![[USA Today] Puntata del 1992](http://web.archive.org./web/20110623025346im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DyXfe9tGDVI/0.jpg "[USA Today] Puntata del 1992")
![The Usa Shrine (宇佐神宮, Usa Jingū?) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Usa in Ōita Prefecture in Japan. Emperor Ojin, who was deified as Hachiman-jin (the god of military power), is said to be enshrined in all the sites dedicated to him; and the first and earliest of these was at Usa in the early 8th century.[1] The Usa Shrine has long been the recipient of Imperial patronage; and its prestige is considered second only to the Ise Shrine.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110623025346im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/71/77/3161738c17d4965ada12b7aaf570_grande.jpg "The Usa Shrine (宇佐神宮, Usa Jingū?) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Usa in Ōita Prefecture in Japan. Emperor Ojin, who was deified as Hachiman-jin (the god of military power), is said to be enshrined in all the sites dedicated to him; and the first and earliest of these was at Usa in the early 8th century.[1] The Usa Shrine has long been the recipient of Imperial patronage; and its prestige is considered second only to the Ise Shrine.")
| Name | USA Today |
|---|---|
| Caption | The paper's January 9, 2008 front page |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Foundation | September 15, 1982 |
| Owners | Gannett Company, Inc. |
| Price | $1 (Monday to Friday)No weekend editions available. |
| Headquarters | 7950 Jones Branch Drive McLean, Virginia, 22108 |
| Sister newspapers | USA WeekendUSA Today Sports Weekly |
| Editor | David Hunke, Publisher John Hillkirk, Editor Brian Gallagher, Editorial page editor |
| Circulation | 1.8 million copies (As of March 2010) |
| Issn | 0734-7456 |
| Website | USAToday.com |
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the paper has 1.8 million copies as of March 2010 Currently, USA Today sells for US$1.00 in newsstands; however, it is often found free at hotels and airports that distribute it to their customers.
The paper does not print on Saturdays and Sundays. USA Today prints each complete story on the front page of the respective section with exception to the cover story. The cover story is a longer story that requires a jump (readers must turn to another page in the paper to complete the story, usually the next page of that section). On certain days, the news or sports section will take up two paper sections, and there will be a second cover story within the second section.
Each section is denoted by a certain color to differentiate sections beyond lettering and is seen in a box the top-left corner of the first page, with News being blue (section A), Money with green (section B), red for Sports (section C), and purple for Life (section D). Orange is used for bonus sections (section E or above), which are published occasionally such as for business travel trends and the Olympics; other bonus sections for sports (such as for the PGA Tour preview, NCAA Basketball Tournaments, Memorial Day auto races (Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600), NFL opening weekend and the Super Bowl) previously used the orange color, but now use the sports red in their bonus sections. On days featuring bonus sections or business holidays (when the four pages of stock tables are unneeded), the Money and Life sections are usually combined into one section, while combinations of the Friday Life editions into one section are common during quiet weeks.
In many ways, USA Today is set up to break the typical newspaper layout. Some examples of that divergence from tradition include using the left-hand quarter of each section as reefers, sometimes using sentence-length blurbs to describe stories inside. It is also the only paper in the United States to utilize the Gulliver font, which is used for both headlines and stories. Being a national newspaper, USA Today cannot focus on the weather for any one city. Therefore, the entire back page of the News section is used for weather maps and temperature lists for the entire United States and many cities throughout the world, with data provided by Weather Channel meteorologists. In the bottom left-hand corner of the weather page is a graphic called "Weather Focus," which explains different meteorological phenomena. On some days, the Weather Focus could be a photo of a rare meteorological event. On Mondays, the Money section uses its back page to present an unusual graphic depicting the performance of various industry groups as a function of quarterly, monthly and weekly movements against the S&P; 500.
Book coverage, including reviews and a national sales chart is seen on Thursdays in Life, with the official full A.C. Nielsen television ratings chart printed on Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on release. The paper also publishes the Mediabase survey for several genres of music, based on radio airplay spins on Tuesdays, along with their own chart of the top ten singles in general on Wednesdays. Advertising coverage is seen in the Monday Money section, which often includes a review of a current television ad, and after Super Bowl Sunday, a review of the ads aired during the broadcast with the results of the Ad Track live survey.
.]] One of the staples of the News section is a state-by-state roundup of headlines. The summaries consist of paragraph-length Associated Press reports highlighting one story of note in each state, the District of Columbia, and one U.S. territory.
Some traditions have been retained, however. The lead story still appears on the upper-right hand of the front page. Commentary and political cartoons occupy the last few pages of the News section. Stock and mutual fund data are presented in the Money section. But USA Today is sufficiently different in aesthetics to be recognized on sight, even in a mix of other newspapers, such as at a newsstand. The overall design and layout of USA Today has been described as both neo-Victorian and Impressionist.
Also, in most of the sections' front pages, on the lower left hand corner, are "USA Today Snapshots", which give statistics of various lifestyle interests according to the section it is in (for example, a snapshot in "Life" could show how many people tend to watch a certain genre of television show based upon the type of mood they are in at the time). These "Snapshots" are shown through graphs which are made up of various illustrations of objects that roughly pertain to the graphs subject matter (using the example above, the graph's bars could be made up of several TV sets, or ended by one). These are usually loosely based on research by a national institute (with the source in the box below the graph in fine print to show credit).
Starting in February 2008, the newspaper added a magazine supplement called Open Air, appearing several times a year.
In March 2004, the newspaper was hit by a major scandal when it was revealed that Jack Kelley, a long-time USA Today correspondent and nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, had been fabricating stories. The newspaper did an extensive review of Kelley's stories, including sending investigators to Cuba, Israel and Jordan, and sifting through stacks of hotel records to determine if Kelley was in the locations he claimed to be filing stories from. Kelley resigned, but denied the charges. The paper's publisher, Craig Moon, issued a public apology on the front page of the newspaper. Many remarked on the similarity of this scandal to that of the Jayson Blair situation at the New York Times, although it received less national attention.
In May 2006, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had been working with AT&T;, Verizon, and BellSouth to compile “the largest database in the world,” according to the anonymous sources inside the agency that went public. This allowed the paper to uncover a new facet of the agency and further upset the White House after the New York Times revealed the Bush administration authorized the NSA to wiretap international phone calls and e-mails traveling within the U.S.
Both stories challenged the administration's ability to spy on alleged terrorists without a judge’s approval, a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act established in 1978. But unlike the Times' story, the USA Today story provoked private telecommunications companies to enter the debate amid the initial developments for the next Telecommunications Act, popularly nicknamed the "net neutrality" or "equal internet access" bill.
On June 29, 2006, a press release for AT&T; stated, “The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T; may neither confirm nor deny AT&T;'s participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause ‘exceptionally grave harm to national security’ and would violate both civil and criminal statutes.” BellSouth, which announced its merger with AT&T; on March 5, denies releasing any records to the NSA and requested the newspaper retract claims in its story asserting BellSouth “provided phone records of its customers to NSA.” “Both BellSouth and Verizon Communications Inc., another company cited in the story, denied this week that they provided the calling records,” according to the AP. On June 30, USA Today published a statement: “The denial was unexpected. The newspaper had spoken with BellSouth and Verizon for several weeks about the substance of the report.”
On August 17, 2006, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit issued a 43-page ruling stating the program is unconstitutional, but did not immediately suspend the program and grants a temporary stay, in which the American Civil Liberties Union continued fighting the program's legality in the case ACLU v. NSA.
Taylor’s ruling states the program violates the FISA court standards, which provide oversight for all wire taps. The FISA court provides retroactive review of all government wiretaps and allows all government agencies 72 hours before presenting their case for wiretapping before the court. “There are no hereditary kings in America and no such powers created by the constitution,” Taylor writes.
In a USA Today editorial, the staff wrote, “Much has changed since terrorists rammed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But one thing that has not is that America is a constitutional democracy with checks and balances. A ruling such as Thursday’s is a useful and forceful affirmation of that.”
