began to refer to him as ‘Rex’ (Latin king), but Caesar refused to accept the title. At Caesar’s new temple of Venus, a senatorial delegation went to consult with him and Caesar refused to stand to honor them upon their arrival. Though the event is clouded by several different versions of the story, it’s quite clear that the Senators present were deeply insulted. He attempted to rectify the situation later by exposing his neck to his friends and saying he was ready to offer it to anyone who would deliver a stroke of the sword. This seemed to at least cool the situation, but the damage was done. The seeds of conspiracy were beginning to grow.

Assassination

The fear of Caesar becoming king continued when someone placed a diadem on the statue of Caesar on the Rostra. The tribunes, Gaius Epidius Marcellus and Lucius Caesetius Flavius, removed the diadem. Not long after the incident with the diadem, the same two tribunes had citizens arrested after they called out the title ‘Rex’ to Caesar as he passed by on the streets of Rome. Now seeing his supporters threatened, Caesar acted harshly. He ordered those arrested to be released, and instead took the tribunes before the Senate and had them stripped of their positions. Caesar had originally used the sanctity of the Tribunes as one reason for the start of the civil war, but now revoked their power for his own gain. At the coming festival of the Lupercalia, the biggest test of the Roman people for their willingness to accept Caesar as King was to take place. On February 15, 44 BC, Caesar sat upon his gilded chair on the Rostra, wearing his purple robe, red shoes and a golden laurel and armed with the title of Dictator Perpetuus. The race around the pomerium was a tradition of the festival, and Mark Antony ran into the forum and was raised to the Rostra by the priests attending the event. Antony produced a diadem and attempted to place it on Caesar’s head, saying "the people offer this (the title of king) to you through me." There was, however, little support from the crowd and Caesar quickly refused being sure that the diadem didn’t touch his head. The crowd roared with approval, but Antony, undeterred attempted to place it on Caesar’s head again. Still there was no voice of support from the crowd and Caesar rose from his chair and refused Antony again, saying, "I will not be king of Rome. Jupiter alone is King of the Romans." The crowd wildly endorsed Caesar’s actions. All the while Caesar was still planning a campaign into Dacia and then Parthia. The Parthian campaign stood to bring back considerable wealth to Rome, along with the potential return of the standards that Crassus had lost over nine years earlier. An ancient legend has told that Partia could only be conquered by a king, so Caesar was authorized by the Senate to wear a crown anywhere in the empire, save Italy. Caesar planned to leave in April of 44 BC, and the secret opposition that was steadily building had to act fast. Made up mostly of men that Caesar had pardoned already, they knew their only chance to rid Rome of Caesar was to prevent him ever leaving for Parthia. The Roman Senate traditionally met in the Curia Hostilia, which had been recently repaired from the fires that destroyed it years before, but the Senate had abandoned it for the new house under construction. Thus Caesar summoned the Senate to meet in the Theatrum Pompeium (built by Pompey) on the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BC. A few days before, a soothsayer had said to Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March." As the Senate convened, Caesar was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of senators who called themselves the Liberators (Liberatores); the Liberators justified their action on the grounds that they committed tyrannicide, not murder, and were preserving the Republic from Caesar's alleged monarchical ambitions. Among the assassins who locked themselves in the Temple of Jupiter were Gaius Trebonius, Decimus Junius Brutus, Marcus Junius Brutus, and Gaius Cassius Longinus; Caesar had personally pardoned most of his murderers or personally advanced their careers. Marcus Brutus was a distant cousin of Caesar and named as one of his testamentary heirs. There is also speculation that Marcus Brutus was an illegitimate child of Caesar's, since he had an affair with Servilia Caepionis, Brutus' mother; however, Caesar was 15 years old at the time Brutus was born. Caesar sustained 23 (as much as 35 by some accounts) stab wounds, which ranged from superficial to mortal, and ironically fell at the feet of a statue of his friend turned rival, Pompey the Great. Pompey had recently been deified by the Senate. Some accounts report that Caesar prayed to Pompey as he lay dying. His last words have been variously reported as:
- και συ τεκνον; (Kai su, teknon?) (Gr., "Even you, my child?" – from Suetonius)
- Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi! (Lat., "You too, Brutus, my son!" – a modern Latin translation of the Greek quotation from Suetonius)
- Et tu, Brute? (Lat., "And (even) you, Brutus?" – from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar) It has been speculated that Caesar knew of the plot against his life, and allowed it to proceed, going so far as to dismiss his guard contingent in order to allow the conspirators to kill him. This theory hinges on Caesar's epilepsy, a condition attributed to him by several sources including Plutarch. Proponents of the theory suggest that Caesar deliberately arranged to be murdered by the Senate, to spare himself the indignity of increasing seizures as he aged, and to insure his own legacy. While the public outrage over Caesar's murder did provide a favorable climate for Caesar's heir Octavian to take power, this theory is not currently backed by sufficient evidence to give it credence.

Detailed account

Here follows the most detailed account of Caesar's assassination, written by Nicolaus of Damascus a few years after the event and likely based on eyewitness reports.

The Plan

:"The conspirators never met openly, but they assembled a few at a time in each others' homes. There were many discussions and proposals, as might be expected, while they investigated how and where to execute their design. Some suggested that they should make the attempt as he was going along the Sacred Way, which was one of his favorite walks. Another idea was for it to be done at the elections during which he had to cross a bridge to appoint the magistrates in the Campus Martius; they should draw lots for some to push him from the bridge and for others to run up and kill him. A third plan was to wait for a coming gladiatorial show. The advantage of that would be that, because of the show, no suspicion would be aroused if arms were seen prepared for the attempt. But the majority opinion favored killing him while he sat in the Senate, where he would be by himself since non-Senators would not be admitted, and where the many conspirators could hide their daggers beneath their togas. This plan won the day."

