Ensiclope

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God, but is also celebrated as a secular holiday.[1]
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive the brutal winter.[2] The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians.[3] The feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. However, the traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

2009-11-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

MyNiceSpace.com

Dalai Lama

2009-11-14T17:44:00.000-08:00

The Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers. In religious terms, the Dalai Lama is believed by his devotees to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus, who have chosen to be reborn in order to enlighten others. The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the director of the Gelug School, but this position belongs officially to the Ganden Tripa, which is a temporary position appointed by the Dalai Lama (who in practice exerts much influence).
Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lamas were the directors of the Tibetan Government, administering a large portion of the area from the capital Lhasa, although the extent of the lineage's political authority and directorship of territory has been contested. Since 1959, the Dalai Lama has been president of the Tibetan government-in-exile, or Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

NASA

2009-11-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, pronounced /ˈnæsə/) is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The agency became operational on October 1, 1958.[3][4] NASA has led U.S. efforts for space exploration ever since, resulting in the Apollo missions to the Moon, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently NASA is supporting the International Space Station and developing new Ares I and V launch vehicles.
In addition to the space program, it is also responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research. NASA Science is focused on better understanding Earth itself through the Earth Observing System,[5] advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics Research Program,[6] exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic missions such as New Horizons,[7] and researching astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs.[8] Since February 2006 NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."[9]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration shares data with various national and international organizations such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite.History

A video podcast on the Crab Nebula by NASA
[edit]Space race
Main article: Space Race
After the Soviet space program's launch of the world's first human-made satellite (Sputnik 1) on October 4, 1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. The U.S. Congress, alarmed by the perceived threat to U.S. security and technological leadership (known as the "Sputnik crisis"), urged immediate and swift action; President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his advisers counseled more deliberate measures. Several months of debate produced an agreement that a new federal agency was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was also created at this time.
[edit]NACA
Main article: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

Official seal for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
From late 1957 to early 1958, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) began studying what a new non-military space agency would entail, as well as what NACA's role might be, and assigned several committees to review the concept.[4] On January 12, 1958, NACA organized a "Special Committee on Space Technology", headed by Guyford Stever.[4] Stever's committee included consultation from the ABMA's large booster program, referred to as the "Working Group on Vehicular Program," headed by Wernher von Braun,[4] who became a naturalized citizen of the United States after World War II.
On January 14, 1652, NACA Director Hugh Dryden published "A National Research Program for Space Technology" stating:[10]
“ It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a nation as well as military necessity that this challenge [Sputnik] be met by an energetic program of research and development for the conquest of space... It is accordingly proposed that the scientific research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency... NACA is capable, by rapid extension and expansion of its effort, of providing leadership in space technology. ”
Launched at 10:48 pm EST on January 3, 1958, Explorer 1, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha, became the U.S.'s first artificial satellite of Earth.[11] On March 5, PSAC Chairman James Killian wrote a memorandum to President Eisenhower, entitled "Organization for Civil Space Programs", encouraging the creation of a civil space program based upon a "strengthened and redesignated" NACA which could expand its research program "with a minimum of delay."[10] In late March, a NACA report entitled "Suggestions for a Space Program" included recommendations for subsequently developing a hydrogen fluorine fueled rocket of 4,450,000 newtons (1,000,000 lbf) thrust designed with second and third stages.[4]
In April 1958, President Eisenhower delivered to the U.S. Congress a formal executive address favoring the notion of a national civilian space agency and submitted an Administrative bill to create a "National Aeronautical and Space Agency."[4] NACA's former role of research alone would change to include large-scale development, management, and operations.[4] The U.S. Congress passed the bill, somewhat reworded, as the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, on July 16.[4] Only two days later von Braun's Working Group submitted a preliminary report severely criticizing the duplication of efforts and lack of coordination among various organizations assigned to the United States' space programs.[4] Stever's Committee on Space Technology concurred with the criticisms of the von Braun Group (a final draft was published several months later, in October).[4]

President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, and other government officials tour the newly opened Launch Operation Center in 1962.
[edit]NASA
On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. When it began operations on October 1, 1958, NASA absorbed the 46-year-old NACA intact; its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of US$100 million, three major research laboratories (Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory) and two small test facilities.[12]
Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, of which von Braun's team was a part, and the Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA. A significant contributor to NASA's entry into the Space Race with the Soviet Union was the technology from the German rocket program (led by von Braun) which in turn incorporated the technology of Robert Goddard's earlier works.[13] Earlier research efforts within the U.S. Air Force[12] and many of ARPA's early space programs were also transferred to NASA.[14] In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a contractor facility operated by the California Institute of Technology.[12]

May 5, 1961 launch of Redstone rocket and NASA's Mercury Freedom 7 with Alan Shepard on the United States' first manned sub-orbital spaceflight.
[edit]Project Mercury
Main article: Project Mercury
NASA's earliest programs involved research into human spaceflight and were conducted under the pressure of the competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that existed during the Cold War. Project Mercury, initiated in 1958, started NASA down the path of human space exploration with missions designed to discover simply if man could survive in space. Representatives from the U.S. Army (M.L. Raines, LTC, USA), Navy (P.L. Havenstein, CDR, USN), and Air Force (K.G. Lindell, COL, USAF) were selected to provide assistance to NASA. Selections were facilitated through coordination with existing U.S. defense research, contracting, and military test pilot programs. On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard—one of the seven Project Mercury astronauts selected as pilot for this mission—became the first American in space when he piloted Freedom 7 on a 15-minute suborbital flight.[15] John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962 during the five and a quarter-hour flight of Friendship 7.[16]
[edit]Project Gemini
Main article: Project Gemini

Launch of Gemini 1
After the Mercury project, Project Gemini was launched to conduct experiments and work out issues relating to a moon mission. The first Gemini flight with astronauts on board, Gemini 3, was flown by Gus Grissom and John Young on March 23, 1965.[17] Nine other missions followed, showing that long-duration human space flight was possible, proving that rendezvous and docking with another vehicle in space was possible, and gathering medical data on the effects of weightlessness on human beings.[18][19] During this time NASA also began to explore the solar system with unmanned probes. As with the manned program, the Soviets had the first successes,[20] such as the first photographs of the lunar far side,[20] but NASA's Mariner 2 was the first space probe to visit another planet, Venus, in 1962.[21]

The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off.
[edit]Apollo program
Main article: Apollo program
The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and to bring them safely back to Earth. Apollo 1 ended tragically when all the astronauts inside died due to fire in the command module during an experimental simulation. Because of this incident, there were a few unmanned tests before men boarded the spacecraft. Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photographs. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed the first men on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction, but did return photographs. The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms (880 lb) of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.[22]
[edit]Skylab
Main article: Skylab
Skylab was the first space station the United States launched into orbit.[23] The 100 short tons (91 t) station was in Earth orbit from 1973 to 1979, and was visited by crews three times, in 1973 and 1974.[23] It included a laboratory for studying the effects of microgravity, and a solar observatory.[23] A Space Shuttle was planned to dock with and elevate Skylab to a higher safe altitude, but Skylab reentered the atmosphere and was destroyed in 1979, before the first shuttle could be launched.[24] Skylab was abandoned after SL-4 in February 1974 and increased solar activity caused excessive drag which led to an early reentry. Skylab's reentry occurred at approximately 16:37 UTC July 11, 1979, landing over parts of Western Australia and the Indian Ocean, with some fragments being recovered.[25]
[edit]Apollo-Soyuz
Main article: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

The National Air and Space Museum display of Apollo-Soyuz.
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (or ASTP) was the first joint flight of the U.S. and Soviet space programs. The mission took place in July 1975. For the United States of America, it was the last Apollo flight, as well as the last manned space launch until the flight of the first Space Shuttle in April 1981.[26]

Space Shuttle Columbia, April 12, 1981
[edit]Shuttle era
See also: Space Shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, and International Space Station

The NASA "worm" logo used from 1975 to 1992.
The Space Shuttle became the major focus of NASA in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Planned to be a frequently launchable and mostly reusable vehicle, four space shuttles were built by 1985. The first to launch, Columbia, did so on April 12, 1981.[27]
The shuttle was not all good news for NASA: flights were much more expensive than initially projected, and the public again lost interest as missions appeared to become mundane until the 1986 Challenger disaster again highlighted the risks of space flight. Work began on Space Station Freedom as a focus for the manned space program, but within NASA there was argument that these projects came at the expense of more inspiring unmanned missions such as the Voyager probes.[27]
Nonetheless, the shuttle launched milestone projects like the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The HST is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA),[28] and its success has paved the way for greater collaboration between the agencies. The HST was created with a relatively small budget of $2 billion[29] and has continued operation since 1990, delighting both scientists and the public. Some of its images, such as the groundbreaking Hubble Deep Field, have become famous.
In 1995 Russian-American interaction resumed with the Shuttle-Mir missions. Once more an American vehicle docked with a Russian craft, this time a full-fledged space station. This cooperation continues to today, with Russia and America the two biggest partners in the largest space station ever built: the International Space Station (ISS). The strength of their cooperation on this project was even more evident when NASA began relying on Russian launch vehicles to service the ISS during the two year grounding of the shuttle fleet following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
The International Space Station (ISS) relies on the Shuttle fleet for all major construction shipments. The Shuttle fleet lost two spacecraft and fourteen astronauts in two disasters: Challenger in 1986, and Columbia in 2003.[30] While the 1986 loss was mitigated by building the Space Shuttle Endeavour from replacement parts, NASA has no plans to build another shuttle to replace the second loss, and instead will be transitioning to a new spacecraft called Orion.[30]
Other nations that have invested in the space station's construction, such as the members of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), have expressed concern over the completion of the ISS.[30][31] The schedule NASA planned does have flexibility in it, and Associate Administrator for Space Operations William H. Gerstenmaier explained that the shuttle had completed three missions within six months in 2007, showing that NASA can still meet the deadlines necessary for the critical flights remaining.[30][32][33]
During much of the 1990s, NASA was faced with shrinking annual budgets due to Congressional belt-tightening. In response, NASA's ninth administrator, Daniel Goldin, pioneered the "faster, better, cheaper" approach that enabled NASA to cut costs while still delivering a wide variety of aerospace programs (Discovery Program). That method was criticized and re-evaluated following the twin losses of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander in 1999. Yet, NASA's shuttle program had made 120 successful launches as of September 2009.
This section requires expansion with:
Add other unmanned exploration projects. Explorer 1, Hubble Space Telescope, Voyager, and Mars probes are listed now..
[edit]NASA's future

Left to Right: Saturn V, which last carried men to the Moon, the Space Shuttle, the planned Ares I, proposed Ares IV and planned Ares V launch vehicles.
It is the current space policy of the United States that NASA, "execute a sustained and affordable human and robotic program of space exploration and develop, acquire, and use civil space systems to advance fundamental scientific knowledge of our Earth system, solar system, and universe."[34] NASA's ongoing investigations include in-depth surveys of Mars and Saturn and studies of the Earth and the Sun. Other NASA spacecraft are presently en route to Mercury and Pluto. With missions to Jupiter in planning stages, NASA's itinerary covers over half the solar system.
An improved and larger planetary rover, Mars Science Laboratory, is under construction and slated to launch in 2011, after a slight delay caused by hardware challenges, which has bumped it back from the October 2009 scheduled launch.[35] The New Horizons mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and will fly by Pluto in 2015. The probe received a gravity assist from Jupiter in February 2007, examining some of Jupiter's inner moons and testing on-board instruments during the fly-by. On the horizon of NASA's plans is the MAVEN spacecraft as part of the Mars Scout Program to study the atmosphere of Mars.[36]

Orion contractor selected August 31, 2006, at NASA Headquarters.
[edit]Vision for space exploration
Main article: Vision for Space Exploration
On January 14, 2004, ten days after the landing of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, US President George W. Bush announced a new plan for NASA's future, dubbed the Vision for Space Exploration.[37] According to this plan, mankind will return to the Moon by 2018, and set up outposts as a testbed and potential resource for future missions. The Space Shuttle will be retired in 2010 and Orion will replace it by 2015, capable of both docking with the International Space Station (ISS) and leaving the Earth's orbit. The future of the ISS is somewhat uncertain—construction will be completed, but beyond that is less clear. Although the plan initially met with skepticism from Congress, in late 2004 Congress agreed to provide start-up funds for the first year's worth of the new space vision.[38]
Hoping to spur innovation from the private sector, NASA established a series of Centennial Challenges, technology prizes for non-government teams, in 2004. The Challenges include tasks that will be useful for implementing the Vision for Space Exploration, such as building more efficient astronaut gloves.[39]
[edit]Mission statement

NASA's 50th Anniversary Logo.
From 2002, NASA’s mission statement, used in budget and planning documents, read: “To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can.” In early February 2006, the statement was altered, with the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet” deleted.[40] Some outside observers believe the change was intended to preserve the civilian nature of the agency, while others suspected it was related to criticism of government policy on global warming by NASA scientists like James Hansen. NASA officials have denied any connection to the latter, pointing to new priorities for space exploration. NASA's motto is "For the benefit of all".[1]
The chair and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs wrote NASA Administrator Griffin on July 31, 2006 expressing concerns about the change.[41] NASA also canceled or delayed a number of earth science missions in 2006.[42]
[edit]Moon base
On December 4, 2006, NASA announced it was planning to build a permanent moon base.[43] NASA Associate Administrator Scott Horowitz said the goal was to start building the moonbase by 2020, and by 2024, have a fully functional base that would allow for crew rotations and in-situ resource utilization. Additionally, NASA plans to collaborate and partner with other nations for this project.[44]
[edit]Human exploration of Mars
Main article: Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee
On September 28, 2007 Michael D. Griffin, who was at the time Administrator of NASA, stated that NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037.[45]
Alan Stern, NASA's "hard-charging"[46] and "reform-minded"[47] Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, resigned on March 25, 2008,[48] effective April 11, 2008, after he allegedly ordered funding cuts to the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) and Mars Odyssey that were overturned by NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin. The cuts were intended to offset cost overruns for the Mars Science Laboratory. Stern has stated that he "did not quit over MER" and that he "wasn’t the person who tried to cut MER".[49] Stern, who served for nearly a year and has been credited with making "significant changes that have helped restore the importance of science in NASA’s mission",[50][51] says he left to avoid cutting healthy programs and basic research in favor of politically sensitive projects. Griffin favors cutting "less popular parts" of the budget, including basic research, and Stern's refusal to do so led to his resignation.[52]
[edit]Spaceflight missions

Buzz Aldrin
Main article: List of NASA missions
NASA has conducted many successful space missions and programs, including over 150 manned missions. Many of the notable manned missions were from the Apollo program, a sequence of missions to the Moon which included the achievement of the first man to walk on the Moon, during Apollo 11. The Space Shuttle program had setbacks with the loss of two of the Space Shuttles, Challenger and Columbia which resulted in the deaths of their entire crews. The Space Shuttles were able to dock with the space station Mir while it was operational, and are now able to dock with the International Space Station—a joint project of many space agencies. NASA's future plans for space exploration are with the Project Constellation, which plans to develop spacecraft and booster vehicles to replace the Space Shuttle and send astronauts to the Moon and possibly to Mars as well.[53]
There have been many unmanned NASA space missions as well, including at least one that visited each of the other seven planets in the Solar System, and four missions (Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2) that have left the Solar System. There has been much recent success with the missions to Mars, including the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Phoenix Mars Lander. NASA remains the only space agency to have launched space missions to the outer solar system beyond the asteroid belt.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Cassini probe, launched in 1997 and in orbit around Saturn since mid-2004, is investigating Saturn and its inner satellites.[54] With over twenty years in the making, Cassini-Huygens is an example of international cooperation between JPL-NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Built entirely by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, NASA probes have been continually performing science at Mars since 1997, with at least two orbiters since 2001 and several Mars rovers. The orbiting Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will continue monitoring the geology and climate of the Red Planet, as well as searching for evidence of past or present water and life, as they have since 2001 and 2006, respectively. If the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft's nine-year lifetime is typical, these probes will continue to advance knowledge of Mars for years to come. The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity have been traversing the surface of Mars at Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum since early 2004, and will continue to image and investigate those environments. They have both already operated over seventeen times longer than expected, and remain a promising part of NASA's future. Adding to this flotilla is the Phoenix Mars Lander, which executed a powered touchdown in the northern latitudes of Mars on May 25, 2008 after a ten-month journey of more than 420 million miles (676 million km).[55]
[edit]Leadership

Main article: List of NASA Administrators
The Administrator of NASA is the highest-ranking official of that organization and serves as the senior space science adviser to the President of the United States. On May 24, 2009, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Charles Bolden as NASA Administrator, and Lori Garver as Deputy NASA Administrator.[56] Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 15, 2009 as the twelfth administrator of NASA. Lori Beth Garver was confirmed as NASA's deputy administrator.[57]
[edit]Facilities

NASA headquarters, located in Washington, D.C., provides overall guidance and direction to the agency.[58] NASA's Shared Services center is located on the grounds of the John C. Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.[59] Construction of the Shared Services facility began in August 2006 and it was completed in June 2008.[59] NASA even operated its own railroad at Kennedy Space Flight Center. Various field and research installations are listed below by application. Some facilities serve more than one application for historic or administrative reasons.
[edit]Research centers
Ames Research Center, Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, California

The JPL complex in Pasadena, California
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York City
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
[edit]Test facilities
Ames Research Center, Moffett Federal Airfield, Mountain View, California
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Los Angeles County, California
Independent Verification and Validation Facility, Fairmont, West Virginia
John C. Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia
[edit]Construction and launch facilities

Kennedy Space Center.
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, Louisiana
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia
White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, New Mexico
[edit]Deep Space Network
Deep Space Network (DSN) stations
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Barstow, California
Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex, Madrid, Spain
[edit]Tourism and museum facilities
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida
Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas
United States Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Florida, USA, taken from NASA Shuttle Mission STS-95 on October 31, 1998.
[edit]Awards and decorations

Main article: NASA awards and decorations
NASA presently bestows a number of medals and decorations to astronauts and other NASA personnel. Some awards are authorized for wear on active duty military uniforms. The highest award is the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, which has been awarded to 28 individuals (17 posthumously), and is said to recognize "any astronaut who in the performance of his duties has distinguished himself by exceptionally meritorious efforts and contributions to the welfare of the Nation and mankind."[60]
The second highest NASA award is the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, which may be presented to any member of the federal government, including both military astronauts and civilian employees. It is an annual award, given out at the National Aeronautics Space Foundation plant, located in Orlando, Florida.[60]
[edit]NASA Science

[edit]Ozone depletion
In the middle of the 20th century NASA augmented its mission of Earth’s observation and redirected it toward environmental quality. The result was the launch of Earth Observing System (EOS) in 1980s, which was able to monitor one of the global environmental problems—ozone depletion.[61] The first comprehensive worldwide measurements were obtained in 1978 with the Nimbus-7 satellite and NASA scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.[62]
[edit]Salt evaporation and energy management
In one of the nation's largest restoration projects NASA technology helps state and federal government reclaim 15,100 acres (61 km2) of salt evaporation ponds in South San Francisco Bay. Satellite sensors are used by scientists to study the effect of salt evaporation on local ecology.[63]
NASA has started Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation Program as an agency-wide program directed to prevent pollution and reduce energy and water utilization. It helps to ensure that NASA meets its federal stewardship responsibilities for the environment.[64]
[edit]Medicine in Space
A variety of large scale medical studies are being conducted in space via the National Space and Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity Study in which Astronauts (including former ISS Commanders Leroy Chiao and Gennady Padalka) perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts to diagnose and potentially treat hundreds of medical conditions in space. Usually, there is no physician onboard the International Space Station and diagnosis of medical conditions is challenging. In addition, Astronauts are susceptible to a variety of health risks including decompression sickness, barotrauma, immunodeficiencies, loss of bone and muscle, orthostatic intolerance due to volume loss, sleep disturbances, and radiation injury. Ultrasound offers a unique opportunity to monitor these conditions in space. This study's techniques are now being applied to cover professional and Olympic sports injuries as well as ultrasound performed by non-expert operators in populations such as medical and high school students. It is anticipated that remote guided ultrasound will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations, where access to a trained physician is often rare.[65][66][67] For more information on the health hazards faced by astronauts, go to the article entitled Space medicine.
[edit]Earth Science Enterprise
Understanding of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment is the main objective of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. For years it has been cooperating with major environment related agencies and creating united projects to achieve their goal. Past Enterprise’s programs include:[68]
Carbon sequestration assessment for Carbon Management (USDA, DOE)
Early warning systems for air and water quality for Homeland Security (OHS, NIMA, USGS)
Enhanced weather prediction for Energy Forecasting (DOE, United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ (EPA))
Environmental indicators for Coastal Management (NOAA)
Environmental indicators for Community Growth Management (EPA, USGS, NSGIC)
Environmental models for Biological Invasive Species (USGS, USDA)
Regional to national to international atmospheric measurements and predictions for Air Quality Management (United States Environmental Protection Agency‎, NOAA)
Water cycle science for Water Management and Conservation (EPA, USDA)
NASA is working in cooperation with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The goal is to obtain~to produce worldwide solar resource maps with great local detail.[69] NASA was also one of the main participants in the evaluation innovative technologies for the clean up of the sources for dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). On April 6, 1999, the agency signed The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) along with the United States Environmental Protection Agency‎, DOE, and USAF authorizing all the above organizations to conduct necessary tests at the John F. Kennedy Space center. The main purpose was to evaluate two innovative in-situ remediation technologies, thermal removal and oxidation destruction of DNAPLs.[70] National Space Agency made a partnership with Military Services and Defense Contract Management Agency named the “Joint Group on Pollution Prevention”. The group is working on reduction or elimination of hazardous materials or processes.[71]
On May 8, 2003, Environmental Protection Agency recognized NASA as the first federal agency to directly use landfill gas to produce energy at one of its facilities—the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.[72]

Intel Corporation

2009-11-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC; SEHK: 4335) is the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue.[3] The company is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Intel was founded on July 18, 1968, as Integrated Electronics Corporation (though a common misconception is that "Intel" is from the word intelligence) and is based in Santa Clara, California, USA. Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and ICs, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names.
Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until the early 1980s. While Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became their primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs fostering the rapid growth of the PC industry. During this period Intel became the dominant supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive and sometimes controversial tactics in defense of its market position, particularly against AMD, as well as a struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry.[4][5] The 2009 rankings of the world's 100 most powerful brands published by Millward Brown Optimor showed the company's brand value rising 4 places – from number 27 to number 23.[6]
In addition to its work in semiconductors, Intel has begun research in electrical transmission and generation.[7][8]Corporate history

[edit]Origins and early years

Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, USA
Intel was founded in 1968 by Gordon E. Moore (of "Moore's Law" fame, a chemist and physicist) and Robert Noyce (a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit) when they left Fairchild Semiconductor. A number of other Fairchild employees also went on to participate in other Silicon Valley companies. Intel's third employee was Andy Grove,[9] a chemical engineer, who ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s. Grove is now remembered as the company's key business and strategic leader. By the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the largest and most successful businesses in the world.[citation needed]
[edit]Origin of the name
At its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company Moore Noyce.[10] The name, however, sounded remarkably similar to more noise — an ill-suited name for an electronics company, since noise is typically associated with bad interference. They then used the name NM Electronics for almost a year, before deciding to call their company INTegrated ELectronics or Intel for short[11]. However, Intel was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to buy the rights for that name at the beginning.[12]
[edit]Early history
Intel has grown through several distinct phases. At its founding, Intel was distinguished simply by its ability to make semiconductors, and its primary products were static random access memory (SRAM) chips. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices.
While Intel created the first microprocessor (Intel 4004) in 1971 and one of the first microcomputers in 1972,[13][14] by the early 1980s its business was dominated by dynamic random access memory chips. However, increased competition from Japanese semiconductor manufacturers had, by 1983, dramatically reduced the profitability of this market, and the sudden success of the IBM personal computer convinced then-CEO Grove to shift the company's focus to microprocessors, and to change fundamental aspects of that business model.
By the end of the 1980s this decision had proven successful. Buoyed by its fortuitous position as microprocessor supplier to IBM and its competitors within the rapidly growing personal computer market, Intel embarked on a 10-year period of unprecedented growth as the primary (and most profitable) hardware supplier to the PC industry. By the end of the 1990s, its line of Pentium processors had become a household name.
[edit]Slowing demand and challenges to dominance
After 2000, growth in demand for high-end microprocessors slowed. Competitors, notably AMD (Intel's largest competitor in its primary x86 architecture market), garnered significant market share, initially in low-end and mid-range processors but ultimately across the product range, and Intel's dominant position in its core market was greatly reduced.[15] In the early 2000s then-CEO Craig Barrett attempted to diversify the company's business beyond semiconductors, but few of these activities were ultimately successful.
Intel had also for a number of years been embroiled in litigation. US law did not initially recognize intellectual property rights related to microprocessor topology (circuit layouts), until the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, a law sought by Intel and the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).[16] During the late 1980s and 1990s (after this law was passed) Intel also sued companies that tried to develop competitor chips to the 80386 CPU.[17] The lawsuits were noted to significantly burden the competition with legal bills, even if Intel lost the suits.[17] Antitrust allegations that had been simmering since the early 1990s and already been the cause of one lawsuit against Intel in 1991, broke out again as AMD brought further claims against Intel related to unfair competition in 2004, and again in 2005.
In 2005, CEO Paul Otellini reorganized the company to refocus its core processor and chipset business on platforms (enterprise, digital home, digital health, and mobility) which led to the hiring of over 20,000 new employees. In September 2006 due to falling profits, the company announced a restructuring that resulted in layoffs of 10,500 employees or about 10 percent of its workforce by July 2006.
[edit]Regaining of momentum
Faced with the need to regain lost marketplace momentum,[18][19] Intel unveiled its new product development model to regain its prior technological lead. Known as its "tick-tock model", the program was based upon annual alternation of microarchitecture innovation and process innovation.
In 2006, Intel produced P6 and Netburst products with reduced die size (65nm). A year later it unveiled its Core microarchitecture to widespread critical acclaim;[20] the product range was perceived as an exceptional leap in processor performance that at a stroke regained much of its leadership of the field.[21][22] In line with the model, the following year saw the next "tick", a process improvement to shrink this range from 65 to 45 nm, and the year after saw the release of its positively reviewed successor processor, Nehalem.
Intel was not the first microprocessor corporation to do this. For example, around 1996 graphics chip designers nVidia had addressed its own business and marketplace difficulties by adopting a demanding 6-month internal product cycle whose products repeatedly outperformed market expectation.
[edit]Sale of XScale processor business
On June 27, 2006, the sale of Intel's XScale assets was announced. Intel agreed to sell the XScale processor business to Marvell Technology Group for an estimated $600 million in cash and the assumption of unspecified liabilities. The move was intended to permit Intel to focus its resources on its core x86 and server businesses, and the acquisition completed on November 9, 2006.[23]
[edit]Product and market history

[edit]SRAMS and the microprocessor
The company's first products were shift register memory and random-access memory integrated circuits, and Intel grew to be a leader in the fiercely competitive DRAM, SRAM, and ROM markets throughout the 1970s. Concurrently, Intel engineers Marcian Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stanley Mazor and Masatoshi Shima invented the first microprocessor. Originally developed for the Japanese company Busicom to replace a number of ASICs in a calculator already produced by Busicom, the Intel 4004 was introduced to the mass market on November 15, 1971, though the microprocessor did not become the core of Intel's business until the mid-1980s. (Note: Intel is usually given credit with Texas Instruments for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)
[edit]From DRAM to microprocessors
In 1983, at the dawn of the personal computer era, Intel's profits came under increased pressure from Japanese memory-chip manufacturers, and then-President Andy Grove drove the company into a focus on microprocessors. Grove described this transition in the book Only the Paranoid Survive. A key element of his plan was the notion, then considered radical, of becoming the single source for successors to the popular 8086 microprocessor.
Until then, manufacture of complex integrated circuits was not reliable enough for customers to depend on a single supplier, but Grove began producing processors in three geographically distinct factories, and ceased licensing the chip designs to competitors such as Zilog and AMD. When the PC industry boomed in the late 1980s and 1990s, Intel was one of the primary beneficiaries.
[edit]Intel, x86 processors, and the IBM PC

The integrated circuit from an Intel 8742, an 8-bit microcontroller that includes a CPU running at 12 MHz, 128 bytes of RAM, 2048 bytes of EPROM, and I/O in the same chip.
Despite the ultimate importance of the microprocessor, the 4004 and its successors the 8008 and the 8080 were never major revenue contributors at Intel. As the next processor, the 8086 (and its variant the 8088) was completed in 1978, Intel embarked on a major marketing and sales campaign for that chip nicknamed "Operation Crush", and intended to win as many customers for the processor as possible. One design win was the newly created IBM PC division, though the importance of this was not fully realized at the time.
IBM introduced its personal computer in 1981, and it was rapidly successful. In 1982, Intel created the 80286 microprocessor, which, two years later, was used in the IBM PC/AT. Compaq, the first IBM PC "clone" manufacturer, produced a desktop system based on the faster 80286 processor in 1985 and in 1986 quickly followed with the first 80386-based system, beating IBM and establishing a competitive market for PC-compatible systems and setting up Intel as a key component supplier.
In 1975 the company had started a project to develop a highly advanced 32-bit microprocessor, finally released in 1981 as the Intel iAPX 432. The project was too ambitious and the processor was never able to meet its performance objectives, and it failed in the marketplace. Intel extended the x86 architecture to 32 bits instead.[24][25]
[edit]386 microprocessor
During this period Andrew Grove dramatically redirected the company, closing much of its DRAM business and directing resources to the microprocessor business. Of perhaps greater importance was his decision to "single-source" the 386 microprocessor. Prior to this, microprocessor manufacturing was in its infancy, and manufacturing problems frequently reduced or stopped production, interrupting supplies to customers. To mitigate this risk, these customers typically insisted that multiple manufacturers produce chips they could use to ensure a consistent supply. The 8080 and 8086-series microprocessors were produced by several companies, notably Zilog and AMD. Grove made the decision not to license the 386 design to other manufacturers, instead producing it in three geographically distinct factories in Santa Clara, California; Hillsboro, Oregon; and the Phoenix, Arizona suburb of Chandler; and convincing customers that this would ensure consistent delivery. As the success of Compaq's Deskpro 386 established the 386 as the dominant CPU choice, Intel achieved a position of near-exclusive dominance as its supplier. Profits from this funded rapid development of both higher-performance chip designs and higher-performance manufacturing capabilities, propelling Intel to a position of unquestioned leadership by the early 1990s.
[edit]486, Pentium, and Itanium
Intel introduced the 486 microprocessor in 1989, and in 1990 formally established a second design team, designing the processors code-named "P5" and "P6" in parallel and committing to a major new processor every two years, versus the four or more years such designs had previously taken. The P5 was earlier known as "Operation Bicycle" referring to the cycles of the processor. The P5 was introduced in 1993 as the Intel Pentium, substituting a registered trademark name for the former part number (numbers, such as 486, are hard to register as a trademark). The P6 followed in 1995 as the Pentium Pro and improved into the Pentium II in 1997. New architectures were developed alternately in Santa Clara, California and Hillsboro, Oregon.
The Santa Clara design team embarked in 1993 on a successor to the x86 architecture, codenamed "P7". The first attempt was dropped a year later, but quickly revived in a cooperative program with Hewlett-Packard engineers, though Intel soon took over primary design responsibility. The resulting implementation of the IA-64 64-bit architecture was the Itanium, finally introduced in June 2001. The Itanium's performance running legacy x86 code did not achieve expectations, and it failed to compete effectively with 64-bit extensions to the original x86 architecture, introduced by AMD, named x86-64 (although Intel uses the name Intel 64, previously EM64T). As of 2009, Intel continues to develop and deploy the Itanium.
The Hillsboro team designed the Willamette processors (code-named P67 and P68) which were marketed as the Pentium 4.
[edit]Pentium flaw
Main article: Pentium FDIV bug
In June 1994, Intel engineers discovered a flaw in the floating-point math subsection of the Pentium microprocessor. Under certain data dependent conditions, low order bits of the result of floating-point division operations would be incorrect, an error that can quickly compound in floating-point operations to much larger errors in subsequent calculations. Intel corrected the error in a future chip revision, but nonetheless declined to disclose it.[citation needed]
In October 1994, Dr. Thomas Nicely, Professor of Mathematics at Lynchburg College independently discovered the bug, and upon receiving no response from his inquiry to Intel, on October 30 posted a message on the Internet.[26] Word of the bug spread quickly on the Internet and then to the industry press. Because the bug was easy to replicate by an average user (there was a sequence of numbers one could enter into the OS calculator to show the error), Intel's statements that it was minor and "not even an erratum" were not accepted by many computer users. During Thanksgiving 1994, The New York Times ran a piece by journalist John Markoff spotlighting the error. Intel changed its position and offered to replace every chip, quickly putting in place a large end-user support organization. This resulted in a $500 million charge against Intel's 1994 revenue.
Ironically, the "Pentium flaw" incident, Intel's response to it, and the surrounding media coverage propelled Intel from being a technology supplier generally unknown to most computer users to a household name. Dovetailing with an uptick in the "Intel Inside" campaign, the episode is considered by some[who?] to have been a positive event for Intel, changing some of its business practices to be more end-user focused and generating substantial public awareness, while avoiding (for most users) a lasting negative impression.[27]
[edit]Intel Inside, Intel Systems Division, and Intel Architecture Labs
During this period, Intel undertook two major supporting programs that helped guarantee their processor's success. The first is widely known: the 1990 "Intel Inside" marketing and branding campaign. The idea of ingredient branding was new at the time with only Nutrasweet and a few others making attempts at that.[28] This campaign established Intel, which had been a component supplier little-known outside the PC industry, as a household name. The second program is little-known: Intel's Systems Group began, in the early 1990s, manufacturing PC "motherboards", the main board component of a personal computer, and the one into which the processor (CPU) and memory (RAM) chips are plugged.[citation needed] Shortly after, Intel began manufacturing fully configured "white box" systems for the dozens of PC clone companies that rapidly sprang up.[citation needed] At its peak in the mid-1990s, Intel manufactured over 15% of all PCs, making it the third-largest supplier at the time.[citation needed]
During the 1990s, Intel's Architecture Lab (IAL) was responsible for many of the hardware innovations of the personal computer, including the PCI Bus, the PCI Express (PCIe) bus, the Universal Serial Bus (USB), Bluetooth wireless interconnect, and the now-dominant[citation needed] architecture for multiprocessor servers.[clarification needed] IAL's software efforts met with a more mixed fate; its video and graphics software was important in the development of software digital video, but later its efforts were largely overshadowed by competition from Microsoft. The competition between Intel and Microsoft was revealed in testimony by IAL Vice-President Steven McGeady at the Microsoft antitrust trial.
[edit]Competition, antitrust and espionage
See also: AMD v. Intel
Two factors combined to end this dominance: the slowing of PC demand growth beginning in 2000 and the rise of the low cost PC. By the end of the 1990s, microprocessor performance had outstripped software demand for that CPU power. Aside from high-end server systems and software, demand for which dropped with the end of the "dot-com bubble", consumer systems ran effectively on increasingly low-cost systems after 2000. Intel's strategy of producing ever-more-powerful processors and obsoleting their predecessors stumbled,[citation needed] leaving an opportunity for rapid gains by competitors, notably AMD. This in turn lowered the profitability[citation needed] of the processor line and ended an era of unprecedented dominance of the PC hardware by Intel.[citation needed]
Intel's dominance in the x86 microprocessor market led to numerous charges of antitrust violations over the years, including FTC investigations in both the late 1980s and in 1999, and civil actions such as the 1997 suit by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and a patent suit by Intergraph. Intel's market dominance (at one time[when?] it controlled over 85% of the market for 32-bit x86 microprocessors) combined with Intel's own hardball legal tactics (such as its infamous 338 patent suit versus PC manufacturers)[29] made it an attractive target for litigation, but few of the lawsuits ever amounted to anything.[clarification needed]
A case of industrial espionage arose in 1995 that involved both Intel and AMD. Guillermo Gaede, an Argentine formerly employed both at AMD and at Intel's Arizona plant, was arrested for attempting in 1993 to sell the i486 and Pentium designs to AMD and to certain foreign powers.[30] Gaede videotaped data from his computer screen at Intel and mailed it to AMD, which immediately alerted Intel and authorities, resulting in Gaede's arrest. Gaede was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in prison in June 1996.[31][32]
[edit]Partnership with Apple
For more details on this topic, see Apple Intel transition.
On June 6, 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be transitioning from its long favored PowerPC architecture to the Intel x86 architecture, because the future PowerPC road map was unable to satisfy Apple's needs. The first Macintosh computers containing Intel CPUs were announced on January 10, 2006, and Apple had its entire line of consumer Macs running on Intel processors by early August 2006. The Apple Xserve server was updated to Intel Xeon processors from November 2006, and is offered in a configuration similar to Apple's Mac Pro.[33]
[edit]Core 2 Duo advertisement controversy
In 2007, the company released a print advertisement for its Core 2 Duo processor featuring six African American runners appearing to bow down to a Caucasian male inside of an office setting (due to the posture taken by runners on starting blocks). According to Nancy Bhagat, Vice President of Intel Corporate Marketing, the general public found the ad to be "insensitive and insulting".[34] The campaign was quickly pulled and several Intel executives made public apologies on the corporate website.[35]
[edit]Classmate PC
Intel's Classmate PC is the company's first low-cost Netbook computer.
[edit]Corporate affairs

