1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
Hyatt Regency Atlanta
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The Hyatt Regency Atlanta is a large business hotel located on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Opened in 1967 as the Regency Hyatt House, John C, Portman, Jr. s revolutionary 22-story atrium design for the hotel has influenced hotel design enormously in the years since. The hotel instantly became one of the most recognized buildings in Atlanta, the building consists of the main Atrium Tower and two extensions, completed in 1971 and 1982, containing a total of 1,260 rooms. On top of the Hyatt Regency is a restaurant called Polaris. This was John Portmans first designed revolving restaurant of many, the Polaris closed in August 2004 and remained empty until renovation plans were approved in 2013. In 1971 the Ivy Tower was constructed, which was designed by John Portman. It closely resembles his Westin Peachtree Plaza, which opened five years later, so similar are the two buildings that in 1981, the Tower doubled for the Peachtree Plaza in the film Sharkys Machine starring Burt Reynolds. Stuntman Dar Robinson dropped from the Tower, setting a record for the highest freefall jump from a building in a film, in 1970, Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, stayed at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta while attending the Atlanta Film Festival. At the awards ceremony, he gave his room key to the woman presenting him the plaque, in 1982, the International Tower was added, which is the same as the original design but has expanded rooms and suites. Hyatt Regency Atlanta official website When Jim Morrison of The Doors Stayed at The Hyatt Regency Atlanta
Hyatt Regency Atlanta
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Viewed from the
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Hyatt Regency Atlanta
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View of the Atrium and glass elevators looking up from the lobby floor
Hyatt Regency Atlanta
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View of the Hyatt from the
Westin Peachtree Plaza
3.
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The Atlanta Marriott Marquis is a 52-story,168.86 m Marriott hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the 14th tallest skyscraper in the city, the building was designed by Atlanta architect John C. Portman, Jr. with construction completed in 1985, and because of its bulging base, one of the defining features of the Marriott Marquis is its large atrium. It was the largest in the world upon its completion in 1985, the atrium spans the entire height of the building and consists of two vertical chambers divided by elevator shafts and bridges. The record was broken by the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. The 42nd floor features a lounge that is only open to guests staying on the 42nd through the 47th floors. In the films The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and The Hunger Games, Mockingjay – Part 1, some scenes of the 2012 movie Flight were shot in the hotel as well. The atrium is also briefly in the 1986 movie Manhunter. List of tallest buildings in Atlanta
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The Atrium of the Marriott from the Lobby
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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View from the 47th floor
Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Downward view of the rear atrium from the 10th floor
4.
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
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The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Atlanta is a skyscraper hotel on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia adjacent to the Peachtree Center complex and the former Davisons/Macys flagship store. After housing 17 governors of Georgia until 1921, it was demolished in 1923 for the Henry Grady Hotel, named for Atlanta Constitution newspaper journalist/magnate and that and the Roxy Theatre were in turn demolished for the current building. The building opened as the tallest hotel in the world, in 1977, however, it was surpassed by its architectural twin, the Peachtree Plaza Hotel opened as the tallest building in the southeastern United States, surpassing One Shell Square in New Orleans. It lost that title in 1983, when the Southeast Financial Center in Miami surpassed it and it was the tallest building in downtown Atlanta for 13 years until it was surpassed by 191 Peachtree Tower, which in turn was surpassed by SunTrust Plaza. The hotel was featured in the 1981 film Sharkys Machine starring Burt Reynolds. In actuality, however, the stunt scene was filmed at the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel, using its shorter, the building is cast in reflective glass in a cylindrical shape that reflects much of the downtown skyline. Another small cylinder runs the height of the building on one side. The uppermost floors hold the Sun Dial Restaurant and Bar, a restaurant that offers panoramic views of the city. The top floor of the restaurant completes a revolution every 30 minutes. When the building first opened in 1976, the seven-story tall lobby atrium rose out of a half-acre, according to a contemporary postcard, architect Portman designed this area as a modern interpretation of a Venetian Plaza. In a newspaper advertisement, the called the lobby more like a park. In a humorous 1982 column dismissing the extravagance of modern hotel lobbies, will complained that Atlantas Peachtree Plaza has a lobby that Lewis and Clark could not have found their way across. He compared the pond-like body of water to a Walden in everything but charm in which you can drown yourself, eventually, the lake was drained and lobby redesigned as a more standard hotel gathering place with carpet, chairs and sofas. The hotel was notable for its Peachtree Ballroom, which was the largest in Atlanta when it opened. It has since surpassed by the Georgia International Convention Center. Several local broadcasters have transmitted from an antenna mast atop the building, beginning when it became Atlantas tallest, two LPTV stations currently transmit from the top, analog WTBS-LP26, and digital-only WTHC-LD42.1. As of 2009, WTBS-LP is moving to the Bank of America Plaza, from the antenna as co-owned WANN-LP/WANN-CD. The main FM antenna recently belonged to WZGC FM92.9, while a smaller antenna still carries backup signals for that station and previously for WVEE FM103.3, both owned by CBS Radio
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
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The Westin Peachtree Plaza from
Centennial Olympic Park.
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
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Worms-eye view of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
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Inside the Westin Peachtree Plaza
Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
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Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel tornado damage
5.
AmericasMart
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AmericasMart Atlanta is a wholesale trade center located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The exhibition center is one of the largest permanent wholesale trade centers in the world, AmericasMart Atlanta consists of four buildings totaling seven million square feet. Trade show exhibitors rent permanent showrooms as well as temporary booths during trade shows, some permanent showrooms are open daily, though many are open only part of the time or during trade shows. AmericasMart Atlanta is not open to the public and only employees, america’s Mart Atlanta consists of four buildings, Building One, Building Two, Building Two WestWing, and Building Three. The Mart’s main address is 240 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 2200, buildings Two and Three are located on Spring Street and Building Two WestWing is located on Williams Street. 24 pedestrian bridges connect the different buildings of the Mart for indoor access between buildings, a local architect of Atlanta, John C. The Mart opened in 1957, and Portman has held positions of leadership since the founding. These include chairman of the board, chief officer. John Portman’s son, Jeffery Portman serves as the President of AMC, AMC is the trading organization which is the parent company of AmericasMart Atlanta. In 1996 Jeffery Portman renamed the trading center AmericasMart, as before it was known as the Atlanta Market Center and he has worked to expand the Mart since his presidency, and is responsible for the Building Two WestWing, which opened in 2009 and is the newest addition. The mart is a place to buy products and it is expected that the products the buyers purchase at the mart are then resold in their businesses. Therefore the mart is closed to the public, buyers must register their businesses with the Mart and are required to check in upon arrival. A business must visit the Mart with a regularity or forfeit its membership. A company may bring employees and guests to assist with purchasing decisions, AmericasMart sponsors several trade shows each year. Atlanta Apparel The Atlanta Apparel show is focused on selling clothing, shoes, major Shows occur in January and July, Smaller Shows occur in March and September. Atlanta International Area Rug Market The Atlanta International Area Rug Market offers area rugs at wholesale cost, Atlanta Immediate Delivery Show The Atlanta Immediate Delivery Show of is a cash and carry event at which exhibitors offer merchandise for sale and immediate delivery at the event
AmericasMart
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Building Two lobby. Only visitors wearing proper identification may proceed beyond this point.
AmericasMart
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The Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, January 2012
6.
Atlanta
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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U. S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,710,795 people, Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. In 1837, Atlanta was founded at the intersection of two lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. Atlantas economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include logistics, professional and business services, media operations, Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlantas neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the demographics, politics. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, Creek Indians inhabited the area, standing Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta. As part of the removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western, the initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would then be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the zero milepost was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later as Thrasherville after a merchant who built homes. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor the Governors daughter, later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29,1847, by 1860, Atlantas population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a hub for the distribution of military supplies, in 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, on November 11,1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Armys March to the Sea by ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the citys churches and hospitals. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt, due to the citys superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta surpassed Savannah as Georgias largest city, by 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology and the citys black colleges had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, during the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta experienced a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades time, Atlantas population tripled as the city expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs
Atlanta
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From top to bottom left to right: Atlanta skyline seen from
Buckhead, the
Fox Theatre, the
Georgia State Capitol,
Centennial Olympic Park,
Millennium Gate, the
Canopy Walk, the
Georgia Aquarium,
The Phoenix statue, and the
Midtown skyline
Atlanta
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Marietta Street, 1864
Atlanta
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Atlanta in ruins during the Civil War, 1864
Atlanta
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In 1907, Peachtree Street, the main street of Atlanta, was busy with streetcars and automobiles.
7.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
Georgia (U.S. state)
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A girl spinner in a Georgia cotton mill, 1909.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Flag
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Road to
Brasstown Bald
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Jekyll Island
8.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
North America
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Map of North America, from 1621.
North America
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North America
North America
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The
El Castillo pyramid, at
Chichén Itzá, Mexico.
North America
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Benjamin West 's
The Death of General Wolfe (1771) depicting the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
9.
Labor Day
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Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and it is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer. The holiday is also a federal holiday, beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, in 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894. Canadas Labour Day is also celebrated on the first Monday of September, more than 80 countries celebrate International Workers Day on May 1 – the ancient European holiday of May Day – and several countries have chosen their own dates for Labour Day. Beginning in the late 19th century, as the union and labor movements grew. In the United States a September holiday called Labor Day was first proposed in the 1880s, an early history of the holiday dates the events origins to a General Assembly of the Knights of Labor convened in New York City in September 1882. In conjunction with this clandestine Knights assembly a public parade of various organizations was held on September 5 under the auspices of the Central Labor Union of New York. In 1887 Oregon became the first state of the United States to make Labor Day an official public holiday, by the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty U. S. states officially celebrated Labor Day. Thus by 1887 in North America, Labor Day was an established, cleveland supported the creation of the national holiday in an attempt to shore up support among trade unions following the Pullman Strike. All U. S. states, the District of Columbia, and this became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as emphasis was placed upon the civil significance of the holiday. Labor Day is called the end of summer because it marks the end of the cultural summer season. Many take their two-week vacations during the two weeks ending Labor Day weekend, many fall activities, such as school and sports begin about this time. In the United States, many school districts resume classes around the Labor Day holiday weekend, many districts across the Midwest are opting to begin school after Labor Day. The relevant statute has been nicknamed the Kings Dominion law after one such park, in U. S. sports, Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of many fall sports. National Collegiate Athletic Association teams usually play their first games that weekend, the Southern 500 NASCAR auto race has been held on Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina from 1950 to 2003 and since 2015
Labor Day
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Labor Day Parade in
New York's Union Square, 1882
10.
Peachtree Center
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Peachtree Center is a district located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the structures that make up the district were designed by Atlanta architect John C, a defining feature of the Peachtree Center is a network of enclosed pedestrian sky bridges suspended above the street-level, which have garnered criticism for discouraging pedestrian street life. The district is served by the Peachtree Center MARTA station, providing access to rapid transit, Peachtree Center is notable for its uniform embodiment of the modern architectural style popular at the time. Yet the defining feature of Peachtree Center is its insular orientation, thus, as intown Atlanta began its post-1990 resurgence, Peachtree Center was increasingly criticized as an area that epitomized contemporary Atlantas generic urbanity and sense of placelessness. Other critics claim that Peachtree Center is disorienting, killed downtown street-life, the U. S. Census Bureau has its Atlanta Regional Census Center in Suite 1000 in the Marquis Two Tower. The Consulate-General of Argentina is located in Suite 2101 in the Marquis One Tower, the Consulate-General of Germany is located in Suite 901 of the Marquis Two Tower. The Consulate-General of South Korea is located in Suite 500 in the International Tower, embarcadero Center Peachtree Center official website
Peachtree Center
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Street scene in Peachtree Center
Peachtree Center
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Skywalks are a defining feature of Peachtree Center
Peachtree Center
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Sacred Heart Catholic Church, located on Peachtree Center Avenue
Peachtree Center
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The beige buildings of Peachtree Center
11.