Bad Omens

:"Before he entered the chamber, the priests brought up the victims for him to make what was to be his last sacrifice. The omens were clearly unfavorable. After this unsuccessful sacrifice, the priests made repeated other ones, to see if anything more propitious might appear than what had already been revealed to them. In the end they said that they could not clearly see the divine intent, for there was some transparent, malignant spirit hidden in the victims. Caesar was annoyed and abandoned divination till sunset, though the priests continued all the more with their efforts. :"Those of the murderers present were delighted at all this, though Caesar's friends asked him to put off the meeting of the Senate for that day because of what the priests had said, and he agreed to do this. But some attendants came up, calling him and saying that the Senate was full. He glanced at his friends, but Brutus approached him again and said, 'Come, good sir, pay no attention to the babblings of these men, and do not postpone what Caesar and his mighty power has seen fit to arrange. Make your own courage your favorable omen.' He convinced Caesar with these words, took him by the right hand, and led him to the Senate which was quite near. Caesar followed in silence."

The Final Attack

:"The Senate rose in respect for his position when they saw him entering. Those who were to have part in the plot stood near him. Right next to him went Tillius Cimber, whose brother had been exiled by Caesar. Under pretext of a humble request on behalf of this brother, Cimber approached and grasped the mantle of his toga, seeming to want to make a more positive move with his hands upon Caesar. Caesar wanted to get up and use his hands, but was prevented by Cimber and became exceedingly annoyed. :"That was the moment for the men to set to work. All quickly unsheathed their daggers and rushed at him. First Servilius Casca struck him with the point of the blade on the left shoulder a little above the collar-bone. He had been aiming for that, but in the excitement he missed. Caesar rose to defend himself, and in the uproar Casca shouted out in Greek to his brother. The latter heard him and drove his sword into the ribs. After a moment, Cassius made a slash at his face, and Decimus Brutus pierced him in the side. While Cassius Longinus was trying to give him another blow he missed and struck Marcus Brutus on the hand. Minucius also hit out at Caesar and hit Rubrius in the thigh. They were just like men doing battle against him. :"Under the mass of wounds, he fell at the foot of Pompey's statue. Everyone wanted to seem to have had some part in the murder, and there was not one of them who failed to strike his body as it lay there, until, wounded twenty-three times, he breathed his last. "

Aftermath

Caesar's death also marked, ironically, the end of the Roman Republic, for which the assassins had struck him down. The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular, and had been since Gaul and before, were enraged that a small group of high-browed aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony did not give the speech Shakespeare penned for him ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!") but he did give a dramatic eulogy which appealed to the common people, a perfect example of what public thinking was following Caesar's murder. Antony, who'd been as of late drifting from Caesar, capitalized on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the Optimates, perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. But Caesar named his grand nephew Gaius Octavius sole heir of his vast fortune, giving Octavius both the immensely powerful Caesar name and control of one of the largest amounts of money in the Republic. In addition, Gaius Octavius was also, for all intents and purposes, the son of the great Caesar, and consequently the loyalty of the Roman populace shifted from dead Caesar to living Octavius. Octavius, only aged 19 at the time of Caesar's death, proved to be ruthless and lethal, and while Antony dealt with Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavius consolidated his position. In order to combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an army in Greece, Antony needed both the cash from Caesar's war chests and the legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide any action he took against the two. A new Triumvirate was found - the Second and final one, with Octavius, Antony, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander Lepidus as the third member. This Second Triumvirate deified Caesar as divus iulius and – seeing that Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder – brought back the horror of proscription, abandoned since Sulla, and proscribed its enemies in large numbers in order to seize even more funds for the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius, whom Antony and Octavian defeated at Philippi. A third civil war then broke out between Octavian on one hand and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This final civil war, culminating in Antony and Cleopatra's defeat at Actium, resulted in the ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus. In 42 BC, Caesar was formally deified as "the Divine Julius" (Divus Iulius), and Caesar Augustus henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of God").

Caesar's literary works

Caesar was considered during his lifetime to be one of the finest orators and authors of prose in Rome—even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. Among his most famous works were his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia (Marius's widow) and his Anticato, a document written to blacken Cato's reputation and respond to Cicero's Cato memorial. Unfortunately, the majority of his works and speeches have been lost. The most famous of his surviving works are:
- The Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War), campaigns in Gallia and Britannia during his term as proconsul; and
- The Commentarii de Bello Civile (Commentaries on the Civil War) [http://digilander.iol.it/jackdanielspl/Cesare/bellocivili.html], events of the Civil War until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt. Other works historically attributed to Caesar, but whose authorship is doubted, are:
- De Bello Hispaniensis (On the Hispanic War) [http://digilander.iol.it/jackdanielspl/Cesare/bellohis.html], campaigns in modern Spain;
- De Bello Africo (On the African War) [http://digilander.iol.it/jackdanielspl/Cesare/belloafr.html], campaigns in North Africa; and
- De Bello Alexandrino (On the Alexandrine War) [http://digilander.iol.it/jackdanielspl/Cesare/belloale.html], campaign in Alexandria. These narratives, apparently simple and direct in style – to the point that Caesar's Commentarii are commonly studied by first and second year Latin students – are in fact highly sophisticated advertisements for his political agenda, most particularly for the middle-brow readership of minor aristocrats in Rome, Italy, and the provinces.

Military career

Historians place the the generalship of Caesar on the level of such geniuses as Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and Genghis Khan. Although he suffered occasional tactical defeats such as Gergovia during the Gallic War and Dyrrhachium during the Civil War, Caesar's tactical brilliance was highlighted by such feats as his circumvallation of Alesia during the Gallic War, the rout of Pompey's numerically superior forces at Pharsalus during the Civil War, and the complete destruction of Pharnaces's army at Zela. Caesar's successful campaigning in any terrain and under all weather conditions owes much to the strict but fair discipline of his legionaries, whose admiration and devotion to him was proverbial. Caesar's infantry and cavalry was first rate, and he made heavy use of formidable Roman artillery; additional factors which made him so effective in the field were his army's superlative engineering abilities and the legendary speed with which he maneuvered (Caesar's army sometimes marched as many as 40 miles a day).