The White House issued a statement saying that it disagreed with the decision and declared that the program was legal.
Finally in 2007, the Taylor ruling was reversed for lack of evidence by the Supreme Court, which said that the ACLU had no evidence that its own communications had been intercepted without a warrant, and therefore the ACLU did not have a basis to challenge the legality of the wiretaps. The majority decision denied that the ACLU had the standing to bring the case to court. The Supreme Court declined to rule on the legality of the wiretap program.
Category:Gannett publications Category:National newspapers published in the United States Category:Publications established in 1982 Category:Companies based in McLean, Virginia
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| Caption | Galifianakis in Austin, Texas, March 19, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Zacharius Knight Galifianakis |
| Birth date | October 01, 1969 |
| Birth place | Wilkesboro, North Carolina, United States |
| Death date | |
| Medium | Stand-up, film, television, music |
| Nationality | American |
| Active | 1996–present |
| Genre | Observational comedy, musical comedy |
| Notable work | Tru CallingThe HangoverG-ForceDue Date |
Zacharius Knight "Zach" Galifianakis ( ; born October 1, 1969) is a Greek-American stand-up comedian and actor, known for his numerous film and television appearances including his own Comedy Central Presents special. While initially more of an "underground" comedian, he has garnered mainstream attention for his role in the Todd Phillips-directed comedy film The Hangover.
Galifianakis attended Wilkes Central High School, and subsequently North Carolina State University, where he majored in communication.
He is currently in a relationship with Quinn Lundberg, co-founder of the charity Growing Voices.
He is a fan of Eckhart Tolle.
Galifianakis hosted his own late night variety show on VH1 in 2002 called Late World with Zack Galifianakis. It featured many of his friends and regular performers from the LA comedy and music venue Largo where he appeared frequently during this time period. One episode featured Largo regulars Jon Brion and Rhett Miller as musical guests. He had his own episode of Comedy Central Presents, which first aired in September 2001. It included a stand-up routine, a segment with a piano, and concluding with an a cappella group (The Night Owls, introduced as his "12 ex-girlfriends") singing "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles while he made jokes. In 2002, he was the host of his own talk show called Late World with Zach. His next television role was as a coroner named Davis in the Fox drama Tru Calling, which lasted from 2003 to 2005. He also completed the pilot Speed Freaks for Comedy Central.
Galifianakis is currently a member of the regular cast playing a supporting role in the HBO series Bored to Death. He hosted Saturday Night Live on March 6, 2010, during the show's 35th season, during which he shaved his beard mid-show for a sketch, and then closed the show wearing a fake beard.
In 2010, he starred in several films, including Dinner for Schmucks, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Due Date.
Galifianakis will appear in the sequel to The Hangover. In October 2010, it was reported that Galifianakis may have prevented Mel Gibson from making a cameo appearance in The Hangover Part II.
On October 29, 2010, while debating marijuana legalization on the show HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Galifianakis appeared to have smoked a marijuana joint on live television which host Bill Maher denied in an interview with Wolf Blitzer during an episode of "The Situation Room".
|- |Dinner for Schmucks | Therman Murch | |- | It's Kind of a Funny Story | Bobby | |- | Due Date | Ethan Tremblay/Ethan Chase | |- | 2011 | | Alan Garner | Filming |}
Category:1969 births Category:Actors from North Carolina Category:American actors Category:American comedians Category:American comedy musicians Category:American film actors Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television writers
Category:North Carolina State University alumni Category:People from Wilkes County, North Carolina Category:Living people Category:Comedians
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| Name | Zac Efron |
|---|---|
| Caption | Efron at the 2007 Australia Kids Choice Awards |
| Birthname | Zachary David Alexander Efron |
| Birthdate | October 18, 1987 |
| Birthplace | San Luis Obispo, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Yearsactive | 2002–present |
Efron has said that he would "flip out" if he got a "B" and not an "A" in school, and has also described himself as having been a class clown. Efron's father encouraged him to begin acting when Efron was 11 years old. worked in a theater called The Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville, Efron was later signed to the Creative Artists Agency.
In 2006, Efron starred in the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical as Troy Bolton, the popular student and captain of the basketball team. The film, which he initially made with "low expectations", In August 2006, Efron won a Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Star and the TV — Choice Chemistry categories, shared with Vanessa Hudgens. The film's cast, along with Efron, toured Sydney, Australia, London, England, and other locations to promote the film.
Shortly after High School Musical aired, Efron debuted with two simultaneous charted songs on Billboard Hot 100 on February 4, 2006, with "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "Breaking Free", a duet with Vanessa Hudgens from the film. On the following week's chart, Efron had five simultaneous song credits from High School Musical: "Get'cha Head in the Game", "Start of Something New", "What I've Been Looking For: Reprise", "We're All in This Together" and "Breaking Free." "We're All in This Together" was credited to the whole High School Musical cast. "Breaking Free", at the time, made the fastest climb in the history of the Billboard charts, from #86 to #4 between the two weeks; the record was beaten by Beyoncé and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar". Efron also appeared in the 2006 Disney Channel Games as captain of the Red Team.
Efron's singing talents were disputed when it was revealed that Drew Seeley's voice was blended with his on the soundtrack of High School Musical. An August 23, 2007 interview in Rolling Stone magazine revealed that he had been cast in High School Musical after the songs were written, and the songs (written for a tenor) were somewhat out of his baritone vocal range.
In 2006, Efron was cast as Link Larkin in a film version of Hairspray released on July 20, 2007. Efron performed all of his own vocals in the role, which was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, from September 5 to December 2, 2006. He cut and dyed his hair dark brown and gained about 15 pounds for the role. Efron's performance and the film received positive reviews. The film set a new record, becoming the most watched basic cable program in U.S. history, with 17.2 million viewers. Efron also appeared on the cover of the August 2007 edition of Rolling Stone. The article about him revealed that he hoped to someday play an action hero. Efron presented the 2007 Teen Choice Award for "Favorite Movie" along with Queen Latifah, and later that year, he co-hosted the Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards with The Veronicas on October 10 in Sydney.
Efron reprised his role in , which was theatrically released on October 24, 2008. His next role was in 17 Again, a high school-set comedy-drama produced by Adam Shankman and based on a pitch by Jason Filardi; the plot involved an adult who is transformed into a 17-year old (played by Efron). 17 Again was released in 2009.
In early 2008, Efron was cast in the lead role in the film Me and Orson Welles. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar, where he becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant. The film was shot in the Isle of Man, London and New York, during February — April 2008. It was introduced to North America via the Toronto Film Festival on September 5, 6, and 11, 2008 and was released in 2009. Efron was also scheduled to star in Paramount's musical remake of the film Footloose, and has said that he would like to add his "own little bit of flair" to the role originated by Kevin Bacon. Efron was quoted as saying that while it was a promising gig, he left the project because he "was looking for a new challenge, and this was another musical."
On April 8, 2009, Efron's participation in a comedic short video entitled "Zac Efron's Pool Party" for the website Funny Or Die was released for public viewing. On April 11, 2009, Efron hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live. In early June 2009 it was confirmed that Efron would be making a guest appearance during the sixth season of HBO's comedy series Entourage.
Efron starred in a series of advertisements along with Kristen Bell and Sean Combs promoting the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and the host, Aziz Ansari. In 2009, Efron signed on to play title character in the movie Charlie St. Cloud. The film was released on July 30, 2010.
In 2009, Efron was revealed to be connected to the live action rendition of the Japanese anime Full Metal Panic, simply entitled Panic. He is also slated to star in the title role of the live-action adaptation of the Jonny Quest cartoons. Additional projects include Einstein Theory and an adaptation of Fire, by Image Comics.
