Russian language

# Russian language

## Abstract

Russian is an East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is the native language of the Russians. It was the de facto and de jure official language of the former Soviet Union. Russian has remained an official language of the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and is still commonly used as a lingua franca in Ukraine, Moldova, the Caucuses, Central Asia, and to a lesser extent in the Baltic states and Israel.

Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide. It is the most spoken native language in Europe, the most spoken Slavic language, as well as the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia. It is the world's seventh-most spoken language by number of native speakers, and the world's ninth-most spoken language by total number of speakers. Russian is one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station, one of the six official languages of the United Nations, as well as the fourth most widely used language on the Internet.

Russian is written using the Russian alphabet of the Cyrillic script; it distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without—the so-called "soft" and "hard" sounds. Almost every consonant has a hard or soft counterpart, and the distinction is a prominent feature of the language. Another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Stress, which is often unpredictable, is not normally indicated orthographically, though an optional acute accent may be used to mark stress – such as to distinguish between homographic words (e.g. замо́к and за́мок), or to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words or names.

## Classification

Russian is an East Slavic language of the wider Indo-European family. It is a descendant of Old East Slavic, a language used in Kievan Rus', which was a loose conglomerate of East Slavic tribes from the late 9th to the mid-13th centuries. From the point of view of spoken language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn, the other three languages in the East Slavic branch. In many places in eastern and southern Ukraine and throughout Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably, and in certain areas traditional bilingualism resulted in language mixtures such as Surzhyk in eastern Ukraine and Trasianka in Belarus. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although it vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is sometimes considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. Also, Russian has notable lexical similarities with Bulgarian due to a common Church Slavonic influence on both languages, but because of later interaction in the 19th and 20th centuries, Bulgarian grammar differs markedly from Russian.

Over the course of centuries, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have also been influenced by Western and Central European languages such as Greek, Latin, Polish, Dutch, German, French, Italian, and English, and to a lesser extent the languages to the south and the east: Uralic, Turkic, Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew.

According to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, Russian is classified as a level III language in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers, requiring approximately 1,100 hours of immersion instruction to achieve intermediate fluency.

## Standard Russian

Feudal divisions and conflicts created obstacles between the Russian principalities before and especially during Mongol rule. This strengthened dialectal differences, and for a while, prevented the emergence of a standardized national language. The formation of the unified and centralized Russian state in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the gradual re-emergence of a common political, economic, and cultural space created the need for a common standard language. The initial impulse for standardization came from the government bureaucracy for the lack of a reliable tool of communication in administrative, legal, and judicial affairs became an obvious practical problem. The earliest attempts at standardizing Russian were made based on the so-called Moscow official or chancery language, during the 15th to 17th centuries. Since then, the trend of language policy in Russia has been standardization in both the restricted sense of reducing dialectical barriers between ethnic Russians, and the broader sense of expanding the use of Russian alongside or in favour of other languages.

The current standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language (современный русский литературный язык – "sovremenny russky literaturny yazyk"). It arose at the beginning of the 18th century with the modernization reforms of the Russian state under the rule of Peter the Great and developed from the Moscow (Middle or Central Russian) dialect substratum under the influence of some of the previous century's Russian chancery language.

Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, the spoken form of the Russian language was that of the nobility and the urban bourgeoisie. Russian peasants, the great majority of the population, continued to speak in their own dialects. However, the peasants' speech was never systematically studied, as it was generally regarded by philologists as simply a source of folklore and an object of curiosity. This was acknowledged by the noted Russian dialectologist Nikolai Karinsky, who toward the end of his life wrote: "Scholars of Russian dialects mostly studied phonetics and morphology. Some scholars and collectors compiled local dictionaries. We have almost no studies of lexical material or the syntax of Russian dialects."

After 1917, Marxist linguists had no interest in the multiplicity of peasant dialects and regarded their language as a relic of the rapidly disappearing past that was not worthy of scholarly attention. Nakhimovsky quotes the Soviet academicians A.M Ivanov and L.P Yakubinsky, writing in 1930:

The language of peasants has a motley diversity inherited from feudalism. On its way to becoming proletariat peasantry brings to the factory and the industrial plant their local peasant dialects with their phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary, and the very process of recruiting workers from peasants and the mobility of the worker population generate another process: the liquidation of peasant inheritance by way of leveling the particulars of local dialects. On the ruins of peasant multilingual, in the context of developing heavy industry, a qualitatively new entity can be said to emerge—the general language of the working class... capitalism has the tendency of creating the general urban language of a given society.

