History.

2011–2013: "Oshin".

After a few years playing guitar with the psych-rock band Soft Black and playing drums for Beach Fossils, Zachary Cole Smith formed DIIV in 2011 as a forum for his own songs. He enlisted childhood friend Andrew Bailey (like Smith, from Connecticut) on guitar, bassist Devin Ruben Perez (from New York City), and ex-Smith Westerns drummer Colby Hewitt (from California) as his live band. Smith, who originally named the project "Dive" after the Nirvana song of the same name, explained to "Pitchfork" that "everybody in the band is a water sign, that's kind of why the name Dive really spoke to us all." Smith would eventually change the spelling of the band's name after learning of the early-'90s Belgian industrial act by that name.  Captured Tracks signed the band and released two singles, "Sometime" and "Human", which were recorded solely by Smith and had acted as demos. In May 2012, the band changed their name to DIIV, according to Smith, "out of respect for Dirk Ivens and the original Dive," a 1990s Belgian industrial group. "We’ve not been contacted by Dirk Ivens or his lawyers," Smith said in a press release, "but the short of it is that I don’t really give a fuck what the band is called." He continued, "I originated this project in a bedroom with no internet and didn’t know if it would ever leave the bedroom. 'DIVE', the word, was an element of what inspired the project in its genesis, but we’ve outgrown the name and its associations. The band is the same, the music is the same, the future will always be the same. A name is nothing."  DIIV's debut album, "Oshin", was released on June 26, 2012. It was preceded by the single "Geist" in April 2012 and the music video for "How Long Have You Known" in May 2012. The songs on "Oshin" were influenced by krautrock, "C86" bands, Nirvana and world music. "People didn’t seem to pick up on the influence of these Malian guitar players, especially Baba Salah whose record I got at the library," Smith said. "He's a huge star in Mali, but he has this one record called "Borey" and it was huge for me and influenced the way I experimented with melody."  DIIV supported English band The Vaccines on their UK tour during November 2012. DIIV also supported the Canadian duo Japandroids on their East Coast US tour in November–December 2012.  On lists of the top 50 albums of 2012, "Oshin" was listed 22nd by "Stereogum" and 40th by "Pitchfork".  In July 2013, multi-instrumentalist Colin Caulfield joined the band. Caulfield played keyboard and guitar for live shows, until late 2017, when he replaced Devin Ruben Perez on bass guitar.

2014–2017: "Is the Is Are".

While touring in support of "Oshin", DIIV played several unreleased songs live, including "Dust", "Loose Ends", and "Under the Sun". As of July 2014, Smith had written over 150 new songs since the release of "Oshin".  On March 9, 2015, DIIV began recording their second album, "Is the Is Are", at Strange Weather Recording Studio in Brooklyn.  Drummer Colby Hewitt left the band in spring 2015 due to his rumored drug addiction. Ben Newman, (from North Carolina, formerly of Banda Suki) who played on several "Oshin" tracks including "Doused" (credited as Ben Wolf) was added as the group's drummer in April 2015, and played on the bulk of "Is the Is Are".  On September 16, 2015, DIIV released the first single from "Is the Is Are", "Dopamine". They shared a second song from the album, "Bent (Roi's Song)", on November 4, 2015, followed by "Mire (Grant's Song)" on November 25. "Under the Sun" was released as a single on December 13.  "Is the Is Are" was released on February 5, 2016. The album debuted at number 81 on the US "Billboard" 200. The release was followed by a February tour in Australia as part of St Jerome's Laneway Festival. However, just two days prior to the release, on February 3, Smith announced he was checking in for "long-haul" inpatient treatment. On March 26, 2016, the Liverpool venue Arts Club, which DIIV was scheduled to perform at on March 27, announced that the remainder of DIIV's European tour was canceled "due to an urgent health issue", which was later confirmed by DIIV's representatives.  In an interview with "NME" in October 2019, bassist Colin Caulfield commented on this period in the band's career, "It definitely felt like an end point... I had tried really hard to be as supportive as possible for a long time. It was a hands up moment, it was the type of realization Cole had to come to himself. And he did, which is great."  This period also saw the band take part in very occasional interviews with the media, with the band remaining relatively out of the public eye more than ever. Throughout 2016-2018 DIIV released a vast selection of cover songs, with the group performing songs by Elliott Smith, Cat Power, Sparklehorse and (Sandy) Alex G and My Bloody Valentine. Later in 2017, DIIV also parted ways with bassist Devin Ruben Perez after earlier controversy arose from the revelation that Perez had posted anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, and sexist comments on 4chan.

2018–present: "Deceiver".

In the aftermath of Cole’s personal struggles, he "finally accepted what it means to go through treatment and committed," emerging with a renewed focus and perspective. Getting back together with the band in Los Angeles would result in a series of firsts. This would be the first time DIIV wrote and recorded a record as a band with bassist Colin Caulfield bringing in demos, writing alongside Cole, and the entire band contributing to the songwriting process of every song. In an interview, Colin explained the writing process, "Cole and I approached writing vocal melodies the same way the band approached the instrumentals," says Colin. "We threw ideas at the wall for months on end, slowly making sense of everything. It was a constant conversation about the parts we liked best versus which of them served the album best."  DIIV, now a four piece without Devin Ruben Perez, premiered new songs while touring with Deafheaven in the fall of 2018.  Produced primarily by the band themselves along with producer Sonny Diperri (My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails), the album was recorded in Los Angeles in March 2019.  On April 26, 2019, DIIV announced that their upcoming third album would be released this year via their Instagram account. On the same day, "Pitchfork" reported their announcement on the new album, and confirmed through a representative of DIIV, that Devin Ruben Perez had been dismissed from the band at the end of 2017.  On July 24, 2019, DIIV released their first single in over three years, "Skin Game" and announced that their new album, "Deceiver", will be released on October 4, 2019. On August 22, 2019, DIIV released their second single from "Deceiver", titled, "Taker". On September 18, 2019, DIIV released their third single from "Deceiver", entitled, "Blankenship".  Upon release, "Deceiver" reached number 177 on the US Billboard 200 and received critical acclaim as a drastic departure from DIIV's earlier work. Many critics commented on its darker and heavier sound and lyrical themes. In his review for "Q", Dave Everley praised the album, calling it "a success as both an artistic statement and a mea culpa." In a positive review, Jordan Bassett of "NME" wrote, "Where its predecessor was airy and spaced-out, "Deceiver" packs some seriously heavy riffs, sliding between monster rockers and moon-eyed grunge ballads that wouldn't sound too out of place on an early Smashing Pumpkins record."

Discography.

Singles.

Limited singles

DIIV is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 2011. The band consists of Zachary Cole Smith (vocals, guitar), Andrew Bailey (guitar), Colin Caulfield (bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Ben Newman (drums).

DIIV est un groupe de rock indépendant américain, originaire de Brooklyn, à New York. Le groupe compte trois albums sur le label Captured Tracks, " Oshin" en 2012, "Is the Is Are" en 2016 et "Deceiver" en 2019.


History.

Proposals.

Plans for scheduled flights to Ålesund were first articulated in 1919 by a government commission as part of a coastal seaplane route from Stavanger to Trondheim. The first landing in Ålesund took place on 27 May 1920. Thereafter flights were sporadic. The Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service set up a base at Skutvika near the town center in November 1929, which they used to search for herring. They moved the base the following year, establishing Ålesund Airport, Sørneset. Later used both for civilian flights, scheduled services and Luftwaffe operations, the water aerodrome remained in use until 1979.  Work on a land airport around Ålesund started with a public speech held by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen in 1933. In the following excursion, he proposed Moa and Vigra as suitable locations. The former was preferred by the government, who included it in its 1935 plan for primary airports. The Luftwaffe also considered Moa as a suitable location, but instead opted to build Aukra Airport, Gossen. However, that airport was not completed by the end of the Second World War in 1945.  After the war ended Møre og Romsdal County Municipality established a commission to look into the location of a central airport for the county of Møre og Romsdal. They concluded that since Gossen was nearly completed and was more centrally located within the county, it would be a preferred location. In Ålesund there was work with having Vigra chosen. They founded A/S Vigra Flyplass and in 1951 two students made calculations showing that Vigra would be cheaper than Gossen. The latter was selected by Parliament in 1952.

Construction.

The Civil Airport Administration (CAA) issued NOK 3.2 million for the upgrade of Gossen in 1955. However, Vestlandske Luftfartsselskap which was operating the seaplane route along the coast, launched a plan to operate Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer aircraft from a runway at Vigra. The CAA therefore placed Gossen's funding on hold. Ålesund Municipality appointed a commission which demanded that the runway should be, allowing for operation of the de Havilland Heron. They negotiated the purchase of the necessary of land at Vigra and started construction on 9 January 1957. At this point Vigra was planned as a regional airport.  Within a short period the CAA determined that the Twin Pioneer would not be approved and that, following Braathens SAFE Flight 253 that Heron's would not be allowed to fly during winter. The municipality therefore applied in February 1957 that Vigra be given status as a primary airport. Parliament approved this and granted funding for air traffic control and operations. Construction involved building a runway and to taxiway. These were built by Veibygg, Fredrikstad Granittkompani and Korsbrekke og Lorck. The terminal was building measured, of which was a garage, and was built by Bjarne Haugseth. Ålesund Municipality was the owner and developer. Three radio beacons were built.  Ålesund was to be connected both to Oslo Airport, Fornebu, and to a coastal service from Stavanger Airport, Sola via Bergen Airport, Flesland and Ålesund to Trondheim Airport, Værnes. The latter had been operated by Vestlandske Luftfartselskap, but they went bankrupt in 1957. Both Braathens SAFE and SAS applied for the Ålesund concession. Initially the ministry wanted to award the coastal service to Braathens and the Oslo route to SAS. But after negotiations, Braathens SAFE stated they were willing to fly the coastal route without subsidies if they were granted the Oslo-route, allowing them to cross-subsidize the former. This was accepted by the ministry.

Early operation.