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2002 | Firefly | Young Simon Tam | Episode "Safe" |- | 2003 | | Luke Tomello | Episode "Without Consent" |- | 2003 | ER | Bobby Neville | Episode "Dear Abby" |- | 2005 | Summerland | Cameron Bale | 16 episodes |- | 2005 | | Seth Dawson | Episode "" |- | 2005 | | Davey Hunkerhoff | Episode "Davey Hunkerhoff / Ratted Out" |- | 2006 | Heist | Pizza Delivery Guy | Episode "Pilot" |- | 2006 | | Trevor | Episode "Odd Couples" |- | 2006 | NCIS | Danny | Episode "Deception" |- | 2008 | Robot Chicken | Billy Joel | Episode "Tell My Mom" |- | 2009 | Robot Chicken | Harry Potter | Episode "I Love Her" |- | 2009 | Saturday Night Live | Himself | 2 episodes |- | 2009 | Entourage | Himself | Episode "Security Briefs" |}
Category:1987 births Category:American agnostics Category:American child actors Category:American child singers Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American television actors Category:Actors from California Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish agnostics Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish singers Category:Living people Category:People from San Luis Obispo, California Category:Arroyo Grande, California
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| Name | Robin Williams |
|---|---|
| Caption | At "Stand Up for Heroes", a benefit organized by the Bob Woodruff Family Fund to raise money for injured U.S. servicemen (2007) |
| Birth name | Robin McLaurim Williams |
| Birth date | July 21, 1951 |
| Birth place | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Medium | Stand-up, Film, Television |
| Nationality | American |
| Active | 1972–present |
| Genre | Character comedy, Physical comedy, Improvisational comedy, Satire/Political Satire, Observational comedy, Blue Comedy |
| Influences | Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters |
| Influenced | Conan O'Brien, Frank Caliendo, Dat Phan, Jo Koy |
| Spouse | Valerie Velardi (1978–1988) 1 child Marsha Garces Williams (1989–2008) 2 children |
| Website | RobinWilliams.com |
Robin McLaurim Williams (born July 21, 1951) is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.
Williams has described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mother. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high-school drama department.
In 1973, Williams was one of only 20 students accepted into the freshman class at the Juilliard School, and one of only two students to be accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year, the other being Christopher Reeve. As Mork, Williams improvised much of his dialogue and devised plenty of rapid-fire verbal and physical comedy, speaking in a high, nasal voice. Mork's appearance was so popular with viewers that it led to a spin-off hit television sitcom, Mork and Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. Although playing the same character as in his appearance in Happy Days, the show was set in the present day, in Boulder, Colorado, instead of the late '50s in Milwaukee. Mork was an extremely popular character, featured on posters, coloring books, lunchboxes, and other merchandise.
Starting in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Williams began to reach a wider audience with his standup comedy, including three HBO comedy specials, Off The Wall (1978), An Evening with Robin Williams (1982), and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986). Also in 1986, Williams reached an ever wider audience to exhibit his style at the 58th Academy Awards show.
His stand-up work has been a consistent thread through his career, as is seen by the success of his one-man show (and subsequent DVD) Robin Williams Live on Broadway (2002). He was voted 13th on Comedy Central's list "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time" in 2004.
After some encouragement from his friend Whoopi Goldberg, he was set to make a guest appearance in the 1991 episode, "A Matter of Time", but he had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict; Matt Frewer took his place as a time-traveling con man, Professor Berlingoff Rasmussen.
Williams also appeared on an episode of the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Season 3, Episode 9: November 16, 2000). During a game of "Scenes from a Hat", the scene "What Robin Williams is thinking right now" was drawn, and Williams stated "I have a career. What the hell am I doing here?"
On December 4, 2010, he appeared with Robert De Niro on SNL in the sketch What Up with That.
His role as the Genie in the animated film Aladdin (1992) was instrumental in establishing the importance of star power in voice actor casting. Williams also used his voice talents in , as the holographic Dr. Know in the 2001 feature A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the 2005 animated feature Robots, the 2006 Academy Award winning Happy Feet, and an uncredited vocal performance in 2006's Everyone's Hero. Furthermore, he was the voice of The Timekeeper, a former attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort about a time-traveling robot who encounters Jules Verne and brings him to the future.
In 1998, he won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role as a psychologist in Good Will Hunting. although the part of the Joker was played by Heath Ledger, who went on to win, posthumously, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He was portrayed by Chris Diamantopoulos in the made-for-TV biopic Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (2005), documenting the actor's arrival in Hollywood as a struggling comedian.
Williams and Disney had a bitter falling-out, and as a result Dan Castellaneta voiced the Genie in The Return of Jafar, the Aladdin animated television series, and had recorded his voice for Aladdin and the King of Thieves. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired from Disney and replaced by former 20th Century Fox production head Joe Roth (whose last act for Fox was greenlighting Williams' film Mrs. Doubtfire), Roth arranged for a public apology to Williams by Disney. Williams agreed to perform in Hollywood Pictures' Jack, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and even agreed to voice the Genie again for the King Of Thieves sequel (for considerably more than scale), replacing all of Castellaneta's dialogue.
When Williams re-teamed with Doubtfire director Chris Columbus for 1999's Bicentennial Man, Disney asked that the budget be cut by approximately $20 million, and when the film was released on Christmas Day, it flopped at the box office. Williams blamed Disney's marketing and the loss of content the film had suffered due to the budget cuts. As a result, Williams was again on bad terms with Disney, and Castellaneta was once again recruited to replace him as Genie in the Kingdom Hearts video game series and the House of Mouse TV series. The DVD release for Aladdin has no involvement whatsoever from Williams in the bonus materials, although some of his original recording sessions can be seen.
Robin Williams has recently made peace with the Walt Disney Company and in 2009 agreed to be inducted into the Disney hall of fame, designated as a Disney Legend.
After a six-year break, in August 2008 Williams announced a brand new 26-city tour titled "Weapons of Self Destruction". He was quoted as saying that this was his last chance to make cracks at the expense of the current Bush Administration, but by the time the show was staged only a few minutes covered that subject. The tour started at the end of September 2009, finishing in New York on December 3, and was the subject of an HBO special on December 8, 2009.
On April 30, 1989, he married Marsha Garces, his son's nanny who was already several months pregnant with his child. They have two children, Zelda Rae (born July 31, 1989) and Cody Alan (born November 25, 1991). However, in March 2008, Garces filed for divorce from Williams, citing irreconcilable differences.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had an addiction to cocaine; he has since quit. Williams was a close friend and frequent partier alongside John Belushi. He says the death of his friend and the birth of his son prompted him to quit drugs: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped too."
On August 9, 2006, Williams checked himself in to a substance-abuse rehabilitation center (located in Newberg, Oregon), later admitting that he was an alcoholic. His publicist delivered the announcement:
"After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family. He asks that you respect his and his family's privacy during this time. He looks forward to returning to work this fall to support his upcoming film releases."
On August 20, 2007, Williams' elder brother, Robert Todd Williams, died of complications from heart surgery performed a month earlier.
Williams is a member of the Episcopal Church. He has described his denomination in a comedy routine as "Catholic Lite — same rituals, half the guilt."
While studying at Juilliard, Williams befriended Christopher Reeve. They had several classes together in which they were the only students, and they remained good friends for the rest of Reeve's life. Williams visited Reeve after the horse riding accident that rendered him a quadriplegic, and cheered him up by pretending to be an eccentric Russian doctor (similar to his role in Nine Months). Williams claimed that he was there to perform a colonoscopy. Reeve stated that he laughed for the first time since the accident and knew that life was going to be okay.
Williams lives in San Francisco.
A fan of professional road cycling, he was a regular on the US Postal and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team bus and hotels during the years Lance Armstrong dominated the Tour de France. He owns over 50 bicycles.
He also enjoys rugby union and is a big fan of former All Black, Jonah Lomu.