In September 2006, Intel had nearly 100,000 employees and 200 facilities world wide. Its 2005 revenues were $38.8 billion and its Fortune 500 ranking was 49th. Its stock symbol is INTC, listed on the NASDAQ. As of February 2009 the biggest customers of Intel are Hewlett-Packard and Dell.[36]
[edit]Leadership and corporate structure
Robert Noyce was Intel's CEO at its founding in 1968, followed by co-founder Gordon Moore in 1975. Andy Grove became the company's President in 1979 and added the CEO title in 1987 when Moore became Chairman. In 1998 Grove succeeded Moore as Chairman, and Craig Barrett, already company president, took over. On May 18, 2005, Barrett handed the reins of the company over to Paul Otellini, who previously was the company president and was responsible for Intel's design win in the original IBM PC. The board of directors elected Otellini CEO, and Barrett replaced Grove as Chairman of the Board. Grove stepped down as Chairman, but is retained as a special adviser. In May 2009, Barrett stepped down as chairman and Jane Shaw was elected as the new Chairman of the Board.
Current members of the board of directors of Intel are Craig Barrett, Charlene Barshefsky, Susan Decker, James Guzy, Reed Hundt, Paul Otellini, James Plummer, David Pottruck, Jane Shaw, John Thornton, and David Yoffie.[37]
[edit]Employment

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Intel microprocessor facility in Costa Rica was responsible in 2006 for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 4.9% of the country's GDP.[38]
The firm promotes very heavily from within, most notably in its executive suite. The company has resisted the trend toward outsider CEOs. Paul Otellini was a 30-year veteran of the company when he assumed the role of CEO. All of his top lieutenants have risen through the ranks after many years with the firm. In many cases, Intel's top executives have spent their entire working careers with Intel, a very rare occurrence in volatile Silicon Valley[citation needed].
Intel has a mandatory retirement policy for its CEOs when they reach age 65, Andy Grove retired at 62, while both Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore retired at 58. At 57, Otellini has a long career at the helm ahead of him, assuming he performs satisfactorily and does not retire before age 65. Grove retired as Chairman and as a member of the board of directors in 2005 at age 68.
No one has an office; everyone, even Otellini, sits in a cubicle. This is designed to promote egalitarianism among employees, but some new hires have difficulty adjusting to this change[citation needed]. Intel is not alone in this policy. Hewlett-Packard and NVIDIA have similar no-office policy.
The company is headquartered in California's Silicon Valley and has operations around the world. Outside of California, the company has facilities in Argentina (Córdoba and Buenos Aires), China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Mexico, Israel, Ireland, India, Philippines, Poland, Russia, and Vietnam internationally. In the U.S. Intel employs significant numbers of people in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Utah.[39] In Oregon, Intel is the state's largest private employer with over 16,000 employees, primarily in Hillsboro.[40] The company is the largest industrial employer in New Mexico while in Arizona the company has over 10,000 employees.
[edit]Diversity Initiative
Intel has a Diversity Initiative, including employee diversity groups as well as supplier diversity programs.[41] Like many companies with employee diversity groups, they include groups based on race and nationality as well as sexual identity and religion. In 1994, Intel sanctioned one of the earliest corporate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender employee groups,[42] and supports a Muslim employees group,[43] a Jewish employees group,[44] and a Bible-based Christian group.[45][46]
Intel received a 100% rating on the first Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2002. It has maintained this rating in 2003 and 2004. In addition, the company was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2005 by Working Mother magazine.
[edit]Funding of a school
In Rio Rancho, New Mexico, Intel is the leading employer.[47] In 1997, a community partnership between Sandoval County and Intel Corporation funded and built Rio Rancho High School.[citation needed]
[edit]Finances

Intel stock price, Nov 1986 - Nov 2006
Intel's market capitalization is $85.67 billion (May 11, 2009). It publicly trades on NASDAQ with the symbol INTC. A widely held stock, the following indices include Intel shares: Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, SOX (PHLX Semiconductor Sector), and GSTI Software Index.
On July 15, 2008, Intel announced that it had achieved the highest earnings in the history of the company during Q2 2008.[48]
[edit]Advertising and brand management

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Intel has become one of the world's most recognizable computer brands following its long-running Intel Inside campaign. The campaign, which started in 1991,[49] was created by Intel marketing manager Dennis Carter.[50] The five-note jingle was introduced the following year and by its tenth anniversary was being heard in 130 countries around the world. The initial branding agency for the 'Intel Inside' campaign was DahlinSmithWhite Advertising of Salt Lake City. The Intel swirl logo was the work of DahlinSmithWhite art director Steve Grigg under the direction of Intel president and CEO Andy Grove.
The Intel Inside advertising campaign sought public brand loyalty and awareness of Intel processors in consumer computers.[citation needed]Intel paid some of the advertiser's costs for an ad that used the Intel Inside logo and jingle.[citation needed]
[edit]Logos
Intel brand logo
Main Logo Date Subset logo Date Remarks
1968
2005 2003 - 2005 Still as Intel Inside logo, but changed to resemble the original Intel logo with lowering of the Intel "e" and changing the typeface.
1990 - 2003 The original "Intel Inside" logo, introduced in 1990.
2005
Present 2006
2009 Intel phased out the intel inside logo in favor of a new logo intel and the slogan, Leap ahead. The new logo is clearly inspired by the Intel Inside logo by splitting out the inside.
2009
Present The current intel logo with inside trademark.
In 2006, Intel expanded its promotion of open specification platforms beyond Centrino, to include the Viiv media centre PC and the business desktop Intel vPro.
In mid January 2006, Intel announced that they were dropping the long running Pentium name from their processors. The Pentium name was first used to refer to the P5 core Intel processors (Pent refers to the 5 in P5,) and was done to circumvent court rulings that prevent the trademarking of a string of numbers, so competitors could not just call their processor the same name, as had been done with the prior 386 and 486 processors. (Both of which had copies manufactured by both IBM and AMD). They phased out the Pentium names from mobile processors first, when the new Yonah chips, branded Core Solo and Core Duo, were released. The desktop processors changed when the Core 2 line of processors were released. In March 2007, the Intel logo was shown briefly in one of the scenes of the movie The Last Mimzy.
According to an Intel spokesman as of 2009 one may think in terms of good-better-best with Celeron being good, Pentium better, and the Intel Core family representing the best the company has to offer.[51]
In 2008, Intel planned to shift the emphasis of its Intel Inside campaign from traditional media such as television and print to newer media such as the Internet.[52] Intel required that a minimum of 35% of the money it provided to the companies in its co-op program be used for online marketing.[52]
Some artists have incorporated Intel brand culture into their works. For example, evil inside stickers,[53] and a tombstone with R.I.P Intel Inside[54]
[edit]Sonic logo
The famous D♭ D♭ G♭ D♭ A♭ jingle, sonic logo, tag, audio mnemonic (MP3 file of sonic logo) was produced by Musikvergnuegen and written by Walter Werzowa from the Austrian 1980s sampling band Edelweiss.[55] The Sonic logo was changed during the introduction of the Core brand.
[edit]Naming strategy
According to spokesman Bill Calder since 2009 Intel has maintained only the Celeron brand, the Atom brand for netbooks and the vPro lineup for businesses.[56] Upcoming processors will carry the Intel Core brand, but will be known as the Intel Core i9 or Core i3 depending on their segment of the market.[56] vPro products will carry the Intel Core i7 vPro processor or the Intel Core i5 vPro processor name.[56]
Beginning in 2010 "Centrino" will only be applied to Intel's WiMAX and Wi-Fi technologies, it won't be a PC brand anymore.[56] This will be an evolutionary process taking place over time, Intel acknowledges that multiple brands will be in the market including older ones throughout the transition.[56]
[edit]IT Manager 3: Unseen Forces
IT Manager III: Unseen Forces is a web-based IT simulation game from Intel. In it you manage a company's IT department. The goal is to apply technology and skill to enable the company to grow from a small business into a global enterprise.
[edit]Open source support

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Intel has a significant participation in the open source communities. For example, in 2006 Intel released MIT-licensed X.org drivers for their integrated graphic cards of the i965 family of chipsets. Intel released FreeBSD drivers for some networking cards,[57] available under a BSD-compatible license, which were also ported to OpenBSD. Intel ran the Moblin project until April 23, 2009, when they handed the project over to the Linux Foundation. Intel also runs the LessWatts.org campaigns.[58]
However, after the release of the wireless products called Intel Pro/Wireless 2100, 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG and 3945ABG in 2005, Intel was criticized for not granting free redistribution rights for the firmwares that are necessary to be included in the operating systems for the wireless devices to operate.[59] As a result of this, Intel became a target of campaigns to allow free operating systems to include binary firmware on terms acceptable to the open source community. Linspire-Linux creator Michael Robertson outlined the difficult position that Intel was in releasing to open source, as Intel did not want to upset their large customer Microsoft.[60] Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD also claimed that Intel is being "an Open Source fraud" after an Intel employee presented a distorted view of the situation on an open-source conference.[61] In spite of the significant negative attention Intel received as a result of the wireless dealings, the binary firmware still has not gained a license compatible with free software principles.
[edit]Environmental record
In 2003, there were 1.4 tons of carbon tetrachloride measured from one of Intel's many acid scrubbers. However, Intel reported no release of carbon tetrachloride for all of 2003.[62] Intel's facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico overlooks a nearby village, and the hilly contours of its location create a setting for chemical gases heavier than air to move along arroyos and irrigation ditches in that village. Release of chemicals in such an environment reportedly caused adverse effects in both animals and humans. Deceased dogs in the area were found to have high levels of toluene, hexane, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers in lungs.[63] More than 1580 pounds of VOC were released in June and July 2006, the company stated.[64]
[edit]Religious controversy
Ultra-orthodox Jews have protested Intel operating in Israel on Saturday, the Sabbath. Intel was forced to ring its office in barbed wire from protection against possible violent religous extremists.[65]
[edit]Age discrimination
Intel has faced complaints of age discrimination in firing and layoffs. Intel was sued by nine former employees, over allegations that they were laid off because they were over the age of 40.[66]
A group called FACE Intel (Former and Current Employees of Intel) claims that Intel weeds out older employees. FACE Intel claims that more than 90 percent of people who have been terminated by Intel are over the age of 40. Upside magazine requested data from Intel breaking out its hiring and terminations by age, but the company declined to provide any.[67] Intel has denied that age plays any role in Intel's employment practices.[68] FACE Intel was founded by Ken Hamidi, who was terminated by Intel in 1995 at the age of 47.[67] Hamidi was blocked in a 1999 court decision from using Intel's email system to distribute criticism of the company to employees.[69]
[edit]Competition

Further information: Semiconductor sales leaders by year
In the 1980s, Intel was among the top ten sellers of semiconductors (10th in 1987) in the world. In 1991, Intel became the biggest chip maker by revenue and has held the position ever since. Other top semiconductor companies include AMD, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics.
Competitors in PC chip sets include VIA Technologies, SiS, and Nvidia. Intel's competitors in networking include Freescale, Infineon, Broadcom, Marvell Technology Group and AMCC, and competitors in flash memory include Spansion, Samsung, Qimonda, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, and Hynix.
The only major competitor in the x86 processor market is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), with which Intel has had full cross-licensing agreements since 1976: each partner can use the other's patented technological innovations without charge after a certain time.[70] However, the cross-licensing agreement is canceled in the event of an AMD bankruptcy or takeover.[71] Some smaller competitors such as VIA and Transmeta produce low-power x86 processors for small factor computers and portable equipment.
[edit]Lawsuits
Intel has often been accused by competitors of using legal claims to thwart competition. Intel claims that it is defending its intellectual property. Intel has been plaintiff and defendant in numerous legal actions.
In September 2005, Intel filed a response to an AMD lawsuit,[72] disputing AMD's claims, and claiming that Intel's business practices are fair and lawful. In a rebuttal, Intel deconstructed AMD's offensive strategy and argued that AMD struggled largely as a result of its own bad business decisions, including underinvestment in essential manufacturing capacity and excessive reliance on contracting out chip foundries.[73] Legal analysts predict the lawsuit will most drag for a number of years, since Intel's response indicates that Intel is not likely to settle the dispute with AMD.[74][75] A court date has been granted in 2010.[76]
In October 2006, a Transmeta lawsuit was filed against Intel for patent infringement on computer architecture and power efficiency technologies.[77] The lawsuit was settled in October 2007, with Intel agreeing to pay USD 150 million initially and USD 20 million per year for the next five years. Both companies agreed to drop lawsuits against each other, while Intel was granted a perpetual non-exclusive license to use current and future patented Transmeta technologies in its chips for 10 years.[78]
On November 4, 2009, New York's attorney general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp, claiming the company used "illegal threats and collusion" to dominate the market for computer microprocessors.
On 12th November, Intel and AMD announced a truce for 5 years by Intel paying AMD $1.25 Billion in exchange for it to drop the antitrust suit AMD brought against Intel five years ago[79]. In a joint statement, the two chip makers said this, "While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development." [80] [81]
[edit]Anti-competitive allegations by regulatory bodies
See also: AMD v. Intel
[edit]Japan
In 2005, the local Fair Trade Commission found that Intel violated the Japanese Antimonopoly Act. The commission ordered Intel to eliminate discounts that had discriminated against AMD. To avoid a trial, Intel agreed to comply with the order.[82][83][84][85]
[edit]European Union
In July 2007, the European Commission accused Intel of anti-competitive practices, mostly against AMD.[86] The allegations, going back to 2003, include giving preferential prices to computer makers buying most or all of their chips from Intel, paying computer makers to delay or cancel the launch of products using AMD chips, and providing chips at below standard cost to governments and educational institutions.[87] Intel responded that the allegations were unfounded and instead qualified its market behavior as consumer-friendly.[88] General counsel Bruce Sewell responded that the Commission had misunderstood some factual assumptions as to pricing and manufacturing costs.[89]
In February 2008, Intel stated that its office in Munich had been raided by European Union regulators. Intel reported that it was cooperating with investigators.[90] Intel faced a fine of up to 10% of its annual revenue, if found guilty of stifling competition.[88] AMD subsequently launched a website promoting these allegations.[91][92] In June 2008, the EU filed new charges against Intel.[93] In May 2009, the EU found that Intel had engaged in anti-competitive practices and subsequently fined Intel €1.06 billion ($1.44 billion), a record amount. Intel was found to have paid companies, including Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC,[94] to exclusively use Intel chips in their products, and therefore harmed other companies including AMD.[94][95][96] The European Commission said that Intel had deliberately acted to keep competitors out of the computer chip market and in doing so had made a "serious and sustained violation of the EU's antitrust rules".[94] In addition to the fine, Intel was ordered by the Commission to immediately cease all illegal practices.[94] Intel has stated that they will appeal against the Commission's verdict.[94]
[edit]South Korea
In September 2007, South Korean regulators accused Intel of breaking antitrust law. The investigation began in February 2006, when officials raided Intel's South Korean offices. The company risked a penalty of up to 3% of its annual sales, if found guilty.[97] In June 2008, the Fair Trade Commission ordered Intel to pay a fine of $25.5 million for taking advantage of its dominant position to offer incentives to major Korean PC manufacturers on the condition of not buying products from AMD.[98]
[edit]United States
New York started an investigation of Intel in January 2008 on whether the company violated antitrust laws in pricing and sales of its microprocessors.[99] In June 2008, the Federal Trade Commission also began an antitrust investigation of the case.[100]

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Bethlehem

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Bethlehem (Arabic: بَيْتِ لَحْمٍ‎, Bayt Laḥm (help·info), lit "House of Meat"; Greek: Βηθλεέμ Bethleém; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם‎, Beit Lehem, lit "House of Bread") is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, approximately 10 kilometers (6 mi) south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism.[4][5] Bethlehem is believed by most Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. The town is inhabited by one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, though the size of the community has shrunk in recent years due to emigration.

The city is the birthplace of David and the location where he was crowned as the king of Israel. The city was sacked by the Samaritans in 529 CE, during their revolt, but was rebuilt by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Bethlehem was conquered by the Arab Caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb in 637, who guaranteed safety for the city's religious shrines. In 1099, Crusaders captured and fortified Bethlehem and replaced its Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one. The Latin clergy were expelled after the city was captured by Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria. With the coming of the Mamluks in 1250, the city's walls were demolished, and were subsequently rebuilt during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.[6]

The British wrested control of the city from the Ottomans during World War I and it was to be included in an international zone under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. Jordan annexed the city in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Since 1995, Bethlehem has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority.[6]

Bethlehem has a Muslim majority, but is also home to one of the largest Palestinian Christian communities. The Bethlehem agglomeration includes the towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, as well as the refugee camps of 'Aida and Azza. Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism which peaks during the Christmas season when Christian pilgrims throng to the Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem has over thirty hotels and three hundred handicraft work shops.[7] Rachel's Tomb, an important Jewish holy site, is located at the entrance of Bethlehem.

[edit] History
The first historical reference to the town appears in the Amarna Letters (C. 1400 BC) when the King of Jerusalem appeals to his Lord, the King of Egypt, for help in retaking "Bit-Lahmi" in the wake of disturbances by the Apiru.[8] Since the Jews and Arabs had not yet arrived in the area it is thought that the similarity of this name to its modern forms inidicates that this was a settlement of Canaanites who shared a Semitic cultural and linguistic heritage with the later arrivals.[9]

[edit] Biblical era
Bethlehem, located in the "hill country" of Judah, may be the same as the Biblical Ephrath,[10] which means "fertile": There is a possible reference to it as Beth-Lehem Ephratah.[11] It is also known as Beth-Lehem Judah,[12] and "the city of David".[13] It is first mentioned in the Tanakh and the Bible as the place where the Abrahamic matriarch Rachel died and was buried "by the wayside" (Gen. 48:7). Rachel's Tomb, the traditional grave site, stands at the entrance to Bethlehem. According to the Book of Ruth, the valley to the east is where Ruth of Moab gleaned the fields and returned to town with Naomi. Bethlehem is the traditional birthplace of David, the second king of Israel, and the place where he was anointed king by Samuel.[14] It was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his warriors brought him water when he was hiding in the cave of Adullam.[15]

[edit] Roman and Byzantine periods

View of Church of the Nativity in 1833, painting by M.N.VorobievBetween 132-135 the city was occupied by the Romans after its capture during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Its Jewish residents were expelled by the military orders of Hadrian.[16] While ruling Bethlehem, the Romans built a shrine to the mythical Greek cult figure Adonis on the site of the Nativity. A church was erected in 326, when Helena, the mother of the first Byzantine emperor Constantine, visited Bethlehem.[6]

During the Samaritan revolt of 529, Bethlehem was sacked and its walls and the Church of the Nativity destroyed, but they were soon rebuilt on the orders of the Emperor Justinian I. In 614, the Persian Sassanid Empire invaded Palestine and captured Bethlehem. A story recounted in later sources holds that they refrained from destroying the church on seeing the magi depicted in Persian clothing in a mosaic.[6]

[edit] Birthplace of Jesus
Further information: Church of the Nativity and Nativity of Jesus

Silver star marking the place where Jesus was born according to Christian traditionTwo accounts in the New Testament describe Jesus as born in Bethlehem. According to the Gospel of Luke,[13] Jesus' parents lived in Nazareth but traveled to Bethlehem for the census of CE 6, and Jesus was born there before the family returned to Nazareth.

The Gospel of Matthew account implies that the family already lived in Bethlehem when Jesus was born, and later moved to Nazareth.[17][18] Matthew reports that Herod the Great, told that a 'King of the Jews' has been born in Bethlehem, ordered the killing of all the children aged two and under in the town and surrounding areas. Jesus' earthly father Joseph is warned of this in a dream, and the family escapes this fate by fleeing to Egypt and returning only after Herod has died. But being warned in another dream not to return to Judea, Joseph withdraws the family to Galilee, and goes to live in Nazareth

Early Christians interpreted a verse in the Book of Micah[19] as a prophecy of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem.[20] Many modern scholars question whether Jesus was really born in Bethlehem, and suggest that the different Gospel accounts were invented to present the birth of Jesus as fulfillment of prophecy and imply a connection to the lineage of King David.[21][22][23][24] The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John do not include a nativity narrative or any hint that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and refer to him only as being from Nazareth.[25] In a 2005 article in Archaeology magazine, archaeologist Aviram Oshri pointed to the absence of evidence of settlement of the area at the time when Jesus was born,[26]

The antiquity of the tradition of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem is attested by the Christian apologist Justin Martyr, who stated in his Dialogue with Trypho (c. 155-161) that the Holy Family had taken refuge in a cave outside of the town.[27] Origen of Alexandria, writing around the year 247, referred to a cave in the town of Bethlehem which local people believed was the birthplace of Jesus.[28] This cave was possibly one which had previously been a site of the cult of Tammuz.[29]

[edit] Islamic rule and the Crusades

The Mosque of Omar (Umar) was built in 1860 to commemorate the Caliph Umar's visit to Bethlehem upon its capture by the Muslims. It is Bethlehem's only mosqueIn 637, shortly after Jerusalem was captured by the Muslim armies, 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb, the second Caliph visited Bethlehem and promised that the Church of the Nativity would be preserved for Christian use.[6] A mosque dedicated to Umar was built upon the place in the city where he prayed, next to the church.[30] Bethlehem then passed from the control of the Islamic caliphates of the Ummayads in the 8th century, then the Abbasids in the 9th century. Persian geographer recorded in the mid-9th century that a well preserved and much venerated church existed in the town. In 985, Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi visited Bethlehem, and referred to its church as the "Basilica of Constantine, the equal of which does not exist anywhere in the country-round."[31] In 1009, during the reign of the sixth Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the Church of the Nativity was ordered to be demolished, but was spared by local Muslims, because they had been permitted to worship in the structure's south transept.[32]

In 1099, Bethlehem was captured by the Crusaders, who fortified it and built a new monastery and cloister on the north side of the Church of the Nativity. The Greek Orthodox clergy were removed from their Sees and replaced with Latin clerics. Up until that point the official Christian presence in the region was Greek Orthodox. On Christmas Day 1100 Baldwin I, first king of the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem, was crowned in Bethlehem, and that year a Latin episcopate was also established in the town.[6]

A painting of Bethlehem, 1882In 1187, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria who led the Muslim Ayyubids, captured Bethlehem from the Crusaders. The Latin clerics were forced to leave, allowing the Greek Orthodox clergy to return. Saladin agreed to the return of two Latin priests and two deacons in 1192. However, Bethlehem suffered from the loss of the pilgrim trade, as there was a sharp decrease of European pilgrims.[6]

William IV, Count of Nevers had promised the Christian bishops of Bethlehem that if Bethlehem should fall under Muslim control, he would welcome them in the small town of Clamecy in present-day Burgundy, France. As such, The Bishop of Bethlehem duly took up residence in the hospital of Panthenor, Clamecy in 1223. Clamecy remained the continuous 'in partibus infidelium' seat of the Bishopric of Bethlehem for almost 600 years, until the French Revolution in 1789.[33]

Bethlehem — along with Jerusalem, Nazareth and Sidon — was briefly ceded to the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem by a treaty between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Ayyubid Sultan al-Kamil in 1229, in return for a ten-year truce between the Ayyubids and the Crusaders. The treaty expired in 1239 and Bethlehem was recaptured by the Muslims in 1244.[34]

In 1250, with the coming to power of the Mamluks under Rukn al-Din Baibars, tolerance of Christianity declined; the clergies left the city, and in 1263 the town walls were demolished. The Latin clergy returned to Bethlehem the following century, establishing themselves in the monastery adjoining the Basilica of the Nativity. The Greek Orthodox were given control of the basilica and shared control of the Milk Grotto with the Latins and the Armenians.[6]

[edit] Ottoman and Egyptian era

A crowded street in Bethlehem, 1880
View of Bethlehem, 1898From 1517, during the years of Ottoman control, custody of the Basilica was bitterly disputed between the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.[6] By the end of the 16th century, Bethelem had become one of the largest villages in the District of Jerusalem, and was subdivided into seven quarters.[35] The Basbus family served as the heads of Bethlehem among other leaders during this period.[36]

Bethlehem paid taxes on wheat, barley, and grapes. The Muslims and Christians were organized into separate communities, each having its own leader; five leaders represented the village in the mid-16th century, three of whom were Muslims. Ottoman tax records suggest that the Christian population was slightly more prosperous or grew more grain as opposed to grapes, the former being a more valuable commodity.[37]

From 1831 to 1841, Palestine was under the rule Muhammad Ali Dynasty of Egypt. During this period, the town suffered an earthquake as well as the destruction of the Muslim quarter in 1834 by Egyptian troops, apparently as a reprisal for the murder of a favored loyalist of Ibrahim Pasha.[38] In 1841, Bethlehem came under Ottoman rule once more and remained so until the end of the World War I. Under the Ottomans, Bethlehem's inhabitants faced unemployment, compulsory military service and heavy taxes, resulting in mass emigration particularly to South America.[6] An American missionary in the 1850s reports an population of under 4,000, 'nearly all of them belong to the Greek Church.' He also comments that 'there is a fatal lack of water' and hence it could never become a large town.[39]

[edit] Twentieth century
Bethlehem was administered by the British Mandate from 1920 until 1948.[40] In the United Nations General Assembly's 1947 resolution to partition Palestine, Bethlehem was included in the special international enclave of Jerusalem to be administered by the United Nations.[41]

Jordan annexed the city during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[42] Many refugees from areas captured by Israeli forces in 1947-48 fled to the Bethlehem area, primarily settling in the what became the official refugee camps of 'Azza (Beit Jibrin) and 'Aida in the north and Dheisheh in the south.[43] The influx of refugees significantly transformed Bethlehem's Christian majority into a Muslim one.[44]

Israeli Soldiers in Bethlehem, 1978.Jordan retained control of the city until the Six-Day War in 1967, when Bethlehem was occupied by Israel, along with the rest of the West Bank. On December 21, 1995, Israeli troops withdrew from Bethlehem,[45] and three days later the city came under the complete administration and military control of the Palestinian National Authority in conformance with the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1995.[46]

[edit] Second Intifada

Marks of IDF bullets can be seen in the upper left corner where the siege took placeDuring the Second Palestinian Intifada, which began in 2000-01, Bethlehem's infrastructure and tourism industry were severely damaged.[47][48] In 2002, it was a primary combat zone in Operation Defensive Shield, a major military offensive by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).[49]

During the operation, the IDF besieged the Church of the Nativity, where about 200 Palestinians, including a group of militants, sought refuge amid IDF advancements into the city. The siege lasted for 39 days and nine militants and the church's bellringer were killed. It ended with an agreement to exile thirteen of the wanted militants to various European nations and Mauritania. Pope John Paul II condemned Israel's actions, describing them as reaching "unimaginable and intolerable" levels and the United Kingdom's foreign ministry stated they were "totally unacceptable".[49]

[edit] Geography

A map indicating Bethlehem's locationBethlehem is located at 31°43′0″N 35°12′0″E / 31.716667°N 35.2°E / 31.716667; 35.2 Bethlehem stands at an elevation of about 775 meters (2,543 ft) above sea level, 30 meters (98 ft) higher than nearby Jerusalem.[50] Bethlehem is situated on the southern portion in the Judean Mountains.

The city is located 73 kilometers (45 mi) northeast of Gaza and the Mediterranean Sea, 75 kilometers (47 mi) west of Amman, Jordan, 59 kilometers (37 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel and 10 kilometers (6 mi) south of Jerusalem.[51] Nearby cities and towns include Beit Safafa and Jerusalem to the north, Beit Jala to the northwest, Husan to the west, al-Khadr and Artas to the southwest, and Beit Sahour to the east. Beit Jala and the latter form an agglomeration with Bethlehem and the Aida and Azza refugee camps are located within the city limits.[52]

[edit] Old city
In the center of Bethlehem, is its old city. The old city consists of eight quarters, laid out in a mosaic style, forming the area around the Manger Square. The quarters include the Christian al-Najajreh, al-Farahiyeh, al-Anatreh, al-Tarajmeh, al-Qawawsa and Hreizat quarters and al-Fawaghreh — the only Muslim quarter.[53] Most of the Christian quarters are named after the Arab Ghassanid clans that settled there.[54] Al-Qawawsa Quarter was formed by Arab Christian emigrants from the nearby town of Tuqu' in the 18th century.[55] There is also a Syriac quarter outside of the old city,[53] whose inhabitants originate from Midyat in Turkey.[56] The total population of the old city is about 5,000.[53]

[edit] Climate
Bethlehem has a Mediterranean climate, with hot and dry summers and cold winters. Temperatures in the winter season, from mid-December to mid-March, could be cold and rainy. January is the coldest month, with temperatures ranging from 1 to 13 degree Celsius (33–55 °F). From May through September, the weather is warm and sunny. August is the hottest month, with a high of 27 degrees Celsius (81 °F). Bethlehem receives an average of 700 millimeters (27.6 in) of rainfall annually, 70% between November and January.[57]

Bethlehem's average annual relative humidity is 60% and reaches its highest rates between January and February. Humidity levels are at their lowest in May. Night dew may occur in up to 180 days per year. The city is influenced by the Mediterranean Sea breeze that occurs around mid-day. However, Bethlehem is affected also by annual waves of hot, dry, sandy and dust Khamaseen winds that originate from the Arabian Desert, during April, May and mid-June.[57]

[edit] Demographics
[edit] Population
Year Population
1867 3,000-4,000[58]
1945 8,820[59]
1961 22,450
1983 16,300[60]
1997 21,930[61]
2004 (Projected) 28,010[1]
2006 (Projected) 29,930[1]
2007 25,266[61]
In the PCBS's 1997 census, the city had a population of 21,670, including a total of 6,570 refugees, accounting for 30.3% of the city's population.[61][62] In 1997, the age distribution of Bethlehem's inhabitants was 27.4% under the age of 10, 20% from 10 to 19, 17.3% from 20-29, 17.7% from 30 to 44, 12.1% from 45-64 and 5.3% above the age of 65. There were 11,079 males and 10,594 females.[61]

According to a PCBS estimate, Bethlehem had a population of 29,930 in mid-year 2006.[1] The 2007 PCBS census, however, revealed a population of 25,266, of which 12,753 were males and 12,513 were females. There were 6,709 housing units, of which 5,211 were households. The average household consisted of 4.8 family members.[2]

According to Ottoman tax records, Christians made up roughly 60% of the population in the early 16th century, while the Christian and Muslim population became equal in the mid-16th century. There were no Muslim inhabitants by the end of the century, with a recorded population of 287 adult male tax-payers. Christians, like all non-Muslims throughout the Ottoman Empire, were required to pay the jizya tax.[35] In 1867 an American visitor describes the town as having a population of 3,000 to 4,000; of whom about 100 were Protestants, 300 were Muslims and "the remainder belonging to the Latin and Greek Churches with a few Armenians".[58]

In 1948, the religious makeup of the city was 85% Christian, mostly of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic denominations,[63] and 13% Sunni Muslim. By 2005, the proportion of Christian residents had decreased dramatically, to about 20%.[64] The only mosque in the Old City is the Mosque of Omar, located in the Manger Square.[30]

[edit] Christian population
See also: Palestinian Christian

Four Bethlehem Christian women, 1911The majority of Bethlehem's Christian inhabitants claim ancestry from Arab Christian clans from the Arabian Peninsula, including the city's two largest: al-Farahiyya and an-Najajreh. The former claims to have descended from the Ghassanids who migrated from Yemen to the Wadi Musa area in present-day Jordan and an-Najajreh descend from the Arabs of Najran in the southern Hejaz. Another Bethlehem clan, al-Anantreh, also trace their ancestry to the Arabian Peninsula.[65]

The percentage of Christians in Bethlehem has been steadily falling, primarily due to continuous emigration. The lower birth rate among Christians as compared to Muslims also accounts for some of the decline. In 1947, Christians made up 75% of the population, but by 1998 this figure had declined to 23%.[63] The current mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh told the Voice of America that, "due to the stress, either physical or psychological, and the bad economic situation, many people are emigrating, either Christians or Muslims, but it is more apparent among Christians, because they already are a minority."[66]

Palestinian Authority rule following the Interim Agreements is officially committed to equality for Bethlehem area Christians, although there have been a few incidents of violence against them by the Preventive Security Service and militant factions.[67]

The outbreak of the Second Intifada and the resultant decrease in tourism has also affected the Christian minority, leaving many economically stricken as they are the owners of many Bethlehem hotels and services which cater to foreign tourists.[68] A statistical analysis of why Christians are leaving the area blamed the lack of economic and educational opportunities, especially due to the Christians' middle-class status and higher education.[69] Since the Second Intifada, 10% of the Christian population have left the city.[66]

