Club career.

Born in Oeiras, Piauí, Zé Maria started his professional career with Portuguesa in 1991, being loaned two times during his contract with the club. In 1995, he was selected in the Bola de Prata Brazilian League team of the year. This led to him being signed by Flamengo in 1996.  In the summer, Zé Maria moved to Italy after signing with Serie A club Parma, playing regularly for two seasons. Subsequently, he remained in Italy, joining Perugia.  With the Umbrians Zé Maria had a shaky start, being loaned three times back to Brazil, during which time he won the Copa Libertadores with Palmeiras, and the Copa do Brasil with Cruzeiro. Eventually, he established himself in the Perugia starting line-up, helping his team finish 10th in his third full season whilst contributing with six goals. Via the UEFA Intertoto Cup he and the side reached the third round of the subsequent UEFA Cup, but also suffered domestic relegation.  After two seasons with giants Inter – playing rather regularly in his first but making only eight appearances (mostly as a substitute) in his second (with Inter winning the "Scudetto" courtesy of the "Calciopoli" affair), 49 official ones overall – Zé Maria was released and joined La Liga club Levante UD on a free transfer: starting the season as first-choice right-back the 33-year-old lost the position and finished with 14 league appearances, with the Valencians barely avoiding relegation.  Released again, Zé Maria entailed unsuccessful negotiations with several teams, reportedly Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers in England, thus returning to Brazil and Portuguesa in January 2008. In August, after having rescinded his contract, he surprisingly accepted an offer from A.S.D. Città di Castello, in the Italian "Eccellenza" (amateur championships).  Zé Maria settled in Italy after his retirement from football, at the age of 36. He subsequently founded a football school in Perugia.

International career.

Zé Maria gained 25 caps for Brazil over a period of five years. He was not selected for any FIFA World Cup but did participate in two FIFA Confederations Cups, including the original in Saudi Arabia which the national team won, and one Copa América (also ended in win, in Bolivia).  In 1996 Zé Maria helped the Olympic team win bronze at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, appearing in all six matches.

Managerial career.

Beginnings.

On 15 March 2010 Zé Maria took his first head coaching job, accepting Serie D club S.S.D. Group Città di Castello's offer. He was then appointed manager of fourth division team F.C. Catanzaro for the 2010–11 campaign, being however removed from his post after a few months.

Tirana.

On 16 June 2017, Tirana announced the signing of Zé Maria on a one-year contract. He lost his first match in charge later on 29 June, a 2–0 away loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv at Netanya Stadium in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. Tirana was koncked-out from the competition after losing the second leg.  Zé Maria won his first silverware with the club later on 6 September, the 2017 Albanian Supercup, with Tirana defeating Kukësi thanks to an Erion Hoxhallari late winner. By doing so, Tirana become the first ever Albanian First Division club to win the supercup. Tirana begun the championship by recording a 1–0 home win versus Iliria Fushë-Krujë. They successfully eliminated Besa Kavajë 4–1 on aggregate in the 2017–18 Albanian Cup first round. Tirana ended September by winning all the matches, and did so also in November, taking the lead of Group B. During his time, Zé Maria also guided Tirana to the biggest win of the season, 6–0 versus Shkumbini Peqin.  Tirana finished the year in the first place, conceding only one defeat, the one versus Bylis Ballsh. Zé Maria called the defeat "a shame". The team also eliminated Vllaznia Shkodër in the second round of Albanian Cup. In January 2018, Tirana brought Kenneth Muguna, Mohammed Musa and Samson Iliasu at the request of Zé Maria. In February 2018, Tirana was eliminated by Kukësi in the quarter-final of Albanian Cup.  Tirana continued their winning streak, eventually finished top of Group B to qualify to promotion play-off. Later on 14 April, the team mathematically achieved promotion to top flight next season by winning 3–2 at home against Pogradeci. On 16 May, Tirana was named Albanian First Division champions after beating 2–0 the Group A winners Kastrioti Krujë. Later on 2 June, Zé Maria agreed a contract extension with the club until June 2020.

José Marcelo Ferreira (born 25 July 1973), commonly known as Zé Maria, is a retired Brazilian footballer and current manager of Portuguesa de Desportos.

José Marcelo Ferreira dit Zé Maria est un joueur de football, né le 25 juillet 1973 à Oeiras est un ancien footballeur brésilien, reconverti en entraîneur.


History.

Pre-Ryukyu Kingdom.

Okinawan is a Japonic language, derived from Proto-Japonic and is therefore related to Japanese. The split between Old Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages has been estimated to have occurred as early as the first century AD to as late as the twelfth century AD. Chinese and Japanese characters were first introduced by a Japanese missionary in 1265.

Ryukyu Kingdom era.

Pre-Satsuma.

Hiragana was much more popular than kanji; poems were commonly written solely in hiragana or with little kanji. Okinawan became the official language under King Shō Shin.

Post-Satsuma to annexation.

After Ryukyu became a vassal of Satsuma Domain, kanji gained more prominence in poetry; however, official Ryukyuan documents were written in Classical Chinese.  In 1609, the Ryukyu Kingdom was colonized by the Satsuma Domain in the south of Japan. However, Satsuma did not fully invade the Ryukyu in fear of colliding with China, which had a stronger trading relationship with the Ryukyu at the time.

Japanese annexation to end of World War II.

When Ryukyu was annexed by Japan in 1879, the majority of people on Okinawa Island spoke Okinawan. Within ten years, the Japanese government began an assimilation policy of Japanization, where Ryukyuan languages were gradually suppressed. The education system was the heart of Japanization, where Okinawan children were taught Japanese and punished for speaking their native language, being told that their language was just a "dialect". By 1945, many Okinawans spoke Japanese, and many were bilingual. During the Battle of Okinawa, some Okinawans were killed by Japanese soldiers for speaking Okinawan.  Language shift to Japanese in Ryukyu/Okinawa began in 1879 when the Japanese government annexed Ryukyu and established Okinawa Prefecture. The prefectural office mainly consisted of people from Kagoshima Prefecture where the Satsuma Domain used to be. This caused the modernization of Okinawa as well as language shift to Japanese. As a result, Japanese became the standard language for administration, education, media, and literature.  In 1902, the National Language Research Council () began the linguistic unification of Japan to Standard Japanese. This caused the linguistic stigmatization of many local varieties in Japan including Okinawan. As the discrimination accelerated, Okinawans themselves started to abandon their languages and shifted to Standard Japanese.

American occupation.

Under American administration, there was an attempt to revive and standardize Okinawan, but this proved difficult and was shelved in favor of Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur attempted to promote Okinawan languages and culture through education. Multiple English words were introduced.

Return to Japan to present day.

After Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty, Japanese continued to be the dominant language used, and the majority of the youngest generations only speak Okinawan Japanese. There have been attempts to revive Okinawan by notable people such as Byron Fija and Seijin Noborikawa, but few native Okinawans desire to learn the language.

Outside of Japan.

The Okinawan language is still spoken by communities of Okinawan immigrants in Brazil. The first immigrants from the island of Okinawa to Brazil landed in the Port of Santos in 1908 drawn by the hint of work and farmable land. Once in a new country and far from their homeland, they found themselves in a place where there was no prohibition of their language, allowing them to willingly speak, celebrate and preserve their speech and culture, up to the present day. Currently the Okinawan-Japanese centers and communities in the State of São Paulo are a world reference to this language helping it to stay alive.

Classification.

Okinawan is sometimes grouped with Kunigami as the Okinawan languages; however, not all linguists accept this grouping, some claiming that Kunigami is a dialect of Okinawan. Okinawan is also grouped with Amami (or the Amami languages) as the Northern Ryukyuan languages.

Dialect of the Japanese language.

Since the creation of Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawan has been labeled a dialect of Japanese as part of a policy of assimilation. Later, Japanese linguists, such as Tōjō Misao, who studied the Ryukyuan languages argued that they are indeed dialects. This is due to the misconception that Japan is a homogeneous state (one people, one language, one nation), and classifying the Ryukyuan languages as such would discredit this belief. The present-day official stance of the Japanese government remains that Okinawan is a dialect, and it is common within the Japanese population for it to be called or, which means "Okinawa dialect (of Japanese)". The policy of assimilation, coupled with increased interaction between Japan and Okinawa through media and economics, has led to the development of Okinawan Japanese, which is a dialect of Japanese.

Dialects of the Ryukyuan language.

Okinawan linguist Seizen Nakasone states that the Ryukyuan languages are in fact groupings of similar dialects. As each community has its own distinct dialect, there is no "one language". Nakasone attributes this diversity to the isolation caused by immobility, citing the story of his mother who wanted to visit the town of Nago but never made the 25 km trip before she died of old age.

Its own distinct language.

Outside Japan, Okinawan is considered a separate language from Japanese. This was first proposed by Basil Hall Chamberlain, who compared the relationship between Okinawan and Japanese to that of the Romance languages. UNESCO has marked it as an endangered language.

Sociolinguistics.

UNESCO listed six Okinawan language varieties as endangered languages in 2009. The endangerment of Okinawan is largely due to the shift to Standard Japanese. Throughout history, Okinawan languages have been treated as dialects of Standard Japanese. For instance, in the 20th century, many schools used "dialect tags" to punish the students who spoke in Okinawan. Consequently, many of the remaining speakers today are choosing not to transmit their languages to younger generation due to the stigmatization of the languages in the past.  There have been several revitalization efforts made to reverse this language shift. However, Okinawan is still poorly taught in formal institutions due to the lack of support from the Okinawan Education Council: education in Okinawa is conducted exclusively in Japanese, and children do not study Okinawan as their second language at school. As a result, at least two generations of Okinawans have grown up without any proficiency in their local languages both at home and school.

