Georg Forster

# Georg Forster

## Abstract

Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (German pronunciation:, 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geographer, naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook 's second voyage to the Pacific. His report of that journey, A Voyage Round the World, contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work. As a result of the report, Forster, who was admitted to the Royal Society at the early age of twenty-two, came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature.

After returning to continental Europe, Forster turned toward academia. He taught natural history at the Collegium Carolinum in the Ottoneum, Kassel (1778–84), and later at the Academy of Vilna (Vilnius University) (1784–87). In 1788, he became head librarian at the University of Mainz. Most of his scientific work during this time consisted of essays on botany and ethnology, but he also prefaced and translated many books about travel and exploration, including a German translation of Cook's diaries.

Forster was a central figure of the Enlightenment in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents, including his close friend Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. His ideas, travelogues and personality influenced Alexander von Humboldt, one of the great scientists of the 19th century who hailed Forster as the founder of both comparative ethnology (Völkerkunde) and regional geography (Länderkunde). When the French took control of Mainz in 1792, Forster played a leading role in the Mainz Republic, the earliest republican state in Germany. During July 1793 and while he was in Paris as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city and Forster was declared an outlaw. Unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794, not yet 40.

The standard author abbreviation G.Forst. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

## Early life

Georg Forster was born in Nassenhuben (now Mokry Dwór, Poland), a small village near Danzig, on 27 November 1754. Georg was the oldest of seven surviving children of Johann Reinhold Forster, a Reformed Protestant pastor and scholar, and his wife Justina Elisabeth, née Nicolai. From an early age, Georg was interested in the study of nature, and his father first learned natural history from the books of Carl Linnaeus and then taught his son biology as well as Latin, French, and religion. In 1765, Reinhold obtained a commission by the Russian government to inspect the recently founded colonies near Saratov on the Volga River, which were mostly settled by German colonists. Ten-year old Georg accompanied his father on the 4,000 km (2,500 mi) journey, which reached the Kalmyk Steppe and Lake Elton, and collected hundreds of specimens of plants, helping his father with naming and identification. From October 1765, he attended Saint Peter's School in St Petersburg, while his father prepared a report about the state of the colony. Reinhold's report was critical of the voivode of Saratov and of the conditions in the colony, and the Forsters left Russia without payment amidst quarrel with Grigory Orlov. After a sea journey from Kronstadt, during which Georg learned English and practiced Russian, they arrived in London on 4 October 1766. Twelve-year old Georg competently translated Lomonosov 's history of Russia into English and continued it until the present, and the printed book was presented to the Society of Antiquaries on 21 May 1767. His father took up a teaching position at Warrington Academy in June 1767, succeeding Joseph Priestley, leaving Georg behind in London as apprentice with a London merchant until the rest of the family arrived in England in September 1767. In Warrington, Georg learned classics and religion from John Aikin, mathematics from John Holt and French and natural history from his father.

## Around the world with Captain Cook

The Forsters moved back to London in 1770, where Reinhold Forster cultivated scientific contacts and became a member of the Royal Society in 1772. After the withdrawal of Joseph Banks, he was invited by the British Admiralty to join James Cook 's second expedition to the Pacific (1772–75). Georg Forster joined his father in the expedition again and was appointed as a draughtsman to his father. Johann Reinhold Forster's task was to work on a scientific report of the journey's discoveries that was to be published after their return.

They embarked HMS Resolution on 13 July 1772, in Plymouth. The ship's route led first to the South Atlantic, then through the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean to the islands of Polynesia and finally around Cape Horn back to England, returning on 30 July 1775. During the three-year journey, the explorers visited New Zealand, the Tonga islands, New Caledonia, Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands and Easter Island. They went further south than anybody before them, almost discovering Antarctica. The journey conclusively disproved the Terra Australis Incognita theory, which claimed there was a big, habitable continent in the South.

Supervised by his father, Georg Forster first undertook studies of the zoology and botanics of the southern seas, mostly by drawing animals and plants. However, Georg also pursued his own interests, which led to completely independent explorations in comparative geography and ethnology. He quickly learned the languages of the Polynesian islands. His reports on the people of Polynesia are well regarded today, as they describe the inhabitants of the southern islands with empathy, sympathy and largely without Western or Christian bias.

Unlike Louis Antoine de Bougainville, whose reports from a journey to Tahiti a few years earlier had initiated uncritical noble savage romanticism, Forster developed a sophisticated picture of the societies of the South Pacific islands. He described various social structures and religions that he encountered on the Society Islands, Easter Island and in Tonga and New Zealand, and ascribed this diversity to the difference in living conditions of these people. At the same time, he also observed that the languages of these fairly widely scattered islands were similar. About the inhabitants of the Nomuka islands (in the Ha'apai island group of present-day Tonga), he wrote that their languages, vehicles, weapons, furniture, clothes, tattoos, style of beard, in short all of their being matched perfectly with what he had already seen while studying tribes on Tongatapu. However, he wrote, "we could not observe any subordination among them, though this had strongly characterised the natives of Tonga-Tabboo, who seemed to descend even to servility in their obeisance to the king."

The journey was rich in scientific results. However, the relationship between the Forsters and Cook and his officers was often problematic, due to the elder Forster's fractious temperament as well as Cook's refusal to allow more time for botanical and other scientific observation. Cook refused scientists on his third journey after his experiences with the Forsters.

## Founder of modern travel literature

These conflicts continued after the journey with the problem of who should write the official account of the travels. Lord Sandwich, although willing to pay the promised money, was irritated with Johann Reinhold Forster's opening chapter and tried to have it edited. However, Forster did not want to have his writing corrected "like a theme of a School-boy", and stubbornly refused any compromise. As a result, the official account was written by Cook, and the Forsters were deprived of the right to compile the account and did not obtain payment for their work. During the negotiations, the younger Forster decided to release an unofficial account of their travels. In 1777, his book A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5 was published. This report was the first account of Cook's second voyage (it appeared six weeks before the official publication) and was intended for the general public. The English version and his own translation into German (published 1778–80) earned the young author real fame. The poet Christoph Martin Wieland praised the book as the most important one of his time, and even today it remains one of the most important journey descriptions ever written. The book also had a significant impact on German literature, culture and science, influencing such scientists as Alexander von Humboldt and it inspired many ethnologists of later times.

Forster wrote well-polished German prose, which was not only scientifically accurate and objective, but also exciting and easy to read. This differed from conventional travel literature of the time, insofar as it presented more than a mere collection of data – it also demonstrated coherent, colourful and reliable ethnographical facts that resulted from detailed and sympathetic observation. He often interrupted the description to enrich it with philosophical remarks about his observations. His main focus was always on the people he encountered: their behavior, customs, habits, religions and forms of social organization. In A Voyage Round the World he even presented the songs sung by the people of Polynesia, complete with lyrics and notation. The book is one of the most important sources concerning the societies of the Southern Pacific from the times before European influence had become significant.

Both Forsters also published descriptions of their South Pacific travels in the Berlin-based Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen (" Magazine of strange new travel accounts "), and Georg published a translation of " A Voyage to the South Sea, by Lieutenant William Bligh, London 1792 " in 1791–93.

## Forster at universities

The publication of A Voyage Round the World brought Forster scientific recognition all over Europe. The respectable Royal Society made him a member on 9 January 1777, though he was not even 23 years old. He was granted similar titles from academies ranging from Berlin to Madrid. These appointments, however, were unpaid.

He travelled to Paris to seek out a discussion with the American revolutionary Benjamin Franklin in 1777. In 1778, he went to Germany to take a teaching position as a Natural History professor at the Collegium Carolinum in Kassel, where he met Therese Heyne, the daughter of classicist Christian Gottlob Heyne. They married in 1785 (which was after he left Kassel) and had two surviving children, Therese Forster and Clara Forster, but an unhappy marriage. She would eventually leave him for Ludwig Ferdinand Huber and became one of the first independent female writers in Germany.. From his time in Kassel on, Forster actively corresponded with important figures of the Enlightenment, including Lessing, Herder, Wieland and Goethe. He also initiated cooperation between the Carolinum in Kassel and the University of Göttingen where his friend Georg Christoph Lichtenberg worked. Together, they founded and published the scientific and literary journal Göttingisches Magazin der Wissenschaften und Litteratur. Forster's closest friend, Samuel Thomas von Sömmering, arrived in Kassel shortly after Forster, and both were soon involved with the Rosicrucians in Kassel, where Forster took the secret name Amadeus Sragorisinus Segenitor.

However, by 1783 Forster saw that his involvement with the Rosicrucians not only led him away from real science, but also deeper into debt (it is said he was not good at money); for these reasons Forster was happy to accept a proposal by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Commission of National Education and became Chair of Natural History at Vilnius University in 1784. Initially, he was accepted well in Vilnius, but he felt more and more isolated with time. Most of his contacts were still with scientists in Germany; especially notable is his dispute with Immanuel Kant about the definition of race. In 1785, Forster traveled to Halle where he submitted his thesis on the plants of the South Pacific for a doctorate in medicine. Back in Vilnius, Forster's ambitions to build a real natural history scientific centre could not get appropriate financial support from the authorities in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Moreover, his famous speech on natural history in 1785 went almost unnoticed and was not printed until 1843. These events led to high tensions between him and the local community. Eventually, he broke the contract six years short of its completion as Catherine II of Russia had offered him a place on a journey around the world (the Mulovsky expedition) for a high honorarium and a position as a professor in Saint Petersburg. This resulted in a conflict between Forster and the influential Polish scientist Jędrzej Śniadecki. However, the Russian proposal was withdrawn and Forster left Vilnius. He then settled in Mainz, where he became head librarian of the University of Mainz, a position held previously by his friend Johannes von Müller, who made sure Forster would succeed him when Müller moved to the administration of Elector Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal.