A 2006 poll of Bethlehem's Christians conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Research and Cultural Dialogue, found that 90% reported having Muslim friends, 73.3% agreed that the Palestinian National Authority treats Christian heritage in the city with respect and 78% attributed the ongoing exodus of Christians from Bethlehem to the Israeli travel restrictions in the area.[70]

The Hamas government's official position has been to support the city's Christian population, though the party at times has been criticized by some anonymous residents for increasing the Islamic presence in the city by, for example, activating the call to prayer at a previously unused local mosque in a Christian neighborhood. According to the Jerusalem Post, under Hamas, the Christian population faces a lack of law and order which has left it susceptible to land theft by local mafia who take advantage of ineffective courts and the perception that the Christian population is less likely to stand up for itself.[71][72][73]

[edit] Economy

Central Bethlehem[edit] Shopping and industry
Shopping is a major sector in Bethlehem, especially during the Christmas season. The city's main streets and old markets are lined with shops selling handicrafts, Middle Eastern spices, jewelry and oriental sweets such as baklawa.[74]

The tradition of making handicrafts in the city dates back to its founding. Numerous shops in Bethlehem sell olive wood carvings — for which the city is renowned — made from the local olive groves.[75] The carvings are the main product purchased by tourists visiting Bethlehem.[76] Religious handicrafts are also a major industry in Bethlehem, and some products include ornaments handmade from mother-of-pearl, as well as olive wood statues, boxes, and crosses.[75] The art of creating mother-of-pearl handicrafts was introduced to Bethlehem by Franciscan friars from Damascus during the 14th century.[76] Stone and marble-cutting, textiles, furniture and furnishings are other prevalent industries. Bethlehem also produces paints, plastics, synthetic rubber, pharmaceuticals, construction materials and food products, mainly pasta and confectionery.[77]

Bethlehem has a wine-producing company, Cremisan Wine, founded in 1885, that currently exports wine to several countries. The wine is produced by monks in the Monastery of Cremisan, and the majority of the grapes are harvested from the al-Khader area. The monastery's wine production is around 700,000 liters per year.[78]

[edit] Tourism

The Church of the NativityTourism is Bethlehem's primary industry and unlike other Palestinian localities before 2000, the majority of the working residents did not work in Israel.[47] Over 25% of the working population was employed directly or indirectly in the industry.[77] Tourism accounts for approximately 65% of the city's economy and 11% of the Palestinian National Authority.[79]

The Church of the Nativity is one of Bethlehem's major tourist attractions and a magnet for Christian pilgrims. It stands in the center of the city — a part of the Manger Square — over a grotto or cave called the Holy Crypt, where Jesus was born. Nearby is the Milk Grotto where the Holy Family took refuge on their Flight to Egypt and next door is the cave where St. Jerome spent thirty years translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Latin.[6]

There are over thirty hotels in Bethlehem.[7] Jacir Palace, built in 1910 near the church, is one of Bethlehem's most successful hotels and its oldest. It was closed down in 2000 due to the violence of the Second Intifada, but reopened in 2005.[80]

[edit] Economic conference
Bethlehem hosted the largest ever economic conference in the Palestinian territories on May 21, 2008. It was initiated by Palestinian Prime Minister and former Finance Minister Salam Fayyad to convince over 1,000 businessmen, bankers and government officials from throughout the Middle East to invest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, although Fayyad admitted the territories were "far from the perfect business environment", being directly linked with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nonetheless, 1.4 billion US dollars was secured for business investments in the Palestinian territories.[81]

[edit] Culture
[edit] Embroidery
See also: Palestinian costumes

A woman in Bethlehem. Her headdress and short jacket are typical of the Bethlehem area.Before the establishment of Israel as a state, Bethlehem costumes and embroidery were popular in villages throughout the Judaean Hills and the coastal plain. The women embroiderers of Bethlehem and the neighboring villages of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour were known to be professional producers of wedding costumes.[82] Bethlehem was a center for embroidery producing a "strong overall effect of colors and metallic brilliance."[83]

Less formal dresses in Bethlehem were generally made of indigo fabric and a sleeveless coat (bisht), made from locally woven wool, was worn over top. Dresses for special occasions were made of striped silk with winged sleeves and the short taqsireh jacket, known throughout Palestinian as the Bethlehem jacket, was worn over it. The taqsireh was made of velvet or broadcloth, usually with heavy embroidery.[82]

Bethlehem work was unique in its use of couched gold or silver cord, or silk cord onto the silk, wool, felt or velvet used for the garment, to create stylized floral patterns with free or rounded lines. This technique was used for "royal" wedding dresses (thob malak), taqsirehs and the shatwehs worn by married women. It has been traced by some to Byzantium, and by others to the more formal costumes of the Ottoman Empire's elite. As Bethlehem was a Christian village, local women were also exposed to the detailing on church vestments with their heavy embroidery and silver brocade.[82]

[edit] Mother-of-Pearl carving

Craftsmen working with mother-of-pearl, early 20th centuryMain article: Mother-of-Pearl carving in Bethlehem
The art of mother-of-pearl carving has been a Bethlehem tradition since the 14th century when it was introduced to the city by Franciscan friars from Damascus.[84] Bethlehem's position as an important Christian city has for centuries attracted a constant stream of pilgrims. This generated much local work and income, also for women, including making mother-of-pearl souvenirs.[85] It was noted by Richard Pococke, who travelled there in 1727.[86]

Present day products include crosses, earrings, brooches,[84] maps of Palestine,[87] and picture frames.[88]

[edit] Cultural centers and museums

Catholic procession on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, 2006Bethlehem is home to the Palestinian Heritage Center, established in 1991. The center aims to preserve and promote Palestinian embroidery, art and folklore.[89] The International Center of Bethlehem is another cultural center that concentrates primarily on the culture of Bethlehem. It provides language and guide training, woman's studies and arts and crafts displays, and training.[5]

A branch of the the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is located in Bethlehem and has about 500 students. Its primary goals are to teach children music, train teachers for other schools, sponsor music research, and the study of Palestinian folklore music.[90]

Bethlehem has four museums located within its municipal borders. The Crib of the Nativity Theatre and Museum offers visitors 31 3D models depicting the significant stages of the life of Jesus. Its theater presents a 20-minute animated show. The Badd Giacaman Museum, located in the Old City of Bethlehem, dates back to the 18th century and is primarily dedicated to the history and process of olive oil production.[5]

Baituna al-Talhami Museum, established in 1972, contains displays of the culture of Bethlehem's inhabitants.[5] The International Museum of Nativity was designed by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the purpose of showing works of "high artistic quality in an evocative atmosphere".[5]

[edit] Festivals

Christmas pilgrims, 1890Christmas rites are held in Bethlehem on three different dates: December 25 is the traditional date by the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations, but Greek, Coptic and Syrian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 6 and Armenian Orthodox Christians on January 19. Most Christmas processions pass through Manger Square, the plaza outside the Basilica of the Nativity. Catholic services take place in St. Catherine's Church and Protestants often hold services at Shepherds' Fields.[91]

Bethlehem, like other Palestinian localities, participates in festivals related to saints and prophets that are attached to Palestinian folklore. One such festival is the annual Feast of Saint George (al-Khadr) on 5 May-6 May. During the celebrations, Greek Orthodox Christians from the city march in procession to the nearby town of al-Khader to baptize newborns in the waters around the Monastery of St. George and sacrifice a sheep in ritual.[92]

The Feast of St. Elijah (Mar Elias) is held in a similar way, except the procession is towards the Monastery of St. Elijah to the north of Bethlehem. The feast commemorates the miracles attributed to the saint, a popular figure in Palestine. Prior, to restrictions imposed on the residents by Israel, local Christians used to visit the monastery, bringing various gifts, such as bread, olive oil and candles. The candles would be lit and the oil would be placed in front of icons in the church, while the bread was handed to the monks.[93]

[edit] Government

A Hamas rally in BethlehemBethlehem is the muhfaza (seat) or district capital of the Bethlehem Governorate.

Bethlehem held its first municipal elections in 1876, after the mukhtars ("heads") of the quarters of Bethlehem's Old City (excluding the Syriac Quarter) made the decision to elect a local council of seven members to represent each clan in the town. A Basic Law was established so that if the victor for mayor was a Catholic, his deputy should be of the Greek Orthodox community.[94]

Throughout, Bethlehem's rule by the British and Jordan, the Syriac Quarter was allowed to participate in the election, as were the Ta'amrah Bedouins and Palestinian refugees, hence ratifying the amount of municipal members in the council to eleven. In 1976, an amendment was passed to allow women to vote and become council members and later the voting age was increased from 21 to 25.[94]

Today, the Bethlehem Municipal Council consists of fifteen elected members, including the mayor and deputy mayor. A special statute requires that the mayor and a majority of the municipal council be Christian, while the remainder are open seats, not restricted to any religion.[68]

There are several branches of political parties on the council, including Communist, Islamist, and secular. The leftist factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian People's Party (PPP) usually dominate the reserved seats. Hamas gained the majority of the open seats in the 2005 Palestinian municipal elections.[95]

A poster of candidates representing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in BethlehemElected Candidates of the Bethlehem municipal elections of 2005

Rank List Candidate name Religion
1 Brotherhood & Development (PFLP) Victor Batarseh †
2 United Bethlehem (Fatah and PPP) Antun Salman †
3 Reform (Hamas) Hasan al-Masalma ☪
4 United Bethlehem (Fatah and PPP) Afram Asmari †
5 Wafaa (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) Isa Zawahara ☪
6 United Bethlehem (Fatah and PPP) Khalil Chawka ☪
7 Reform (Hamas) Khalid Jadu ☪
8 Hope & Labour (Fatah) Zughbi Zughbi †
9 Reform (Hamas) Nabil al-Hraymi ☪
10 Reform (Hamas) Salih Chawka ☪
11 Reform (Hamas) Yusuf al-Natsha ☪
12 Brotherhood & Development (PFLP) Nina 'Atwan †
13 Brotherhood & Development (PFLP) George Sa'ada †
14 Independent Nadir al-Saqa †
15 United Bethlehem (Fatah and PPP) Duha al-Bandak †

[edit] Mayors
The mayor and the deputy mayor of Bethlehem are required by municipal law to be Christian.[68]

Mikhail Abu Saadeh - 1876
Khalil Yaqub - 1880
Suleiman Jacir - 1884
Issa Abdullah Marcus - 1888
Yaqub Khalil Elias - 1892
Hanna Mansur - 1895-1915
Salim Issa al-Batarseh - 1916-17
Salah Giries Jaqaman - 1917-21
Musa Qattan - 1921-25
Hanna Ibrahim Miladah - 1926-28
Nicoloa Attalah Shain - 1929-33
Hanna Issa al-Qawwas - 1936-46
Issa Basil Bandak - 1946-51
Elias Bandak - 1951-53
Afif Salm Batarseh - 1952-53
Elias Bandak - 1953-57
Ayyub Musallam - 1958-62
Elias Bandak - 1963-72
Elias Freij - 1972-97
Hanna Nasser - 1997-2005
Victor Batarseh (current) - 2005-[96][97]

[edit] Education
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in 1997, approximately 84% of Bethlehem's population over the age of 10 was literate. Of the city's population, 10,414 were enrolled in schools (4,015 in primary school, 3,578 in secondary and 2,821 in high school). About 14.1% of high school students received diplomas.[98] There were 135 schools in the Bethlehem Governorate in 2006; 100 run the Education Ministry of the Palestinian National Authority, seven by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and 28 were private.[99]

Bethlehem is home to Bethlehem University, a Catholic Christian co-educational institution of higher learning founded in 1973 in the Lasallian tradition, open to students of all faiths. Bethlehem University is the first university established in the West Bank, and can trace its roots to 1893 when the De La Salle Christian Brothers opened schools throughout Palestine and Egypt.[100]

[edit] Transportation

A street in Bethlehem lined with taxis[edit] Services
Bethlehem has three bus stations owned by private companies which offer service to Jerusalem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Hebron, Nahalin, Battir, al-Khader, al-Ubeidiya and Beit Fajjar. There are two taxi stations that make trips to Beit Sahour, Beit Jala, Jerusalem, Tuqu' and Herodium. There are also two car rental departments: Murad and 'Orabi. Buses and taxis with West Bank licenses are not allowed to enter Israel, including Jerusalem, without a permit.[101]

[edit] Movement restrictions

Main entrance into Bethlehem from Jerusalem, 2005The Israeli construction of the West Bank barrier has had an impact on Bethlehem politically, socially, and economically. The barrier runs along the northern side of the town's built-up area, within meters of houses in 'Aida refugee camp on one side, and the Jerusalem municipality on the other.[47]

Most entrances and exits from the Bethlehem agglomeration to the rest of the West Bank are currently subject to Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks. The level of access varies based on Israeli security directives. Travel for Bethlehem's Palestinian residents from the West Bank into Israeli-annexed Jerusalem is regulated by a permit-system.[102] Acquiring such permits to enter, what in the past served in many ways as an urban anchor to Bethlehem, has become exceedingly rare since the onset of the violence surrounding the Second Intifada, though Israel has subsequently erected a terminal to ease transit between the two adjoining cities.[47][103]

Palestinians are not allowed to enter the Jewish holy site of Rachel's Tomb, which is on the outskirts of the city, without a permit. Since Bethlehem and the nearby biblical Solomon's Pools lie in Area A (territory under both PNA military and civil administration), Israeli citizens are barred without a permit from the Israeli military authorities.[47]

Nazareth

2009-11-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Nazareth (pronounced /ˈnæzərəθ/; Hebrew: נָצְרַת‎, Natzrat or Natzeret, Arabic: الناصرة‎ an-Nāṣira or an-Naseriyye) is the capital and largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.[2][3] In the New Testament, the city is described as the childhood home of Jesus, and as such is a center of Christian pilgrimage, with many shrines commemorating biblical associations. The name of the city may be derived from the Hebrew verb na·tsar, נָצַר, "to watch," possibly a reference to a nearby hill with an outstanding view
[edit] Etymology
As Nazareth is never mentioned in any pre-Christian texts, and appears in many different Greek forms in the New Testament, there is much speculation as to the origins of the name.[4]

[edit] Biblical references
"Nazareth" is related to several words (Nazarene, Nazorean, Nazara, Nazaret, Nazarat, Nazarath) found in versions of the Christian New Testament. Of the twelve appearances of the name in the New Testament, ten use the form Nazaret or Nazareth, and two use the form Nazara.[4] Nazara is generally considered the earliest form of the name in Greek, and is found in Matthew 4:13 and Luke 4:16, as well as the putative Q document, which many scholars maintain preceded 70 CE and the formation of the canonical Christian gospels.[4][5] The form Nazareth appears once in the Gospel of Matthew (21:11), four times in the birth chapters of the Gospel of Luke (1:26; 2:4, 39, 51), and once in the Acts of the Apostles (10:38). In the Gospel of Mark, the name appears only once in 1:9 in the form Nazaret.

[edit] Extrabiblical references
The form Nazara is also found in the earliest non-scriptural reference to the town, a citation by Sextus Julius Africanus dated about 200 CE. (See "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below.) The Church Father Origen (c. 185 to 254 CE) knows the forms Nazara and Nazaret.[6] Later, Eusebius in his Onomasticon (translated by St. Jerome) also refers to the settlement as Nazara.[7]

The first non-Christian reference to Nazareth come from an inscription on a marble fragment for a synagogue found in Caesarea Maritima in 1962.[8] This fragment gives the town's name in Hebrew as nun·tsade·resh·tav. The inscription dates as early as c. 300 CE and chronicles the assignment of priests that took place at some time after the Bar Kokhba revolt, 132-35 CE.[9] (See "Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods" below.) An 8th century CE Hebrew inscription, which was the earliest known Hebrew reference to Nazareth prior to the discovery of the inscription above, uses the same form.[4]

[edit] Origin of name
One theory holds that "Nazareth" is derived from the Hebrew noun ne·tser, נֵ֫צֶר, meaning branch.[10] Ne·tser is not the common Hebrew word for "branch," but one understood as a messianic title based on a passage in the Book of Isaiah.[11] The negative references to Nazareth in the Gospel of John suggest that ancient Jews did not connect the town's name to prophecy.[12] Alternatively, the name may derive from the verb na·tsar, נָצַר, "to watch,"[13] possibly a reference to a nearby hill with an outstanding view.[14]

Another theory holds that the Greek form Nazara, used in Matthew and Luke, may derive from an earlier Aramaic form of the name, or from another Semitic language form.[15] If there were a tsade in the original Semitic form, as in the later Hebrew forms, it would normally have been transcribed in Greek with a sigma instead of a zeta.[4] This has led some scholars to question whether "Nazareth" and its cognates in the New Testament actually refer to the settlement we know traditionally as Nazareth in Lower Galilee.[16] Such linguistic discrepancies may be explained, however, "by a peculiarity of the Palestinian Aramaic dialect wherein a sade (ṣ) between two voiced (sonant) consonants tended to be partially assimilated by taking on a zayin (z) sound."[4]

The Arabic name for Nazareth is al-nasira, and Jesus (known as Isa in Arabic) is also called al-nasiri, reflecting the Arab tradition of according people a nisba, a name denoting from whence a person comes in either geographical or tribal terms. In the Koran, Christians are referred to as nasara, meaning "followers of the Nazarene," or "those from Nazareth."[17]

[edit] Geography and population

Map showing the North District of Israel (in Red)Two general locations of Nazareth are attested in the most ancient texts. The Galilean (Northern) location is familiar from the Christian gospels. However, a Southern (Judean) tradition is also attested in several early noncanonical texts.[18]

Modern-day Nazareth is nestled in a natural bowl which reaches from 1,050 feet (320 m) above sea level to the crest of the hills about 1,600 feet (490 m).[19] Nazareth is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) from the Sea of Galilee (17 km as the crow flies) and about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) west from Mount Tabor. The Nazareth Range, in which the town lies, is the southernmost of several parallel east-west hill ranges that characterize the elevated tableau of Lower Galilee.

Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel.[20] Until the beginning of the British Mandate in Palestine (1922-1948), the population was predominantly Arab Christian (majority Greek Orthodox), with an Arab Muslim minority. Nazareth today still has a significant Christian population, made up of Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Coptics, among others. The Muslim population has grown, for a number of historical factors, that include the city having served as administrative center under British rule, and the influx of internally displaced Palestinians absorbed into the city from neighbouring towns following the 1948 Palestine war. Its population remains almost exclusively Palestinian Arab and numbered 58,000 in 2001.[3]

[edit] History
[edit] Earliest history
Archaeological research has revealed a funerary and cult center at Kfar HaHoresh, about two miles (3 km) from Nazareth, dating back roughly 9000 years (to what is known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era).[21] The remains of some 65 individuals were found, buried under huge horizontal headstone structures, some of which consisted of up to 3 tons of locally-produced white plaster. Decorated human skulls uncovered there have led archaeologists to believe that Kfar HaHoresh was a major cult centre in that remote era.[22]

In 1620 the Catholic Church purchased an area in the Nazareth basin measuring approx. 100m x 150m. on the side of the hill known as the Nebi Sa'in. This "Venerated Area" underwent extensive excavation in 1955-65 by the Franciscan priest Belarmino Bagatti, "Director of Christian Archaeology." Fr. Bagatti has been the principal archaeologist at Nazareth. His book, "Excavations in Nazareth" (1969) is still the standard reference for the archaeology of the settlement, and is based on excavations at the Franciscan Venerated Area.

Fr. Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from the Middle Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BC) and ceramics, silos and grinding mills from the Iron Age (1500 to 586 BC). Thus, a substantial settlement existed in the Nazareth basin during those eras. However, lack of archaeological evidence from Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic or Early Roman times, at least in the major excavations between 1955 and 1990, shows that the settlement apparently came to an abrupt end about 720 BC, when many towns in the area were destroyed by the Assyrians.

[edit] New Testament times and associations
According to the Gospel of Luke, Nazareth was the home of Joseph and Mary and the site of the Annunciation (when Mary was told by the Angel Gabriel that she would have Jesus as her son); in the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph and Mary resettle in Nazareth after fleeing to Egypt from their home in Bethlehem.[23] The differences and possible contradictions between these two accounts of the nativity of Jesus are part of the Synoptic Problem. Nazareth is also where Jesus allegedly grew up from some point in his childhood.

However, some modern scholars argue that Nazareth may be, in fact, where Jesus was born,[24] while others argue that Nazareth didn't exist at all. The critical question now under scholarly and polemical (atheist and Christian) debate is when exactly and at what stage in the Roman period Nazareth came into existence, that is, whether settlement there began before or after 70 AD (the First Jewish War).[25]

James Strange, an American archaeologist, notes: “Nazareth is not mentioned in ancient Jewish sources earlier than the third century AD. This likely reflects its lack of prominence both in Galilee and in Judaea.”[26] Strange - supposing the existence of a settlement - originally guessed Nazareth’s population at the time of Christ to be "roughly 1,600 to 2,000 people", but later, in a subsequent publication, at “a maximum of about 480.”[27] Some have argued that the absence of textual references to Nazareth in the Old Testament and the Talmud, as well as the works of Josephus, suggest that a town called 'Nazareth' did not exist in Jesus' day.[28]

Many writers suppose that ancient Nazareth was built on the hillside, since this is the description given by the Gospel of Luke: [And they led Jesus] to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.[29] However, the hill in question (the Nebi Sa'in) is far too steep for ancient dwellings and averages a 14% grade in the venerated area.[30] Historic Nazareth was essentially constructed in the valley; the windy hilltops in the vicinity have only been occupied since the construction of Nazareth Illit in 1957.

The Church of the AnnunciationNoteworthy is that all the post-Iron Age tombs in the Nazareth basin (approximately two dozen) are of the kokh (plural:kokhim) or later types; this type probably first appeared in Galilee in the middle of the first century AD.[31] Kokh tombs in the Nazareth area have been excavated by B. Bagatti, N. Feig, Z. Yavor, and noted by Z. Gal.[32]

Excavations conducted prior to 1931 in the Franciscan venerated area revealed "no trace of a Greek or Roman settlement" there,[33] Fr. Bagatti, who acted as the principal archaeologist for the venerated sites in Nazareth, unearthed quantities of later Roman and Byzantine artifacts,[34] attesting to unambiguous human presence there from the 2nd century AD onward. However, Bagatti also admitted that there was little evidence for first century habitation, at best the village being a small agricultural venture settled by about 20 families;[35] John Dominic Crossan, a major figure in New Testament studies, remarked that Bagatti's archaeological drawings indicate just how small the village actually was, suggesting that it was little more than an insignificant hamlet [36].

In the Gospel of John, Nathaniel asks, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? [37] The meaning of this cryptic question is debated. Some commentators and scholars suggest that it means Nazareth was very small and unimportant, but the question does not speak of Nazareth’s size but of its goodness. In fact, Nazareth was described negatively by the evangelists; the Gospel of Mark argues that Nazareth did not believe in Jesus and therefore he could do no mighty work there;[38] in the Gospel of Luke, the Nazarenes are portrayed as attempting to kill Jesus by throwing him off a cliff;[29] in the Gospel of Thomas, and in all four canonical gospels, we read the famous saying that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country,[39] although the direct attribution of this general principle to the particular case of Nazareth is arguable.

Many scholars since W. Wrede (in 1901)[40] have noted the so-called Messianic secret in the Gospel of Mark, whereby Jesus' true nature and/or mission is portrayed as unseen by many, including by his inner circle of disciples[41] (compare the Gospel of John's references to those to whom only the Father reveals Jesus will be saved).[42] Nazareth, being the home of those near and dear to Jesus, apparently suffered negatively in relation to this doctrine. Thus, Nathanael’s question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” is consistent with a negative view of Nazareth in the canonical gospels, and with the Johannine proclamation that even his brothers did not believe in him.[43]

A tablet currently at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, dating to 50 AD, was sent from Nazareth to Paris in 1878. It contains an inscription known as the "Ordinance of Caesar" that outlines the penalty of death for those who violate tombs or graves. However, it is suspected that this inscription came to Nazareth from somewhere else (possibly Sepphoris). Bagatti writes: “we are not certain that it was found in Nazareth, even though it came from Nazareth to Paris. At Nazareth there lived various vendors of antiquities who got ancient material from several places.”[44] C. Kopp is more definite: "It must be accepted with certainty that [the Ordinance of Caesar]… was brought to the Nazareth market by outside merchants."[45] Princeton University archaeologist Jack Finegan describes additional archaeological evidence related to settlement in the Nazareth basin during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and states that "Nazareth was a strongly Jewish settlement in the Roman period.".[46]

[edit] The skeptical position
Frank Zindler, editor of American Atheist Magazine, has asserted that Nazareth did not exist in the first century.[47] His arguments include the following:

No "ancient historians or geographers mention [Nazareth] before the beginning of the fourth century [AD]."[48]
Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, nor in the Apocrypha and it does not appear in any early rabbinic literature.
Nazareth was not included in the list of settlements of the tribes of Zebulun (Joshua 19:10-16) which mentions twelve towns and six villages
Nazareth is not included among the 45 cities of Galilee that were mentioned by Josephus (37AD-100AD).
Nazareth is also missing from the 63 towns of Galilee mentioned in the Talmud.
Zindler's view is historically possible if Nazareth came into existence at about the same time—or at least not long before—the New Testament gospels were being written and redacted. For those gospel writers who do mention Nazareth, most scholars place their work between the two Jewish-Roman wars (70 AD-132 AD), which is also the earliest possible dating for the Roman (kokh-type) tombs in the Nazareth basin (see "Earliest history & archaeological evidence" above).

Some historians have called into question the traditional association of Nazareth with the life of the historical Jesus. Instead, they suggest that what was known of Jesus in his own time as a title, that is, (Nazarene, or even, perhaps, 'Nazarite'), was, in later times, corrupted into a cognomen of place; thereby, in effect—and apparently by design—assigning Nazareth to him as his hometown. For discussion of the cognate, see Nazarene (title).

[edit] Middle Roman to Byzantine Periods
In 1962, a Hebrew inscription found in Caesarea, dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century, mentions Nazareth as one of the places in which the priestly (kohanim) family of Hapizzez was residing after Bar Kokhba's revolt (132-135 AD).[49] From the three fragments that have been found, it is possible to show that the inscription was a complete list of the twenty-four priestly courses (cf. 1 Chronicles 24:7-19; Nehemiah 11;12), with each course (or family) assigned its proper order and the name of each town or village in Galilee where it settled. An interesting aspect of this inscription is that the name for Nazareth is not spelled with the "z" sound (as one would expect from the Greek gospels) but with the Hebrew tsade (thus "Nasareth" or "Natsareth").[50] Eleazar Kalir (a Hebrew Galilean poet variously dated from the sixth to tenth century A.D.) also mentions a locality clearly in the Nazareth region bearing the name Nazareth נצרת (in this case vocalized "Nitzrat"), which was home to the descendants of the 18th Kohen clan or 'priestly course', Happitzetz הפצץ, for at least several centuries following the Bar Kochva revolt.

In the mid-1990s, shopkeeper Elias Shama discovered tunnels under his shop near Mary's Well in Nazareth. The tunnels were eventually recognized as a hypocaust (a space below the floor into which warm air was pumped) for a bathhouse. The surrounding site was excavated in 1997-98 by Y. Alexandre, and the archaeological remains exposed were ascertained to date from the Roman, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.[51][52][53][54]

Nazareth in 1842Epiphanius writes in the Panarion (c. 375 AD)[55] of a certain elderly Count Joseph of Tiberias, a wealthy imperial Roman Jew who converted to Christianity in the time of Constantine. Count Joseph claimed that as a young man he built churches in Sepphoris and other towns that were inhabited only by Jews.[56] Nazareth is mentioned, though the exact meaning is not clear.[57] In any case, Joan Taylor writes: "It is now possible to conclude that there existed in Nazareth, from the first part of the fourth century, a small and unconventional church which encompassed a cave complex."[58] The town was Jewish until the seventh century AD.[59]

The inside of St Joseph's ChurchBesides the absence of textual references to Nazareth in the Hebrew Bible and also in the later Talmud, the town is also noticeably absent in the writings of Flavius Josephus, who lived in first century Japha, a village just one mile from the location of Nazareth, and which he writes about.[60] Non-biblical textual references to Nazareth do not occur until around 200 AD, when Sextus Julius Africanus, cited by Eusebius (Church History 1.7.14), speaks of “Nazara” as a village in "Judea" and locates it near an as-yet unidentified “Cochaba.”[61] This curious description does not fit the traditional location of Nazareth in Lower Galilee.[62] In the same passage Africanus writes of desposunoi - relatives of Jesus - who he claims kept the records of their descent with great care. The 3rd century Christian apologist Origen, who lived in Caesarea - less than 30 miles away - mentions Nazareth several times but gives no indication of knowing where it is.[63]

The early 4th century Pilgrim of Bordeaux (c. 333 AD) never mentions visiting Nazareth, despite describing his visit to locations that would be in its vicinity. Later texts referring to Nazareth include one from the tenth century that writes of a certain martyr named Conon who died in Pamphylia under Decius (249-251), and declared at his trial: "I belong to the city of Nazareth in Galilee, and am a relative of Christ whom I serve, as my forefathers have done."[64] This Conon has been claimed by Joan Taylor to be "legendary".[65]

In the 6th century, religious narrations from local Christians about the Virgin Mary began to spark interest in the site among pilgrims, who founded the Church of the Annunciation at the site of a freshwater spring, today known as Mary's Well. In 570, the Anonymous of Piacenza reports travelling from Sepphoris to Nazareth and refers to the beauty of the Hebrew women there, who say that St. Mary was a relative of theirs, and records: "The house of St. Mary is a basilica."[66]

Nazareth as depicted in a postcard by Fadil SabaThe Christian writer Jerome, writing in the 5th century, says Nazareth was a viculus or mere village. The Jewish town profited from the Christian pilgrim trade which began in the fourth century, but latent anti-Christian hostility broke out in 614 AD when the Persians invaded Palestine. At that time, according to C. Kopp writing in 1938, the Jewish residents of Nazareth helped the Persians slaughter the Christians in the land.[67] When the Byzantine or Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius ejected the Persians from Palestine in 630 AD, he singled out Nazareth for special punishment and imposed forced exile upon the Jewish families. At this time the town ceased to be Jewish.

[edit] Islamic rule

Nazareth women as depicted in an old postcard.The Muslim conquest of Palestine in 637 AD introduced Islam to the region. Over the next four centuries Islam was adopted by a significant portion of the population, though a significant Arab Christian minority remained. With outbreak of the First Crusade, an extended period of conflict began in which control shifted several times between the local Saracens and Europeans. Control over Galilee and Nazareth shifted frequently during this time, with corresponding impact on the religious makeup of the population.

In 1099 AD, the Crusader Tancred captured Galilee and established his capital in Nazareth. The ancient diocese of Scythopolis was also relocated under the Archbishop of Nazareth, one of the four archdioceses in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The town returned to Muslim control in 1187 AD following the victory of Saladin in the Battle of Hattin. Five Romanesque capitals carved by French artisans were probably buried at this time. They had never been in use and were unearthed in 1909 in excellent condition and placed in a small museum in the Church of the Annunciation.[citation needed]

[edit] Modern era
Arab citizens of Israel
Politics
Balad (al-Tajamu)
Hadash (al-Jabha)
United Arab List
(Hezb al-Democraty al-Arabi)
Avoda · Kadima · Likud
Abnaa el-Balad
Internally Displaced Palestinians
The Koenig Memorandum
Land Day
October 2000 events
Religion
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Dome of the Rock
Basilica of the Annunciation
Mary's Well
St. George's Orthodox Church
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Culture
Music · Dance · Cuisine
Palestinian Arabic
Negev Bedouins
Major population centers
Nazareth · Umm al-Fahm · Rahat
Tayibe · Shefa-'Amr · Baqa-Jatt
Shaghur · Tamra · Sakhnin
Carmel City · Tira · Arraba
Personalities
Hiam Abbass · Hany Abu-Assad
Mohammed Bakri · Azmi Bishara
Emile Habibi · Samih al-Qasim
Abbas Suan · Elia Suleiman
Ali Suliman · Amos Yarkoni
See also Template:Palestinians

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Nazareth was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan. The town was not a field of battle during 1948 Arab-Israeli War before the first truce on 11 June, although some of the villagers had joined the loosely organized peasant military and paramilitary forces, and troops from the Arab Liberation Army had entered Nazareth. During the ten days of fighting which occurred between the first and second truce, Nazareth capitulated to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel on 16 June, after little more than token resistance. The surrender was formalized in a written agreement, where the town leaders agreed to cease hostilities in return for promises from the Israeli officers, including brigade commander Ben Dunkelman, (the leader of the operation), that no harm would come to the civilians of the town.

Preparations for the Pope's visit to Nazareth in 2000 triggered highly publicized tensions related to the Basilica of the Annunciation. The 1997 permission for construction of a paved plaza to handle the expected thousands of Christian pilgrims caused Muslim protests and occupation of the proposed site, which is considered the grave of a nephew of Saladin. This site used to be the home of a school built during the Ottoman rule. The school was named al-Harbyeh (in Arabic means military), and many elderly people in Nazareth still remember it as the school site, nevertheless, the same site still contains,the Shihab-Eddin shrine, along with several shops owned by the waqf (Muslim community ownership). The school building continued to serve as a government school until it was demolished to allow for the plaza to be built.

Palestinian Arab children play on the streets of NazarethThe initial argument between the different political factions in town (represented in the local council), was on where the borders of the shrine and shops starts and where it ends. The initial government approval of subsequent plans for a large mosque to be constructed at the site led to protests from Christian leaders worldwide, which continued after the papal visit. Finally, in 2002, a special government commission permanently halted construction of the mosque.[68][69] In March 2006, public protests that followed the disruption of a Lenten prayer service by an Israeli Jew and his Christian wife and daughter, who detonated incendiary devices inside the church,[70] succeeded in dismantling a temporary wall that had been erected around the public square that had been constructed but had yet to be unveiled, putting an end to the entire controversy.

On 19 July 2006 a rocket fired by Hezbollah as part of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict killed two children in Nazareth. No holy sites were damaged.[71]

In 2007, a group of Christian businessmen declared plans to build the largest cross in the world (60 m high) in Nazareth as the childhood town of Jesus.[72]

[edit] Demographics
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Nazareth had a population of approximately 65,000 in 2005. The vast majority of its residents are Arab citizens of Israel, 31.3% of whom are Christians and 68.7% of whom are Muslims.[73] Nazareth forms a metropolitan area with the Arab local councils of Yafa an-Naseriyye to the south, Reineh, Mashhad and Kafr Kanna to the north, Iksal and the adjacent city of Nazareth Illit to the east which has a population of 40,000 Jews and Ilut to the west. Together, the Nazareth metropolis area has a population of approximately 185,000 of which over 125,000 are Israeli Arabs.[74]

While the two communities of Muslims and Christians tend to get along, they also have come into sporadic conflict. Muslim activists outraged Christians when they built an unauthorized mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation, where Christians believe the Angel Gabriel foretold the birth of Jesus to Mary. Israel later tore down the mosque in 2003. Muslim activists also have periodically marched through the city in shows of strength meant to intimidate Christians.[75][76]

[edit] Politics
Being an exclusively Arab town, local politics in Nazareth has historically been dominated by Arab parties, especially leftist ones. Long-term Mayor Tawfiq Ziad was a founding member of the current incarnation of Maki, the Communist Party of Israel, and current Mayor Ramiz Jaraisy is a protege of Ziad's. Coincidentally, within the Palestinian territories, Bethlehem is a stronghold of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, making both towns left-wing strongholds.