Phonology.

Vowels.

The Okinawan language has five vowels, all of which may be long or short, though the short vowels and are quite rare, as they occur only in a few native Okinawan words with heavy syllables with the pattern or, such as "mensōrē" "welcome" or "tonfā". The close back vowels and are truly rounded, rather than the compressed vowels of standard Japanese. A sixth vowel is sometimes posited in order to explain why sequences containing a historically raised fail to trigger palatalization as with : → "tī" "hand", → "chī" "blood". Acoustically, however, is pronounced no differently from, possibly because palatalization preceded this vowel shift.

Consonants.

The Okinawan language counts some 20 distinctive segments shown in the chart below, with major allophones presented in parentheses.  The only consonant that can occur as a syllable coda is the archiphoneme. Many analyses treat it as an additional phoneme, the moraic nasal, though it never contrasts with or.  The consonant system of the Okinawan language is fairly similar to that of standard Japanese, but it does present a few differences on the phonemic and allophonic level. Namely, Okinawan retains the labialized consonants and which were lost in Late Middle Japanese, possesses a glottal stop, features a voiceless bilabial fricative distinct from the aspirate, and has two distinctive affricates which arose from a number of different sound processes. Additionally, Okinawan lacks the major allophones and found in Japanese, having historically fronted the vowel to after the alveolars, consequently merging "tsu" into "chi", "su" into "shi", and both "dzu" and "zu" into "ji". It also lacks as a distinctive phoneme, having merged it into.

Bilabial and glottal fricatives.

The bilabial fricative has sometimes been transcribed as the cluster, since, like Japanese, allophonically labializes into before the high vowel, and does not occur before the rounded vowel. This suggests that an overlap between and exists, and so the contrast in front of other vowels can be denoted through labialization. However, this analysis fails to take account of the fact that Okinawan has not fully undergone the diachronic change → → as in Japanese, and that the suggested clusterization and labialization into is unmotivated. Consequently, the existence of must be regarded as independent of, even though the two overlap. Barring a few words that resulted from the former change, the aspirate also arose from the odd lenition of and, as well as words loaned from other dialects. Before the glide and the high vowel, it is pronounced closer to, as in Japanese.

Palatalization.

The plosive consonants and historically palatalized and affricated into before and occasionally following the glide and the high vowel : → "chiri" "fog", and → "chura-" "beautiful". This change preceded vowel raising, so that instances where arose from did not trigger palatalization: → "kī" "hair". Their voiced counterparts and underwent the same effect, becoming under such conditions: → "nnaji" "eel", and → "nukujiri" "saw"; but → "kagin" "seasoning".  Both and may or may not also allophonically affricate before the mid vowel, though this pronunciation is increasingly rare. Similarly, the fricative consonant palatalizes into before the glide and the vowel, including when historically derives from : → "shikē" "world". It may also palatalize before the vowel, especially so in the context of topicalization: "dushi" → "dusē" or "dushē" "("topic") friend".  In general, sequences containing the palatal consonant are relatively rare and tend to exhibit depalatalization. For example, tends to merge with ( "myāku" → "nāku" "Miyako"); has merged into and ( → "rū" ~ "dū" "dragon"); and has mostly become ( "shui" → "sui" "Shuri").

Flapping and fortition.

The voiced plosive and the flap tend to merge, with the first becoming a flap in word-medial position, and the second sometimes becoming a plosive in word-initial position. For example, "rū" "dragon" may be strengthened into "dū", and "hashidu" "door" conversely flaps into "hashiru". The two sounds do, however, still remain distinct in a number of words and verbal constructions.

Glottal stop.

Okinawan also features a distinctive glottal stop that historically arose from a process of glottalization of word-initial vowels. Hence, all vowels in Okinawan are predictably glottalized at the beginning of words ( → "ami" "rain"), save for a few exceptions. High vowel loss or assimilation following this process created a contrast with glottalized approximants and nasal consonants. Compare → "wa" "pig" to "wa" "I", or → "nni" "rice plant" to → "nni" "chest".

Moraic nasal.

The moraic nasal has been posited in most descriptions of Okinawan phonology. Like Japanese, (transcribed using the small capital ) occupies a full mora and its precise place of articulation will vary depending on the following consonant. Before other labial consonants, it will be pronounced closer to a syllabic bilabial nasal, as in "nma" "horse". Before velar and labiovelar consonants, it will be pronounced as a syllabic velar nasal, as in "bingata", a method of dying clothes. And before alveolar and alveolo-palatal consonants, it becomes a syllabic alveolar nasal, as in "kanda" "vine". Elsewhere, its exact realization remains unspecified, and it may vary depending on the first sound of the next word or morpheme. In isolation and at the end of utterances, it is realized as a velar nasal.

Correspondences with Japanese.

There is a sort of "formula" for Ryukyuanizing Japanese words: turning "e" into "i", "ki" into "chi", "gi" into "ji", "o" into "u", and "-awa" into "-ā". This formula fits with the transliteration of "Okinawa" into "Uchinā" and has been noted as evidence that Okinawan is a dialect of Japanese, however it does not explain unrelated words such as "arigatō" and "nifēdēbiru" (for "thank you").

Orthography.

The Okinawan language was historically written using an admixture of kanji and hiragana. The hiragana syllabary is believed to have first been introduced from mainland Japan to the Ryukyu Kingdom some time during the reign of king Shunten in the early thirteenth century. It is likely that Okinawans were already in contact with "hanzi" (Chinese characters) due to extensive trade between the Ryukyu Kingdom and China, Japan and Korea. However, hiragana gained more widespread acceptance throughout the Ryukyu Islands, and most documents and letters were exclusively transcribed using this script, in contrast to in Japan where writing solely in hiragana was considered "women's script". The "Omoro Saushi" (), a sixteenth-century compilation of songs and poetry, and a few preserved writs of appointments dating from the same century were written solely in Hiragana. Kanji were gradually adopted due to the growing influence of mainland Japan and to the linguistic affinity between the Okinawan and Japanese languages. However, it was mainly limited to affairs of high importance and to documents sent towards the mainland. The oldest inscription of Okinawan exemplifying its use along with Hiragana can be found on a stone stele at the Tamaudun mausoleum, dating back to 1501.  After the invasion of Okinawa by the Shimazu clan of Satsuma in 1609, Okinawan ceased to be used in official affairs. It was replaced by standard Japanese writing and a form of Classical Chinese writing known as kanbun. Despite this change, Okinawan still continued to prosper in local literature up until the nineteenth century. Following the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government abolished the domain system and formally annexed the Ryukyu Islands to Japan as the Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. To promote national unity, the government then introduced standard education and opened Japanese-language schools based on the Tokyo dialect. Students were discouraged and chastised for speaking or even writing in the local "dialect", notably through the use of "dialect cards" (). As a result, Okinawan gradually ceased to be written entirely until the American takeover in 1945.  Since then, Japanese and American scholars have variously transcribed the regional language using a number of ad hoc romanization schemes or the katakana syllabary to demarcate its foreign nature with standard Japanese. Proponents of Okinawan tend to be more traditionalist and continue to write the language using hiragana with kanji. In any case, no standard or consensus concerning spelling issues has ever been formalized, so discrepancies between modern literary works are common.

Syllabary.

Technically, they are not syllables, but rather morae. Each mora in Okinawan will consist of one or two kana characters. If two, then a smaller version of kana follows the normal sized kana. In each cell of the table below, the top row is the kana (hiragana to the left, katakana to the right of the dot), the middle row in rōmaji (Hepburn romanization), and the bottom row in IPA.

Grammar.

Okinawan follows a subject–object–verb word order and makes large use of particles as in Japanese. Okinawan dialects retain a number of grammatical features of classical Japanese, such as a distinction between the terminal form () and the attributive form (), the genitive function of "ga" (lost in the Shuri dialect), the nominative function of "nu" (Japanese: "no"), as well as honorific/plain distribution of "ga" and "nu" in nominative use. One etymology given for the "-un" and "-uru" endings is the continuative form suffixed with "uri" (Classical Japanese: "wori", "to be; to exist"): "-un" developed from the terminal form "uri"; "-uru" developed from the attributive form "uru", i.e.:  A similar etymology is given for the terminal "-san" and attributive "-saru" endings for adjectives: the stem suffixed with "sa" (nominalises adjectives, i.e. high → height, hot → heat), suffixed with "ari" (Classical Japanese: "ari", "to exist; to have"), i.e.:

Parts of speech.

Nouns (名詞).

Nouns are classified as independent, non-conjugating part of speech that can become a subject of a sentence

Pronouns (代名詞).

Pronouns are classified the same as nouns, except that pronouns are more broad.

Adverbs (副詞).

Adverbs are classified as an independent, non-conjugating part of speech that cannot become a subject of a sentence and modifies a declinable word (用言; verbs, adverbs, adjectives) that comes after the adverb. There are two main categories to adverbs and several subcategories within each category, as shown in the table below.

Verbs (動詞).

Verbs are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows movements. The conclusive form ends in.

Adjectives (形容詞).

Adjectives are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows property or state. The conclusive form ends in.

(存在動詞).

存在動詞 are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows existence or decision of a certain thing. attaches to a substantive.