Williams is a supporter of eco-friendly vehicles. He currently drives a Toyota Prius, and is on the waiting list for an Aptera 2 Series electric vehicle. Williams has recently announced that he would love to play the role of "The Riddler" in the next installment to the "Batman" films by director Christopher Nolan, though Nolan has stated "The Riddler" will not be in the next and final installment.
Williams has performed with the USO for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In response to the 2010 Canterbury Earthquake, Robin Williams donated all proceeds of his "Weapons of Self Destruction" Christchurch performance to helping rebuild the New Zealand city. Half the proceeds were donated to the Red Cross and half to the mayoral building fund with the words "I hope this donation will go some way to helping the extensive rebuilding effort in the city."
Williams appeared in the music video of Bobby McFerrin's hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy".
Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from Chicago, Illinois Category:American actors of English descent Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of French descent Category:American comedians of Irish descent Category:American Episcopalians Category:American film actors Category:American impressionists (entertainers) Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:California Democrats Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Juilliard School alumni
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Marin County, California Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Comedians
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Matt Cutts works for the Search Quality group in Google, specializing in search engine optimization issues. He is well known in the SEO community for enforcing the Google Webmaster Guidelines and cracking down on link spam. Cutts also advises the public on how to get better website visibility in Google as well as webmaster issues in general, and is generally an outspoken and public face of Google.
Before working at the Search Quality group at Google, Cutts worked at the ads engineering group and SafeSearch, Google's family filter.
Cutts is one of the co-inventors listed upon a Google patent related to search engines and web spam, which was the first to publicly propose using historical data to identify link spam.
In August 2006, Cutts allegedly admitted to using the identity GoogleGuy in posts to web related boards, though Cutts later said he was quoted out of context.
In November 2010, Cutts started a contest challenging developers to make Microsoft Kinect more compatible with the Linux operating system. At the time, Microsoft had stated that the use of Kinect with devices other than the Xbox 360 was not supported by them.
Category:Google employees Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:University of Kentucky alumni
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| Name | Gayle King |
|---|---|
| Caption | King at the 2010 Time 100 Gala. |
| Birth date | December 28, 1954 |
| Birth place | Chevy Chase, Maryland,United States |
| Occupation | Magazine editor |
| Spouse | William G. Bumpus (1983-1993) (divorced) 2 children }} |
King joined O, The Oprah Magazine as an editor in 1999. She has also worked as a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning America. In September 2006, King began to host The Gayle King Show on XM Satellite Radio.
King was rumored to be considered as a replacement for both Star Jones Reynolds (in 2006) and Rosie O'Donnell (in 2007) as a host on The View, but neither of these came to fruition. King was also rumored to have been a potential replacement if co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck had left The View in May 2009.
King begins hosting new show, also called The Gayle King Show, on beginning the first week of 2011.
The King has indicated, at the risk of appearing "shallow", due to her being teased for her height as a child, that she prefers to date men taller than herself, who would be more likely to be empathetic to the problems of tall people, preferably around at least , although she wouldn't turn a man away for being only .
King is also friendly with Howard Stern, despite Stern's and Winfrey's criticisms of each other. As of 2009, King lives in the same Manhattan building as Robin Quivers, Howard Stern's long-time sidekick.
Category:American magazine editors Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Oprah Winfrey Category:People from Montgomery County, Maryland Category:African American radio personalities Category:African American television personalities
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| English name | Benedict XVI |
|---|---|
| Caption | The Pope during a general audience in 2010 |
| Birth name | Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger |
| Term start | 19 April 2005 () |
| Predecessor | John Paul II |
| Birth date | April 16, 1927 |
| Birthplace | Marktl, Bavaria, Germany |
| Other | Benedict |
| Nationality | German (along with Vatican citizenship) |
| Signature | Pope Benedict XVI Signature.svg |
After a long career as an academic, serving as a professor of theology at various German universities (he formally remains a professor at the University of Regensburg), he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome when he became Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important offices of the Roman Curia. At the time of his election as Pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals, and as such the primus inter pares among the cardinals.
Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI is theologically conservative and his teaching and prolific writings defend traditional Catholic doctrine and values. During his papacy, Benedict XVI has advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many developed countries. He views relativism's denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular, as the central problem of the 21st century. He teaches the importance of both the Catholic Church and an understanding of God's redemptive love. He has reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Pope Benedict has also revived a number of traditions including elevating the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Pope Benedict is the founder and patron of the Ratzinger Foundation, a charitable organisation, which makes money from the sale of his books and essays in order to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Born in 1927 in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany, Ratzinger had a distinguished career as a university theologian before being appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising by Pope Paul VI (1963–78). Shortly afterwards, he was made a cardinal in the consistory of 27 June 1977. He was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II in 1981 and was also assigned the honorific title of the cardinal bishop of Velletri-Segni on 5 April 1993. In 1998, he was elected sub-dean of the College of Cardinals. And on 30 November 2002, he was elected dean, taking, as is customary, the title of Cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of Ostia. He was the first Dean of the College elected Pope since Paul IV (1555–59) and the first cardinal bishop elected Pope since Pius VIII (1829–30).
Even before becoming Pope, Ratzinger was one of the most influential men in the Roman Curia, and was a close associate of John Paul II. As Dean of the College of Cardinals, he presided over the funeral of John Paul II and over the Mass immediately preceding the 2005 conclave in which he was elected. During the service, he called on the assembled cardinals to hold fast to the doctrine of the faith. He was the public face of the church in the sede vacante period, although, technically, he ranked below the Camerlengo in administrative authority during that time. Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI affirms traditional Catholic doctrine.
In addition to his native German, Benedict XVI fluently speaks French and Italian. He also has a very good command of Latin and speaks English and Spanish adequately. Furthermore, he has some knowledge of Portuguese. He can read Ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew. He has stated that his first foreign language is French. He is a member of several scientific academies, such as the French Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart and Bach.
At the age of five, Ratzinger was in a group of children who welcomed the visiting Cardinal Archbishop of Munich with flowers. Struck by the Cardinal's distinctive garb, he later announced the very same day that he wanted to be a cardinal.
Ratzinger attended the elementary school in Aschau am Inn, which was renamed in his honour in 2009.
Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth — as membership was required by law for all 14-year old German boys after December 1939 — but was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings. His father was an enemy of Nazism, believing it conflicted with the Catholic faith. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and killed during the Aktion T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics. In 1943, while still in seminary, he was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps as Luftwaffenhelfer.
Ratzinger's 1953 dissertation was on St. Augustine and was entitled "The People and the House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church." His Habilitation (which qualified him for a professorship) was on Bonaventure. It was completed in 1957 and he became a professor of Freising College in 1958.
During this period, Ratzinger participated in the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). Ratzinger served as a peritus (theological consultant) to Cardinal Frings of Cologne. He was viewed during the time of the Council as a reformer, cooperating with radical Modernist theologians like Hans Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx. Ratzinger became an admirer of Karl Rahner, a well-known academic theologian of the Nouvelle Théologie and a proponent of church reform.
In 1966, Joseph Ratzinger was appointed to a chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen, where he was a colleague of Hans Küng. In his 1968 book Introduction to Christianity, he wrote that the pope has a duty to hear differing voices within the Church before making a decision, and he downplayed the centrality of the papacy. During this time, he distanced himself from the atmosphere of Tübingen and the Marxist leanings of the student movement of the 1960s that quickly radicalised, in the years 1967 and 1968, culminating in a series of disturbances and riots in April and May 1968. Ratzinger came increasingly to see these and associated developments (such as decreasing respect for authority among his students) as connected to a departure from traditional Catholic teachings. Despite his reformist bent, his views increasingly came to contrast with the liberal ideas gaining currency in theological circles.
Some voices, among them Hans Küng, deem this a turn towards Conservatism, while Ratzinger himself said in a 1993 interview, "I see no break in my views as a theologian [over the years]". Ratzinger has continued to defend the work of the Second Vatican Council, including Nostra Aetate, the document on respect of other religions, ecumenism and the declaration of the right to freedom of religion. Later, as the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger most clearly spelled out the Catholic Church's position on other religions in the 2000 document Dominus Iesus which also talks about the Roman Catholic way to engage in ecumenical dialogue.