[edit] Religious shrines
Nazareth is home to at least 23 monasteries and churches.[77] Many of the older churches are located in the city's Old Market, (Arabic: السوق القديم‎, Al-sūq al-qadīm).

The Church of the Annunciation is the largest Christian church building in the Middle East. In Roman Catholic tradition, it marks the site where the Archangel Gabriel announced the future birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-31).
The Eastern Orthodox Church constructed St. Gabriel's Church at an alternative site for the Annunciation.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church owns the Synagogue Church, which is located at the traditional site of the synagogue where Jesus preached (Luke 4)
The Church of St. Joseph's Carpentry occupies the traditional location for the workshop of Saint Joseph
The Mensa Christi Church, run by the Franciscan religious order, commemorates the traditional location where Jesus dined with the Apostles after his Resurrection
The Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent, run by the Salesian religious order, occupies a hill overlooking the city.
The Church of Christ is an Anglican church in Nazareth.
There are also a number of mosques in Nazareth, the oldest of which is the White Mosque.

[edit] Attractions
Nazareth Village, a recreated, living history village from the time of Jesus.
[edit] Sport
The city's main football club, Ahi Nazareth, currently plays in Liga Leumit. The club spent a single season in the top division in 2003-04. They are based at the Ilut Stadium in nearby Ilut.

Other local clubs Beitar al-Amal Nazareth, Hapoel Bnei Nazareth and Hapoel Nazareth all play in Liga Gimel.

Jerusalem

2009-11-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ (audio) (help·info), Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds)[ii] is the capital[iii] of Israel and its largest city[2] in both population and area,[3] with a population of 763,800 residents over an area of 125.1 km2 (48.3 sq mi) if disputed East Jerusalem is included.[1][4][iv] Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the boundaries of the Old City.

The city has a history that goes back to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.[5] Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people,[6] contains a number of significant ancient Christian sites, and is considered the third-holiest city in Islam.[7] Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile),[8] the Old City is home to sites of key religious importance, among them the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. The old walled city, a World Heritage site, has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were introduced in the early 19th century.[9] The Old City was nominated for inclusion on the List of World Heritage Sites in danger by Jordan in 1982.[10] In the course of its history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.[11]

Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has been repeatedly criticized by the United Nations and related bodies,[12][13] and Palestinians demand East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.[14][15] In the wake of United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 (passed in 1980), most foreign embassies moved out of Jerusalem, although some countries, such as the United States, still own land in the city and pledge to return their embassies once political agreements warrant the move.[16]

Etymology
The Semitic root of the name "Jerusalem" is sometimes thought to be "s-l-m" meaning peace,[17] harmony or completeness. A city called Rušalimum or Urušalimum appears in ancient Egyptian records as one of the first references to Jerusalem.[18] These Egyptian forms are thought to derive from the local name attested in the Amarna letters, e.g: in EA 287 (where it takes several forms) Urusalim.[19][20] The form Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) first appears in the book of Joshua. This form has the appearance of a portmanteau of yerusha (heritage) and the original name Shalem and is not a simple phonetic evolution of the form in the Amarna letters. Some believe there is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as the personification of dusk.[21] Typically the ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual thus leading to the suggestion that the name refers to the fact that the city sits on two hills.[22][23] However the pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint. In Greek and Latin it is transliterated Hierosolyma. To the Arabs, Jerusalem is al-Quds ("The Holy"). "Zion" initially referred to part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole. Under King David, it was known as Ir David (the City of David).[24]

[edit] History
Main article: History of Jerusalem
See also: History of ancient Israel and Judah, History of Palestine, and Timeline of Jerusalem

Jebusite wall, City of DavidCeramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE,[5][25] with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early Bronze Age, c. 3000–2800 BCE.[25][26] The Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen[25] and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE) may be the earliest mention of the city.[27][28] Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem[29] as a city was founded by West Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to Jewish tradition the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. In the biblical account, when first mentioned, Jerusalem (known as "Salem") is ruled by Melchizedek, an ally of Abraham (identified with Shem in legend). Later, in the time of Joshua, Jerusalem was in territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:28) but it continued to be under the independent control of the Jebusites until it was conquered by David and made into the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel (c. 1000s BCE).[30][31][v] Recent excavations of a large stone structure are interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.[32]

[edit] Temple periods
According to Hebrew scripture, King David reigned until 970 BCE. He was succeeded by his son Solomon,[33] who built the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.[34] For over 450 years, until the Babylonian conquest in 587 BCE, Jerusalem was the political capital of firstly the united Kingdom of Israel and then the Kingdom of Judah and the Temple was the religious center of the Israelites.[35] This period is known in history as the First Temple Period.[36] Upon Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.[37]

The Tower of David as seen from the Hinnom ValleyWhen the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon's Temple.[36] In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple.[38] Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.[39][40] Later, in ~445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city and the walls to be rebuilt.[41] Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.[42]

[edit] Jewish-Roman wars

Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem (David Roberts, 1850)As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.[33][43][44] In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding area, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province[45] and Herod's descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt, beginning in 132 CE. The Romans succeeded in suppressing the revolt in 135 CE. Emperor Hadrian romanized the city, renaming it Aelia Capitolina.[46], and banned the Jews from entering it. Hadrian renamed the entire Iudaea Province Syria Palaestina after the biblical Philistines in an attempt to de-Judaize the country.[47][48] Enforcement of the ban on Jews entering Aelia Capitolina continued until the 4th century CE.

In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000[47][49] From the days of Constantine until the 7th century, Jews were banned from Jerusalem.[50]

[edit] Roman-Persian wars
Within the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Roman to Persian rule and returned to Roman dominion once more. Following Sassanid Khosrau II's early seventh century push into Byzantine, advancing through Syria, Sassanid Generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin attacked the Byzantine-controlled city of Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh). They were aided by the Jews of Palestine, who had risen up against the Byzantines.[51]

In the Siege of Jerusalem (614), after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured. The Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanid army and the Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, an episode which has been the subject of much debate between historians.[52] The conquered city would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius reconquered it in 629.[51]

[edit] Arab rule

Dome of the Rock viewed through Cotton GateJerusalem is considered Islam's third holiest city after Mecca and Medina. Among Muslims of an earlier era, it was referred to as al-Bayt al-Muqaddas; later, it became known as al-Quds al-Sharif. In 638, the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem.[53] With the Arab conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city.[54] The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Monophysite Christian Patriarch Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule.[55] Umar was led to the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount, which he cleared of refuse in preparation for building a mosque. According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.[56] The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century.[57] The 10th century historian al-Muqaddasi writes that Abd al-Malik built the shrine in order to compete in grandeur of Jerusalem's monumental churches.[56] Over the next four hundred years, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[58]

[edit] Crusader, Ayyubid, and Mamluk period

Medieval illustration of capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099In 1099, The Fatimid ruler expelled the native Christian population before Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders, who massacred most of its Muslim and the Jewish inhabitants; later the Crusaders created the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By early June 1099 Jerusalem’s population had declined from 70,000 to less than 30,000.[59]

In 1187, the city was wrested from the Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city.[60] Under the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, a period of huge investment began in the construction of houses, markets, public bathes, and pilgrim hostels as well as the establishment of religious endowments. However, for most of the 13th century, Jerusalem declined to the status of a village due to city's fall of strategic value and Ayyubid internecine struggles.[61]

In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Kharezmian Tartars, who decimated the city's Christian population and drove out the Jews.[62] The Khwarezmian Tatars were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247. From 1250 to 1517, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks. During this period of time many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side and the crusaders and the Mongols on the other side. The area also suffered from many earthquakes and black plague.

[edit] Ottoman era

Jews of Jerusalem, 1895In 1517, Jerusalem and environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who generally remained in control until 1917.[60] Jerusalem enjoyed a period of renewal and peace under Suleiman the Magnificent – including the rebuilding of magnificent walls around the Old City. Throughout much of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem remained a provincial, if religiously important center, and did not straddle the main trade route between Damascus and Cairo.[63] However, the Muslim Turks brought many innovations: modern postal systems run by the various consulates; the use of the wheel for modes of transportation; stagecoach and carriage, the wheelbarrow and the cart; and the oil-lantern, among the first signs of modernization in the city.[64] In the mid 19th century, the Ottomans constructed the first paved road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and by 1892 the railroad had reached the city.[64]

With the annexation of Jerusalem by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1831, foreign missions and consulates began to establish a foothold in the city. In 1836, Ibrahim Pasha allowed Jerusalem's Jewish residents to restore four major synagogues, among them the Hurva.[65] In the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine, Qasim al-Ahmad led his forces from Nablus and attacked Jerusalem, aided by the Abu Ghosh clan, entered the city on May 31, 1834. The Christians and Jews of Jerusalem were subjected to attacks. Ibrahim's Egyptian army routed Qasim's forces in Jerusalem the following month.[66]

Ottoman rule was reinstated in 1840, but many Egyptian Muslims remained in Jerusalem and Jews from Algiers and North Africa began to settle in the city in growing numbers.[65] In the 1840s and 1850s, the international powers began a tug-of-war in Palestine as they sought to extend their protection over the country's religious minorities, a struggle carried out mainly through consular representatives in Jerusalem.[67] According to the Prussian consul, the population in 1845 was 16,410, with 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians, 800 Turkish soldiers and 100 Europeans.[65] The volume of Christian pilgrims increased under the Ottomans, doubling the city's population around Easter time.[68]

In the 1860s, new neighborhoods began to develop outside the Old City walls to house pilgrims and relieve the intense overcrowding and poor sanitation inside the city. The Russian Compound and Mishkenot Sha'ananim were founded in 1860.[69] In 1867 an American Missionary reports an estimated population of Jerusalem of 'above' 15,000. With 4,000 to 5,000 Jews and 6,000 Muslims. Every year there were 5,000 to 6,000 Russian Christian Pilgrims.[70]

[edit] British Mandate and 1948 War
Further information: British Mandate of Palestine, 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and Siege of Jerusalem (1948)

General Edmund Allenby enters the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 1917In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city,[71] and in 1922, the League of Nations at the Conference of Lausanne entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine.

From 1922 to 1948 the total population of the city rose from 52,000 to 165,000 with two thirds of Jews and one-third of Arabs (Muslims and Christians).[72] The situation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine was not quiet. At Jerusalem, in particular riots occurred in 1920 and in 1929. Under the British, new garden suburbs were built in the western and northern parts of the city[73][74] and institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University were founded.[75]

As the British Mandate for Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations."[76] The international regime (which also included the city of Bethlehem) was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents were to decide the future regime of their city. However, this plan was not implemented, as the 1948 war erupted, while the British withdrew from Palestine and Israel declared its independence.[77] The war led to displacement of Arab and Jewish populations in the city. The 1,500 residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City were expelled and a few hundred taken prisoner when the Arab Legion captured the quarter on 28 May.[78][79] The Arab Legion also attacked Western Jerusalem with snipers.[80]

[edit] Division and reunification
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem
See also: UN General Assembly Resolution 194 and Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan

Israeli policemen meet a Jordanian Legionnaire near the Mandelbaum GateThe no-man's land between East and West Jerusalem came into being in November 1948: Moshe Dayan, commander of the Israeli forces in Jerusalem, met with his Jordanian counterpart Abdullah el Tell in a deserted house in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood and marked out their respective positions: Israel’s position in red and Jordan's in green. This rough map, which was not meant as a an official one, became the final ceasefire line in the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which divided the city and left Mount Scopus as an Israeli exclave.[81] Barbed wire and concrete barriers ran down the center of the city and military skirmishes frequently threatened the ceasefire. After the establishment of the State of Israel, Jerusalem was declared its capital. Jordan formally annexed East Jerusalem in 1950, subjecting it to Jordanian law.[77][82] Only the United Kingdom and Pakistan formally recognized such annexation, which, in regard to Jerusalem, was on a de facto basis.[83] Also, it is dubious if Pakistan recognized Jordan's annexation.[84][85]

Jordan assumed control of the holy places in the Old City. Contrary to the terms of the agreement, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated. Jordan allowed only very limited access to Christian holy sites.[86][87] During this period, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque underwent major renovations.[88]

Map showing East and West JerusalemAfter Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, Jewish and Christian access to holy sites was restored, while the Temple Mount remained under the jurisdiction of an Islamic waqf. The Moroccan Quarter, which was located adjacent to the Western Wall, was vacated and razed[89] to make way for a plaza for those visiting the wall.[90] Since the war, Israel has expanded the city's boundaries and established a ring of Jewish neighbourhoods on vacant land east of the Green Line.

However, the takeover of East Jerusalem was met with international criticism. Following the passing of Israel's Jerusalem Law, which declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", the capital of Israel,[91] the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that declared the law "a violation of international law" and requested all member states to withdraw all remaining embassies from the city.[92]

The status of the city, and especially its holy places, remains a core issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jewish settlers have taken over historic sites and built on land confiscated from Arabs[93] in order to expand the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem,[94] while prominent Islamic leaders have made claims that Jews have no historical connection to Jerusalem, alleging that the 2500-year old Western Wall was constructed as part of a mosque.[95] Palestinians envision East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state,[96][97] and the city's borders have been the subject of bilateral talks.

[edit] Geography

View of Jerusalem Forest from Yad VashemJerusalem is situated on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 m (2,500 ft).[98] The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis). The Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.[99] The Kidron Valley runs to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or Hell.[100] The Tyropoeon Valley commenced in the northwest near the Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities described by Josephus). Today, this valley is hidden by debris that has accumulated over the centuries.[99]

In biblical times, Jerusalem was surrounded by forests of almond, olive and pine trees. Over centuries of warfare and neglect, these forests were destroyed. Farmers in the Jerusalem region thus built stone terraces along the slopes to hold back the soil, a feature still very much in evidence in the Jerusalem landscape.[101]

Water supply has always been a major problem in Jerusalem, as attested to by the intricate network of ancient aqueducts, tunnels, pools and cisterns found in the city.[102]

Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi)[103] east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi)[104] away, is the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north.[105][106][107]

Panorama of the Temple Mount, including the Dome of the Rock, from the Mount of Olives
[edit] Climate
The city is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers, and cold, wet winters. Snow usually occurs once or twice a winter, although the city experiences heavy snowfall every three to four years on average. January is the coldest month of the year, with an average temperature of 8 °C (46 °F); July and August are the hottest months, with an average temperature of 23 °C (73 °F). Temperatures vary widely from day to night, and Jerusalem evenings are typically cool even in summer. The average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in) with rain occurring mostly between October and May.[108]

Most of the air pollution in Jerusalem comes from vehicular traffic.[109] Many main streets in Jerusalem were not built to accommodate such a large volume of traffic, leading to traffic congestion and more carbon monoxide released into the air. Industrial pollution inside the city is sparse, but emissions from factories on the Israeli Mediterranean coast can travel eastward and settle over the city.[109][110]

[hide]Weather data for Jerusalem
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °C (°F) 12
(53) 13
(56) 16
(61) 21
(70) 25
(77) 28
(82) 29
(84) 29
(84) 28
(82) 25
(77) 19
(66) 14
(57)
Average low °C (°F) 4
(39) 4
(40) 6
(43) 9
(49) 12
(54) 15
(59) 17
(63) 17
(63) 16
(61) 14
(57) 9
(49) 6
(42)
Precipitation mm (inches) 142.2
(5.6) 114.3
(4.5) 99.1
(3.9) 30.5
(1.2) 2.5
(0.1) 0
(0) 0
(0) 0
(0) 0.0
(0.0) 22.9
(0.9) 68.8
(2.7) 109.2
(4.3)
Source: The Weather Channel[108]

[edit] Demographics
Population of Jerusalem Year Total
1844 15,510
1876 25,030
1896 45,420
1922 62,578
1931 90,053
1944 157,000
1948 165,000
1967 263,307
1980 407,100
1985 457,700
1990 524,400
1995 617,000
2000 657,500
2005 706,400
Main article: Demographics of Jerusalem
In December 2007, Jerusalem had a population of 747,600—64% were Jewish, 32% Muslim, and 2% Christian.[1] At the end of 2005, the population density was 5,750.4 inhabitants per square kilometer (14,893.5/sq mi).[3][111] According to a study published in 2000, the percentage of Jews in the city's population had been decreasing; this was attributed to a higher Muslim birth rate, and Jewish residents leaving. The study also found that about nine percent of the Old City's 32,488 people were Jews.[112]

In 2005, 2,850 new immigrants settled in Jerusalem, mostly from the United States, France and the former Soviet Union. In terms of the local population, the number of outgoing residents exceeds the number of incoming residents. In 2005, 16,000 left Jerusalem and only 10,000 moved in.[3] Nevertheless, the population of Jerusalem continues to rise due to the high birth rate, especially in the Arab and Haredi Jewish communities. Consequently, the total fertility rate in Jerusalem (4.02) is higher than in Tel Aviv (1.98) and well above the national average of 2.90. The average size of Jerusalem's 180,000 households is 3.8 people.[3]

In 2005, the total population grew by 13,000 (1.8%)—similar to Israeli national average, but the religious and ethnic composition is shifting. While 31% of the Jewish population is made up of children below the age fifteen, the figure for the Arab population is 42%.[3] This would seem to corroborate the observation that the percentage of Jews in Jerusalem has declined over the past four decades. In 1967, Jews accounted for 74 percent of the population, while the figure for 2006 is down nine percent.[113] Possible factors are the high cost of housing, fewer job opportunities and the increasingly religious character of the city. Many people are moving to the suburbs and coastal cities in search of cheaper housing and a more secular lifestyle.[114]

In 2009, the percentage of Haredim in the city is strongly increasing. As of 2009, out of 150,100 schoolchildren, 59,900 or 40% are in state-run secular and National Religious schools, while 90,200 or 60% are in Haredi schools. This correlates with the high number of children in Haredi families[115][116]

While many Israelis see Jerusalem as poor, rundown and riddled with religious and political tension, the city has been a magnet for Palestinians, offering more jobs and opportunity than any city in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials have encouraged Arabs over the years to stay in the city to maintain their claim.[117][118] Palestinians are attracted to the access to jobs, healthcare, social security, other benefits, and quality of life Israel provides to Jerusalem residents.[119] Arab residents of Jerusalem who choose not to have Israeli citizenship are granted an Israeli identity card that allows them to pass through checkpoints with relative ease and to travel throughout Israel, making it easier to find work. Residents also are entitled to the subsidized healthcare and social security benefits Israel provides its citizens. Arabs in Jerusalem can send their children to Israeli-run schools, although not every neighborhood has one, and universities. Israeli doctors and highly regarded hospitals such as Hadassah Medical Center are available to residents.[120]

Demographics and the Jewish-Arab population divide play a major role in the dispute over Jerusalem. In 1998, the Jerusalem Development Authority proposed expanding city limits to the west to include more areas heavily populated with Jews.[121]

[edit] Criticism of urban planning
Further information: Judaization of Jerusalem
Critics of efforts to promote a Jewish majority in Israel say that government planning policies are motivated by demographic considerations and seek to limit Arab construction while promoting Jewish construction.[122] According to a World Bank report, the number of recorded building violations between 1996 and 2000 was four and half times higher in Jewish neighborhoods but four times fewer demolition orders were issued in West Jerusalem than in East Jerusalem; Palestinians in Jerusalem were less likely to receive construction permits than Jews, and "the authorities are much more likely to take action against Palestinian violators" than Jewish violators of the permit process.[123] In recent years, private Jewish foundations have received permission from the government to develop projects on disputed lands, such as the City of David archaeological park in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan (adjacent to the Old City),[124] and the Museum of Tolerance on Mamilla cemetery (adjacent to Zion Square).[125] The Israeli government has also expropriated Palestinian land for the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier.[123] Opponents view such urban planning moves as geared towards the Judaization of Jerusalem.[126][127][128]

[edit] Local government

Safra Square, Jerusalem City HallThe Jerusalem City Council is a body of 31 elected members headed by the mayor, who serves a five-year term and appoints six deputies. The former mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski, was elected in 2003.[129] In the November 2008 city elections, Nir Barkat came out as the winner and is now the mayor. Apart from the mayor and his deputies, City Council members receive no salaries and work on a voluntary basis. The longest-serving Jerusalem mayor was Teddy Kollek, who spent twenty-eight years—six consecutive terms—in office. Most of the meetings of the Jerusalem City Council are private, but each month, it holds a session that is open to the public.[129] Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially powerful faction, accounting for the majority of its seats.[130] The headquarters of the Jerusalem Municipality and the mayor's office are at Safra Square (Kikar Safra) on Jaffa Road. The new municipal complex, comprising two modern buildings and ten renovated historic buildings surrounding a large plaza, opened in 1993.[131] The city falls under the Jerusalem District, with Jerusalem as the district's capital.

[edit] Political status

The Knesset Building in Jerusalem, home to the legislative branch of the Israeli governmentOn December 5, 1949, the State of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's capital[132] and since then all branches of the Israeli government—legislative, judicial, and executive—have resided there, except for the Ministry of Defense which is located in Tel Aviv.[133] At the time of the proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus only West Jerusalem was considered Israel's capital. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, however, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, making it a de facto part of the Israeli capital. Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united" Jerusalem—west and east—as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.[134]

The status of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel's "eternal capital"[132][135] has been a matter of immense controversy within the international community. Although some countries maintain consulates in Jerusalem, all embassies are located outside of the city proper, mostly in Tel Aviv.[136][137]

The Supreme Court of Israel, With the Knesset in the Background.The non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, passed on August 20, 1980, declared that the Basic Law was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith." Member states were advised to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city as a punitive measure. Most of the remaining countries with embassies in Jerusalem complied with the resolution by relocating them to Tel Aviv, where many embassies already resided prior to Resolution 478. Currently there are no embassies located within the city limits of Jerusalem, although there are embassies in Mevaseret Zion, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and four consulates in the city itself.[136] In 1995, the United States Congress had planned to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act.[138] However, former U.S. President George W. Bush has argued that Congressional resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem are merely advisory. The Constitution reserves foreign relations as an executive power, and as such, the United States embassy is still in Tel Aviv.[139]

On 28 October 2009, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that Jerusalem must be the capital of both Israel and Palestine if peace is to be achieved.[140]

The Orient HouseIsrael's most prominent governmental institutions, including the Knesset,[141] the Supreme Court,[142] and the official residences of the President and Prime Minister, are located in Jerusalem. Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of the British Mandate, which included present-day Israel and Jordan.[143] From 1949 until 1967, West Jerusalem served as Israel's capital, but was not recognized as such internationally because UN General Assembly Resolution 194 envisaged Jerusalem as an international city. As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control. On June 27, 1967, the government of Levi Eshkol extended Israeli law and jurisdiction to East Jerusalem, but agreed that administration of the Temple Mount compound would be maintained by the Jordanian waqf, under the Jordanian Ministry of Religious Endowments.[144] In 1988, Israel ordered the closure of Orient House, home of the Arab Studies Society, but also the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization, for security reasons. The building reopened in 1992 as a Palestinian guesthouse.[145][146] The Oslo Accords stated that the final status of Jerusalem would be determined by negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority, which regards East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.[14]

[edit] Religious significance
Main article: Religious significance of Jerusalem

The Western Wall, known as the Kotel
The al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place in IslamJerusalem plays an important role in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The 2000 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem lists 1204 synagogues, 158 churches, and 73 mosques within the city.[147] Despite efforts to maintain peaceful religious coexistence, some sites, such as the Temple Mount, have been a continuous source of friction and controversy.

Church of the Holy SepulchreJerusalem has been sacred to the Jews since King David proclaimed it his capital in the 10th century BCE. Jerusalem was the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple.[6] It is mentioned in the Bible 632 times. Today, the Western Wall, a remnant of the wall surrounding the Second Temple, is a Jewish holy site second only to the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount itself.[148] Synagogues around the world are traditionally built with the Holy Ark facing Jerusalem,[149] and Arks within Jerusalem face the "Holy of Holies".[150] As prescribed in the Mishna and codified in the Shulchan Aruch, daily prayers are recited while facing towards Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Many Jews have "Mizrach" plaques hung on a wall of their homes to indicate the direction of prayer.[150][151]

Christianity reveres Jerusalem not only for its Old Testament history but also for its significance in the life of Jesus. According to the New Testament, Jesus was brought to Jerusalem soon after his birth[152] and later in his life cleansed the Second Temple.[153] The Cenacle, believed to be the site of Jesus' Last Supper, is located on Mount Zion in the same building that houses the Tomb of King David.[154][155] Another prominent Christian site in Jerusalem is Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. The Gospel of John describes it as being located outside Jerusalem,[156] but recent archaeological evidence suggests Golgotha is a short distance from the Old City walls, within the present-day confines of the city.[157] The land currently occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered one of the top candidates for Golgotha and thus has been a Christian pilgrimage site for the past two thousand years.[157][158][159]

Jerusalem is considered the third-holiest city in Islam.[7] For approximately a year, before it was permanently switched to the Kabaa in Mecca, the qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims was Jerusalem.[160] The city's lasting place in Islam, however, is primarily due to Muhammad's Night of Ascension (c. 620 CE). Muslims believe Muhammad was miraculously transported one night from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whereupon he ascended to Heaven to meet previous prophets of Islam.[161][162] The first verse in the Qur'an's Surat al-Isra notes the destination of Muhammad's journey as al-Aqsa (the farthest) mosque,[163] in reference to the location in Jerusalem. Today, the Temple Mount is topped by two Islamic landmarks intended to commemorate the event—al-Aqsa Mosque, derived from the name mentioned in the Qur'an, and the Dome of the Rock, which stands over the Foundation Stone, from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Heaven.[164]

[edit] Culture

The Shrine of the Book, housing the Dead Sea Scrolls, at the Israel MuseumAlthough Jerusalem is known primarily for its religious significance, the city is also home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum attracts nearly one million visitors a year, approximately one-third of them tourists.[165] The 20 acre museum complex comprises several buildings featuring special exhibits and extensive collections of Judaica, archaeological findings, and Israeli and European art. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in the mid-twentieth century in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, are housed in the Museum's Shrine of the Book.[166] The Youth Wing, which mounts changing exhibits and runs an extensive art education program, is visited by 100,000 children a year. The museum has a large outdoor sculpture garden, and a scale-model of the Second Temple was recently moved from the Holyland Hotel to a new location on the museum grounds.[165] The Rockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, was the first archaeological museum in the Middle East. It was built in 1938 during the British Mandate.[167][168]

The Jerusalem Theater at nightYad Vashem, Israel's national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, houses the world's largest library of Holocaust-related information,[169] with an estimated 100,000 books and articles. The complex contains a state-of-the-art museum that explores the genocide of the Jews through exhibits that focus on the personal stories of individuals and families killed in the Holocaust and an art gallery featuring the work of artists who perished. Yad Vashem also commemorates the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis, and honors the Righteous among the Nations.[170] The Museum on the Seam, which explores issues of coexistence through art is situated on the road dividing eastern and western Jerusalem.[171]

The International Convention Center.The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, established in the 1940s,[172] has appeared around the world.[172] Other arts facilities include the International Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) near the entrance to city, where the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra plays, the Jerusalem Cinemateque, the Gerard Behar Center (formerly Beit Ha'am) in downtown Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Music Center in Yemin Moshe,[173] and the Targ Music Center in Ein Kerem. The Israel Festival, featuring indoor and outdoor performances by local and international singers, concerts, plays and street theater, has been held annually since 1961; for the past 25 years, Jerusalem has been the major organizer of this event. The Jerusalem Theater in the Talbiya neighborhood hosts over 150 concerts a year, as well as theater and dance companies and performing artists from overseas.[174] The Khan, located in a caravansarai opposite the old Jerusalem train station, is the city's only repertoire theater.[175] The station itself has become a venue for cultural events in recent years, as the site of Shav'ua Hasefer, an annual week-long book fair, and outdoor music performances.[176] The Jerusalem Film Festival is held annually, screening Israeli and international films.[177]

The Ticho House, in downtown Jerusalem, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica collections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic in this building in 1912.[178] Al-Hoash, established in 2004, is a gallery for the preservation of Palestinian art.[179]

Besides being a center for Jewish Israeli culture, Jerusalem is a capital of Palestinian culture. Jerusalem was selected by UNESCO as the 2009 Arab Capital of Culture.[180] Jerusalem is home to the Palestinian National Theatre, which engages in cultural preservation as well as innovation, working to upgrade and rekindle interest in the arts at the national level.[181]. The The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is headquartered in Jerusalem. The conservatory sponsors the Palestine Youth Orchestra, which has achieved acclaim throughout the Arab world – in 2009, the orchestra, which includes Palestinian musicians from Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel, and Palestinians living in the Palestinian diaspora – toured the Gulf states and other Middle East countries[182].

The Islamic Museum on the Temple Mount, established in 1923, houses many Islamic artifacts, from tiny kohl flasks and rare manuscripts to giant marble columns.[183]

While Israeli authorities approve and even support some Palestinian cultural activities, restrictions often make expansion of Jerusalem Palestinian culture difficult. Israeli authorities forbade festivities marking the selection of Jerusalem as the Arab Capital of Culture, because they were sponsored by the PNA, which Israel claims has no authority in Jerusalem.[184] Israeli border restrictions make it difficult for music teachers and artists to move freely between Jerusalem and cultural centers in the West Bank.[185] Nevertheless, a four-day culture fest did take place in the Beit Anan suburb of Jerusalem in 2009, attended by more than 15,000 people[186]

Jerusalem is also a center for Israeli-Palestinian cultural cooperation. Several organizations, including the Abraham Fund and the Jerusalem Intercultural Center (JICC) actively promote joint Jewish-Palestinian cultural projects. The Jerusalem Center for Middle Eastern Music and Dance offers courses and performances by Arab and Jewish students and artists. The JICC offers workshops on Jewish-Arab dialogue through the arts[187]. The Jewish-Arab Youth Orchestra meets in Jerusalem, and performs both European classical and Middle Eastern music.[188]

A Tolerance Monument sculpted by Czesław Dźwigaj in collaboration with Michal Kubiak is situated on a hill marking the divide between Jewish Armon Hanatziv and Arab Jebl Mukaber, standing opposite the United Nations headquarters in Jerusalem in a park near Goldman Promenade. Unveiled in Jerusalem in 2008, it was funded by Polish businessman Aleksander Gudzowaty as a symbol to promote peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[189]

[edit] Economy

Hadar Mall, TalpiotHistorically, Jerusalem's economy was supported almost exclusively by religious pilgrims, as it was located far from the major ports of Jaffa and Gaza.[190] Jerusalem's religious landmarks today remain the top draw for foreign visitors, with the majority of tourists visiting the Western Wall and the Old City,[3] but in the past half-century it has become increasingly clear that Jerusalem's providence cannot solely be sustained by its religious significance.[190]

Mahane Yehuda Market in West JerusalemAlthough many statistics indicate economic growth in the city, since 1967 East Jerusalem has lagged behind the development of West Jerusalem.[190] Nevertheless, the percentage of households with employed persons is higher for Arab households (76.1%) than for Jewish households (66.8%). The unemployment rate in Jerusalem (8.3%) is slightly better than the national average (9.0%), although the civilian labor force accounted for less than half of all persons fifteen years or older—lower in comparison to that of Tel Aviv (58.0%) and Haifa (52.4%).[3] Poverty in the city has increased dramatically in recent years; between 2001 and 2007, the number of people below the poverty threshold increased by forty percent.[191] In 2006, the average monthly income for a worker in Jerusalem was NIS5,940 (US$1,410), NIS1,350 less than that for a worker in Tel Aviv.[191]

Old City marketplaceDuring the British Mandate, a law was passed requiring all buildings to be constructed of Jerusalem stone in order to preserve the unique historic and aesthetic character of the city.[74] Complementing this building code, which is still in force, is the discouragement of heavy industry in Jerusalem; only about 2.2% of Jerusalem's land is zoned for "industry and infrastructure." By comparison, the percentage of land in Tel Aviv zoned for industry and infrastructure is twice as high, and in Haifa, seven times as high.[3] Only 8.5% of the Jerusalem District work force is employed in the manufacturing sector, which is half the national average (15.8%). Higher than average percentages are employed in education (17.9% vs. 12.7%); health and welfare (12.6% vs. 10.7%); community and social services (6.4% vs. 4.7%); hotels and restaurants (6.1% vs. 4.7%); and public administration (8.2% vs. 4.7%).[192] Although Tel Aviv remains Israel's financial center, a growing number of high tech companies are moving to Jerusalem, providing 12,000 jobs in 2006.[193] Northern Jerusalem's Har Hotzvim industrial park is home to some of Israel's major corporations, among them Intel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ophir Optronics and ECI Telecom. Expansion plans for the park envision one hundred businesses, a fire station, and a school, covering an area of 530,000 m² (130 acres).[194]

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the national government has remained a major player in Jerusalem's economy. The government, centered in Jerusalem, generates a large number of jobs, and offers subsidies and incentives for new business initiatives and start-ups.[190]

[edit] Transportation
Main article: Transport in Jerusalem

Jerusalem's Central Bus StationThe airport nearest to Jerusalem is Atarot Airport, which was used for domestic flights until its closure in 2001. Since then it has been under the control of the Israel Defense Forces due to disturbances in Ramallah and the West Bank. All air traffic from Atarot was rerouted to Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel's largest and busiest airport, which serves nine million passengers annually.[195]

Egged Bus Cooperative, the second-largest bus company in the world,[196] handles most of the local and intercity bus service out of the city's Central Bus Station on Jaffa Road near the western entrance to Jerusalem from highway 1. As of 2008, Egged buses, taxicabs and private cars are the only transportation options in Jerusalem. This is expected to change with the completion of the Jerusalem Light Rail, a new rail-based transit system currently under construction.[197] According to plans, the first rail line will be capable of transporting an estimated 200,000 people daily, and will have 24 stops.[198] It is scheduled for completion in 2010.[199]

Begin Expressway with noise dampeners.Another work in progress[198] is a new high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is scheduled to be completed in 2011. Its terminus will be an underground station (80 m deep) serving the International Convention Center and the Central Bus Station,[200] and is planned to be extended eventually to Malha station. Israel Railways operates train services to Malha train station from Tel Aviv via Beit Shemesh.[201][202]

Begin Expressway is one of Jerusalem's major north-south thoroughfares; it runs on the western side of the city, merging in the north with Route 443, which continues toward Tel Aviv. Route 60 runs through the center of the city near the Green Line between East and West Jerusalem. Construction is progressing on parts of a 35-kilometer (22-mile) ring road around the city, fostering faster connection between the suburbs.[203][204] The eastern half of the project was conceptualized decades ago, but reaction to the proposed highway is still mixed.[203]

[edit] Education

The campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount ScopusJerusalem is home to several prestigious universities offering courses in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Founded in 1925, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been ranked among the top 100 schools in the world.[205] The Board of Governors has included such prominent Jewish intellectuals as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud.[75] The university has produced several Nobel laureates; recent winners associated with Hebrew University include Avram Hershko,[206] David Gross,[207] and Daniel Kahneman.[208] One of the university's major assets is the Jewish National and University Library, which houses over five million books.[209] The library opened in 1892, over three decades before the university was established, and is one of the world's largest repositories of books on Jewish subjects. Today it is both the central library of the university and the national library of Israel.[210] The Hebrew University operates three campuses in Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus, on Giv'at Ram and a medical campus at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.