Caesar's name

Using the Latin alphabet as it existed in the day of Caesar (i.e., without lower case letters, "J", or "U"), Caesar's name is properly rendered "GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR" (the form "CAIVS" is also attested and is interchangeable with the more common "GAIVS"). It is often seen abbreviated to "C. IVLIVS CAESAR". (The letterform "Æ" is a ligature, which is often encountered in Latin inscriptions where it was used to save space, and is nothing more than the letters "ae".) In classical Latin, it is pronounced "GUY-us YOOL-ee-uhs KUY-sahr", where "guy" and "kuy" rhyme with the English "sky" — IPA . In Ecclesiastical Latin, the familiar part "Caesar" is SIKKEE "CHAY-zahr" — IPA .

Caesar's family

Wives
- First marriage to Cornelia Cinnilla
- Second marriage to Pompeia Sulla
- Third marriage to Calpurnia Pisonis Children
- Julia Caesaris with Cornelia Cinnilla
- Ptolemy XV Caesar (Caesarion) with Cleopatra VII, he would become an Egyptian pharaoh
- his adopted son Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, who became the first Roman Emperor. Grandchildren
- a grandson from Julia Caesaris and Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed Female lovers
- Affair with Cleopatra VII
- Affair with Cato's first wife, Bibulus' first two wives, the wives of many of the opposing factions' senators
- Affair with Servilia Caepionis, mother of Brutus Male lovers In ancient Rome male homosexuality was common and widespread throughout society, especially amongst the upper classes. However, it was thought to be improper for a freeborn boy or man to be penetrated anally as Caesar was alleged to have been in his youth. For a man or boy to participate in the passive role during anal sex it generally indicated that they were a slave (the purchase of male slaves for sexual purposes was common in Rome) or one that had earned his freedom. Under Roman law emancipated slaves may still be required to render certain services, including sexual ones, to their former master. Roman society viewed the passive role during sex, regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, it was said some sang mockingly of Caesar that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar". According to Cicero, Bibulus, Gaius Memmius (whose account may be from firsthand knowledge), and others (mainly Caesar's enemies), he had an affair with Nicomedes III of Bithynia early in his career. The tales were repeated by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate and degrade him. Caesar himself, according to Cassius Dio, denied the accusations under oath. civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. For several centuries, the Romans controlled the whole of Western Europe, as well as the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and some of the area surrounding the Black Sea. Black Sea]]

History

Monarchy

Black Sea The city of Rome grew from settlements on and around the Palatine Hill, approximately eighteen miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the river Tiber. At this location the Tiber has an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic and trade. In Roman legend, Rome was founded on 21 April 753 BC, by Romulus who, along with his brother Remus was suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over where their new city should be located. Romulus, whose name is said to have inspired Rome's name, was the first of seven Kings of Rome, the last of whom, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed in 510 BC or 509 BC when the Roman Republic was established. The mythical or semi-mythical kings are (in chronological order): Romulus, Numa Pompilius (Good King Numa), Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud).

Republic

Tarquinius Superbus The Roman Republic was established around 509 BC, according to later writers such as Titus Livius (Livy), when the king was driven out, and a system based on annually elected magistrates was established in the monarchy's place. The most important were the two consuls, who between them exercised executive authority, but had to contend with the Senate, which grew in size and power with the establishment of the Republic. The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians but were later opened to plebeians. The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, mostly related Italic tribes (of Indo-European stock) such as the Samnites and Sabines, but also the Etruscans. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Tarentum, a major Greek colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 282 BC. The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic places. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Rome clashed with Carthage in the first two Punic wars. These wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests, of Sicily and Iberia, and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power. After defeating Macedon and the Seleucids in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the undisputed masters of the Mediterranean. Internal strife now became the greatest threat to the Republic. The Senate, jealous of its own power, repeatedly blocked important land reforms. An unintended consequence of Gaius Marius's military reforms was that soldiers often had more loyalty to their commander than to the city, and a powerful general, such as Marius or his rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla, could hold the city and Senate to ransom. In the mid-1st century BC three men, Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, formed a secret pact (the First Triumvirate) to control the Republic. After the conquest of Gaul a stand-off between Caesar and the Senate led to civil war, with Pompey leading the Senate's forces. Caesar emerged victorious and was made dictator for life. After Caesar's assassination a Second Triumvirate, consisting of Caesar's designated heir Octavian and his former supporters Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, took power, but its members soon descended into a struggle for dominance. Lepidus was exiled to Circeii after attempting to coerce the highest position in the government through empty threats against Rome. When Octavian defeated Antony and queen Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC he became the undisputed master of Rome. He assumed almost absolute power while retaining the pretence of Republican form of government. His designated successor, Tiberius, took power without bloodshed.

Empire

Tiberius, in AD 14, and in AD 117.]] After the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, the Empire was ruled by his relatives, the Julio-Claudian dynasty until the death of Nero in 69. The territorial expansion of the state continued and the empire remained secure despite some incompetent emperors. Their rule was followed by the Flavian dynasty. During the reign of the Five Good Emperors (AD 96-180) the Empire reached its zenith in terms of territory, economy and culture. The state was secure from both internal and external threats and the Pax Romana created prosperity. With the conquest of Dacia during the reign of Trajan the Empire saw the peak of its territorial expansion, at which point it covered 2.5 million square miles. The period between 180 and 235 was dominated by the rule of the Severan dynasty. The period saw some of the most incompetent rulers in the history of the Empire, Elagabalus being one of the most notorious ones. This and the increasing influence of the army to imperial succession were among the main reasons for a long period known as the Crisis of the 3rd Century. The crisis was ended by the competent rule of Diocletian, who in 293 divided the Empire into four parts ruled by two co-emperors, both aided by a junior emperor. This period is known as the Tetrarchy, and was the basis of the later East-West division of the Empire. The various co-rulers of the Empire competed and fought for supremacy for more than half a century. In 330 emperor Constantine I moved the capital to Byzantium. The empire was permanently divided into Eastern (Byzantine) and Western Empire in 364. The Western Empire was constantly harassed by barbarian invasions. In 410 the city of Rome itself was sacked. In 476 the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Having lasted for approximately 1200 years the rule of Rome in the West came to an end. The Empire survived in the East as the Byzantine Empire.