## Geographic distribution

In 2010, there were 259.8 million speakers of Russian in the world: in Russia – 137.5 million, in the CIS and Baltic countries – 93.7 million, in Eastern Europe – 12.9 million, Western Europe – 7.3 million, Asia – 2.7 million, in the Middle East and North Africa – 1.3 million, Sub-Saharan Africa – 0.1 million, Latin America – 0.2 million, U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – 4.1 million speakers. Therefore, the Russian language is the seventh-largest in the world by the number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi -Urdu, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Portuguese.

Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a popular choice for both Russian as a second language (RSL) and native speakers in Russia, and in many former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics.

### Europe

In Belarus, Russian is a second state language alongside Belarusian per the Constitution of Belarus. 77% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 67% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. According to the 2019 Belarusian census, out of 9,413,446 inhabitants of the country, 5,094,928 (54.1% of the total population) named Belarusian as their native language, with 61.2% of ethnic Belarusians and 54.5% of ethnic Poles declaring Belarusian as their native language. In everyday life in the Belarusian society the Russian language prevails, so according to the 2019 census 6,718,557 people (71.4% of the total population) stated that they speak Russian at home, for ethnic Belarusians this share is 61.4%, for Russians — 97.2%, for Ukrainians — 89.0%, for Poles — 52.4%, and for Jews — 96.6%; 2,447,764 people (26.0% of the total population) stated that the language they usually speak at home is Belarusian, among ethnic Belarusians this share is 28.5%; the highest share of those who speak Belarusian at home is among ethnic Poles — 46.0%.

In Estonia, Russian is spoken by 29.6% of the population, according to a 2011 estimate from the World Factbook, and is officially considered a foreign language. School education in the Russian language is a very contentious point in Estonian politics, and in 2022, the parliament approved a bill to close up all Russian language schools and kindergartens by the school year. The transition to only Estonian language schools and kindergartens will start in the 2024-2025 school year.

In Latvia, Russian is officially considered a foreign language. 55% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 26% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. On 18 February 2012, Latvia held a constitutional referendum on whether to adopt Russian as a second official language. According to the Central Election Commission, 74.8% voted against, 24.9% voted for and the voter turnout was 71.1%. Starting in 2019, instruction in Russian will be gradually discontinued in private colleges and universities in Latvia, and in general instruction in Latvian public high schools. On 29 September 2022, Saeima passed in the final reading amendments that state that all schools and kindergartens in the country are to transition to education in Latvian. From 2025, all children will be taught in Latvian only. On 28 September 2023, Latvian deputies approved The National Security Concept, according to which from 1 January 2026, all content created by Latvian public media (including LSM) should be only in Latvian or a language that "belongs to the European cultural space". The financing of Russian-language content by the state will cease, which the concept says create a "unified information space". However, one inevitable consequence would be the closure of public media broadcasts in Russian on LTV and Latvian Radio, as well as the closure of LSM's Russian-language service.

In Lithuania, Russian has no official or legal status, but the use of the language has some presence in certain areas. A large part of the population, especially the older generations, can speak Russian as a foreign language. However, English has replaced Russian as lingua franca in Lithuania and around 80% of young people speak English as their first foreign language. In contrast to the other two Baltic states, Lithuania has a relatively small Russian-speaking minority (5.0% as of 2008). According to the 2011 Lithuanian census, Russian was the native language for 7.2% of the population.

In Moldova, Russian was considered to be the language of interethnic communication under a Soviet-era law. On 21 January 2021, the Constitutional Court of Moldova declared the law unconstitutional and deprived Russian of the status of the language of interethnic communication. 50% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 19% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. According to the 2014 Moldovan census, Russians accounted for 4.1% of Moldova's population, 9.4% of the population declared Russian as their native language, and 14.5% said they usually spoke Russian.

According to the 2010 census in Russia, Russian language skills were indicated by 138 million people (99.4% of the respondents), while according to the 2002 census – 142.6 million people (99.2% of the respondents).