Adjectival verbs (形容動詞).

Adjectival verbs are classified as an independent, conjugating part of speech that shows the state of existence of events. attaches to words that shows state.

Particles (助詞).

! colspan=4 | Case markers (格助詞)! Okinawan!! Japanese!! Notes/English!! Example | || || Indicates the means by which something is achieved. | Ø ("Archaic:" ) || || Modern Okinawan does not use a direct object particle, like casual Japanese speech. "yu" exists mainly in old literary composition. | || || Indicates the means by which something is achieved. | || || 起点 | || || 場所・位置 | || || 場所 | || || Possessive marker. It may be difficult to differentiate between the subject marker and possessive marker. | ぬ→「〜している」「〜である」「〜い・しい」pp459.! colspan=4 | Adverbial Particles (副助詞)! Okinawan!! Japanese!! Notes/English!! Example  | || || | || || "around, about, approximately" | || || | || || | || 等 ||! colspan=4 | Binding particles (係助詞)! Okinawan!! Japanese!! Notes/English!! Example For other nouns, the particle fuses with short vowels. a → ā, i → ē, u → ō, e → ē, o → ō, n → nō. Pronoun 我ん (wan?) (I) becomes topicalized as 我んねー (wannē?) instead of 我んのー (wannō?) or 我んや (wan'ya?), although the latter does appear in some musical or literary works. | || || "even, also in" | || || | || || | || || | || || | | |! colspan=4 | Sentence-ending particles (終助詞)! Okinawan!! Japanese!! Notes/English!! Example  | || || Final interrogatory particle | || || 可否疑問 | || || 強調疑問 | || || | || || | || || Final particle expressing 問いかけ・念押し | || || 軽い疑問 | | || || | || || 軽く言う | || || Prohibitive | || || 命令 | || || | || || 断定 | || || 断定! colspan=4 | Interjectory Particles (間投助詞)! Okinawan!! Japanese!! Notes/English!! Example | |

The Okinawan language (/, "Uchināguchi", ) or Central Okinawan, is a Northern Ryukyuan language spoken primarily in the southern half of the island of Okinawa, as well as in the surrounding islands of Kerama, Kumejima, Tonaki, Aguni and a number of smaller peripheral islands. Central Okinawan distinguishes itself from the speech of Northern Okinawa, which is classified independently as the Kunigami language. Both languages are listed by UNESCO as endangered.

L'okinawaïen (, ") est une langue parlée au Japon, dans l'île d'Okinawa, ainsi que sur les îles Kerama, Kumejima, Tonaki, Aguni, et l'archipel Daitō situé à l'est.


Satellite phone network.

Geostationary satellites.

Some satellite phones use satellites in geostationary orbit, which appear at a fixed position in the sky. These systems can maintain near-continuous global coverage with only three or four satellites, reducing the launch costs. The satellites used for these systems are very heavy (about 5000 kg) and expensive to build and launch. The satellites sit at an altitude of ; a noticeable delay is present while making a phone call or using data services due to the large distance from users. The amount of bandwidth available on these systems is substantially higher than that of the low Earth orbit (LEO) systems; all three active systems provide portable satellite Internet using laptop-sized terminals with speeds ranging from 60 to 512 kbit per second (kbps).  Geostationary satellite phones can only be used at lower latitudes, generally between 70 degrees north of the equator and 70 degrees south of the equator. At higher latitudes the satellite appears at such a low angle in the sky that radio frequency interference from terrestrial sources in the same frequency bands can interfere with the signal.  Another disadvantage of geostationary satellite systems is that in many areas—even where a large amount of open sky is present—the line-of-sight between the phone and the satellite is broken by obstacles such as steep hills and forest. The user will need to find an area with line-of-sight before using the phone. This is not the case with LEO services: even if the signal is blocked by an obstacle, one can wait a few minutes until another satellite passes overhead, but a moving LEO satellite may drop a call when line of sight is lost.

Low Earth orbit.

LEO satphones utilize satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). The advantages include providing worldwide wireless coverage with no gaps. LEO satellites orbit the Earth in high-speed, low-altitude orbits with an orbital time of 70–100 minutes, an altitude of 640 to 1120 kilometers (400 to 700 miles). Since the satellites are not geostationary, they move with respect to the ground. A given satellite is only in view of a phone for a short time, so the call must be "handed off" electronically to another satellite when one passes beyond the local horizon. Depending on the positions of both the satellite and terminal, a usable pass of an individual LEO satellite will typically last 4–15 minutes on average. At least one satellite must have line-of-sight to every coverage area at all times to guarantee coverage; thus a constellation of satellites, typically 40 to 70, is required to maintain worldwide coverage.  Two such systems, both based in the United States, started in the late 1990s, but soon went into bankruptcy after failing to gain enough subscribers to fund launch costs. They are now operated by new owners who bought the assets for a fraction of their original cost and are now both planning to launch replacement constellations supporting higher bandwidth. Data speeds for current networks are between 2200 and 9600 bit/s using a satellite handset.

Tracking.

LEO systems have the ability to track a mobile unit's location using Doppler-shift calculations from the satellite. However, this method can be inaccurate by tens of kilometers. On some Iridium hardware the coordinates can be extracted using AT commands, while recent Globalstar handsets will display them on the screen.  Most VSAT terminals can be reprogrammed in-field using AT-commands to bypass automatic acquisition of GPS coordinates and instead accept manually injected GPS coordinates.

Countries with restrictions on use of satellite phones.

In some countries, possession of a satellite phone is illegal. Their signals will usually bypass local telecoms systems, hindering censorship and wiretapping attempts, which has led some intelligence agencies to believe that satellite phones aid terrorist activity. It is also common for restrictions to be in place in countries that are run by oppressive governments regimes as a way to both expose subversive agents within their country and maximize the control of the information that makes it past their borders..

Security concerns.

All modern satellite phone networks encrypt voice traffic to prevent eavesdropping. In 2012, a team of academic security researchers reverse-engineered the two major proprietary encryption algorithms in use. One algorithm (used in GMR-1 phones) is a variant of the A5/2 algorithm used in GSM (used in common mobile phones), and both are vulnerable to cipher-text only attacks. The GMR-2 standard introduced a new encryption algorithm which the same research team also cryptanalysed successfully. Thus satellite phones are not recommended for high-security applications.

One-way services.

Some satellite phone networks provide a one-way paging channel to alert users in poor coverage areas (such as indoors) of the incoming call. When the alert is received on the satellite phone it must be taken to an area with better coverage before the call can be accepted.  Globalstar provides a one-way data uplink service, typically used for asset tracking.  Iridium operates a one-way pager service as well as the call alert feature.

Cost of a satellite phone.

While it is possible to obtain used handsets for the Thuraya, Iridium, and Globalstar networks for approximately, the newest handsets are quite expensive. The Iridium 9505A, released in 2001, sold in March 2010 for over US$1,000. Satellite phones are purpose-built for one particular network and cannot be switched to other networks. The price of handsets varies with network performance. If a satellite phone provider encounters trouble with its network, handset prices will fall, then increase once new satellites are launched. Similarly, handset prices will increase when calling rates are reduced.  Among the most expensive satellite phones are BGAN terminals, often costing several thousand US dollars. These phones provide broadband Internet and voice communications. Satellite phones are sometimes subsidised by the provider if one signs a post-paid contract, but subsidies are usually only a few hundred US dollars or less.  Since most satellite phones are built under license or the manufacturing of handsets is contracted out to OEMs, operators have a large influence over the selling price. Satellite networks operate under proprietary protocols, making it difficult for manufacturers to independently make handsets.  A startup is proposing the use of standard mobile phone technology in satellites to enable low bandwidth text message with satellites from cheap mobile phones.

Virtual country codes.

Satellite phones are usually issued with numbers in a special country calling code.  Inmarsat satellite phones are issued with codes +870. In the past, additional country codes were allocated to different satellites, but the codes +871 to +874 were phased out at the end of 2008 leaving Inmarsat users with the same country code, regardless of which satellite their terminal is registered with.  Low Earth orbit systems including some of the defunct ones have been allocated number ranges in the International Telecommunications Union's Global Mobile Satellite System virtual country code +881. Iridium satellite phones are issued with codes +881 6 and +881 7. Globalstar, although allocated +881 8 and +881 9 use U.S. telephone numbers except for service resellers located in Brazil, which use the +881 range.  Small regional satellite phone networks are allocated numbers in the +882 code designated for "international networks" which is not used exclusively for satellite phone networks.

Calling cost.

The cost of making voice calls from a satellite phone varies from around $0.15 to $2 per minute, while calling them from landlines and regular mobile phones is more expensive. Costs for data transmissions (particularly broadband data) can be much higher. Rates from landlines and mobile phones range from $3 to $14 per minute with Iridium, Thuraya and Inmarsat being some of the most expensive networks to call. The receiver of the call pays nothing, unless they are being called via a special reverse-charge service.  Making calls between different satellite phone networks is often similarly expensive, with calling rates of up to $15 per minute.  Calls from satellite phones to landlines are usually around $0.80 to $1.50 per minute unless special offers are used. Such promotions are usually bound to a particular geographic area where traffic is low.  Most satellite phone networks have pre-paid plans, with vouchers ranging from $100 to $5,000.

Use in disaster response.