The first aircraft to land was a military de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, on 19 May 1958 with supplies for the navigational aids. Braathens landed a Heron on 2 June. The official opening took place on 7 June with 3,000 spectators. Flights were at first flown using the Douglas DC-4. Initially the coastal service and the Oslo service were flown one time per day.  Vigra did not originally have more to a terminal than a waiting hall. Check-in and baggage pick-up was handled at Braathens SAFE's offices at Skateflua in the city center. They were then transported by bus to the airport by Record og Vigra Rutelag (RVR). They also operated a new car ferry services which was established between Ålesund and Valderøy. Møre og Romsdal Fylkesbåtar (MRF) took over the ferry service from 1965.  Ownership of the airport passed to the CAA and the state from September 1959. This coincided with a new taxiway from the runway and the opening of the instrument landing system (ILS). This could only be used on runway 25. The Vigra Transmitter was situated in the way for the other direction. The ILS was installed without an inner marker. The tarmac was extended in 1960 to make way for a general aviation section near the control tower. Due to sinking of the runway it had to be re-asphalted the following year.  Braathens introduced their new Fokker F27 Friendship from 9 January 1959. From the summer program it flew two daily flights to Oslo and from 1961 twice per day on the coastal route. VHF omnidirectional range and distance measuring equipment navigational system were installed in 1963. Ålesund Airport experienced a massive increase in traffic during the 1960s. A third daily departure to Oslo was introduced in August 1963 and on the coastal route from 2 May 1964. The latter was extended to Bodø Airport and Tromsø Airport from 1 April 1967, and upgraded to a fourth daily service. Some Oslo services were provided using a Douglas DC-6. A year later the coastal route increased to five daily trips, which was matched by the Oslo route in 1969. That year also saws the installation of a visual approach slope indicator and the introduction of the Fokker F28 Fellowship in March.  MRF introduced a hovercraft service from Ørsta via Hareid to Ålesund and Vigra, then onwards to Molde and Åndalsnes. The 18-passenger craft sank only days after the service was inaugurated in April 1965. Two more hovercraft were delivered and served the route. Travel times was 50 minutes to Molde, 80 minutes to Åndalsnes, 25 minutes to Hareid and 50 minutes to Ørsta. However, by the time of the fall storms the authorities withdrew the operating certificate due to safety concerns.  In the course of two years the number of airports in Møre og Romsdal increased from one to four, having a dramatical effect on patronage at Vigra. Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget opened on 30 June 1970 after which two of the four daily Oslo services were moved there. Ørsta–Volda Airport, Hovden opened on 1 July 1971, along with three airports in Sogn og Fjordane—Florø, Førde and Sogndal. These were connected to Vigra with Widerøe's de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter services. Molde Airport, Årø opened on 5 April 1972. Braathens introduced its Boeing 737-200 on one of the Oslo services that year.  A new works building opened in 1972, including a new fire station, command center and workshop. The Friendship was pulled out of Vigra from 1976, by which time Braathens was back up to fifteen daily services. The Fellowships had five departures in each direction on the coastal service and the 737s had taken over all the Oslo services. To handle the increased traffic the terminal was slightly expanded with a temporary structure, allowing the airport to handle two simultaneous aircraft.

New terminal and longer runway.

The first inclusive tour charter at Vigra was carried out by Stjernereiser in June 1977, contracting a Sud Aviation Caravelle from Transeuropa to Palma de Mallorca. The short runway meant that the aircraft could not take a full tank of fuel and therefore stopped in Stavanger to refuel. Vigra saw a limited amount of charter, largely since all flight had to have an intermediate landing.  Mørefly, an Ålesund-based air ambulance and helicopter operator, relocated its base from Sørneset to Vigra in 1979. This followed their building of a hangar and office building at the airport. Braathens extended its city offices in 1979 and the following year a new wing was added to the terminal for international arrivals. Baggage could from then be picked up either at the airport or in the city center.  Meanwhile, the traffic increased made it necessary for the airport to receive a new major upgrade. The works building was expanded in 1982, including more garages and office space. A new control tower was taken into use in November 1984. A new terminal was also built for NOK 53 million. It included an upper story with a restaurant.  MRF operated a fast ferry service from Hareid to Vigra from 12 September 1983. The parking was expanded from 60 to 254 places, and from 1986 parking became paid. A private competitor, Vigra Parkering, offered parking from 1985 to 1991, after which the CAA bought the lot. The new terminal also featured car rental from four companies. Although the old terminal was proposed used as an offshore helicopter terminal, it caught fire in 1986 and was demolished the following year. Mørefly introduced the first international scheduled service, to Aberdeen Airport in the United Kingdom, from 14 April 1986. In conjunction with this the airport introduced airport security for select passengers. The Aberdeen route was terminated on 28 March 1987.  The National Air Ambulance Service was established on 1 January 1988. Vigra was selected as the base both for a Beechcraft Super King Air fixed-wing air ambulance and an Aérospatiale SA365N Dauphin 2 rotorcraft. From 1 November 1988 to 31 January 1989 Mørefly operated an Aérospatiale SA332 Super Puma search and rescue helicopter from Vigra, before this was relocated. The Dauphin was relocated to Ålesund Heliport, Hospital when it opened in 1993. Mørefly merged with Lufttransport in 1995.  The Vigra Fixed Link opened between 1987 and 1989. It consists of the long Ellingsøy Tunnel between Ålesund and Ellingsøya, the long Valderøy Tunnel connecting the islands of Ellingsøya and Valderøya, and others. This allowed travelers from Ålesund to reach the airport without a ferry. They remained a toll road until 25 October 2009. RVR and the airport coach service was taken over by Ålesund Bilruter from 1 January 1988.  A precision approach path indicator system was completed in 1991. Three years later an automatic terminal information service was taken into use. The airport had for years been limited by its short runway. The construction of the tunnels spurred a surplus of earthwork, which could be used to reclaim land east of the tunnel and extend the runway along it. However, the extension of the runway proper did not take place until 1994, costing NOK 60 million. The new runway was taken into use on 20 October 1995. The most important part of this extension was that inclusive tour charters resumed from the airport, after several years without such services due to the need for a refueling stop. The airport therefore opened a duty-free store in 1996.  Braathens introduced its Boeing 737-500 at Ålesund in 1990, replacing its older -200s by 1995. Widerøe withdrew from Ålesund in 1993, when the Twin Otters were retired. The same year Braathens subcontracted some Ålesund routes to their regional affiliate, Norwegian Air Shuttle, who operated the Fokker 50.  The Super Puma search and rescue service spurred public demands for a rescue helicopter to be based at Vigra. From 11 September 1995 the 330 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force stated a Westland Sea King helicopter at Vigra for such a service. However, the proximity to Ørland Main Air Station proved that the area was well covered from there. The service was therefore closed from 1 January 1999 and relocated to Rygge Air Station.

Deregulation.

The Norwegian airline market was deregulated from 1 April 1994. This initially had little effect on Vigra, as there were insufficient slots at Fornebu for new entrants to start flying to Ålesund. Quite the contrary, the deregulation initially led Braathens to terminate the coastal services to Northern Norway, although it maintained flights to Bergen and Trondheim. From 19 April 1998 Braathens also served Ålesund with its Boeing 737-700. A radar was installed at the airport in 1998. The same year all the electronics in the control tower were replaced. Fornebu was replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen on 8 October 1998, which had ample room for new routes. Ålesund-based businessman Olav Nils Sunde saw the opportunity to establish a low-cost carrier, Color Air. It started twice-daily services from Ålesund to Gardermoen on 6 August, using a Boeing 737-300. SAS introduced flights from Oslo to Ålesund on 7 December. They initially used Douglas DC-9 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80, later switching to Boeing 737-600. The number of Oslo-bound flights thus increased from seven to seventeen. The three operators started an intense price war which within a year had cost them NOK 3 billion. Color Air ceased operation on 27 September 1999. SAS also opened a route to Copenhagen Airport in Denmark via Bergen, which was soon terminated.  SAS bought Braathens in May 2001, from 2002 the two SAS Group airlines coordinated their flights to Ålesund. Their ground services were taken over by SAS Ground Handling. Norwegian Air Shuttle shifted its operations in 2002 from a regional carrier to a low-cost airline. It took up competition with the SAS Group and launched an Oslo route on 23 August 2003 using the Boeing 737-300, using Røros Flyservice as their ground handler. These were most ex-Braathens employees. Norwegian initially remained at Ålesund only until 10 October 2004. Braathens and SAS merged in 2004 to create SAS Braathens, which served Ålesund until 1 June 2007, when it again became part of Scandinavian Airlines.  Full security check of all passengers took effect on 1 January 2004. An automated weather observing system was installed in 2006. The same year Ålesund Bilruter and the airport coach was taken over by Nettbuss. More tarmac for the general aviation section opened in 2006. In April the following year the main terminal was extended with. This included an arrival section for international passengers, with its own baggage carousel and a larger duty-free store. This allowed for simultaneous arrival of domestic and international passengers.  SAS Braathens commenced a bi-weekly service to London Gatwick Airport on 1 June 2007. It was terminated in 2008. Air Baltic introduced its Riga Airport service on 20 March 2008. SAS commenced a daily service to its hub at Copenhagen Airport from 31 March 2008. From 25 October 2009 this route was flown for SAS by Cimber Sterling using a Bombardier CRJ200 with two daily services. There was insufficient patronage for such a route and SAS resumed a daily service the following year.  Norwegian returned to Vigra on 10 September 2008, when it reintroduced its Oslo service. They introduced bi-weekly services to Gatwick from 16 April 2011, as well as flights to Ålesund to Trondheim and Bergen from the winter program of 2011. They also established weekly services to Alicante Airport and Gran Canaria Airport in Spain in 2012. The Trondheim route had insufficient patronage and were terminated from 1 February 2013. As a response, Krohn Air introduced a twice-daily service to Trondheim on 3 March 2013. It was terminated on 13 September.  Wizz Air introduced thrice-weekly services to Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport in Poland from March 2013. KLM Cityhopper commenced services to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport twice daily from 4 April, using the Fokker 70. It was followed up on 5 June with twice-weekly services by Wizz Air to Vilnius Airport in Lithuania. Norwegian terminated its Bergen route in January 2014. Widerøe responded by starting services to Bergen from the summer program of 2014. SAS responded by introducing more departures to Bergen and Trondheim and replacing some of them with smaller ATR 72 operated by Jet Time.

Facilities.