In Ukraine, Russian is a significant minority language. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 14,400,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 29 million active speakers. 65% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 38% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work. On 5 September 2017, Ukraine's Parliament passed a new education law which requires all schools to teach at least partially in Ukrainian, with provisions while allow indigenous languages and languages of national minorities to be used alongside the national language. The law faced criticism from officials in Russia and Hungary. The 2019 Law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" gives priority to the Ukrainian language in more than 30 spheres of public life: in particular in public administration, media, education, science, culture, advertising, services. The law does not regulate private communication. A poll conducted in March 2022 by RATING in the territory controlled by Ukraine found that 83% of the respondents believe that Ukrainian should be the only state language of Ukraine. This opinion dominates in all macro-regions, age and language groups. On the other hand, before the war, almost a quarter of Ukrainians were in favour of granting Russian the status of the state language, while after the beginning of Russia's invasion the support for the idea dropped to just 7%. In peacetime, the idea of raising the status of Russian was traditionally supported by residents of the south and east. But even in these regions, only a third of the respondents were in favour, and after Russia's full-scale invasion, their number dropped by almost half. According to the survey carried out by RATING in August 2023 in the territory controlled by Ukraine and among the refugees, almost 60% of the polled usually speak Ukrainian at home, about 30% – Ukrainian and Russian, only 9% – Russian. Since March 2022, the use of Russian in everyday life has been noticeably decreasing. For 82% of respondents, Ukrainian is their mother tongue, and for 16%, Russian is their mother tongue. IDPs and refugees living abroad are more likely to use both languages for communication or speak Russian. Nevertheless, more than 70% of IDPs and refugees consider Ukrainian to be their native language.

In the 20th century, Russian was a mandatory language taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR. According to the Eurobarometer 2005 survey, fluency in Russian remains fairly high (20–40%) in some countries, in particular former Warsaw Pact countries.

### Asia

In Armenia, Russian has no official status, but it is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. 30% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 2% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work.

In Azerbaijan, Russian has no official status, but is a lingua franca of the country. 26% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 5% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work.

In China, Russian has no official status, but it is spoken by the small Russian communities in the northeastern Heilongjiang and the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Russian was also the main foreign language taught in school in China between 1949 and 1964.

In Georgia, Russian has no official status, but it is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Russian is the language of 9% of the population according to the World Factbook. Ethnologue cites Russian as the country's de facto working language.

In Kazakhstan, Russian is not a state language, but according to article 7 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan its usage enjoys equal status to that of the Kazakh language in state and local administration. The 2009 census reported that 10,309,500 people, or 84.8% of the population aged 15 and above, could read and write well in Russian, and understand the spoken language. In October 2023, Kazakhstan drafted a media law aimed at increasing the use of the Kazakh language over Russian, the law stipulates that the share of the state language on television and radio should increase from 50% to 70%, at a rate of 5% per year, starting in 2025.

In Kyrgyzstan, Russian is a co-official language per article 5 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan. The 2009 census states that 482,200 people speak Russian as a native language, or 8.99% of the population. Additionally, 1,854,700 residents of Kyrgyzstan aged 15 and above fluently speak Russian as a second language, or 49.6% of the population in the age group.

In Tajikistan, Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication under the Constitution of Tajikistan and is permitted in official documentation. 28% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 7% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work. The World Factbook notes that Russian is widely used in government and business.

In Turkmenistan, Russian lost its status as the official lingua franca in 1996. Among 12% of the population who grew up in the Soviet era can speak Russian, other generations of citizens that do not have any knowledge of Russian. Primary and secondary education by Russian is almost non-existent.

In Uzbekistan, Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication. It has some official roles, being permitted in official documentation and is the lingua franca of the country and the language of the elite. Russian is spoken by 14.2% of the population according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook.

In 2005, Russian was the most widely taught foreign language in Mongolia, and was compulsory in Year 7 onward as a second foreign language in 2006.

Around 1.5 million Israelis spoke Russian as of 2017. The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian and there are Russian newspapers, television stations, schools, and social media outlets based in the country. There is an Israeli TV channel mainly broadcasting in Russian with Israel Plus. See also Russian language in Israel.