Causes for the downfall of the Empire

:Main article: Decline of the Roman Empire The study of the Decline of the Roman Empire is a classic field of study in History. There are numerous theories as to the main cause for the decline, many of which are not mutually exclusive.
- According to a classic theory presented by Edward Gibbon in his book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1788), Rome succumbed to barbarian invasions because of a loss of civic virtue among its citizens.
- Henri Pirenne published the "Pirenne Thesis" in the 1920s which holds that the Empire continued, in some form, up until the the Arab conquests, which disrupted trade routes, and thereby the European economy.
- A theory pioneered by Peter Brown maintains that the Empire never "fell", but transformed in a gradual process into medieval Europe.
- Historians such as Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the Empire itself was a rotten system from its inception. The Romans had no budgetary system and relied on booty from conquered territories or on a pattern of taxation that bankrupted small-scale farmers. Financial needs continued to increase, but the means of meeting them steadily eroded.
- The historian Vegetius theorised and has recently been supported by Arther Ferrill that the Empire declined and as a result fell, due to a combination of increasing 'barbarization', as well as a surge in decadence and the following lethargy.
- Peter Turchin in War and Peace and War : The Life Cycles of Imperial Nations (2005) contends that empires, including Rome, fell because of inequalities within society resulting a lack of internal cooperation.

Legacy

Rome produced great generals, lawyers, and engineers, but no mathematicians or scientists and few artists of note. The legacy of Rome is primarily in the areas of language, law, warfare, and engineering.

Successor states

After the fall of the city of Rome and the Western Empire the state continued its existence as the Byzantine Empire, which is conventionally treated as a separate entity in history books. In addition, the Holy Roman Empire and Russia have claimed the "Roman" legacy after the fall of Constantinople (See Third Rome).

Military legacy

Before Rome, armies generally fought on the field of battle nature provided. The Romans built roads for troop movement, dug trenches, built seige engines, and introduced many other improvements in the art of war. It made them invincible, for a time. Generals today still study the Roman methods of waging war.

Linguistic legacy

One of the most enduring legacies of Rome is linguistic: Romance languages that evolved from Latin spoken in the Roman Empire are now spoken widely in Europe and Latin America, such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Moldovan amongst others. Although English is a Germanic language, many English words derive from Latin roots, either directly from Roman occupation or through intermediary successor languages such as French. Latin remains the official language of the Vatican City and is studied and understood by scholars around the world. However, fluent speech in Latin is very rare in present day. This is mainly due to the differences between Latin's reliance upon inflection of words and modern Romance languages' reliance upon syntax, in addition to lack of use.

Cultural legacy

The art of Rome borrows heavily from Greece -- the Romans themselves looked to the Greeks as their artistic superiors, and stole or copied more than they created. Virgil's Aneid, by common consent the greatest Roman literary work, borrowed or plagarized from Greek epics. Thus most of our cultural legacy from Rome is Greek culture passed on. The only generally recognized original Roman contribution to our culture is comic theater, which has given us not only A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum but also the Three Stooges. Another Roman artform will be revived only if our extreme sports eventually go so far as to include battles to the death.

Legal legacy

The Roman law formed the basis of most of the legal systems of Europe and her colonies for hundreds of years and has been the direct inspiration for the Senate of the United States and other modern nations. In the Byzantine Empire, the codes of Justinian preserved the codes of Roman law and formed the basis of legal practice in Greece even after the fall of the Byzantine empire. In the West, Justinian’s codes were forgotten, but rediscovered in the 11th century. From that time, scholars began to study the ancient Roman legal texts, especially in Bologna. Many provisions of Roman law were better suited to regulate complex economic transactions than the customary rules of that time. Therefore Roman law began to be re-introduced into legal practice. By the middle of the 16th century, the Roman law dominated the legal practice in most European countries. The practical application of Roman law came to an end when national codifications were made. In the course of the 19th century, many European states either adopted the French civil code model or drafted their own codes. In some parts of Germany, Roman law continued to be applied until late 19th century.

Religion

19th century] Main articles: Roman mythology, Roman religion

Early Roman Religion

Archaic Roman "mythology", at least concerning the gods, was made up not of narratives, but rather of interlocking and complex interrelations between and among gods and humans. Gods were not personified, unlike in Ancient Greece. Romans also believed that every person, place or thing had their own genius (such as "Lares Familiares" - the family guardian spirits). Therefore the early Roman cult could be described as polydaemonism instead of polytheism. The Romans distinguished two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the de novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see List of Di Indigetes). The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually in response to a specific crisis or need. At the head of the earliest pantheon were the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Their priests, or flamens, were senior to others. Later this triad was supplanted by the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. During the Roman republic there was a strict system of priestly offices, of which the Pontifex maximus was the most important. Flamens took care of the cults of various gods, while augurs were trusted with taking the auspices. The rex sacrorum, or "sacrificial king" took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings.

Late republic and the empire

As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became associated with Greek gods. Therefore Jupiter was perceived to be the same deity as Zeus. Mars was associated with Ares and Neptune with Poseidon. The Roman gods also assumed the attributes and myth of these Greek gods. The transference of the anthropomorphic qualities to Roman Gods, and the prevalence of Greek philosophy among well-educated Romans, brought about an increasing neglect of the old rites, and in the 1st century BC the religious importance of the old priestly offices declined rapidly, though their civic importance and political influence remained. Roman religion in the empire tended more and more to center on the imperial house, and several emperors were deified after their deaths.