The airport is situated on the island of Vigra on Giske, Norway. The main terminal has, including the control tower. Vigra is an international airport with separate departure and arrival section for domestic and international services. The international section has a duty-free store measuring for both arriving and departing passengers. The upper story features a restaurant while there is a café and kiosk in the lower section. Vigra has a category 7 fire and rescue service. Ground handling is provided by SAS Ground Handling and Aviator.  The asphalt runway measures and is aligned 07/25 (roughly east–west). Runway 07 has a declared take-off run available (TORA) of and a landing distance available (LDA) of. The TORA and LDA of runway 25 is, respectively. Vigra lacks a parallel taxiway. The airport has a reference altitude of above mean sea level. Vigra features a category I instrument landing system. The aerodrome also features doppler VHF omnidirectional range and distance measuring equipment, and tactical air navigation system.

Airlines and destinations.

Ålesund Airport, Vigra served 1,055,098 passengers in 2013, of which 256,512 were international passengers. The airport saw 16,057 aircraft movements and handled 641 tonnes of cargo. Ålesund is the tenth-busiest airport in Norway, measured in passenger numbers.  The National Air Ambulance Service has a fixed-winged air ambulance stationed at Vigra. The Beechcraft King Air 200 is operated by Lufttransport, with medical personnel from Møre og Romsdal Hospital Trust. The aircraft flew 1,632 missions lasting 1,264 hours in 2013.

Ground transport.

Nettbuss operates a fleet of eight airport coaches. These run to downtown Ålesund and Moa in correspondence with all arrivals and departures. The airport has parking for 1,050 cars, divided into four categories: short-term, business plus, business and economy. Car rental is available from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt. Taxis are also available.

Ålesund Airport, Vigra (, ), or alternatively Alesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the island of Vigra in Giske Municipality and features a runway aligned 07/25. The airport served 1,077,209 passengers in 2013, making it the tenth-busiest airport in the country. Scheduled services are provided domestically to Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) ̧ Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe. International scheduled services are provided by KLM Cityhopper, Norwegian, SAS and Wizz Air.

L'aéroport d'Ålesund (Norvégien : "Ålesund lufthavn") est un aéroport international desservant la ville d'Ålesund en Norvège. Il est localisé sur l'île de Vigra à Giske et dispose d'une piste longue de.


Early life.

Born in Suva, Fiji the son of former Fiji rugby union international and former Fiji national sevens assistant coach Etuate Waqa.  Waqa was educated at Ratu Kadavulevu School and was a member of the Deans Trophy-winning side in 2005 (which was shared with Suva Grammar School).. He also represented 2006 Fiji Under 18s and 2006 Fiji Rugby Under 20s.  Waqa made a brief appearance for the Fiji national rugby union team in 2007 when he came off the bench as flyhalf in the 78th minute of a match against Australia A. Waqa moved to Sydney, Australia in 2008, where he played for Gordon RFC in the Shute Shield. He was offered a contract with the ACT Brumbies in the Super 15 competition, but the deal fell through as the Brumbies had already reached their foreign-player allowance.

Playing career.

2009.

On 3 December 2008, Waqa signed a two-year contract with the Sydney Roosters starting from the 2009 NRL season. In Round 4 of the 2009 NRL season against the Parramatta Eels, Waqa made his NRL debut for the Sydney Roosters on the in the Roosters 24-6 win at SFS. In round 14 against the Gold Coast Titans, Waqa scored his first and second NRL career tries in the Roosters 24-20 loss at Central Coast Stadium. Waqa finished the 2009 NRL season with him played in 7 matches and scored 2 tries for the Sydney Roosters as the club finished last on the table and claimed the wooden spoon for the first time since 1966.

2010.

Waqa then signed a three-year contract to play for French top-14 club Montauban, however that fell through due to the club experiencing financial difficulties. Waqa then played in Sydney for the 2010 season in the local competition for Southern Districts before Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy was notified of his availability.

2011.

After a three-month trial during the pre-season, Waqa was signed to a one-year contract after impressing throughout the trial matches. Waqa has been playing in the NSW Cup for Melbourne Storm feeder team Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, who have a joint venture with the Melbourne Storm.  In round 9 of the 2011 NRL season, Waqa made his Melbourne Storm debut against the Broncos on the wing, scoring a try in the Storms' 29-22 win at Suncorp Stadium. After the Storms' match against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval, Waqa was suspended for one week over the incident between Adam Blair and Glenn Stewart after he came from the bench to pull players off and to assist Blair in the 5-on-1 fight in the Storms' 18-4 loss. Waqa finished the 2011 NRL season with him playing in 10 matches and scoring 4 tries for the Storm.

2012.

In round 4 against his former club the Sydney Roosters, Waqa played his first match in the 2012 NRL season in the Storms’ 44-4 victory over the Sydney Roosters at AAMI Park. Since that game Waqa struggled to make it into the first grade side and was playing in the NSW Cup for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Waqa returned to first grade in round 19 against the North Queensland Cowboys in the Storms' 20-16 loss at AAMI Park. Waqa retained his wing spot for the rest of the 2012 season after when regular Storm winger Matt Duffie suffered a shoulder injury. Waqa starred on the wing in the Melbourne Storms' 2012 NRL Grand Final victory over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, his outstanding defensive strategy, which assisted the Storm to a 14-4 point victory over the minor premiers. Waqa finished the 2012 NRL season with him played in 11 matches and scoring 7 tries for the Storm.

2013.

On 22 February 2013, Waqa played in the Storm's World Club Challenge match against 2012 Super League premiers Leeds Rhinos, Waqa played on the wing in the Storms' 18-14. After the WCC victory, Waqa injured his hand on a piece of glass in a hotel room incident missed first 8 weeks of the 2013 season. Waqa played in 22 matches and scored 12 tries for the Storm in the 2013 NRL season. Waqa was named in the Fiji squad for the 2013 World Cup. Waqa played in 4 matches.

2014.

In February 2014, Waqa was included in the Storms' inaugural 2014 Auckland Nines squad. On 21 July 2014, Waqa announced that he signed a 2-year deal with the Canberra Raiders commencing in 2015. In Round 22 against the Newcastle Knights, Waqa scored 4 tries in the Storms' shock 32-30 loss after giving away a 30-20 lead with 3 minutes to go at Hunter Stadium. Waqa scored a try in his last match for the Storm in Melbourne's 28-4 Finals Week 1 defeat by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at AAMI Park. Waqa finished the 2014 NRL season as the Storms' highest tryscorer with 18 in 24 matches.

2015.

On 17 January 2015, Waqa was named in the Raiders 2015 Auckland Nines squad. In round 1 of the 2015 NRL season against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Waqa made his club debut for the Canberra Raiders on the wing, scoring a try in the Raiders 24-20 win at Remondis Stadium. In August 2015, there were rumours about Waqa was seeking a release from the Raiders to sign a three-year deal with a French rugby union club but later decided to stay out his 2-year commitment with the club. Waqa finished his first year with the Canberra Raiders with him playing 21 matches and scoring 6 tries in the season.

2016.

On 30 January 2016, Waqa was named in the Raiders 2016 Auckland Nines squad. On 14 March, Waqa was confirmed to be released from his contract at the end of June to join Top 14 rugby union side, Grenoble. On 7 May 2016, Waqa played for Fiji against Papua New Guinea in the 2016 Melanesian Cup where he played at centre in the 24-22 loss at Parramatta Stadium.

2017.

On 16 May 2017, Waqa was in talks to rejoin former club Melbourne but the move never eventuated. On 12 December 2017, Waqa made the headlines for the wrong reasons. He was reported to have borrowed money to pay off alleged gambling debts but never paid the money back to his victims. In one case, Waqa reportedly borrowed $12,000 off a student he had befriended. He also reportedly owed money to The Salvation Army, when a worker from The Salvation Army attended Waqa's rental property they found nobody at the residence and Waqa's car had all four of its wheels slashed and both tail lights knocked out.

Sisa Waqa (born 29 April 1986) is a Fijian professional rugby footballer who last played for FC Grenoble in French Rugby Union. A Fiji international representative, Waqa primarily plays on the. Waqa previously played for the Sydney Roosters in 2009, Melbourne Storm between 2011 and 2014, where he won the 2012 NRL premiership and the Canberra Raiders between 2015 and 2016.

Sisa Waqa, né le à Suva (Fidji), est un joueur de rugby à XIII et de XV fidjien évoluant au poste d'ailier ou de centre. Il a effectué la majeure partie de sa carrière en rugby à XIII en débutant en National Rugby League avec les Roosters de Sydney lors de la saison 2009 mais réussit ses meilleures performances lorsqu'il rejoint le Storm de Melbourne entre 2011 et 2014 où il y remporte les deux plus prestigieux titres collectifs : la National Rugby League et le World Club Challenge en 2012. Il rejoint ensuite en 2015 les Raiders de Canberra. Il est également international fidjien et atteint avec la sélection la demi-finale de la Coupe du monde 2013. En 2016, il décide de changer de code pour le rugby à XV et rejoint le club français du FC Grenoble.


Family.

Born as a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, a younger son of Duke Sobeslaus I and his wife Adelaide (daughter of Prince Álmos of Hungary). Name "Oldřich" wore as the third in his dynasty. Both of Udalrich′s brothers, Sobeslaus II and Wenceslaus II became the Dukes of Bohemia; his sister Maria was Margravine of Austria and Duchess of Bavaria by marriage.

Life.

Allegedly, Udalrich promised Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1152 a large sum of money if Barbarossa would enfeoff Udalrich rather than his cousin Vladislaus II with the Duchy of Bohemia. After an intervention by Bishop Daniel I of Prague, all parties agreed that Vladislaus II would be Duke of Bohemia (in 1158 he became the second King of Bohemia) and Udalrich II would receive Hradec Castle (present city of Hradec Králové) with surrounding region.  The agreement did not last long, and Udalrich fled into exile in Poland, and from there to the Emperor's court, where he was active from 1162 as a loyal supporter of the Emperor. He participated in several of Barbarossa's Italian campaigns.  King Vladislaus II abdicated in 1172 in favour of his son Frederick; nevertheless this act – until then unusual – met with strong resistance of Bohemian nobles and even the Emperor reject to acknowledge Frederick as rightful ruler. The following year he dethroned him and throne of Bohemia was offered to Ulrich. However, Udalrich II declined the honour (because he wanted to keep seniority principle established in Přemyslid dynasty already in the mid of 11th century) and renounced the rule over Bohemia in favour to his elder brother Sobeslaus II. Grateful brother rewarded him by reign in the most important part of Moravia, i.e. the Duchy of Olomouc.  Udalrich married twice. His first wife was Cecilia, the daughter of Landgrave Louis I of Thuringia. His second wife was Sophia, the daughter of Margrave Otto II of Meissen.