During his years at Tübingen University, Ratzinger publicised articles in the reformist theological journal Concilium, though he increasingly chose less reformist themes than other contributors to the magazine such as Hans Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx.
In 1969, he returned to Bavaria, to the University of Regensburg. He founded the theological journal Communio, with Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, Walter Kasper and others, in 1972. Communio, now published in seventeen languages, including German, English and Spanish, has become a prominent journal of contemporary Catholic theological thought. Until his election as Pope, he remained one of the journal's most prolific contributors. In 1976, he suggested that the Augsburg Confession might possibly be recognised as a Catholic statement of faith. This however did not happen due to differences in theology on justification.
In office, Ratzinger fulfilled his institutional role, defending and reaffirming Catholic doctrine, including teaching on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and inter-religious dialogue. Leonardo Boff, for example, was suspended, while others were censured. Other issues also prompted condemnations or revocations of rights to teach: for instance, some posthumous writings of Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello were the subject of a notification. Ratzinger and the Congregation viewed many of them, particularly the later works, as having an element of religious indifferentism (i.e., Christ was "one master alongside others").
The Congregation is best known for its authority over the teaching of Church doctrine, but it also has jurisdiction over other matters, including cases involving the seal of the confessional, clerical sexual misconduct and other matters, in its function as what amounts to a court. In his capacity as Prefect, Ratzinger's 2001 letter De delictis gravioribus which clarified the confidentiality of internal Church investigations, as defined in the 1962 document Crimen Sollicitationis, into accusations made against priests of certain crimes, including sexual abuse, became a target of controversy during the sex abuse scandal. While bishops hold the secrecy pertained only internally, and did not preclude investigation by civil law enforcement, the letter was often seen as promoting a coverup. The Pope was accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys in Texas, but sought and obtained diplomatic immunity from prosecution.
On 12 March 1983, Ratzinger as prefect and cardinal notified the lay faithful and the clergy that archbishop Pierre Martin Ngo Dinh Thuc had incurred the excommunication latae sententiae for illicit episcopal consecrations without the apostolic mandate.
In 1997, when he turned 70, Ratzinger asked the pope John Paul II for permission to leave the Congregation of Doctrine of Faith and to become an archivist in the Vatican Secret Archives and a librarian in the Vatican Library, but the pope refused such permission.
Piers Paul Read wrote in The Spectator on 5 March 2005:
Though Ratzinger was increasingly considered the front runner by much of the international media, others maintained that his election was far from certain, since very few papal predictions in modern history had come true. The elections of both John Paul II and his predecessor, John Paul I had been rather unexpected. Despite being the favorite (or perhaps because he was the favorite), it was a surprise to many that he was actually elected, as traditionally the frontrunners are passed over by the conclave for someone else.
Before his first appearance at the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica after becoming pope, he was announced by Jorge Medina Estévez, Cardinal Protodeacon of the Holy Roman Church. Cardinal Medina Estévez first addressed the massive crowd as "dear(est) brothers and sisters" in Italian, Spanish, French, German and English, with each language receiving cheers from the international crowd, before continuing with the traditional Habemus Papam announcement in Latin.
At the balcony, Benedict's first words to the crowd, given in Italian before he gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing in Latin, were:
On 24 April, he celebrated the Papal Inauguration Mass in St. Peter's Square, during which he was invested with the Pallium and the Ring of the Fisherman. Then, on 7 May, he took possession of his Cathedral church, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
Benedict XVI explained his choice of name during his first General Audience in St. Peter's Square, on 27 April 2005:
The first beatification under the new Pope was celebrated on 14 May 2005, by José Cardinal Saraiva Martins, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.. The new Blesseds were Mother Marianne Cope and Mother Ascensión Nicol Goñi. Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen was beatified on 9 October 2005. Mariano de la Mata was beatified in November 2006 and Rosa Eluvathingal was beatified 3 December of that year, and Fr. Basil Moreau was scheduled to be beatified by 2007. In October 2008 the following beatifications took place: Celestine of the Mother of God, Giuseppina Nicoli, Hendrina Stenmanns, Maria Rosa Flesch, Marta Anna Wiecka, Michal Sopocko, Petrus Kibe Kasui and 187 Companions, Susana Paz-Castillo Ramirez, Maria Isbael Salvat Romero, John Henry Newman.
Unlike his predecessor, Benedict XVI delegated the beatification liturgical service to a Cardinal. On 29 September 2005, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a communiqué announcing that henceforth beatifications would be celebrated by a representative of the Pope, usually the Prefect of that Congregation.
During his visit to Brazil in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI presided over the canonization of Frei Galvão on 11 May, while George Preca, founder of the Malta based M.U.S.E.U.M., Szymon of Lipnica, Charles of Mount Argus, and Marie-Eugénie de Jésus were canonized in a ceremony held at the Vatican on 3 June 2007. Preca is the first Maltese saint since the country's conversion to Christianity in 60 A.D. when St. Paul converted the inhabitants. In October 2008 the following canonizations took place: Saint Alphonsa of India, Gaetano Errico, Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, Maria Bernarda Bütler. In April 2009 he canonized Arcangelo Tadini, Bernardo Tolomei, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Geltrude Comensoli, Caterina Volpicelli. In October of the same year he canonized Jeanne Jugan, Jozef Damian de Veuster, Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Francisco Coll Guitart and Rafael Arnáiz Barón.
On October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI formally declared sainthood for Saint André Bessette, a French-Canadian; Stanislaw Soltys, a 15th-century Polish priest; Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Camilla Battista da Varano; Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola and an Australian nun, Mother Mary MacKillop.
}}
)]] "Friendship with Jesus Christ" is a frequent theme of his preaching. He stressed that on this intimate friendship, "everything depends." Thus, in his book Jesus of Nazareth, his main purpose was "to help foster [in the reader] the growth of a living relationship" with Jesus Christ.
He took up this theme in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. In his personal explanation and summary of the encyclical, he stated: "If friendship with God becomes for us something ever more important and decisive, then we will begin to love those whom God loves and who are in need of us. God wants us to be friends of his friends and we can be so, if we are interiorly close to them." Thus, he said that prayer is "urgently needed...It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."
He said that "a dictatorship of relativism" was the core challenge facing the church and humanity. At the root of this problem, he said, is Kant's "self-limitation of reason". This, he said, is contradictory to the modern acclamation of science whose excellence is based on the power of reason to know the truth. He said that this self-amputation of reason leads to pathologies of religion such as terrorism and pathologies of science such as ecological disasters. Benedict traced the failed revolutions and violent ideologies of the 20th century to a conversion of partial points of view into absolute guides. He said "Absolutizing what is not absolute but relative is called totalitarianism."
In an address to a conference of the Diocese of Rome held at the basilica of St. John Lateran 6 June 2005, Benedict remarked on the issues of same sex marriage and abortion: :The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom that wrongly passes for true freedom of man...from here it becomes all the more clear how contrary it is to human love, to the profound vocation of man and woman, to systematically close their union to the gift of life, and even worse to suppress or tamper with the life that is born.
Benedict also emphasised that "Only creative reason, which in the crucified God is manifested as love, can really show us the way."
In his first encyclical, "God is love", he said that a human being, created in the image of God who is love, is able to practice love: to give himself to God and others (agape), by receiving and experiencing God's love in contemplation. This life of love, according to him, is the life of the saints such as Teresa of Calcutta and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and is the direction Christians take when they believe that God loves them in Jesus Christ.
The encyclical contains almost 16,000 words in 42 paragraphs. The first half is said to have been written by Benedict in German, his mother tongue, in the summer of 2005; the second half is derived from uncompleted writings left by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The document was signed by Pope Benedict on Christmas Day, 25 December 2005. The encyclical was promulgated a month later in Latin and was translated into English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. It is the first encyclical to be published since the Vatican decided to assert copyright in the official writings of the Pope.