Downtown Atlanta
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Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Downtown measures approximately four miles, and had 26,700 residents as of 2010. Similar to other business districts in the U. S. Downtown has recently undergone a transformation that included the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, Downtown is bound by North Avenue to the north, Boulevard to the east, Interstate 20 to the south, and Northside Drive to the west. This definition of Downtown Atlanta includes central areas like Five Points, the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District organization, though, defines a much smaller downtown area measuring just one and two tenths square miles. This area only includes the central business district neighborhoods of Fairlie-Poplar, Five Points, the Hotel District, Centennial Hill. The history of downtown began in 1826 with Wilson Lumpkin and Hamilton Fulton surveying a possible route between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Milledgeville, Georgias capital at the time. In 1833, Lumpkin, who had become governor, requested that the state legislature charter three railroad lines. By 1836, the state-financed Western and Atlantic Railroad, linking the middle of Georgia to the states north and west, was founded by the legislature. As a result, the town named Terminus was founded in 1837, Terminus received a name change in 1842 when the towns 30 inhabitants voted to change the towns name to Marthasville, in honor of Governor Lumpkins daughter. By 1845, John Edgar Thomson, chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad, the first suggestion was Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. In 1847, Atlanta was incorporated, with the town limits extending in a radius from the mile marker at the railroad depot. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Atlanta was a railroad hub and manufacturing center. In 1864, General William T. Sherman burned Atlanta to the ground during his March to the Sea, Atlantas first resurgence began during Reconstruction. In 1868, Georgias state capital was moved to the city from Milledgeville, by the 1920s, a downtown business sector ringed by residential districts had emerged. Professional sports came to Atlanta in 1965 with the construction of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the National Football League awarded the city the Falcons expansion team in 1966. The Hawks arrived in 1968, even though Omni Coliseum, the basketball arena. Atlantas three major sports team continue to play their home games downtown in updated facilities, Turner Field, the Georgia Dome
Downtown Atlanta
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Part of the Downtown Atlanta skyline
Downtown Atlanta
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Downtown Atlanta
Downtown Atlanta
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Downtown Atlanta, 1889
Downtown Atlanta
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Peachtree Street, 1882
12.
Centennial Olympic Park
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Centennial Olympic Park is a 21-acre public park located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia owned and operated by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. It was built by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games as part of the improvements for the 1996 Summer Olympics. It plays host to millions of visitors a year and several events, including a popular music concert series. The park property was previously a variety of vacant lots and abandoned or run-down industrial buildings, aCOGs chief executive, Billy Payne, conceived it as both a central gathering location for visitors and spectators during the Olympics and as a lasting legacy for the city. With the park being the showcase to the world during the Olympics, ACOG decided to hold a competition to lay out. Architect EDAW, with the construction and design firm H. J. Russell & Company entry, was selected as the design for the park by ACOG. Centennial Olympic Park was constructed in two phases, phase I of construction was completed July 1996, just in time for 1996 Olympic Summer Games at a cost of US$28 million. During the Olympics, the park contained sponsor exhibits, hosted entertainment and medal presentations, phase II construction took place shortly after the Olympics were over and was completed during the following year, in 1998, at the cost of US$15 million. The celebrations in the park were marred by the July 27 bombing which killed two people and injured one hundred eleven others, security at the park and at all sporting venues was subsequently raised to include bag searches and metal detectors at all entrances. The bombing site is adjacent to the Parks Centennial Tree and it was closed shortly after the Olympics for renovations until spring 1998. On March 14,2008, the park sustained minor damage when a tornado tore through downtown Atlanta, two of the 65-foot-tall light towers were blown down. It was the first tornado to hit the area since weather record keeping began in the 1880s. It is bounded by Marietta Street to the west, Baker Street to the north and Centennial Olympic Park Drive to the east, andrew Young International Boulevard, named for the former Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador, runs through the southern portion of the park. Since 2008, the area around the park has been marketed, the Atlanta Streetcar will pass along the east side of the park, with a stop for the park on Centennial Olympic Drive. It forms a splash pad that was designed for children to frolic in and it consists of 251 jets that shoot 12 to 35 feet in the air, and also creates a beautiful water sculpture that is essentially the front yard of the nearby museum. There are several pieces of sculpture scattered through the park including a statue of Pierre de Coubertin, a small amphitheatre is located at the southern end of the park. The park has shows at the fountain all 365 days of the year and they play at 12,30 p. m.3,30 p. m.6,30 p. m. and 9,30 p. m. In July 2013, SkyView Atlanta, a transportable Ferris wheel, the 200-foot wheel features 42 air-conditioned cars and excellent views of the park and the surrounding area
Centennial Olympic Park
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Centennial Olympic Park, 2011
Centennial Olympic Park
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Centennial Olympic Park logo
Centennial Olympic Park
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Tornado damage to Centennial Olympic Park (base of toppled light tower visible near middle of photo)
Centennial Olympic Park
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Fountain of Rings
13.
For-profit
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A business is an organizational entity involved in the provision of goods and services to consumers. Businesses may also be social non-profit enterprises or state-owned public enterprises operated by governments with specific social, a business owned by multiple private individuals may form as an incorporated company or jointly organise as a partnership. Countries have different laws that may ascribe different rights to the business entities. The word business can refer to an organization or to an entire market sector or to the sum of all economic activity. Compound forms such as agribusiness represent subsets of the broader meaning. Businesses aim to maximize sales to have their income exceed their expenditures, resulting in a profit, the owner operates the business alone and may hire employees. A sole proprietor has unlimited liability for all obligations incurred by the business, partnership, A partnership is a business owned by two or more people. In most forms of partnerships, each partner has unlimited liability for the debts incurred by the business, the three most prevalent types of for-profit partnerships are, general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. Corporation, The owners of a corporation have limited liability and the business has a legal personality from its owners. Corporations can be either government-owned or privately owned and they can organize either for profit or as nonprofit organizations. A privately owned, for-profit corporation is owned by its shareholders, a privately owned, for-profit corporation can be either privately held by a small group of individuals, or publicly held, with publicly traded shares listed on a stock exchange. Cooperative, Often referred to as a co-op, a cooperative is a limited-liability business that can organize as for-profit or not-for-profit, a cooperative differs from a corporation in that it has members, not shareholders, and they share decision-making authority. Cooperatives are typically classified as either consumer cooperatives or worker cooperatives, cooperatives are fundamental to the ideology of economic democracy. In contrast, unincorporated businesses or persons working on their own are not as protected. Franchises, A franchise is a system in which entrepreneurs purchase the rights to open, franchising in the United States is widespread and is a major economic powerhouse. One out of retail businesses in the United States are franchised and 8 million people are employed in a franchised business. Real estate businesses sell, invest, construct and develop properties – including land, residential homes, retailers, wholesalers, and distributors act as middlemen and get goods produced by manufacturers to the intended consumers, they make their profits by marking up their prices. Most stores and catalog companies are distributors or retailers, transportation businesses such as railways, airlines, shipping companies that deliver goods and individuals to their destinations for a fee
For-profit
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Offices in the
Los Angeles Downtown Financial District
14.
Corporation
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A corporation is a company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law. Early incorporated entities were established by charter, most jurisdictions now allow the creation of new corporations through registration. Corporations chartered in regions where they are distinguished by whether they are allowed to be for profit or not are referred to as for profit and not-for-profit corporations, there is some overlap between stock/non-stock and for profit/not-for-profit in that not-for-profit corporations are always non-stock as well. A for profit corporation is almost always a stock corporation, registered corporations have legal personality and are owned by shareholders whose liability is limited to their investment. Shareholders do not typically actively manage a corporation, shareholders instead elect or appoint a board of directors to control the corporation in a fiduciary capacity, in American English, the word corporation is most often used to describe large business corporations. In British English and in the Commonwealth countries, the company is more widely used to describe the same sort of entity while the word corporation encompasses all incorporated entities. In American English, the company can include entities such as partnerships that would not be referred to as companies in British English as they are not a separate legal entity. Despite not being human beings, corporations, as far as the law is concerned, are legal persons. Corporations can exercise human rights against real individuals and the state, Corporations can be dissolved either by statutory operation, order of court, or voluntary action on the part of shareholders. Corporations can even be convicted of offenses, such as fraud. However, corporations are not considered living entities in the way humans are. While not a corporation, this new type of entity became very attractive as an alternative for corporations not needing to issue stock, in Germany, the organization was referred to as Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung or GmbH. In the last quarter of the 20th Century this new form of organization became available in the United States and other countries. Since the GmbH and LLC forms of organization are technically not corporations they will not be discussed in this article, the word corporation derives from corpus, the Latin word for body, or a body of people. By the time of Justinian, Roman law recognized a range of corporate entities under the names universitas and these included the state itself, municipalities, and such private associations as sponsors of a religious cult, burial clubs, political groups, and guilds of craftsmen or traders. Such bodies commonly had the right to own property and make contracts, to receive gifts and legacies, to sue and be sued, private associations were granted designated privileges and liberties by the emperor. Entities which carried on business and were the subjects of rights were found in ancient Rome. In medieval Europe, churches became incorporated, as did local governments, such as the Pope, the point was that the incorporation would survive longer than the lives of any particular member, existing in perpetuity
Corporation
–
McDonald's Corporation is one of the most recognizable corporations in the world.
Corporation
Corporation
–
1/8 share of the
Stora Kopparberg mine, dated June 16, 1288.
Corporation
–
A
bond issued by the
Dutch East India Company, dating from 1623, for the amount of 2,400 florins
15.
Origins Game Fair
–
Origins Game Fair is an annual gaming convention that was first held in 1975. Since 1996, it has held in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Origins is run by The Game Manufacturers Association, Origins was chartered to serve gaming in general, including wargaming and miniatures gaming. Origins is the site of the annual Origins Awards ceremony, for many years, the Charles S. Roberts Awards for historical boardgames were presented at Origins, but these are now presented at the World Boardgaming Championships. Board games, trading card games, LARPs and role-playing games are popular at Origins. Origins Game Fair was formerly known as the Origins International Game Expo, the name was changed in the summer of 2007. Origins started in 1975 with a gathering of game players in Baltimore, the Interest Group Baltimore, a local wargaming club, worked with the Baltimore-based Avalon Hill game company to put on the first show that year at Johns Hopkins University. Avalon Hill produced the first commercial war games back in 1958, over the next few years, both Avalon Hill and SPI ran the show. As the show continued expanding, the Game Manufacturers Association assumed management in 1978, in each of 1988 and 1992, Origins and Gen Con joined forces to hold a single convention in Milwaukee. Throughout the first half of its life, Origins migrated from city to city, until in 1996, after considering a number of possibilities, GAMA chose Columbus, Ohio
Origins Game Fair
–
Registration area of Origins
Origins Game Fair
–
Exhibitor's Hall
Origins Game Fair
–
"
Alan Smithee " (the man in the gaudy jacket) consulting with his helpers at the 2007 Smithee Awards at the Origins International Game Expo
16.
Science fiction
–
Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
Science fiction
–
A futuristic setting is a common but not a necessary hallmark of science fiction. A common thread in science fiction is exploring the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations on people's lives.
Science fiction
–
H. G. Wells
Science fiction
–
Jules Verne
Science fiction
–
Arthur C. Clarke
17.