Russian is also spoken as a second language by a small number of people in Afghanistan.

In Vietnam, Russian has been added in the elementary curriculum along with Chinese and Japanese and were named as "first foreign languages" for Vietnamese students to learn, on equal footing with English.

### North America

The Russian language was first introduced in North America when Russian explorers voyaged into Alaska and claimed it for Russia during the 18th century. Although most Russian colonists left after the United States bought the land in 1867, a handful stayed and preserved the Russian language in this region to this day, although only a few elderly speakers of this unique dialect are left. In Nikolaevsk, Alaska, Russian is more spoken than English. Sizable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America, especially in large urban centers of the US and Canada, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane, Toronto, Calgary, Baltimore, Miami, Portland, Chicago, Denver, and Cleveland. In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, and live in ethnic enclaves (especially the generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early 1960s). Only about 25% of them are ethnic Russians, however. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the overwhelming majority of Russophones in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in New York City were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterward, the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union changed the statistics somewhat, with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians immigrating along with some more Russian Jews and Central Asians. According to the United States Census, in 2007 Russian was the primary language spoken in the homes of over 850,000 individuals living in the United States.

## As an international language

Russian is one of the official languages (or has similar status and interpretation must be provided into Russian) of the following:

- United Nations

- International Atomic Energy Agency

- World Health Organization

- International Civil Aviation Organization

- UNESCO

- World Intellectual Property Organization

- International Telecommunication Union

- World Meteorological Organization

- Food and Agriculture Organization

- International Fund for Agricultural Development

- International Criminal Court

- International Olympic Committee

- Universal Postal Union

- World Bank

- Commonwealth of Independent States

- Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

- Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

- Eurasian Economic Community

- Collective Security Treaty Organization

- Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

- International Organization for Standardization

- International Mathematical Olympiad

The Russian language is also one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station – NASA astronauts who serve alongside Russian cosmonauts usually take Russian language courses. This practice goes back to the Apollo–Soyuz mission, which first flew in 1975.

In March 2013, Russian was found to be the second-most used language on websites after English. Russian was the language of 5.9% of all websites, slightly ahead of German and far behind English (54.7%). Russian was used not only on 89.8% of.ru sites, but also on 88.7% of sites with the former Soviet Union domain.su. Websites in former Soviet Union member states also used high levels of Russian: 79.0% in Ukraine, 86.9% in Belarus, 84.0% in Kazakhstan, 79.6% in Uzbekistan, 75.9% in Kyrgyzstan and 81.8% in Tajikistan. However, Russian was the sixth-most used language on the top 1,000 sites, behind English, Chinese, French, German, and Japanese.

## Dialects

Despite leveling after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary and phonetics, a number of dialects still exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of Russian into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with Moscow lying on the zone of transition between the two. Others divide the language into three groupings, Northern, Central (or Middle), and Southern, with Moscow lying in the Central region.

The Northern Russian dialects and those spoken along the Volga River typically pronounce unstressed /o/ clearly, a phenomenon called okanye (оканье). Besides the absence of vowel reduction, some dialects have high or diphthongal /e⁓i̯ɛ/ in place of Proto-Slavic * ě and /o⁓u̯ɔ/ in stressed closed syllables (as in Ukrainian) instead of Standard Russian /e/ and /o/, respectively. Another Northern dialectal morphological feature is a post-posed definite article -to, -ta, -te similar to that existing in Bulgarian and Macedonian.

In the Southern Russian dialects, instances of unstressed /e/ and /a/ following palatalized consonants and preceding a stressed syllable are not reduced to (as occurs in the Moscow dialect), being instead pronounced in such positions (e.g. несл и is pronounced, not) – this is called yakanye (яканье). Consonants include a fricative /ɣ/, a semivowel /w⁓u̯/ and /x⁓xv⁓xw/, whereas the Standard and Northern dialects have the consonants /ɡ/, /v/, and final /l/ and /f/, respectively. The morphology features a palatalized final /tʲ/ in 3rd person forms of verbs (this is unpalatalized in the Standard and Northern dialects).

## Comparison with other Slavic languages

During the Proto-Slavic (Common Slavic) times all Slavs spoke one mutually intelligible language or group of dialects. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, and a moderate degree of it in all modern Slavic languages, at least at the conversational level.