Al-Quds University was established in 1984[211] to serve as a flagship university for the Arab and Palestinian peoples. It describes itself as the "only Arab university in Jerusalem".[212] Al-Quds University resides southeast of the city proper on a campus encompassing 190,000 square metres (47 acres).[211] Other institutions of higher learning in Jerusalem are the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance[213] and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,[214] whose buildings are located on the campuses of the Hebrew University.

The campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at Givat RamThe Jerusalem College of Technology, founded in 1969, combines training in engineering and other high-tech industries with a Jewish studies program.[215] It is one of many schools in Jerusalem, from elementary school and up, that combine secular and religious studies. Numerous religious educational institutions and Yeshivot are based in the city, with the Mir yeshiva claiming to be the largest.[216] There were nearly 8,000 twelfth-grade students in Hebrew-language schools during the 2003–2004 school year.[3] However, due to the large portion of students in Haredi Jewish frameworks, only fifty-five percent of twelfth graders took matriculation exams (Bagrut) and only thirty-seven percent were eligible to graduate. Unlike public schools, many Haredi schools do not prepare students to take standardized tests.[3] To attract more university students to Jerusalem, the city has begun to offer a special package of financial incentives and housing subsidies to students who rent apartments in downtown Jerusalem.[217]

Schools for Arabs in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel have been criticized for offering a lower quality education than those catering to Israeli Jewish students.[218] While many schools in the heavily Arab East Jerusalem are filled to capacity and there have been complaints of overcrowding, the Jerusalem Municipality is currently building over a dozen new schools in the city's Arab neighborhoods.[219] Schools in Ras el-Amud and Umm Lison opened in 2008.[220] In March 2007, the Israeli government approved a 5-year plan to build 8,000 new classrooms in the city, 40 percent in the Arab sector and 28 percent in the Haredi sector. A budget of 4.6 billion shekels was allocated for this project.[221] In 2008, Jewish British philanthropists donated $3 million for the construction of schools in Arab East Jerusalem.[220] Arab high school students take the Bagrut matriculation exams, so that much of their curriculum parallels that of other Israeli high schools and includes certain Jewish subjects.[218]

[edit] Sports

Teddy Stadium.The two most popular sports are football and basketball.[222] Beitar Jerusalem Football Club is one of the most well-known in Israel. Fans include political figures who often attend its games.[223] Jerusalem's other major football team, and one of Beitar's top rivals, is Hapoel Jerusalem F.C. Whereas Beitar has been Israel State Cup champion seven times,[224] Hapoel has only won the Cup once. Also, Beitar has won six the top league six times, while Hapoel has none. Also, Beitar plays in the more prestigious Ligat HaAl, while Hapoel is in the seconed division Liga Leumit.

In basketball, Hapoel Jerusalem plays in the top division. The club has won the State Cup three times, and the ULEB Cup in 2004.[225] Since its opening in 1992, Teddy Kollek Stadium has been Jerusalem's primary football stadium, with a capacity of 21,600.[226]

The Jerusalem Half Marathon is an annual event in which runners from all over the world compete on a course that takes in some of the city's most famous sights. In addition to the 21.1 km (13.1 miles) Half Marathon, runners can also opt for the shorter 10 km (6.2 miles) Fun Run. Both runs start and finish at the stadium in Givat Ram.[227][228]

Steven Spielberg

2009-11-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years his films began addressing such issues as The Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for 1993's Schindler's List and 1998's Saving Private Ryan. Three of Spielberg's films, Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993), broke box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide. Forbes magazine places Spielberg's personal net worth at $3.0 billion.[2] In 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the twentieth century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation.[3]

[edit] Early life
Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Jewish parents Leah Adler, a restaurateur and concert pianist, and Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers.[4] He spent his childhood in Haddon Township, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona, an upscale suburb of Phoenix. Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure" films with his friends, the first of which he shot at the Pinnacle Peak Patio restaurant in Scottsdale. He charged admission (25 cents) to his home films (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn.

He became a Boy Scout and in 1958, he fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight.[5] Spielberg recalled years later to a magazine interviewer, "My dad's still camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father's movie camera. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western. I made it and got my merit badge. That was how it all started."[6] At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war film he titled "Escape to Nowhere." In 1963, at age 16, Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent film, a 140-minute science fiction adventure called Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters). The film, which had a budget of US$500, was shown in his local cinema and generated a profit of $1. He also made several WWII films inspired by his father's war stories.

After his parents divorced, he moved to California with his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona, where he attended Passover Seders at the home of Zalman and Pearl Segal on an annual basis.[citation needed] Although he attended Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona for three years, Spielberg ended up graduating from Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California in 1965. It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

After moving to California, he applied to attend the film school at University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three separate times, but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average. He attended California State University, Long Beach. While attending Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg became member of Theta Chi Fraternity. His actual career began when he returned to Universal Studios as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department. After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university.[7][8] In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production.[8]

As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 24 minute film Amblin' in 1968.[4] After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take up the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director.[citation needed] In 1969, Variety announced that Spielberg would direct his first full length film, Malcolm Winkler, written by Claudia Salter, produced by John Orland, with Frank Price being the executive producer. However, because of the difficulty in casting the key male role, the film was not made.

During his early life, Spielberg suffered from numerous acts of anti-Semitic prejudice. He later said, "I was embarrassed, I was self-conscious, I was always aware I stood out because of my Jewishness." He also said, "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."[9]

[edit] Career
[edit] Early career (1968–1975)
His first professional TV job came when he was hired to do one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of Night Gallery. The segment, "Eyes," starred Joan Crawford , and she and Spielberg were reportedly close friends until her death. The episode is unusual in his body of work, in that the camerawork is more highly stylized than his later, more "mature" films. After this, and an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D., Spielberg got his first feature-length assignment: an episode of The Name of the Game called "L.A. 2017." This futuristic science fiction episode impressed Universal Studios and they signed him to a short contract. He did another segment on Night Gallery and did some work for shows such as Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law and The Psychiatrist before landing the first series episode of Columbo (previous episodes were actually TV films).

Based on the strength of his work, Universal signed Spielberg to do four TV films. The first was a Richard Matheson adaptation called Duel about a monstrous tanker truck which tries to run a small car off the road. Special praise of this film by the influential British critic Dilys Powell was highly significant to Spielberg's career. Another TV film (Something Evil) was made and released to capitalize on the popularity of The Exorcist, then a major best-selling book which had not yet been released as a film. He fulfilled his contract by directing the TV film length pilot of a show called Savage, starring Martin Landau. Spielberg's debut theatrical feature film was The Sugarland Express, about a married couple who are chased by police as the couple tries to regain custody of their baby. Spielberg's cinematography for the police chase was praised by reviewers, and The Hollywood Reporter stated that "a major new director is on the horizon."[10] However, the film fared poorly at the box office and received a limited release.

Studio producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown offered Spielberg the director's chair for Jaws, a horror film based on the Peter Benchley novel about an enormous killer-shark. Spielberg has often referred to the grueling shoot as his professional crucible. Despite the film's ultimate, enormous success, it was nearly shut down due to delays and budget over-runs.

But Spielberg persevered and finished the film. It was an enormous hit, winning three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and sound) and grossing $470,653,000 worldwide at the box office. It also set the domestic record for box office gross, leading to what the press described as "Jawsmania."[11] Jaws made him a household name, as well as one of America's youngest multi-millionaires, and allowed Spielberg a great deal of autonomy for his future projects.[12] It was nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss.

[edit] Mainstream breakthrough (1975–1994)
Rejecting offers to direct Jaws 2,[13] King Kong and Superman, Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond, and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E. Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise. His next film, 1941, a big-budgeted World War II farce wasn't nearly as successful and though it grossed over $92.4 million dollars worldwide (and did make a small profit for co-producing studios Columbia and Universal) it was seen as a disappointment, mainly with the critics. It has since become a cult classic thanks to television showings and home video releases.

Spielberg then revisited his Close Encounters project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released Close Encounters: The Special Edition in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of Columbia, and as a condition of Spielberg revising the film, shot additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery). Nevertheless, the re-release was a moderate success, while the 2001 DVD release of the film restored the original ending.

Next, Spielberg teamed with Star Wars creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of the Indiana Jones films. The archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones was played by Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his Star Wars films as Han Solo). The film was considered a homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood. It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be nominated for Best Picture). Raiders is still considered a landmark example of the action genre.

Steven Spielberg with President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan after a showing of E.T. at the White HouseA year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was the story of a young boy and the alien whom he befriends, who was accidentally left behind by his people and is trying to get back home to outer space. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial went on to become the top-grossing film of all time. E.T. was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing films: Poltergeist (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of The Twilight Zone (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can"),[14] and The Goonies (Spielberg, executive producer, also wrote the story on which the screenplay was based).[15]

His next directorial feature was the Raiders prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with uncertainty for the material and script. This film and the Spielberg-produced Gremlins led to the creation of the PG-13 rating due to the high level of violence in films targeted at younger audiences. In spite of this, Temple of Doom is rated PG by the MPAA, even though it is the darkest and, possibly, most violent "Indy" film yet. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw.

In 1985, Spielberg released The Color Purple, an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best Director nomination. The Color Purple is the second of two Spielberg films not to be scored by John Williams, the first being Duel.

In 1987, as China began opening to the world, Spielberg shot the first American film in Shanghai since the 1930s, an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale. The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues. Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.[16]

After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery in a supporting role as Indy's father. The film earned generally positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film Batman, which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama Always, about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, Always was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.

In 1991, Spielberg directed Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland. Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed reviews, the film made over $300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget).

In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest grossing film ever.

Spielberg's next film, Schindler's List, was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 people from The Holocaust.[17] Schindler's List earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of the Holocaust survivors. In 1997 the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made (#9) which moved up to (#8) when the list was remade in 2007.

[edit] Since 1997

Spielberg in 1990In 1994, Spielberg took a hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio, DreamWorks[18], with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. In 1997, he helmed the sequel to 1993's Jurassic Park with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which generated over $832 million worldwide despite mixed reviews, and was the second biggest hit of 1997 behind James Cameron's Titanic (which topped the original Jurassic Park to become the new recordholder for box office receipts).

His next film, Amistad, was based on a true story (like Schindler's List), specifically about an African slave rebellion. Despite decent reviews from critics, it did not do well at the box office. Spielberg released Amistad under DreamWorks Pictures,[19] which issued all of his films from Amistad until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May 2008 (see below).

In 1998, Spielberg re-visited Close Encounters yet again, this time for a more definitive 137-minute "Collector's Edition" that puts more emphasis on the original 1977 release, while adding some elements of the previous 1980 "Special Edition," but deleting the latter version's "Mothership Finale," which Spielberg regretted shooting in the first place, feeling it should have remained ambiguous in the minds of viewers.

His next theatrical release in that same year was the World War II film Saving Private Ryan, about a group of U.S. soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) who try to bring home a paratrooper missing in France, whose three brothers were killed in action. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $481 million worldwide and was the biggest film of the year at the U.S./domestic box office. Spielberg won his second Academy Award for his direction. The film's graphic, realistic depiction of combat violence influenced later war films such as Black Hawk Down and Enemy at the Gates. The film was also the first major hit for DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Paramount Pictures (as such, it was Spielberg's first release from the latter that was not part of the Indiana Jones series). Later, Spielberg and Hanks presented a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series won a number of awards at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

In 2001, Spielberg filmed fellow director and friend Stanley Kubrick's final project, A.I. Artificial Intelligence which Kubrick was unable to begin during his lifetime. A futuristic film about a humanoid android longing for love, A.I. featured groundbreaking visual effects and a multi-layered, allegorical storyline, adapted by Spielberg himself.

Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time for the futuristic neo-noir Minority Report, based upon the sci-fi short story written by Philip K. Dick about a Washington, D.C., police captain who has been foreseen to murder a man he has not yet met. The film received strong reviews with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 199 out of the 217 reviews they tallied were positive.[20] The film was praised as a futuristic homage to film noir, with its intelligent premise and "whodunit" structure. The film earned over $358 million worldwide. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action.[21]

Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can is about the daring adventures of a youthful con artist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It earned Christopher Walken an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. It was a hit both commercially and critically.

Spielberg collaborated again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in 2004's The Terminal, a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is stranded in an airport. It received mixed reviews but performed relatively well at the box office. In 2005, Empire magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.

Also in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of War of the Worlds (a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and the original 1953 film). It starred Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which depicted friendly alien visitors, War of the Worlds featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide.

Spielberg's film Munich, about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games, was his second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being Schindler's List). The film is based on Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas – a book whose veracity has been largely questioned by journalists.[22] The film received strong critical praise, but underperformed at the U.S. and world box-office; it remains one of Spielberg's most controversial films to date.[23] Munich received five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture, Film Editing, Original Music Score (by John Williams), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was Spielberg's sixth Best Director nomination and fifth Best Picture nomination.

Spielberg directed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which wrapped filming in October 2007 and was released on May 22, 2008.[24][25] This was his first film not to be released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has performed very well in theaters. As of June 30 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has grossed $315 million domestically, and over $786 million worldwide.

[edit] Production credits
Since the mid-1980s Spielberg has increased his role as a film producer. He headed up the production team for several cartoons, including the Warner Brothers hits Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Toonsylvania, and Freakazoid!, for which he collaborated with Jean MacCurdy and Tom Ruegger. Due to his work on these series, in the official titles, most of them say, "Steven Spielberg presents" as well as making numerous cameos on the shows. Spielberg also produced the Don Bluth animated features, An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He also served as one of the executive producers of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and its three related shorts (Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit, Trail Mix-Up) with Disney. He was furthermore, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ER. In 1989, he brought the concept of The Dig to LucasArts. He contributed with the project from that time to 1995 when the game was released. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the multimedia game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game to direct the player. Spielberg was branded for a Lego Moviemaker kit, the proceeds of which went to the Starbright Foundation.

In 1993, Spielberg acted as executive producer for the highly anticipated television series seaQuest DSV; a science fiction series set "in the near future" starring Roy Scheider (who Spielberg had directed in Jaws) and Jonathan Brandis akin to Star Trek: The Next Generation that aired on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. on NBC. While the first season was moderately successful, the second season did less well. Spielberg's name no longer appeared in the third season and the show was cancelled mid way through the third season.

Spielberg served as an uncredited executive producer on The Haunting, The Prince of Egypt, Shrek, and Evolution. In 2005, he served as a producer of Memoirs of a Geisha, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Arthur Golden, a film he was previously attached to as director. In 2006 Spielberg co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis a CGI children's film called Monster House, marking their first collaboration together since 1990's Back to the Future Part III. He also teamed with Clint Eastwood for the first time in their careers, co-producing Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Robert Lorenz and Eastwood himself. He earned his twelfth Academy Award nomination for the latter film as it was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg served as executive producer for Disturbia and the Transformers live action film with Brian Goldner, an employee of Hasbro. The film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and Spielberg continues to collaborate on the sequels, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Other major television series Spielberg produced were Band of Brothers and Taken. He was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries Into the West which won two Emmy awards, including one for Geoff Zanelli's score.

In 2007, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced On the Lot an ill-fated TV reality show about filmmaking.

[edit] Acting credits
Steven Spielberg had cameo roles in The Blues Brothers, Gremlins, Vanilla Sky, and Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as small uncredited cameos in a handful of other films. He also made numerous cameo roles in the Warner Brothers cartoons he produced, such as Animaniacs, and even made reference to some of his films.

[edit] Involvement in video games
Other than films, Spielberg has also revealed an interest in video games.[26] In 2005 the director signed with Electronic Arts to collaborate on three games including a currently unnamed action game and a puzzle game for the Wii called Boom Blox.[27] Previously, he was involved in creating the scenario for the adventure game The Dig.[28] He is also the creator of the Medal of Honor series by Electronic Arts.[29] He was also credited in the special thanks section of the 1998 video game Trespasser.[30]

[edit] Upcoming projects
Spielberg is planning a motion capture film trilogy based on The Adventures of Tintin, with Peter Jackson. He will direct the first film The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, which will be released by 2011 due to the necessary computer animation, while Jackson will direct the second which Spielberg will produce. The two will co-direct a third. Afterwards, Spielberg is expected to film an Abraham Lincoln biopic, titled Lincoln, starring Liam Neeson, with a script by Tony Kushner. He is also directing and producing the film Interstellar, and adapting Old Boy (with Will Smith), Ghost in the Shell and Chocky.

Another upcoming project is a miniseries which he will produce with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, titled The Pacific. The miniseries will cost $250 million and will be a 10-part war miniseries in conjunction with the Australian Seven Network. The project is centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Writer Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of the first miniseries (Band of Brothers), is the head writer. Filming is expected to begin in August 2008 and will continue for a year, with locations mostly in Australia, to include Far North Queensland, Melbourne, and the Northern Territory. Producers have chosen to base the series at Melbourne's Central City Studios.[31] He is also producing two untitled Fox TV series, one focusing on fashion, another on time-travellers from World War II.[32]

He may also work with Spike Lee on adapting the African novel "Things Fall Apart" which was written by Chinua Achebe, with Lee set to direct.

In 19 May 2009 Steven Spielberg has bought the rights to the life of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Spielberg will be involved not only as producer but also as a director.[2]

In August 2009 it was announced that he is to direct a remake of 1950 James Stewart classic Harvey, the tale of a man who claims his best friend is a giant invisible rabbit.

In August 2009, rumors also appeared suggesting that Spielberg is in active negotiations with Microsoft in a possible deal to take up the Halo Movie based on Stuart Beattie's original script, after 20th Century Fox's dropout from Peter Jackson's project in 2006.

Actor Shia LaBeouf has stated that the director is fascinated by the video game BioShock, suggesting he may become involved in a forthcoming film adaptation[citation needed].

Director Michael Bay announced that the third Transformers film produced by Spielberg is set to be released in 2011.[33]

He also got the rights to work with Scholastic to do a series of movies based on the bestselling series, The 39 Clues with the first one coming in 2011.

[edit] Themes
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (May 2009)

Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. This is especially evident in the Indiana Jones series. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films. Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood,[34] and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.[35]

A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. According to Warren Buckland,[36] these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, Minority Report, and Amistad. If one views each of his films, one will see this shot utilized by the director, notably the water scenes in Jaws are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming. Another child oriented theme in Spielberg's films is that of loss of innocence and coming-of-age. In Empire of the Sun, Jim, a well-groomed and spoiled English youth, loses his innocence as he suffers through World War II China. Similarly, in Catch Me If You Can Frank naively and foolishly believes that he can reclaim his shattered family if he accumulates enough money to support them.

The most persistent theme throughout his films is tension in parent-child relationships. Parents (often fathers) are reluctant, absent or ignorant. Peter Banning in Hook starts off in the beginning of the film as a reluctant married-to-his-work parent who through the course of his film regains the respect of his children. The notable absence of Elliott's father in E.T., is the most famous example of this theme. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it is revealed that Indy has always had a very strained relationship with his father, who is a professor of medieval literature, as his father always seemed more interested in his work, specifically in his studies of the Holy Grail, than in his own son, although his father does not seem to realize or understand the negative effect that his aloof nature had on Indy (he even believes he was a good father in the sense that he taught his son "self reliance," which is not how Indy saw it). Even Oskar Schindler, from Schindler's List, is reluctant to have a child with his wife. Munich depicts Avner as man away from his wife and newborn daughter. There are of course exceptions; Brody in Jaws is a committed family man, while John Anderton in Minority Report is a shattered man after the disappearance of his son. This theme is arguably the most autobiographical aspect of Spielberg's films, since Spielberg himself was affected by his parents' divorce as a child and by the absence of his father. Furthermore to this theme, protagonists in his films often come from families with divorced parents, most notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (protagonist Elliot's mother is divorced) and Catch Me If You Can (Frank Abagnale's mother and father split early on in the film). Little known also is Tim in Jurassic Park (early in the film another, secondary character mentions Tim and Lex's parents' divorce). The family often shown divided is often resolved in the ending as well. Following this theme of reluctant fathers and father figures, Tim looks to Dr. Alan Grant as a father figure. Initially, Dr. Grant is reluctant to return those paternal feelings to Tim . However, by the end of the film, he has changed, and the kids even fall asleep with their heads on his shoulders.

Most of his films are generally optimistic in nature. Critics frequently accuse his films of being overly sentimental, though Spielberg feels it's fine as long as it is disguised. The influence comes from directors Frank Capra and John Ford.[37]

[edit] Contemporaries
In terms of casting and production itself, Spielberg has a known penchant for working with actors and production members from his previous films. For instance he has cast Richard Dreyfuss in several films: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Always. Spielberg has also cast Harrison Ford for several of his films from small roles, as the headteacher in a cut scene from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as well as in leading role in the Indiana Jones films. Although Spielberg directed him only once (in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he voiced many of the animals), veteran voice actor Frank Welker has lent his voice in a number of productions Spielberg has executively produced from Gremlins to its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, as well as The Land Before Time (and lending his voice to its sequels which Spielberg had no involvement in), Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and television shows such as Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and SeaQuest DSV. Recently Spielberg has used the actor Tom Hanks on several occasions and has cast him in Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, and The Terminal. Spielberg also has collaborated with Tom Cruise twice on Minority Report and War of the Worlds. Spielberg has also cast Shia LaBeouf in four films: Transformers, Eagle Eye, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Spielberg prefers working with production members with whom he has developed an existing working relationship. An example of this is his production relationship with Kathleen Kennedy who has served as producer on all his major films from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to the recent Munich. Other working relationships include Allen Daviau, a childhood friend and cinematographer who shot the early Spielberg film Amblin' and most of his films up to Empire of the Sun; Janusz Kamiński who has shot every Spielberg film since Schindler's List (see List of film director and cinematographer collaborations); and the film editor Michael Kahn who has edited every single film directed by Spielberg from Close Encounters to Munich (except E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial). Most of the DVDs of Spielberg's films have documentaries by Laurent Bouzereau.

A famous example of Spielberg working with the same professionals is his long time collaboration with John Williams and the use of his musical scores in all of his films since The Sugarland Express (except The Color Purple and Twilight Zone: The Movie). One of Spielberg's trademarks is his use of music by John Williams to add to the visual impact of his scenes and to try and create a lasting picture and sound of the film in the memories of the film audience. These visual scenes often uses images of the sun (e.g. Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, the final scene of Jurassic Park, and the end credits of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (where they ride into the sunset)), of which the last two feature a Williams score at that end scene. Spielberg is a contemporary of filmmakers George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, John Milius, and Brian De Palma, collectively known as the "Movie Brats." Aside from his principal role as a director, Spielberg has acted as a producer for a considerable number of films, including early hits for Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis.

[edit] Personal life
[edit] Marriages and children
From 1985 to 1989 Spielberg was married to actress Amy Irving. In their 1989 divorce settlement, she received $100 million from Spielberg after a judge controversially vacated a prenuptial agreement written on a napkin. Their divorce was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history.[38] Following the divorce, Spielberg and Irving shared custody of their son, Max Samuel.

Spielberg subsequently developed a relationship with actress Kate Capshaw, whom he met when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. They married on October 12, 1991. Capshaw is a convert to Judaism.[39] They currently move among their four homes in Pacific Palisades, California; New York City; East Hampton, NY; and Naples, Florida.

There are seven children in the Spielberg-Capshaw family:

Jessica Capshaw (b. August 9, 1976) - daughter from Kate Capshaw's previous marriage to Robert Capshaw
Max Samuel Spielberg (b. June 13, 1985) - son from Spielberg's previous marriage to actress Amy Irving
Theo Spielberg (b. 1988) - son adopted by Capshaw before her marriage to Spielberg, who later adopted him [40]
Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (b. May 14, 1990, Los Angeles)[41][42]
Sawyer Avery Spielberg (b. March 10, 1992, Los Angeles)[43]
Mikaela George (b. February 28, 1996) - adopted with Kate Capshaw
Destry Allyn Spielberg (b. December 1, 1996)
Genealogy (adoptions in Italics)[show]
Bernice Colner Arnold Spielberg Leah Posner Bernie Adler

Amy Irving Steven Spielberg Kate Capshaw Robert Capshaw Anne Spielberg Danny Opatoshu Sue Spielberg Nancy Spielberg

Max Samuel Spielberg Theo Capshaw(adopted) Mikaela George(adopted) Destry Allyn Spielberg Jessica Capshaw

[edit] Starbright
In 1991 Steven Spielberg co-founded Starbright with Randy Aduana– a foundation dedicated to improving sick children's lives through technology-based programs focusing on entertainment and education. In 2002 Starbright merged with the Starlight Foundation forming what is now today – Starlight Children's Foundation.

[edit] Politics
Spielberg generally supports U.S. Democratic Party candidates. He has donated over $800,000 for the Democratic party and its nominees. He has been a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and worked with the President for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled The American Journey. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C..[44]
Spielberg resigned as an advisory board member of his local boy scout council in 2001 because of his disapproval of the BSA's anti-homosexuality stance.[45][46]
Spielberg joined Jeffrey Katzenberg and Haim Saban in endorsing the re-election of Hollywood friend Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican Governor of California, on August 7, 2006.
On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama,[47]. But on June 14, 2007, Spielberg endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for President. While Geffen and Katzenberg supported Obama, Spielberg was always a supporter of Hillary Clinton. However Spielberg directed a video for Obama at the DNC in August 2008 and attended Obama's inauguration.
In February 2008, Spielberg pulled out of his role as advisor to the 2008 Beijing Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur.[48] Spielberg said in a statement that "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual." It also said that "Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more.."[49] The International Olympic Committee respected Spielberg's decision, but IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted in an interview that "[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity."[50] Spielberg's statement drew criticism from Chinese officials and state-run media calling his criticism "unfair."[51] Academy Award-nominated Chinese director Zhang Yimou ultimately directed the ceremonies, to wide international acclaim.
In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage, by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior.[52]
[edit] Hobbies
Spielberg is an avid film buff and when not shooting a picture, he will indulge in "movie orgies," watching many over a single weekend.[53] He sees almost every major summer blockbuster in theaters if not preoccupied and enjoys most of them; "If I get pleasure from anything, I can't think of it as dumb or myself as shallow [...] I'll probably go late to that movie and go, 'What the dickens was everybody complaining about, that wasn't so bad!'"[54]

Since playing Pong while filming Jaws in 1974, Spielberg has been an avid video gamer. He owns a Wii, a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and enjoys playing first-person shooters such as the Medal of Honor series (which he created) and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He has also criticized the use of cut scenes in games, calling them intrusive, and feels making story flow naturally into the gameplay is a challenge for future game developers.[55]

[edit] Stalking
In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis, who accused him along with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt of controlling her thoughts through "cybertronic" technology and being part of a satanic conspiracy against her. Napolis was committed for a year in a state hospital before pleading guilty to stalking and released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with either Spielberg or Hewitt.[56][57][58][59]

Spielberg was a target of the 2002 white supremacist terror plot.[60]

[edit] Achievements

Spielberg with a public service award presented by United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen, 1999.Spielberg is a winner of three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and seven of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). In 1987 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.

Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree which Spielberg attended, personally counseling many boys in their work on requirements.

That same year, 1989, was the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout. Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments and service to others, Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.[61]

Steven Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.

In 1998 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of his film "Schindlers List" and his Shoa-Foundation.[62]

In 1999, Spielberg received an honorary degree from Brown University. Spielberg was also awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999. Cohen presented Spielberg the award in recognition of his film Saving Private Ryan.

In 2001, he was honored as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.[63][64][65]

In 2004 he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur from president Jacques Chirac.[66] On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival,[67] and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3.[68] The tribute to Spielberg featured a short filmed biography narrated by Tom Hanks and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for Saving Private Ryan, as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).

former President Clinton with Speilberg as he accepts the 2009 Liberty AwardIn November 2007, he was chosen for Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, the new, watered-down format of the ceremony result from conflicts from the 2007-08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony.[69][70] In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.[71]

In June 2008, Spielberg was the recipient of Arizona State University’s Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.[72]

Spielberg received an honorary degree at Boston University's 136th Annual Commencement on May 17, 2009. In October 2009 Steven Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal. Presenting him with the medal was former US president and Liberty Medal recipient Bill Clinton. Special guests included Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Clinton, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

[edit] Praise and Criticism
After watching the unconventional, off-center camera techniques of Jaws, an aging Alfred Hitchcock praised "young Spielberg," saying "He's the first one of us who doesn't see the proscenium arch." Or, to paraphrase, he was the first mainstream director to visually think outside the spatial dynamics of the theater.[73]

Spielberg, as a then co-owner of DreamWorks, was involved in a heated debate in which the studio proposed building on the remaining wetlands in Southern California, though development was later dropped.[74]

Spielberg's films are often accused of leaning towards sentimentalism at the expense of other aspects of the film.[75][76][77]

French New Wave giant Jean-Luc Godard famously and publicly criticised Spielberg at the premiere of his film In Praise of Love. Godard, who has continuously complained about the commercial nature of modern cinema, holds Spielberg partly responsible for the lack of artistic merit in mainstream cinema. Godard accused Spielberg of using his film Schindler's List to make a profit of tragedy while Schindler's wife lived in poverty in Argentina.[78] In Spielberg's defense, critic Roger Ebert argues that Spielberg is very talented and has also said, "Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"[79] American artist and actor Crispin Glover (who starred in the Spielberg-produced Back to the Future) also criticised Spielberg in his 2005 essay What Is It?.[80]

Jacques Rivette criticized Spielberg while discussing the James Cameron film Titanic, saying that "Cameron isn't evil, he's not an asshole like Spielberg."[81]

Some of the harshest critique came from the film director Alejandro Jodorowsky, who, among other things, expressed the desire to kill Spielberg: "But, say, Spielberg is not honest. I hate Spielberg, because none of his movies are honest. His violence is ill, it's not honest. He shows an ill violence, as though he was the father of history. He hates Jews, because he is Jewish. He is making business with that, with Europe. He is fascist, because America is the centre of his world. If I can kill Spielberg, I will kill Spielberg." Then he added: "But what I hate the most is Spielberg. And second Walt Disney." After being asked about his earlier hatred for Walt Disney above all others, he responded: "Yes. But now it's Spielberg. I think Spielberg is the son from when Walt Disney fucked Minnie Mouse. And then there was Spielberg." [82]

Critics such as anti-mainstream film theorist Ray Carney also complain that Spielberg's films lack depth and do not take risks.[83] Some of Spielberg's most famous fans include film legend Ingmar Bergman[84].

In a TCM interview, Terry Gilliam expressed some harsh critique towards Spielberg and compared him unfavorably to Stanley Kubrick, saying "The great difference between Kubrick and Spielberg is - Spielberg is more successful. His films make much more money. But they're comforting, they give you answers, always, the films are answers, and I don't think they're very clever answers. (...) Spielberg and the success of most films in Hollywood, I think, is down to the fact that they're comforting, they tie things up in nice little bows, gives you answers, even if the answers are stupid, they're answers. Oh, you go home, you don't have to worry about it. (...) There was a wonderful quote in a book that Freddy Raphael wrote about the making of Eyes Wide Shut, it's called Eyes Wide Open, and he's talking to Kubrick about Schindler's List and the Holocaust, and he says: "The thing is, Schindler's List is about success, the Holocaust was about failure." And that's Kubrick, and that's just spot on. Schindler's List had "save those few people" happy ending. "A man can do what a man can do", and stop death for a few people. But that's not what Holocaust is about, it's about complete failure of civilization, to allow 6 million people to die. And I know which side I'd rather be on. I'd like to have a nice house like Spielberg, but I know which side I'd rather be on." [85]

Gilliam also said the following after seeing Spielberg's War of the Worlds: "I saw 'War of the Worlds' and I thought, Steven Spielberg is a man who makes brilliant scenes but can't make a movie anymore." [86]

In August 2007 Ai Weiwei, the artistic designer for the Beijing Olympic Stadium Bird's Nest accused those choreographing the Olympic opening ceremony, including Steven Spielberg, of failing to live up to their responsibility as artists. Ai said "It's disgusting. I don't like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment."[87]

Imre Kertész, Hungarian Jewish author, Holocaust concentration camp survivor, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, attacked Spielberg for falsifying the experience of Holocaust in Schindler's List, and for showing it as something that is foreign to the human nature and impossible to reoccur. He also dismissed the film itself as kitsch:

"Yes, the survivors watch helplessly as their only real possessions are done away with: authentic experiences. I know that many will not agree with me when I apply the term "kitsch" to Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. It is said that Spielberg has in fact done a great service, considering that his film lured millions into the movie theaters, including many who otherwise would never have been interested in the subject of the Holocaust. That might be true. But why should I, as a Holocaust survivor and as one in possession of a broader experience of terror, be pleased when more and more people see these experiences produced on the big screen—and falsified at that? It is obvious that the American Spielberg, who incidentally wasn’t even born until after the war, has and can have no idea of the authentic reality of a Nazi concentration camp. Why, then, does he struggle so hard to make his representation of a world he does not know seem authentic in every detail? The most important message of this black-and-white film comes, I think, at the end, with the appearance in color of a triumphant crowd of people. But I also regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that fails to imply the wide-ranging ethical consequences of Auschwitz, and from which the PERSON in capital letters (and with it the idea of the Human as such) emerges from the camps healthy and unharmed. If this were really possible, we wouldn't still be talking about the Holocaust, or at any rate would speak about it as we might discuss some event of which we have only a distant historical memory, like, say, the Battle of El-Alamein. I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life (whether in the private sphere or on the level of "civilization" as such) and the very possibility of the Holocaust. Here I have in mind those representations that seek to establish the Holocaust once and for all as something foreign to human nature; that seek to drive the Holocaust out of the realm of human experience. I would also use the term kitsch to describe those works where Auschwitz is regarded as simply a matter concerning Germans and Jews, and thereby reduced to something like the fatal incompatibility of two groups; when the political and psychological anatomy of modern totalitarianism more generally is disregarded; when Auschwitz is not seen as a universal experience, but reduced to whatever immediately "hits the eye." Apart from this, of course, I regard anything that is kitsch, as kitsch."[88]

Kertész then went on to praise Life Is Beautiful as a film that is truthful to the spirit of Holocaust if not its reality.