Dragon 32/64
–
The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The model numbers reflect the difference between the two machines, which have 32 and 64 kilobytes of RAM, respectively. In the early 1980s, the British home computer market was booming, new machines were released almost monthly. In August 1982, Dragon Data joined the fray with the Dragon 32, the computers sold quite well initially and attracted the interest of several independent software developers, most notably Microdeal. A magazine, Dragon User, also began shortly after the machines launch. The Dragon was also unable to display lower-case letters easily, some more sophisticated applications would synthesise them using high-resolution graphics modes. Simpler programs just managed without lower case and this effectively locked it out of the then-blooming educational market. As a result of limitations, the Dragon was not a commercial success. The Dragon is built around the Motorola MC6809E processor running at 0.89 MHz and this was an advanced 8-bit CPU design, having, among other things, limited 16-bit capabilities. Manufacturing variances mean that not all Dragons are able to function at higher speed. POKE65494,0 returns the speed to normal, POKE65497,0 pushes the speed yet higher but the display is lost until a slower speed is restored. The Dragon also used the SN74LS783/MC6883 Synchronous Address Multiplexer and the MC6847 Video Display Generator, i/O was provided by two MC6821 Peripheral Interface Adapters. Many Dragon 32s were upgraded by their owners to 64 kB of memory, a few were further expanded to 128 kB,256 kB, or 512 kB, with home-built memory controllers/memory management units. A broad range of peripherals exist for the Dragon 32/64, although neither machine has a built-in disk operating system, DragonDOS was supplied as part of the disk controller interface from Dragon Data Ltd. The numerous external ports, including the standard RS-232 on the 64, an unusual feature was a monitor port for connection of a computer monitor, as an alternative to the TV output. This was rarely used due to the cost of dedicated monitors at that time, the port is actually a Composite Video port and can be used to connect the Dragon 32 to most modern TVs to deliver a much better picture. The Dragon uses analogue joysticks, unlike most systems of the time used less versatile. Other uses for the ports include light pens
Dragon 32/64
–
A Dragon 32 home computer.
Dragon 32/64
–
Left and right of a Dragon 64
Dragon 32/64
–
Back of Dragon 32
Dragon 32/64
–
Dragon Logo
18.
RadioShack
–
General Wireless Operations Inc. was an American chain of wireless and electronics stores, founded in 1921 and since 2015 owned by the Standard General affiliate General Wireless. It is partnered with Sprint, and most stores are co-branded as Sprint at RadioShack though also selling RadioShack brand items, at its peak in 1999 it operated stores in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. On February 5,2015, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy law after 11 consecutive quarterly losses, by then it was operating only in the United States and Mexico. The company was started as Radio Shack in 1921 by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, who wanted to provide equipment for the then-nascent field of amateur, the brothers opened a one-store retail and mail-order operation in the heart of downtown Boston at 46 Brattle Street. They chose the name Radio Shack, which was the term for a small, the Deutschmanns thought the name was appropriate for a store that would supply the needs of radio officers aboard ships, as well as hams. The term was already in use — and is to this day — by hams when referring to the location of their stations, the company issued its first catalog in 1939 as it entered the high fidelity music market. In 1954, Radio Shack began selling its own products under the brand name Realist. After expanding to nine stores plus an extensive business, the company fell on hard times in the 1960s. Radio Shack was essentially bankrupt, but Charles D, Tandy saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics and bought the company for $300,000. The Tandy Corporation, a leather goods corporation, was looking for other hobbyist-related businesses into which it could expand, Tandy closed Radio Shacks unprofitable mail-order business, ended credit purchases and eliminated many top management positions, keeping the salespeople, merchandisers and advertisers. Private-label brands from lower-cost manufacturers displaced name brands to raise Radio Shack profit margins, customer data from the former Radio Shack mail-order business determined where Tandy would locate new stores. As an incentive for them to long hours and remain profitable. In markets too small to support a company-owned Radio Shack store, Charles D. Tandy, who had guided the firm through a period of growth in the 1960s and 1970s, died of a heart attack at age 60 in November 1978. In 1992, Tandy attempted to launch big-box electronics retailer Incredible Universe and its six profitable stores were sold to Frys Electronics in 1996, the others were closed. Tandy closed the McDuff stores and abandoned Incredible Universe in 1996, Len Roberts, president of the Radio Shack division since 1993, estimated that the new repair business could generate $500 million per year by 1999. Americas technology store was abandoned for the youve got questions, weve got answers slogan in 1994, in early summer 1995, the company launched a new logo, Radio Shack was spelled in CamelCase as RadioShack. In 1996, RadioShack successfully petitioned the US Federal Communications Commission to allocate frequencies for the Family Radio Service, from the 1960s until the early 1990s, Radio Shack promoted a battery of the month club, a free wallet-sized cardboard card offered one free Enercell a month in-store. Like the free tube testing offered in-store in the early 1970s, the cards also served as generic business cards for the salespeople
RadioShack
–
The exterior of a typical free-standing RadioShack store in
Texarkana, Texas.
RadioShack
–
RadioShack
RadioShack
–
The exterior of a RadioShack store in a
shopping mall in
Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico.
RadioShack
–
RadioShack tape recorder
19.
TRS-80 Color Computer
–
The Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer is a line of home computers based on the Motorola 6809 processor. The Color Computer was launched in 1980, and lasted through three generations of hardware until being discontinued in 1991. Despite bearing the TRS-80 name, the Color Computer is a departure from the earlier TRS-80, in particular it has a Motorola 6809E processor. Thus, despite the name, the new machine is not compatible with software made for the old TRS-80. The Motorola 6809E was a processor for the time, but was correspondingly more expensive than other, more popular. Competing machines such as the Apple II, Commodore VIC-20, the Commodore 64, the Atari 400, some of these computers were paired with dedicated sound and graphics chips and were much more commercially successful in the 1980s home computer market. The Tandy Color Computer line started in 1980 with what is now called the CoCo 1 and ended in 1991 with the more powerful, yet similar CoCo 3. All three CoCo models maintained a level of software and hardware compatibility, with few programs written for the older model not running on the newer ones. The death knell of the CoCo was the advent of lower-cost IBM PC clones, the TRS-80 Color Computer started out as a joint venture between Tandy Corporation of Fort Worth, Texas and Motorola Semiconductor, Inc. of Austin, to develop a low-cost home computer in 1977. The initial goal of project, called Green Thumb, was to create a low cost Videotex terminal for farmers, ranchers. This terminal would connect to a line and an ordinary color television. Motorolas MC6847 Video Display Generator chip was released about the time as the joint venture started. At the core of the prototype Green Thumb terminal, the MC6847, along with the MC6809 microprocessor unit, unfortunately, the prototype contained too many chips to be commercially viable. Motorola solved this problem by integrating all the functions of the many smaller chips into one chip, by that time in late 1979, the new and powerful Motorola MC6809 processor was released. The SAM, VDG, and 6809 were combined and the AgVision terminal was born, the AgVision terminal was also sold through Radio Shack stores as the VideoTex terminal around 1980. Internal differences, if any, are unclear, as not many AgVision terminals survive to this day, with its proven design, the VideoTex terminal contains all the basic components for a general-purpose home computer. The internal modem was removed, and I/O ports for storage, serial I/O. An expansion connector was added to the side of the case for future enhancements and program cartridges
TRS-80 Color Computer
–
16k TRS-80 Color Computer 1
TRS-80 Color Computer
–
The TRS-80 VideoTex Terminal, circa 1980
TRS-80 Color Computer
–
4k TRS-80 Color Computer from 1981, 26-3001
TRS-80 Color Computer
20.
Bulletin board system
–
A bulletin board system, or BBS, is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Many BBSes also offer on-line games, in users can compete with each other. Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the form of the World Wide Web, social networks. Low-cost, high-performance modems drove the use of services and BBSes through the early 1990s. Infoworld estimated there were 60,000 BBSes serving 17 million users in the United States alone in 1994, over the next year, many of the leading BBS software providers went bankrupt and tens of thousands of BBSes disappeared. Today, BBSing survives largely as a hobby in most parts of the world. Most BBSes are now accessible over Telnet and typically offer free email accounts, FTP services, IRC, some offer access through packet switched networks, or packet radio connections. A precursor to the bulletin board system was Community Memory, started in August 1973 in Berkeley. Useful microcomputers did not exist at that time, and modems were both expensive and slow, Community Memory therefore ran on a mainframe computer and was accessed through terminals located in several San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods. The poor quality of the original modem connecting the terminals to the mainframe prompted a user to invent the Pennywhistle modem, Community Memory allowed the user to type messages into a computer terminal after inserting a coin, and offered a pure bulletin board experience with public messages only. It did offer the ability to tag messages with keywords, which the user could use in searches, the system acted primarily in the form of a buy and sell system with the tags taking the place of the more traditional classifications. But users found ways to express themselves outside these bounds, unfortunately, the system was expensive to operate, and when their host machine became unavailable and a new one could not be found, the system closed in January 1975. Similar functionality was available to most mainframe users, which might be considered a sort of ultra-local BBS when used in this fashion. Commercial systems, expressly intended to offer features to the public, became available in the late 1970s. Early modems were very simple devices using acoustic couplers to handle telephone operation. The user would first pick up the phone, dial a number, disconnecting at the end of a call required the user to pick up the handset and return it to the phone. With the introduction of microcomputers with expansion slots, like the S-100 bus machines and Apple II, it possible for the modem to communicate instructions. A number of modems of this sort were available by the late 1970s
Bulletin board system
–
Ward Christensen holds an expansion card from the original CBBS S-100 host machine.
Bulletin board system
–
The 300 baud Smartmodem led to an initial wave of early BBS systems.
Bulletin board system
–
Amiga 3000 running a two-line BBS
Bulletin board system
–
BBS ANSI Login Screen example
21.
Origins International Game Expo
–
Origins Game Fair is an annual gaming convention that was first held in 1975. Since 1996, it has held in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Origins is run by The Game Manufacturers Association, Origins was chartered to serve gaming in general, including wargaming and miniatures gaming. Origins is the site of the annual Origins Awards ceremony, for many years, the Charles S. Roberts Awards for historical boardgames were presented at Origins, but these are now presented at the World Boardgaming Championships. Board games, trading card games, LARPs and role-playing games are popular at Origins. Origins Game Fair was formerly known as the Origins International Game Expo, the name was changed in the summer of 2007. Origins started in 1975 with a gathering of game players in Baltimore, the Interest Group Baltimore, a local wargaming club, worked with the Baltimore-based Avalon Hill game company to put on the first show that year at Johns Hopkins University. Avalon Hill produced the first commercial war games back in 1958, over the next few years, both Avalon Hill and SPI ran the show. As the show continued expanding, the Game Manufacturers Association assumed management in 1978, in each of 1988 and 1992, Origins and Gen Con joined forces to hold a single convention in Milwaukee. Throughout the first half of its life, Origins migrated from city to city, until in 1996, after considering a number of possibilities, GAMA chose Columbus, Ohio
Origins International Game Expo
–
Registration area of Origins
Origins International Game Expo
–
Exhibitor's Hall
Origins International Game Expo
–
"
Alan Smithee " (the man in the gaudy jacket) consulting with his helpers at the 2007 Smithee Awards at the Origins International Game Expo
22.
Cosplay
–
Cosplay, a contraction of the words costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture and a use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject, favorite sources include manga and anime, comic books and cartoons, video games, and live-action films and television series. The term cosplay is a Japanese portmanteau of the English terms costume, the term was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi of Studio Hard while attending the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles. He was impressed by the hall and the fans and reported on both in Japanese magazine My Anime. The coinage reflects a common Japanese method of abbreviation in which the first two moras of a pair of words are used to form an independent compound, costume becomes kosu, Costume parties or fancy dress parties were popular from the 19th century onwards. Most specific costumes described therein are for historical figures although some are sourced from fiction, one of the earliest recorded examples of costuming based on an existing character from popular media were costumes based on A. D. Condos science fiction comic character Mr. Skygack, from Mars, in 1908, a Mr. and Mrs. William Fell attended a masquerade at a skating rink in Cincinnati, Ohio wearing Mr. Skygack and Miss Dillpickles costumes. Shortly after, in 1910, a woman won first prize at masquerade ball in Tacoma. The first people to wear costumes to attend a convention were science fiction fans Forrest J Ackerman, paul and the 1936 film Things to Come, designed and created by Douglas. Ackerman later stated that he thought everyone was supposed to wear a costume at a science fiction convention, although only he and Douglas did. Fan costuming caught on, however, and the 2nd Worldcon, david Kyle won the masquerade wearing a Ming the Merciless costume created by Leslie Perri, while Robert A. W. Lowndes received second place with a Bar Senestro costume. Other costumed attendees included guest of honor E. E. Smith as Northwest Smith and both Ackerman and Douglas wearing their futuristicostumes again, masquerades and costume balls continued to be part of World Science Fiction Convention tradition thereafter. Early Worldcon masquerade balls featured a band, dancing, food, contestants either walked across a stage or a cleared area of the dance floor. Ackerman wore a Hunchbackerman of Notre Dame costume to the 3rd Worldcon in 1941, which included a designed and created by Ray Harryhausen. Douglas wore an Akka costume, the mask made by Harryhausen, to the 3rd Worldcon. Rules governing costumes became established in response to specific costumes and costuming trends, the first nude contestant at a Worldcon masquerade was in 1952 but the height of this trend was in the 1970s and early 1980s, with a few every year. This eventually led to No Costume is No Costume rule, which banned full nudity, mike Resnick describes the best of the nude costumes as Kris Lundi wearing a harpy costume to the 32nd Worldcon in 1974
Cosplay
–
A group of cosplayers on stage at Yukicon 2014 convention in Finland
Cosplay
–
A cosplay of
Yuna at
FanimeCon 2014
Cosplay
–
Silent Hill cosplayers at the 2014
Nipponbashi Street Festa in
Osaka
Cosplay
–
Padmé Amidala cosplay at
Japan Expo 2012 in France
23.