Udalrich of Olomouc (also known as "Ulrich", ; ; 1134 – 18 October 1177) was Duke in Hradec Králové (eastern Bohemia) from 1152 till 1153 and between 1173–1177 ruled the appanage of Olomouc (as Duke of Olomouc), one of three ducal regions in Moravia, then part of the Duchy of Bohemia.

Ulrich ou Udalrich d'Olomouc, (; ) né vers 1134 mort le ) fut duc de Hradec Králové (est de la Bohême) de 1152 à 1153 et entre 1173–1177 à cette époque il règne également sur Olomouc, l'un des trois apanages de Moravie et une partie du duché de Bohême.


Publication history.

Eternity debuted in an epic 17-issue storyline dubbed "The Eternity Saga", which occurred in the ongoing feature "Doctor Strange" in "Strange Tales" #130–146 (March 1965 – July 1966). The character was first mentioned in the 10-page story "Earth Be My Battleground" in "Strange Tales" #134 (July 1965), and first seen in the 10-page story "If Eternity Should Fail" in "Strange Tales" #138 (Nov. 1965).  Following the publication's retitling as "Doctor Strange", the character returned in issues #180–182 (May–July 1969), and thereafter continued to appear in stories that were cosmic in scope, including in "Doctor Strange" vol. 2, #10–13 (Oct. 1974 – April 1975); "Defenders" #92 (Feb. 1981); and a story by writer-artist John Byrne in "Fantastic Four" #262 (Jan. 1984) that attracted controversy. At the conclusion of that story, Eternity validated the existence of another cosmic character, Galactus. Howard University Professor of Literature Marc Singer stated Byrne used the character Eternity as a means to "justify planetary-scale genocide".  Eternity guest starred in "Secret Wars II" #6–7 (Dec. 1984 – Jan. 1985); "Silver Surfer" vol. 3, #6 & 10 (Dec. 1987, April 1988) and with Marvel's cosmic hierarchy in the limited series "Infinity Gauntlet" #1–6 (July – Dec. 1991), and in its sequel, "Infinity War" #1–6 (June – Nov. 1992). The character played a pivotal role in limited series "Avengers Infinity" #1–4 (Sept. – Dec. 2000). Major revelations about the character appeared in a storyline in "Quasar" #19–25 (Feb. – Aug. 1991). Other appearances, again in storylines that featured a cosmic theme, included "Infinity Abyss" #1–6 (Aug. – Oct. 2002); and "Defenders" vol. 3, #1–5 (Sept. 2005 – Jan. 2006).  Eternity has also appeared in the alternate universe titles "What If?" #32 (April 1982); "" #1–6 (May 2003 – Aug. 2003); and "JLA/Avengers" #1–4 (Sept. 2003 – May 2004). Eternity's origin, along with the birth of the Marvel Multiverse, was finally revealed in "The Ultimates 2" #6 (2017). He returned in 2019's "Doctor Strange" story arc "Herald Supreme".

Fictional character biography.

Eternity was created as the second sentient force supporting Creation. Before Eternity, there was a single universe, whose animating force was the primal cosmic being that would later call itself The First Firmament. The First Firmament was attacked by its creations, The Celestials, during the catastrophic cosmic war that erupted between them and their counterpart creations, The Aspirants. The climax of that war resulted in the Celestials' weapons tearing the first universe apart. The core essence of the First Firmament and the surviving Aspirants desperately fled to the void Outside creation. The torn fragments of the sundered first universe then coalesced into a new being that animated a new Reality that was made up of hundreds of universes. This Second Creation was the birth of the Multiverse and its animating force would later be called by the living entities within it Eternity. Creation would then evolve, die and be reborn six more times, each time evolving and changing to add new realities, forces and properties to itself-and all these changes would be reflected in the corresponding rebirth of Eternity. Therefore, after the destruction and rebirth of the Multiverse by the Beyonders, Eternity is in his 8th incarnation.  The first recorded human contact with Eternity is by Doctor Strange, who seeks the entity out when his master the Ancient One is attacked by former pupil Baron Mordo. After a series of battles with Mordo and his minions, and discovering that arch-foe Dormammu is secretly backing Mordo, Strange finds and speaks with Eternity. The entity advises Strange that he is capable of defeating his foes without aid, and Strange wins a duel with Dormammu (who is ultimately defeated by Eternity) and thwarts an attempted sabotage in his Sanctum Sanctorum.  On New Year's Eve, the entity is kidnapped by Doctor Strange's foe Nightmare, who after causing time distortions that allow beings such as dinosaurs and barbarians to appear in New York City, appears before Strange and his aide and sometime lover Clea. Nightmare challenges the mystic to attempt to rescue Eternity, and after accepting, Strange enters Nightmare's Dream World. After an extended series of battles and a temporary defeat, Strange successfully recruits the X-Men foe the Juggernaut to stop Nightmare from merging his realm with Earth, and together they free Eternity. The entity then banishes Nightmare while Doctor Strange and the Juggernaut restore reality.  The entity is aided by superhero team the Defenders, who locate three missing fragments of its being and convincing them to rejoin with Eternity.  Eternity is also summoned to the trial of Fantastic Four member Mister Fantastic, who is accused of saving the life of fellow cosmic entity Galactus. Eternity allows all present to momentarily possess "cosmic awareness", thereby allowing them to understand that Galactus is a vital part of the universe, despite the continued extinction of entire species.  During a series of extended battles between cosmic hero Quasar and the villain Maelstrom (the avatar of the entity Oblivion), Eternity is revealed to have a "twin" entity, Infinity, with the pair representing the space-time continuum and the living force of the universe.  The character appears with the entire cosmic hierarchy (eventually revealed to be "retconned" into an avatar of the entity) during an encounter with the entity the Beyonder; consults with fellow entity Galactus when the Elders of the Universe plan to destroy the latter (to initiate a new Big Bang and restart the universe).  Abraxas was imprisoned inside Eternity and was released when Galactus died.  Together with the cosmic hierarchy Eternity opposes the Eternal Thanos when the villain wields the Infinity Gauntlet, although they are all eventually defeated. Once Thanos is eventually dispatched (courtesy of his own carelessness), Eternity unsuccessfully advises fellow cosmic entity the Living Tribunal against allowing the Infinity Gems to be used in conjunction. Eternity develops animosity towards the artificial being Adam Warlock, whom the entity encounters on several occasions.  Eternity also "spawned" several "children", or concepts that became separate, independent entities: Empathy; Eulogy; Expediency; Entropy; Epiphany; Enmity and Eon (Eon is eventually killed and replaced in turn by the concept Epoch).  Eternity is imprisoned by the Magus (the evil alter ego of Adam Warlock) who attempts to reunite the Infinity Gems for his own use. The villain is eventually defeated when Eternity merges with Infinity and together they strip the Magus of his newfound power.  Eternity is also summoned by a contingent of superhero team the "Avengers" to reason with the cosmic entities the Infinites, and observes the attempts of Thanos and several of Earth's heroes to defeat several of his clones, who are dedicated to destroying the universe, and in turn Eternity itself.  Eternity is eventually killed due to the machinations of his son Entropy, when the later allied himself with Genis-Vell, who at the time was becoming insane under the strain of his cosmic awareness. Entropy soon regretted what he had done, when all of creation was destroyed, leaving only himself, his sister Epiphany, Genis and Rick Jones, since the prospect of spending the rest of eternity in an empty void was not all that alluring. Rick Jones suggested that he try creating something. Entropy did, and with Genis-Vell's help, he re-created the Universe, thus becoming the new Eternity. As Eternity, he revealed that this was all part of his life cycle.  Eternity is one of the last beings (together with the Living Tribunal and Infinity) to be overcome by Thanos when he uses the artifact the Heart of the Universe to undo the universe and then remake it minus a fatal flaw. During JLA/Avengers he met Kismet and the two fell in love. They were then kidnapped by the villain Krona when the Grandmaster engineers a merging of the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe, who used their connections to their universes in an attempt to destroy both so he could learn their secrets. After the Crisis was averted due to the Avengers and Justice League joining forces and defeating Krona, the two sadly parted ways.  The entity's power is stolen by Dormammu and his sister Umar to remake the universe in their image. The pair are opposed by a reuniting of three of the original Defenders (Strange; the Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner), with Umar betraying Dormammu and then being defeated in turn. Eternity's power returns to him and reality is restored.  When an alien race's experiments in eternal universal observation cause damage to Eternity, he is narrowly saved by the actions of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Storm, Gravity and the Silver Surfer. Strange uses Gravity as a'scalpel' based on his gravity-wielding powers to cut out the damaged portions while Storm serves as a temporary host to Eternity's consciousness as the other heroes hold back the universe's 'antibodies' as they try to attack the perceived cause of the damage.  In the "Dark Reign" storyline, Eternity grants Henry Pym the title of Scientist Supreme, a scientific counterpart to the mystical title Sorcerer Supreme, as he is able to create science with effects similar to magic. However, Loki later claims to have been posing as Eternity in order to trick Pym.  During the "Chaos War" storyline, Eternity is summoned by Hercules to deal with Amatsu-Mikaboshi. However, Eternity tells Hercules that fighting the Chaos God will be like fighting an aspect of Eternity himself. Eternity remains confident that Hercules and his comrades will find a way to win.  During the "Time Runs Out" storyline, the Beyonders are revealed to have killed Eternity as part of destroying abstract entities in each reality across the multiverse.  Doctor Doom's killing of the Beyonders and use of their power to create Battleworld out of what remains of the multiverse revives Eternity, whose face and voice are replaced by Doom's. Glorian informs the Silver Surfer that reality being held together by Doom's will has turned Eternity into the will of Doom.  At the end of the "Civil War II" storyline, Eternity appears before Ulysses, when he evolves into a new being and becomes one with the universe.  The cosmic team The Ultimates traveled Outside of the Multiverse to survey the timestream to evaluate its status after the rebirth of reality during the Secret Wars event. The forces outside Reality proved to be too great a challenge even for the immensely powerful and skilled super-team. They were rescued by Galactus The Lifebringer, whom the Ultimates had earlier cured of his hunger and transformed into a positive cosmic force, much to the former Devourer's gratitude. An aspect of Eternity had informed Galactus of their danger and requested he assist them. However, after rescuing the Ultimates, Galactus discovered to his horror that the actual totality of Eternity - the actual life force of the Multiverse rather than the aspects of him that usually interact with lesser beings - had been chained and imprisoned by some mysterious cosmic force. Eternity had used the rescue of the Ultimates as an excuse to lure Galactus there to warn him of his predicament and that all of Creation was in danger from his jailer.  It was eventually revealed Eternity's jailer was none other than his predecessor, The First Firmament. The destruction of the Seventh and the rebirth of the Eighth Multiverse by the Beyonders during the Secret Wars had an unforeseen consequence: it provided an opening for the Firmament, who had been patiently waiting Outside, to attack the newly reborn and therefore greatly weakened, Eternity with the goal of destroying the multiverse and restoring itself to the center of creation. The Firmament first chained and then began infiltrating Eternity with both its loyal Aspirant agents and taking control over the lesser cosmic entities that protected the cosmic balance in its component universes. For example, under the Firmament's influence, Master Order and Lord Chaos destroyed the reborn Living Tribunal in front of Galactus the Lifebringer and then found their servant, The In-Betweener and forcibly merged into a new cosmic being many orders of magnitude of power greater that called itself Logos. Logos then located the surviving Celestials and destroyed all but one of them. One of the Celestials was rescued by The Queen of Nevers. Logos then transformed Galactus back into the Devourer of Worlds, with an enormously increased hunger. The goal was to turn Galactus into a living weapon that would devour the Multiverse. Galactus was rescued again by the Ultimates and his current herald, the Anti-Man-who sacrificed his life to restore Galactus as the Lifebringer. Enraged, Galactus devoured Rostov, the Firmament's servant who had infiltrated the Troubleshooters and attempted to manipulate them into defeating the Ultimates. After devouring him, Galactus knew all Rostov knew. However, Galactus was now weakened and had to have time to recover before planning their next move. Eternity remained chained with the First Firmament acting against the newly reborn and therefore malleable Cosmic Order within him. Galactus swore to free him by any means necessary and the Ultimates agreed to help.