Forster regularly published essays on contemporary explorations and continued to be a very prolific translator; for instance, he wrote about Cook's third journey to the South Pacific, and about the Bounty expedition, as well as translating Cook's and Bligh 's diaries from these journeys into German. From his London years, Forster was in contact with Sir Joseph Banks, the initiator of the Bounty expedition and a participant in Cook's first journey. While at the University of Vilnius he wrote the article "Neuholland und die brittische Colonie in Botany-Bay", published in the Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch (Berlin, December 1786), an essay on the future prospects of the English colony founded in New South Wales in 1788.

Another interest of his was indology – one of the main goals of his failed expedition to be financed by Catherine II had been to reach India. He translated the Sanskrit play Shakuntala using a Latin version provided by Sir William Jones; this strongly influenced Johann Gottfried Herder, and triggered German interest in the culture of India.

## Views from the Lower Rhine

In the second quarter of 1790, Forster and the young Alexander von Humboldt started from Mainz on a long journey through the Southern Netherlands, the United Provinces, and England, eventually finishing in Paris. The impressions from the journey were described in a three volume publication Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich im April, Mai und Juni 1790 (Views of the Lower Rhine, from Brabant, Flanders, Holland, England, and France in April, May and June 1790), published 1791–94. Goethe said about the book: "One wants, after one has finished reading, to start it over, and wishes to travel with such a good and knowledgeable observer." The book includes comments on the history of art that were as influential for the discipline as A Voyage Round the world was for ethnology. Forster was, for example, one of the first writers who gave just treatment to the Gothic architecture of Cologne Cathedral, which was widely perceived as "barbarian" at that time. The book conformed well to the early Romantic intellectual movements in German-speaking Europe.

Forster's main interest, however, was again focused on the social behavior of people, as 15 years earlier in the Pacific. The national uprisings in Flanders and Brabant and the revolution in France sparked his curiosity. The journey through these regions, together with the Netherlands and England, where citizens' freedoms were equally well developed, in the end helped him to resolve his own political opinions. From that time on he was to be a confident opponent of the ancien régime. With other German scholars, he welcomed the outbreak of the revolution as a clear consequence of the Enlightenment. As early as 30 July 1789, shortly after he heard about the Storming of the Bastille, he wrote to his father-in-law, philologist Christian Gottlob Heyne, that it was beautiful to see what philosophy had nurtured in people's minds and then had realized in the state. To educate people about their rights in this way, he wrote, was after all the surest way; the rest would then result as if by itself.

## Life as a revolutionary

### Foundation of the Mainz Republic

The French revolutionary army under General Custine gained control over Mainz on 21 October 1792. Two days later, Forster joined others in establishing a Jacobin Club called "Freunde der Freiheit und Gleichheit" ("Friends of Freedom and Equality") in the Electoral Palace. From early 1793 he was actively involved in organizing the Mainz Republic. This first republic located on German soil was constituted on the principles of democracy, and encompassed areas on the left bank of the Rhine between Landau and Bingen. Forster became vice-president of the republic's temporary administration and a candidate in the elections to the local parliament, the Rheinisch-Deutscher Nationalkonvent (Rhenish-German National Convention). From January to March 1793, he was an editor of Die neue Mainzer Zeitung oder Der Volksfreund (The new Mainz newspaper or The People's Friend), a name chosen in reference to Marat 's L'Ami du peuple. In his first article he wrote:

Die Pressefreiheit herrscht endlich innerhalb dieser Mauern, wo die Buchdruckerpresse erfunden ward.

The freedom of the press finally reigns within these walls where the printing press was invented.

This freedom did not last long, though. The Mainz Republic existed only until the retreat of the French troops in July 1793 after the siege of Mainz.

Forster was not present in Mainz during the siege. As representatives of the Mainz National Convention, he and Adam Lux had been sent to Paris to apply for Mainz – which was unable to exist as an independent state – to become a part of the French Republic. The application was accepted, but had no effect, since Mainz was conquered by Prussian and Austrian troops, and the old order was restored. Forster lost his library and collections and decided to remain in Paris.

### Death in revolutionary Paris

Based on a decree by Emperor Francis II inflicting punishments on German subjects who collaborated with the French revolutionary government, Forster was declared an outlaw and placed under the Imperial ban; a prize of 100 ducats was set on his head and he could not return to Germany. Devoid of all means of making a living and without his wife, who had stayed in Mainz with their children and her later husband Ludwig Ferdinand Huber, he remained in Paris. At this point the revolution in Paris had entered the Reign of Terror introduced by the Committee of Public Safety under the rule of Maximilien Robespierre. Forster had the opportunity to experience the difference between the promises of the revolution of happiness for all and its cruel practice. In contrast to many other German supporters of the revolution, like for instance Friedrich Schiller, Forster did not turn back from his revolutionary ideals under the pressure of the terror. He viewed the events in France as a force of nature that could not be slowed and that had to release its own energies to avoid being even more destructive.

Before the reign of terror reached its climax, Forster died after a rheumatic illness in his small attic apartment at Rue des Moulins in Paris on 10 January 1794, at the age of thirty-nine. At the time, he was making plans to visit India.

## Views on nations and their culture

Forster had partial Scottish roots and was born in Polish Royal Prussia, and therefore was by birth a Polish subject. He worked in Russia, England, Poland and in several German countries of his time. Finally, he finished his life in France. He worked in different milieus and traveled a lot from his youth on. It was his view that this, together with his scientific upbringing based on the principles of the Enlightenment, gave him a wide perspective on different ethnic and national communities:

All peoples of the earth have equal claims to my good will... and my praise and blame are independent of national prejudice.

In his opinion all human beings have the same abilities with regard to reason, feelings and imagination, but these basic ingredients are used in different ways and in different environments, which gives rise to different cultures and civilizations. According to him it is obvious that the culture on Tierra del Fuego is at a lower level of development than European culture, but he also admits that the conditions of life there are much more difficult and this gives people very little chance to develop a higher culture. Based on these opinions he was classified as one of the main examples of 18th-century German cosmopolitanism.

In contrast to the attitude expressed in these writings and to his Enlightenment background, he used insulting terms expressing prejudice against Poles in his private letters during his stay in Vilnius and in a diary from the journey through Poland, but he never published any manifestation of this attitude. These insults only became known after his death, when his private correspondence and diaries were released to the public. Since Forster's published descriptions of other nations were seen as impartial scientific observations, Forster's disparaging description of Poland in his letters and diaries was often taken at face value in Imperial and Nazi Germany, where it was used as a means of science-based support for a purported German superiority. The spreading of the "Polnische Wirtschaft" (Polish economy) stereotype is most likely due to the influence of his letters.

Forster's attitude brought him into conflict with the people of the different nations he encountered and made him welcome nowhere, as he was too revolutionary and antinational for Germans, proud and opposing in his dealings with Englishmen, too unconcerned about Polish science for Poles, and too insignificant politically and ignored while in France.

## Legacy

After Forster's death, his works were mostly forgotten, except in professional circles. This was partly due to his involvement in the French revolution. However, his reception changed with the politics of the times, with different periods focusing on different parts of his work. In the period of rising nationalism after the Napoleonic era he was regarded in Germany as a "traitor to his country", overshadowing his work as an author and scientist. This attitude rose even though the philosopher Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel wrote about Forster at the beginning of the 19th century:

Among all those authors of prose who are justified in laying claim to a place in the ranks of German classics, none breathes the spirit of free progress more than Georg Forster.

Some interest in Forster's life and revolutionary actions was revived in the context of the liberal sentiments leading up to the 1848 revolution. But he was largely forgotten in the Germany of Wilhelm II and more so in Nazi Germany, where interest in Forster was limited to his stance on Poland from his private letters. Interest in Forster resumed in the 1960s in East Germany, where he was interpreted as a champion of class struggle. The GDR research station in Antarctica that was opened on 25 October 1987, was named after him. In West Germany, the search for democratic traditions in German history also led to a more diversified picture of him in the 1970s. The Alexander von Humboldt foundation named a scholarship program for foreign scholars from developing countries after him. His reputation as one of the first and most outstanding German ethnologists is indisputable, and his works are seen as crucial in the development of ethnology in Germany into a separate branch of science.

The ethnographical items collected by Georg and Johann Reinhold Forster are now presented as the Cook-Forster-Sammlung (Cook–Forster Collection) in the Sammlung für Völkerkunde anthropological collection in Göttingen. Another collection of items collected by the Forsters is on display at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

## Works

- A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (1777) Internet Archive scans: Vol. I and II; modern publication with commentary: (preview)

- Characteres generum plantarum, quas in Itinere ad Insulas Maris Australis, Collegerunt, Descripserunt, Delinearunt, annis MDCCLXXII-MDCCLXXV Joannes Reinoldus Forster et Georgius Forster (1775/76), archive.org

- De Plantis Esculentis Insularum Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica (1786) available online at Project Gutenberg

- Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus (1786) available online at Project Gutenberg and Biodiversity Heritage Library (DOI:10.5962/bhl.title.10725)

- Essays on moral and natural geography, natural history and philosophy (1789–97)

- Views of the Lower Rhine, Brabant, Flanders (three volumes, 1791–94)

- Georg Forsters Werke, Sämtliche Schriften, Tagebücher, Briefe, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, G. Steiner et al. Berlin: Akademie 1958

- Werke in vier Bänden, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Leipzig: Insel 1965. ASIN: B00307GDQ0

- Reise um die Welt, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1983. ISBN 3-458-32457-7

- Ansichten vom Niederrhein, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1989. ISBN 3-458-32836-X

- Georg Forster, Briefe an Ernst Friedrich Hector Falcke. Neu aufgefundene Forsteriana aus der Gold- und Rosenkreuzerzeit, Michael Ewert, Hermann Schüttler (editors). Georg-Forster-Studien Beiheft 4. Kassel: Kassel University Press 2009. ISBN 978-3-89958-485-1


Prince Daddy & the Hyena

# Prince Daddy & the Hyena

## Abstract

Prince Daddy & the Hyena is an American punk rock band from Albany, New York, formed in 2014. They have released three full-length albums and four extended plays.