Sparta
–
Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon, while the name Sparta referred to its settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece, given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious. Spartas defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Spartas prominent role in Greece, however, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia, Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates, mothakes, perioikoi, Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world. Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning and this love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 –35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots, olliers theory of the Spartan mirage has been widely accepted by scholars. The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer to the location of the Spartans. The first refers primarily to the cluster of settlements in the valley of the Eurotas River. The second word was Lacedaemon, this was used sometimes as an adjective and is the name commonly used in the works of Homer. Herodotus seems to denote by it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne and it could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. It denoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated, in Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside, wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken. The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley, Sparta on the other hand is the country of lovely women, a people epithet. The name of the population was used for the state of Lacedaemon
Sparta
–
Territory of ancient Sparta
Sparta
–
Hollow Lacedaemon. Site of the Menelaion, the ancient shrine to Helen and Menelaus constructed in the Bronze Age city that stood on the hill of
Therapne on the left bank of the
Eurotas River overlooking the future site of Dorian Sparta. Across the valley the successive ridges of Mount
Taygetus are in evidence.
Sparta
–
Eurotas River
Sparta
–
The theater of ancient Sparta with
Mt. Taygetus in the background.
24.
300 (film)
–
300 is a 2006 American epic fantasy war film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Both are fictionalized retellings of the Battle of Thermopylae within the Persian Wars, the film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant. It was filmed mostly with a chroma key technique, to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book. The plot revolves around King Leonidas, who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian god-King Xerxes, as the battle rages, Queen Gorgo attempts to rally support in Sparta for her husband. The story is framed by a narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios. Through this narrative technique, various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of historical fantasy, the events are revealed to be a story told by Delios, the only one of the 300 Spartans to survive the battle. 300 was released in conventional and IMAX theaters in the United States on March 9,2007, and on DVD, Blu-ray Disc. A sequel, entitled Rise of an Empire, which is based on Millers unpublished graphic novel prequel Xerxes, was released on March 7,2014. In 479 BC, one year after the famed Battle of Thermopylae, Dilios, the Ephors consult the Oracle, who decrees that Sparta will not go to war during the Carneia. As Leonidas angrily departs, a messenger from Xerxes appears, rewarding the Ephors for their covert support, at Thermopylae, they construct the wall made up of stones and slain Persian scouts as mortar, angering the Persian Emissary. Stelios, an elite Spartan soldier, orders him to go back to the Persian lines, meanwhile, Leonidas encounters Ephialtes, a deformed Spartan whose parents fled Sparta to spare him certain infanticide. Ephialtes asks to redeem his fathers name by joining Leonidas army, warning him of a path the Persians could use to outflank. Though sympathetic, Leonidas rejects him since his deformity physically prevents him from holding his shield high enough, potentially compromising the phalanx formation, the battle begins soon after the Spartans refusal to lay down their weapons. Using the Hot Gates to their advantage, as well as their superior fighting skills, in response, Xerxes sends in his elite guard, the Immortals, later that night. Despite some Spartans being killed, they defeat the Immortals. On the second day, Xerxes sends in new waves of armies from Asia and other Persian city-states, including war elephants, to crush the Spartans once and for all, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Ephialtes defects to Xerxes to whom he reveals the secret path in exchange for wealth, luxury, the Arcadians retreat upon learning of Ephialtes betrayal, but the Spartans stay. Leonidas orders an injured but reluctant Dilios to return to Sparta and tell them of what has happened, in Sparta, Queen Gorgo tries to persuade the Spartan Council to send reinforcements to aid the 300
300 (film)
–
Theatrical release poster
300 (film)
–
Above: the film version of a panel from the graphic novel (below).
300 (film)
–
Above: A scene during filming. Below: The finished scene.
300 (film)
–
Lena Headey at the London premiere, 2007
25.
Michael Moorcock
–
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published literary novels. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné and his publication of Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad as a serial novel was notorious, in Parliament some British MPs condemned the Arts Council for funding the magazine. He is also a recording musician, contributing to the band Hawkwind. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Moorcock in its list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Michael Moorcock was born in London in 1939 and the landscape of London, particularly the area of Notting Hill Gate, Moorcock is the former husband of Hilary Bailey. He is also the husband of Jill Riches, who later married Robert Calvert. She illustrated some of Moorcocks book covers, including the Gloriana dustjacket, Moorcock was the subject of two book-length works, a monograph and an interview, by Colin Greenland. In 1983, Greenland published The Entropy Exhibition, Michael Moorcock and he followed this with Michael Moorcock, Death is No Obstacle, a book-length interview in 1992. In the 1990s, he moved to Texas in the United States and he spends half of the year in Texas, the other half in Paris. Moorcocks works are noted for their nature and content. In one interview, Moorcock states, I am an anarchist and my moral/philosophical position is that of an anarchist. Further, in describing how his writing relates to his philosophy, Moorcock says, My books frequently deal with aristocratic heroes, gods. All of them end on a note which often states quite boldly that one should serve neither gods nor masters, besides using fiction to explore his politics, Moorcock also engages in political activism. Moorcock began writing whilst he was still at school, contributing to a magazine he entitled Outlaws Own from 1950 on. In 1957 at the age of 17, Moorcock became editor of the Tarzan Adventures where he published at least a dozen of his own Sojan the Swordsman stories during that year, at age 18, he wrote the allegorical fantasy novel The Golden Barge. This remained unpublished until 1980, when it was issued by Savoy Books with an introduction by M. John Harrison, at 19 years of age he also edited Sexton Blake Library and returned to late Victorian London for some of his books. Writing ever since, he has produced a volume of work. His first story in New Worlds was Going Home, Moorcock replaced Carnell as New Worlds editor from the May–June 1964 number
Michael Moorcock
–
Moorcock in 2006
26.
Robert Asprin
–
Robert Lynn Asprin was an American science fiction and fantasy author and active fan, best known for his humorous MythAdventures and Phules Company series. Robert Asprin was born in St. Johns, Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from 1965 through 1966 he served in the United States Army. He was married and had two children and he was active in science fiction fandom and in the early years of the Society for Creative Anachronism under the name Yang the Nauseating, and co-founded the Great Dark Horde in 1971. He was also the founder and an member of the Dorsai Irregulars. In 1976, he was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for The Capture, Asprins first novel, The Cold Cash War, an expansion of an earlier short story of the same title, was published in 1977. Over the next few years, he created and edited the Thieves World series of shared world anthologies, a series of graphic novels followed in the mid-1980s, and several other authors, including Andrew J. Offutt and David Drake, published novels about their characters. In 2002, Lynn Abbey resurrected the series with the novel Sanctuary, in 1978, Asprin began the MythAdventures series, chronicling the comic adventures of Skeeve and Aahz, with the book Another Fine Myth. Some of the early Myth novels were adapted as comic books by Foglio. The Myth books have passed through three publishing companies over the years, Donning Starblaze, Meisha Merlin and, as of 2008, Wildside Press. In the 1990s, Asprins Phule novels followed the humorous science-fiction exploits of a company of the Space Legion and its wealthy and iconoclastic leader. Due to a series of personal and financial problems, Asprin stopped writing in the 1990s and he had two books on The New York Times Best Seller list which piqued the interest of fans and the IRS. Unfortunately this came right at the time of an almost seven-year writing drought and these novels included continuations of the Myth series and the Phule series as well as works in new series. One of Asprins last projects was NO Quarter, originally co-authored with Eric Del Carlo and it is a dark fantasy/suspense/ murder mystery novel set in the authors beloved New Orleans French Quarter. Although the novels fantasy elements are secondary to the murder that is the focus of the plot, it is set in the same milieu as Asprins Griffen McCandles novels, Dragons Luck. The two protagonists of NO Quarter, Maestro and Bone, also appear as characters in the Dragons novels. Maestro, the pool shark and fencing master in NO Quarter, is a highly fictionalized. NO Quarter was published November 2009 by DarkStar Books, Asprins ofttimes co-author, Jody Lynn Nye, has completed one further Griffen McCandles novel, Dragons Deal, and continued the Myth Adventures series. Dragons Deal was published by Ace in December 2010, Asprin died on May 22,2008 of a myocardial infarction at his home in New Orleans
Robert Asprin
–
Robert Asprin, 1993
27.
Ultima (series)
–
Ultima is a series of open world fantasy role-playing video games from Origin Systems, Inc. Ultima was created by Richard Garriott, several games of the series are considered seminal entries in their genre. The main Ultima series consists of nine installments grouped into three trilogies, or Ages, The Age of Darkness, The Age of Enlightenment, the last is also sometimes referred to as The Guardian Saga after its chief antagonist. The first trilogy is set in a world named Sosaria. What is left becomes known as Britannia, a realm ruled by the benevolent Lord British, the protagonist in all the games is a canonically male resident of Earth who is called upon by Lord British to protect Sosaria and, later, Britannia from a number of dangers. Originally, the character was referred to as the Stranger. In Ultima I, The First Age of Darkness, the Stranger is first summoned to Sosaria to defeat the evil wizard Mondain who aims to enslave it, Ultima II, The Revenge of the Enchantress details Mondains secret student and lover Minaxs attempt to avenge him. Minax launches an attack on the Strangers homeworld of Earth and her actions cause doorways to open to various times and locations throughout Earths history, and brings forth legions of monsters to all of them. The Stranger, after obtaining the Quicksword that alone can harm her, locates the evil sorceress at Castle Shadowguard at the origin of time and defeats her. Ultima III, Exodus reveals that Mondain and Minax had an offspring, some time after Minaxs death, Exodus starts his own attack on Sosaria and the Stranger is summoned once again to destroy it. Exodus was the first installment of the series featuring a party system. Although Britannia now prospers under Lord Britishs rule, he fears for his subjects spiritual well-being, throughout the game, the Strangers actions determine how close he comes to the ideal. Upon achieving enlightenment in every Virtue, he can reach the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom and becomes the Avatar, the Avatar and his companions proceed to rescue the true king, overthrow the tyrant and restore the Virtues in their true form. Ultima VI, The False Prophet details the invasion of Britannia by Gargoyles, over the course of the game it is revealed that the Gargoyles have valid reasons to loathe the Avatar. Exploring the themes of racism and xenophobia, the tasks the Avatar with understanding and reconciling two seemingly opposing cultures. An expansion pack was released named Forge of Virtue that added a newly arisen volcanic island to the map that the Avatar was invited to investigate, the tie-in storyline was limited to this island, where a piece of Exodus had resurfaced. To leave the island again, the Avatar had to destroy this remnant of Exodus, in the process of doing so, he also created The Black Sword, an immensely powerful weapon possessed by a demon. Ultima VII Part Two, Serpent Isle was released as the part of Ultima VII because it used the same game engine as Ultima VII
Ultima (series)
–
The Virtues
Paper doll interface Symbol in
Ultima Online
28.