Spread of Eastern Religions

Under the empire, numerous foreign cults grew popular, such as the worship of the Egyptian Isis and the Persian Mithras. Also, starting from the second century, Christianity began to spread in the Empire. Despite persecutions, Christianity steadily gained converts. It became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Constantine I. All cults except Christianity were prohibited in AD 391 by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.

Society

Classes

The free citizens of Rome were divided into two classes: patricians and plebeians. The patricians were the dominant social class, the plebeians much more numerous. Originally, only patricians could be elected to office. Intermarrying between the classes was forbidden and the patrician title could only be inherited, not earned. During the Roman Republic, a series of struggles led to increased rights for the plebeians, who were represented by tribunes. Tribunes had veto power over acts of the Senate. However, since voting was by tribes rather than by individuals, the vote of a plebeian never counted as much as the vote of a patrician. The patrician tribes voted first, and if they were united could attain a majority vote (by tribe) in which case the plebeian vote was not counted. Late in the Republic, the distinction between patricians and plebeians became less important, due to the rise of citizens whose power depended on wealth rather than family. Crassus, at one time the richest man in Rome, became council in spite of his plebeian birth. A new ruling class, the optimates, were those families, patrician or plebeian, who had produced a consul. The conservatives, led by Cicero, decried the power of the "upstarts" and spoke with contempt of anyone not born into the patrician class. A particular target of their wrath was Pompey, who dispite his great wealth, popularity, and military victories, was mocked for his crude manners and outlandish accent. During the empire, the class division fell into disuse and was largely forgotten. In the early Republic, citizens were also divided into classes according to the armament they could afford to buy for themselves for military service. The richest class was the equestrians or knights, who could afford a war horse. There were both patrician and plebeian equestrians. Later in the Republic, fixed amounts of wealth replaced military equipment as the basis of classification. Higher classes had more political power and prestige than lower classes. This system also lost its meaning after the abolition of the Republic. In the Late Republic, and under the Principate and emperors, Roman society was stratified according to wealth. The highest class was the Senatorial class, membership of which was maintained by the Censors and had a minimum property qualification of 1'000'000 Sesterces. It is worth noting that membership of the Senatorial class did not entail membership of the Senate. Members of the Senatorial class were prohibited from engaging directly in business and trade. They were permitted to receive an income from the possession of large agricultural estates. With a few exceptions, all political posts were filled with men from the Senatorial class. The second tier were the Equites. A through back to a military class of the Early Republic, membership of the Equites later required a property qualification of 400'000 Sesterces. Equites were allowed to engage in commerce and were often extremely wealthy. Petronius satirizes the wealth of the Equites class in the Satyricon. He descibes in details a sumptuous dinner party hosted by the disagreeable Knight Trimalchio. Certain political positions were filled by Equites: most notably under Principes, the head of the Praetorian Guard.

Family

The basic units of Roman society were households and families. Household included the head of the household (paterfamilias), his wife, children, and other relatives. In the upper classes slaves and servants were also part of the household. Romans certainly did not see the family as those of the suburban West do today - their family was more far reaching in definition. The head of the household had great power over those living with him: could force marriage and divorce, sell his children into slavery and possibly even had the right to kill family members (this has been recently disputed in academic circles). This particular manifestation of familial power was called "patria potestas", literally "fathers power". One interesting point of note is that wives did not always count as family, as they could choose to continue recognising their father's family as their true family, and not necessarily adopt their husband's family. Groups of related households formed a family (gens). Families were based on blood ties (or adoption), but were also political and economic alliances. Especially during the Roman Republic some powerful families, or Gentes Maiores came to dominate political life. Ancient Roman marriage was often regarded more as a financial and political alliance than as a romantic association, especially in the upper classes. Fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when they reached an age between twelve and fourteen. The husband was almost always older than the bride. While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower class women often married in their late teens or early twenties.

Economy

Ancient Roman marriage, a standardized silver coin (See also Roman currency).]] The early economy was largely dependent on slave labour, and slaves constituted around 20 percent of the population. A slave’s price was dependent on their skills, and a slave trained in medicine was equivalent to 50 agricultural slaves. In the later period, hired labour became more economical than slave ownership.

Finance

Although barter was common (and often used in tax collection) the monetary system was highly developed, with brass, bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the empire and beyond (some have been discovered in India). Before the 3rd Century BC, copper was traded by weight (in unmarked lumps) across Central Italy. The original copper coins (As) had a face value of a Roman pound of copper, but weighed less (according to Mommsen early coins weighed at most 312 g, but late second century BC As contained only 19 g of copper). Hence, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic value as metal; after Nero began debasing the silver Denarii, Mommsen estimated its legal value at one third greater than intrinsic (it was an offence to refuse payment in Denarii).

Trade

Horses were too expensive, and other pack animals too slow, for mass trade on the roman roads, which connected military posts (rather than markets) and were rarely designed for wheels. Therefore, there was little transport of commodities between Roman regions, until the rise of Roman maritime trade in the second century BC. During that period a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia, spanning the entire length of the Mediterranean. The agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the first century BC vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers who were unable to match the imported grain price. The volume of trade was so great that a single mound of cargo pottery vessel fragments is over forty metres high and a kilometre around.

Culture

Literature

Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics telling the early military history of Rome. As the republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history and tragedy.

Epic Poetry

Virgil represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His Aeneid was produced at the request of Maecenas and tells the story of flight of Aeneas from Troy and his settlement of the city that would become Rome. Lucretius, in his On the Nature of Things, attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. Some of his science seems remarkably modern, other ideas, especially his theory of light, are no longer accepted. Later Ovid produced his Metamorphoses, written in hexameter verse, the meter of epic, attempting a complete mythology from the creation of the earth to his own time. He unifies his subject matter through the theme of metamorphosis. It was noted in classical times that Ovid's work lacked the gravitas possessed by traditional epic poetry.