## History

### Formation and early years

Prince Daddy and the Hyena was formed in 2014 when Kory Gregory, Alex Ziembiec and Zakariya Houacine were inspired to start a band after seeing Rozwell Kid live. According to Gregory, Rozwell Kid was a substantial influence on much of his early songwriting. The origin of the band's name is obscure; Gregory has stated that he "would make up a different dumbass story each time". He has variously explained that it was derived from a game that Gregory played with the band's TM & merch person – Luis Wiest – at recess in elementary school, that it was the name of Gregory's childhood guinea pig, or that it is his parents' anniversary. He has also tweeted that there is a comma missing between Prince and Daddy, due to a grammatical error.

The band met lead guitarist Cameron Handford through house shows and mutual friends eventually leading up to his joining of the band. Prince Daddy & the Hyena began in 2014 with the release of an extended play titled Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud!.

The band released the EP Adult Summers in 2015 through Broken World Media and again in 2017 through Counter Intuitive Records.

Their first full-length album I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving was finally released in 2016 on Broken World Media.

In 2017, Ziembiec left the band on good terms due to exhaustion from touring. Daniel Gorham from Pictures of Vernon took over on drums.

### Cosmic Thrill Seekers

In 2019, the band released its second full-length album titled Cosmic Thrill Seekers on Counter Intuitive Records, and embarked on several extensive tours in support of the album. This tour would prove difficult for the band, as they were involved in a traffic accident which left the band and members of their team temporarily disabled. After recovering from this incident, the band's tour van was broken into, leading to the loss of $7,500 worth of equipment. The band went on tour Europe with Oso Oso in further support of the record in the fall of 2019. In 2020, the band embarked on their co-headlining tour with Oso Oso with support from Just Friends.

### Self-titled album

In 2021, the band signed to Pure Noise Records and released the single "Curly Q.", which Gregory wrote for his nephew.

In 2022, they announced their forthcoming third album, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, to release on April 15. The album is conceptually about the fear of death, and was inspired by a van crash the band experienced. The album was also supported by the singles "A Random Exercise In Impermanence (The Collector)," "El Dorado," and "Shoelaces," as well as a headlining tour throughout the United States with Macseal, Insignificant Other, and California Cousins.

In November 2022, they announced original drummer Alex Ziembiec's death.

In February 2023, they embarked on a co-headlining tour with Drug Church, with support from Anxious and Webbed Wing.

## Musical style

The band has self-identified themselves as a punk rock band in an interview with The Fader. Critically, the band has been described as "smartly crafted slacker punk" with elements of power pop, post-hardcore, and emo by AllMusic. Pitchfork has identified the band as both punk rock and emo.

Frontman Kory Gregory has cited Weezer, the Strokes, Jeff Rosenstock, and Green Day as major influences on the sound. In an interview with The Fader, Gregory described the sound on the band's second album Cosmic Thrill Seekers as "the soundtrack to a Disney film played by a punk rock band."

## Band members

Current

- Korneilious "Kory" Jophus Gregory – lead vocals, guitar (2014–present)

- Cameron "Cambo" Hanford – guitar (2014–present)

- Daniel "Podwick" Gorham – drums, backing vocals (2018–present)

- Jordan "J Nasty" Chmielowski – bass (2024–present; touring 2022–2023)

Past

- Zakariya "Hardly Knew Yee" Houacine – bass (2014–2019)

- Alex "Al Al Bean" Ziembiec – drums (2014–2017; died 2022)

- Adam Dasilva – bass (2020–2022)

Touring

- Jake Sulzer – drums (2017), bass (2023)

- James Ringness – drums (2017)

- Cole Syzilagyi – bass (2022)

### Timeline

## Discography

Studio albums

- I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving (2016, Broken World Media/2017, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Cosmic Thrill Seekers (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Prince Daddy & the Hyena (2022, Pure Noise Records)

EPs

- Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud! (2014, Wallflower Records)

- Adult Summers (2015, Broken World Media, 2017 Counter Intuitive Records)

Splits

- Prince Daddy & The Hyena/Just Friends (2016, Broken World Media)

- Now That's What I Call Music Vol. 420 (2017, Counter Intuitive Records)

Singles

- Adult Summers Pt. 2 (2015, Broken World Media) HIDDEN TRACK* (2015, Broken World Media)

- HIDDEN TRACK* (2015, Broken World Media)

- I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving (2016, Broken World Media)

- Hundo Pos (2016, Broken World Media)

- I Forgot To Take My Meds Today (2017, Broken World Media)

- I Lost My Life (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Lauren (Track 2) (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Fuckin' A (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Prototype of The Ultimate Life-form (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Curly Q (2021, Pure Noise Records)

- A Random Exercise in Impermanence (The Collector) (2022, Pure Noise Records)

- El Dorado (2022, Pure Noise Records)

- Shoelaces (2022, Pure Noise Records)


Teig Wilton

# Teig Wilton

## Abstract

Teig Wilton (born 25 September 1999) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row forward for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League (NRL).

## Background

Wilton played his junior rugby league for the Narooma Devils in the Group 16 Rugby League.

He is the nephew of former Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks coach John Morris.

## Early career

### 2020

Wilton made his first grade debut in round 11 of the 2020 NRL season for Cronulla against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

### 2021

In round 4 of the 2021 NRL season, he scored his first try in the top grade for Cronulla in a 48-10 victory over North Queensland at Kogarah Oval. Wilton played 15 games for Cronulla in the 2021 NRL season which saw the club narrowly miss the finals by finishing 9th on the table.

### 2022

Wilton played a total of 24 games for Cronulla in the 2022 NRL season scoring four tries. Wilton played in both of Cronulla's finals matches as they were eliminated in straight sets losing to North Queensland and South Sydney.

### 2023

Following Cronulla's loss against the New Zealand Warriors in round 20 of the 2023 NRL season, it was announced that Wilton had been ruled out for the remainder of the year with a knee injury.

### 2024

In round 6 of the 2024 NRL season, Wilton scored two tries for Cronulla in their 34-22 victory over South Sydney.

## Statistics

### NRL


Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

# Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

## Abstract

MUSE (Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), commercially known as Hi-Vision (a contraction of HI gh-definition tele VISION) was a Japanese analog high-definition television system, with design efforts going back to 1979.

It used dot-interlacing and digital video compression to deliver 1125 line, 60 field-per-second (1125i60) signals to the home. The system was standardized as ITU -R recommendation BO.786 and specified by SMPTE 260M, using a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M. As with other analog systems, not all lines carry visible information. On MUSE there are 1035 active interlaced lines, therefore this system is sometimes also mentioned as 1035i. It employed 2-dimensional filtering, dot-interlacing, motion-vector compensation and line-sequential color encoding with time compression to "fold" an original 30 MHz bandwidth Hi-Vision source signal into just 8.1 MHz.

Japan began broadcasting wideband analog HDTV signals in December 1988, initially with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The Sony HDVS high-definition video system was used to create content for the MUSE system, but didn't record MUSE signals. It recorded Hi-Vision signals which are uncompressed.By the time of its commercial launch in 1991, digital HDTV was already under development in the United States. Hi-Vision was mainly broadcast by NHK through their BShi satellite TV channel, although other channels such as WOWOW, TV Asahi, Fuji Television, TBS Television, Nippon Television, and TV Tokyo also broadcast in MUSE.

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were also a number of players available from other brands like Pioneer and Sony.

Hi-Vision continued broadcasting in analog until 2007.

## History

MUSE was developed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in the 1980s as a compression system for Hi-Vision HDTV signals.

- Japanese broadcast engineers immediately rejected conventional vestigial sideband broadcasting.

- It was decided early on that MUSE would be a satellite broadcast format as Japan economically supports satellite broadcasting. MUSE was transmitted at a frequency of 21 GHz or 12 GHz.

- Japanese broadcast engineers had been studying the various HDTV broadcast types for some time. It was initially thought that SHF, EHF or optic fiber would have to be used to transmit HDTV due to the high bandwidth of the signal, and HLO-PAL would be used for terrestrial broadcast. HLO-PAL is a conventionally constructed composite signal (based on Y {\displaystyle Y} for luminance and C {\displaystyle C} for chroma like NTSC and PAL) and uses a phase alternating by line with half-line offset carrier encoding of the wideband/narrowband chroma components. Only the very lowest part of the wideband chroma component overlapped the high-frequency chroma. The narrowband chroma was completely separated from luminance. PAF, or phase alternating by field (like the first NTSC color system trial) was also experimented with, and it gave much better decoding results, but NHK abandoned all composite encoding systems. Because of the use of satellite transmission, Frequency modulation (FM) should be used with power-limitation problem. FM incurs triangular noise, so if a sub-carrierred composite signal is used with FM, demodulated chroma signal has more noise than luminance. Because of this, they looked at other options, and decided to use Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} component emission for satellite. At one point, it seemed that FCFE (Frame Conversion Fineness Enhanced), I/P conversion compression system, would be chosen, but MUSE was ultimately picked.

- Separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C} components was explored. The MUSE format which is transmitted today, uses separated component signalling. The improvement in picture quality was so great, that the original test systems were recalled.

- One more power saving tweak was made: lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasised prior to modulation at the transmitter and de-emphasized at the receiver.

## Technical specifications

MUSE's "1125 lines" are an analog measurement, which includes non-video scan lines taking place while a CRT 's electron beam returns to the top of the screen to begin scanning the next field. Only 1035 lines have picture information. Digital signals count only the lines (rows of pixels) that have actual detail, so NTSC's 525 lines become 486i (rounded to 480 to be MPEG compatible), PAL's 625 lines become 576i, and MUSE would be 1035i. To convert the bandwidth of Hi-Vision MUSE into "conventional" lines-of-horizontal resolution (as is used in the NTSC world), multiply 29.9 lines per MHz of bandwidth. (NTSC and PAL/SECAM are 79.9 lines per MHz) - this calculation of 29.9 lines works for all current HD systems including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. So, for MUSE, during a still picture, the lines of resolution would be: 598-lines of luminance resolution per-picture-height. The chroma resolution is: 209-lines. The horizontal luminance measurement approximately matches the vertical resolution of a 1080 interlaced image when the Kell factor and interlace factor are taken into account. 1125 lines was selected as a compromise between the resolution in lines of NTSC and PAL and then doubling this number.

MUSE employs time-compression integration (TCI) which is another term for time-division multiplexing, which is used to carry luminance, chrominance, PCM audio and sync signals on one carrier signal/in one carrier frequency. However, TCI achieves multiplexing by compression of the contents in the time dimension, in other words transmitting frames of video that are divided into regions with chrominance compressed into the left of the frame and luminance compressed into the right of the frame, which must then be expanded and layered to create a visible image. This makes it different from NTSC which carries luminance, audio and chrominance simultaneously in several carrier frequencies. Hi-Vision signals are component video signals with 3 channels: they were RGB initially, and later YP P.

Key features of the MUSE system:

- Scanlines (total/active): 1,125/1,035

- Pixels per line (fully interpolated): 1122 (still image)/748 (moving)

- Reference clock periods: 1920 per active line

- Interlaced ratio: 2:1

- Aspect ratio 16:9

- Refresh rate: 59.94 or 60 frames per second

- Sampling frequency for broadcast: 16.2 MHz

- Vector motion compensation: horizontal ± 16 samples (32.4 MHz clock) / frame, a vertical line ± 3 / Field

- Audio: "DANCE" discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system: 48 kHz/16 bit (2 channel stereo: 2 front channels)/32 kHz/12 bit (4 channel surround: 3 front channels + 1 back channel)

- DPCM Audio compression format: DPCM quasi-instantaneous companding

- Required bandwidth: 27 MHz

### Colorimetry

The MUSE luminance signal Y {\displaystyle Y} encodes Y M {\displaystyle YM}, specified as the following mix of the original RGB color channels:

The chrominance C {\displaystyle C} signal encodes B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM} difference signals. By using these three signals (Y M {\displaystyle YM}, B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM}), a MUSE receiver can retrieve the original RGB color components using the following matrix:

The system used a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M (with coefficients corresponding to the SMPTE RP 145 primaries, also known as SMPTE-C, in use at the time the standard was created). The chromaticity of the primary colors and white point are:

The luma (E Y {\displaystyle EY}) function is specified as:

The blue color difference (E P B {\displaystyle EPB}) is amplitude-scaled (E B − E Y {\displaystyle EB-EY}), according to:

The red color difference (E P R {\displaystyle EPR}) is amplitude-scaled (E R − E Y {\displaystyle ER-EY}), according to:

### Signal and Transmission

MUSE is a 1125 line system (1035 visible), and is not pulse and sync compatible with the digital 1080 line system used by modern HDTV. Originally, it was a 1125 line, interlaced, 60 Hz, system with a 5:3 (1.66:1) aspect ratio and an optimal viewing distance of roughly 3.3H. In 1989 this was changed to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

For terrestrial MUSE transmission a bandwidth limited FM system was devised. A satellite transmission system uses uncompressed FM.

The pre-compression bandwidth for Y {\displaystyle Y} is 20 MHz, and the pre-compression bandwidth for chrominance is a 7.425 MHz carrier.

The Japanese initially explored the idea of frequency modulation of a conventionally constructed composite signal. This would create a signal similar in structure to the Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} composite video NTSC signal - with the Y {\displaystyle Y} (luminance) at the lower frequencies and the C {\displaystyle C} (chrominance) above. Approximately 3 kW of power would be required, in order to get 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a composite FM signal in the 22 GHz band. This was incompatible with satellite broadcast techniques and bandwidth.

To overcome this limitation, it was decided to use a separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C}. This reduces the effective frequency range and lowers the required power. Approximately 570 W (360 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 210 for C {\displaystyle C}) would be needed in order to get a 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a separate Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} FM signal in the 22 GHz satellite band. This was feasible.

There is one more power saving that appears from the character of the human eye. The lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasized prior to modulation at the transmitter and then de-emphasized at the receiver. This method was adopted, with crossover frequencies for the emphasis/de-emphasis at 5.2 MHz for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 1.6 MHz for C {\displaystyle C}. With this in place, the power requirements drop to 260 W of power (190 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 69 for C {\displaystyle C}).

## Sampling systems and ratios

The subsampling in a video system is usually expressed as a three part ratio. The three terms of the ratio are: the number of brightness (luma) Y {\displaystyle Y} samples, followed by the number of samples of the two color (chroma) components C b {\displaystyle Cb} and C r {\displaystyle Cr}, for each complete sample area. Traditionally the value for brightness is always 4, with the rest of the values scaled accordingly.

A sampling of 4:4:4 indicates that all three components are fully sampled. A sampling of 4:2:0, for example, indicated that the two chroma components are sampled at half the horizontal sample rate of luma - the horizontal chroma resolution is halved. This reduces the bandwidth of an uncompressed video signal by one-third.

MUSE implements a similar system as a means of reducing bandwidth, but instead of static sampling, the actual ratio varies according to the amount of motion on the screen. In practice, MUSE sampling will vary from approximately 4:2:1 to 4:0.5:0.25, depending on the amount of movement. Thus the red-green chroma component C r {\displaystyle Cr} has between one-half and one-eighth the sampling resolution of the luma component Y {\displaystyle Y}, and the blue-yellow chroma C b {\displaystyle Cb} has half the resolution of red-green.

## Audio subsystem

MUSE had a discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system called " DANCE ", which stood for Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion.

It used differential audio transmission (differential pulse-code modulation) that was not psychoacoustics-based like MPEG-1 Layer II. It used a fixed transmission rate of 1350 kbp/s. Like the PAL NICAM stereo system, it used near-instantaneous companding (as opposed to Syllabic-companding like the dbx system uses) and non-linear 13-bit digital encoding at a 32 kHz sample rate.

It could also operate in a 48 kHz 16-bit mode. The DANCE system was well documented in numerous NHK technical papers and in a NHK-published book issued in the USA called Hi-Vision Technology.

The DANCE audio codec was superseded by Dolby AC-3 (a.k.a. Dolby Digital), DTS Coherent Acoustics (a.k.a. DTS Zeta 6x20 or ARTEC), MPEG-1 Layer III (a.k.a. MP3), MPEG-2 Layer I, MPEG-4 AAC and many other audio coders. The methods of this codec are described in the IEEE paper:

## Real world performance issues

MUSE had a four-field dot-interlacing cycle, meaning it took four fields to complete a single MUSE frame. Thus, only stationary images were transmitted at full resolution. However, as MUSE lowers the horizontal and vertical resolution of material that varies greatly from frame to frame, moving images were blurred. Because MUSE used motion-compensation, whole camera pans maintained full resolution, but individual moving elements could be reduced to only a quarter of the full frame resolution. Because the mix between motion and non-motion was encoded on a pixel-by-pixel basis, it wasn't as visible as most would think. Later, NHK came up with backwards compatible methods of MUSE encoding/decoding that greatly increased resolution in moving areas of the image as well as increasing the chroma resolution during motion. This so-called MUSE-III system was used for broadcasts starting in 1995 and a very few of the last Hi-Vision MUSE LaserDiscs used it (A River Runs Through It is one Hi-Vision LD that used it). During early demonstrations of the MUSE system, complaints were common about the decoder's large size, which led to the creation of a miniaturized decoder.

Shadows and multipath still plague this analog frequency modulated transmission mode.

Japan has since switched to a digital HDTV system based on ISDB, but the original MUSE-based BS Satellite channel 9 (NHK BS Hi-vision) was broadcast until September 30, 2007.

## Cultural and geopolitical impacts

- (1940s): The NTSC standard (as a 525 line monochrome system) was imposed by the US occupation forces.

- (1950s-1960s): Unlike Canada (that could have switched to PAL), Japan was stuck with the US TV transmission standard regardless of circumstances.

- (1960s-1970s): By the late 1960s many parts of the modern Japanese electronics industry had gotten their start by fixing the transmission and storage problems inherent with NTSC's design.

- (1970s-1980s): By the 1980s there was spare engineering talent available in Japan that could design a better television system.

MUSE, as the US public came to know it, was initially covered in the magazine Popular Science in the mid-1980s. The US television networks did not provide much coverage of MUSE until the late 1980s, as there were few public demonstrations of the system outside Japan.