Gary Gygax
–
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating with Dave Arneson the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax has been described as the father of D&D, in the 1960s, Gygax created an organization of wargaming clubs and founded the Gen Con gaming convention. In 1971, he helped develop Chainmail, a wargame based on medieval warfare. He co-founded the company Tactical Studies Rules with childhood friend Don Kaye in 1973, the following year, he and Arneson created D&D, which expanded on Gygaxs Chainmail and included elements of the fantasy stories he loved as a child. In the same year, he founded The Dragon, a magazine based around the new game, in 1977, Gygax began work on a more comprehensive version of the game, called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. In 1983, he worked to license the D&D product line into the successful D&D cartoon series, after leaving TSR in 1985 over issues with its new majority owner, Gygax continued to create role-playing game titles independently, beginning with the multi-genre Dangerous Journeys in 1992. He designed another gaming system called Lejendary Adventure, released in 1999, in 2005, Gygax was involved in the Castles & Crusades role-playing game, which was conceived as a hybrid between the third edition of D&D and the original version of the game conceived by Gygax. Gygax was married twice and had six children, in 2004, Gygax suffered two strokes, narrowly avoided a subsequent heart attack, and was then diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, from which he died in March 2008. Gary Gygax was born in Chicago, the son of Almina Emelie Posey and Swiss immigrant and he was named Ernest after his father, but he was commonly known as Gary, the middle name given to him by his mother after the actor Gary Cooper. The family lived on Kenmore Avenue, close enough to Wrigley Field that he could hear the roar of the crowds watching the Chicago Cubs play, at age 7, he became a member of a small group of friends who called themselves the Kenmore Pirates. In his this new setting, Gary soon made friends with several of his peers, including Don Kaye, during his childhood and teen years, he developed a love of games and an appreciation for fantasy and science fiction literature. When he was five, he played games such as pinochle. At the age of ten, he and his friends played the sort of games that eventually came to be called live action role-playing games with one of them acting as a referee. His father introduced him to science fiction and fantasy through pulp novels and his interest in games, combined with an appreciation of history, eventually led Gygax to begin playing miniature war games in 1953 with his best friend Don Kaye. As teenagers Gygax and Kaye designed their own rules for toy soldiers with a large collection of 54 mm and 70 mm figures. By the time he reached his teens, Gygax had an appetite for pulp fiction authors such as Robert Howard, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft. Despite this, Gygax was a student, and in 1956. He briefly joined the Marines, but after being diagnosed with walking pneumonia, he was given a medical discharge, from there, he commuted to a job as shipping clerk with Kemper Insurance Co. in Chicago
Gary Gygax
–
Gygax at
Gen Con Indy 2007
Gary Gygax
–
Gary Gygax at ModCon Game Fair in 1999, Modena, Italy. His t-shirt advertises the 3.0 edition of D&D, announced for the following year
Gary Gygax
–
The first DM, He taught us to roll the dice. He opened the door to new worlds. His work shaped our industry. He brought us Gen Con, For this we thank him. In fond memory of Gary Gygax and in celebration of his spirit and accomplishments.
29.
Jonn Serrie
–
Jonn Serrie is an American composer of space music, a genre of ambient electronic music, and New Age music. He has recorded at least 18 albums and worked on projects for Lucasfilm, IMAX Corporation, NASA, the United States Navy, Hayden Planetarium, Expo Seville, Serrie has been composing and performing music for planetariums since the early 1980s. His first album, And the Stars Go With You, was in memory of the astronauts lost in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and his second album, Flightpath, contains six songs that commemorate the pre-space-age test pilots of Edwards Air Force Base in the 1950s. Jonn is a pilot with advanced instrument and commercial ratings and flies for the Civil Air Patrol as a search-and-rescue pilot, Serries third album, Tingri, was based on a remote village in Tibet. It was his way of infusing more spiritual and romantic emotion into his music, in so doing, he strayed a bit from his space music roots but without sacrificing his trademark sound. In 1992 and 1994, he made two albums in which he put his earlier work from the 1980s on CD, on Planetary Chronicles, Volume 1 and Planetary Chronicles. In between, in 1993 and 1995, Serrie composed his own science fiction story based on a fictional Century Princess in Midsummer Century. In 1993, he submitted a song from his planetarium collection called Soft Landing to a Various Artists album sponsored largely by Steve Roach and this song is only available on this recording. In 1997, Serries first Christmas album Upon a Midnight Clear was released, due to its popularity, Serrie released two more Christmas albums, Yuletides in 2001 and Merrily on High in 2004. In 1998, Serrie collaborated with David Carradine on his tai chi video series and released a CD soundtrack based on the videos, also in 1998, he took a trip to shamanic America, which resulted in his musical collaboration with several Native American elders on Spirit Keepers. In 1999, Serrie appeared as a special guest of honor at the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission, as the final act of the after-dinner entertainment, he played a specially composed song Out of the Blue, which has not been officially released. The year 2000 brought Serries best of space music compilation, Century Seasons, on this album two new songs appeared, although Deep Mystery reappeared on Lumia Nights two years later in a slightly shorter version. The other bonus track, Andromeda Dream, appeared on this album, in 2000 Serrie collaborated with flutist Gary Stroutsos on the Narada label, on an album called Hidden World. Since 2000, several of Serries albums have appeared on independent labels,2002 brought Lumia Nights, a space romance release on Valley Entertainment, composed in the style of Ixlandia and Midsummer Century. In 2003, he signed a contract with New World Music, a label in England. 2003 also brought The Stargazers Journey with liner notes from famed astronomer David H. Levy and this was a return to form in Serries more traditional space music style. He followed this up in 2006 with Sunday Morning, an independent release for autistic children, a portion of the profits from this CD goes to support for autism organizations in the United States. Also in 2006, music from one of his albums was used in the hit Hollywood movie What the Bleep Do We Know
Jonn Serrie
–
Jonn Serrie
30.
NASA
–
President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
NASA
–
1963 photo showing Dr. William H. Pickering, (center) JPL Director, President John F. Kennedy, (right). NASA Administrator James Webb in background. They are discussing the
Mariner program, with a model presented.
NASA
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Seal of NASA
NASA
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At launch control for the May 28, 1964,
Saturn I SA-6 launch.
Wernher von Braun is at center.
NASA
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Mercury-Atlas 6 launch on February 20, 1962
31.
Eric Bloom
–
Eric Bloom is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as a vocalist, and stun guitar player for the long-running band Blue Öyster Cult, much of his lyrical content relates to his lifelong interest in science fiction. A native New Yorker, Bloom was born in Brooklyn, the youngest of three children, and grew up in Queens and his mother was a housewife, active in local charities and family life. His father ran a picture frame and print company in Manhattan, Bloom attended JHS216, and then moved on to Woodmere Academy and Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. It was there that he purchased his first guitar, a $52 Harmony full-bodied electric, after graduating from Cheshire Academy in 1962, he went to Spain for the summer, studying at Menendez Pelayo University in Santander, before starting college in the Fall. Eric Bloom, known as Manny Bloom in college, attended Hobart College in Geneva, New York, in college, Bloom was involved with the casual forming of a couple of short-term bands for playing at local venues. One of these was Rick and the Ravons and he also organized music for various fraternity parties. For one of them, he hired a band later asked him to join. They renamed it as Lost and Found, with whom he performed off, the band was composed of George Faust on guitar, John Trivers on bass, Peter Haviland on lead guitar, Jeff Hayes as drummer, and Bloom singing. In 1963, Bloom was also exposed to the music of Wilmer and the Dukes and he attended over 100 of their performances, and he and his band Lost and Found opened for them when they came to play at Hobart. Other major influences were James Brown, and Ronnie James Dio, in Blooms senior year, he was encouraged by his friends to join their Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He also found himself volunteering to do sound engineering at college events. It was through his efforts, that the college finally updated to a sound system. After college, Bloom toured with the band in upstate New York, the band had some membership changes and was renamed as Rock Garden. They made one attempt to record a single but could not land a contract, so continued on with live performances and cover tunes. On Labor Day, his college friend Trivers invited him to perform in Clayton, despite the short notice, Bloom packed up and left Provincetown for good. Lost and Found re-formed and played through the rest of the season, in 1968, Bloom moved to Plainview, Long Island to live with his sister. He obtained a job at the Sam Ash music store in Hempstead, one day in late 1968 some members of the band Soft White Underbelly, Donald Roeser, Allen Lanier and Andrew Winters, entered the store
Eric Bloom
–
Eric Bloom in New York, January 2007
Eric Bloom
–
The group "Lost and Found", 1966. From left: Peter Haviland, Jeff Hayes,
John Trivers, Eric Bloom, and George Faust
Eric Bloom
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Soft White Underbelly promo, Dec 1968
32.
H. P. Lovecraft
–
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. He was virtually unknown and published only in magazines before he died in poverty. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life, among his most celebrated tales are The Call of Cthulhu and The Shadow over Innsmouth, both canonical to the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft was never able to support himself from earnings as author and editor and he saw commercial success increasingly elude him in this latter period, partly because he lacked the confidence and drive to promote himself. He subsisted in straitened circumstances in his last years, an inheritance was completely spent by the time that he died at age 46. Lovecraft was born on August 20,1890 in his home at 194 Angell Street in Providence. Both of his parents were of entirely English ancestry, and most of his ancestors had been in New England since the colonial period and his great-grandfather Joseph Lovecraft Jr. emigrated to Rochester, New York from Devon, England in 1831. Lovecraft maintained throughout his life that his father died in a condition of paralysis brought on by nervous exhaustion. It has been suggested that his fathers mental illness may have been caused by syphilis, all five resided together in the family home. Lovecraft was a prodigy, reciting poetry at the age of three and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with such as One Thousand and One Nights, Thomas Bulfinchs Age of Fable, and childrens versions of the Iliad. His grandfather also stirred the boys interest in the weird by telling him his own tales of gothic horror. Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child, and he attended school until he was eight years old because of his sickly condition. He read voraciously during this period and became enamored of chemistry. He produced several hectographed publications with a circulation, beginning in 1899 with The Scientific Gazette. Four years later, he returned to school at Hope High School. Beginning in his life, Lovecraft is believed to have suffered from sleep paralysis. Much of his work is thought to have been directly inspired by these terrors
H. P. Lovecraft
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Lovecraft in 1934
H. P. Lovecraft
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Lovecraft at c. nine years old
H. P. Lovecraft
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Lovecraft in 1915
H. P. Lovecraft
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Lovecraft's final home, May 1933 until March 10, 1937
33.
The Call of Cthulhu
–
The Call of Cthulhu is a short story by the American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in the summer of 1926, it was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, among the notes is a small bas-relief sculpture of a scaly creature which yields simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature. The sculptor, a Rhode Island art student named Henry Anthony Wilcox, based the work on delirious dreams of great Cyclopean cities of titan blocks, frequent references to Cthulhu and Rlyeh are found in Wilcoxs papers. Angell also discovers reports of mass hysteria around the world and it is then revealed that the previous year, Legrasse and a party of policemen found several murdered women & children being used in a ritual by a cult, in a shunned region of a Louisiana swamp. After killing five of the cultists and arresting 47 others, Legrasse learns that they worship the Great Old Ones, the prisoners identify the statuette as great Cthulhu. One of the present at the meeting, Princeton professor William Channing Webb, describes a group of Esquimaux with similar beliefs. Thurston discovers a 1925 article from an Australian newspaper which reports the discovery of a derelict ship, Johansen reports that the Emma was attacked by a heavily armed yacht called the Alert. With the exception of Johansen and another man, the crew died on the island. Upon traveling to Australia, Thurston views a statue retrieved from the Alert which is identical to the previous two, in Norway, he learns that Johansen died suddenly after an encounter with two Lascar sailors. Johansens widow provides Thurston with her late husbands manuscript, wherein the uncharted island is described as being home to a nightmare corpse-city called Rlyeh, Johansens crew struggled to comprehend the non-Euclidean geometry of the city and accidentally release Cthulhu, resulting in their deaths. Johansen and one crew-mate flee aboard the Alert and are pursued by Cthulhu, Johansen rams the yacht into the creatures head. Cthulhu explodes into a green mist, only for his injury to regenerate, the Alert escapes, but Johansens crewmate goes insane and, shortly afterwards, dies. After finishing the manuscript, Thurston realizes he is now a target of Cthulhus worshippers and it is also assumed he got inspiration from William Scott-Elliots The Story of Atlantis, and The Lost Lemuria, which Lovecraft read in 1926, shortly before he started to work on the story. Price also notes that Lovecraft admired the work of Lord Dunsany, who wrote The Gods of Pegana, the slight earthquake mentioned in the story is likely the 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake. Joshi has also cited A. Merritts novella The Moon Pool, Lovecraft regarded the short story as rather middling—not as bad as the worst, but full of cheap and cumbrous touches. The published story was regarded by Robert E. Howard as a masterpiece, mr. Lovecraft holds a unique position in the literary world, he has grasped, to all intents, the worlds outside our paltry ken. French novelist Michel Houellebecq, in his book H. P. Lovecraft, Against the World, Against Life, E. F. Bleiler has referred to The Call of Cthulhu as a fragmented essay with narrative inclusions. Parts of the story were adapted in Eerie #4 by Archie Goodwin and Gray Morrow and in The Avengers #88 by Harlan Ellison, Roy Thomas, alberto Breccia illustrated an eleven-page story in 1974
The Call of Cthulhu
–
Cover of
pulp magazine Weird Tales (Feb. 1928): first appearance in print of The Call of Cthulhu.