Shorter Poems

Catullus and his set of neoteric poets produced poetry following the Alexandrian model, which experimented with poetic forms challenging tradition. He was also the first Roman poet to produce love poetry, seemingly autobiographical, which depicts an affair with a woman called Lesbia. Under the Emperor Augustus, Horace continued the tradition of shorter poems, with his Odes and Epodes. Martial, writing under the Emperor Domitian, was a famed author of epigrams, poems which were often abusive and censured piblic figures.

Drama

The genre of satire was traditionally regarded as a Roman innovation and satiric plays were written by, among others, Juvenal. Some of the most popular plays of the early Republic were comedies, especially those of Terence, a freed Roman slave captured during the First Punic War.

Letters

A great deal of the literary work produced by Roman authors in the early Republic was political or satirical in nature. The rhetorical works of Cicero, in particular, were popular.

Visual arts

Most of the first styles of Roman painting came from the Etruscan influences. The Etruscan practice of painting for political reasons continued in Rome. In the 3rd century BC as the Romans contact with Greece continued Greek art was taken as booty from wars. The Greek art became popular with the Romans. Many landscapes from Greek artists decorated many of Roman houses. Although Greek influence was popular in Roman Paintings discoveries in Pompeii showed that Romans used a wide variety of styles for thier paintings. One of first roman style was known as "Incrustation", where interior walls of houses were painted like colored marble. Another style was to paint the interiors like open landscapes with higly detailed scenes of plants, animals, and buildings. Although the Romans acquired their artistic traditions from Greece, they also played a very important role in the development of art. The Romans created an atmosphere with an appreciation of the arts that allowed for the continuation of artistic development, inspiration, and ideas. Portrait sculpture during the period depited youthful and classical porportions. Later the sculptures were a mixture of realist and idealist. During the Antonine and Severan periods deeper cuts and drilling creded more ornate hair and beards. Advancements were made in relief sculptures and usually depicted in victories of the Romans.

Education

The goal of education in Rome was to make the students effective speakers. School started on March 24^th each year. Every school day started in early morning and continued throughout the afternoon. Originally, boys were taught to read and write by their father, or by educated slaves, usually of Greek origin. Village schools were also established. Later, around 200 BC, boys and some girls were sent to schools outside the home around age 6. Basic Roman education included reading, writing, and counting, and their materials consisted of scrolls and books. At age 13, students learned about Greek and Roman literature and grammar in school. At age 16, some students went on to rhetoric school. Poorer people did not go to school, but were usually taught by their parents because school was not free.

Architecture and technology

Construction technology and engineering

Roads

rhetoric to the Southern parts of Italy remains usable even today.]] The Romans primarily built roads for military purposes. They allowed the legions to be rapidly deployed in far reaches of the realm. However, their economic importance was also significant. At its largest extent the total length of the Roman road network was 85 000 km (53 000 miles). Way stations providing refreshments were maintained by the goverment at regular intervals along the roads. A separate system of changing stations for official and private couriers was also maintained. This allowed a dispatch to travel a maximum of 800 km (500 miles) in 24 hours by using a relay of horses. The roads were constructed by digging a pit along the length of the intended course, often to bedrock. The pit was first filled with rocks, gravel or sand and then a layer of concrete. Finally they were paved with polygonal rock slabs. Bridges were constructed over waterways. The roads were resistant to floods and other environmental hazards. After the fall of the Roman empire the roads were still usable and used for more than 1000 years.

Aqueducts

bedrock is a Roman aqueduct built in ca. 19 BC. It is one of France's top tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.]] The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water to cities and industrial sites. The city of Rome itself was supplied by eleven aqueducts with combined length of 350 km (260 miles). Most aqueducts were constructed below the surface with only small portions above ground supported by arches. The longest Roman aqueduct, 141 km (87 miles) in length, was built to supply the city of Carthage. Roman aqueducts were built to remarkably fine tolerances, and to a technological standard that was not to be equaled until modern times. Powered entirely by gravity, they transported very large amounts of water very efficiently. Sometimes, where depressions deeper than 50 m had to be crossed, inverted siphons were used to force water uphill.

Baths

The baths served hygienic, social and cultural functions. The baths contained three main facilities for bathing. After undressing in the apodyterium or changing room, Romans would proceed to the tepidarium or warm room. In the moderate dry heat of the tepidarium, some performed warm-up exercises and stretched while others oiled themselves or had slaves oil them. The tepidarium’s main purpose was to promote sweating to prepare for the next room, the caldarium or hot room. The caldarium, unlike the tepidarium, was extremely humid and hot. Temperatures in the caldarium could reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Many contained steam baths and a cold-water fountain known as the labrum. The last room was the frigidarium or cold room, which offered a cold bath for cooling off after the caldarium.

Government

Roman Kingdom

Initially Rome was ruled by elected kings. The exact nature of the King's power is uncertain. He may have held near-absolute power, or may also have been just the chief executive of the Senate and the people. At least in military matters, the King's authority (imperium) was probably absolute. He was also the head of the state religion. In addition to the authority of the King, there were three administrative assemblies. The Senate acted as an advisory body for the King. The Curiate Assembly could pass laws suggested by the King and may have provided advise on succession. The Comitia Calata was mainly an assembly of the people to witness certain acts and hear proclamations.

Roman Republic

The class struggles of the Roman Republic resulted in an unusual mixture of democracy and oligarchy. Roman laws traditionally could only be passed by a vote of the Popular assembly. Likewise candidates for public positions had to run for election by the people. The Roman Senate represented an oligarchic insitution, which acted as an advisory body and issued its desicions in Senatus Consulta. The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy and only collected war taxes. Private citizens aspiring to high office largely paid for public works. In order to prevent any citizen gaining too much power, new magistrates were elected annually and had to share power with a colleague. For example, under normal conditions the highest authority was held by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary dictator could be appointed. During the Republic, the administrative system was revised several times to comply with new demands. In the end, it proved inefficient for controlling the vastly expanded empire. This was one of the reasons for the birth of the Roman Empire.