Because Japan had its own domestic frequency allocation tables (that were more open to the deployment of MUSE) it became possible for this television system to be transmitted by Ku Band satellite technology by the end of the 1980s.

The US FCC in the late 1980s began to issue directives that would allow MUSE to be tested in the US, providing it could be fit into a 6 MHz System-M channel.

The Europeans (in the form of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)) were impressed with MUSE, but could never adopt it because it is a 60 Hz TV system, not a 50 Hz system that is standard in Europe and the rest of the world (outside the Americas and Japan).

The EBU development and deployment of B-MAC, D-MAC and much later on HD-MAC were made possible by Hi-Vision's technical success. In many ways MAC transmission systems are better than MUSE because of the total separation of colour from brightness in the time domain within the MAC signal structure.

Like Hi-Vision, HD-MAC could not be transmitted in 8 MHz channels without substantial modification – and a severe loss of quality and frame rate. A 6 MHz version Hi-Vision was experimented with in the US, but it too had severe quality problems so the FCC never fully sanctioned its use as a domestic terrestrial television transmission standard.

The US ATSC working group that had led to the creation of NTSC in the 1950s was reactivated in the early 1990s because of Hi-Vision's success. Many aspects of the DVB standard are based on work done by the ATSC working group, however most of the impact is in support for 60 Hz (as well as 24 Hz for film transmission) and uniform sampling rates and interoperable screen sizes.

## Device support for Hi-Vision

### Hi-Vision LaserDiscs

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were a number of MUSE LaserDisc players available in Japan: Pioneer HLD-XØ, HLD-X9, HLD-1000, HLD-V500, HLD-V700; Sony HIL-1000, HIL-C1 and HIL-C2EX; the last two of which have OEM versions made by Panasonic, LX-HD10 and LX-HD20. Players also supported standard NTSC LaserDiscs. Hi-Vision LaserDiscs are extremely rare and expensive.

The HDL-5800 Video Disc Recorder recorded both high definition still images and continuous video onto an optical disc and was part of the early analog wideband Sony HDVS high-definition video system which supported the MUSE system. Capable of recording HD still images and video onto either the WHD-3AL0 or the WHD-33A0 optical disc; WHD-3Al0 for CLV mode (up to 10 minute video or 18,000 still frames per side); WHD-33A0 for CAV mode (up to 3 minute video or 5400 still frames per side). These video discs were used for short video content such as advertisements and product demonstrations.

The HDL-2000 was a full band high definition video disc player.

### Reel to reel VTRs

For recording Hi-Vision signals, Three reel to reel analog VTRs were released, among them are the Sony HDV-1000 part of their HDVS line, the NEC TT 8-1000 and the Toshiba TVR-1000. These analog VTRs had a head drum angular speed of 3600 RPM and are similar to Type C VTRs. They have a bandwidth of 30 Mhz for luma and 7 Mhz for both chroma channels each, with a signal to noise ratio of 41 dB. They accept luma and chroma signals with bandwidths of up to 30 Mhz for both. Signals are recorded onto the tape using FM modulation. Linear tape speed is 483.1 mm/s and writing speed at the heads is 25.9 m/s. The head drum is 134.5 mm wide and has 4 video record heads, 4 video playback heads and 1 erasing head. It could record for 45 minutes on 10.5 inch reels. The video heads are made of Mn-Zn ferrite material, those used for recording have a gap of 0.7 microns and a width of 80 microns and those for playback have a gap of 0.35 microns and a width of 70 microns. It records audio on 3 linear tracks, and control signals on a linear track. Unlike conventional type C videotape recorders, Vertical Blanking Intervals are not recorded on the tape. Helical tracks have groups of 4 signals length-wise with red chrominance, blue chrominance, and two green chrominance signals with luminance information. Two tracks for green chrominance plus luminance are used to increase the bandwidth of these signals that can be recorded on the tape.

In 1987, technical standards for digital recording of Hi-Vision signals were released by NHK, and Sony and Hitachi developed the HDD-1000 and the HV-1200 digital reel to reel VTRs respectively. Audio is recorded digitally similarly to a DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) digital audio recorder, but several changes were made to synchronize the audio to the video. These digital VTRs can record 8 channels of digital audio on linear tracks (horizontally along the entire length of the tape). According to the standards, these VTRs operate with a head drum speed of 7200 RPM, have a bit rate of 148.5 Mbit/s per video head, a linear tape speed of 805.2 mm/s and a writing speed at the heads of 51.5 m/s, are similar to Type C VTRs, have a head drum 135mm wide, 8 playback, 8 recording and 2 erase heads, with 37 micron wide helical tracks. Bandwidth is 30 Mhz for luma (Y) and 15 Mhz for chroma (P, P). Audio is recorded with a sampling rate of 48 kHz stored at 16 bits per sample in linear tape tracks, sampling rate for luma is 74.25 Mhz and 37.125 Mhz for chroma stored at 8 bits per sample. Signal to noise ratio is 56 dB for chroma and luma. Video fields are divided into 16 helical tracks on the tape. Total video bandwidth is 1.188 gigabits/s. Cue signals are recorded into 3 linear tape tracks. Video is recorded in groups of 4 tracks length-wise within each helical track, to allow for parallelization: high total data rates with relatively low data rates per head, and reduce the linear tape speed. Digital video signals are recorded line by line (1 row of pixels in every frame of video or 1 line of video at a time) with ECC (Error Correcting Code) at the end of each line and in between a number of vertical lines. Reed-Solomon code is used for ECC and each line also has an ID number for trick play such as slow motion and picture search/shuttle.

### Displays

Hi-Vision requires a display capable of handling 30 Mhz of video bandwidth simultaneously for each of the component video channels: Y, P and P. It was displayed on direct view color CRTs and CRT projectors, and plasma displays and Talaria projectors were explored to determine their ability to display Hi-Vision images.

### Cameras

Cameras based on Saticon tubes, Plumbicon tubes, Harpicon tubes and CCD image sensors were used to capture footage using the Hi-Vision format. A prototype based on Vidicon tubes was also created.

### MUSE decoders

A MUSE decoder is required for receiving MUSE broadcasts from satellites, and for viewing content in the MUSE format. The decoder converts MUSE format signals into Hi-Vision component video signals that can then be shown in a display.

### Video cassettes

W-VHS allowed home recording of Hi-Vision programmes.

For recording Hi-Vision video, NHK and 10 Japanese companies ("NEC, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba, Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo Electric, JVC, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon") in 1989 released UniHi, a professional videocassette format. Recorders for the format were manufactured by Panasonic, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba. These machines were less expensive than their Type C counterparts. Both studio and portable versions were made. The head drum spins at 5400 RPM and uses tape that is 12.65 mm wide. It has a luminance (Y) bandwidth of 20 MHz and a chrominance (P, P) bandwidth of 7 MHz. The head drum is 76mm wide. It uses two video heads with azimuth recording and records each frame of video into 12 helical tracks; only 6 tracks are necessary for each video field if recording interlaced video. Audio is recorded digitally as a PCM signal, as a section on the helical tracks. Writing speed at the heads is 21.4 m/s. The tape also has 3 linear tracks, one for audio, control and time code each. Signal to noise ratio for luminance is 41 dB and for chrominance it is 47 dB. The tape is wrapped 180° around the head drum. Development began in 1987. It uses metal particle tape. It could record video for 1 hour (63 minutes). Linear tape speed is 120 mm/s. The cassette measures 205mm (width) x 121mm (depth) x 25mm (height). Signals are recorded using time-compression integration, in groups of two signals length-wise on each helical track. Grouping is used to increase the bandwidth that can be recorded on the tape. The cassette is intented to be air-tight with two flaps in the cassette's opening to protect the tape.

This videocassette format was developed in order to reduce the size of HD recording equipment. The Sony version of the UniHi VTR, the HDV-10, had a price of over 90,000 US dollars.


The Favorite (1989 film)

# The Favorite (1989 film)

## Abstract

The Favorite (also titled Intimate Power) is a 1989 Swiss-American historical drama film based on the unsubstantiated story of Aimée du Buc de Rivéry that takes place at the dawn of the 19th century. It was the final film of director Jack Smight.

## Premise

A young French woman named Aimee is kidnapped and forced into a Sultan's harem in the Ottoman Empire. Fiercely independent, she resists, but must make choices in order to survive. She begins to influence the Sultan toward more fair manners of solving his conflicts, but finds herself at odds with another one of his wives, who wants her son Mustafa to become the new sultan. As the years pass, she must deal with the new Sultan's advances while protecting her adopted son Mahmud, and helping the Ottoman Empire against Russia during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792.

The source for the story is a novel by Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark titled Sultana - La Nuit du Serail.

## Cast

- F. Murray Abraham as Abdul Hamid

- Maud Adams as Sineperver

- Amber O'Shea as Aimée Dubucq de Rivéry

- Ron Dortch as Tulip

- James Michael Gregary as Selim

- Laurent Le Doyen as Sebastiani

- Francesco Quinn as adult Mahmud

- Andréa Parisy as Mihrişah

- Tom McGreevey as Uncle (as Thomas McGreevey)

- Celeste Simpson-Boyd as Zinah

- Robere Kazadi as Orchid

- Garth Wilton as British Consul

- Reuven Bar-Yotam as Algerian Captain

- Farouk Peker as Baktar

- John Kennedy Hayden as Chief Janissary

- Mike Johnson as First Mate

- Thomas Rosales Jr. as Third Mate

- Michael Saad as Jeweler

- Dale Dye as French Officer

- Joseph Darrell as Manservant

- Ayse Gungor as Harem Girl

- Starr Andreeff as Harem Girl

- Erica Zeitlin as Harem Girl

- Victoria Dakil as Old Woman

- Roz Witt as Nun

- George Marshall Ruge as Kamir

- Joe El Rady as Boy at the bazar

- Jonathan Vuille as Young Mahmud

- Glenn Scarpelli as Mustafa

## Production

- Director: Jack Smight

- Production Company: Ascona Films, Inc.