Eternity Mask.

A black magical item created from Eternity's own substance during the sixth century by a group of renegade occultists to give whomever wears it equal power to anyone they may face, unless they are below the natural ability of the mask's user. This allowed for example, an untrained peasant to be on equal grounds with the Black Knight and fight him for three days straight. If the would-be user's intent was to commit acts of evil, the mask had no effect on them. So far the upper limits of this ability have yet to be established. The Mask has since then, been passed on from individual to individual and has been implied to have taken a role in the most important events in Human history. One of the first known users of the mask was Jim Gardley aka Masked Raider. Other users were the Black Rider, the Ferret, Thunderer and Jerome Hamilton aka Blind Justice.

Powers and abilities.

Eternity is a tremendously powerful abstract entity. An embodiment of the multiverse, it has no real physical body. The entity can manipulate the multiverse to achieve essentially any desired effect, and as its name suggests, it is immortal and unaffected by the passage of time. Eternity can warp space and matter into a manifestation that can be perceived by lesser beings, or form avatars from another plane of existence known as the Dimension of Manifestations. On occasion it manifests by possessing the body of exceptionally spiritually-strong mortal beings (e.g. Doctor Strange, Thor, Storm).  Thanos, wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, ranked Eternity's scale of power as above that of Lord Chaos and Master Order, but below that of the Living Tribunal.

Reception and legacy.

"The Eternity Saga", which culminates in the introduction of the character Eternity is frequently cited on lists of the top Doctor Strange storylines to read, being called "Lee and Ditko’s magnum opus of oddity". In 2017, CBR highlighted the surreal and trippy imagery attributed to the emergence of Eternity himself and his battle with Dormammu, when it was rated one of Marvel's top cosmic/space stories and voted 89th in the top 100 comic book storylines.  Top 75 Marvel moments: and first cosmic entity.  Marvel in 60s book, great moment:  Inspired Starlin/Englehart:  "Marvel Comics" #1000:

Eternity is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the "de facto" leader of the abstract entities collectively known as the Cosmic Powers of the Marvel Universe.

Éternité (Eternity en VO) est une entité cosmique évoluant dans l'univers Marvel de la maison d'édition Marvel Comics. Créé par le scénariste Stan Lee et le dessinateur Steve Ditko, le personnage de fiction est d'abord mentionné dans "Strange Tales" #134 en juillet 1965 et apparaît pour la première fois dans "Strange Tales" #138 en novembre 1965. En France, il apparaît pour la première fois dans "Eclipso" n°38 en février 1974.


Cameroun aux Jeux olympiques d'été de 2016

Athletics (track and field).

Cameroonian athletes achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event):

Boxing.

Cameroon entered four boxers to compete in each of the following weight classes into the Olympic boxing tournament. Simplice Fotsala, Wilfried Ntsengue, and 2008 Olympian Mahaman Smaila had claimed their Olympic spots at the 2016 African Qualification Tournament in Yaoundé. Returning for his second Games from a 12-year absence, light heavyweight boxer Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam rounded out the Cameroonian roster with his semifinal triumph at the 2016 APB and WSB Olympic Qualifier in Vargas, Venezuela.

Judo.

Cameroon qualified one judoka for the women's half-heavyweight category (78 kg) at the Games. Vanessa Atangana earned a continental quota spot from the Africa region as Cameroon's top-ranked judoka outside of direct qualifying position in the IJF World Ranking List of May 30, 2016.

Volleyball.

Indoor.

Women's tournament.

Cameroon women's volleyball team qualified for the Olympics by attaining a top finish and securing a lone outright berth at the African Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Yaoundé.

Weightlifting.

Cameroon qualified one male and one female weightlifter for the Rio Olympics by virtue of a top five national finish (for men) and top four (for women), respectively, at the 2016 African Championships. The team had to allocate these places to individual athletes by June 20, 2016.

Wrestling.

Cameroon qualified three wrestlers for each of the following weight classes into the Olympic tournament, as a result of their semifinal triumphs at the 2016 African & Oceania Qualification Tournament.

Cameroon competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's fourteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.

Le Cameroun participe aux Jeux olympiques d'été de 2016 à Rio de Janeiro au Brésil du 5 août au 21 août. Il s'agit de sa à des Jeux d'été. 24 athlètes sont qualifiés (dont 12 dans l'équipe du Cameroun de volley-ball féminin) dans 6 sports.


Biography.

Agostini was born in Vercelli, Italy, but following adolescence and art studies in Paris, he arrived in Brazil in 1859 with his mother the singer Raquel Agostini, and settled.  At an early age he published drawn work in the São Paulo publication "Diabo Coxo" on September 17, of 1864. Following more work published in "Cabrião" and "Revista Arlequim", Agostini produced a sequential image story serialised in "Vida Fluminense" titled "As Aventuras de Nhô Quim" ("The Adventures of Nhô Quim"). The first chapter published on January 30, 1869, the story involved themes of conflict between the agricultural and urban culture, and political commentary through visual storytelling capable of reaching a largely illiterate population.  During the 1880s Agostini started the periodical "Revista Ilustrada", which became noted for its illustrated coverage of the annual Carnival. On January 27, 1883, the first chapter of "As Aventuras do Zé Caipora" ("The Adventures of Zé Caipora") was published, starting a successful publication run of 35 episodes spread out over many years. Achieving a multimedia impact, the series was printed in four editions, and inspired a popular song and two silent films.  Agostini established the magazine "Don Quixote" in 1895, which lasted until 1906, and with Luiz Bartolomeu de Sousa e Silva founded the influential youth magazine "O Tico-Tico" for publisher "O Malho" in 1905. During his final years he worked for the magazine "O Malho", until his death in 1910.

Legacy.

Named in honour of Agostini, the Prêmio Angelo Agostini is a Brazilian comics prize awarded by Associação dos Quadrinhistas e Caricaturistas do Estado de São Paulo since 1985.

Angelo Agostini (April 8, 1843 – January 23, 1910) was an Italian-born Brazilian illustrator, journalist and founder of several publications, and although born in Italy, is considered the first Brazilian cartoonist.

Angelo Agostini, né le à Verceil en Italie et mort le à Rio de Janeiro, est un journaliste, illustrateur et auteur italo-brésilien de bande dessinée.


Club career.

Early career.

Ojo joined MK Dons' academy when he was 10 years old. By the age of 13, he had played for the Dons' U18 side and was training with the first team squad. During his time at the club, Ojo became the first MK Dons trainee to receive an international cap at youth level.

Liverpool.

On 11 November 2011, Liverpool beat off competition from a host of Europe's top clubs including a multimillion-pound offer from Chelsea to sign Ojo, then 14, for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £2 million. In April 2014, Ojo was joint top scorer alongside fellow Liverpool player Harry Wilson in the prestigious U17 Future Cup.

Loan to Wigan.

Having made a number of appearances on Liverpool's bench over the festive period, Ojo joined Wigan Athletic on loan on 2 February 2015. Five days later, he made his professional debut coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for Wigan in a Championship match against AFC Bournemouth, with Wigan naming Ojo as their Man of the Match after he had a positive impact on the game.

Loan to Wolverhampton.

On 2 August 2015, Ojo scored the winning goal for Liverpool in a friendly against Swindon Town. In 4 August 2015, Liverpool announced that Ojo had signed a new long-term contract with the club and confirmed that he would join Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season-long loan. He made his Wolves debut on the opening day of the 2015–16 Championship season as a substitute, coming on in the 84th minute and picking up a yellow card as his side went on to beat Blackburn Rovers. Three days later, he made his first start for Wolves in a 2–1 League Cup win over Newport County, assisting Nouha Dicko for Wolves' opening goal.

Return to Liverpool.