Most mobile telephone networks operate close to capacity during normal times, and large spikes in call volumes caused by widespread emergencies often overload the systems when they are needed most. Examples reported in the media where this has occurred include the 1999 İzmit earthquake, the September 11 attacks, the 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake, the 2003 Northeast blackouts, Hurricane Katrina, the 2007 Minnesota bridge collapse, the 2010 Chile earthquake, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Reporters and journalists have also been using satellite phones to communicate and report on events in war zones such as Iraq.  Terrestrial cell antennas and networks can be damaged by natural disasters. Satellite telephony can avoid this problem and be useful during natural disasters. Satellite phone networks themselves are prone to congestion as satellites and spot beams cover a large area with relatively few voice channels.

A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. The advantage of a satphone is that its use is not limited to areas covered by cell towers; it can be used in most or all geographic locations on the Earth's surface.

La téléphonie par satellite est une forme de téléphonie mobile qui relient les utilisateurs entre eux par l’intermédiaire de satellites de télécommunications au lieu d'antennes-relais terrestres. Ce type de télécommunications est utilisé dans des régions où la densité des relais terrestres est insuffisante (régions faiblement peuplées ou inhabitables) ou à bord de bateaux navigant au large des côtes hors de portée des antennes relais. Plusieurs techniques peuvent être utilisées pour réaliser un réseau de téléphonie par satellite : celui-ci peut notamment reposer soit sur une constellation de satellites en orbite terrestre basse, moyenne ou en orbite géostationnaire.


Career.

Amélineau began his career by studying theology and was ordained as a priest prior to 1878. Between 1878 and 1883 he studied Egyptology and Coptic at Paris under the direction of Gaston Maspero and Eugène Grébaut. In 1883 he was a member of the French archaeological mission at Cairo, and renounced his orders. In 1887 he submitted his thesis, on Egyptian gnosticism. Thereafter he held a number of academic posts in France.  Amélineau published great quantities of Coptic literature. He was perhaps the greatest Coptic scholar of his generation.  He undertook an ambitious project to edit the literary remains of Shenoute, the founder of Coptic monasticism. He first published a collection of Coptic and Arabic texts, all more or less related to this subject (1888–95), and then a corpus of Shenoute's own works (1907–14). Work on the latter was interrupted by his death. Stephen Emmel has said that his publication of these texts was "too full of errors to be relied on for serious purposes", but that no one else has undertaken the task.  Amélineau also excavated in Egypt, at a period when archaeology had yet to become a scientific subject distinguishable from tomb raiding or treasure hunting. Much of his work was on the Early Dynastic period of Ancient Egypt. In 1895 he discovered a stele inscribed with the name of pharaoh Djet. This object is now on display at the Louvre. He was the first archaeologist to excavate the tombs of the First Dynasty pharaohs of Ancient Egypt at the Umm el-Qa'ab section of Abydos, his findings outlined in several volumes of material published in the early years of the 20th century.  But his work as an excavator has attracted strong criticism, not least from Flinders Petrie, the founder of modern scientific Egyptology. Amélineau dug at Abydos from 1894 to 1898. Petrie was awarded the concession to dig there by Gaston Maspero, head of the Antiquities Service, after Amélineau had declared that there was nothing more to be found there. Petrie was appalled at what had been done, and did not mince his words. He wrote:  Amélineau was so well connected that it was felt to be unsafe to tell him that the concession had been reassigned in case he came back, and he did not discover what had happened until some years later.  Amelineau responded to the criticism in his tardy publication of his finds. But the fact was that his work merely produced a series of finds of tombs and artefacts, while Petrie, by sifting the rubble that Amélineau left behind, was able to establish the whole chronology of the First dynasty. Petrie's work using scientific methods established Petrie's reputation, and conversely severely damaged that of Amélineau. Jane A. Hill has said that "Amelineau was not an archaeologist and basically plundered the cemetery in search of goods he could sell to antiquities collectors."  One example of the limitations of Amélineau's work is that 18 of the 20 ivory and ebony labels describing key events in the reign of the pharaoh Den known to come from that king's tomb were found by Flinders Petrie in the spoil heaps left by Amélineau's earlier excavation of that tomb.  In 1905 Amélineau donated a portion of his collection to the Society of Archaeology of Châteaudun, which is now on display at its Museum of Fine Arts and Natural History.

Émile Amélineau (1850 – 12 January 1915 at Châteaudun) was a French Coptologist, archaeologist and Egyptologist. His scholarly reputation was established as an editor of previously unpublished Coptic texts. But his reputation was destroyed by his work as a digger at Abydos, after Flinders Petrie re-excavated the site and showed how much destruction Amélineau had wrought.

Émile Clément Amélineau (né le à La Chaize-Giraud – mort le à Châteaudun) est un architecte, coptologue, archéologue et égyptologue français, spécialiste de l'étude des Coptes, chrétiens habitant l'Égypte depuis l'origine du christianisme.


Plot.

With the media full of school shootings, terrorist threats, and child abductions, the parents of South Park grow excessively concerned about the safety of their children. Tweek is scared the most by the media reports, and his parents serve only to exacerbate his fears by turning their house into a virtual prison and playing cruel intellectual games with him designed by intention to increase his safety. As a result, Tweek loses his ability to empathize with others - even refusing to assist a crippled person, whose powerchair ran out of battery power, and is now stuck on some train tracks, resulting in him getting killed by an oncoming train. After a real child abductor (pretending to be the "Ghost of Human Kindness") fails to kidnap Tweek, the parents of South Park are put on high alert.  Taking advantage of expensive technology, the City commissions the owner of City Wok, Mr. Lu Kim to build a huge wall around the city similar to the Great Wall of China. Media reports continue to file in — it first convinces them they should not leave their children alone for a moment, prompting the parents to go with them anywhere they go. A later report convinces them they cannot even trust their own neighbors and family friends, forcing the parents to sever ties with each other. The kids, annoyed and embarrassed by their parents' actions, initially blame Tweek for their parents' paranoia, but soon decide that they'd have inevitably resorted to something this stupid eventually.  Despite trying to avoid being a stereotype and having no experience in construction, Mr. Kim reluctantly agrees to build the wall. He builds a very impressive one single-handedly. After he is finished, a band of Mongols appear out of nowhere and attack the wall because: "Every time us Chinese put up a wall stupid Mongorianzh have to come and knock it down," as he puts it, in a reference to Chinese history. Although he tries desperately to rout the enemy by himself, he proves to be no match for the Mongols' increasingly clever tactics, which include redirecting a heat-seeking missile with a flaming baseball and making use of a Trojan Horse filled with sweet and sour pork. Enraged, Kim vows vengeance for the rest of his life.  Meanwhile, back within the town a news report states that the parents are most likely to abduct their own children. Blindly believing what they have been told, they send their children from the city in a tearful ceremony in order to avoid putting their children in danger of being kidnapped by their own parents. As they leave, the children wonder about how stupid their parents are sometimes.  Within the week, the children join forces with the Mongols, having apparently learned their language, and expressing anger at their parents' irresponsible and irrational behavior. The Mongols then move on the wall again, where Mr. Kim is dressed for battle. He then does his "war dance", but while he is doing this, the children wheel a large cart laden with explosives in behind him and blow up the wall. The parents arrive to investigate the explosion, and are reunited with their kids. They realize that they overreacted to the news stories, and that to cut themselves off from the rest of the world with the wall denies new possibilities. Mayor McDaniels orders Mr. Lu Kim to "tear down this wall," angering him once more since building the wall was a waste of time. Despite the reunion, the parents believe their children have forgotten them in the short space of four days and use simple English to convince them to return home (with Stan muttering to Kyle, "Jesus Christ, dude, they've done some stupid crap before, but Jesus Christ.").

Production.

According to the DVD commentary, the episode was done right after the creators saw the Elizabeth Smart abduction in Utah on the news. Parker and Stone came up with the line "Goddamn Mongorianzh, no more breaking down my shitty warr!" while on the Great Wall of China in the 1990s.

Cultural references.

When Mr. Kim gets ready to shoot the heat seeking missile, he introduces it to the Mongolians saying "Say herro to my rittre friend." This is a reference to the movie "Scarface". Mayor McDaniels' line "Mr. Lu Kim, tear down this wall!" is a reference to Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech challenging Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

Home release.

"Child Abduction Is Not Funny", along with the sixteen other episodes from "South Park"'s sixth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on October 11, 2005. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode. IGN gave the season a rating of 9/10.

"Child Abduction Is Not Funny" is episode 90 of the Comedy Central series "South Park". It originally aired on July 24, 2002. This episode mocks kidnapping, moral panics, and the Mongol conquest of China. The episode was also the last to feature Tweek as the "fourth friend" alongside Stan, Kyle and Cartman.

Les enlèvements d'enfants, c'est pas marrant ("Child Abduction Is Not Funny" en version originale) est le onzième épisode de la sixième saison de la série animée "South Park", ainsi que le de l'émission.


Early life and career (1949 to 1972).