The film was shot in Turkey. Halfway through the production, original producer Georges-Alain Vuille ran out of money and Steve Friedman's company completed production. Smight finished the film, stating "it turned out better than expected, but once again 'into oblivion'."

## Sources

- Jason Ankeny, Allmovie.

- The Favorite at IMDb


Prince Daddy & the Hyena

# Prince Daddy & the Hyena

## Abstract

Prince Daddy & the Hyena is an American punk rock band from Albany, New York, formed in 2014. They have released three full-length albums and four extended plays.

## History

### Formation and early years

Prince Daddy and the Hyena was formed in 2014 when Kory Gregory, Alex Ziembiec and Zakariya Houacine were inspired to start a band after seeing Rozwell Kid live. According to Gregory, Rozwell Kid was a substantial influence on much of his early songwriting. The origin of the band's name is obscure; Gregory has stated that he "would make up a different dumbass story each time". He has variously explained that it was derived from a game that Gregory played with the band's TM & merch person – Luis Wiest – at recess in elementary school, that it was the name of Gregory's childhood guinea pig, or that it is his parents' anniversary. He has also tweeted that there is a comma missing between Prince and Daddy, due to a grammatical error.

The band met lead guitarist Cameron Handford through house shows and mutual friends eventually leading up to his joining of the band. Prince Daddy & the Hyena began in 2014 with the release of an extended play titled Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud!.

The band released the EP Adult Summers in 2015 through Broken World Media and again in 2017 through Counter Intuitive Records.

Their first full-length album I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving was finally released in 2016 on Broken World Media.

In 2017, Ziembiec left the band on good terms due to exhaustion from touring. Daniel Gorham from Pictures of Vernon took over on drums.

### Cosmic Thrill Seekers

In 2019, the band released its second full-length album titled Cosmic Thrill Seekers on Counter Intuitive Records, and embarked on several extensive tours in support of the album. This tour would prove difficult for the band, as they were involved in a traffic accident which left the band and members of their team temporarily disabled. After recovering from this incident, the band's tour van was broken into, leading to the loss of $7,500 worth of equipment. The band went on tour Europe with Oso Oso in further support of the record in the fall of 2019. In 2020, the band embarked on their co-headlining tour with Oso Oso with support from Just Friends.

### Self-titled album

In 2021, the band signed to Pure Noise Records and released the single "Curly Q.", which Gregory wrote for his nephew.

In 2022, they announced their forthcoming third album, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, to release on April 15. The album is conceptually about the fear of death, and was inspired by a van crash the band experienced. The album was also supported by the singles "A Random Exercise In Impermanence (The Collector)," "El Dorado," and "Shoelaces," as well as a headlining tour throughout the United States with Macseal, Insignificant Other, and California Cousins.

Original drummer Alex Ziembiec's died in November 2022.

In February 2023, they embarked on a co-headlining tour with Drug Church, with support from Anxious and Webbed Wing.

## Musical style

The band has self-identified themselves as a punk rock band in an interview with The Fader. Critically, the band has been described as "smartly crafted slacker punk" with elements of power pop, post-hardcore, and emo by AllMusic. Pitchfork has identified the band as both punk rock and emo.

Frontman Kory Gregory has cited Weezer, the Strokes, Jeff Rosenstock, and Green Day as major influences on the sound. In an interview with The Fader, Gregory described the sound on the band's second album Cosmic Thrill Seekers as "the soundtrack to a Disney film played by a punk rock band."

## Band members

Current

- Korneilious "Kory" Jophus Gregory – lead vocals, guitar (2014–present)

- Cameron "Cambo" Hanford – guitar (2014–present)

- Daniel "Podwick" Gorham – drums, backing vocals (2018–present)

- Jordan "J Nasty" Chmielowski – bass (2024–present; touring 2022–2023)

Past

- Zakariya "Hardly Knew Yee" Houacine – bass (2014–2019)

- Alex "Al Al Bean" Ziembiec – drums (2014–2017; died 2022)

- Adam Dasilva – bass (2020–2022)

Touring

- Jake Sulzer – drums (2017), bass (2023)

- James Ringness – drums (2017)

- Cole Syzilagyi – bass (2022)

### Timeline

## Discography

Studio albums

- I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving (2016, Broken World Media/2017, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Cosmic Thrill Seekers (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Prince Daddy & the Hyena (2022, Pure Noise Records)

EPs

- Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud! (2014, Wallflower Records)

- Adult Summers (2015, Broken World Media, 2017 Counter Intuitive Records)

Splits

- Prince Daddy & The Hyena/Just Friends (2016, Broken World Media)

- Now That's What I Call Music Vol. 420 (2017, Counter Intuitive Records)

Singles

- Adult Summers Pt. 2 (2015, Broken World Media) HIDDEN TRACK* (2015, Broken World Media)

- HIDDEN TRACK* (2015, Broken World Media)

- I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving (2016, Broken World Media)

- Hundo Pos (2016, Broken World Media)

- I Forgot To Take My Meds Today (2017, Broken World Media)

- I Lost My Life (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Lauren (Track 2) (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Fuckin' A (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Prototype of The Ultimate Life-form (2019, Counter Intuitive Records)

- Curly Q (2021, Pure Noise Records)

- A Random Exercise in Impermanence (The Collector) (2022, Pure Noise Records)

- El Dorado (2022, Pure Noise Records)

- Shoelaces (2022, Pure Noise Records)


Tower Records

# Tower Records

## Abstract

Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records filed for bankruptcy and liquidation. Tower Records was purchased by a separate entity and was not affected by the retail store closings.

On November 13, 2020, Tower Records announced that it had returned as an online retailer with plans to open future physical locations.

## History

### Inception, expansion, and description

In 1960, Russell Solomon opened the first Tower Records store on Broadway, in Sacramento, California. He named it after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theatre, where Solomon first started selling records. The first stand-alone Tower Records store was located at 2514 Watt Ave in the Arden Arcade area of Sacramento. By 1976, Solomon had opened Tower Books, Posters, and Plants at 1600 Broadway, next door to another Sacramento Tower Records location. In 1995, Tower.com opened, making the enterprise one of the first retailers to move online.

Seven years after its founding, Tower Records expanded to San Francisco, opening a store in what was originally a grocery store at Bay Street and Columbus Avenue. In 1979, Tower Records in Japan started its business as the Japan Branch of MTS Incorporated. The following year, Sapporo Store, the first in Japan and internationally, opened. The chain eventually expanded internationally to include stores in the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ireland, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina. The Tower Records stores in Japan split off from the main chain and are now independent.

Arguably the most famous Tower Records outlet was the purpose-built building that company staff general-contracted, with many personally contributing their labor, which opened in 1971 on the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Horn Avenue in West Hollywood.

In New York City, Tower Records operated a suite of stores on and near lower Broadway in Greenwich Village. The main store was located at the southeast corner of East 4th Street and Broadway. The Tower Records Annex was in the same building, located at the southwest corner of East 4th and Lafayette Street. The third store, Tower Video, was located on the southeast corner of East 4th and Lafayette Street, and specialized in video and the second floor of this location also sold books. Their location on the Upper West Side, near Lincoln Center on 66th Street and Broadway, was a magnet for those working in the field of musical theatre. There was also a location in the basement of Trump Tower, and a small clearance annex on 86th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The Nashville location on West End Avenue (across from Vanderbilt University) was in a former Packard dealership. The old showroom floor in front was devoted to CDs, cassettes and vinyl. The area in the back housed videocassette sales and rentals, PC and console games and music paraphernalia. The strip mall next door contained a separate Tower Books. The location was famous for their late-night Monday events that culminated at midnight on Tuesday when staff started ringing up sales of new releases. Because of the store's proximity to Music Row, country music stars could occasionally be seen performing or shopping there. As part of a 2002 settlement with 41 states over CD price fixing Tower Records, along with retailers Musicland and Trans World Entertainment, agreed to pay a $3 million (~$ 4.86 million in 2023) fine. It is estimated that between 1995 and 2000 customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album.

In 2005, the company began using "scan and listen" stations in its stores. These stations allowed customers to listen to audio samples from CDs and to search for particular songs, albums and artists. In the years that followed, this model of listening station was still used at the Arizona-based chain Zia Records.

In 2006, the company introduced the Tower Insider program. The program was free of charge and allowed a customer to receive a membership card that could be scanned with each purchase, allowing the customer to receive coupons and notification of special deals via e-mail.

In addition to compact discs and cassette tapes, the stores sold DVDs, electronic gadgets like mp3 players, video games, accessories, and toys, and a few Tower Records locations sold books as well, such as those in Fremont, Brea, Mountain View, and Sacramento, California, as well as stores in Austin, Boston, Massachusetts, Nashville, New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle and Bellevue, Washington.

### Pulse! magazine

In 1983, the company began publishing a music magazine, Pulse!, which contained record reviews, interviews, and advertising. Initially, it was given away free in their stores to promote their record sales. After nine years, in 1992, the magazine began national distribution with a cover price of $2.95, (~$ 6.00 in 2023) but it was canceled when the company discontinued U.S. operations. From 1983 until December 2002 Tower Records published it monthly, 222 issues in all.