[edit] Filmography
Main article: Steven Spielberg filmography
This is a Steven Spielberg filmography, including those he directed, produced, and acted in.

One thing interesting to note about Spielberg is that he is very protective of his name. If he is the producer or executive producer of a film which he feels does not meet his standards, he will ask for his name to be removed from the credits.

[edit] Films
This is a table of films that Steven Spielberg has been involved in. The lists below will eventually be incorporated into this table.

Year Film Credited as
Director Producer Writer Actor Role
1964 Firelight Yes Yes
1968 Amblin' Yes Yes
1971 Duel Yes
1974 The Sugarland Express Yes
1975 Jaws Yes
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Yes Yes
1978 I Wanna Hold Your Hand Yes
1979 1941 Yes
1980 The Blues Brothers Yes Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk
Used Cars Yes
1981 Continental Divide Yes
Raiders of the Lost Ark Yes
1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Yes Yes
Poltergeist Yes Yes Yes
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie Yes Yes
1984 Gremlins Yes Yes Man in Electric Wheelchair
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Yes
Room 666 Yes Himself
1985 Back to the Future Yes
The Color Purple Yes
The Goonies Yes Yes
Young Sherlock Holmes Yes
1986 An American Tail Yes
The Money Pit Yes
1987 *batteries not included Yes
Empire of the Sun Yes Yes
Harry and the Hendersons Yes
Innerspace Yes
1988 The Land Before Time Yes
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Yes
1989 Always Yes Yes
Back to the Future Part II Yes
Dad Yes
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Yes
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Yes
1990 Arachnophobia Yes
Back to the Future Part III Yes
Gremlins 2: The New Batch Yes
Joe Versus the Volcano Yes
Roller Coaster Rabbit Yes
1991 A Wish for Wings That Work Yes
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Yes
Cape Fear Yes
Hook Yes
Listen Up!: The Lives of Quincy Jones Yes Himself
Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation Yes
1992 The Magical World of Chuck Jones Yes Himself
1993 Jurassic Park Yes Yes
Schindler's List Yes Yes
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story Yes
1994 The Flintstones Yes
1995 Casper Yes
Survivors of the Holocaust Yes
1996 AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards: Clint Eastwood Yes Himself
Balto Yes
The Universal Story Yes Himself
Twister Yes
1997 Amistad Yes Yes
Men in Black Yes
The Lost World: Jurassic Park Yes
1998 Saving Private Ryan Yes Yes
The Last Days Yes
The Mask of Zorro Yes
Deep Impact Yes
1999 Forever Hollywood Yes Himself
The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick & "Eyes Wide Shut" Yes Himself
Wakko's Wish Yes
2000 Chuck Jones: Extremes and Inbetweens - A Life in Animation Yes
Shooting War Yes
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence Yes Yes Yes
Jurassic Park III Yes
Price for Peace: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki Yes
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures Yes Himself
Vanilla Sky Yes Guest at David Aames' Party
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Yes Himself
Catch Me If You Can Yes Yes
Men in Black II Yes
Minority Report Yes
2003 Double Dare Yes Himself
2004 Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic Yes Himself
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust Yes Himself
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing Yes Himself
The Terminal Yes Yes
2005 Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters Yes Himself
Memoirs of a Geisha Yes
Munich Yes Yes
The Legend of Zorro Yes
War of the Worlds Yes
Directed by John Ford Yes Himself
2006 Flags of Our Fathers Yes
I Only Wanted to Live Yes
Letters from Iwo Jima Yes
Monster House Yes
Searching for Orson Yes
The Shark Is Still Working Yes Himself
2007 Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco Yes Himself
Spielberg on Spielberg Yes Himself
Disturbia Yes
Transformers Yes
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Yes
Eagle Eye Yes
2009 The Trial of the Chicago 7 Yes
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Yes
The Lovely Bones Yes
2011 Lincoln Yes Yes
When Worlds Collide Yes
The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn Yes Yes
Interstellar Yes
Year Film Director Producer Writer Actor Role

[edit] Highest-grossing films
This is a list of the top 10 highest domestic-grossing films in which Spielberg has written, directed, or acted, according to Box Office Mojo. This does not include films in which he had a minor role, or appeared as a cameo, according to the same site. Spielberg's films have grossed domestically a total of more than $3.5 billion, with an average of $156 million per film.

Rank Title Lifetime gross (US$)
1 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 435 million
2 Jurassic Park 357 million
3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 317 million
4 Jaws 260 million
5 Raiders of the Lost Ark 242 million
6 War of the Worlds 234 million
7 The Lost World: Jurassic Park 229 million
8 Saving Private Ryan 217 million
9 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 197 million
10 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 180 million

[edit] Television
(lengths include commercials)

Night Gallery (1969, 1971)
pilot movie segment B "Eyes" [aired November 8 1969] (30 min)
ep4 segA "Make Me Laugh" [aired Jan 6 1971] (30 min)
Marcus Welby, M.D. (1970) ep 1-27 "The Daredevil Gesture" (60 min) [aired March 17, 1970]
The Name of the Game (1971) ep 3-16 "L.A. 2017" (90 min) [aired January 15, 1971]
The Psychiatrist (1971)
ep. 1-2 "The Private World of Martin Dalton" (60 min) [aired February 10, 1971]
ep. 1-6 "Par for the Course" (60 min) [aired March 10, 1971]
(this was released on a VHS named The Visionary after the other episode included)
Columbo (1971) ep. 1-1 "Murder By the Book" (90 min) [aired September 15, 1971]
Owen Marshall: Counselor At Law (1971) ep. 1-3 "Eulogy for a Wide Receiver" (60 min) [aired September 30 1971]
Duel (1971) TV-movie (90 min) (extended cut was released theatrically and on home video/DVD) [aired November 13 1971]
Something Evil (1972) TV-movie (90 min) [aired January 21, 1972]
Savage (1973) TV-movie (90 min) [aired March 31, 1973]
Curse of the boobahs (1984) TV series (introductory segments hosted by Dustin Hoffman) [aired May 1984]
Amazing Stories (1985)
ep 1-1 "Ghost Train" (30 min) [aired October 6 1985]
ep 1-5 "The Mission" (60 min) [aired November 3 1985] (part of Amazing Stories: Book One)
[edit] Awards and nominations
This section requires expansion.

[edit] Nominations for Academy Award for Best Director
1977 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1993 - Schindler's List (win)
1998 - Saving Private Ryan (win)
2005 - Munich[89]
[edit] Academy Award for Best Picture
1975 - Jaws
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1985 - The Color Purple
1993 - Schindler's List (win)
1998 - Saving Private Ryan
2005 - Munich
2006 - Letters from Iwo Jima (producer)[90]
[edit] Other
2009 Liberty Medal[91]

Pearl Harbor

2009-11-03T16:27:00.002-08:00

Pearl Harbor is a harbor on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, brought the United States into World War II.

[edit] History
Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive, shallow embayment called Wai Momi (meaning "harbor of pearl") or Pu'uloa by the Hawaiians. Pu'uloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Ka'ahupahau and her brother (or son) Kahi'uka in Hawaiian legends. Keaunui, the head of the powerful and celebrated Ewa chiefs, is attributed the honour of having cut a navigable channel near the present Puuloa saltworks, by which the great estuary, now known as "Pearl River," was in all subsequent ages rendered accessible to navigation. Making due allowance for legendary amplification of a known fact, the estuary doubtless had an outlet for its waters where the present gap is; but the legend is probably correct in giving Keaunui the credit of having widened it and deepened it, so as to admit the passage of canoes, and even larger vessels, in and out of the Pearl River estuary. The harbor was teeming with pearl-producing oysters until the late 1800s.

[edit] Nineteenth Century
During the years following the arrival of Captain Jack Dennis, Pearl Harbor was not considered a suitable harbor due to its shallow water. The interest of the United States Government in the Sandwich Islands followed the adventurous voyages of its whaling and trading ships in the Pacific. As early as 1820, an "Agent of the United States for Commerce and Seamen" was appointed to look after American business in the Port of Honolulu. These commercial ties to the American continent were accompanied by the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. American missionaries and their families became an integral part of the Hawaiian political body.

The affair of Lieutenant Jack Dennis[3] in 1826 illustrates some of the high-handed tactics used by colonizers of the islands at this time. When Percival's ship, USS Dolphin, arrived in Honolulu, an ordinance had just been passed, inspired by the missionaries, placing restrictions on the sale of alcoholic liquors and the taking of women aboard vessels in the Honolulu Harbor. Lieutenant Percival and members of his crew felt that the new vice laws were unfair and, with more than a mere threat of force, had them rescinded. This action was later renounced by the United States and resulted in the sending of an envoy to King Kauikeaouli. When Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones arrived, in command of the USS Peacock, he was the first naval officer to visit Hawaii armed with instructions to discuss international affairs with the Hawaii King and Chiefs and to conclude a trade treaty.

Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, many American warships visited Honolulu. In most cases, the commanding officers carried letters with them from the U.S. Government; as a rule, giving advice concerning the conduct of governmental affairs and of the relations of the island nation with foreign powers. In 1841, the weekly periodical, Polynesian, printed in Honolulu, advocated editorially that the U.S. establish a naval base in Hawaii. Its pretext was the protection of the interest of American citizens engaged in the whaling industry. The pro-British Hawaiian minister, R.C. Wyllie, remarked in 1840 that ". . . my opinion is that the tide of events rushes on to annexation to the United States." This trend was in no way hampered by the over-anxious endeavors of the British and the French governments to gain favorable trade concessions in the islands. On February 13, 1843, Lord George Paulet, of HMS Carysfort, attempted to annex the islands for alleged insults and malpractices against British subjects. Although an American warship, USS Boston, was in the harbor at the time, its commanding officer did not protest this threatened use of violence. Official protest was made a few days later, however, by Commodore Kearney of USS Constellation. Fortunately, before the matter became an international incident, the actions of Lord Paulet were disavowed by Lord Aberdeen in London. This incident led to the formulation of a declaration by France and Britain disavowing any act interfering with the Sandwich Islands as an independent state. The United States, although invited to become a member of this concert of nations, declined to take part in the convention because the time.

When France began to agitate for special concessions in the 1850s, the King, under the influence of his American advisors, drew up a deed of cessation to the United States. The commanding officer of USS Vandalia had his ship stand by to prevent the intervention of any foreign power during the interim before Washington's reply. With the death of the king, the retirement of the French forces, and the foreign policy of the Fillmore administration, the cessation idea fell into disfavor. The Navy Department received orders, however, to keep the naval armament of the U.S. in the Pacific.

With the conclusion of the Civil War, the purchase of Alaska, the increased importance of the Pacific states, the projected trade with the Orient and the desire for a duty free market for Hawaiian staples, the islands were irresistibly drawn into the whirlpool of expansion. In 1865 the North Pacific Squadron was formed to embrace the western coast and the Sandwich Islands. USS Lackawanna in the following year was assigned the task of cruising among the islands, "a locality of great and increasing interest and importance." This vessel surveyed the islands and reefs, northwest of the Sandwich Islands toward Japan. It was as a result of these surveys that the United States established its claims to Midway Island. The Secretary of the Navy was able to write in his annual report of 1868, that in November, 1867, forty-two American flags flew over whaleships and merchant vessels in Honolulu to only six foreign flags. This increased activity caused the permanent assignment of at least one warship to Hawaiian waters. This same report praised the possibilities of Brooks, or Midway Island, which had been discovered in 1858, as possessing a harbor surpassing that of Honolulu. In the following year, Congress approved an appropriation of $50,000 on 1 March 1869, to deepen the approaches to this harbor.

After 1868, when the Commander of the Pacific Fleet visited the islands to look after "American interests," naval officers played an important role in internal affairs. They served as arbitrators in business disputes, negotiators of trade agreements and defenders of law and order. Periodic voyages among the islands and to the mainland aboard U.S. warships were arranged for members of the Hawaiian royal family and important island government officials. When King Lunalilo died in 1873, negotiations were underway for the cessation of Pearl Harbor as a port for the duty-free export of sugar to the U.S. With the election of a new king, King Kalakaua in March, 1874, anti-American factions helped to precipitate a number of riots which were regarded as sufficiently disturbing to have bluejackets landed from USS Tuscorora and the USS Portsmouth. The British warship, HMS Tenedos, also landed a token force. It was during the reign of King Kalakaua that the United States was granted exclusive rights to enter Pearl Harbor and to establish "a coaling and repair station."

While this treaty continued in force until August 1898, no advantage was taken by the U.S. Government of the opportunity to fortify or use Pearl Harbor as a naval base. The shallow entrance constituted a formidable barrier against the use of the deep protected waters of the inner harbor much as it had some sixty years previously.

The United States of America and the Hawaiian Kingdom signed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 as supplemented by Convention on December 6, 1884 and ratified in 1887. On January 20, 1887, the United States Senate allowed the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base[4] (the US took possession on November 9 that year). The Spanish-American War of 1898 and the desire for the United States to have a permanent presence in the Pacific both contributed to the decision.

[edit] 1899–1941
After the annexation, Pearl Harbor was refitted to allow for more navy ships. In May 1899, Commander F. Merry was made naval representative with authority to transact business for the Navy Department and its Bureaus. He immediately assumed control of the Coal Depot and its equipment. To supplement his facilities, he was assigned the Navy tug Iroquois and two coal barges. Inquiries that commenced in June culminated in the establishment of the "Naval Station, Honolulu" on 17 November 1899. On 2 February 1900, this title was changed to "Naval Station, Hawaii."

The creation of the Naval Station afforded the Navy Department an opportunity to explore into territorial outposts. In October 1899 the USS Nero and the Iroquois made extensive surveys and sounding of the waterways to Midway and Guam. One of the reasons for these explorations was for the selection of a possible cable route to Luzon.

A coal famine and an outbreak of the bubonic plague were the only two incidents that hindered the Commandant from fulfilling his primary functions. Because of the severe coal shortage in September 1899, the Commandant sold coal to the Oahu Railway and Land Company and the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, Ltd. Although this indicated the affinity of economic ties with the Navy, it was to a certain extent counteracted by the quarantine of the naval establishment from December 1899 to February 1900, because of the bubonic plague. Approximately 61 deaths were recorded in Honolulu for this period. Work was consequently delayed on nascent Navy projects in Honolulu Harbor.

From 1900 to 1908 the Navy devoted its time to improving the facilities of the 85 acres (340,000 m2) that constituted the naval reservation in Honolulu. Under the Appropriation Act of 3 March 1901, this tract of land was improved with the erection of additional sheds and housing. Improvements included a machine shop, smithery and foundry, Commandant's house and stables, cottage for the watchman, fencing, ten-ton wharf crane, and water-pipe system. The harbor was dredged and the channel enlarged to accommodate larger ships. On 28 May 1903, the first battleship, USS Wisconsin, entered the harbor for coal and water. However, when the vessels of the Asiatic station visited Honolulu in January 1904, Rear Admiral Silas Terry complained that they were inadequately accommodated with dockage and water.

Under the above Appropriation Act, Congress approved the acquisition of lands for the development of a naval station at Pearl Harbor and the improvement of the channel to the Lochs. The Commandant, under the direction of the Bureau of Equipment, attempted to obtain options on lands surrounding Pearl Harbor that were recommended for naval use. This endeavor was unsuccessful when the owners of the property refused to accept what was deemed to be a fair price. Condemnation proceedings, under the Hawaiian law of eminent domain, were begun on 6 July 1901. The land acquired by this suit included the present Navy Yard, Kauhua Island, and a strip on the southeast coast of Ford Island. The work of dredging the coral reef that blocked Pearl Harbor progressed rapidly enough to allow the gunboat Petrel to proceed to the upper part of Main Loch in January 1905.

One of the early concerns of the growing station was that the Army would make claims on its property. Because of their facilities, as wharves, cranes, artesian wells, and coal supplies, many requests were made by the Army for their use. By February 1901, the Army had made application for the privilege of establishing on Navy docks movable cranes for handling coal and other stores, a saluting battery and a flag staff on the naval reservation, and an artesian well of its own. All these requests were rejected by the Bureau of Equipment on the theory that, once granted, they "will practically constitute a permanent foothold on the property, and end in dividing it between the two Departments, or in the entire exclusion of the Navy Department on the ground of military expediency as established by frequency of use." However, the Army Depot Quartermaster at Honolulu contracted for the sinking of an artesian well on the Naval Station with the Commandant's approval, who, in turn, acted on a recommendation of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. The flow of water obtained amounted to over a million and a half gallons per day, sufficient for all purposes of the Army and navy. The Bureau of Equipment felt that its word of caution was justified when the Depot Quartermaster in 1902 let it be known that any water used by the Navy from the artesian well was "only given by courtesy of the Army."

Despite the warnings of the Bureau of Equipment, the War Department, the Department of Labor and Commerce, and the Department of Agriculture had secured permission to settle on the naval reservation. By 1906, the Commandant believed that it was necessary for the Bureau of Yards and Docks to develop a policy on the future of the station. The docks were being used to a greater extent by the Army transports, than by Navy ships, and the Army was actually attempting to get possession of Quarantine Wharf (which was built by the Territorial Government on the Naval Reservation, with the understanding that it could be taken over at any time by the Navy Department upon the payment of its appraised value.) In 1903, the Department of Labor and Commerce received about 7 acres (28,000 m2) for an Immigration Station. The Department of Agriculture had, in the meanwhile, secured part of the site intended for a hospital as an experimental station. The Commandant felt that, if the station was going to develop beyond a mere coaling depot, these territorial encroachments on the part of other departments should be stopped, particularly when they were enjoying the benefits of naval appropriations. "On the other hand," he wrote, "if it is the intention to improve Pearl Harbor and eventually abandon this station every effort should be made to begin work there as soon as possible. . . . I am informed that important commercial interests will make a strong effort next year to have Pearl Harbor improved, and I think that will be an opportune time for the Navy Department to make efforts in the same direction."

In 1908 the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was established. The period from 1908 to 1919 was one of steady and continuous growth of the Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, with the exception of the discouraging collapse of the drydock in 1913. Work on the dock started on September 21, 1909 and on February 17, 1913, the entire drydock structure rumbled, rocked, and caved in. It was ceremonially opened to flooding by Mrs. Josephus Daniels, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, on 21 August 1919. The Act of 13 May 1908 authorized the enlargement and dredging of the Pearl Harbor channel and lochs "to admit the largest ships," the building of shops and supply houses for the Navy Yard, and the construction of a drydock. Work progressed satisfactorily on all projects, except the drydock. After much wrangling with Congress to secure an appropriation of over three million dollars for its construction, it was wrecked by "underground pressure. " In 1917, Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor was purchased for joint Army and Navy use in the development of military aviation in the Pacific.

As the Japanese military pressed its war in China, concern over Japan's intentions caused the U.S. to begin taking defensive measures. On February 1, 1933, the U.S. Navy staged a mock attack on the base at Pearl Harbor as part of a preparedness exercise. The attack "succeeded" and the defense was deemed a "failure".

The actual attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II.

[edit] Sunday December 7, 1941

USS Arizona (BB-39) sinking during the attack.Main article: Attack on Pearl Harbor
Aircraft and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began an attack on the U.S. The Americans had deciphered Japan's code earlier and knew about a planned attack before it actually occurred. However, due to difficulty in deciphering intercepted messages, the Americans failed to discover Japan's target location before the attack occurred. [5] Under the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the attack was devastating in loss of life and damage to the U.S. fleet. At 6:05 a.m. on December 7, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 planes composed mainly of dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters.[6] The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 7:51 a.m. The first wave attacked military airfields of Ford Island. At 8:30 a.m. a second wave of 170 Japanese planes, mostly torpedo bombers, attacked the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The battleship Arizona was hit with an armor piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart and sinking it within seconds. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. Three of the 21 would be irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,350, including 68 civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona. The first shots fired were from the USS Ward (DD-139) on a midget submarine that had surfaced outside of Pearl Harbor; the Ward did successfully sink the midget sub at approximately 6:55, about an hour before the assault on Pearl Harbor.

[edit] West Loch Explosion, 1944
On May 21, 1944, the tank landing ship LST-353 exploded at West Loch while handling ammunition. In a short space of time six LSTs were so damaged that they sank. Two others were severely damaged. 163 sailors were killed; 396 wounded.[7] This was the second worst incident in the United States during World War II.

[edit] United States Navy Base
[edit] National Historic Landmark
The Navy base itself was recognized on January 29, 1964 as a National Historic Landmark district. Within its bounds, it contains several other National Historic Landmarks associated with the attack on Pearl Harbor, including the USS Arizona, USS Bowfin, and USS Utah.[8] As an active Navy base, many of the historic buildings that contributed to the NHL designation are under threat of demolition and rebuilding.[1]

[edit] Surface ships presently homeported at Pearl Harbor

USS Missouri (BB-63), now a museum ship, docked at Pearl HarborArleigh Burke-class destroyers

USS Russell (DDG-59)
USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60)
USS Hopper (DDG-70)
USS O'Kane (DDG-77)
USS Chafee (DDG-90)
USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93)
Ticonderoga-class cruisers

USS Chosin (CG-65)
USS Lake Erie (CG-70)
USS Port Royal (CG-73)
Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates

USS Crommelin (FFG-37)
USS Reuben James (FFG-57)
[edit] Submarines presently homeported at Pearl Harbor
USS Los Angeles (SSN-688)
USS Bremerton (SSN-698)
USS La Jolla (SSN-701)
USS Olympia (SSN-717)
USS Chicago (SSN-721)
USS Key West (SSN-722)
USS Louisville (SSN-724)
USS Pasadena (SSN-752)
USS Columbus (SSN-762)
USS Santa Fe (SSN-763)
USS Charlotte (SSN-766)
USS Tucson (SSN-770)
USS Columbia (SSN-771)
USS Greeneville (SSN-772)
USS Cheyenne (SSN-773)
USS Hawaii (SSN-776)
USS Jacksonville (SSN-699)
USS Texas (SSN-775)
As part of the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the Navy announced in early 2006 that it would shift 60% of its attack submarines to the Pacific by 2010

George Washington

2009-11-03T16:27:00.001-08:00

George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731][1][2][3] – December 14, 1799) was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and served as the first President of the United States of America (1789–1797).[4] For his central role in the formation of the United States, he is often referred to as the father of his country.[5][6]

The Continental Congress appointed Washington commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces in 1775. The following year, he forced the British out of Boston, lost New York City, and crossed the Delaware River in New Jersey, defeating the surprised enemy units later that year. As a result of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies at Saratoga and Yorktown. Negotiating with Congress, the colonial states, and French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and failure. Following the end of the war in 1783, King George III asked what Washington would do next and was told of rumors that he'd return to his farm; this prompted the king to state, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world." Washington did return to private life and retired to his plantation at Mount Vernon.[7]

He presided over the Philadelphia Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 because of general dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation. Washington became President of the United States in 1789 and established many of the customs and usages of the new government's executive department. He sought to create a nation capable of surviving in a world torn asunder by war between Britain and France. His unilateral Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793 provided a basis for avoiding any involvement in foreign conflicts. He supported plans to build a strong central government by funding the national debt, implementing an effective tax system, and creating a national bank. Washington avoided the temptation of war and a decade of peace with Britain began with the Jay Treaty in 1795; he used his prestige to get it ratified over intense opposition from the Jeffersonians. Although never officially joining the Federalist Party, he supported its programs and was its inspirational leader. Washington's farewell address was a primer on republican virtue and a stern warning against partisanship, sectionalism, and involvement in foreign wars.

Washington was awarded the very first Congressional Gold Medal with the Thanks of Congress.[8]

Washington died in 1799, and the funeral oration delivered by Henry Lee stated that of all Americans, he was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen".[9] Washington has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

Battle of Iwo Jima

2009-11-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19 – March 26, 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a battle in which the United States fought for and captured Iwo Jima (lit. Sulfur Island) from Japan. The battle produced some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific Campaign of World War II.

The Japanese positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometres (11 mi) of underground tunnels.[3][4] The battle was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands, and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. Of the more than 18,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner.[1] The rest were killed or were missing and assumed dead.[1] The U.S. invasion was charged with the mission of capturing the second airfields on Iwo Jima.[2]

The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 meter (546 ft) Mount Suribachi by five Marines and one Navy Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. The picture became the iconic image of the battle and has been heavily reproduced.[5]

[edit] Background

Location of Iwo JimaAfter the American seizure of the Marshall Islands and devastating air attacks against Truk in the Caroline Islands in February 1944 the Japanese military leadership reappraised the military situation. All indications pointed to an American drive towards the Marianas and Carolines. To counter such a move they established an inner line of defense extending generally northward from the Carolines to the Marianas, and thence to the Ogasawara Islands. In March 1944 the Thirty-First Army, commanded by General Hideyoshi Obata, was activated for the purpose of garrisoning this inner line. The commander of the Chichi Jima garrison was placed nominally in command of Army and Navy units in the Ogasawara Islands.[2]

Following the American seizure of bases in the Marshalls in the battles of Kwajalein and Eniwetok in February 1944 both Army and Navy reinforcements were sent to Iwo Jima. Five hundred men from the naval base at Yokosuka and an additional 500 from Chichi Jima reached Iwo Jima during March and April 1944. At the same time, with the arrival of reinforcements from Chichi Jima and the home islands, the Army garrison on Iwo Jima had reached a strength of over 5,000 men, equipped with 13 artillery pieces, 200 light and heavy machine guns, and 4,552 rifles. In addition there were numerous 120 mm coastal artillery guns, twelve heavy anti-aircraft guns, and thirty 25 mm dual-mount anti-aircraft guns.[2]

The loss of the Marianas during the northern summer of 1944 greatly increased the importance of the Ogasawaras for the Japanese, who were well aware that the loss of these islands would facilitate American air raids against the home islands, disrupting war manufacturing and severely damaging civilian morale.[2]

Final Japanese plans for the defense of the Ogasawaras were overshadowed by the fact that the Imperial Japanese Navy had already lost most of its strength and could no longer prevent American landings. Moreover, aircraft losses throughout 1944 had been so heavy that, even if war production were not affected by American air attacks, combined Japanese air strength was not expected to increase to 3,000 aircraft until March or April 1945. Even then, these planes could not be used from bases in the home islands against Iwo Jima because their range did not exceed 900 km (559 miles); besides, all available aircraft had to be hoarded for possible use on Taiwan and adjacent islands near land bases.[2]

In a postwar study, Japanese staff officers described the strategy applied in the defense of Iwo Jima in the following terms:

“ In the light of the above situation, seeing that it was impossible to conduct our air, sea, and ground operations on Iwo Jima toward ultimate victory, it was decided that in order to gain time necessary for the preparation of the Homeland defence, our forces should rely solely upon the established defensive equipment in that area, checking the enemy by delaying tactics. Even the suicidal attacks by small groups of our Army and Navy airplanes, the surprise attacks by our submarines, and the actions of parachute units, although effective, could be regarded only as a strategical ruse on our part. It was a most depressing thought that we had no available means left for the exploitation of the strategical opportunities which might from time to time occur in the course of these operations.[6]
”

Daily bomber raids from the Marianas hit the mainland as part of Operation Scavenger. Iwo Jima served as an early warning station which radioed reports of incoming bombers back to mainland Japan, allowing Japanese air defenses to be prepared for the arrival of American bombers.[2]

At the end of the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines the Allies were left with a two month lull in their operations prior to the planned invasion of Okinawa. Iwo Jima was strategically important: it provided an airbase for Japanese aircraft to intercept long-range B-29 bombers and provided a haven for Japanese naval units in dire need of any support available. The capture of Iwo Jima would eliminate these problems and provide a staging area for the eventual invasion of the Japanese mainland. The distance of B-29 raids would be cut in half, and a base would be available for P-51 Mustang fighters to escort and protect the bombers. Intelligence sources were confident that Iwo Jima would fall in a week, unaware that the Japanese were preparing a complex defensive posture, radically departing from any of their previous tactics. So successful was the Japanese preparation that it was discovered after the battle that the hundreds of tons of Allied bombs and thousands of rounds of heavy naval gunfire left the Japanese defenders almost unscathed and ready to inflict losses on the U.S. Marines unparalleled up to that point in the Pacific War. In light of the optimistic intelligence reports, the decision was made to invade Iwo Jima: the landing was designated Operation Detachment.[2]

[edit] Planning and preparation
Main article: Planning for the Battle of Iwo Jima
[edit] Japanese planning
By June 1944, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was assigned to command the defense of Iwo Jima. While drawing inspiration from the defense in the Battle of Peleliu, he designed a defense that broke with Japanese military doctrine. Rather than establish his defenses on the beach to oppose the landings directly, Kuribayashi created strong, mutually-supporting defensive positions in depth using static and heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns and artillery, while Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi's tanks were used as camouflaged artillery positions. Because the tunnel linking it to the main forces was never completed, Kuribayashi organized the southern area of the island in and around Mount Suribachi as a semi-independent sector, while the main defensive zone was built in the north. The expected American naval and air bombardment further prompted the creation of an extensive system of tunnels that connected the prepared positions, so that a pillbox that had been cleared could be reoccupied by Japanese soldiers. The network of bunkers and pillboxes greatly favored the defender. Hidden artillery and mortar positions along with land mines were placed all over the island. Among the Japanese weapons was the Spigot Mortar, a massive rocket fired from a hollow tube. Japanese sniper positions were also present. Kuribayashi had specially engineered the defenses so that every part of the island was subject to Japanese fire. Kuribayashi also received a handful of Kamikaze pilots to use against the American fleet. 300 American navy sailors were killed by kamikazes throughout the battle. Against his wishes, Tokyo also forced Kuribayashi to erect beach defenses which were the only part of the island's defenses destroyed in the pre-landing bombardment. Kuribayashi knew that Japan could not win the battle, but he hoped to inflict massive casualties on the American forces, so that the United States would reconsider the planned invasion of Japan.

[edit] American planning
The American plan of attack was relatively straightforward. The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were to land on the south-eastern beach and initially focus on securing Mount Suribachi, the southern airfields and the west coast. Once this was completed, the line, reinforced by the 3rd Marine Division, would swing and advance to the northeast.

In preparation for the invasion, B-24s operating out of the Marianas bombed the island for 74 days. However, U.S. intelligence noted that this had little impact and the Japanese defensive positions were getting stronger. Controversially, the U.S. Navy only provided three days of bombardment, rather than the ten requested by the Marines. The Navy argued it had to conserve ammunition for the invasion of Okinawa, while the Marines accused the Navy of sending its naval Task Force 58 to bomb Japan to deflect attention from the Army's B-29 bombing campaign over Japan.[7]

On D-Day minus 2, Japanese artillery opened fire on 12 LCI gunboats covering an Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) reconnaissance of the island. This exposed the hidden Japanese batteries to naval gunfire.[8] On February 18, D-Day minus one, the USS Blessman (DE-69) was hit by a 500-pound bomb which exploded in the mess hall killing 40, including 15 men of the UDT.[9]

[edit] Invasion

The USS New York firing her 14" main guns on the island, February 16, 1945
U.S. Sixth Fleet during the invasionAt 02:00 on February 19, 1945, battleship guns signaled the commencement of the invasion of Iwo Jima. American naval craft used nearly everything available in their arsenal to shell the island, from the main guns to the antiaircraft flak cannons to the newly developed rockets. Soon thereafter, 100 bombers attacked the island, followed by another volley from the naval guns.[10] Although the bombing was consistent, it did not deter the Japanese defenses, since most of the Japanese positions were well-fortified and protected from shelling. Many were sheltered by Mount Suribachi itself, as the Japanese had spent the months prior to the invasion creating an elaborate system of tunnels and firing positions that ran throughout the entire mountain. For instance, some of the Japanese heavy artillery were concealed by reinforced steel doors in massive chambers built inside of Suribachi, which were nearly impenetrable to projectiles from the American bombardment.[10]

LVTs approaching Iwo JimaAt 08:59, one minute ahead of schedule, the first of an eventual 30,000 Marines of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions, under V Amphibious Corps, landed on the beach.[10] The initial wave was not hit by Japanese fire for quite some time; it was the plan of Japanese General Kuribayashi to hold fire until the beach was full of Marines and equipment.[10] Many of the Marines who landed on the beach in the first wave speculated that perhaps the naval artillery and air bombardment of the island had killed all of the Japanese troops that were expected to be defending the island.[2] In the deathly silence, they became somewhat unnerved as Marine patrols began to advance inland in search of the Japanese positions.[2]

Marines burrow in the volcanic sand on the beach of Iwo Jima, as their comrades unload supplies and equipment from landing vessels despite the heavy rain of artillery fire from enemy positions in the backgroundOnly after the front wave of Marines reached a line of Japanese bunkers defended by machine gunners did they take hostile fire. Many cleverly concealed Japanese bunkers and firing positions suddenly lit up and the first wave of Marines took devastating losses from machine guns.[10] Aside from the Japanese defenses situated on the actual beaches, the Marines faced heavy fire from Mount Suribachi at the south of the island. It was extremely difficult for the Marines to advance because of the inhospitable terrain, which consisted of volcanic ash. This ash allowed for neither a secure footing nor the construction of defensive foxholes to protect the Marines from hostile fire. However, the ash did help to absorb a portion of the fragments that were expelled by the Japanese artillery.[10] The Japanese heavy artillery in Suribachi would open their reinforced steel doors to fire and then immediately close their doors following to prevent counterfire from the American forces. This made it extremely difficult for American units to destroy a piece of Japanese artillery.[10]

A Marine flamethrower operator runs under fire on Iwo Jima
U.S. 37 mm gun fires against Japanese cave positions in north face of volcanoTo make matters worse for the American troops, the bunkers were connected to the elaborate tunnel system so that bunkers that were cleared with flamethrowers and grenades became operational shortly afterwards. These reactivated bunkers caused many additional casualties among them as Marines walking past these bunkers did not expect them to suddenly become hostile again.[10] The Marines advanced slowly while taking heavy machine gun and artillery fire. Due to the arrival of armored units, and heavy naval artillery and air units maintaining a heavy base of fire on Suribachi, the Marines were eventually able to advance past the beaches.[10] 760 Marines made a near-suicidal charge across to the other side of Iwo Jima that day. They took heavy casualties, but they made a considerable advance. By the evening the mountain had been cut off from the rest of the island, and 30,000 Marines had landed. About 40,000 more would follow.[10]

In the days after the landings, the Marines expected a banzai attack during the night. This had been the standard Japanese final defense strategy in previous battles against enemy ground forces in the Pacific (such as the Battle of Saipan), during which the majority of the Japanese attackers would be killed and the Japanese strength greatly reduced. However Kuribayashi had strictly forbidden banzai charges because he considered them futile.[10]

The fighting was extremely fierce. The Americans' advance was stalled by numerous defensive positions augmented by artillery, where they were ambushed by Japanese troops that occasionally sprang out of tunnels. At night, the Japanese would leave their defenses under cover of darkness to attack American foxholes, and battleships fired star shells to deny them cover of darkness. Many Japanese soldiers who knew English would deliberately call for Navy corpsmen, and then shoot them as they approached. The Marines learned that firearms were relatively ineffective against the Japanese defenders and effectively used flamethrowers and grenades to flush out Japanese troops in the tunnels. One of the technological innovations of the battle, the eight Sherman M4A3R3 medium tanks equipped with the Navy Mark I flame thrower ("Ronson" or Zippo Tanks), proved very effective at clearing Japanese positions. The Shermans were difficult to disable, such that defenders were often compelled to assault them in the open, where the Japanese troops would fall victim to the superior numbers of Marines.[10]

Close air support was initially provided by fighters from escort carriers off the coast. This shifted over to the 15th Fighter Group, flying P-51 Mustangs, after they arrived on the island on March 6. Similarly, illumination rounds (flares) which were used to light up the battlefield at night were initially provided by ships, shifting over later to landing force artillery. Navajo code talkers were part of the American ground communications, along with walkie-talkies and SCR-610 backpack radio sets.[10]

After running out of most water, food, and supplies, the Japanese troops became desperate towards the end of the battle. Kuribayashi, who had argued against banzai attacks at the start of the battle, realized that Japanese defeat was imminent. Marines began to face increasing numbers of nighttime attacks; these were only repelled by a combination of machine gun defensive positions and artillery support. At times, the Marines engaged in hand-to-hand fighting to repel the Japanese attacks.[10]

With the landing area secure, more troops and heavy equipment came ashore and the invasion proceeded north to capture the airfields and the remainder of the island. Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death.[10]

[edit] Raising the flag
Main article: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

U.S. flag over Mount Suribachi
U.S. Marine Corps Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery based on the famous photo by Rosenthal"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi.[5] The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.[5] Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) did not survive the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became celebrities upon the publication of the photo. The picture was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the USMC War Memorial, located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C.[5]

By morning of the fifth day of the battle (February 23), Mount Suribachi was effectively cut off from the rest of the island—above ground. By then, the Marines knew that the Japanese defenders had an extensive network of below-ground defenses, and knew that in spite of its isolation above ground, the volcano was still connected to Japanese defenders via the tunnel network. They expected a fierce fight for the summit. Two four-man patrols were sent up the volcano to reconnoiter routes on the mountain's north face. Popular legend (embroidered by the press in the aftermath of the release of the famous photo "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima") has it that the Marines fought all the way up to the summit. The American riflemen expected an ambush, but none materialized. The Marines did encounter small groups of Japanese defenders on Suribachi, but the majority of the Japanese troops stayed in the tunnel network. Occasionally the Japanese attacked in small groups and were generally all killed. The patrols made it to the summit and scrambled down again. They reported the lack of enemy contact to Colonel Chandler Johnson.[10]

Johnson then called for a platoon of Marines to climb Suribachi. With them, he sent a small American flag to fly if they reached the summit. Again, Marines began the ascent, expecting to be ambushed at any moment. And again, the Marines reached the top of Mount Suribachi without incident. Using a length of pipe they found among the wreckage atop the mountain, the Marines hoisted the U.S. flag over Mount Suribachi, the first foreign flag to fly on Japanese soil.[11] A photograph of this "first flag raising" was taken by photographer Louis R. Lowery. As the flag went up, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had just landed on the beach at the foot of Mount Suribachi. He decided that he wanted the flag as a souvenir. Popular legend has it that Colonel Johnson wanted the flag for himself. In fact, he believed that the flag belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, who had captured that section of the island. He sent Sergeant Mike Strank (who was photographed in the Flag Raising picture) to take a second (larger) flag up the volcano to replace the first. As the first flag came down, the second went up. It was after the second flag went up that Rosenthal took the famous photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" of the replacement flag being planted on the mountain's summit.