Richard Thompson was born in Ladbroke Crescent, Notting Hill, West London, England. His father, a Scot, was a Scotland Yard detective, and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. While attending William Ellis School in Highgate, he formed his first band, Emil and the Detectives (named after a book and a movie by the same title) with classmate Hugh Cornwell, later lead singer and guitarist of The Stranglers, on bass guitar.  Like so many musicians of his generation, Thompson was exposed to and embraced rock and roll music at an early age, and he was also exposed to his father's jazz and traditional Scottish music record collection. His father had seen Django Reinhardt play in Glasgow in the 1930s and played guitar himself. He was later described by his son as "a bad amateur player... with three chords, though, unfortunately, not C, F and G." All these musical genres were to colour Thompson's playing in the years to come.  Joe Boyd said:  By the age of 18 Thompson was playing with the newly formed Fairport Convention. Thompson's guitar playing caught the ear of American producer Joe Boyd. Largely on the strength of Thompson's playing, Boyd took them under his wing and signed them to his Witchseason production and management company.  Boyd said:  Shortly thereafter Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as an outstanding guitar player, started writing songs seriously. This seems to have been out of necessity as Fairport Convention was essentially a cover band at first.  By early 1969, when Fairport's second album "What We Did on Our Holidays" was recorded and released, Thompson was starting to emerge as a songwriter of distinction. As Fairport's lineup and their sound evolved, Thompson continued to grow in stature as a player and as a songwriter with compositions like "Meet on the Ledge".  On 12 May 1969, between the recording and release of their next album "Unhalfbricking", Fairport's van crashed on the M1 motorway on the way home from a gig at Mothers, a club in Birmingham. Drummer Martin Lamble, aged 19, and Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn were killed. The rest of the band suffered injuries of varying severity. Later in 1969, Fairport re-grouped with a new drummer, Dave Mattacks, and also invited the well known fiddle player, Dave Swarbrick, to join. Thompson and Swarbrick worked together to create songs such as "Crazy Man Michael" from the band's seminal 1969 folk-rock album "Liege & Lief" and "Sloth" from its 1970 follow-up "Full House".  In January 1971 Thompson announced that he was leaving Fairport Convention. His decision seems to have been instinctive, rather than a calculated career move:  In April 1972 he released his first solo album "Henry the Human Fly", recording with Sandy Denny, Pat Donaldson, Sue Draheim, John Kirkpatrick, Barry Dransfield, Ashley Hutchings, Linda Peters, Andy Roberts, and others. The album sold poorly and was panned by the press, especially the influential "Melody Maker" magazine. With time "Henry" has come to be more highly regarded, but at the time the critics' response hurt both Thompson and his career.

1970s: Richard and Linda Thompson.

By the 1970s, Thompson had begun a relationship with the singer Linda Peters, who had sung on "Henry the Human Fly". In October 1972 the couple were married, and Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career.  The first Richard and Linda Thompson album, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight", was recorded in May 1973 in short time and on a small budget. Largely because of the petrol shortage in Britain and its impact on the availability of vinyl for records, "Bright Lights" was held back by Island Records for nearly a year before being released in April 1974. The album was well received by critics, though sales were less than stellar.  Thompson's lyrics expressed a rather dismal world view, and it has been suggested that the bleak subject matter of his songs helped to keep his recordings off the hit parade. A more likely explanation was given by ex-Island A&R man Richard Williams in the 2003 BBC TV documentary "Solitary Life": Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings.  The Thompsons recorded two more albums—"Hokey Pokey" and "Pour Down Like Silver", both released in 1975—before Richard Thompson decided to leave the music business. The couple moved to a Sufi community in East Anglia.  It was not apparent from their records at first, but the Thompsons had embraced an esoteric Sufi strand of Islam in early 1974. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" was recorded before this conversion, but released some time afterwards. The songs for the second Richard and Linda album, "Hokey Pokey", were similarly written some time ahead of the album's recording and eventual release. It was "Pour Down Like Silver", with its cover photo of a turbaned Richard Thompson, that tipped the public off to the Thompsons' growing preoccupation with their faith.  The trilogy of albums released before and after his sojourn in the commune was heavily influenced by Thompson's beliefs and by Sufi scripture, but in the long run his religious beliefs have not influenced his work in an obvious manner. The outlook expressed in his songs, his musical style, the subjects addressed by his lyrics have not shown any fundamental change. He remains a committed Muslim.  Thompson started to re-engage with the world of professional music in 1977. He played on an album by Sandy Denny, and had undertaken a short tour and started recording with a group of musicians who were also Sufis. Thompson asked Joe Boyd to produce these sessions, and two days were spent on the initial recordings. Boyd recalls that the sessions were not a success: "It was really, I felt, very poor. I didn't have much confidence in the musicians that he was working with. The atmosphere was very strange and it just didn't seem to work."  At about this time the Thompsons and their family moved out of the commune and back to their old home in Hampstead. Boyd had already invited Richard Thompson to play on Julie Covington's debut album. With spare studio time and the American session musicians hired to work on the Covington album available, the Thompsons went back into the studio to record under their own name for the first time in three years.  The resulting album, "First Light", was warmly received by critics but did not sell particularly well. Neither did its follow up, 1979's harder-edged and more cynical "Sunnyvista". Chrysalis Records did not take up their option to renew the contract, and the Thompsons found themselves without one.

1980s.

Gerry Rafferty had booked the Thompsons as the support act for his 1980 tour, and had also used Richard as a session player on his "Night Owl" album. Rafferty offered to finance the recording of a new Richard and Linda Thompson album which he would then use to secure a contract for the Thompsons. Richard Thompson fell out with Rafferty during this project and was not happy with the finished product. Nevertheless, Rafferty kept his side of the bargain and presented the album to several record companies – none of which expressed interest in signing the Thompsons. Rafferty did not recover his investment.  About a year later Joe Boyd signed the Thompsons to his small Hannibal label and a new album was recorded. "Shoot Out the Lights" included new recordings of many of the songs recorded in 1980. Linda Thompson was pregnant at the time of the recording, so the album's release was delayed until they could tour behind the album. Breathing problems arising from her pregnancy also meant that Linda could not sing the lead part on some of these songs as she had done on demo tapes and the Rafferty-produced recordings.  As an interim measure, Richard Thompson agreed to a short (5-day), low-key solo tour of the U.S. This tour was set up by Nancy Covey, then concert director for McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Covey, who had been in the UK in 1981 trying to sign Thompson to play at McCabe's, arranged for Thompson well-received 5 and 6 December shows. It was during this tour that Thompson and Covey developed an intimate relationship, and during that month, Richard and Linda Thompson separated.  Upon its release in 1982, "Shoot Out the Lights" was lauded by critics and sold quite well – especially in the U.S.  The Thompsons, now a couple for professional purposes only, toured the United States in support of the album, their only American tour together. Both the album and their live shows were well received by the American media, and "Shoot Out the Lights" effectively relaunched their career – just as their marriage was falling apart. The performances, with a backing band including both Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention, were seen as strong, but the tension between Richard and Linda was all too obvious. For this reason, the Thompsons' fans often refer to the "Shoot Out the Lights" tour as "The Tour from Hell". Upon returning home, Richard and Linda went their separate ways.  Richard Thompson continued recording as a solo artist. His 1983 album "Hand of Kindness" saw him working with Boyd again, but with a revised backing band and a more extroverted and up-tempo song selection.  With his separation from Linda finalized, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and to tour regularly in the USA. Encouraged by the success of his solo shows in late 1981 and early 1982, he began to perform solo with increasing frequency and continued to tour with a band. In 1983 and 1984 he toured the US and Europe with the Richard Thompson Big Band, which included two saxophone players in addition to the more usual rhythm section, second guitar and accordion. Set lists included covers of classic rock 'n roll songs and jazz standards such as "Tuxedo Junction".  In 1985 Thompson signed with PolyGram and received a sizeable advance. He and Nancy Covey married at an alcohol-free wedding that included a who's who of roots-music performers who Covey knew well from McCabe's and the Los Angeles music scene, and had introduced to Thompson. After their wedding, Thompson moved his home and working base to California. As part of the settlement that allowed Thompson to leave Boyd's Hannibal label for Polygram, the live album "Small Town Romance" was released. This comprised recordings made during Thompson's solo shows in the US in late 1981 and early 1982.  1985's "Across a Crowded Room" was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to have Boyd as producer. Thompson put together a new look backing band for the tour to promote this album, and some shows were filmed for a live video release (see Richard Thompson discography).  In 1986 he released "Daring Adventures", which was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Mitchell Froom. "Daring Adventures", with a rich sound, markedly different production and use of American session players, was perceived by some as evidence of Thompson's increasing "Americanisation". Perhaps more significantly, the album continued the trend, begun with "Across A Crowded Room," of Thompson's songs moving away from the seemingly personal material and towards the character sketches and narratives for which he has since become famous. Froom and PolyGram had plans to target college and the growing "alternative" markets with "Daring Adventures". Sales improved, but not substantially. Polygram declined an option to renew the contract. Thompson's management negotiated a new deal with Capitol Records.  In 1985 Fairport Convention reformed and recorded the album "Gladys' Leap". Thompson did not rejoin Fairport, but he did contribute a song to the project and played guitar on another track on the album.  1988 saw the release of Thompson's first album for Capitol, "Amnesia". Froom was retained as producer, and once again the album was recorded in Los Angeles with many of the same players that Froom had called upon for the "Daring Adventures" sessions.

1990s.