Pope Benedict's second encyclical titled Spe Salvi ("Saved by Hope"), about the virtue of hope, was released on 30 November 2007.
Benedict's third encyclical titled Caritas in Veritate ("Love in Truth" or "Charity in Truth"), was signed on 29 June 2009 (the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul) and released on 7 July 2009. In it, the Pope continued the Church's teachings on social justice. He condemned the prevalent economic system “where the pernicious effects of sin are evident,” and called on people to rediscover ethics in business and economic relations.
In an accompanying letter, the Pope outlined his position concerning questions about the new guidelines. Benedict emphasised that the Tridentine Mass would not detract from the Council, and that the Mass of Paul VI would still be the norm and priests were not permitted to refuse to say the Mass in that form. He pointed out that use of Tridentine Mass "was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted." stated that the decree "opened the door for their return". Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the SSPX, expressed "deep gratitude to the Sovereign Pontiff for this great spiritual benefit". The document has been seen as restating "key sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, Dominus Iesus."
In June 2009, he blamed outsourcing for greater availability of consumer goods which lead to downsizing of social security systems.
The passage originally appeared in the “Dialogue Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia written in 1391 as an expression of the views of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, one of the last Christian rulers before the Fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottoman Empire, on such issues as forced conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith and reason. According to the German text, the Pope's original comment was that the emperor "addresses his interlocutor in an astoundingly harsh—to us surprisingly harsh—way" (wendet er sich in erstaunlich schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form). Pope Benedict apologised for any offence he had caused and made a point of visiting Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, and praying in its Blue Mosque.
Pope Benedict XVI planned on 5 March 2008, to meet with Muslim scholars and religious leaders autumn 2008 at a Catholic-Muslim seminar in Rome. That meeting, the "First Meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum," was held from November 4–6, 2008.
On May 9, 2009 H.H. Pope Benedict XVI visited the King Hussein Mosque, Amman, Jordan where he was addressed by H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal.
Benedict travelled extensively during the first three years of his papacy. In addition to his travels within Italy, Pope Benedict XVI has made two visits to his homeland, Germany, one for World Youth Day and another to visit the towns of his childhood. He has also visited Poland and Spain, where he was enthusiastically received. His visit to Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, was initially overshadowed by the controversy about a lecture he had given at Regensburg. His visit was met by nationalist and Islamic protesters and was placed under unprecedented security measures. However, the trip went ahead and Benedict made a joint declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in an attempt to begin to heal the rift between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
In 2007, Pope Benedict visited Brazil in order to address the Bishops' Conference there and canonize Friar Antônio Galvão, an 18th century Franciscan. In June 2007, Benedict made a personal pilgrimage and pastoral visit to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis. In September, Benedict undertook a three day visit to Austria, during which he joined Vienna's chief rabbi in a memorial to the 65,000 Viennese Jews who perished in Nazi death camps. During his stay in Austria, he also celebrated Mass at the Marian shrine Mariazell and visited Heiligenkreuz Abbey.
and his wife, Laura.]]
In April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to the United States since becoming pope. He arrived in Washington, DC where he was formally received at the White House and met privately with U.S. President George W. Bush. While in Washington, the pope addressed representatives of US Catholic universities, met with leaders of other world religions, and celebrated Mass at the Washington Nationals' baseball stadium with 47,000 people. The Pope also met privately with victims of sexual abuse by priests. The pope travelled to New York where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Also while in New York, the pope celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, met with disabled children and their families, and attended an event for Catholic youth, where he addressed some 25,000 young people in attendance. On the final day of the pope's visit, he visited the World Trade Center site and later celebrated Mass at Yankee Stadium.
In July 2008, the Pope travelled to Australia to attend World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. On 19 July, in St. Mary's Cathedral, he made an apology for child sex abuse perpetrated by the clergy in Australia. On 13 September 2008, at an outdoor Paris Mass attended by 250,000 people, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the modern materialism - the world's love of power, possessions and money as a modern-day plague, comparing it to paganism.
The Pope visited France in September 2008, where he condemned modern materialism. In 2009, he visited Africa (Cameroon, a former German colony, and Angola) for the first time as a Pope. During his visit, he suggested that altering sexual behavior was the answer to Africa's AIDS crisis, and urged Catholics to reach out and convert believers in sorcery.
He visited the Middle East (Jordan, Israel and Palestine) in May 2009.
Pope Benedict's main arena for pastoral activity is the Vatican itself, his Christmas and Easter homilies and Urbi et Orbi are delivered from St Peter's Basilica. The Vatican is also the only regular place where the Pope travels via motor without the protective bullet proof case common to most popemobiles. Despite the more secure setting Pope Benedict has been victim to security risks several times inside Vatican City. On Wednesday, 6 June 2007 during his General Audience a man lept across a barrier, evaded guards and nearly mounted the Pope's vehicle, although he was stopped and Benedict seemed to be unaware of the event. On Thursday, 24 December 2009, while Pope Benedict was proceeding to the altar to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass at St Peter's Basilica, a woman later identified as 25-year-old Susanna Maiolo, who holds Italian and Swiss citizenships, jumped the barrier and grabbed the pope by his vestments and pulled him to the ground. The 82-year-old fell but was assisted to his feet and he continued to proceed towards the altar to celebrate Mass. Roger Etchegaray, 87, the vice-dean of the College of Cardinals, fell also and suffered a hip fracture. Italian police revealed that the woman had previously attempted to accost the Pope at the previous Christmas Eve Mass, but was prevented from doing so.
In his homily, Pope Benedict forgave Susanna Maiolo and urged the world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs, and find time for God and spiritual matters.
Between April 17 and 18, Pope Benedict made an Apostolic Journey to the Republic of Malta, the third papal visit to the archipelago, after Pope John Paul II's two visits back in 1990 and 2001. Following meetings with various dignitaries on his first day on the island, 50,000 people gathered in a drizzle for Papal Mass on the granaries in Floriana. The Pope also met with the Maltese youth at the Valletta Waterfront, where an estimated 10,000 young people turned up to greet him. During his visit the Pope was moved to tears while expressing his shame at cases of abuse on the island during a 20 minute meeting with victims. According to John L. Allen, Jr., Ratzinger in the following years "acquired a familiarity with the contours of the problem that virtually no other figure in the Catholic church can claim" and "driven by that encounter with what he would later refer to as 'filth' in the church, Ratzinger seems to have undergone something of a 'conversion experience' throughout 2003-04. From that point forward, he and his staff seemed driven by a convert's zeal to clean up the mess". In his role as Head of the CFD, he "led important changes made in church law: the inclusion in canon law of internet offences against children, the extension of child abuse offences to include the sexual abuse of all under 18, the case by case waiving of the statute of limitation and the establishment of a fast-track dismissal from the clerical state for offenders." As the Head of the CDF, Ratzinger developed a reputation for handling these cases. According to Charles J. Scicluna, a former prosecutor handling sexual abuse cases, "Cardinal Ratzinger displayed great wisdom and firmness in handling those cases, also demonstrating great courage in facing some of the most difficult and thorny cases, sine acceptione personarum (without exceptions)".
One of the cases Ratzinger pursued involved Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest and founder of the Legion of Christ, who had been accused repeatedly of sexual abuse. Biographer Andrea Tornielli suggested that Cardinal Ratzinger had wanted to take action against Marcial Maciel Degollado, but that John Paul II and other high-ranking officials, including several cardinals and notably the pope's influential secretary Stanisław Dziwisz, prevented him from doing so. According to Jason Berry, Angelo Sodano "pressured" Cardinal Ratzinger, who was "operating on the assumption that the charges were not justified", to halt the proceedings against Maciel in 1999 When Maciel was honored by the Pope in 2004, new accusers came forward Cardinal Christoph Schönborn explained that Ratzinger "made entirely clear efforts not to cover things up but to tackle and investigate them. This was not always met with approval in the Vatican". According to Schönborn, Cardinal Ratzinger had pressed John Paul II to investigate Hans Hermann Groër, an Austrian cardinal and friend of John Paul accused of sexual abuse, resulting in Groër's resignation.