[edit] Northern Iwo Jima
This section requires expansion.

Several M4A3 Sherman tanks equipped with flamethrowers were used to clear Japanese bunkersDespite the loss of Mount Suribachi on the south end of the island, the Japanese still held strong positions on the north end. The rocky terrain vastly favored defense, even more so than Mount Suribachi. Coupled with this, the fortifications constructed by Kuribayashi were more impressive than at the Southern end of the island.[12] Remaining under the command of Kuribayashi was the equivalent of eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery, and three heavy mortar battalions. Also he had about 5,000 gunners and naval infantry. The most arduous task left to the Marines was the overtaking of the Motoyama Plateau with its distinctive hill 382 and Turkey knob and the area in between referred to as the Amphitheater. This formed the basis of what came to be known as the "meatgrinder". While this was being achieved on the right flank, the left was clearing out hill 362 with just as much difficulty. The overall objective at this point was to take control of airfield no. 2 in the center of the island. However, every "penetration seemed to become a disaster" as "units were raked from the flanks, chewed up – sometimes wiped out. Tanks were destroyed by interlocking fire or were hoisted into the air on the spouting fireballs of buried mines".[13] As a result the fighting bogged down with Americans casualties piling up. Even capturing these points was not a solution to the problem since a previously secured position could be attacked from the rear by the use of the tunnels and hidden pillboxes. As such, it was said that "they could take these heights at will, and then regret it".[14]

The Marines nevertheless found ways to prevail under the circumstances. It was observed that during bombardments, the Japanese would hide their guns and themselves in the caves only to reappear when the troops would advance and lay devastating fire on them. Consequently, General Erskine ordered the Ninth Marines to attack under the cover of darkness with no preliminary barrage. This came to be a resounding success with many soldiers taken out while still sleeping. This was a key moment in the capture of hill 362.[15] It held such importance that the Japanese organized a counterattack the following night. Although Kuribayashi had forbidden the suicide charges familiar with other battles in the Pacific, the commander of the area decided on a banzai charge with the optimistic goal of recapturing mount Suribachi. Captain Samaji Inouye and his 1000 men charged the American position inflicting 347 casualties (90 deaths). The Marines counted 784 dead Japanese soldiers the next day.[16] There was also a Kamikaze air attack (the only one of the battle) on the ships anchored at sea on February 21 which resulted in the sinking of the escort carrier Bismark Sea, severe damage to Saratoga and slight damage to the escort carrier Lunga Point, an LST and a transport.[15]

A U.S. Marine firing his Browning M1917 machine gun at the JapaneseAlthough the island was officially declared secure at 6pm on March 16, 25 days after the landings, the 5th Marine Division still faced Kuribayashi's stronghold in a gorge 700 yards (640 m) at the north-western end of the island. On March 21, the Marines destroyed the command post in the gorge with four tons of explosives and on March 24, Marines sealed the remaining caves at the northern tip of the island.[17] However, on the night of March 25, a 300-man Japanese force launched a final counterattack in the vicinity of Airfield Number 2. Army pilots, Seabees and Marines of the 5th Pioneer Battalion and 28th Marines fought the Japanese force for up to 90 minutes but suffered heavy casualties (53 were killed, and another 120 were wounded).[citation needed] Two Marines from the 36th Depot Company, an all-African-American unit, received the Bronze Star. 1st Lieutenant Harry Martin of the 5th Pioneer Battalion was the last Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the battle.[18][19]

Although still a matter of speculation because of conflicting accounts from surviving Japanese veterans, it has been said that Kuribayashi led this final assault,[2] which unlike the loud banzai charge of previous battles, was characterised as a silent attack. If ever proven true, Kuribayashi would have been the highest ranking Japanese officer to have personally led an attack during World War II. Additionally, this would also be Kuribayashi's final act of departure from the normal practice of the commanding Japanese officers committing seppuku behind the lines while the rest perished in the banzai charge, as happened during the battles of Saipan and Okinawa.

[edit] Aftermath

U.S. Marines {(Left to Right), PFC. J. L. Hudson, Jr. Pvt. K.L. Lofter, PFC. Paul V.Parces, (top of blockhouse), Pvt. Fred Sizemore, PFC. Henrey Noviech and Pvt. Richard N. Pearson} pose with a captured Japanese flag on Iwo JimaOf the 22,786 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the island, 21,703 died either from fighting or by ritual suicide. Only 1,083 were captured during the battle. The Allied forces suffered 27,909 casualties, with 6,821 killed in action. The number of American casualties was greater than the total Allied casualties on D-Day (estimated at 10,000, with 125,847 American casualties during the entire Operation Overlord).[20] Iwo Jima was also the only U.S. Marine battle where the American casualties exceeded the Japanese[21], although Japanese combat deaths numbered three times as many American deaths. Some 300 Navy seamen were also killed.[2] Because all the civilians had been evacuated, there were no civilian casualties at Iwo Jima, unlike at Saipan and Okinawa.[22]

After Iwo Jima was declared secured, the Marines estimated there were no more than three hundred Japanese left alive in the island's warren of caves and tunnels. In fact, there were close to three thousand. The Japanese bushido code of honor, coupled with effective propaganda which portrayed American G.I.'s as ruthless animals, prevented surrender for many Japanese soldiers. Those who could not bring themselves to commit suicide hid in the caves during the day and came out at night to prowl for provisions. Some did eventually surrender and were surprised that the Americans often received them with compassion, offering water, cigarettes, or coffee.[23] The last of these stragglers, two of Lieutenant Toshihiko Ohno's men, Yamakage Kufuku and Matsudo Linsoki, lasted six years without being caught and finally surrendered in 1951[24] (another source gives the date of surrender as January 6, 1949).[25]

[edit] Strategic importance
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Given the number of casualties, the necessity and long-term significance of the island's capture to the outcome of the war was a contentious issue from the beginning, and remains disputed. As early as April 1945 retired Chief of Naval Operations, William V. Pratt, asked in Newsweek magazine about the

“ expenditure of manpower to acquire a small, God-forsaken island, useless to the Army as a staging base and useless to the Navy as a fleet base ... [one] wonders if the same sort of airbase could not have been reached by acquiring other strategic localities at lower cost.[26] ”

Dinah Might surrounded by Marines and Seabees after emergency landing on Iwo JimaThe Japanese on Iwo Jima had radar and were thus able to notify their comrades at home of incoming B-29 Superfortresses flying from the Mariana Islands. Fighter aircraft based on Iwo Jima sometimes attacked these planes, which were especially vulnerable on their way to Japan because they were heavily laden with bombs and fuel. Although the island was used as an air-sea rescue base after its seizure, the traditional justification for Iwo Jima's strategic importance to the United States' war effort has been that it provided a landing and refueling site for American bombers on missions to and from Japan. As early as March 4, 1945, while fighting was still taking place, the B-29 bomber Dinah Might of the USAAF 9th Bomb Group reported it was low on fuel near the island and requested an emergency landing. Despite enemy fire, the airplane landed on the Allied-controlled section of the island, without incident, and was serviced, refueled and departed. In all, 2,251 B-29 Superfortress landings on Iwo Jima were recorded during the war. Moskin records that 1,191 fighter escorts and 3,081 strike sorties were flown from Iwo Jima against Japan.[27]

The lessons learned on Iwo Jima did not serve as guidelines for the following battle of Okinawa and the planned invasion of the Japanese homeland. For example, "because of the casualties taken at Iwo Jima on the first day, it was decided to make the preparatory bombardment the heaviest yet delivered on to a Pacific island".[28] Also, in the plan for the attack on the main islands, it was taken into account that around a third of the troops committed to Iwo Jima and again at Okinawa had died.[29]

None of these calculations played much if any of a role in the original decision to invade, however, which was almost entirely based on the Army Air Force's belief that the island would be a useful base for long-range fighter escorts. These escorts proved both impractical and unnecessary, and only ten such missions were ever flown from Iwo Jima.[30] Other justifications are also debatable. Although some Japanese interceptors were based on Iwo Jima, their impact on the American bombing effort was marginal; in the three months before the invasion only 11 B-29s were lost as a result.[31] The Superfortresses found it unnecessary to make any major detour around the island.[32] The capture of Iwo Jima did not affect the Japanese early-warning radar system, which continued to receive information on incoming B-29s from the island of Rota (which was never attacked).[33]

Some downed B-29 crewmen were saved by air-sea rescue aircraft and vessels operating from the island, but Iwo Jima was only one of many islands that could have been used for such a purpose. As for the importance of the island as a landing and refueling site for bombers, Marine Captain Robert Burrell, then a history instructor at the United States Naval Academy, suggested that only a small proportion of the 2,251 landings were for genuine emergencies, the great majority possibly being for minor technical checkups, training, or refueling. According to Burrell,

“ this justification became prominent only after the Marines seized the island and incurred high casualties. The tragic cost of Operation Detachment pressured veterans, journalists, and commanders to fixate on the most visible rationalization for the battle. The sight of the enormous, costly, and technologically sophisticated B-29 landing on the island's small airfield most clearly linked Iwo Jima to the strategic bombing campaign. As the myths about the flag raisings on Mount Suribachi reached legendary proportions, so did the emergency landing theory in order to justify the need to raise that flag.[34] ”

Nevertheless, in promoting his expanded exploration of the issue, The Ghosts of Iwo Jima, Burrell's publishers also claim that the very losses formed the basis for a "reverence for the Marine Corps" that not only embodied the "American national spirit" but ensured the "institutional survival" of the Marine Corps.[35]

[edit] Legacy

2005 Reunion of Honor at the Japanese part of the memorial
The memorial on top of SuribachiThe United States Navy has commissioned several ships of the name USS Iwo Jima.

On February 19, 1985, the 40th anniversary of the landings, an event called the "Reunion of Honor" was held. The veterans of both sides who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima attended the event. The place was the invasion beach where U.S. forces landed. A memorial on which inscriptions were engraved by both sides was built at the center of the meeting place. Japanese attended at the mountain side, where the Japanese inscription was carved, and Americans attended at the shore side, where the English inscription was carved. After unveiling and offering of flowers were made, the representatives of both countries approached the memorial; upon meeting, they shook hands. The old soldiers embraced each other and cried.[citation needed]

The combined Japan-U.S. memorial service of the 50th anniversary of the battle was held in front of the monument in February 1995. Further memorial services have been held on later anniversaries.

The importance of the battle to Marines today is demonstrated in pilgrimages made to the island, and specifically the summit of Suribachi.[36] Marines will often leave dog tags, rank insignia, or other tokens at the monuments in homage.[37]

[edit] Medal of Honor awards
Main article: List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Battle of Iwo Jima
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed on a member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself "...conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States..." Because of its nature, the medal is commonly awarded posthumously. Since its creation during the American Civil War it has only been presented 3,464 times.

During this one-month-long battle, 27 U.S. military personnel were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions, 14 of them posthumously. Of the 27 medals awarded, 23 were presented to Marines and four were presented to United States Navy sailors; this is 28% of the 82 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines in the entirety of World War II.

Iwo Jima

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Iwo Jima, officially Iōtō (硫黄島?, [1] listen (help·info): "sulfur island"), is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which makes up the southern end of the Ogasawara Islands. The island is located 1,200 kilometers (650 nautical miles) south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Japan during World War II, when the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken. The U.S. occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.

Name
In 1779, the island was charted as Sulphur Island during Captain Cook's third surveying voyage.[2]

Iwo Jima was traditionally called Iwōtō (Iōtō) by the Japanese. Prior to Japan's 1946 orthography reform, a historical spelling resulted in (approximately) Iwōtō (modern Iōtō). An alternative, Iwōjima (modern Iōjima)—where jima is an alternative pronunciation of tō (島, island?)—also appeared in nautical atlases.[3] Japanese naval officers who arrived to fortify the island before the U.S. invasion mistakenly called it Iwo Jima.[3] In this way, the "Iwo Jima" pronunciation became mainstream and was the one used by U.S. forces who arrived during World War II. Former island residents protested against this rendering, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Geographical Survey Institute debated the issue and formally announced on June 18, 2007, that the official Japanese pronunciation of the island's name would be reverted to the pre-war Iōtō.[1] Moves to revert the pronunciation were sparked by the high profile films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.[3] The change does not affect how the name is written in Japanese (硫黄島?), only how it is pronounced.

[edit] Geographic features

Landsat photo of Iwo Jima (Iōtō), ca. 1999The island has an approximate area of 21 km² (8 mi²) at 24°47′N 141°19′E / 24.783°N 141.317°E / 24.783; 141.317Coordinates: 24°47′N 141°19′E / 24.783°N 141.317°E / 24.783; 141.317. The most prominent feature is Mount Suribachi (摺鉢山, Suribachiyama?)[4] on the southern tip, a vent that is thought to be dormant and is 169 meters (554 ft) high. Iwo Jima is unusually flat and featureless for a volcanic island. Suribachi is the only obvious volcanic feature, as it is only the resurgent dome (raised center) of a larger submerged volcanic caldera.[5]

Captain Cook's surveying crew landed on a beach which is now 40 meters (131 ft) above sea level due to volcanic uplifting.[5] Such uplifting occurs on the island at a varying rate of between 100 and 800 millimeters per year, with an average rate of 200 millimeters (8 in) per year.[6]

Eighty km north of the island is North Iwo Jima (北硫黄島, Kitaiōtō?, literally: "North Sulphur Island") and 60 km south South Iwo Jima (南硫黄島, Minamiiōtō?, "South Sulphur Island") making up the Volcano Islands group of the Ogasawara Islands. Just south of Minamiiōjima are the Mariana Islands.

[edit] History
[edit] Before 1945
Before World War II, Iwo Jima was administered (as it is today) by the prefectural government of Tokyo. A census in June 1943 reported an island civilian population of 1018 (533 males, 485 females) in 192 households in six settlements. The island had a primary school, a Shinto shrine, and a single police officer; it was serviced by a mail ship from Haha-jima once a month, as well as a Nippon Yusen ship once every couple of months. The island's economy relied upon sulfur mining, sugarcane farming, and fishing; an isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with poor economic prospect, Iwo Jima had to import all rice and consumer goods from the Home Islands.[citation needed]

Even before the beginning of World War II, there was a garrison of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the southern part of Iwo Jima. It was off-limits to the island's civilian population, who had little contact with the naval personnel in any case, except for trade purposes.

Throughout 1944 there was a massive military buildup on Iwo Jima, in anticipation of an U.S. invasion; in July its civilian population was forcibly evacuated, and no civilians have settled permanently on the island ever since.

[edit] The Battle of Iwo Jima
Main article: Battle of Iwo Jima
The invasion of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, and continued to March 26, 1945. The battle was a major initiative of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The Marine invasion, known as Operation Detachment, was charged with the mission of capturing the airfields on the island which up until that time had harried U.S. bombing missions to Tokyo. Once the bases were secured, they could then be of use in the impending invasion of the Japanese mainland.

The battle was marked by some of the fiercest fighting of the War. The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometers (11 mi) of tunnels.[7][8] The battle was the first U.S. attack on the Japanese Home Islands and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, over 20,000 were killed and only 1,083 taken prisoner.[9]

One of the first objectives after landing on the beachhead was the taking of Mount Suribachi. At the second raising of a flag on the peak, Joe Rosenthal photographed five Marines: Ira Hayes, Mike Strank, Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and U.S. Navy corpsman John Bradley raising the U.S. flag on the fourth day of the battle (February 23). The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography that same year, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.[10]

Within the next month of fighting, three of the six soldiers raising the flag were killed: Strank, Block and Sousley.

After the fall of Mt. Suribachi in the south, the Japanese still held a strong position throughout the island. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi still had the equivalent of eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery and three heavy mortar battalions, plus the 5,000 gunners and naval infantry. With the landing area secure, more troops and heavy equipment came ashore and the invasion proceeded north to capture the airfields and the remainder of the island. Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death. On the night of March 25, a 300-man Japanese force launched a final counterattack. The Marines suffered heavy casualties; more than 100 were killed and another 200 Americans were wounded. The island was officially declared "secured" the following day. The number of American casualties was greater than the total Allied casualties at Battle of Normandy on D-Day.

Even after Iwo Jima was about to be declared secured, about three thousand Japanese soldiers were left alive in the island's warren of caves and tunnels. Those who could not bring themselves to commit suicide hid in the caves during the day and came out at night to prowl for provisions. Some did eventually surrender and were surprised that the Americans often received them with compassion, offering water, cigarettes, or coffee.[11] The last of these stragglers, two of Lieutenant Toshihiko Ohno's (whose body was never found) men, Yamakage Kufuku and Matsudo Linsoki, lasted six years, surrendering in 1951[12] (another source gives the date of surrender as January 6, 1949).[13]

The U.S. military occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.

[edit] Reunion of honor
On February 19, 1985, the 40th anniversary of the day that U.S. forces began the assault on the island, veterans from both forces gathered for the Reunion of Honor just a few meters away from the spot where U.S. Marines had landed on the island.[14] During the memorial service a granite plaque was unveiled with the message:

On the 40th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima, American and Japanese veterans met again on these same sands, this time in peace and friendship. We commemorate our comrades, living and dead, who fought here with bravery and honor, and we pray together that our sacrifices on Iwo Jima will always be remembered and never be repeated.

It is inscribed on both sides of the plaque, with the English translation facing the beaches where U.S. forces landed and the Japanese translation facing inland, where Japanese troops defended their position.

After that, the Japan-U.S. combination memorial service of the 50th anniversary was held in front of this monument in March 1995. The 55th anniversary was held in 2000, followed by a 60th reunion in March 2005 (see U.S. National Park Service photo below).

Raising of the first U.S. flag at Iwo Jima

Raising of the second U.S. flag at Iwo Jima

60th Reunion 2005

Reunion of Honor Memorial

[edit] Naval air base
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) operates a naval air base on the island at North Field (IATA: IWO, ICAO: RJAW). The airstrip is 2,650 meters (8,700 ft) long and 60 meters (200 ft) wide. Its orientation is 07/25. The JMSDF is in charge of support, air-traffic control, fueling, and rescue. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force also uses the base. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is in charge of explosive-ordnance disposal. 400 Japanese troops are stationed on the island.[3] Two abandoned airfields from World War II are located nearby, Central Field to the south of the current air base, and an unfinished Japanese airfield to the north of the base, which was improved following the US invasion of the island.

The U.S. Navy's Carrier Air Wing Five, based at the United States Naval Air Facility Atsugi when not embarked/deployed aboard USS George Washington, also uses the base for field carrier landing practice (FCLP). The U.S. Navy still has a 1,639 acres (6.63 km2) disfunctioned communication facility (Iwo-Jima Communication Site) on the island, while the U.S. Coast Guard's Iwo Jima LORAN-C transmitter facility was transferred to Japan in 1993 and demolished in 1994.

Civilian access to the island is restricted to those attending memorial services for U.S. and Japanese fallen soldiers, construction workers for the naval air base, and meteorological agency officials. The Japanese troops stationed on the island register their residential addresses in Ayase, Kanagawa or Sayama, Saitama for voting, tax, and social security purposes. Officially, there is no population on the island.

[edit] U.S. nuclear arms base
Iwo Jima appears to be one of a number of Japanese islands which has been used by the United States to host nuclear arms, according to Robert S. Norris, William M. Arkin, and William Burr writing for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in early 2000.[15][16] This is despite a Japanese policy of not allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. Whether the site is currently used for this purpose is unknown, as great secrecy surrounds the United States’ siting of nuclear arms bases; but on December 12, 1999, U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Policy Walter Slocombe told The New York Times, “Our position is that there have been no violations of our obligations under the security treaty and related arrangements.”[17]

Norris, Arkin and Burr concluded however:

There were nuclear weapons on Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima (Iwo To), an enormous and varied nuclear arsenal on Okinawa, nuclear bombs (without their fission cores) stored on the mainland at Misawa and Itazuki airbases (and possibly at Atsugi, Iwakuni, Johnson, and Komaki airbases as well), and nuclear-armed U.S. Navy ships stationed in Sasebo and Yokosuka. […] It is true that Chichi Jima, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa were under U.S. occupation, that the bombs stored on the mainland lacked their plutonium and/ or uranium cores, and that the nuclear-armed ships were a legal inch away from Japanese soil. All in all, this elaborate stratagem maintained the technicality that the United States had no nuclear weapons “in Japan.”[17]

[edit] Photo gallery

Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima

Suribachi seen from the northern end of the invasion beach

Volcano crater on Mount Suribachi

Invasion beach seen from the top of Mount Suribachi

Halloween

2009-10-31T04:11:00.001-07:00

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones.
The colours black and orange have become associated with the celebrations, perhaps because of the darkness of night and the colour of fire or of pumpkins, and maybe because of the vivid contrast this presents for merchandising. Another association is with the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

restaurant city gourmet points cheat (working)

2009-10-26T07:32:00.001-07:00

requirements : cheat engine 5.5 ®

steps : wait until waiter get money

1. scan FFFFFFB8D02A0FF2 in cheat engine for 8 bytes hex and also scan read only memory
2. u get a result.right click - disassemble this memory region.
2. toggle breakpoint
3. when u get mony the game will debug (after toggling)
4. change eax from 1 to 99999.
5 . debug - run

New pet society hack (lvl + coins)

2009-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

requires : flash player 9 (may work on 10) / cheat engine 5.5
1. open pet society - cheat engine ....
2. scrub ur pet and visit a frnd
3. scan : 110FF2D045590FF2
4. ull get an address
5. disassemble it
6. ull find many lines
7. scroll up and u should find directly over the first address something like : cvtsi2sdxmm0,xmm3
8. right click - toggle breakpoint
9. go to pet society and eat something
10. the game pauses or debugs
11. go to cheat engine and ull find on ur right eax - ebx - ... and they r all in red
12. press on eax and change to : 999999
13. press on ebx and xhange to : 9999
14. go to pet society and wash ur pet
15. do steps 11-12-13 again ...
16. watch ur paw points and ur money go up..........................
17. and voila :)

Pet Society hack Video

2009-10-25T05:32:00.001-07:00

World Wrestling Entertainment

2009-10-24T10:02:00.003-07:00

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly-traded, privately-controlled integrated media (focusing in television, Internet, and live events) and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. Vince McMahon is the majority owner, chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Together with his wife Linda McMahon, and their children, Executive Vice President of Global Media, Shane McMahon and Executive Vice President of Talent and Creative Writing, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of the voting power in the company.
The company's global headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Toronto. The company was previously known as Titan Sports before changing to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., and then becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
WWE's business focus is on professional wrestling, a simulated sport that consists of wrestling combined with acting and theatre. It is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world and holds an extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. WWE is also home to three world heavyweight championships: the WWE Championship, the World Heavyweight Championship, and the ECW Championship.

World Wide Fund for Nature

2009-10-24T10:02:00.001-07:00

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 90 countries, supporting around 1300 [4] conservation and environmental projects around the world. It is a charity, with approximately 60% of its funding coming from voluntary donations by private individuals. 45% of the fund's income comes from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.[3]
The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the destruction of our environment".[5] Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned with endangered species, pollution and climate change.

AdSense

2009-10-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

AdSense is an ad serving application run by Google Inc. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image, and more recently, video advertisements on their websites. These advertisements are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Google beta tested a cost-per-action service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick offering (also owned by Google)[edit] Overview
Google uses its Internet search technology to serve advertisements based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted advertisement system may enroll through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.

Many websites use AdSense to monetize their content. AdSense has been particularly important for delivering advertising revenue to small websites that do not have the resources for developing advertising sales programs and sales people. To fill a website with advertisements that are relevant to the topics discussed, webmasters implement a brief script on the websites' pages. Websites that are content-rich have been very successful with this advertising program, as noted in a number of publisher case studies on the AdSense website.

Some webmasters invest significant effort into maximizing their own AdSense income. They do this in three ways:[citation needed]

They use a wide range of traffic-generating techniques, including but not limited to online advertising.
They build valuable content on their websites that attracts AdSense advertisements, which pay out the most when they are clicked.
They use text content on their websites that encourages visitors to click on advertisements. Note that Google prohibits webmasters from using phrases like "Click on my AdSense ads" to increase click rates. The phrases accepted are "Sponsored Links" and "Advertisements".
The source of all AdSense income is the AdWords program, which in turn has a complex pricing model based on a Vickrey second price auction. AdSense commands an advertiser to submit a sealed bid (i.e., a bid not observable by competitors). Additionally, for any given click received, advertisers only pay one bid increment above the second-highest bid.

[edit] History
Oingo, Inc., a privately held company located in Los Angeles, was started in 1998 by Gilad Elbaz and Adam Weissman. Oingo developed a proprietary search algorithm that was based on word meanings and built upon an underlying lexicon called WordNet, which was developed over the previous 15 years by researchers at Princeton University, led by George Miller.[2]

Oingo changed its name to Applied Semantics in 2001,[3] which was later acquired by Google in April 2003 for US$102 million.[4]

In 2009, Google AdSense announced that it would now be offering new features, including the ability to "enable multiple networks to display ads".

[edit] Types
[edit] AdSense for Feeds
In May 2005, Google announced a limited-participation beta version of AdSense for Feeds, a version of AdSense that runs on RSS and Atom feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official Google Blog, "advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid for their original content; readers see relevant advertising—and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from."[5]

AdSense for Feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by a RSS reader or Web browser, Google writes the advertising content into the image that it returns. The advertisement content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's website in the same way as regular AdSense advertisements.

AdSense for Feeds remained in its beta state until August 15, 2008, when it became available to all AdSense users.

[edit] AdSense for search
A companion to the regular AdSense program, AdSense for search, allows website owners to place Google search boxes on their websites. When a user searches the Internet or the website with the search box, Google shares any advertising revenue it makes from those searches with the website owner. However the publisher is paid only if the advertisements on the page are clicked: AdSense does not pay publishers for mere searches.

[edit] AdSense for mobile content
AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile websites using targeted Google advertisements. Just like AdSense for content, Google matches advertisements to the content of a website — in this case, a mobile website.

[edit] AdSense for domains
Adsense for domains allows advertisements to be placed on domain names that have not been developed. This offers domain name owners a way to monetize domain names that are otherwise dormant. Adsense for domains is currently being offered to some users, with plans to make it available to all in stages.

On December 12, 2008, TechCrunch reported that AdSense for Domains is available for all US publishers.[6]

[edit] AdSense for video
AdSense for video allows publishers with video content to generate revenue using ad placements from Google's extensive Advertising network. AdSense for video display both InVideo overlay and text overlay ads.

[edit] XHTML compatibility
As of September 2007, the HTML code for the AdSense search box does not validate as XHTML, and does not follow modern principles of website design because of its use of

non-standard end tags, such as and ,
the attribute checked rather than checked="checked",
presentational attributes other than id, class, or style — for example, bgcolor and align,
a table structure for purely presentational (i.e., non-tabular) purposes,1 and
the font tag.2
1: using a table structure for unintended purposes is strongly recommended against by the W3C, [7] but nevertheless does not cause a document to fail validation — there is currently no algorithmic method of determining whether a table is used "correctly" (for displaying tabular data or for displaying elements, that get proportionally wider or narrower when browser window resizes in width without active client side scripting).
2: the font tag is deprecated but does not fail validation in any XHTML standard[citation needed].

Additionally, the AdSense advertisement units use the JavaScript method document.write(), which does not work correctly when rendered with the application/xhtml+xml MIME type. The units also use the iframe HTML tag, which is not validated correctly with the XHTML 1.0 Strict or XHTML 1.0 Transitional DOCTYPEs.

The terms of the AdSense program forbid its affiliates from modifying the code, thus preventing these participants from having valid XHTML websites.

However, a workaround has been found by creating a separate HTML webpage containing only the AdSense advertisement units, and then importing this page into an XHTML webpage with an object tag.[8] This workaround appears to be accepted by Google.[9]

[edit] How AdSense works
This article contains instructions, advice, or how-to content. The purpose of Wikipedia is to present facts, not to train. Please help improve this article either by rewriting the how-to content or by moving it to Wikiversity or Wikibooks. (September 2009)

The webmaster inserts the AdSense JavaScript code into a webpage.
Each time this page is visited, the JavaScript code uses inlined JSON to display content fetched from Google's servers.
For contextual advertisements, Google's servers use a cache of the page to determine a set of high-value keywords. If keywords have been cached already, advertisements are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system. (More details are described in the AdSense patent.)
For site-targeted advertisements, the advertiser chooses the page(s) on which to display advertisements, and pays based on cost per mille (CPM), or the price advertisers choose to pay for every thousand advertisements displayed.[10][11]
For referrals, Google adds money to the advertiser's account when visitors either download the referred software or subscribe to the referred service.[12] The referral program was retired in August 2008.[13]
Search advertisements are added to the list of results after the visitor performs a search.
Because the JavaScript is sent to the Web browser when the page is requested, it is possible for other website owners to copy the JavaScript code into their own webpages. To protect against this type of fraud, AdSense customers can specify the pages on which advertisements should be shown. AdSense then ignores clicks from pages other than those specified.
[edit] Abuse
Some webmasters create websites tailored to lure searchers from Google and other engines onto their AdSense website to make money from clicks. These "zombie" websites often contain nothing but a large amount of interconnected, automated content (e.g., a directory with content from the Open Directory Project, or scraper websites relying on RSS feeds for content). Possibly the most popular form of such "AdSense farms" are splogs (spam blogs), which are centered around known high-paying keywords. Many of these websites use content from other websites, such as Wikipedia, to attract visitors. These and related approaches are considered to be search engine spam and can be reported to Google.[citation needed]

A Made for AdSense (MFA) website or webpage has little or no content, but is filled with advertisements so that users have no choice but to click on advertisements. Such pages were tolerated in the past, but due to complaints, Google now disables such accounts.

There have also been reports of Trojan horses engineered to produce counterfeit Google advertisements that are formatted looking like legitimate ones. The Trojan downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a webpage and then replaces the original advertisements with its own set of malicious advertisements.[14]

[edit] Criticism
Due to concerns about click fraud, 'Google AdSense' has been criticized by some search engine optimization firms as a large source of what Google calls "invalid clicks", in which one company clicks on a rival's search engine advertisements to drive up the other company's costs.[15]

To help prevent click fraud, AdSense publishers can choose from a number of click-tracking programs.[citation needed] These programs display detailed information about the visitors who click on the AdSense advertisements. Publishers can use this to determine whether or not they have been a victim of click fraud. There are a number of commercial tracking scripts available for purchase.

The payment terms for webmasters have also been criticized.[16] Google withholds payment until an account reaches US$100,[17] but many micro content providers[citation needed] require a long time—years in some cases—to build up this much AdSense revenue. However, Google will pay all earned revenue greater than US$10 when an AdSense account is closed.