Roman Empire

Central government

In the early Empire the pretence of a republican form of government was maintained and the emperor was portrayed as only a "first citizen". Initially the Senate retained a degree of influence. However, the rule of the emperors became increasingly autocratic and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body appointed by the emperor. The Roman Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy from the Republic, since the Republic did not have any permanent governmental structures apart from the Senate. The Emperor appointed assistants and advisors, but the state lacked many institutions, such as centrally planned budget. This is cited by some historians as a significant reason for the Decline of the Roman Empire.

Local government

The territory of the Empire was divided into provinces. The number of provinces increased with time as new territories were conquered, but also as provinces were divided into smaller units to discourage rebellions by powerful local rulers . Initially the provinces were divided into imperial and senatorial provinces, depending on which institution had the right to select the governor. During the Tetrarchy, the provinces of the empire were divided into 12 dioceses, each headed by a praetor vicarius. The civilian and military authority were separated, with civilian matters still administred by the governor, but with military command transferred to a dux.

Senate

The Roman Senate was an advisory body consisting of some of the most influential citizens. In the Roman Republic, it held great authority (auctoritas in Latin), but no actual legislative power (imperium). However, as the senators were individually very influential, it was difficult to accomplish anything against the collective will of the Senate. In the Roman Republic the Censors chose new members for the Senate among the most accomplished citizens. They could also remove a senator from his office if he was found morally corrupt. Later, membership in the Senate followed from the election as a quaestor. In the Roman Empire, the Emperor appointed senators, although for much of the time of the Empire, elections were still held, and the results followed. However, this veil of democracy, created by Augustus at the beginning of the transformation from Republic to Empire, was deceiving. In reality, no one disliked by the Emperor could stand. Furthermore, when there was a competitive election, the Emperor would issue his opinion on who should be elected, usually sealing the outcome.

Military

The early Roman army was, like those of other contemporary city-states, a citizen force where the bulk of the troops fought as hoplites. The soldiers were required to supply their own arms and would return to civilian life once their service was ended. The first of the great army reformers, Camillus, reorganized the army to adopt manipular tactics and divided the infantry into three lines: hastati, principes and triarii. The middle class smallholders had traditionally been the backbone of the Roman army but, by the end of the 2nd century BC, the self-owning farmer had largely disappeared as a social class. Faced with acute manpower problems, Gaius Marius transformed the army into a fully professional force and accepted recruits from the lower classes. The last army reorganization came when Emperor Constantine I divided the army into a static defense force and a mobile field army. During the Late Empire, Rome also became increasingly dependent upon allied contingents, foederati.

External links

- [http://www.crystalinks.com/rome.html Ancient Rome info]
- [http://www.exovedate.com/ancient_timeline_one.html Ancient Roman History Timeline]
- [http://www.historylink101.com/ancient_rome.htm Ancient Rome pictures, art, and info] Link: [http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_intro.html The Private Life of the Romans by Harold Whetstone Johnston]

References

Ancient sources

# "Vitae Caesarum" by Suetonius, 2nd century # "Ab urbe condita" by Titus Livius, ca. AD 5 # [http://www.uvm.edu/~rrodgers/Frontinus.html "De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae"] by Sextus Julius Frontinus (On the water management of the city of Rome, translated by R. H. Rodgers, 2003, University of Vermont) (retrieved November 22, 2005)

Pre-20th century sources

# "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon, 1788

Modern sources

# "The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome" by Chris Scarre, Penguin Books 1995 # [http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_intro.html "The Private Life of the Romans"] by Harold Whetstone Johnston, 1903 (retrieved November 13, 2005) # "The Punic Wars" by Nigel Bagnall, Thomas Dunne Books 1990 # "Rooman konsulit" ("The Consuls of Rome") by Pekka Tuomisto, Karisto 2002 # "War and Peace and War : The Life Cycles of Imperial Nations" by Peter Turchin, Pearson Education/PI Press (2005) # "Cäsar" by Christian Meier, Severin und Siedler 1982 (English translation "Caesar", HarperCollins Publishers 1995) # [http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/rome/ "Waterhistory.org"], website maintained by the ([http://www.iwha.net International Water History Association]) (retrieved November 22, 2005)
- ja:古代ローマ

713

Events
- Byzantine Emperor Philippicus deposed. Anastasius II made emperor.
- Kaiyuan becomes Tang dynasty emperor of China Births Deaths Category:713 ko:713년

Hochgeschwindigkeitszug

Ein Hochgeschwindigkeitszug ist ein Zug, welcher neben einem gehobenen Komfort vor allem eine hohe Reisegeschwindigkeit besitzt. Wo in diesem Zusammenhang die Grenze zur "hohen Geschwindigkeit" liegt, ist nicht eindeutig definiert, sie dürfte aber bei 200 km/h liegen. Für die verschiedenen Bahnverwaltungen und ihre Staatsregierungen sind Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge vor allem Prestigeobjekte. Siehe auch: Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehr

Beschreibung

Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehr Die Fahrzeuge für den Hochgeschwindigkeitsverkehr werden überwiegend elektrisch angetrieben. Diesel- oder Gasturbinentriebfahrzeuge wurden des öfteren erprobt, sind in Zukunft vielleicht im Kommen (JetTrain), bilden aber die große Ausnahme. Um hohe Geschwindigkeiten zu erreichen, wird eine große Antriebsleistung (nahe 10.000 kW) installiert und der Zug gleichzeitig so leicht wie möglich gebaut (Leichtbau). Ersteres ist durch heutige Leistungselektronik und Elektrik (Frequenzumrichter, Drehstrom-Asynchronmotoren) leichter geworden als früher, letzteres erfordert Materialien, Bauweisen und Verfahren aus der Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie. So ist der "Rumpf" eines ICE-Zuges wie der eines Flugzeugs als stranggepresstes Leichtmetall-Rohrprofil mit bündig eingeklebten Fensterscheiben ausgeführt. Die für ihre Masse äußerst stark motorisierten Züge sind so auch in der Lage, wesentlich größere Steigungen zu überwinden als herkömmliche Züge. Reine Schnellfahrstrecken können so freier trassiert werden, was Baukosten einzusparen hilft. Allerdings muss die Leistung auch geliefert und selbst bei höchsten Geschwindigkeiten sicher übertragen werden, was neben speziellen Schnellfahr-Oberleitungen (siehe unten) auch Schnellfahr-Stromabnehmer erfordert, die aerodynamisch und möglichst leicht konstruiert sind. Deutsche ICE entnehmen ihren Fahrstrom über zwei Stromabnehmer (an jedem Ende des Zuges einer), was Vorkehrungen erfordert, damit die Fahrdrahtschwingungen, die vom vorderen Bügel ausgehen, den hinteren nicht stören. Um die Steigfähigkeit zu gewährleisten und die hohen Leistungen überhaupt auf die Schiene zu bringen, werden meist mehr angetriebene Achsen vorgesehen als die vier eines herkömmlichen elektrischen Zuges (Ausnahme ist beispielsweise der ICE 2, wenn die Halbzüge geteilt sind). Man baut also einen Triebkopfzug, der an beiden Enden je 4-6 angetriebene Achsen hat, oder gleich einen Triebzug mit Allachsantrieb in allen (Shinkansen) oder in jedem zweiten (ICE 3) Wagen. Ein geringer Luftwiderstand und geringe Windgeräusche spielen eine weitere wichtige Rolle; die Außenhaut der Züge wird möglichst glatt, die Wagenübergänge möglichst fugenlos vorgesehen. Die Zugenden werden im Windkanal getestet, wobei Gestaltung (Design) und Marketing eine wichtige Rolle spielen, da Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge ausnahmslos als Aushängeschild des jeweiligen Betreiberkonzerns gelten. Fast am wichtigsten jedoch ist das Laufwerk. Es gibt Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge mit Jakobs-Drehgestellen oder herkömmlichen Drehgestellen; beide Bauweisen haben Vor- und Nachteile. In jedem Fall sollte das Laufwerk geringe ungefederte Massen aufweisen und sehr gut abgefedert sein. Heute wird fast ausnahmslos Luftfederung eingesetzt, auch kommen Schlingerdämpfer zum Einsatz. Um den Sicherheitsanforderungen zu genügen, sind auch leistungsfähige Bremsen erforderlich. Elektrisches Bremsen (mit Widerständen und/oder regenerativ) an den Antriebsachsen wird ergänzt durch Scheibenbremsen, Magnetschienenbremsen und in letzter Zeit auch Wirbelstrombremsen. All dies zusammen ermöglicht Hochgeschwindigkeitszügen heute Höchstgeschwindigkeiten (außerhalb der Fahrpläne) von über 300 km/h.

Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge verschiedener Länder

- Deutschland (Deutsche Bahn AG): ICE, Transrapid
- Frankreich (SNCF): TGV
- Großbritannien: InterCity 125, British Rail Class 390
- Italien (Trenitalia): ETR500
- Japan (JR Kyûshû, JR West, JR East): Shinkansen
- Korea KTX
- Portugal (CP) Alfa Pendular
- Russland (RZD): ER200, Sokol (Zug) (geplant)
- Spanien (eine Tochtergesellschaft der RENFE): AVE
- Schweden (SJ): X2000
- Taiwan Verbindung Taipei - Kaoshiung (noch im Bau)
- Tschechien (ČD) (BR 680 (Pendolino))
- USA (Amtrak): Acela
- verschiedene Staaten Westeuropas: Thalys, Eurostar Siehe auch Eisenbahn, Liste europäischer Eisenbahngesellschaften, Hochgeschwindigkeitsstrecke

Weblinks

- [http://www.hochgeschwindigkeitszuege.com Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge der Welt] Kategorie:Zug

sylwester w g�rach Hotel Genoa gu Links Pozycjonowanie �mieszne filmy

:: RELATED NEWS ::

1206

События

Родились

См. также: :Категория:Родившиеся в 1206

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1206 :Категория:Родившиеся в 1205

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1205 война 1202—1204 между Англией и Францией
- 13 апреля Константинополь

События

Родились

См. также: :Категория:Родившиеся в 1203

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1203 Иоанн Безземельный стал королём Англии (1199—1216).

Родились

См. также: :Категория:Родившиеся в 1

Read More...

1198

События

Родились

См. также: :Категория:Родившиеся в 1198

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1198 :Категория:Родившиеся в 1197

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1197 Ричарда I Львиное Сердце построен замок Шато-Гайар в Нормандии.
- Завершена «Повесть о полку Игореве» (предположительно в мае).
- Первое упоминание о городе Бежец

События

Родились

См. также: :Категория:Родившиеся в 1195

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1195 :Категория:Родившиеся в 1194

Скончались

См. также: :Категория:Умершие в 1194

Newspaper

Overview

History

Format

Circulation and readership

Advertising

Newspaper journalism

The future of newspapers

Newspapers in different countries

Afghanistan

Argentina

Belgium

Brazil

Chile

Europe

Germany

France

Hong Kong

India

Isle of Man

Mexico

Netherlands

Norway

Philippines

Poland

United Kingdom

External link

United States

See also

External links

Publication

Newsprint

Journal

External links

News

Etymology

See also

External links (directories of news sites)

Politics

A natural state

Early history

Definitions

Political power

Authority and legitimacy

Traditional

Charismatic

Legal-rational

References

See also

Business

Types of Businesses

Business departments

Business and Government

Business and Management

See also

External links

Sportswriting

Historical sportswriters

Current sportswriters for major publications

Columnist

Types of columns

Columnists of note

External links

Political cartoon

Weather

Terrestrial weather

Extra-terrestrial weather

Extra-planetary weather

See also

Photograph

History and special effects

See also

Editorial cartoonist

Famous editorial cartoonists

Australia

Canada

Finland

Israel

Mexico

Panama