In March 2010, the Pope sent a Pastoral Letter to the Catholic Church in Ireland addressing cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests to minors, expressing sorrow, and promising changes in the way accusations of abuse are dealt with. Victim groups claim the letter failed to clarify if secular law enforcement has priority over canon law confidentiality pertaining to internal investigation of abuse allegations. The Pope then promised to introduce measures that would 'safeguard young people in the future' and 'bring to justice' priests who were responsible for abuse. In April, the Vatican issued guidelines on how existing church law should be implemented. The guideline dictates that “Civil law concerning reporting of crimes... should always be followed.” The guideline was intended to follow the norms established by U.S. bishops, but it does not require the reporting of "allegations" or crimes where reporting is not required by law.
"Pope Benedict's first five years reveal a man who can walk calmly through troubled times as he seeks to heal wounds and bring people together," according to Mary Ann Walsh, editor of the book Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy. “He has faced the searing sexual abuse scandal with compassion and moved head-on to meet inter-religious challenges to build understanding among diverse people.”
On 21 December 2005, the pope began wearing the camauro, the traditional red papal hat usually worn in the winter. It had not been seen since the pontificate of Pope John XXIII (1958–1963). On 6 September 2006 the pope began wearing the red cappello romano (also called a saturno), a wide-brimmed hat for outdoor use. Rarely used by John Paul II, it was more widely worn by his predecessors.
Since he became Pope in April 2005 there were several rumors about his health but none of them was ever confirmed. Early in his pontificate Pope Benedict XVI predicted a short reign which led to concerns about his health. In May 2005, the Vatican revealed that he had subsequently suffered another mild stroke. French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin further revealed that since the first stroke, Ratzinger had been suffering from a heart condition as a result of his age, and is currently on medication. In late November 2006, Vatican insiders told the international press that the Pope had a routine examination of the heart.
On Friday 17 July 2009 Benedict was hospitalised after falling and breaking his right wrist while on vacation in the Alps. His injuries were reported to be minor.
| Dipstyle | His Holiness |
|---|---|
| Offstyle | Your Holiness |
| Relstyle | Holy Father |
Before 1 March 2006, the list of titles also used to contain that of a "Patriarch of the West", which traditionally appeared in that list of titles before "Primate of Italy". The title of "Patriarch of the West" was first adopted in the year 642 by Pope Theodore I, but was rarely used since the East-West Schism of 1054. From the Orthodox perspective, authority in the Church could be traced to the five patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. However, some Catholic theologians have argued that the term "Patriarch of the West" has no clear historical or theological basis and was introduced into the papal court in 1870 at the time of the First Vatican Council. Pope Benedict chose to remove the title at a time when discussions with the Orthodox churches have centred on the issue of papal primacy.
| Notes | The coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI was designed by then Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (who later was created a Cardinal) soon after the papal election. Benedict's coat of arms has omitted the papal tiara, which traditionally appears in the background to designate the Pope's position as a worldly ruler like a king, replacing it with a simple mitre, emphasising his spiritual authority. |
|---|---|
| Adopted | 22 April 2005 |
| Escutcheon | Gules, chape in or, with the scallop shell of the second; the dexter chape with a moor's head in natural colour, crowned and collared of the first, the sinister chape a bear trippant in natural colour, carrying a pack gules belted sable |
| Symbolism | Scallop shell: The symbolism of the scallop shell is multiple, one of the meanings is thought to represent Saint Augustine. While a doctoral candidate in 1953, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger wrote his dissertation on The People of God and the House of God in Augustine's Teaching is always about the Church, and therefore has a personal connection with the thought of this great Doctor of the Church.Moor of Freising: The Moor's head is an heraldic charge associated with Freising, Germany.Corbinian's bear: A legend states that while travelling to Rome, Saint Corbinian's pack horse was killed by a bear. He commanded the bear to carry the load. Once he arrived, he released it from his service, and it returned to Bavaria. The implication is that "Christianity tamed and domesticated the ferocity of paganism and thus laid the foundations for a great civilisation in the Duchy of Bavaria." At the same time, Corbinian's bear, as God's beast of burden, symbolises the weight of office that Benedict now carries. |
In November 2010, in a book-length interview, the Pope, using the example of male prostitutes, stated that the use of condoms, with the intention of reducing the risk of HIV infection, may be an indication that the prostitute is intending to reduce the evil connected with his or her immoral activity. In the same interview, the Pope also reiterated the traditional teaching of the Church that condoms are not seen as a "real or moral solution" to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Further, in December 2010, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith explained that the Pope's statement did not constitute a legitimization of either prostitution or contraception, both of which remain gravely immoral. However the document also condemned homophobic attacks and violence stating "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs."
In 1992 he again approved CDF documents declaring that homosexual "inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder" and extended this principle to civil law. "Sexual orientation", the document opined, was not equivalent to race or ethnicity, and it declared that it was "not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account."
On 22 December 2008, the Pope gave an end of year message to the Roman Curia in which he talked about gender and the important distinction between men and women. The pope said that the church viewed the distinction as central to human nature, and "asks that this order, set down by creation, be respected". He characterised gender roles which deviated from his view of what gender roles should be as "a violation of the natural order". The church, he said, "should protect man from the destruction of himself". He said a sort of ecology of man was needed, adding: "The tropical forests do deserve our protection; but man, as a creature, does not deserve any less." He attacked what he described as gender theories which "lead towards the self-emancipation of man from creation and the creator"."
LGBT groups such as the Italian Arcigay and German LSVD have announced that they found the Pope's comments homophobic. Aurelio Mancuso, head of Arcigay, saying "A divine programme for men and women is out of line with nature, where the roles are not so clear."
Vladimir Putin on 13 March 2007]] Pope Benedict has also promoted various UN events, such as World Refugee Day, on which he offered up special prayers for refugees and called for the international community to do more to secure refugees' human rights. He also called on Catholic communities and organizations to offer them concrete help.
In 2007 Benedict sent a letter at Easter to Catholics in China that could have wide-ranging implications for the church's relationship with China's leadership. The letter provides long-requested guidance to Chinese bishops on how to respond to illicitly ordained bishops, as well as how to strengthen ties with the Patriotic Association and the Communist government.
Later visiting the country to "reiterate the solidarity between the cultures," it was reported that he made a counter-statement backing Turkey's bid to join the EU. Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after meeting the pope upon his arrival in Ankara, the pope's first visit to a majority Muslim country, said that the pope told him that while the Vatican seeks to stay out of politics it desires Turkey's membership in the EU. However, the Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople implied that support for Turkey's membership in the European Union would be contingent on the establishment of religious freedom in Turkey: "In every step towards unification, minorities must be protected, with their cultural traditions and the distinguishing features of their religion." The Declaration also reiterates Pope Benedict XVI's call for Europe to preserve its Christian roots.
Pope Benedict has recorded an album of contemporary classical music in which Benedict sings and recites prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The album was set for release on 30 November 2009.
Pope Benedict is also known to be fond of cats. During his trip to Australia for World Youth Day in 2008 the media reported that festival organizers lent the Pope a grey cat called Bella in order to keep him company during his stay.
;Encyclicals by Benedict XVI
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This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Alan Eugene Jackson |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Alan Eugene Jackson |
| Born | October 17, 1958 |
| Origin | Newnan, Georgia USA |
| Instruments | Vocals, Acoustic guitar |
| Genre | Country |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Label | Arista Nashville |
| Associated acts | Keith Stegall, George Strait, The Wrights, Randy Travis, George Canyon |
| Url | www.alanjackson.com |
Jackson sang in church as a child. He, his father, mother, and four sisters lived in a small home. At one point, his bed was in the hallway for lack of room. His mother lives in the home to this day. His first job, at 12, was in a shoe store. He wrote his first song in 1983. He worked as a car salesman in his 20s.