Thompson contributed music to BBC Northwest's documentary "Hard Cash" and appears on the eponymous accompanying album issued by Topic. A track from the album, "Time To Ring Some Changes" is included in the 2009 Topic Records 70-year anniversary boxed set "Three Score and Ten" as track thirteen on the sixth CD.  Thompson appears on Willie Nile's 1991 "Places I Have Never Been" album.  In 1991 Thompson recorded "Rumor and Sigh", his second album for Capitol. Once again Froom produced. This album, particularly the acoustic guitar ballad "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," was hailed by critics and fans alike and greatly advanced Thompson's reputation as a leading traditional-style guitarist.  "Rumor and Sigh" was nominated for a Grammy and sold well. However, a shake-up at Capitol saw Hale Milgrim (Thompson's champion and fan within the boardroom) replaced by Garry Gersh. Thus, Thompson's next album "Mirror Blue" was held back for almost a year before being released.  Thompson was awarded the Orville H. Gibson Award for best acoustic guitar player in 1997.  In 1992 he performed with David Byrne. Their joint acoustic concert at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights, New York on 24 March, produced the album "An Acoustic Evening", which was released the same year.  "Mirror Blue" was released in 1994, to often negative reviews sparked by the production decisions that Thompson and Froom took. Thompson took to the road to promote the album. He was joined by drummer Dave Mattacks, Danny Thompson (no relation) on double bass, and Pete Zorn on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, mandolin and various wind instruments. This line-up toured with Thompson the following two years.  Thompson continued recording for Capitol until 1999, when "Mock Tudor" was recorded and released. His deal with Capitol was modified so that he could release and directly market limited-quantity, live recorded, not-for-retail albums. The first of these was "Live at Crawley", released in 1995.

2000s.

In 2001 Thompson declined the option to renew his contract with Capitol.  Thompson appeared on his ex-wife Linda's studio album "Fashionably Late" on the song "Dear Mary". It was the first time the two had recorded together since "Shoot Out the Lights".  In 2003 the BBC produced a documentary about Thompson's long musical career, entitled "Solitary Life", directed by Paul Bernays and narrated by John Peel. It featured interviews with Thompson from his home in California and contributions from Billy Connolly, Bonnie Raitt, ex-wife Linda Thompson, Harry Shearer and Thompson's then wife Nancy Covey. The programme was re-broadcast by BBC Four in September 2012.  The move away from big labels and big budgets paradoxically brought a bigger marketing push and healthier sales. Thompson's first two self-funded releases, 2003's "The Old Kit Bag" and 2005's "Front Parlour Ballads", did well in the indie charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In May 2007 Thompson released "Sweet Warrior". The album was licensed to different labels in different territories: Shout! Factory in the US, P-Vine in Japan, Planet Records in Australia, and Proper Records in the UK and Europe. In August of the same year Island released a live Richard and Linda Thompson album, compiled from recordings made during the November 1975 tour to promote the "Pour Down Like Silver" album.  Thompson continued releasing "official bootlegs" on his boutique label as an additional source of revenue – all live recordings.

2010s.

In early 2010 Thompson assembled a band and did a string of shows showcasing new material. The aim was to record the new material in a live setting. The recording and touring band consisted of Thompson, Pete Zorn, (acoustic guitar, flute, saxophone, mandolin, vocals); Michael Jerome (drums, vocals), Taras Prodaniuk, (bass guitar, vocals); and Joel Zifkin, (electric violin, mandolin, vocals). The resulting album "Dream Attic", released in August the same year, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.  On 10 June 2010 Thompson was awarded the "Mojo" Les Paul Award for "Guitar Legend".  Thompson curated the 2010 Meltdown Festival. The festival included a tribute to the recently deceased Kate McGarrigle, a feature of which was a rare on-stage reunion of Richard and Linda Thompson.  Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music. On 5 July 2011, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Aberdeen.  In early 2013 Thompson released "Electric", recorded in Nashville with Buddy Miller producing. The record enjoyed good reviews and debuted in the UK top 20. Thompson took to the road with a stripped down "power trio" band on a multi-month tour on both sides of the Atlantic to promote the new album.  Also in 2013, Thompson appeared on his ex-wife Linda's fourth studio album "Won't Be Long Now", on the track "Love's for Babies and Fools". It was the second time the two have recorded together since "Shoot Out the Lights".  In 2014, Thompson released "Acoustic Classics," an album featuring acoustic renditions of 14 songs from his back catalogue, on his Beeswing label. The record reached number 16 on the UK Albums Chart.  Thompson appears alongside family members, both blood related and by marriage, on the album "Family" (2014) by Thompson (the band being named for all the Thompsons that appear), performing two songs solo and contributing to others as well. The album was produced by son Teddy Thompson and features ex-wife Linda Thompson, The Rails who are Thompson's daughter Kami Thompson and her husband James Walbourne, as well as other related musicians, including Walbourne's brother and Richard Thompson's son from his second marriage. Thompson released "Still" in June 2015, an album produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and recorded in Tweedy's The Loft Studio. The album reached number 10 in the UK Album chart, his first album to reach the UK top 10. In September 2015 he appeared on BBC Two's "Later... with Jools Holland", where he performed "All Buttoned Up" and ""She Never Could Resist a Winding Road" from his album "Still". This was followed, in 2017, by a second acoustic album "Acoustic Classics II" which reached number 24 on the UK Albums Chart. and "Acoustic Rarities", an album of new recordings of some of the more obscure songs in the Thompson catalogue, some previously existing only as cover versions.  Thompson's eighteenth studio album, "13 Rivers" was released on 14 September 2018. Thompson produced the record himself at Boulevard Recording in Los Angeles.  On 30 September 2019 Thompson played at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate his 70th birthday.

Side projects and collaborations.

In between leaving Fairport Convention in early 1971 and releasing his debut solo album in 1972 he undertook a large amount of session work, most notably on albums by John Martyn, Al Stewart, Matthews Southern Comfort, Sandy Denny, Mike Heron and Nick Drake.  During the same period he also worked on two collaborative projects. "Morris On" was recorded with Ashley Hutchings, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Mattacks and Barry Dransfield, and was a collection of English traditional tunes arranged for electric instruments. "The Bunch" were almost the reverse conceptually – a grouping of English folk rock musicians (including Sandy Denny, Linda Peters and members of Fairport Convention) recording a selection of classic rock and roll tunes.  Thompson has continued to guest on albums by an array of artists, from Crowded House, Bonnie Raitt and Vivian Stanshall, to Norma Waterson and BeauSoleil and folk artists like Loudon Wainwright III, Cathal McConnell (of The Boys of the Lough) and Bob Davenport. He has also performed and recorded with Teddy Thompson, his son from his marriage to Linda Thompson. Since the early 1980s Thompson has appeared at Fairport Convention's annual Cropredy Festival, both in his own right and as a participant in sets with current and previous Fairport members. These sets are seldom confined to performances of songs out of the Thompson or Fairport Convention canons, and in recent years some surprise offerings have included the soul classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (with Thompson backed by the Roy Wood Big Band), The Beatles' "I'm Down" and even "The Lady Is a Tramp".  Thompson has displayed a penchant for the avant garde as well, working with former Pere Ubu singer David Thomas's grouping The Pedestrians on two albums in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In the 1980s, he was associated with a loose-fitting group called The Golden Palominos, who were led by drummer Anton Fier and included at times on stage and on record Jack Bruce, Michael Stipe, Carla Bley, John Lydon, Bill Laswell and others. He has worked with experimental guitarist Henry Kaiser, most notably as part of the ad hoc grouping French Frith Kaiser Thompson with whom he recorded two albums. In 1997 he worked with long-time friend and band member Danny Thompson to record a concept album "Industry" that dealt with the decline of British industry. A year later he worked with early music expert Philip Pickett on the acclaimed "Bones of All Men" which fused renaissance tunes with contemporary music.  For several years Thompson devised and toured his show "1000 Years of Popular Music". The inspiration for this came when "Playboy" asked Thompson (and many other music industry figures) in 1999 for their suggestions for the "top ten songs of the millennium". Guessing that "Playboy" expected most people's lists to start at around 1950, Thompson took the magazine at its word and presented a list of songs from the 11th century to the present day. Perhaps not surprisingly, "Playboy" did not use his list, but the exercise gave him the idea for a show which takes a chronological trip through popular music across the ages. Thompson acknowledges that this is an ambitious undertaking, partly because he reckons that he is technically unqualified to sing 98% of the material, and partly because of the sparse musical setting he restricts himself to: besides his acoustic guitar, he's backed by singer/pianist Judith Owen and percussionist/singer Debra Dobkin. A typical performance would start with a medieval round, progress via a Purcell aria, Victorian music hall and Hoagy Carmichael and end with Thompson's take on the Britney Spears hit "Oops!... I Did It Again".  In 2004 Thompson was asked to create the soundtrack music for the Werner Herzog documentary "Grizzly Man". The score, which was recorded over a two-day period in December 2004, brought Thompson together with a group of improvisational musicians, mostly from the San Francisco Bay area; video footage from the sessions was edited into a mini-documentary, "In the Edges," which was included with the DVD release of "Grizzly Man".  In 2009 Thompson was commissioned to write a piece for the International Society of Bassists in honour of Danny Thompson. The resulting Cabaret of Souls, a musical play set in the underworld, has been performed in State College (Pennsylvania), London, and Los Angeles with a cast that includes Harry Shearer, Judith Owen, Debra Dobkin, Pete Zorn, either Danny Thompson or David Piltch, and a 12-piece string section conducted by Peter Askim. This suite was eventually commercially released in late 2012.  In 2006 and 2013, Thompson recorded Hugh S. Roberton's "Mingulay Boat Song" and the traditional "General Taylor" for the sea shanty-compilations "" and "".  In July 2019 New West Records released a soundtrack album for the documentary "The Cold Blue", featuring the film's original score composed by Thompson. The film, directed by Erik Nelson, tells the story of the Eighth Air Force which flew multiple deadly missions during World War II and features newly restored 4K footage and outtakes, shot by director William Wyler, during the summer of 1943 for his 1944 documentary "".