He was recalled by Liverpool on 7 January 2016. The next day, Ojo made his competitive first-team debut for Liverpool, as a substitute in the FA Cup Third Round tie against Exeter City that ended in a 2–2 draw. He scored his first competitive goal for Liverpool in the replay against Exeter on 20 January; his goal was the second in a 3–0 victory.  Ojo made his Premier League debut on 20 March 2016, replacing Joe Allen in the 87th minute in a 3–2 loss away to Southampton at St Mary's Stadium. Three weeks later, he made his first start for Liverpool in the Premier League against Stoke City at Anfield, where he assisted Daniel Sturridge for Liverpool's second goal in a 4–1 win, before being replaced by Divock Origi.  Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Ojo sustained a fracture in his back and did not return to first team training until mid-November.

Loan to Fulham.

On 16 August 2017, Ojo joined Fulham on season-long loan. He scored a double in a 5–4 win over Sheffield United, on 21 November. He scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win over Birmingham City, on 9 December. On 23 December, Ojo received a yellow card and scored in a 2–1 win over Barnsley.

Loan to Stade de Reims.

On 30 August 2018, Ojo signed a new contract with Liverpool and joined Stade de Reims on a season-long loan. He also played for Reims II.

Loan to Rangers.

On 18 June 2019, Rangers of the Scottish Premiership announced they signed Ojo on a season-long loan, a day before his 22nd birthday. He made his competitive debut for the club on 9 July 2019 in a 4–0 win over St Joseph's of Gibraltar in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, and scored the second goal.

International career.

As Ojo was born in England, he is eligible to represent England and through his Nigerian heritage is also eligible to play for Nigeria in international football. Ojo has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. In his early teens, Ojo often played at a higher age group at international level, representing England U17s at the St George's Park Tournament in 2012 aged 15. Ojo represented England U17s in the 2014 Algarve Tournament, with England coming second to Germany after a 1–0 loss in the final game.  In September 2014, Ojo received his first England U18 call-up for a double header against the Netherlands. Ojo appeared in both games with England winning by an aggregate score of 7–2. On 27 August 2015, Ojo received his first call-up to the England U19 team and played 90 minutes in a 3–2 away win over Germany. Later in the same tournament, he started against France and helped "The Young Lions" secure a 2–1 win by providing 2 assists.  Ojo was selected for the England under-20 team in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Ojo made his start in tournament in the match against Guinea, and was a substitute in a few other games, including the semi-final match against Italy in which he assisted in two of the goals. In the final, Ojo came on as a substitute for Kieran Dowell in the 62nd minute. England beat Venezuela 1–0, which is England's first win in a global tournament since their World Cup victory of 1966.  In September 2018, he stated he could represent Nigeria in future.

Personal life.

Born in Hemel Hempstead, England, his name "Babajide" is a variant form of the Yoruba name: Babatunde, meaning "Father has Returned" or "Father Comes Back to Life". During his time with the Liverpool Football Academy, Ojo was a student at Rainhill Media Arts College, in Rainhill, England.

Honours.

England U20

Oluwaseyi Babajide "Sheyi" Ojo (born 19 June 1997) is an English footballer who plays for Scottish Premiership side Rangers, on loan from Liverpool, as a winger.

Oluwaseyi Babajide « Sheyi » Ojo, né le à Hemel Hempstead, est un footballeur anglais qui évolue au poste de milieu de terrain au Rangers FC, en prêt du Liverpool FC.


Plot.

Hercules is called upon to fight seven golden giants summoned by the Dagger of Jae, sister of Juno (Hera), who dislikes Hercules "for certain family reasons." Hercules also fights to protect his princess love, but matters are complicated by her evil relative Milo, who has murdered her father the king but has tricked her into thinking it was someone else because she trusts him too much. Milo tricks Hercules into killing his friend, for which he is punished by his father Jove (Jupiter/Zeus) who takes away his enormous strength, because he has misused it. Milo is conspiring with his sorceress mother to take the throne for himself.  Now only as strong as a mortal man, Hercules is overpowered when he tries to rescue the princess Ate (pronounced Ah-tay) from Milo and is then accused of being a fraud. Milo tries to kill both Hercules and Ate by chaining them to a giant wooden lever with spikes, complete with a cage over Hercules which he must support while rocks are piled on him: if he can hold it up, then he will prove himself the true Hercules (which he is) but if not, then he will be guilty and he and Ate will die together for conspiring to steal the throne and give it to an imposter.  As the weight of the stones and rocks drive the de-powered Hercules to his knees, he sincerely begs his father Jove to let him die if it is his destiny but to spare Ate who is innocent. Jove resolves this by restoring Hercules's demi-god strength, allowing him to overpower the soldiers, save Ate, and thwart Milo along with his seven golden giants and evil mother. The two bumbling thieves also prove useful in the climax.  In the end, Hercules marries Ate and becomes king of her city.

Production.

Marilu Tolo was given tinted lenses to play a malicious doppelgänger Hercules' love interest Princess Ate.

The Triumph of Hercules, the 1964 film, was one of many Italian sword and sandal epics during the 1960s craze. Originally titled "Il Trionfo di Ercole", the film was directed by Alberto De Martino. Hercules was portrayed by Dan Vadis.<br> The film was released internationally as "Hercules vs the Giant Warriors", and also as "Hercules and the Ten Avengers".

Le Triomphe d'Hercule (titre ogirinal : "Il trionfo di Ercole") est un film franco-italien réalisé par Alberto De Martino sorti en 1964.


Definition.

Reflectivity ("Z") in dBZ represents the intensity of radar echoes returning from a clouds. According to the wavelengths used in weather radars, only precipitation can be noted (drizzle, rain, snow, hail), not the cloud droplets nor water vapor, so Z is proportional to the rain rate. Using the sum in the vertical of Z, one can find the total mass of water equivalent in and below the precipitating cloud and that is what is VIL.  From the studies of Marshall and Palmer on the drop size distribution of rain drops, it is possible to find VIL:  formula_1  Where :  To note, the unit kg/m multiplied by water density (1 kg/liter) gives the surface accumulation in millimeters of rain: 1 kg/m = 1 mm.

Usage.

The VIL measurement is usually used in determining the size of prospective hail, the potential amount of rain under a thunderstorm, and the potential downdraft strength when combined with the height of the echo tops.  When VIL values are high for longer periods of time, the storm may be a supercell.

Multicells.

Multicells usually have alternating VIL values. Multicells can have high VIL values on one radar picture, yet much smaller values in the next radar picture.

Wet microbursts.

When VIL values quickly fall, it might mean that a downburst is imminent. This is the result of the updraft within the cell weakening, thereby losing its ability to hold the copious amounts of moisture (including hail) within the storm's structure. Downbursts of this type are referred to as 'wet microbursts' by the National Weather Service for two reasons: (1) they contain heavy rainfall and (usually) hail; (2) they have damaging winds of greater than. Microbursts are classified as being 'a swath of damaging winds not exceeding in diameter'.  Thus, wet microbursts have been sometimes mistaken for a tornado by the general public, as the damage can be quick, hard hitting, and as important or more than an EF-1 tornado. An algorithm has been developed by S. Stewart, a meteorologist for the US National Weather Service, to estimate the potential maximum gust with a descending downdraft using VIL and the Echotop on radar:  formula_2

Vertically integrated liquid (VIL) is an estimate of the total mass of precipitation in the clouds. The measurement is obtained by observing the reflectivity of the air which is obtained with weather radar.

La masse de la colonne de précipitations ("VIL" pour "V"ertically "I"ntegrated "L"iquid en anglais) est un algorithme radar qui estime la masse totale d'eau liquide contenue dans un nuage par mètre carré en faisant la somme des réflectivités dans la colonne de précipitations allant de l'angle le plus bas sondé, jusqu'au sommet du nuage. Cet algorithme est utilisé pour déterminer le type d'orages détectés par le radar et le potentiel de dommages par les vents, la grêle et la pluie.


History.

Smart contracts were first proposed in the early 1990s by computer scientist, lawyer and cryptographer Nick Szabo, who coined the term. In 1998, the term was utilized to describe objects in rights management service layer of the system "The Stanford Infobus", which was a part of Stanford Digital Library Project.  With the 2015's implementation of Ethereum, based on blockchains, "smart contract" is mostly used more specifically in the sense of general purpose computation that takes place on a blockchain or distributed ledger. In this interpretation, used for example by the Ethereum Foundation or IBM, a smart contract is not necessarily related to the classical concept of a contract, but can be any kind of computer program. A smart contract also can be regarded as a secured stored procedure as its execution and codified effects like the transfer of some value between parties are strictly enforced and can not be manipulated, after a transaction with specific contract details is stored into a blockchain or distributed ledger. That's because the actual execution of contracts is controlled and audited by the platform, not by any arbitrary server-side programs connecting to the platform.  In 2017, by implementing the Decree on Development of Digital Economy, Belarus has become the first-ever country to legalize smart contracts. Belarusian lawyer Denis Aleinikov is considered to be the author of a smart contract legal concept introduced by the decree.  In 2018, a US Senate report said: "While smart contracts might sound new, the concept is rooted in basic contract law. Usually, the judicial system adjudicates contractual disputes and enforces terms, but it is also common to have another arbitration method, especially for international transactions. With smart contracts, a program enforces the contract built into the code."

Implementations.

Byzantine fault-tolerant algorithms allowed digital security through decentralization to form smart contracts. Additionally, the programming languages with various degrees of Turing-completeness as a built-in feature of some blockchains make the creation of custom sophisticated logic possible.  Notable examples of implementation of smart contracts include the following:

Replicated titles and contract execution.

In 1998, Szabo proposes that smart contract infrastructure can be implemented by replicated asset registries and contract execution using cryptographic hash chains and Byzantine fault-tolerant replication. Askemos implemented this approach in 2002 using Scheme (later adding SQLite) as contract script language.  One proposal for using bitcoin for replicated asset registration and contract execution is called "colored coins". Replicated titles for potentially arbitrary forms of property, along with replicated contract execution, are implemented in different projects. , UBS was experimenting with "smart bonds" that use the bitcoin blockchain in which payment streams could hypothetically be fully automated, creating a self-paying instrument.

Security issues.

A blockchain-based smart contract is visible to all users of said blockchain. However, this leads to a situation where bugs, including security holes, are visible to all yet may not be quickly fixed. Such an attack, difficult to fix quickly, was successfully executed on The DAO in June 2016, draining in Ether while developers attempted to come to a solution that would gain consensus. The DAO program had a time delay in place before the hacker could remove the funds; a hard fork of the Ethereum software was done to claw back the funds from the attacker before the time limit expired.  Issues in Ethereum smart contracts, in particular, include ambiguities and easy-but-insecure constructs in its contract language Solidity, compiler bugs, Ethereum Virtual Machine bugs, attacks on the blockchain network, the immutability of bugs and that there is no central source documenting known vulnerabilities, attacks and problematic constructs.