It was around this time that Jackson also began gaining fame for his song-writing skills. Other country music artists who have charted with songs co-written by Jackson, include Clay Walker ("If I Could Make a Living"), Chely Wright ("Till I Was Loved By You") and Faith Hill ("I Can't Do That Anymore").
With Jackson's release of Under the Influence in 1999, he took the double risk on an album of covers of country classics while retaining a traditional sound when a rock- and pop-tinged sound dominated country radio.
When the Country Music Association (CMA) asked George Jones to trim his act to 90 seconds for the 1999 CMA awards, Jones decided to boycott the event. In solidarity, Jackson interrupted his own song and launched into Jones's song "Choices."
After country music changed toward pop music in the 2000s, he and George Strait criticized the state of country music on the song "Murder on Music Row". The song sparked debate in the country music community about whether or not "traditional" country music was actually dead or not. Despite the fact that the song was not officially released as a single, it became the highest-charting nonseasonal album cut (not available in any retail single configuration or released as a promotional single to radio during a chart run) to appear on Hot Country Singles & Tracks in the Broadcast Data Systems era, beating the record previously held by Garth Brooks' "Belleau Wood." The duo were invited to open the 2000 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMAs) with a performance of the tune. Rolling Stone commented on Jackson's style remarking, "If Garth and Shania have raised the bar for country concerts with Kiss-style production and endless costume changes, then Alan Jackson is doing his best to return the bar to a more human level." After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Jackson released "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" as a tribute to those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The song became a hit single and briefly propelled him into the mainstream spotlight.
At the 2001 CMA Awards, Jackson debuted the song "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning". The performance was generally considered the highlight of the show, and Jackson's site crashed the next day from server requests. The song came to Jackson suddenly, and had not been scheduled for any official release, but the live performance began receiving radio airplay and was soon released as a single.
Jackson released a Christmas album, titled Let It Be Christmas, October 22, 2002.
Jeannie Kendall contacted Jackson to do a duet, and he suggested the song "Timeless and True Love". It appeared on her first solo album, released in 2003.
In early 2006, Jackson released his first gospel music album entitled Precious Memories. He put together the album by the request of his mother, who enjoys religious music. Jackson considered this album a "side project" and nothing too official, but it was treated as such. The album received little to no airplay from radio stations, and proved to be not as successful as his previous work.
Only mere months after the release of Precious Memories in 2006, Jackson released his next country album Like Red on a Rose.
Unlike his previous albums, Like Red on a Rose had a different producer and sound. Alan's main producer for his music, Keith Stegall, was notably absent from this album. Instead, Alison Krauss was hired to produce the album. She also chose the songs.
Despite being labeled as "country music" or "bluegrass", Like Red on a Rose had a mainstream sound to it, upsetting some fans, even making some of them believe that Jackson was abandoning his traditional past and aiming toward a more mainstream pop sound.
However, for his next album, he went back to his country roots. Good Time was released on March 4, 2008. The album's first single, "Small Town Southern Man", was released to radio on November 19.
"Country Boy", "Sissy's Song" and the final single from the album, "I Still Like Bologna", were also released as singles.
"Sissy's Song" is dedicated to a longtime friend of the Jackson family (Leslie "Sissy" Fitzgerald) who worked in their house everyday. Fitzgerald was killed in a motorcycle accident in mid-2007.
His sixteenth studio album, Freight Train, was released on March 30, 2010. The first single was "It's Just That Way", which debuted at #50 in January 2010. "Hard Hat and a Hammer" is the album's second single, released in May 2010.
On November 23, 2010, Jackson released another greatest hits package, entitled 34 Number Ones, which features a cover of the Johnny Cash hit "Ring of Fire", as well as the duet with Zac Brown Band, "As She's Walking Away".
Jackson became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1991; he was inducted by Roy Acuff and Randy Travis.
Jackson was the most nominated artist at the 29th annual TNN/Music City News Country Awards that was broadcast June 5 from the Grand Ole Opry House. His six nominations included best entertainer, male artist, vocal collaboration, album, single, and video (two nominations in this category).
At the 2002 CMAs, Jackson set a record for having the most nominations in a single year – ten – many rising from the song ""Where Were You". It also brought his career total up to the second number of most nominations ever, after George Strait. "Where Were You" also was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year. The song was also subsequently parodied in the South Park episode "A Ladder To Heaven".
At the 2003 Academy of Country Music Awards, Jackson won Album of the Year for Drive and Video of the Year for the video to "Drive (For Daddy Gene)."
Jackson was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2001 in Atlanta.
Alan Jackson has been selected to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010
Alan Jackson is scheduled to appear on the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010
Alan Jackson's 2004 concert tour launched January 23 in Fort Myers, Florida and was sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts in a deal that included Jackson's endorsement in TV spots. The tour included more than 50 U.S. dates. Martina McBride was the opening for some of the shows.
Denise Jackson wrote a book that topped The New York Times Best Seller list that covered her life with Jackson, their relationship, separation, and recommitment to each other, and her commitment to Christianity, the book was titled It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life, which was published in 2007. In May 2008 she released a Gift Book titled "The Road Home."
Jackson's nephew, Adam Wright, is also a country music singer-songwriter. Adam and his wife, Shannon, perform together as a duo called The Wrights. The Wrights co-wrote two songs and sang harmony vocals on Jackson's What I Do album.
Jackson is a cousin of Pittsburgh Pirates player Brandon Moss.
In June 2009, Jackson listed his estate just outside of Franklin, TN for sale. The asking price was $38 million. The property sold in late May 2010 for $28 million, one of the highest prices ever for a home sale in the Nashville area.
Jackson maintains a close friendship with fellow country singer, George Jones. Jones has been mentioned in songs such as "Don't Rock the Jukebox" (Jones also appeared in the video which accompanied it) and "Murder on Music Row". The song "Just Playin' Possum" is dedicated to Jones and talks of how Alan only wants to lay low and play possum, possum referring to George Jones. Jones can also be seen in the video for "Good Time". In 2008, Jones was a surprise guest at Jackson's "CMT Giants" ceremony, where he thanked Jackson for his friendship. He's also close friends with George Strait, who sang "Murder On Music Row" with him. Besides his associations with big stars, Alan also maintains his connections to his roots and old friends. From his early days of playing the guitar with his old high school friend and fellow musician David "Bird" Burgess, on the Burgess' family front porch, it was evident Alan was going to be Newnan's rising star. While Bird Burgess has left the country music scene to pursue other avenues, the two have remained friends. As further evidence to his strong connection to his roots, Alan has given back to the community of Newnan, and in response, the city of Newnan, dedicated a major thoroughfare, Alan Jackson Highway.
Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:American Christians Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Arista Records artists Category:Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:American people of English descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans Category:People from Coweta County, Georgia
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
![The Usa Shrine (宇佐神宮, Usa Jingū?) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Usa in Ōita Prefecture in Japan. Emperor Ojin, who was deified as Hachiman-jin (the god of military power), is said to be enshrined in all the sites dedicated to him; and the first and earliest of these was at Usa in the early 8th century.[1] The Usa Shrine has long been the recipient of Imperial patronage; and its prestige is considered second only to the Ise Shrine.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110623025346im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/71/77/3161738c17d4965ada12b7aaf570_thumb.jpg "The Usa Shrine (宇佐神宮, Usa Jingū?) is a Shinto shrine in the city of Usa in Ōita Prefecture in Japan. Emperor Ojin, who was deified as Hachiman-jin (the god of military power), is said to be enshrined in all the sites dedicated to him; and the first and earliest of these was at Usa in the early 8th century.[1] The Usa Shrine has long been the recipient of Imperial patronage; and its prestige is considered second only to the Ise Shrine.")