Retrospectives and tributes.

There are a number of retrospective collections of Thompson's work, many containing material which is unavailable elsewhere. 1976's "(guitar, vocal)" was a collection of unreleased material from the previous eight years of Thompson's appearances on the Island label. The 3-CD set "Watching the Dark" combines his better-known songs and previously unreleased live and studio tracks. "Action Packed" is a compilation of tracks from his Capitol releases, plus three hard-to-find songs. Finally, in 2006, the independent label Free Reed released "RT- The Life and Music of Richard Thompson", a 5-CD box set consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased performances of songs from throughout Thompson's long career.  Thompson's songs have been extensively covered; for example, Dimming of the Day has been performed by artists such as The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, David Gilmour, The Blind Boys of Alabama, June Tabor, The Corrs and Alison Krauss and Union Station. There have been several tribute compilations of other artists' interpretations of his work, including: Capitol's "" and Green Linnet's "", both released in 1994.

Playing style.

Thompson makes use of the "pick and fingers" technique (sometimes referred to as "hybrid picking") where he plays bass notes and rhythm with a pick between his first finger and thumb, and adds melody and punctuation by plucking the treble strings with his fingers. He also makes use of different guitar tunings, such as (low to high) CGDGBE, DADGBE, DADGAD, and more. This enables him to adapt traditional songs, as on "Strict Tempo!" and "1000 Years of Popular Music". Thompson occasionally makes use of a thumb-pick, playing in fingerstyle, the most notable example being on the motorcycle ballad "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."

Guitars.

Electric.

Thompson is often associated with the Fender Stratocaster guitar. He has made prominent use of Stratocasters, as he has a general preference for the sound of single coil pick-ups.  Prior to using a Stratocaster with Fairport Convention he used a Gibson Les Paul with P-90 pick-ups. he then switched to a late 60s Stratocaster. Since leaving Fairport Convention he has continued to use electric guitars with single coil pick-ups, most famously a late-1950s Stratocaster but also two custom built electrics by Danny Ferrington as well as other Stratocasters, various Telecaster-type guitars and, in the studio, a Danelectro U2.  As regards effects, he has made significant use of modulation and vibrato type effects pedals, most notably the Univibe and emulations thereof.  Thompson has made intermittent use of Roland's GK-1 pick-up and GL-2 synthesiser over the years. He made use of these devices on 1979's "Sunnyvista" album and has occasionally used them in concert.

Acoustic.

Since the early 1990s Thompson has made prominent use of Lowden acoustic guitars for studio and live work; Lowden have made a signature model for him. Before this he used a Martin 000-18 as well as instruments built by Danny Ferrington.  For live work his acoustic guitars are fitted with a Sunrise pick-up and an internal condenser microphone. The output from the pick-up is usually fed into some effects pedals, typically a delay pedal and a Uni-Vibe.

References.

Bibliography

Richard Thompson (born 3 April 1949) is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Thompson first gained prominence in the late 1960s as the lead guitarist and songwriter for the folk rock group Fairport Convention, which he had co-founded in 1967. After departing the group in 1971, Thompson released his debut solo album "Henry the Human Fly" in 1972. The next year, he formed a duo with his then-wife Linda Thompson, which produced six albums, including the critically acclaimed "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" (1974) and "Shoot Out the Lights" (1982). After the dissolution of the duo, Thompson revived his solo career with the release of "Hand of Kindness" in 1983. He has released a total of eighteen solo studio albums. Three of his albums – "Rumor and Sigh" (1991), "You? Me? Us?" (1996), and "Dream Attic" (2010) – have been nominated for Grammy Awards, while "Still" (2015) was his first UK Top Ten album. He continues to write and record new material regularly and frequently performs live at venues throughout the world.

Richard Thompson, né le 3 avril 1949 à Notting Hill, est un auteur-compositeur-interprète et guitariste de folk et de folk rock, de nationalité britannique.


Radiation pattern.

The whip antenna is a monopole antenna, and like a vertical dipole has an omnidirectional radiation pattern, radiating equal radio power in all azimuthal directions (perpendicular to the antenna's axis), with the radiated power falling off with elevation angle to zero on the antenna's axis. Whip antennas less than one-half wavelength long, including the common quarter wave whip, have a single main lobe, and with a perfectly conducting ground plane under it maximum field strength is in horizontal directions, falling monotonically to zero on the axis. With a small or imperfectly conducting ground plane or no ground plane under it, the general result is to tilt the main lobe up so maximum power is no longer radiated horizontally but at an angle into the sky.  Antennas longer than a half-wavelength have patterns consisting of several conical "lobes"; with radiation maxima at several elevation angles; the longer the electrical length of the antenna, the more lobes the pattern has.  Vertical whip antennas are widely used for nondirectional radio communication on the surface of the Earth, where the direction to the transmitter (or the receiver) is unknown or constantly changing, for example in portable FM radio receivers, walkie-talkies, and two-way radios in vehicles. This is because they transmit (or receive) equally well in all horizontal directions, while radiating little radio energy up into the sky where it is wasted.

Length.

Whip antennas are normally designed as resonant antennas; the rod acts as a resonator for radio waves, with standing waves of voltage and current reflected back and forth from its ends. Therefore, the length of the antenna rod is determined by the wavelength of the radio waves used. The most common length is approximately one-quarter of the wavelength, called a "quarter-wave whip" (although often shortened by the use of a loading coil; see Electrically short whips below). For example, the common quarter-wave whip antennas used on FM radios in the USA are approximately 75 cm long, which is roughly one-quarter the length of radio waves in the FM radio band, which are 2.78 to 3.41 meters long. Half-wave antennas are also common.

Gain and radiation resistance.

A quarter wave vertical antenna working against a perfect infinite ground will have a gain of 5.19 dBi and a radiation resistance of about 36.8 ohms. Whips mounted on vehicles use the metal skin of the vehicle as a ground plane. In hand-held devices usually no explicit ground plane is provided, and the ground side of the antenna's feed line is just connected to the ground on the device's circuit board. Therefore, the radio itself, and possibly the user's hand, serves as a rudimentary ground plane. Since these are no larger than the size of the antenna itself, the combination of whip and radio often functions more as an asymmetrical dipole antenna than as a monopole antenna. The gain will suffer somewhat compared to a half wave metallic dipole or a whip with a well defined ground plane.

Ground plane antenna.

In a whip antenna not mounted on a conductive surface, such as one mounted on a mast, the lack of reflected radio waves from the ground plane causes the lobe of the radiation pattern to be tilted up toward the sky so less power is radiated in horizontal directions, undesireable for terrestrial communication. Also the unbalanced impedance of the monopole element causes RF currents in the supporting mast and on the outside of the ground shield conductor of the coaxial feedline. To prevent this, with stationary whips mounted on structures, an artificial "ground plane" consisting of three or four rods a quarter-wavelength long connected to the opposite side of the feedline, extending horizontally from the base of the whip, is often used. This is called a "ground plane antenna". These few short wire elements serve to receive the displacement current from the driven element and return it to the ground conductor of the transmission line, making the antenna behave as if it has a continuous conducting plane under it. Often "(see pictures)" the ground plane rods are sloped downward, to lower the main lobe of the radiation pattern closer to horizontal and increase the normal 36.8 ohm radiation resistance closer to 50 ohms to provide a better impedance match with standard 50 ohm coaxial cable feedline.

Electrically short whips.

To reduce the length of a whip antenna to make it less cumbersome, an inductor (loading coil) is often added in series with it. This allows the antenna to be made much shorter than the normal length of a quarter-wavelength, and still be resonant, by cancelling out the capacitive reactance of the short antenna. The coil is added at the base of the whip (called a base-loaded whip) or occasionally in the middle (center-loaded whip). In the most widely used form, the rubber ducky antenna, the loading coil is integrated with the antenna itself by making the whip out of a narrow helix of springy wire. The helix distributes the inductance along the antenna's length, improving the radiation pattern, and also makes it more flexible. Another alternative occasionally used to shorten the antenna is to add a "capacity hat", a metal screen or radiating wires, at the end. However all these electrically short whips have lower gain than a full length quarter-wave whip.  Multi-band operation is possible with coils at about one-half or one-third and two-thirds that do not affect the aerial much at the lowest band, but it creates the effect of stacked dipoles at a higher band (usually ×2 or ×3 frequency).  At higher frequencies (2.4 GHz, but military whips for 50 MHz to 80 MHz band exist, and are standard issue for the SINCGARS radio in the 30–88 MHz range), the feed coax can go up the centre of a tube. The insulated junction of the tube and whip is fed from the coax and the lower tube end where coax cable enters has an insulated mount. This kind of vertical whip is a full dipole and thus needs no ground plane. It generally works better several wavelengths above ground, hence the limitation normally to microwave bands.

Vehicle antenna damages.

Whip antennas on vehicles can be damaged by automatic car wash equipment, especially those that use spinning brushes to abrasively rub dirt off the exterior of the vehicle body. Because the brushes must make contact with the vehicle surface, they can bend or completely break off whip antennas. These antennas are generally recommended to be removed or retracted so that the brushes do not make contact, or the vehicle owner should only use a "touchless" spray jet automatic car wash.