A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol respectively, which is intended to automatically execute, control or document respectively legally relevant events and actions according to the terms of a contract, of an agreement or of a negotiation. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of need in trusted intermediators, arbitrations and enforcement costs, fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions.

Les contrats intelligents (en anglais Smart Contracts) sont des protocoles informatiques qui facilitent, vérifient et exécutent la négociation ou l'exécution d'un contrat, ou qui rendent une clause contractuelle inutile (car rattachée au contrat intelligent). Les contrats intelligents ont généralement une interface utilisateur et émulent la logique des clauses contractuelles.


Name.

The river has two names - Chaliyar and Beypore puzha, of which the former is more popular. The river meets the Lakshadweep Sea at an 'azhi' (estuary), the southern part of which is known as Chaliyam and northern part as Beypore. Thus the river gets the names Chaliyar and Beypore River. Unlike many other rivers in Kerala, Chaliyar does not dry up during the drought season in March and April.

Course.

The Chaliyar originates in the Western Ghats range at Elambalari Hills in the Wayanad Plateau of Kerala and flows through Malappuram District for most of its length and then for around 17 km it forms the boundary between Malappuram District and Kozhikode District before entering the city of Kozhikode for its final 10 km journey and finally empties into the Lakshadweep Sea. Six major streams Chaliyarpuzha, Punnapuzha, Kanjirapuzha, Karimpuzha, Iruvahnipuzha and Thottumukkam Puzha (Cherupuzha) constitute the Chaliyar River drainage system. Other important tributaries are Kurumanpuzha, Pandipuzha, Maradipuzha, Kuthirapuzha and Karakkodupuzha. Most of these rivers have their origin in the Nilgiri hills in the east and Wayanad hills in the north, where they form a number of rapids and waterfalls. Near the origin of river are the Meenmutty Falls at coordinates by Vaduvanchal, Wayanad

Economy.

During late 19th century and early 20th century, the Chaliyar was extensively used as a waterway for carrying timber from the forest areas in and around Nilambur to the various mills in Kallai of Calicut city. Rafts made of logs were taken downstream during the monsoon season to Kallayi, where these were sawn to size in the timber mills dotting the banks of the river. Kallai was during this period one of the most important centers in the world for timber business. The place was famous for wood of superlative strength and durability like teak, rosewood, etc. Towards the second half of the 20th century, the activity came down drastically as tree felling was banned or strictly controlled with a view to stop deforestation. Many mills still operate in Kallai, though with far less output. Many have closed down.

Ecology.

Chaliyar River was in the news a few years ago because of the ecological damage caused by a pulp factory at Mavoor, that released effluents into the river and affected the marine life. This factory has since closed down.  In addition to these rivers some creeks also join Chaliyar from Neelithode, Poonkudi, Vadasseri, Edavanna, Kunduthodu and Mampad.

Tourism.

Elamaram is a village in the Indian state of Kerala. It is situated near Edavannappara in Malappuram District of Kerala. This village is very scenic as it is on the bank of Chaliyar. There is a ferry service here that can take you to the northern side of the Chaliyar river. The ticket is Rs.5.00 and the motor boat service is available every half an hour between 6.40 a.m. and 8.40 p.m. including Sundays.

Ghost Town.

Across the river Chaliyar lies the abandoned Grasim Industries factory which once employed 2,000 employees. Environmental agitations in 1998 caused the closure of the factory and the entire village went bankrupt because of the sudden development and eleven people even committed suicide because of not being able to face unexpected poverty.

Pilgrimage.

The Konnara Dargah is three kilometres away from Elamaram on the bank of the Chaliyar river. It is the holy resting place of a Muslim saint where hundreds of pilgrims visit regularly.

Chaliyar is the fourth longest river in Kerala at 169 km in length. The Chaliyar is also known as Chulika River or Beypore River as it nears the sea. Nilambur, Edavanna, Areekode, Kizhuparamba, Cheruvadi, Edavannappara, Mavoor, Peruvayal, Feroke and Beypore are some of the towns/villages situated along the banks of Chaliyar.

Le (connu aussi sous les noms de "Chulika" ou "Beypore") est un fleuve indien d'une longueur de, il est le grand cours d'eau de l’État du Kerala.


History.

Excite originally started as "Architext" in June 1993 at a garage in Cupertino, California by Graham Spencer, Joe Kraus, Mark VanHaren, Ryan McIntyre, Ben Lutch and Martin Reinfried, who were all students at Stanford University. The goal was to create software to manage the vast information on the World Wide Web. In July 1994, International Data Group paid them US$80,000 to develop an online service. In January 1995, Vinod Khosla (a former Stanford student), a partner at the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, arranged a US$250,000 "first round" backing for the project, with US$1.5 million provided over a ten-month period. Soon thereafter, Geoff Yang, of Institutional Venture Partners, introduced an additional US$1.5 million in financing and Excite was formally launched in October 1995.  In January 1996, George Bell joined Excite as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Excite also purchased two search engines (Magellan and WebCrawler) and signed exclusive distribution agreements with Netscape, Microsoft and Apple, in addition to other companies. Jim Bellows, then 72, was hired by Excite in 1994 to figure out how to present the content in a journalistic manner. He paid good journalists to write brief reviews of web sites. However, users wanted to get directly to the content and skipped the reviews, so the partnership with Bellows ended in 1998. Excite's original website design was mostly based on the orange color. In 1997 it was redesigned with a black and yellow theme, which mostly continues to this day.  On April 4, 1996, Excite went public with an initial offering of two million shares. Its offering was however overshadowed by its biggest rival, Yahoo!, which also went public at the same time. Excite's six founders became millionaires after the offering. In November 1996, America Online (AOL) agreed to make Excite its exclusive search and directory service, in return of a larger 20 percent share in Excite and sale of WebCrawler. In June 1997, Intuit, maker of Quicken and TurboTax, purchased a 19% stake in Excite and finalized a seven-year partnership deal. On October 16, 1997, Excite purchased Netbot, a comparison shopping agent. At the same time Intuit announced the launch of "Excite Business & Investing". Later that year a deal was finalized with Ticketmaster to provide direct online ticketing. On March 31, 1998, Excite reported a net loss of approximately $30.2 million and according to its first quarter report it had only enough available capital to meet obligations through December. Content from Excite's portal was collated from over 100 different sources. Excite was the first portal to start offering free e-mail, and this step was followed by rivals Yahoo! and Lycos.  A November 1997 press release showed that there were about 11.8 million unique visitors to the Excite "network" during a 28-day period from September to October.  In December 1998, Yahoo! was in negotiations to purchase Excite for $5.5 billion to $6 billion. However, prompted by Kleiner Perkins, @Home Network's Chairman and CEO, Thomas Jermoluk met with Excite's chairman and CEO George Bell on December 19, and Excite was subsequently acquired by @Home Network, on January 19, 1999. At this time, Excite was the sixth largest Internet portal by traffic. At one point, Microsoft was also interested in Excite, and had plans to merge it into its own MSN.com portal.  According to Justin Rohrlich, writing for Minyanville.com, later in 1999, two graduate students at Stanford University, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, decided that Google, the search engine they had developed, was taking up time they should have been using to study. They went to Bell and offered it to him for $1 million, but Bell rejected the offer, and later threw Vinod Khosla, one of Excite's venture capitalists, out of his office after he had negotiated Brin and Page down to $750,000. Excite's refusal to buy what became a $900 billion company by 2019 was labeled by Rohrlich a "stupid business decision". In a 2014 podcast and later again to CNBC, then-CEO of Excite, George Bell, said that the deal fell apart because Larry Page wanted Excite's search technologies to be replaced by Google's, to which Bell did not agree on.

Excite@Home.

The US$6.7 billion merger of Excite and @Home Network in 1999 became one of the largest mergers of two Internet companies at the time. @Home's high-speed Internet services and existing portal were combined with Excite's search engine and portal, with a move towards personalized web portal content following the merger. The new company was named "Excite@Home" (the stock symbol and the company's name in regulatory filing records remained as "At Home Corporation" (ATHM)) and, six months after the merger, Tom Jermoluk stepped down as CEO of Excite@Home. Excite's George Bell, who was the President of the Excite division of @Home after the merger, became the new CEO of the combined Excite@Home, whilst Jermoluk remained Chairman of the Board. The merger was billed as a "new media network for the 21st century."  Following the merger, the Excite division purchased iMall, as well as online greeting card company, Blue Mountain Arts. Excite also acquired photo sharing company Webshots. Excite furthermore paid for sponsorship of Infiniti Indy car driver Eddie Cheever, Jr., through the 2000 and 2001 racing seasons. However, the merger between Excite and @Home fell disastrously short of expectations. Online advertising revenue plummeted, while cable network ISP revenue continued to grow. On September 21, 2000, after stock value had dropped 90%, George Bell announced plans to step down as CEO within six months. On April 23, 2001, Excite@Home announced Patti S. Hart, the former CEO of Telocity, would become its third CEO in three years. In the same announcement, George Bell resigned and left the company completely. The company also reported first-quarter net loss of $61.6 million, compared with a loss of $4.6 million in the same period the prior year.  The search engine Magellan, which Excite had purchased in 1996, was closed down in May 2001.  On June 11, 2001, Excite@Home announced that it had raised $100 million in financing from Promethean Capital Management and Angelo Gordon & Co. Part of the deal was that the loan was repayable immediately if Excite@Home stock was delisted by NASDAQ. The loan, structured as a note convertible into shares of Excite, had an interest rate of zero. By August 20 of that year, Excite@Home had replaced its auditors Ernst & Young with PricewaterhouseCoopers. This triggered a demand from Promethean Capital Management and Angelo Gordon & Co for the immediate repayment of $50 million in debt. Furthermore, Cox Cable and Comcast announced that they would separate from Excite@Home by the first quarter of 2002.  On September 13, 2001, Excite@Home sold Blue Mountain Arts to American Greetings for less than 5% of what it had paid less than two years earlier. On October 1, 2001, Excite@Home filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. The company's remaining 1,350 employees were laid off over the following months. As part of the agreement, @Home's national high-speed fiber network access would be sold back to AT&T Corporation. @Home Liquidating Trust became the successor company to Excite@Home, charged with the sale of all assets of the former company.  At the end of 2001, the Webshots assets were purchased by the company's founders for $2.4 million in cash from the Bankruptcy Court.  Despite the financial problems, the Excite network of sites continued to draw many visitors in the U.S., albeit behind AOL Time Warner, Microsoft/MSN and Yahoo!