### Bankruptcy

Tower Records entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the first time in 2004. Factors cited were the heavy debt incurred during its aggressive expansion in the 1990s, growing competition from mass discounters and Internet piracy. Mismanagement, managerial incompetence, and crippling restrictions from the first bankruptcy deal also contributed to Tower's demise.

Some observers took a pragmatic view. As Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer, has stated: "I'm sorry if Tower Records' and Blockbuster's sales plummet. On the other hand, it wasn't that long ago that those megastore chains drove a lot of neighborhood record stores out of business."

In February 2004, the debt was estimated to be between $80 million and $100 million, and assets totaled just over $100 million.

On August 20, 2006, Tower Records filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time, in order to facilitate a purchase of the company prior to the holiday shopping season.

### Liquidation

On October 6, 2006, Great American Group won an auction of the company's assets and commenced liquidation proceedings the following day. This included going-out-of-business sales at all U.S. Tower Records locations, the last of which closed on December 22, 2006. The Tower Records website was sold separately to Caiman Inc.

The managers of f.y.e., a music store chain based in shopping malls, had negotiated a deal to acquire the two historic Tower locations in the latter's home base of Sacramento. f.y.e. later backed out, stating that the "leases aren't what we thought they were". f.y.e. did acquire the lease of the West End Avenue store in Nashville, which eventually closed in 2011. f.y.e. also took over Tower Records in Torrance, which continued to operate until early 2016.

Rasputin Music, a new and used music and video store based in the San Francisco Bay Area, expanded in the Central Valley of California by acquiring the leases for the former Tower Records stores in Fresno and Stockton.

## Other stores

The Landmark Plaza Tower Records Store in Alexandria, Virginia was permanently closed on December 18, 2006, and the Tysons Corner, Virginia, store permanently closed on December 21, 2006. The noted 24-year-old store in Washington, D.C. (Foggy Bottom) closed down the next day, as did the store in Atlanta, Georgia.

On Friday, December 22, 2006 – 40 years after Solomon had opened the first Tower Records store in Sacramento – the last Tower Records store in New York City, located at 1961 Broadway, one block north of Lincoln Center, on Manhattan 's West Side, closed permanently along with all of the other remaining Tower Records stores in the United States. The final Tower Records store (in the Pacific Time Zone) to be closed was the one in Mountain View, which closed at 5:00 p.m.

One building in Sacramento had been a Tower Records store for 40 years, and the lot across the street had been the location where Solomon began selling records in 1941.

R5 Records closed on June 4, 2010, and was sold to rival Dimple Records, which reopened the store in mid-July 2010. Dimple Records closed all of its locations in 2019.

The Tower Records building in Boston, located at the intersection of Newbury Street and Massachusetts Avenue, was instrumental in the conversion of the former street's commercial value. The eight-story building, renovated by Frank Gehry in the late 80s, is prominently visible from the eastbound Massachusetts Turnpike. The store (which occupied the first five stories) featured gold stars of Boston artists (including Gang Starr, New Kids on the Block, and Yo-Yo Ma) embedded in the front landing. Virgin Megastore took over the store from 2002 to 2007. The space was later a Best Buy store and, after being vacant for some time, in 2016 was opened as a T.J. Maxx store.

### Online return

Online merchant Caiman, Inc., reopened the website from Montreal, Quebec, on June 1, 2007. This company also announced plans to reopen the stores themselves—opening stores in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco within the next nine months, however this never came to fruition. They hired former Tower buyer Kevin Hawkins to assist with the re-opening (Hawkins, along with former Tower employee George Scarlett, then left Caiman). In 2009, Richard Flynn was hired as President. The website remained based in Montreal, but the relaunch of the brand never moved forward.

As of November 2020, Tower Records re-opened their online store with a new website, once again selling vinyl records among other merchandise, which also features an online version of Pulse that is updated regularly.

### Tower Labs

In October 2022, Tower Labs was opened in Brooklyn, New York, marking the first physical iteration of the brand since 2006. "The intention of Tower Labs is for artists and bands to host personal gatherings with their community, similar to a backstage experience," says Tower Records' new president, Danny Zeijdel. "In an increasingly digital world, it is imperative for artists to have a physical space where they can connect and create." Tower Labs is a creative space, as the brand continues to explore the potential reopening of a flagship retail location.

## International stores

### Argentina

Tower Records operated nine stores in Argentina in Buenos Aires, Pilar, San Isidro, Puerto Madryn, Córdoba, and La Plata. It opened its first store in 1997 and closed its last in 2006.

### Canada

Tower Records operated in Canada in the mid-1990s with a flagship store at the Toronto Eaton Centre at the corner of Queen and Yonge which opened in December 1995 and closed in 2001. Tower Records opened a second location in Toronto in the late nineties at Empress Walk in North York, also on Yonge Street, but it was closed just prior to the flagship store closing.

### Hong Kong

Tower Records opened stores in Hong Kong in the 1990s. There were two stores, one located on the seventh floor of Times Square at Causeway Bay, the other at Diamond Hill.

### Ireland

Tower Records is operated in Ireland by Record & Discs Ltd. (owned by Press Up Entertainment) under a licensed franchise of MTS Incorporated (USA). As of 2021, two stores still operate in Ireland both located in Dublin, one on Dawson Street and the other on O'Connell Street upstairs in Easons.

### Israel

Tower Records Israel opened in 1993; a joint venture between Tower Records USA (MTS INC of W. Sacramento, CA) and two local businessmen. The Founding Director was Joel Abramson, who had previously managed Tower's flagship Sunset Strip location in Los Angeles. The first three locations were in Tel Aviv (the Opera Tower), Haifa (Hutzot HaMifratz, opened in early 1995) and Jerusalem (1995). The Tel Aviv location, with its beachfront location, was a popular shopping spot for Israeli pop stars like David Broza, Meir Ariel, Aviv Gefen, Riki Gal and others. TRI closed its final location in Ra'anana in November 2015.

### Japan

In 1979, Tower Records in Japan started its business as the Japan Branch of MTS Incorporated. The following year, Sapporo Store, the first in Japan, opened. In 1981, Japanese subsidiary Tower Records Japan Inc. (TRJ) was established.

In October 2002, TRJ went independent from the international chain by management buyout. The bankruptcy of Tower Records in the U.S. in 2006 did not affect TRJ because it had been completely independent (as of 2015, NTT DoCoMo and Seven & I Holdings are the main stakeholders). As of October 1, 2014, TRJ maintains 85 directly operated store locations throughout Japan, including 10 Tower Mini Stores and the Shibuya Store in Tokyo (moved to the current location in March 1995), which is said to be one of the biggest music retail outlets in the world, occupying selling space of 5,000 m² (9 floors). TRJ also publishes the free magazines Tower, bounce, and intoxicate directly and through its subsidiary NMNL. In 2014, Tower Records launched the music review website Mikiki, which also posts content from the previously mentioned magazines.

In addition to being the leading CD retailer in Japan, TRJ was the majority stakeholder in Napster Japan, a joint venture between TRJ and Napster LLC. On March 1, 2010, Napster Japan and TRJ announced that Napster Japan would terminate all of its services on May 31, 2010, due to the difficulty in covering the costs of maintaining the required systems to continue the services.

Tower Records Japan has a subsidiary record label called T-Palette Records, which specializes in idol performers.

### Mexico

The first Tower Records store in Mexico opened in the mid-1990s in the Zona Rosa area featuring 3 floors and a live DJ. After international bankruptcy, the stores were acquired by Promotora Musical, a retail company owned by Grupo Carso, the same owner of Mixup record stores. There were Tower Records stores in Mexico City (Gran Sur, Altavista and Mundo E), and Monterrey (Paseo San Pedro)., but eventually closed. The store in Puebla (Las Animas) currently operates.

### Philippines

Tower Records opened three stores in the Philippines in the 1990s. The first branch was located in Glorietta 3 Ayala Center Makati City which opened in 1998. The second store was in Alabang Town Center Muntinlupa City which opened in 1999. The third store was in Robinson's Place Manila, all of which are in the National Capital Region. As of 2018, all these branches have closed.

In 2020, Tower Records Philippines has been re-launched and re-opened because of Filipino girl group Baby Blue, a sub-unit of idol girl group MNL48.

### Singapore

Tower Records opened stores in Singapore in the 1990s. Singapore had two Tower Records outlets, one at Pacific Plaza that opened in 1993 and the other at Suntec City. Tower Records Pacific Plaza moved out in 2001 and the latter closed its doors in 2006 when Tower Records filed for bankruptcy globally and eventually folded.

### South Korea

Tower Records opened stores in South Korea in the 1990s, with stores in Seoul and Busan. The Seoul branch became part of Synnara Record (now Media Synnara) and is now part of M2U Record, while the Busan branch has closed.

The Seoul branch was used as one of the main filming locations for Seoul Broadcasting System 's 2001 drama Beautiful Days, starring Lee Byung-hun, Choi Ji-woo, Ryu Si-won, Shin Min-a, Lee Jung-hyun and Lee Yoo-jin.

### Taiwan

Tower Records opened three megastores in Taipei, Taiwan in the 1990s. All stores were located in popular areas of Taipei, and became centers of fashion and music during their existence. The stores closed in December 2003.

### Thailand

Tower Records opened stores in Thailand in the 1990s, introducing comprehensive music CD stocking into Thailand for the first time with revolutionary effects on the retail music business. There were several stores in Bangkok, including three megastores inside popular malls. One of the biggest megastores was located on the top floor of CentralWorld mall in central Bangkok. In the 2000s as business declined due to piracy and the downloading revolution, the stores were progressively closed and the remaining ones were eventually sold to another dealer.