A whip antenna is an antenna consisting of a straight flexible wire or rod. The bottom end of the whip is connected to the radio receiver or transmitter. The antenna is designed to be flexible so that it does not break easily, and the name is derived from the whip-like motion that it exhibits when disturbed. Whip antennas for portable radios are often made of a series of interlocking telescoping metal tubes, so they can be retracted when not in use. Longer ones, made for mounting on vehicles and structures, are made of a flexible fiberglass rod around a wire core and can be up to 35 ft (10 m) long. The length of the whip antenna is determined by the wavelength of the radio waves it is used with. The most common type is the "quarter-wave whip", which is approximately one-quarter of a wavelength long. Whips are the most common type of monopole antenna, and are used in the higher frequency HF, VHF and UHF radio bands. They are widely used as the antennas for hand-held radios, cordless phones, walkie-talkies, FM radios, boom boxes, and Wi-Fi enabled devices, and are attached to vehicles as the antennas for car radios and two-way radios for wheeled vehicles and for aircraft. Larger versions mounted on roofs, balconies and radio masts are used as base station antennas for amateur radio and police, fire, ambulance, taxi, and other vehicle dispatchers.

L'antenne fouet est constituée d'un brin accordé rayonnant flexible, le plus souvent placé verticalement pour la réception classique ou à l'émission amateur et professionnelle dans le spectre allant jusqu'à. Se composant d'une embase horizontale, parfois magnétique, elle est largement utilisée en C-B () mobile et autres radio-téléphones. Sa longueur équivaut souvent au quart, voire au demi d'une longueur d'onde entière. Pour les longueurs d'onde les plus importantes, comme pour la CB (11 m), elle peut être raccourcie par un complément de bobinage.


Names.

In Serbian, the city is known as "Smederevo" (Смедерево), in Latin, Italian, Romanian and Greek as "Semendria", in Hungarian as "Szendrő" or "Vég-Szendrő", in Turkish as "Semendire".  The name of Smederevo was first recorded in the Charter of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II from 1019, in the part related to the Eparchy of Braničevo (a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Ochrid. Another written record is found in the Charter of Duke Lazar of Serbia from 1381, by which he bestowed the Monastery of Ravanica and villages and properties ’to the Great Bogosav with the commune and heritage’’. The Latin-Italian name also occurs in Belogradum et Semendria and Belgrado e Semendria, two of the short-lived 20th-century synonyms of the Latin titular bishopric of Belgrade, which was suppressed in 1948 in favor of the residential Latin Archdiocese of Belgrade (Beograd) and 'newly' established titular bishopric of Alba marittima.

Coat of arms.

Smederevo Coat of Arms uses two shades of blue, which deviates from the heraldic principles (only one shade of every color, contrasting those). Also, the bar with the year 1430 is placed over the shield. Emblem elements are six white discs arranged 3 + 2 + 1, which represents grapes, Smederevo fortress, dark blue and white horizontal lines (representing the Danube).

History.

Early.

In the 7th millennium BC, the Starčevo culture existed for a millennia, succeeded by the 6th millennium BC Vinča culture that prospered in the region. The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Dacians and Thracians emerged in the area in the 2nd millennia BC, with the Celtic Scordisci raiding the Balkans in the 3rd century B.C.  The Roman Empire conquered "Vinceia" in the 1st century BC. It was organized into Moesia, later Moesia Superior, and in the administrative reforms of Diocletian (244–311) it was part of the Diocese of Moesia, then the Diocese of Dacia. It was a principal town of Moesia Superior, near the confluence of "Margus" and "Brongus" rivers.

Middle Ages.

The modern founder of the city was the Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković in the 15th century, who built Smederevo Fortress in 1430 as the new Serbian capital. Smederevo was the residence of the Branković house and the capital of the Serbian Despotate from 1430 until 1439, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire after a siege lasting two months.

Sanjak of Smederevo.

In 1444, in accordance with the terms of the Peace of Szeged between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire the Sultan returned Smederevo to Đurađ Branković, who was allied to John Hunyadi. On 22 August 1444 the Serb prince peacefully took possession of the evacuated town. When Hunyadi broke the peace treaty, Đurađ Branković remained neutral. Serbia became a battleground between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottomans, and the angry Branković captured Hunyadi after his defeat at the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448. Hunyadi was imprisoned in Smederevo fortress for a short time. In 1454 Sultan Mehmed II besieged Smederevo and devastated Serbia. The town was liberated by Hunyadi. In 1459 Smederevo was again captured by the Ottomans after the death of Branković. The town became a Turkish border-fortress, and played an important part in Ottoman–Hungarian Wars until 1526. Due to its strategic location, Smederevo was gradually rebuilt and enlarged. For a long period, the town was the capital of the Sanjak of Smederevo.  In autumn 1476, a joint army of Hungarians and Serbs tried to capture the fortress from the Ottomans. They built three wooden counter-fortresses, but after months of siege Sultan Mehmed II himself came to drive them away. After fierce fighting the Hungarians agreed to withdraw. In 1494 Pál Kinizsi tried to capture Smederevo from the Ottomans but he was stricken with palsy and died. In 1512 John Zápolya unsuccessfully laid siege to the town.

Modern.

During the First Serbian Uprising in 1806, the city became the temporary capital of Serbia, as well as the seat of the "Praviteljstvujušči sovjet", a government headed by Dositej Obradović. The first basic school was founded in 1806. During World War II, the city was occupied by German forces, who stored ammunition in the fortress. On 5 June 1941, a catastrophic explosion severely damaged the fortress, killing nearly 2,000 residents.  After World War II, Smederevo became an industrial and cultural center of Podunavlje district. Under the overall industrial development of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the city received a boost in infrastructure. Due to the ideal geographical position of Smederevo, socialist government supported building of roads, apartment buildings and tens of factories.  Some of the most notable factories built and renewed in period between 1950s until the end of 1980s were Zelvoz (Heroj Srba during the period of SFRJ), renewed in 1966. and a new steel plant built on outskirts of Smederevo at that time, Sartid (MKS during the period of SFRJ) which was completely operational in 1971.

Settlements.

Aside the city of Smederevo, the administrative area includes the following 27 settlements (number of population according to 2011 census in brackets):

Economy.

Smederevo has a recent history of heavy industry and manufacturing, which is a result of active and aggressive industrialization of the region conducted by Tito's regime during the 1950s-1960s era. Previously, this entire geographical region had a heavy focus on agricultural production.  The city is home to the only operating steel mill in the country - Železara Smederevo, previously known as Sartid, which is situated in the suburb of Radinac. This was privatized and sold to U.S. Steel in 2003 for $33 million. Following the global economic crisis, U.S. Steel sold the plant to the government of Serbia for a symbolic $1 to avoid closing the plant. The plant was renamed Železara Smederevo and at the time employed 5,400 workers. In 2016, the Serbian government managed to strike a deal with a Chinese conglomerate Hesteel Group, which purchased the effective assets for $46 million.  The "Milan Blagojević" home appliance factory is the second largest industry company in the city. Smederevo is also an agricultural area, with significant production of fruit and vines. However, the large agricultural combine "Godomin" has been in financial difficulty since the 1990s and is almost defunct. The grape variety known as Smederevka is named after the city. The "Ishrana" factory is an important supplier of bakery products in northern and eastern Serbia.  A U.S.-Dutch consortium, Comico Oil, planned to build a $250 million oil refinery in the industrial zone of the city in 2012. However, the consortium lost its permit to build the refinery after it failed to meet payment deadlines for the land lease a year later.  As of September 2017, Smederevo has one of 14 free economic zones established in Serbia.  The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):

Transportation.

The river traffic infrastructure of the city of Smederevo consists of Danube waterway, old port, marina, new port, terminal for liquid Naftna Industrija Srbije loads, as well as smaller piers (gravel pits) which are located along the bank in the industrial zone. The port is registered for international traffic and is located in the very center of the city of Smederevo.  It has reloading capacities which can realize 1.5 million freight tons a year. By 2019, the Government of Serbia invested 9.5 million euros for new railway construction built for the needs of Port of Smederevo. It was also announced that starting in 2020, the Government of Serbia plans to invest 93 million euros for the construction of new Port Terminal.

Tourism.

Among the main tourist attractions in the city are the Smederevo Fortress and the Obrenović Villa.  There is an old white mulberry tree in the center of Smederevo. Called "Karađorđev dud" ("Karađorđe's mulberry"), it is estimated to be over 300 years old. Though there are no historical sources to specifically confirm that, it is believed that under this tree dizdar Muharem Guša, Ottoman commander of the fortress, handed over the keys to the city to Karađorđe on 8 November 1805, after the city was liberated during the First Serbian Uprising. In May 2018 the tree was declared a natural monument of the III category, as the first "living" monument in Smederevo. The three is supported by metallic pipes, but there is an initiative that two sculptures, shaped like a male and female hand, should be installed instead.

Demographics.

In the 2011 census, there was 108,209 residents in the city administrative area, of which 101,908 were Serbs and 2,369 were Romani.

Population change.

The historical population for the current area of Smederevo, divided into urban and other is as follows:

Ethnicity.

The ethnicity by respondent in the 2011 census in Smederevo is shown below:

Twin towns.

Smederevo is twinned with:

Smederevo (, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to the 2011 census, the city has a population of 64,105, with 108,209 people living in its administrative area.

Smederevo (en serbe cyrillique : ; en roumain : ; en hongrois : ou ; en turc ; en allemand ou ) est une ville de Serbie située dans le district de Podunavlje. Au recensement de 2011, la ville "intra muros" comptait habitants et son territoire métropolitain, appelé Ville de Smederevo ( et ),.