34.
Alan Dean Foster
–
Alan Dean Foster is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction, a prolific creator of and contributor to book series as well as the author of more than 20 standalone novels. He is especially prolific in his novelizations of film scripts and he earned a bachelors degree in political science and a MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles and currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife. He is known for his fiction novels set in the Humanx Commonwealth, an interstellar ethical/political union of species including humankind. Many of these novels feature Philip Lynx, a young man who has found himself involved in something which threatens the survival of the Galaxy. Flinxs constant companion since childhood is a minidrag named Pip, a flying, empathic snake capable of spitting a highly corrosive, many of Fosters works have a strong ecological element to them, often with an environmental twist. Often the villains in his stories experience their downfall because of a lack of respect for other species or seemingly innocuous bits of their surroundings. This can be seen in works as Midworld, about a semi-sentient planet that is essentially one large rainforest. Foster usually devotes a part of his novels to descriptions of the strange environments of alien worlds. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is Sentenced to Prism, in which the protagonist finds himself trapped on a world where life is based on rather than carbon. Foster was the ghostwriter of the novelization of Star Wars which had been credited solely to George Lucas. However, when asked if it was difficult for him to see Lucas get all the credit for Star Wars, Foster said, I was merely expanding upon it. Not having my name on the cover didnt bother me in the least and it would be akin to a contractor demanding to have his name on a Frank Lloyd Wright house. Foster wrote the novel Splinter of the Minds Eye, a Star Wars sequel published in 1978, Fosters story relied heavily on abandoned concepts that appeared in Lucass early treatments for the first film. Foster was stunned when Return of the Jedi revealed the characters of Luke and Leia as brother and sister, in Splinter, although Splinter was contradicted by later entries in the Star Wars film canon, it was the first Star Wars expanded universe entry written. Foster was later announced as the author of the novelization of Star Wars, Foster has the story credit for Star Trek, The Motion Picture. In the mid-seventies, he wrote original Star Trek stories for the Peter Pan-label Star Trek audio story records and he later wrote the novelization of the 2009 film Star Trek, his first Star Trek novel in over 30 years. He later wrote the novelization for Star Treks sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, Foster won the 2008 Grand Master award from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Note that Foster says in the recently republished Bloodhype that it is the 11th in the series, who Needs Enemies. co. uk Alan Dean Foster at Library of Congress Authorities, with 108 catalog records Interview at AvP Galaxy Interview at The Future And You
Alan Dean Foster
–
Foster at
BayCon in 2007
35.
Fred Saberhagen
–
Fred Thomas Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction short stories and S. F. novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served as a man in the U. S. Air Force during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as a technician for the Motorola Corporation from 1958 to 1962. It was while he was working for Motorola that Saberhagen started writing seriously at the age of about 30. His first sale was to Galaxy Magazine, which published his short story Volume PAA-PYX in 1961, fortress Ship, his first Berserker short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, from 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the Encyclopædia Britannica as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time, in 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968 and they had two sons and a daughter. On June 29,2007, Saberhagen died of cancer in Albuquerque. In his adult years Fred Saberhagen was a practicing Catholic, indications of his faith appear from time-to-time in his writing
Fred Saberhagen
–
Fred Saberhagen
36.
Margaret Weis
–
Margaret Edith Weis is a fantasy and science fiction writer and author of dozens of novels and short stories. Along with Tracy Hickman, Weis is one of the creators of the Dragonlance game world. Margaret Weis was born on March 16,1948, in Independence and she discovered heroic fantasy fiction while studying at the University of Missouri. I read Tolkien when it made its first big sweep in the back in 1966. A girlfriend of mine gave me a copy of the books while I was in school at MU. I literally couldnt put them down, I never found any other fantasy I liked, and just never read any fantasy after Tolkien. Weis graduated from MU in 1970 with a degree in creative writing. Weis first worked for a publishing company in Independence, where she became an editor. From 1972 to 1983 she worked for Herald Publishing House as advertising director and subsequently as director of Independence Press, in 1983 Weis applied for a job as a games editor at TSR, Inc. that she saw advertised in Publishers Weekly. TSR turned her down for that position, but hired her as a book editor and she worked in TSRs book division until 1986. One of her first assignments was to coordinate, along with TSR colleague Tracy Hickman, Project Overlord. Weis and Hickman plotted the novel and hired an author, who didnt work out, by that time, said Weis, and I were so into the project that we felt we had to write it. Project Overlord soon became known as Dragonlance and grew into a trilogy of novels, called the Dragonlance Chronicles, jean Black, managing editor of TSRs book department, picked Weis and Hickman to write the series. To my mind, said Weis, what made the project so successful was that everyone was involved in it, excited about it, Weis and Hickman also wrote the Dragonlance Legends trilogy, which was published in 1986. As a writing team produced several projects based on the Dragonlance saga, which included novels, short stories, art books. Weis and Hickman later left TSR, and wrote the Darksword trilogy, Weis also wrote the space opera Star of the Guardians novels, which she calls her favorite series that she has written. Weis was diagnosed with breast cancer, and recovered in 1993 and she published a game based on Mag Force 7 from 1994–96, and married writer/game designer Don Perrin in 1996. In 1998, she began working with Hickman on Sovereign Stone, a trilogy in a setting created by artist Larry Elmore
Margaret Weis
–
Margaret Weis (seated) with Tracy Hickman at
Gen Con Indy 2008
Margaret Weis
–
Margaret Weis at the
Lucca convention in October 2005.
37.
Tracy Hickman
–
Tracy Raye Hickman is a best-selling fantasy author who has written, or co-written dozens of novels. He is best known for his work as a writer on the Dragonlance novels and he is also known for authoring role playing games while working for TSR. Tracy Hickman was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from Provo High School in 1974 and his major interests were drama, music and Air Force JROTC. In 1975, Hickman began two years of service as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was posted to Hawaii for six months while awaiting approval, and then he went to Indonesia, where he served in Surabaya, Djakarta. Within four months of his return to the United States he married his school sweetheart. Laura was the inspiration for Lauranlanthalasa Kanan, Hickman eventually attended Brigham Young University. Together, Tracy and Laura wrote the original versions of the modules Rahasia and Pharaoh, Pharaoh was originally published by DayStar West Media in 1980. In 1981, Tracy entered into an arrangement to produce an arcade immersion game. Destitute and desperate, Tracy approached TSR with the modules Rahasia and Pharaoh, TSR bought the modules, but wanted to hire Tracy as well. Tracy recalls, They said it would be easier to publish my adventures if I was part of the company, so, we made the move from Utah to Wisconsin. My parents begged us not to venture into foreign territory to pursue such a bizarre career. My father wrote that there was a job as a fry cook in Flagstaff. When Tracy and Laura Hickman came to TSR, they brought Pharaoh with them and it was published as the first part of TSRs Desert of Desolation series. I6 Ravenloft was also written by Tracy and Laura Hickman, Tracy Hickman also wrote two supplements for TSRs Gangbusters role-playing game. As he was traveling from Utah to Wisconsin to join TSR, at TSR he found other creators who were interested in his project which was called Project Overlord. Harold Johnson became the projects biggest promoter to upper management and convinced Hickman to expand his initial idea of a three-adventure trilogy, soon after, TSR management announced its intention to develop his series of dragon-based role-playing adventures. Hickmans proposal resulted in the Dragonlance Chronicles, which led to his association with Margaret Weis, jean Black, the managing editor of TSRs book department, picked Hickman and Weis to write Dragons of Autumn Twilight and the rest of the Dragonlance Chronicles series
Tracy Hickman
–
Hickman at
Dragon Con in 2006
Tracy Hickman
–
Tracy Hickman (left) and
Margaret Weis at
Gen Con Indy 2008.
Tracy Hickman
–
Felicia Day & Tracy Hickman at Gencon 2010
Tracy Hickman
–
Tracy Hickman,
Alan Tudyk and Laura Hickman at the Gencon OZ Convention
38.
Larry Elmore
–
Larry Elmore is an American fantasy artist whose work includes creating illustrations for video games, comics, magazines, and fantasy books. His list of work includes illustrations for Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, and he is author of the book Reflections of Myth. Elmore was born August 5,1948, in Louisville, Kentucky, Elmore described his school days by saying, The rural school I attended didnt have any art program, so I spent my time drawing - and daydreaming. I was a pretty bad student, I was always getting into trouble for drawing in class. I wish I had a quarter for every drawing of mine a teacher destroyed and he majored in art at Western Kentucky University. A month after graduating college, Elmore was drafted into the U. S. Army. After leaving the service, Elmore worked as an illustrator for the United States government in the Fort Knox Training Aids Department, three years later, Elmore turned to freelance work, his art being published in National Lampoon and Heavy Metal magazines. One of Elmores friends, a fellow government illustrator, introduced him to the Dungeons & Dragons game while Elmore was freelancing, Elmore joined the staff of TSR, Inc. Elmore created the SnarfQuest comic which appeared in Dragon, during the Project Overlord development phase of the Dragonlance setting, Elmore provided the concept artwork which was used to promote Dragonlance to the upper levels of management at TSR. Elmore was in charge of creating a look for the Dragonlance saga, british game designer Graeme Davis commented that Elmore. Should get some kind of award for drawing so many dragons and he has illustrated cards for the Magic, The Gathering collectible card game, and provided cover art for the MMORPG EverQuest. In 1996, Elmore wrote the novel Runes of Autumn with his cousin Robert, Elmore did most of the black-and-white artwork for Marc Millers role-playing game, Traveller in 1996, published by Imperium Games. In the late 1990s, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman used Elmores fantasy world, Loerem, Elmore provided the artwork for the fantasy world in the Sovereign Stone Game System. In 2004, Sovereign Press returned the rights for Sovereign Stone to Elmore, Elmore scaled back his activities in 2006, switching to contract work only, stating, A friend of mine, Keith Parkinson, who also worked at TSR, died of leukemia three years ago. We shared a studio, and we were talking about how when we hit 50 wed be doing our own thing. He didnt make it, and I was 57 and still pulling all-nighters, I was tired of paying dues. His work appears in the book Masters of Dragonlance Art, Elmore released a book of artwork called 20 Years of Elmore in 2005. He has frequently described as a legend in the fantasy
Larry Elmore
–
Larry Elmore at
Lucca Comics and Games 2008
39.
