Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities that have biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased, or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various forms of life exist, such as plants, fungi, protists and bacteria. Biology is the science concerned with the study of life. There is no consensus regarding the definition of life. One popular definition is that organisms are open systems that maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, have a life cycle, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond to stimuli and evolve. Other definitions sometimes include non-cellular life forms such as viroids. Abiogenesis is the natural process of life arising from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds; the prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from non-living to living entities was not a single event, but a gradual process of increasing complexity.

Life on Earth first appeared as early as 4.28 billion years ago, soon after ocean formation 4.41 billion years ago, not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago. The earliest known life forms are microfossils of bacteria. Researchers think that current life on Earth descends from an RNA world, although RNA-based life may not have been the first life to have existed; the classic 1952 Miller–Urey experiment and similar research demonstrated that most amino acids, the chemical constituents of the proteins used in all living organisms, can be synthesized from inorganic compounds under conditions intended to replicate those of the early Earth. Complex organic molecules occur in the Solar System and in interstellar space, these molecules may have provided starting material for the development of life on Earth. Since its primordial beginnings, life on Earth has changed its environment on a geologic time scale, but it has adapted to survive in most ecosystems and conditions; some microorganisms, called extremophiles, thrive in physically or geochemically extreme environments that are detrimental to most other life on Earth.

The cell is considered the functional unit of life. There are two kinds of cells and eukaryotic, both of which consist of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane and contain many biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. Cells reproduce through a process of cell division, in which the parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells. In the past, there have been many attempts to define what is meant by "life" through obsolete concepts such as odic force, spontaneous generation and vitalism, that have now been disproved by biological discoveries. Aristotle is considered to be the first person to classify organisms. Carl Linnaeus introduced his system of binomial nomenclature for the classification of species. New groups and categories of life were discovered, such as cells and microorganisms, forcing dramatic revisions of the structure of relationships between living organisms. Though only known on Earth, life need not be restricted to it, many scientists speculate in the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Artificial life is a computer simulation or human-made reconstruction of any aspect of life, used to examine systems related to natural life. Death is the permanent termination of all biological functions which sustain an organism, as such, is the end of its life. Extinction is the term describing the dying out of a group or taxon a species. Fossils are the preserved traces of organisms; the definition of life has long been a challenge for scientists and philosophers, with many varied definitions put forward. This is because life is a process, not a substance; this is complicated by a lack of knowledge of the characteristics of living entities, if any, that may have developed outside of Earth. Philosophical definitions of life have been put forward, with similar difficulties on how to distinguish living things from the non-living. Legal definitions of life have been described and debated, though these focus on the decision to declare a human dead, the legal ramifications of this decision. Since there is no unequivocal definition of life, most current definitions in biology are descriptive.

Life is considered a characteristic of something that preserves, furthers or reinforces its existence in the given environment. This characteristic exhibits all or most of the following traits: Homeostasis: regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state. Living things require energy to maintain internal organization and to produce the other phenomena associated with life. Growth: maintenance of a higher rate of anabolism than catabolism. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than accumulating matter. Adaptation: the ability to change over time in response to the environment; this ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity and external factors. Response to stimuli: a response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism to external chemicals, to complex reactions involving all the senses of multicellular organisms. A response is expressed by motion. Reproduction: the ability to produc

The Screen is a cinematheque, open to the public, located on the midtown campus owned by the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1999 and curated by Brent Kliewer, The Screen shows world and independent cinema, as well as international performances of operas and plays via satellite, it was used by the now-defunct Santa Fe University of Art and Design’s Moving Image Arts Department on the campus to show films for courses and student clubs. Built in a former soundstage, The Screen has stadium seating, a 16-speaker Dolby Digital surround sound system, 35-mm and digital projection on a high-definition curved screen half the size of an IMAX screen; the Screen utilizes analog sound readers, maximizing the ability to play mono and surround EX prints, operates simplex changeover projectors with adjustable shutter capabilities to play silent film prints. A satellite receiver is used to display live operas and ballets. Brent Kliewer has been programming films in Santa Fe since 1982. A film curator and critic, Kliewer founded Santa Fe’s Jean Cocteau Cinema in 1983 and in 1986 began building the film program at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe.

Kliewer was a film critic at the Santa Fe New Mexican and spent five years as a professor of critical studies in the Moving Image Arts Department at the College of Santa Fe. In the late 1990s, Kliewer helped to design The Screen; the following individuals presented films to audiences at The Screen: Alan Arkin, actor Cate Blanchett, actress Steve Buscemi, actor Lucien Castaing-Taylor, filmmaker Alan Cumming, actor Emilio Estevez, actor Coleen Gray, actress Dave Grusin, composer Mariette Hartley, actress Stan Herd, artist Don Hertzfeldt, animator Marsha Hunt, actress Juraj Jakubisko, director Burt Kennedy, actor László Kovács, cinematographer Ellen Kuras, cinematographer Lisa Law, photographer/activist Larry McMurtry, screenwriter Eddie Muller, film historian John Pilger and journalist Robert Redford, actor Mickey Rooney, actor Gaylen Ross, filmmaker Martin Sheen, actor Alain Silver, film historian Stephen Sommers, director Wes Studi, actor John Toll, cinematographer Constance Towers, actress Guinevere Turner, filmmaker Amy Vincent, cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, cinematographer