Many website owners complain that their AdSense accounts have been disabled just before they were supposed to receive their first paycheck from Google. Google claims accounts have been disabled due to click fraud.[citation needed]

Google came under fire when the official Google AdSense Blog showcased the French video website Imineo.com. This website violated Google's AdSense Program Policies by displaying AdSense alongside sexually explicit material. Typically, websites displaying AdSense have been banned from showing such content.[18] Some sites have been banned for distributing copyright material even when they hold the copyright themselves or are authorized by the copyright holder to distribute the material.[19]

It has been reported that using both AdSense and AdWords may cause a website to pay Google a commission when the website advertises itself.[20]

In some cases, AdSense displays inappropriate or offensive ads. For example, in a news story about a terrorist attack in India, an advert was generated for a (presumably non-existent) educational qualification in terrorism

National Geographic Society

2009-10-17T01:16:00.001-07:00

The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society’s characteristic logo is a yellow portrait rectangular frame, which identifiably appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines

Tutankhamun

2009-10-17T01:10:00.000-07:00

Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-, -amen, -amon), Egyptian twt-ˁnḫ-ı͗mn; tVwa:t-ʕa:nəx-ʔaˡma:n (1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty (ruled 1333 BC – 1324 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living Image of Aten", while Tutankhamun means "Living Image of Amun". Often the name Tutankhamun was written Amen-tut-ankh, meaning "living image of Amun", due to scribal custom which most often placed the divine name at the beginning of the phrase in order to honor the divine being. [2] He is possibly also the Nibhurrereya of the Amarna letters. He was likely the 18th dynasty king 'Rathotis', who according to Manetho, an ancient historian, had reigned for nine years — a figure which conforms with Flavius Josephus' version of Manetho's Epitome.[3]
The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun's intact tomb received worldwide press coverage and sparked a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's burial mask remains the popular face.

Yeti

2009-10-17T01:09:00.001-07:00

The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is a mythological creature and an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region,[1] and are part of their history and mythology. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century.
The scientific community largely regards the Yeti as a legend, given the lack of evidence,[2] yet it remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology. The Yeti can be considered a parallel to the Bigfoot legend of North America.

Loch Ness Monster

2009-10-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

The Loch Ness Monster is a creature reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is the most famous of the supposed lake monsters reported throughout Scotland and elsewhere. Its description varies from one account to the next, though it is most commonly conceived of as plesiosaur-like.[3]
Popular interest and belief in the animal has fluctuated since it was brought to the world's attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as a mix of hoaxes and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology. The legendary monster has been affectionately referred to by the nickname Nessie[4] (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag)[1] since the 1950s.

Bigfoot

2009-10-17T01:05:00.000-07:00

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is an alleged ape-like creature purportedly inhabiting forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid.
The scientific community considers Bigfoot to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoaxes, rather than a real creature.[2] In general, mainstream scientific consensus does not support the posited existence of megafauna cryptids such as Bigfoot, because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population[3] and because climate and food supply issues would make such purported creatures' survival in reported habitats unlikely.[4] Despite these facts, Bigfoot is one of the more famous examples of a cryptid within cryptozoology.

Loch Ness

2009-10-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Loch Ness (pronounced /ˌlɒx ˈnɛs/, Scottish Gaelic: Loch Nis) is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands (57°18′N 4°27′W) extending for approximately 37 km (23 miles) southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 15.8 metres (52 ft) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, also known as "Nessie".
It is connected at the southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich. At the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness. It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.
Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56.4 km2 (21.8 sq mi) after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume. Its deepest point is 230 m (754 ft),[1] deeper than the height of London's BT Tower at 189 m (620 ft) and deeper than any other loch with the exception of Loch Morar. It contains more fresh water than all lakes in England and Wales combined,[2] and is the largest body of water on the Great Glen Fault, which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south.

Pet Society

2009-10-17T00:57:00.000-07:00

Pet Society is an internet social game developed by Playfish. The game which is launched within Facebook has been ranked as the most popular Facebook application.[1][2] New players custom design their pets, choosing the gender, the name, the colour, and the features (such as; ears, nose, mouth etc.)
There are a variety of activities with which the user can interact with the pet, including washing, brushing, petting and feeding the pet. There are also activities whereby pets can interact with the pets of those in the "friends" network. A pet can visit the pets of their friends and perform the same activities to these pets (washing, grooming, feeding, etc.). A pet can visit other pets as many times per day as they are inclined to, however once a day these visits will award coins and Paw Points. There are many ways to earn coins in Pet Society, like the Daily Lottery, visit friends, won awards or hurdle races.
Features

Pet Society has a thriving in-game economy and launches new purchasable items to each of the stores every week. The application attracts new users through its long continued efforts to stay updated, bringing new features such as "Recycling", "Garden", the Pet Society Photo Album feature and the Pet Society Fishing Pond. As of August 2009, Pet Society contains no cheats[citation needed] and the following stores and places in its standard village:
Luxury - This store mainly sells expensive products to the richer pets, and contains beds, jacuzzis, and such. Luxury usually puts items that sold with price more than 2,500 coins.
Stadium - Here pets can engage in Hurdling races of three (at maximum of 10 times playing a day), and also has the "betting" mode where players bet on the pet they think will win. If the player guesses correctly they will get double their bet.
Food - Here pets can find typical fruits, vegetables, meat products, drinks, etc. The Food Shop has weekly features which sometimes reflect to the calendar, for example selling Zongzi for one week in the 2009 May 28 Dragon Boat Festival.
Furniture - This shop supplies various tables, chairs, couches, beds and several types of shelves and cabinets.
Gadget - Sells electronic items, such as TVs, radios, telephones, clocks, and laptops.
Mystery - The Mystery Shop sells Fairy, Fairytale and Toy "Mystery" Eggs and Mystery boxes. The Fairy eggs contain one of a selection of items that can be used for a themed room (such as fairy lamps, leaf carpets, fairy bed, etc.) as well as different elements of a fairy's wardrobe. Items which come out of Fairy "eggs" can be gifted to friends that play Pet Society. Both the Fairytale and Toy Mystery eggs contain either backdrop scenes (for example, a yellow brick road backdrop) or elements to place into that scene (such as the cowardly lion). While the Fairytale and Toy eggs can be gifted to Pet Society Friends, the items which come from the eggs cannot. The Mystery boxes can contain items currently in the other stores in Pet Society as well as special mystery items which are indicated by a "?". Mystery boxes come in three sizes, a small red box or "RMB", a medium blue box or "BMB", and a gold large box or "GMB". The value of the items inside of the mystery boxes can vary greatly, with a maximum resale value from the GMB being 999 coins. The "RMB" cost 50 yellow coins and the "BMB" cost 200 yellow coins and mostly, the "GMB" cost 500 yellow coins. All items which come out of a Mystery Box can be gifted to Pet Society Friends. Also there are 3 other new egg sets like the Faerie eggs, Food Booth eggs, and Fortune eggs which give you furniture and clothes to the theme which the egg is.
Café - a A more recent feature, the Café is a social bonding service where you can visit random players' houses, meeting their pets. You can also buy typical coffee-shop food and tea sets here.
D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) - This place is where players can shop for wallpapers, floors, doors and windows.
Clothes - Here players can buy clothes, shoes, hats and accessories for their pet to wear.
Stylist - Players can change the name, color and features (e.g. eyes, nose, ears and such) of their pet.
Bank - Allows you to buy more yellow coins and cash here using Paypal to spend in the other shops. There are also offers which can be completed to earn coins. These may included free surveys, credit card offers, club offers (such as movie clubs or coffee clubs). The amount of coins (yellow) which can be earned varies with the offer. Reimbursement periods also vary, with some offers being instantaneous, while other offers can take a week or longer. The yellow coins can be used in all shops except for the Cash Coin Shop.
Cash Shop - This is one of the newest shops, and you can buy special Playfish Cash (you can only earn Playfish Cash by credit card or by premium text message), then spend it on special items found only here.
Garden - The latest addition to the stores in the game, you can buy plants and different seeds for your pet's garden here. The vegetable seeds yield vegetables that grow in size as time passes, but these can rot if not watched carefully. It has a variety of 3 seeds. Vegetables, flowers and trees. There are different variety of each. The trees bear food like cupcakes and bananas and many more kind of food every few days. Since fishing has started in the game, you can find aquariums here.
Pond - introduced in July 2009, players can collect fish (and various other items) by using any food they have as bait. Fish can be shown to friends by placing them in an aquarium. They can also be recycled or sold, but not gifted.
There are also basic tools provided in Pet Society. These tools are upgraded when your level gets higher. (see table)
[edit]Trophies

There are 45 trophies that can be won by reaching various milestones. These are arranged in fifteen categories, each with bronze, silver and gold trophies. When the silver or gold trophy in a given category is won, it replaces the previously won trophy in that category. Trophies can be displayed in the houses of pets winning them, and cannot be recycled, gifted or sold, new trophies are here already, for the collecting of stickers.
Achievement Bronze Silver Gold
Count Trophy name Count Trophy name Count Trophy name
Visits to friends 25 Pet About Town 100 Vizier of Visists 300 Social Whirlwind
Longest sequence of ball passes 15 Playing Softball 30 Playing Hardball 50 Pro Baller
Longest sequence of frisbee passes 10 Safe Hands 25 Kaiser of Catch 40 Ultimate Frisbee Player
Longest sequence of rope jumps 20 Roped In 50 Junior Jumper 100 Skipping Superstar
Coins spent 500 Window Shopper 3,000 Mall Rat 10,000 Big Spender
Hats bought 3 Cap Collector 10 Head Honcho 30 Mad Hatter
Shirts and dresses bought 3 Shirt Collector 10 Shirt Lover 30 Shirt Aficionado
Legwear items bought 3 Trouser Browser 10 Racks of Slacks 30 Chino Supremo
Pairs of shoes bought 3 Shoe Collector 10 Boot Buyer 30 Footwear Fetish
Arm accessories bought 3 Arms Race 10 Tangles of Bangles 30 King of Bling
Gifts sent to friends 5 Generous Gifter 25 Selfless Sender 50 Santa Claus
Wins in the Stadium hurdle races 10 Hedge Hopper 100 Rooster Booster 250 Jet Jumper
Bets won in the Stadium 10 Beginners Luck 100 Better Better 300 Lucky Star
Recycle points earned 5,000 Eco conscious 20,000 Environmentalist 100,000 Eco warrior
Plants sown 9 Green fingers 50 Sow far sow good! 500 Welcome to the jungle
Stickers Collections 5 Bronze Sticky Fingers 5 Silver You Stuck It Out 5 Gold Midas Touch
[edit]Level up

Earning a certain number of paw points makes the pet level up, in order to gain some coins, new features and special status. When originally release there were only 34. After houses were enlarged to accommodate ten rooms, an additional 13 levels were added bringing the total to 47[3].
Level # Level name Paw Points required Reward
1 Getting Started 0 N/A
2 New Arrival 20 Basic Ball
3 Learner 50 House with two rooms, Basic Frisbee
4 Playful Pet 100 Basic Skipping Rope
5 Fresh Face 250 House with three rooms, Portable TV
6 Promising Prospect 500 Better Soap
7 One To Watch 750 Better Ball
8 Growing Talent 1,000 Better Brush
9 High Achiever 1,500 Better Frisbee
10 Popular Pet 2,000 Better Skipping Rope, Second Garden
11 Influential Pet 2,500 House with four rooms, Digital TV
12 Rising Star 3,000 Super Soap
13 Established Presence 3,500 Super Ball
14 Society Stalwart 4,000 Super Brush
15 Famous Pet 4,500 Super Frisbee
16 Media Darling 5,000 Super Skipping Rope
17 High Profile Pet 6,000 House with five rooms, Plasma TV
18 VIP Pet 7,000 Lovely Soap
19 Celebrity Pet 8,000 Golden Ball
20 It Pet 9,000 Golden Brush
21 A-List Pet 10,000 Golden Frisbee
22 Renowned Pet 11,000 Golden Skipping Rope
23 Superstar Pet 12,000 House with six rooms
24 Hollywood Pet 14,000 Aqua Soap
25 Megastar Pet 18,000 Pro Ball
26 Platinum Pet 24,000 Crystal Brush
27 Uberstar Pet 32,000 Star Frisbee
28 Ultimate Achiever 42,000 Expert Skipping Rope
29 Superb Pet 54,000 House with seven rooms
30 Heroic Pet 68,000 Golden Star Soap
31 Royal Pet 84,000 Crystal Ball
32 Historic Pet 102,000 Ruby Brush
33 Super Pet 122,000 Gem Frisbee
34 All-Time Great 144,000 Star Skipping Rope
35 Ultimate Pet 166,000 House with eight rooms
36 Ruby Renowned Pet 188,000 Heart Soap
37 Ruby Superstar Pet 210,000 Ruby Ball
38 Ruby Hollywood Pet 232,000 Sapphire Brush
39 Ruby Megastar Pet 254,000 Sapphire Frisbee
40 Ruby Platinum Pet 276,000 Ruby Skipping Rope
41 Ruby Uberstar Pet 298,000 House with nine rooms
42 Ruby Ultimate Achiever Pet 310,000 Sapphire Heart Soap
43 Ruby Superb Pet 332,000 Sapphire Ball
44 Ruby Heroic Pet 354,000 Rainbow Brush
45 Ruby Royal Pet 376,000 Rainbow Frisbee
46 Ruby Historic Pet 398,000 Sapphire Skipping Rope
47 Ruby Super Pet 420,000 House with ten rooms

2009-10-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

Heal The World - Michael Jackson

Cheat Engine

2009-10-13T17:55:00.001-07:00

Cheat Engine, commonly abbreviated as CE, is a free memory scanner/hex editor/debugger created by Dark Byte (aka Eric Heijnen) for the Windows operating system.[1] Cheat Engine is used for cheating in computer games, and is often modified and recompiled to evade detection. This program resembles L. Spiro's "Memory Hacking Software", Tsearch, and ArtMoney. It searches for values input by the user with a wide variety of options that allow the user to find and sort through the memory database. Cheat Engine can also create standalone trainers that can operate independently of Cheat Engine.

Batman

2009-10-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Batman, originally referred to as the Bat-Man, is a fictional character, a comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger (although only Kane receives official credit), appearing in publications by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939.

Additionally known as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight Detective,[2] and the World's Greatest Detective; in the original version of the story and the vast majority of subsequent retellings, Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a billionaire playboy, industrialist, and philanthropist. Having witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, he swore revenge on crime, an oath tempered with the greater ideal of justice. Bruce trains himself both physically and intellectually and dons a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime.[3] Batman operates in the fictional American Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his main sidekick Robin, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, the police commissioner Jim Gordon, occasional assistance from the heroine Batgirl, as well as the hero Nightwing. He fights an assortment of villains influenced by the characters' roots in film and pulp magazines. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime. In 2009, following Wayne's apparent death, the role of Batman has been taken up by his former ward and the first Robin, Dick Grayson.

Batman became a popular character soon after his introduction and gained his own comic book title, Batman, in 1940. As the decades wore on, differing interpretations of the character emerged. The late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, culminating in the 1986 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by writer-artist Frank Miller, while the success of film director Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman helped to reignite popular interest in the character. A cultural icon, Batman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, and appears on a variety of merchandise sold all over the world.

Superman

2009-10-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

Superman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon.[1][2][3][4] Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1938, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 30, 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book.[1] The character's appearance is distinctive and iconic: a blue, red and yellow costume, complete with cape, with a stylized "S" shield on his chest.[5][6][7] This shield is now typically used across media to symbolize the character.[8]

The original story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El, moments before Krypton's destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early he started to display superhuman abilities, which upon reaching maturity he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity.

While referred to less than flatteringly as "the big blue Boy Scout" by some of his fellow superheroes,[9] Superman is hailed as "The Man of Steel", "The Man of Tomorrow", and "The Last Son of Krypton" by the general public within the comics. As Clark Kent, Superman lives among humans as a "mild-mannered reporter" for the Metropolis newspaper Daily Planet (Daily Star in the earliest stories). There he works alongside reporter Lois Lane, with whom he is romantically linked. This relationship has been consummated by marriage on numerous occasions across various media, and this union is now firmly established within mainstream comics' continuity.

DC Comics/Warner Bros. slowly expanded the character's supporting cast, powers, and trappings throughout the years. Superman's backstory was altered to allow for adventures as Superboy, and other survivors of Krypton were created, including Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. In addition, Superman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, perhaps most notably portrayed by Christopher Reeve in both Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie in 1978, and the sequel Superman II in 1981, which garnered critical praise and became Warner Bros.' most successful feature films of their time. However, the next two sequels, Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, did not perform as well at the box office. The motion picture Superman Returns was released in 2006, which although relatively unsuccessful within the United States, returned a performance at the international box office which exceeded expectations.[10] In the seven decades since Superman's debut, the character has been revamped and updated several times.

A significant overhaul occurred in 1986, when John Byrne revamped and "retconned" the character, reducing Superman's powers and erasing several characters from the canon, in a move that attracted media attention. Press coverage was again garnered by DC Comics in the 1990s with The Death of Superman, a storyline which saw the character killed and later restored to life.

Superman has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alike exploring the character's impact and role in the United States and the rest of the world. Umberto Eco discussed the mythic qualities of the character in the early 1960s, and Larry Niven has pondered the implications of a sexual relationship the character might enjoy with Lois Lane.[11] The character's ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel and Shuster twice suing for the return of legal ownership. The copyright is again currently in dispute, with changes in copyright law allowing Siegel's wife and daughter to claim a share of the copyright, a move DC parent company Warner Bros. disputes.

Spider-Man

2009-10-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer and editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962). Lee and Ditko conceived of the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben as an ordinary teenager, having to deal with the normal struggles of youth in addition to those of a costumed crime fighter. Spider-Man's creators gave him the ability to cling to walls, shoot spider-webs using devices of his own invention which he called "web-shooters," and react to danger quickly with his "spider-sense", enabling him to combat his foes, including Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, the Lizard, and Green Goblin, although it doesn't work for his symbiote foes such as an Venom and Carnage because of his exposure of the symbiote.

When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the protagonist. The Spider-Man series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker, a teenage high school student to whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" young readers could easily relate.[1]:210 Unlike previous teen heroes such as James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes and Robin, Spider-Man did not benefit from being the protege of any adult mentors like Captain America and Batman, and thus he had to learn for himself that "with great power comes great responsibility" — a line included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man story, but later retroactively attributed to his guardian, Uncle Ben.

Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first and longest-lasting of which is titled The Amazing Spider-Man. Over the years, the Peter Parker character has developed from shy high school student to troubled but outgoing college student to married high school teacher to, in the late 2000s, a single freelance photographer, his most typical adult role. He is a member of an unofficial splinter group of the Avengers, one of Marvel's flagship superhero teams. In the comics, Spider-Man is often referred to as "Spidey," "web-slinger," "wall-crawler," or "web-head."

Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes. As Marvel's flagship character and company mascot, he has appeared in many forms of media, including several animated and live-action television shows, syndicated newspaper comic strips and a successful series of films starring actor Tobey Maguire as the "friendly neighborhood" hero. Spider-Man was named Empire magazine's fifth-greatest comic-book character.[2]

Marvel Entertainment

2009-10-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) is an American entertainment company formed from the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. and Toy Biz, Inc.

A corporate predecessor traces its origins to the May 1933 publication of Western Supernovel magazine. That magazine was only published for one issue before the title was changed to Complete Western Book magazine in July 1933.[citation needed] The company's oldest character is Ka-Zar, introduced in 1936. In 1939, the company began publishing comic books as Timely Publications with Marvel Comics #1.

On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, with Marvel shareholders to receive $30 and about 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own.[1]

DC Comics

2009-10-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

DC Comics (founded originally in 1934 as National Allied Publications)[1] is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc.[2], a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. DC Comics produces material featuring a large number of well-known characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow, the Justice League and the rest of the DC Universe.[3]

The initials "DC" came from the company's popular series, Detective Comics, which subsequently became part of the company's official name.[4] DC Comics has its official headquarters at 1700 Broadway, New York, New York.[5] Random House distributes DC Comics' books to the bookstore market, while Diamond Comics Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market.[5]

Warner Bros.

2009-10-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Pictures, or simply Warner Bros.—the shortened form of the former official, sometimes still used, formal corporate name: Warner Brothers[2]) is a producer of film and television entertainment.

One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York City. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Founded in 1918 by Jewish immigrants from Poland, Warner Bros. is the third-oldest American movie studio in continuous operation, after Paramount Pictures, founded in 1912 as Famous Players, and Universal Studios, also founded in 1912. Some of its most notable actors include Bette Davis, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Doris Day and more recently, Clint Eastwood.

Maria Ozawa

2009-10-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

Maria Ozawa (小澤マリア, Ozawa Maria?), who used the name Miyabi (みやび?) early in her career, is a Japanese adult video (AV) actress known in Japan as an AV idol.

Harley-Davidson

2009-10-13T17:12:00.001-07:00

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG, formerly HDI[3]), often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression.[4] Harley-Davidson also survived a media-accelerated negative image of motorcyclists, a period of poor quality control, and competition with Japanese manufacturers.

The company sells heavyweight (over 750 cc) motorcycles designed for cruising on the highway. Harley-Davidson motorcycles (popularly known as "Harleys") have a distinctive design and exhaust note. They are especially noted for the tradition of heavy customization that gave rise to the chopper-style of motorcycle.[5] Except for the modern VRSC model family, current Harley-Davidson motorcycles reflect the styles of classic Harley designs. Harley-Davidson's attempts to establish itself in the light motorcycle market have met with limited success and have largely been abandoned since the 1978 sale of its Italian Aermacchi subsidiary.

Harley-Davidson sustains a loyal brand community which keeps active through clubs, events, and a museum. Licensing of the Harley-Davidson logo accounts for almost 5% of the company's net revenue.

In addition to manufacturing motorcycles under its own name and its licensing and accessories line, Harley-Davidson's operations include Custom Vehicle Operations, which makes special editions of Harley models with larger engines, sport bike manufacturer Buell Motorcycle Company, and Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta, including their Cagiva subsidiary.

Sony

2009-10-13T17:10:00.002-07:00

Sony Corporation (commonly referred to as Sony) (Japanese: ソニー株式会社, Sonī Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 6758) is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. (FY2008).[2] Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its name is derived from sonus, the Latin word for sound.[3]

Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its five operating segments—electronics, games, entertainment (motion pictures and music), financial services and other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, and Sony Financial. As a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The company's current slogan is make.believe.[4]

Electronic Arts

2009-10-13T17:10:00.001-07:00

Electronic Arts (EA) (NASDAQ: ERTS) is an international developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games. Originally, EA was a home computing game publisher. In the late 1980s, the company began developing games in-house and supported consoles by the early 1990s. EA later grew via acquisition of several successful developers. By the early 2000s, EA had become one of the world's largest third-party publishers. In May 2008, the company reported net annual revenue of US$4.02 billion in fiscal year 2008.[2] Currently, EA's most successful products are sports games published under its EA Sports label, games based on popular movie licenses such as Harry Potter and games from long-running franchises like Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, The Sims, Battlefield and the later games in the Burnout and Command & Conquer series. They are also the distributors of the Rock Band series. EA reported a $1.08 billion loss for the financial year ending March 2009. Revenue for the same period was up to $4.2 billion, a 15 percent rise from the previous year’s $3.6 billion. [3]

American football

2009-10-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football,[1] and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball[2] into the opposing team's end zone. The ball can be advanced by carrying it (a running play) or by throwing it to a teammate (a passing play). Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the goal posts at the opponent's end zone, or tackling an opposing ball carrier within his end zone. The winner is the team with the most points when the time expires.

American football is closely related to Canadian football, but with significant differences. Both sports originated from rugby football. The major forms of football in the United States are collegiate football and professional football. There have been numerous major professional football leagues in the U.S.; the two currently in existence are the National Football League (NFL) and the United Football League.

The sport is also played outside the United States. National professional and collegiate leagues exist in United Kingdom, Germany, Italy,[3] Switzerland,[4] Finland, Sweden,[5] Japan, Mexico, Israel,[6] Spain, Austria,[7] and several Pacific Island nations.

The Walt Disney Company

2009-10-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world,[3] known for its family-friendly products. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as an animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner and licensor of eleven theme parks and several television networks, including ABC and ESPN. Disney's corporate headquarters and primary production facilities are located at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. Mickey Mouse serves as the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company.

Walt Disney

2009-10-13T17:05:00.001-07:00

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created a number of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse. He received fifty-nine Academy Award nominations and won twenty-six Oscars, including a record four in one year,[2] giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, Japan, France, and China.

Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966, a few years prior to the opening of his Walt Disney World Resort dream project in Florida.

Universal Studios

2009-10-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal City Studios or Universal for short), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major American movie studios. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are based in New York City. Universal Pictures is the second longest-lived Hollywood studio; Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures is the oldest by a month.

Dracula

2009-10-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.

Dracula has been attributed to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Structurally it is an epistolary novel, that is, told as a series of diary entries and letters. Literary critics have examined many themes in the novel, such as the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration, colonialism, postcolonialism and folklore. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many theatrical, film and television interpretations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

2009-10-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Earth: Year 3000 - Watch more funny videos here

2009-10-11T04:56:00.000-07:00

Iron Man Vs Bruce Lee - The best bloopers are a click away

Gregor Mendel

2009-10-10T19:49:00.001-07:00

Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822[1] – January 6, 1884) was an Augustinian priest and scientist, and is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants. Mendel showed that the inheritance of these traits follows particular laws, which were later named after him. The significance of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century. Its rediscovery formed the foundation of the modern science of genetics.

League of Nations

2009-10-10T19:47:00.001-07:00

The League of Nations (LoN) was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The League's goals included upholding the new found Rights of Man such as right of non whites, rights of women, rights of soldiers, disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation, diplomacy and improving global quality of life. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and so depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to economic sanctions which the League ordered, or provide an army, when needed, for the League to use. However, they were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could also hurt the League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them. When during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the League accused Benito Mussolini's soldiers of targeting Red Cross medical tents, Mussolini responded that Ethiopians were not fully human, therefore the human rights laws did not apply. Benito Mussolini stated that "The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out." [1]
After a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. In May 1933 the League was powerless to convince Hitler that Franz Bernheim, a Jew, was protected under the minority clauses established by the League in 1919 (that all minorities were fully human and held equal rights among all men). Hitler claimed these clauses violated Germany's sovereignty. Germany withdrew from the League soon to be followed by many other totalitarian and militaristic nations. The onset of World War II showed that the League had failed its primary purpose, which was to avoid any future world war. The United Nations replaced it after the end of the war and inherited a number of agencies and organizations founded by the League.

SWAT

2009-10-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

A SWAT (special weapons and tactics)[1][2] team is an elite tactical unit in American and some international law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers. Their duties include performing hostage rescues and counter-terrorism operations, serving high risk arrest warrants and search warrants, subduing barricaded suspects, and engaging heavily-armed criminals. A SWAT team is often equipped with specialized firearms including assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, carbines, riot control agents, stun grenades, and high-powered rifles for snipers. They have specialized equipment including heavy body armor, entry tools, armored vehicles, advanced night vision optics, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers inside of an enclosed structure.
The first SWAT team was established in the Los Angeles Police Department in 1968. Since then, many American police departments, especially in major cities and at the federal and state-levels of government, have established their own elite units under various names; these units, regardless of their official name, are referred to collectively as SWAT teams in colloquial usage.

Central Intelligence Agency

2009-10-10T19:44:00.002-07:00

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.
It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers.
It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during World War II to coordinate espionage activities between the branches of the United States military. The 1947 National Security Act established the CIA, affording it "no police or law enforcement functions, either at home or abroad". One year later, this mandate was expanded to include "sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures...subversion [and] assistance to underground resistance movements, guerrillas and refugee liberation movements, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world".[6]
The CIA's primary function is to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers. The agency conducts covert operations and paramilitary actions, and exerts foreign political influence through its Special Activities Division. The CIA and its responsibilities changed markedly in 2004. Before December 2004, the CIA was the main intelligence organization of the US government; it coordinated and oversaw not only its own activities but also the activities of the US Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which took over some of the government and IC-wide functions. The DNI manages the IC and therefore the intelligence cycle. The functions that moved to the DNI included the preparation of estimates of the consolidated opinion of the 16 IC agencies, and the preparation of briefings for the President of the United States.
Today, the CIA still has a number of functions in common with other countries' intelligence agencies; see Relationships with foreign intelligence agencies. The CIA's headquarters is in Langley in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,[7] a few miles west of Washington, DC along the Potomac River.
Sometimes, the CIA is referred to euphemistically in government and military parlance as Other Government Agencies (OGA), particularly when its operations in a particular area are an open secret.[8][9] Other terms include The Company.[10][11][12][13] and The Agency.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime.[2] Its motto is "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity", corresponding to the FBI initials.
The FBI's headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, is located in Washington, D.C.. Fifty-six field offices are located in major cities throughout the United States as well as over 400 resident agencies in smaller cities and towns across the country. More than 50 international offices called "legal attachés" are in U.S. embassies worldwide.

ASEAN

2009-10-10T19:43:00.003-07:00

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations,[1] commonly abbreviated ASEAN (generally pronounced /ˈɑːsi.ɑːn/ AH-see-ahn,[2] occasionally /ˈɑːzi.ɑːn/ AH-zee-ahn[3] in English, the official language of the bloc),[4] is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.[5] Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Its aims include the acceleration of economic growth, social progress, cultural development among its members, the protection of the peace and stability of the region, and to provide opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.[6]
In 2005, the bloc spanned over an area of 4.46 million km2 with a combined GDP (Nominal/PPP) of about USD$896.5 billion/$2,728 billion growing at an average rate of around 5.6% per annum. Nominal GDP had grown to USD $1.4 trillion in 2008.

Uno (card game)

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Uno (pronounced /ˈuːno/) (Italian and Spanish for 'one') is a card game played with a specially printed deck (see Mau Mau for an almost identical game played with normal playing cards). The game was originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins. It is now a Mattel product. The game's general principles put it into the Crazy Eights family of card games.
Previously, their slogan was The Colored Card Game. Presently, they are using You know. Their motto is You get one, you get Uno.'

United Nations

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The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions.
There are currently 192 member states, including nearly every sovereign state in the world. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year. The organization is divided into administrative bodies, primarily: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (decides certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (assists in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development); the Secretariat (provides studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ). Additional bodies deal with the governance of all other UN System agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure is the Secretary-General, currently Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who attained the post in 2007. The organization is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, and has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.[2]

Sukarno

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Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. He helped the country win its independence from the Netherlands and was President from 1945 to 1967, presiding with mixed success over the country's turbulent transition to independence. Sukarno was forced out of power by one of his generals, Suharto, who formally became President in March 1967.

Mother Teresa

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Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997), born Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (pronounced [aɡˈnɛs ˈɡɔndʒe bɔjaˈdʒiu]), was an Albanian[2][3] Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship[4] who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.
By the 1970s she was internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programs, orphanages, and schools.
She has been praised by many individuals, governments and organizations; however, she has also faced a diverse range of criticism. These include objections by various individuals and groups, including Christopher Hitchens, Michael Parenti, Aroup Chatterjee, Vishva Hindu Parishad, against the proselytizing focus of her work including a strong stance against abortion, a belief in the spiritual goodness of poverty and alleged baptisms of the dying. Medical journals also criticised the standard of medical care in her hospices and concerns were raised about the opaque nature in which donated money was spent.
In 1996 Mother Teresa was proclaimed directly by Act of Congress an Honorary Citizen of the United States. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta".

The Beatles

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The Beatles were an English rock and pop group formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music.[1] During their years of international stardom, the group consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and skiffle, the group worked with different musical genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, style and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.
Returning to Liverpool following periods of Hamburg residency during 1960, 1961 and 1962, the group appointed Brian Epstein manager, and he negotiated a record contract with EMI's George Martin; Epstein would manage the band until his death in 1967, and Martin produced all but one of the group's studio albums. The single "Love Me Do" achieved UK chart success in late 1962. Generating fervent interest termed "Beatlemania", the band toured the UK and Europe throughout the next year. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" found US chart success at the close of 1963, spearheading the group's international popularity, and they toured the US and other countries over the next three years. During this period, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were each honoured with an MBE. In 1966 the group found themselves mired in controversy, including widespread antipathy in the US after a magazine published a quote from Lennon's remarks on Christianity. They ceased to perform commercial concerts after the 1966 US tour, concentrating instead on studio work and enjoying continued international chart success, which also earned them considerable acclaim as artists. In 1967, Epstein died from an overdose of a prescription drug. The group began a three-month retreat in India, treating Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as their guru for a short time, but became disillusioned with him. Increasingly dominated by conflict, and further alienated from one another by a disagreement about the appointment of a new financial adviser, the group disintegrated in 1970. All four members embarked upon successful solo careers. Nearly four decades after the breakup, Beatles music continues to be popular, and September 2009 saw the release of a newly remastered discography as well as the video game The Beatles: Rock Band.[2]
According to the RIAA certifications, The Beatles have sold more albums in the US than any other artist.[3] They are credited with six Diamond albums, as well as 24 Multi-Platinum albums, 39 Platinum albums and 45 Gold albums.[4][5] In the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart they notched up 29 top ten hits, including 20 number ones. In the UK they released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number one in its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,[6] and four of their albums appeared in the top ten of the magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, one of them at number one. According to that same magazine, The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the all-time top-selling Hot 100 artists to celebrate the chart's fiftieth anniversary, ranking The Beatles at number one.[7] The Beatles were collectively included in Time magazine's list of The Most Important People of the 20th Century.[8]

Bonaventure

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Bonaventure (Italian: San Bonaventura; 1221[1] – 15 July 1274), born John of Fidanza (Italian: Giovanni di Fidanza), was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher, the eighth Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor. He was a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church in the year 1588 by Pope Sixtus V. He is known as the "Seraphic Doctor" (Latin: "Doctor Seraphicus"). Many writings believed in the Middle Ages to be his are now collected under the name Pseudo-Bonaventura.

Alan (name)

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Alan (Alain, Allan) is a male given name. Its origin is uncertain. It may ultimately derived from the Alanus "of the tribe of the Alans", or from Aelius, a given name ultimately from Helios "Sun", or from a Breton word for "rock".
It was introduced to England by Bretons before and after the Norman Conquest of England, having been popularized in their province as the misspelled name of Allorus (feast date 27 Dec.), bishop of Quimper. Having a similar name and feast date only a month apart, Allorus was thus conflated with Saint Alan (feast date 25 Nov.) of Lavaur Cathedral in Gascony near Toulose, whose name was a Vulgar Latin spelling of Aelianus, being recorded variously Alen or Elan.

Aelianus is a developed form of Aelius, itself a Roman borrowing of the Greek Helios. There is a Church of Saint Elian in Syria. The name is interpreted as meaning either "little rock" or "handsome" in Breton, and "harmony" in some Celtic languages.
In the modern world, the name Alan was particularly popular among American parents in the early to mid-20th century, and is very widely used in Ireland and Britain. Allen is an English spelling of the name, Allan a Scottish English spelling, Ailean a Scottish Gaelic spelling and Ailín the Irish version. The Welsh spelling Alun is rarely used outside of Wales, and the name is occasionally seen spelled Alyn, Welsh pronunciation is different (pronounced Alin). The name is also used as a surname, usually spelled Allen or Ó hAilín in Irish. Related surnames include Alanson, Allanshaw, and Allenby.
Derivates of the name Alan or Alain are common also as place names (e.g. Allaines and Allainville) in northern France, from whence the Norman invaders of England came, bringing this name with them. Alan Rufus and Alan FitzFlaad were for example compatriots of William the Conqueror. A tribe of Alans had settled in that area during the fall of Rome. Originally, they came from the Caucasus area and are related to the Ossetians, where Alan is a common forename to this day.