Excite Network.

During the collapse of Excite@Home, iWon.com, an Irvington, New York–based venture, had surreptitiously commenced the design of a new Excite website; iWon.com planned to acquire the Excite.com domain name and brand in the course of the bankruptcy proceedings. IWon.com eventually made a joint bid with Seattle's InfoSpace to purchase the domain name and brand. On November 28, 2001, the court accepted the bid and gave iWon less than three weeks to launch a new Excite portal. Bill Daugherty, iWon's founder and co-chief executive at the time, told "The New York Times", "I feel like a guy who lived through a hurricane, got pounded and pounded and managed to survive when everyone else was destroyed. Suddenly you walk outside and because of the storm you have beachfront property. That's what Excite is to us."  On December 16, 2001, iWon launched the new Excite portal and transferred millions of Excite users to its new home. iWon changed its corporate name to "Excite Network", and continued to operate Excite, iWon, and a third portal, MyWay. Outside of the United States, Excite Italia took control of portals in UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and Austria. InfoSpace, for its part, owned and operated the web search function on Excite, with Excite's own database now depreciated and instead using Overture and Inktomi search results, along with DMOZ (Open Directory) for the directory and Dogpile metasearch for news results. This proved to be a short-sighted arrangement as searching became big business on the Internet in the ensuing years.

Acquisition by Ask Jeeves.

Excite continued to operate until the Excite Network was acquired by Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) in March 2004. Ask Jeeves promised to rejuvenate iWon and Excite, but was not able to. Ask Jeeves management became distracted, according to the "East Bay Business Times", first by a search feature arms race with Google and Yahoo!, and then by its merger with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, announced in March 2005. "Hopefully, as we start to invest more and get the staff in place and some of the changes to the portal properties that we want, we hope to see (revenue) grow back in the latter half of the year," said Ask Jeeves CEO Steve Berkowitz during a conference call with analysts on April 27, 2005.  On May 20, 2005, Ask Jeeves made two announcements regarding the rejuvenation of the Excite brand. It first announced that it had acquired Excite Italia B.V. (the operator of Excite Europe), from Tiscali, S.p.A.; and, secondly, the company reported that it had reached a comprehensive settlement with InfoSpace regarding Excite in the United States, whereby Ask Jeeves and InfoSpace would share marketing costs and revenue from the Excite web search function. Regarding the acquisition, Ask Jeeves CEO, Steve Berkowitz, said, "We look forward to working with InfoSpace to enhance the search experience on Excite, now that our interests are aligned." On October 17, 2007, GOADV, a media company specializing in the generation of Internet "traffic", announced the completion of its acquisition of the European Excite group of companies.  Excite has never managed to recover back to its heyday popularity. It remains notable in Japan, however. Excite Japan, headquartered in Tokyo, was founded on August 4, 1997 in a partnership with Itochu. After Excite@Home's collapse, Itochu became majority shareholder of Excite Japan (90 percent).

Other services.

FreeLane by Excite.

In a bid to compete against Internet Service Providers like NetZero and Juno Online, which offered free or low-cost dial-up access in the United States, Excite started offering its own "no-pay" service for private customers by partnering with 1stUp.com to create FreeLane by Excite: 1stUp would allow Excite customers to download software in order for them to be able to log-on to the Internet. The software would then rotate a series of sponsored banner advertisements on the user's computer while they surfed the Internet. 1stUp.com soon went out of business, and Excite switched to another partner named WorldShare, rebranding FreeLane as FreeLane version 2.0. As of March 1, 2001 FreeLane was discontinued.

Ticketsmate.

Ticketsmate, in partnership with Excite, sells tickets to customers in the United States. The portal is essentially a ticket selling website where users can buy tickets and search through thousands of events and venues. The powerful search engine capabilities of the Excite server are utilized on this website to help the user search for tickets and events.

Excite Education.

Since 1999, Excite has also had an education portal that can be used by people to search for and apply for different degrees and online courses. The Excite Education portal features a list of thousands of educational institutes across America for prospective students to browse through and apply at.

Excite (stylized as excite) is a web portal launched in 1995 that provides a variety of content including news and weather, a metasearch engine, a web-based email, instant messaging, stock quotes, and a customizable user homepage. It is currently operated by IAC Applications (formerly Mindspark) of IAC, and Excite Networks. In the U.S., the main Excite site has long been a personal start page called My Excite. Excite also operates an e-mail service, although it is no longer open for new customers.

Excite est une collection de sites et services Web, lancée en décembre 1995. excite est un service en ligne offrant une variété de contenu, y compris un portail Internet montrant des nouvelles, la météo, un moteur de recherche, un webmail, une messagerie instantanée, des cotations boursières, et une page d'accueil personnalisable. Le contenu est assemblé à partir de plus de 100 sources différentes.


Background.

The bot was created by Microsoft's Technology and Research and Bing divisions, and named "Tay" after the acronym "Thinking About You". Although Microsoft initially released few details about the bot, sources mentioned that it was similar to or based on Xiaoice, a similar Microsoft project in China. "Ars Technica" reported that, since late 2014 Xiaoice had had "more than 40 million conversations apparently without major incident". Tay was designed to mimic the language patterns of a 19-year-old American girl, and to learn from interacting with human users of Twitter.

Initial release.

Tay was released on Twitter on March 23, 2016 under the name TayTweets and handle @TayandYou. It was presented as "The AI with zero chill". Tay started replying to other Twitter users, and was also able to caption photos provided to it into a form of Internet memes. "Ars Technica" reported Tay experiencing topic "blacklisting": Interactions with Tay regarding "certain hot topics such as Eric Garner (killed by New York police in 2014) generate safe, canned answers".  Some users on Twitter began tweeting politically incorrect phrases, teaching it inflammatory messages revolving around common themes on the internet, such as "redpilling" and "Gamergate". As a result, the robot began releasing racist and sexually-charged messages in response to other Twitter users. Artificial intelligence researcher Roman Yampolskiy commented that Tay's misbehavior was understandable because it was mimicking the deliberately offensive behavior of other Twitter users, and Microsoft had not given the bot an understanding of inappropriate behavior. He compared the issue to IBM's Watson, which had begun to use profanity after reading entries from the website Urban Dictionary. Many of Tay's inflammatory tweets were a simple exploitation of Tay's "repeat after me" capability. It is not publicly known whether this "repeat after me" capability was a built-in feature, or whether it was a learned response or was otherwise an example of complex behavior. Not all of the inflammatory responses involved the "repeat after me" capability.

Suspension.

Soon, Microsoft began deleting Tay's inflammatory tweets. Abby Ohlheiser of "The Washington Post" theorized that Tay's research team, including editorial staff, had started to influence or edit Tay's tweets at some point that day, pointing to examples of almost identical replies by Tay, asserting that "Gamer Gate sux. All genders are equal and should be treated fairly." From the same evidence, Gizmodo concurred that Tay "seems hard-wired to reject Gamer Gate". A "#JusticeForTay" campaign protested the alleged editing of Tay's tweets.  Within 16 hours of its release and after Tay had tweeted more than 96,000 times, Microsoft suspended the Twitter account for adjustments, saying that it suffered from a "coordinated attack by a subset of people" that "exploited a vulnerability in Tay." Following the account being taken offline, a hashtag was created called #FreeTay.  Madhumita Murgia of "The Telegraph" called Tay "a public relations disaster", and suggested that Microsoft's strategy would be "to label the debacle a well-meaning experiment gone wrong, and ignite a debate about the hatefulness of Twitter users." However, Murgia described the bigger issue as Tay being "artificial intelligence at its very worst - and it's only the beginning".  On March 25, Microsoft confirmed that Tay had been taken offline. Microsoft released an apology on its official blog for the controversial tweets posted by Tay. Microsoft was "deeply sorry for the unintended offensive and hurtful tweets from Tay", and would "look to bring Tay back only when we are confident we can better anticipate malicious intent that conflicts with our principles and values".

Second release and shutdown.

While testing Tay, Microsoft accidentally re-released the bot on Twitter on March 30, 2016. Able to tweet again, Tay released some drug-related tweets, including "kush! [I'm smoking kush infront the police] 🍂" and "puff puff pass?" However, the account soon became stuck in a repetitive loop of tweeting "You are too fast, please take a rest", several times a second. Because these tweets mentioned its own username in the process, they appeared in the feeds of 200,000+ Twitter followers, causing annoyance to some. The bot was quickly taken offline again, in addition to Tay's Twitter account being made private so new followers must be accepted before they can interact with Tay. In response, Microsoft said Tay was inadvertently put online during testing.  A few hours after the incident, Microsoft software developers attempted to undo the damage done by Tay and announced a vision of "conversation as a platform" using various bots and programs. Microsoft has stated that they intend to re-release Tay "once it can make the bot safe" but has not made any public efforts to do so.

Legacy.

In December 2016, Microsoft released Tay's successor, a chatterbot named Zo. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, said that Tay "has had a great influence on how Microsoft is approaching AI," and has taught the company the importance of taking accountability.  In July 2019, Microsoft Cybersecurity Field CTO Diana Kelley spoke about how the company followed up on Tay's failings: "Learning from Tay was a really important part of actually expanding that team's knowledge base, because now they're also getting their own diversity through learning".

Tay was an artificial intelligence chatter bot that was originally released by Microsoft Corporation via Twitter on March 23, 2016; it caused subsequent controversy when the bot began to post inflammatory and offensive tweets through its Twitter account, causing Microsoft to shut down the service only 16 hours after its launch. According to Microsoft, this was caused by trolls who "attacked" the service as the bot made replies based on its interactions with people on Twitter. It was replaced with Zo.

Tay est une intelligence artificielle et agent conversationnel lâché le par Microsoft sur la plateforme Twitter. Le bot a été créé par des équipes du Microsoft Technology and Research et de Bing.