Richard de Belmeis I was a medieval cleric, administrator and politician. Beginning as a minor landowner and steward in Shropshire, he became Henry I's chief agent in the Welsh Marches and in 1108 Bishop of London, he founded St Osyth's Priory in Essex and was succeeded by a considerable dynasty of clerical politicians and landowners. Richard's toponymic byname is given in modern accounts as de Belmeis; the form de Beaumais is encountered. This is based on the modern spelling of the village from which his family originated: Beaumais-sur-Dive, east of Falaise, in the Calvados region of Normandy; the attribution is now regarded as not proven. It is made up of two common French toponym elements, meaning “attractive estate”: there is a village called Aubermesnil-Beaumais elsewhere in Normandy. Whatever the form of his name, Richard is confused with his namesake and nephew, Richard de Belmeis II, a 12th-century Bishop of London. Tout refers to Richard I by the surname Rufus, his epitaph shows that he was called Rufus, but the name, in the form Ruffus, is now reserved for an Archdeacon of Essex a brother of Richard Belmeis II and thus another nephew of Richard Belmeis I.

A further Richard Ruffus may have been a son of the archdeacon. The family tree below attempts to clarify the relationships. Richard's background seems to lie in the lower reaches of the Norman landowning class, he is thought to be the Richard whom the Domesday enquiry found holding the small manor of Meadowley, due west of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. This he held as a tenant of Helgot, who held it of Roger Montgomery, the great territorial magnate who dominated the Welsh Marches. Meadowley was 6 ploughlands in extent and was populated by just five families: 3 slaves and 2 bordars. However, there were evidently signs of revival in Richard's hands. In Edward the Confessor's time it had been worth 30 shillings, but it had sunk to only 2 shillings by the time Richard acquired it, since when it had risen again to 11 shillings. Richard held three hides worth of land as a tenant of Helgot at Preen, to the north-west of Meadowley. Here he let a hide to Godebold, a priest, a crony of Earl Roger. Godebold at this time was much wealthier than Richard and held a large number of properties, intended as prebends of the collegiate church of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury.

Richard seems to have become steward of Earl Roger and appears as a witness in charters, both genuine and spurious, granted by Roger and his son, Hugh to Shrewsbury Abbey, in one is described as dapifer for Shropshire. Richard seems to have been employed in Sussex, where the Montgomery earls had substantial holdings. Richard seems to have avoided entanglement in the revolt of Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and emerged in Henry I's favour. In autumn 1102, Henry ordered “Richard de Belmes”, Robert of Falaise and all the barons of Sussex to secure for Ralph de Luffa, the Bishop of Chichester, lands near the town of Chichester, it seems, that Richard was not in Shropshire at that time, but in Sussex. He was sent to Shrewsbury late in 1102, after Henry had dealt with Robert of Bellême's Welsh allies, imprisoning Iorwerth ap Bleddyn, a powerful Welsh leader who had played a prominent but equivocal part in events. Henry continued to treat Shropshire as a marcher lordship but was determined not to install another earl who might threaten the monarchy.

At Christmas, Henry ordered Richard to help secure some land for the Abbey of Saint-Remi, which had a daughter house at Lapley Priory in Staffordshire and estates in Shropshire. This would indicate that he was in charge of Shropshire by the end of the year. However, the sequence of events is not certain. Henry allowed Richard to take effective control of the county as a royal agent, he was described by Ordericus Vitalis as the vicecomes or “viscount” of Shropshire, a term sometimes translated as Viceroy. It is possible, he had a reputation as an expert on legal matters. Hence he served as the justiciar for the king at Shrewsbury, where his brief included oversight of Welsh affairs, he was given substantial holdings in the county to support him in appropriate style. The priest Godebold had been succeeded by a son, it seems that he had supported the rebels, as his estates were turned over to Richard. Other estates he acquired were Tong and Donington, both of, retained as demesne by the Montgomery earls themselves.

Despite his focus on Shropshire, the king seems to have continued regarding Richard as a Sussex magnate: as late as 1107 he heads a list of Sussex notables informed of the king's confirmation of the right of Chichester Cathedral to hold a fair in the town. As Henry's viceroy, Richard made a considerable impact on the county. On occasion he convened and presided over ecclesiastical synods: Even after he became Bishop of London, he had no obvious authority for doing this, as Shropshire fell within the Diocese of Lichfield, his decisions at assemblies at Wistanstow in 1110 and Castle Holdgate in 1115 increased the powers and privileges of Wenlock Priory by recognising it as the mother church of an extensive parish and made it an important force in the region. Richard granted his land at Preen to Wenlock Priory and this was used to found a daughter house. Richard was elected to the see of London and invested with its temporalities on 24 May 1108; the date is known from Eadmer, the contemporary historian and biographer of Anselm, who places Richard's election at Pentecost: 24 May in that year, according to the Julian Calendar, in which Easte