### United Kingdom

Tower Records in the UK was originally a London-based concern, with a first store in Kensington High Street in 1984 being followed the next year by a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m) flagship outlet at 9 Piccadilly Circus and later two more smaller outlets at Whiteleys in Bayswater, and Kingston. However, by the start of the 1990s the chain had grown to encompass a number of other stores, with large entertainment stores also selling movies, books, magazines and games in Birmingham and Glasgow, as well as a number of smaller stores that had been purchased from rival American retailer Sam Goody when it had left the UK marketplace (an example of this express format was in Weston-super-Mare).

However, with tough trading conditions in the UK market, as well as the company's trouble in the States, the firm followed Sam Goody in retreating from the UK market. The London stores in Piccadilly and Kensington were sold to Virgin Group in 2003, who for a while traded under the Tower brand at the former site until the store could be fully refurbished, while the other stores were closed. The store was subsequently renamed Zavvi in September 2007 after a management buyout of the Virgin Megastores. Zavvi entered administration in late 2008 and administrators closed the Piccadilly store on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. As of 2017 the site is occuplied by a non-music retailer.

## Documentaries

The 2015 documentary All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records by filmmaker Colin Hanks chronicles the rise and fall of Tower Records, using archival footage and exclusive interviews with former staff, especially Russell Solomon and former COO Stan Goman, as well as celebrity customers Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Dave Grohl.

Another documentary called Art Gods (2013) is an oral history of the development of an influential in-store display design ethic at Tower, originating from the Berkeley location.


Comfort A. Adams

# Comfort A. Adams

## Abstract

Comfort Avery Adams (November 1, 1868 – February 21, 1958) was an American electrical engineer who as a student helped Albert A. Michelson with the Michelson–Morley experiment (1887), which was later viewed as confirming the special relativity theory of Albert Einstein (1905). He was a recipient of the IEEE Edison Medal and AIEE Lamme Medal.

## Biography

Adams was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Comfort Avery Adams Sr. and Katherine Emily Peticolas on November 1, 1868.

"Doc Adams", as he was commonly addressed by his colleagues and friends, received his Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from his alma mater, Case School of Applied Science, in 1925 after having been on the faculty at Harvard College and dean of their engineering school for almost 35 years. He later received his second honorary doctorate from Lehigh University in 1939. By that time he had retired from Harvard. In terms of an all-around American engineer in the early 20th century, Comfort A. Adams comes the closest to being America's answer to Britain's I. K. Brunel.

Adams was president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the American Welding Society. He organized and chaired the Welding Research Council.

Adams married Elizabeth Chassis Parsons in 1894, and they adopted two children. Adams died at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 21, 1958.

## Honors and awards

- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1906)

- Honorary Doctor of Engineering from Case School of Applied Science 1925

- Honorary Doctor of Engineering from Lehigh University (1939)

- Lamme Medalist of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (1940)

- IEEE Edison Medal (1956)

- Delivered the first of the series of Adams Lectures founded in his honor by the American Welding Society

- Samuel Wylie Miller Medal of the American Welding Society (first recipient)

- Long-time member of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Committee, then Honorary Member

- Honorary Member of the International Acetylene Association

- Member of the National Academy of Sciences

## Memberships

- American Institute of Electrical Engineers

- American Society of Mechanical Engineers

- American Society of Civil Engineers

- American Standards Association

- American Engineering Council

- American Society for Metals

- American Society for Testing and Materials

- Society for Promotion of Engineering Education

- American Physical Society

- British Institute of Electrical Engineering

- Verband Deutscher Electrotechniker

- Société Française des Electriciens

- Sigma Xi

- Tau Beta Pi

## Club memberships

- Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts

- Engineers Club, New York

- Engineers' Club of Philadelphia

- Cedarbrook Country Club, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania


Asthma-COPD overlap

# Asthma-COPD overlap

## Abstract

Asthma-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Overlap (ACO), also known as Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome (ACOS), is a chronic inflammatory, obstructive airway disease in which features of both asthma and COPD predominate. Asthma and COPD were once thought of as distinct entities; however, in some, there are clinical features of both asthma and COPD with significant overlap in pathophysiology and symptom profile. It is unclear whether ACO is a separate disease entity or a clinical subtype of asthma and COPD. The pathogenesis of ACO is poorly understood, but it is thought to involve both type 2 inflammation (usually seen in asthma) as well as type 1 inflammation (seen in COPD). The incidence and prevalence of ACO are not well known. The risk factors for ACO are also incompletely understood, but tobacco smoke is known to be a major risk factor.

## Signs and Symptoms

ACO presents with symptoms of both asthma and COPD. ACO presents in adulthood, usually after the age of 40 (after there has been significant tobacco smoke or other toxic fumes exposure), with symptoms of dyspnea (shortness of breath), exercise intolerance, sputum production, cough and episodes of symptomatic worsening known as exacerbations.

## Cause

A history of significant and persistent noxious fumes exposure is required for the diagnosis of COPD; therefore, it is also required for the diagnosis of ACO. This can be due to tobacco smoking, indoor air pollution or outdoor air pollution.

## Pathophysiology

ACOS presents with features of both asthma and COPD. Both asthma and COPD (as well as ACO) present with exacerbations, periods where symptoms deteriorate, with marked reductions in airflow. However, in asthma, the airflow limitation usually completely resolves after exacerbations, whereas in COPD it may not. ACO presents with a chronic airflow limitation or obstruction (due to inflammation), with characteristics of both asthma and COPD. Inflammation of the large and medium airways (classically seen with asthma) is seen in ACO. This consists of bronchoconstriction due to smooth muscle spasm as well as smooth muscle hyperresponsiveness (due to allergens or irritants) causing obstruction of airflow. Mucus production and inflammation in the airways can also cause airflow obstruction in asthma.

Features of COPD (which includes the subtypes of chronic bronchitis and COPD) are also seen in ACO. These include the features of chronic bronchitis such as inflammation of the small airways and mucus production or hypersecretion. Peribronchial inflammation may lead to fibrosis (obliterative bronchiolitis) as well as features of emphysema, including inflammation leading to alveolar destruction resulting in lung hyperinflation and air trapping.

## Diagnosis

There are no widely accepted diagnostic criteria for ACO. However, the diagnosis requires clinical features of both asthma and COPD. One diagnostic criteria, based on expert consensus, first described in 2016, requires the presence of three major and at least one minor criteria for the diagnosis of ACO. The major criteria are: a persistent airflow limitation (a ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second divided by forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) of less than 0.7 or below the lower limit of normal), a significant exposure history to tobacco smoke (defined as a greater than 10-pack/year history), or significant exposure to other indoor or outdoor air pollution, and a documented history of asthma or a significant improvement in FEV1 (of greater than 400mL) to an inhaled bronchodilator. The minor criteria include a history of atopy or allergic rhinitis, a more limited response to an inhaled bronchodilator (greater than 200 mL improvement in the FEV1 or a 12% improvement from baseline), and peripheral blood eosinophils greater than 300 cells/μL. Spirometry (documenting obstruction) is required for the diagnosis of ACO.

In those with asthma, some features often seen in COPD that may aid in the diagnosis of ACO include emphysema seen on imaging or a decreased diffusion capacity (DLCO) indicating significant lung tissue damage. In those with COPD, other features often seen in asthma that may aid in the diagnosis of ACO include an increase in the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), a marker that is specific to the degree of airway inflammation in those with asthma, or increased levels of IgE (either total IgE or specific to inhaled antigens).

## Treatment

Treatment of ACO is based on expert opinion as there are no universally accepted clinical guidelines. Treatment is usually based on whether clinical features of asthma or COPD predominate. Inhaled corticosteroids are the primary treatment in those with ACOS. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) should be continued in those with asthma who develop decreased airway responsiveness to bronchodilators consistent with ACO. Therapy can be escalated to include a long-acting beta-agonist (LABA) and inhaled steroid combination (ICS-LABA) or by adding on a long-acting anti-muscarinic inhaler (LAMA), known as triple therapy, in those with more severe or resistant disease.

Monoclonal antibodies targeting type 2 inflammation (which is predominant in asthma) have been used to treat severe asthma, and may also be used in severe cases of ACO. These monoclonal antibodies include omalizumab (an Anti-IgE antibody), mepolizumab (an anti-IL-5 antibody) and benralizumab (an anti-IL-5 receptor α antibody). People with ACOS and eosinophilia have a better response to ICS, with fewer exacerbations and hospitalizations seen in ACOS treated with long-term ICS. Systemic corticosteroids (intravenous or oral steroids) may be used during exacerbations of ACOS.

## Prognosis

The progression of permanent airflow obstruction (as measured by the rate of FEV1 decline) is slower in ACO as compared to COPD, but ACO with late-onset asthma is associated with a more rapid FEV1 decline (a more rapid progression of obstruction) and a worse prognosis. ACO with late-onset asthma is associated with a higher mortality as compared to COPD, asthma or healthy controls. Excluding ACO with late-onset asthma, ACO has better survival (lower mortality) than COPD, but higher mortality compared to asthma. In other studies, ACO was associated with worse dyspnea symptoms, more coughing, wheezing, and sputum production, as well as more frequent and more severe exacerbations as compared to COPD or asthma.

## Epidemiology

Due to heterogeneity of diagnostic criteria and a paucity of clinical trials, the prevalence of ACO is not well known. Based on a meta analysis, the prevalence of ACO in the general population is estimated to be 2%, whereas the prevalence of ACO in those with asthma is 26.5% and in those with COPD it is 29.6%.