Anne McCaffrey
–
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born writer who immigrated to Ireland and was best known for the Dragonriders of Pern fantasy series. Early in McCaffreys 46-year career as a writer, she became the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list. In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master and she was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007, Anne Inez McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second of three children of Anne Dorothy and Col. George Herbert McCaffrey. She had two brothers, Hugh and Kevin Richard McCaffrey and her father had Irish and English ancestry, and her mother was of Irish descent. She attended Stuart Hall, and graduated from Montclair High School in New Jersey, in 1947 she graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College with a degree in Slavonic languages and Literature. In 1950 she married Horace Wright Johnson, who shared her interests in music, opera and they had three children, Alec Anthony, born 1952, Todd, born 1956, and Georgeanne, born 1959. Except for a time in Düsseldorf, the family lived for most of a decade in Wilmington. They moved to Sea Cliff, Long Island in 1965, McCaffrey served a term as secretary-treasurer of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1968 to 1970. In addition to handcrafting the Nebula Award trophies, her responsibilities included production of two monthly newsletters and their distribution by mail to the membership, McCaffrey immigrated to Ireland with her two younger children in 1970, weeks after filing for divorce. Ireland had recently exempted resident artists from income taxes, an opportunity that fellow science-fiction author Harry Harrison had promptly taken, McCaffreys mother soon joined the family in Dublin. The following spring, McCaffrey was guest of honour at her first British science-fiction convention, There she met British reproductive biologist Jack Cohen, who would be a consultant on the science of Pern. McCaffrey had had two stories published during the 1950s. The first was written in 1952 when she was pregnant with her son Alec and it earned a $100 prize in Science-Fiction Plus. McCaffrey said she thought of the story when wishing herself alone, judith Merril matched McCaffrey with her long-time literary agent Virginia Kidd and invited her to the Milford Writers Workshop, where participants each brought a story to be critiqued. After her first Milford workshop in 1959 she worked on The Ship Who Sang, at the storys end, the spaceship Helva sings Taps for her human partner. Decades later, McCaffreys son Todd called it almost an elegy to her father, in interviews between 1994 and 2004, she considered it her best story and her favourite. I put much of myself into it, myself and the troubles I had in accepting my fathers death, McCaffrey then wrote two more Ship stories and began her first novel
Anne McCaffrey
–
Anne McCaffrey in 2005
40.
Tom Clancy
–
Thomas Leo Tom Clancy Jr. was an American novelist and video game designer best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science story lines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels were bestsellers, and more than 100 million copies of his books are in print and his name was also used on movie scripts written by ghost writers, nonfiction books on military subjects, and video games. He was a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles and vice-chairman of their community activities, Clancys literary career began in 1984 when he sold The Hunt for Red October for $5,000. His works, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Clancy died on October 1,2013, of an undisclosed illness. Clancy was born on April 12,1947, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland and he was the second of three children to Thomas Clancy, who worked for the United States Postal Service, and Catherine Clancy, who worked in a stores credit department. His mother worked to him to the private Catholic Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Maryland. He then attended Loyola College in Baltimore, graduating in 1969 with a degree in English literature, while at university, he was president of the chess club. He joined the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps, however, he was ineligible to serve due to his nearsightedness, after graduating, he worked for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1973, he joined the O. F. Bowen Agency, in 1980, he purchased the insurance agency from his wifes grandmother and wrote novels in his spare time. While working at the agency, he wrote his debut novel. Clancys literary career began in 1982 when he started writing The Hunt for Red October and she believed Clancy had an innate storytelling ability, and his characters had this very witty dialogue. The publisher requested Clancy to cut numerous technical details, amounting to about 100 pages, Clancy, who had wanted to sell 5,000 copies, ended up selling over 45,000. The book was praised for its technical accuracy, which led to Clancys meeting several high-ranking officers in the U. S. military. All but two of Clancys solely written novels feature Jack Ryan or John Clark, the Cold War epic Red Storm Rising was co-written with fellow military-oriented author Larry Bond. The first NetForce novel, titled Net Force, was adapted as a 1999 TV movie starring Scott Bakula, the first Op-Center novel was released to coincide with a 1995 NBC television miniseries of the same name starring Harry Hamlin and a cast of stars. Though the miniseries did not continue, the series did, but later had little in common with the first TV miniseries other than the title. Clancy wrote several books about various branches of the U. S. He also branded several lines of books and video games with his name that are written by other authors, by 1988, Clancy had earned $1.3 million for The Hunt for Red October and had signed a $3 million contract for his next three books
Tom Clancy
–
Clancy at
Boston College 's Burns Library in November 1989
41.
Wizard (magazine)
–
Wizard or Wizard, The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011. It included a guide, as well as comic book, movie, anime, and collector news, interviews. With issue #7, the magazine switched to paper and color printing. Wizard strongly supported new publishers Valiant Comics and Image Comics, heavily promoting their new releases, with its high-end production values and embodiment of the comic speculator boom, Wizard was an instant hit, with a monthly circulation of more than 100,000 copies. In 2006, the magazine was revamped with a look and more pages, switching from the perfect bound or staple free look. After issue 200, Wizard made several changes to the magazine, shifting focus from reviews and humor to information about upcoming comics, the 3-page Magic Words section, which consisted of reader questions, was dropped and replaced by Fan Mail, a half-page section allowing 3 short letters. In November 2006, Wizard editor-in-chief and co-founder Pat McCallum was fired, Wizard declined to say why he was removed. On February 21,2007, Scott Gramling was announced as the new editor-in-chief, soon after, longtime Wizard Editor Brian Cunningham was removed in August 2008. The final editor was former staff writer and managing editor Mike Cotton, on February 27,2009, Wizard laid off ten percent of its work force, including its three staff writers, in order to make room for freelance writers. Wizard was relaunched with issue #228, which featured Mark Millar as a guest editor, the magazine went back to its strictly comic book roots. The issue featured a Green Hornet film cover and round table discussion with creators in the comic book film industry, despite all these changes, however, the magazine was losing subscribers at an unsustainable rate, by December 2010 its circulation was just 17,000 copies. This was confirmed later that day by Wizard, who revealed that its sister magazine. According to the representatives, Wizard would be relaunched in February 2011 as an online magazine called Wizard World. The first issue of Wizard World was made online and through major digital distribution channels on March 2,2011. The magazine went through an ever-changing line-up of regular and semi-regular features, including Book Shelf — Brief descriptions of the trade paperback. Top 10 Writers and Artists — Lists charting the most popular creators of the month in each category, retired features include Casting Call — A feature proposing the dream cast for potential film adaptations of various comic books. Last Man Standing — A dream faceoff between two different characters or teams, always of different companies and/or universes, the feature would detail a brief showdown between the two, including the victor and would be accompanied by an exclusive illustration depicting the battle. In addition, both Wizard and ToyFare often featured mail-away offers for exclusive merchandise, Wizard began a practice of producing specially offered Wizard #1/2 issues
Wizard (magazine)
–
Cover of issue #235, the final issue.
42.
Don Rosa
–
Keno Don Hugo Rosa, known simply as Don Rosa, is an American comic book author and illustrator known for his stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other Disney characters. Rosa created about 90 stories between 1987 and 2006, in 1995 he won the Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for his 12-chapter work The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Don Rosas grandfather, Gioachino Rosa, lived in Maniago, a town at the foot of the Alps in Northern Italy and he emigrated to Kentucky, United States around 1900, established a successful tile and terrazzo company, then returned to Italy to marry and start a family. In 1915 just after the birth of his son Ugo Rosa, Gioachino returned to Kentucky with his wife, Ugo Rosa grew up and was later married in Kentucky. His wife was born to a German American father and a mother with both Scottish and Irish ancestry, Don Rosa was born Keno Don Hugo Rosa on June 29,1951 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was named both his father and grandfather. Gioachino was called Keno for short, dons father was named Ugo Dante Rosa, but used the name Hugo Don Rosa in America. Rosa was exposed to comics at a young age, as his 11-years-older sister was a comics hoarder. Rosa began drawing comics before being able to write and he never tried to draw more than stick figures, because the drawings, for him, were illustrations to get the story told. Only the story was important to him, not the actual drawings and his favorite comic books growing up were Uncle Scrooge by Western Publishing and Little Lulu comics from Dell Comics, and his sisters collection of MAD comics and magazines. Shortly after starting to collect Superman comics he started to trade the collection of his sister for Superman Comics. Since a comic shop in his area traded two old comics for one new, he only had two Duck comics left from his sisters collection by the 1970s, one of them being The Golden Helmet. Rosa entered the University of Kentucky in 1969 and he graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in civil engineering. In 1969 while still in college, Rosa won an award as best political cartoonist in the nation in a college paper, im not really an editorial cartoonist. Id much rather be doing comedy adventure, but I must have done something right, for at one point The Journal of Higher Education named me one of the five or six best college newspaper cartoonists in the nation. Rosas first published comic was a strip featuring his own character, Lancelot Pertwillaby. He created the strip in 1971 for The Kentucky Kernel, a newspaper of the University of Kentucky. Rosa later switched the strip to comedy-adventure, his style of comics
Don Rosa
–
Don Rosa at MegaCon 2012 in Orlando
Don Rosa
–
Don Rosa in his home in 2010
Don Rosa
–
Don Rosa (left) at the
Helsinki Book Fair 2014.
Don Rosa
–
Unlike his idol
Carl Barks, Rosa uses a lot of funny, bizarre faces and slapstick in his stories. Sequence from Incident at McDuck Tower (Donald and Scrooge #1, 1991,
INDUCKS story code D+90345).
43.
Writing
–
Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language and emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language, Writing is not a language but a form of technology that developed as tools developed with human society. Within a language system, writing relies on many of the structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar and semantics. The result of writing is called text, and the recipient of text is called a reader. Motivations for writing include publication, storytelling, correspondence and diary, Writing has been instrumental in keeping history, maintaining culture, dissemination of knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems. As human societies emerged, the development of writing was driven by pragmatic exigencies such as exchanging information, maintaining financial accounts, codifying laws, in both ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica writing may have evolved through calendrics and a political necessity for recording historical and environmental events. H. G. Wells argued that writing has the ability to put agreements, laws and it made the growth of states larger than the old city states possible. It made a continuous historical consciousness possible, the command of the priest or king and his seal could go far beyond his sight and voice and could survive his death. The major writing systems—methods of inscription—broadly fall into four categories, logographic, syllabic, alphabetic, another category, ideographic, has never been developed sufficiently to represent language. A sixth category, pictographic, is insufficient to represent language on its own, a logogram is a written character which represents a word or morpheme. A vast number of logograms are needed to write Chinese characters, cuneiform, and Mayan, where a glyph may stand for a morpheme, many logograms have an ideographic component. For example, in Mayan, the glyph for fin, pronounced ka, was used to represent the syllable ka whenever the pronunciation of a logogram needed to be indicated. In Chinese, about 90% of characters are compounds of an element called a radical with an existing character to indicate the pronunciation. However, such phonetic elements complement the elements, rather than vice versa. A syllabary is a set of symbols that represent syllables. A glyph in a syllabary typically represents a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone, phonetically related syllables are not so indicated in the script. For instance, the syllable ka may look nothing like the syllable ki, syllabaries are best suited to languages with a relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the Linear B script for Mycenaean Greek, Cherokee, Ndjuka, an English-based creole language of Surinam, most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component
Writing
–
Writing with a pen
Writing
–
Olin Levi Warner,
tympanum representing Writing, above exterior of main entrance doors,
Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC, 1896.
Writing
–
Globular envelope with a cluster of accountancy tokens, Uruk period, from
Susa.
Louvre Museum
Writing
–
Narmer Palette, with the two serpopards representing unification of
Upper and
Lower Egypt,
3000 B. C.
44.
Alternate history
–
Alternate history or alternative history, sometimes abbreviated as AH, is a genre of fiction consisting of stories in which one or more historical events occur differently. These stories usually contain what if scenarios at crucial points in history, the stories are conjectural, but are sometimes based on scientific fact. Alternate history can be seen as a subgenre of fiction, science fiction, or historical fiction. Another term occasionally used for the genre is allohistory, cross-time, time-splitting, and alternate history themes have become so closely interwoven that it is impossible to discuss them fully apart from one another. In French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan and German, the genre of history is called uchronie / ucronia / ucronía / Uchronie. This neologism is based on the prefix ου- and the Greek χρόνος, a uchronia means literally no time. This term apparently also inspired the name of the history book list. Several genres of fiction have been misidentified as alternate history, Science fiction set in what was the future but is now the past, like Arthur C. Clarkes 2001, A Space Odyssey or George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four, is not alternate history because the author did not make the choice to change the past at the time of writing, Alternate history is related to, but distinct from, counterfactual history. The earliest example of history is found in Livys Ab Urbe Condita Libri. Livy concluded that the Romans would likely have defeated Alexander, another example is Joanot Martorells 1490 epic romance Tirant lo Blanch, which was written when the loss of Constantinople to the Turks was still a recent and traumatic memory for Christian Europe. It tells the story of the knight Tirant the White from Brittany who travels to the remnants of the Byzantine Empire. He becomes a Megaduke and commander of its armies and manages to fight off the invading Ottoman armies of Mehmet II and he saves the city from Islamic conquest, and even chases the Turks deeper into lands they had previously conquered. In the English language, the first known complete alternate history is Nathaniel Hawthornes short story P. s Correspondence, the first novel-length alternate history in English would seem to be Castello Holfords Aristopia. While not as nationalistic as Louis Geoffroys Napoléon et la conquête du monde, 1812–1823, in Aristopia, the earliest settlers in Virginia discover a reef made of solid gold and are able to build a Utopian society in North America. A number of alternate history stories and novels appeared in the late 19th, in 1931, British historian Sir John Squire collected a series of essays from some of the leading historians of the period for his anthology If It Had Happened Otherwise. In this work, scholars from major universities turned their attention to questions as If the Moors in Spain Had Won. The essays range from serious scholarly efforts to Hendrik Willem van Loons fanciful, among the authors included were Hilaire Belloc, André Maurois, and Winston Churchill
Alternate history
–
The world in 1964 in the novel
Fatherland where the Germans won
World War II.
45.
Art
–
In their most general form these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art, the study of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art. The oldest documented forms of art are visual arts, which include creation of images or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. Art may be characterized in terms of mimesis, expression, communication of emotion, during the Romantic period, art came to be seen as a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science. Though the definition of what art is disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions mention an idea of imaginative or technical skill stemming from human agency. The nature of art, and related such as creativity. One early sense of the definition of art is related to the older Latin meaning. English words derived from this meaning include artifact, artificial, artifice, medical arts, however, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymology. Several dialogues in Plato tackle questions about art, Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses, and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness in the Phaedrus, and yet in the Republic wants to outlaw Homers great poetic art, in Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the Republic. For example, music imitates with the media of rhythm and harmony, whereas dance imitates with rhythm alone, the forms also differ in their object of imitation. Comedy, for instance, is an imitation of men worse than average. Lastly, the forms differ in their manner of imitation—through narrative or character, through change or no change, Aristotle believed that imitation is natural to mankind and constitutes one of mankinds advantages over animals. The second, and more recent, sense of the art as an abbreviation for creative art or fine art emerged in the early 17th century. The creative arts are a collection of disciplines which produce artworks that are compelled by a drive and convey a message, mood. Art is something that stimulates an individuals thoughts, emotions, beliefs, works of art can be explicitly made for this purpose or interpreted on the basis of images or objects. Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it may be considered commercial art instead of fine art. On the other hand, crafts and design are considered applied art
Art
–
Clockwise from upper left: a
self-portrait by
Vincent van Gogh; a female ancestor figure by a
Chokwe artist; detail from the
Birth of Venus by
Sandro Botticelli; and an Okinawan
Shisa lion.
Art
–
Works of art can tell stories or simply express an aesthetic truth or feeling. Panorama of a section of A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, a 12th-century painting by Song dynasty artist
Wang Ximeng.
Art
–
20th-century Rwandan bottle. Artistic works may serve practical functions, in addition to their decorative value.
Art
–
Venus of Willendorf, circa 24,000–22,000
BP
46.
Anime
–
Anime is Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation. The word is the pronunciation of animation in Japanese, where this term references all animation. Arguably, the abstract approach to the words meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. For simplicity, many Westerners strictly view anime as a Japanese animation product, some scholars suggest defining anime as specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of orientalism. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917, and Japanese anime production has continued to increase steadily. Anime is distributed theatrically, by way of television broadcasts, directly to home media and it is classified into numerous genres targeting diverse broad and niche audiences. Anime is an art form with distinctive production methods and techniques that have been adapted over time in response to emergent technologies. It consists of an ideal story-telling mechanism, combining art, characterization, cinematography. The production of anime focuses less on the animation of movement and more on the realism of settings as well as the use of effects, including panning, zooming. Being hand-drawn, anime is separated from reality by a gap of fiction that provides an ideal path for escapism that audiences can immerse themselves into with relative ease. Diverse art styles are used and character proportions and features can be quite varied, the anime industry consists of over 430 production studios, including major names like Studio Ghibli, Gainax, and Toei Animation. Despite comprising only a fraction of Japans domestic film market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD sales and it has also seen international success after the rise of English-dubbed programming. This rise in popularity has resulted in non-Japanese productions using the anime art style. Anime is an art form, specifically animation, that all genres found in cinema. In Japanese, the term refers to all forms of animation from around the world. In English, anime is more used to denote a Japanese-style animated film or television entertainment or as a style of animation created in Japan. The etymology of the anime is disputed. The English term animation is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション and is アニメ in its shortened form, in English, anime—when used as a common noun—normally functions as a mass noun
Anime
–
A cel from
Namakura Gatana, the earliest surviving Japanese animated short made for cinemas, produced in 1917
Anime
–
A frame from
Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1944), the first
feature-length anime film
Anime
–
Anime artists employ many distinct visual styles
47.
Role-playing game
–
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of RPG, the original form, sometimes called the tabletop RPG, is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing games players physically perform their characters actions. In both of these forms, an arranger called a game master usually decides on the rules and setting to be used, acting as referee, while each of the other players plays the role of a single character. Several varieties of RPG also exist in media, such as multi-player text-based MUDs and their graphics-based successors. These games often share settings and rules with tabletop RPGs, despite this variety of forms, some game forms such as trading card games and wargames that are related to role-playing games may not be included. Role-playing activity may sometimes be present in games, but it is not the primary focus. The term is sometimes used to describe roleplay simulation games and exercises used in teaching, training. Both authors and major publishers of tabletop role-playing games consider them to be a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling, events, characters, and narrative structure give a sense of a narrative experience, and the game need not have a strongly-defined storyline. Interactivity is the difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a show is a passive observer. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a party of friends collaborate to create a story. Participants in a game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief, the level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credible challenge up to full-blown simulations of real-world processes. There is also a variety of systems of rules and game settings. Games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game and these types of games tend to minimize or altogether eliminate the use of dice or other randomizing elements. Some games are played with characters created before the game by the GM and this type of game is typically played at gaming conventions, or in standalone games that do not form part of a campaign. Tabletop and pen-and-paper RPGs are conducted through discussion in a social gathering
Role-playing game
–
A group playing a tabletop RPG. The GM is at left using a cardboard
screen to hide dice rolls from the players.
Role-playing game
–
A fantasy LARP group
48.
Fantasy
–
Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other elements as a main plot element, theme. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds, in popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy works by many writers, artists, filmmakers. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history. The identifying trait of fantasy is the reliance on imagination to create narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that whereas realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, an author applies his or her imagination to come up with characters, plots, and settings that are impossible in reality. Fantasy has often compared with science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements, a science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seeming possible through logical scientific and/or technological extrapolation, whereas fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. The imagined elements of fantasy do not need an explanation to be narratively functional. Authors have to rely on the suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment. Despite both genres heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable, horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. Beginning perhaps with the earliest written documents, mythic and other elements that would come to define fantasy. MacDonald was an influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, lord Dunsany established the genres popularity in both the novel and the short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time, including H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, intended for children, though works for adults only verged on fantasy. Political and social trends can affect a societys reception towards fantasy, in the early 20th century, the New Culture Movements enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature
Fantasy
–
Fairy tales and legends, such as
Dobrynya Nikitich 's rescue of Zabava Putyatichna from the dragon
Gorynych, have been an important source for fantasy.
Fantasy
–
Many works are unclear as to the belief of the authors in the marvels they contain, as in the enchanted garden from the
Decameron.
49.
Comic books
–
A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan and 1830s Europe, comic books were first popularized in the United States during the 1930s. Comic books are reliant on their organization and appearance, authors largely focus on the frame of the page, size, orientation, and panel positions. These characteristic aspects of books are necessary in conveying the content. The key elements of comic books include panels, balloons, text, balloons are usually convex spatial containers of information that are related to a character using a tail element. The tail has an origin, path, tip, and pointed direction, there are many technological formulas used to create comic books, including directions, axes, data, and metrics. Following these key formatting procedures is the writing, drawing, Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover, making it the first known American prototype comic book. The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shusters Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry, the Golden Age originated the archetype of the superhero. Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras, the Golden Age of Comic Books began with the introduction of Superman in 1938, spurring a period of high sales. The Silver Age of comic books is considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form. The demarcation between the Silver Age and the era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined. The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day, in response to attention from the government and from the media, the U. S. comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America. The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year and it was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA. In the early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what known as underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture. Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, frank Stacks The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon, has been credited as the first underground comic. The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for independent or alternative comics in the U. S, some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. A few represented experimental attempts to bring closer to the status of fine art
Comic books
–
Comic books on display at a museum
Comic books
–
René Goscinny (1926 – 1977), writer of the
Astérix comic book series.
Comic books
–
Hugo Pratt (1927 – 1995), author of the
Corto Maltese comic book series.
50.
Costuming
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Costume is the distinctive style of dress of an individual or group that reflects their class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. The term also was used to describe typical appropriate clothing for certain activities, such as riding costume, swimming costume, dance costume. Appropriate and acceptable costume is subject to changes in fashion and local cultural norms, before the advent of ready-to-wear apparel, clothing was made by hand. Costume comes from the same Italian word, inherited via French, National costume or regional costume expresses local identity and emphasizes a cultures unique attributes. They are often a source of national pride, examples include the Scottish kilt or Japanese kimono. In Bhutan there is a national dress prescribed for men and women. These have been in vogue for thousands of years and have developed into a dress style. The dress worn by men is known as Gho which is a robe worn up to knee-length and is fastened at the waist by a called the Kera. The front part of the dress which is formed like a pouch, in olden days was used to hold baskets of food and short dagger, but now it is used to keep cell phone, purse and the betel nut called Doma. The dress worn by women consist of three known as Kira, Tego and Wonju. The long dress which extends up to the ankle is Kira, the jacket worn above this is Tego which is provided with Wonju, the inner jacket. However, while visiting the Dzong or monastery a long scarf or stoll, called Kabney is worn by men across the shoulder, women also wear scarfs or stolls called Rachus, made of raw silk with embroidery, over their shoulder but not indicative of their rank. Some stylized theatrical costumes, such as Harlequin and Pantaloon in the Commedia dellarte, exaggerate an aspect of a character, the wearing of costumes is an important part of holidays developed from religious festivals such as Mardi Gras, and Halloween. Christmas costumes typically portray characters such as Santa Claus, in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States the American version of a Santa suit and beard is popular, in the Netherlands, the costume of Zwarte Piet is customary. Easter costumes are associated with the Easter Bunny or other animal costumes, in Judaism, a common practice is to dress up on Purim. During this holiday, Jews celebrate the change of their destiny and they were delivered from being the victims of an evil decree against them and were instead allowed by the King to destroy their enemies. A quote from the Book of Esther, which says, On the contrary is the reason that wearing a costume has become customary for this holiday. Buddhist religious festivals in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia and Lhasa and Sikkim in India perform the Cham dance, parades and processions provide opportunities for people to dress up in historical or imaginative costumes
Costuming
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Costumes of All Nations - Franks A.D. 800 (1882) Examples of a range of costumes suitable for specific individuals at a particular epoch. In later periods, once authentic costume may be revived or copied for theatrical purposes.
Costuming
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King of Bhutan in traditional dress and Bhutanese Women in traditional dress
Costuming
Costuming
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Actors in
samurai costume at the
Kyoto Eigamura film set
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