## Derived languages

- Balachka, a Ukrainian dialect spoken in Krasnodar region, Don, Kuban, and Terek, brought by relocated Cossacks in 1793 and is based on the so-called "southwest Russian" dialect (Ukrainian dialect). During the Russification of the aforementioned regions in the 1920s to 1950s, it was replaced by the Russian language.

- Esperanto has some words of Russian and Slavic origin and some features of its grammar could be derived from Russian.

- Fenya, a criminal argot of ancient origin, with Russian grammar, but with distinct vocabulary

- Lojban, Russian is one of its six source languages, weighed for the number of Russian speakers in 1985.

- Medny Aleut language, an extinct mixed language that was spoken on Bering Island and is characterized by its Aleut nouns and Russian verbs

- Padonkaffsky jargon, a slang language developed by padonki of Runet

- Quelia, a macaronic language with Russian-derived basic structure and part of the lexicon (mainly nouns and verbs) borrowed from German

- Runglish, a Russian-English pidgin. This word is also used by English speakers to describe the way in which Russians attempt to speak English using Russian morphology or syntax.

- Russenorsk, an extinct pidgin language with mostly Russian vocabulary and mostly Norwegian grammar, used for communication between Russians and Norwegian traders in the Pomor trade in Finnmark and the Kola Peninsula

- Surzhyk, a range of mixed (macaronic) sociolects of Ukrainian and Russian languages used in certain regions of Ukraine and adjacent lands.

- Trasianka, a heavily russified variety of Belarusian used by a large portion of the rural population in Belarus

- Taimyr Pidgin Russian, spoken by the Nganasan on the Taimyr Peninsula

## Alphabet

Russian is written using a Cyrillic alphabet. The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The following table gives their forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound:

Older letters of the Russian alphabet include ⟨ ѣ ⟩, which merged to ⟨ е ⟩ (/je/ or /ʲe/); ⟨ і ⟩ and ⟨ ѵ ⟩, which both merged to ⟨ и ⟩ (/i/); ⟨ ѳ ⟩, which merged to ⟨ ф ⟩ (/f/); ⟨ ѫ ⟩, which merged to ⟨ у ⟩ (/u/); ⟨ ѭ ⟩, which merged to ⟨ ю ⟩ (/ju/ or /ʲu/); and ⟨ ѧ ⟩ and ⟨ ѩ ⟩, which later were graphically reshaped into ⟨ я ⟩ and merged phonetically to /ja/ or /ʲa/. While these older letters have been abandoned at one time or another, they may be used in this and related articles. The yers ⟨ ъ ⟩ and ⟨ ь ⟩ originally indicated the pronunciation of ultra-short or reduced /ŭ/, /ĭ/.

### Transliteration

Because of many technical restrictions in computing and also because of the unavailability of Cyrillic keyboards abroad, Russian is often transliterated using the Latin alphabet. For example, мороз ('frost') is transliterated moroz, and мышь ('mouse'), mysh or myš'. Once commonly used by the majority of those living outside Russia, transliteration is being used less frequently by Russian-speaking typists in favor of the extension of Unicode character encoding, which fully incorporates the Russian alphabet. Free programs are available offering this Unicode extension, which allow users to type Russian characters, even on Western 'QWERTY' keyboards.

### Computing

The Russian language was first introduced to computing after the M-1, and MESM models were produced in 1951.

### Orthography

According to the Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an optional acute accent (знак ударения) may, and sometimes should, be used to mark stress. For example, it is used to distinguish between otherwise identical words, especially when context does not make it obvious: замо́к (zamók – "lock") – за́мок (zámok – "castle"), сто́ящий (stóyashchy – "worthwhile") – стоя́щий (stoyáshchy – "standing"), чудно́ (chudnó – "this is odd") – чу́дно (chúdno – "this is marvellous"), молоде́ц (molodéts – "well done!") – мо́лодец (mólodets – "fine young man"), узна́ю (uznáyu – "I shall learn it") – узнаю́ (uznayú – "I recognize it"), отреза́ть (otrezát – "to be cutting") – отре́зать (otrézat – "to have cut"); to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words, especially personal and family names, like афе́ра (aféra, "scandal, affair"), гу́ру (gúru, "guru"), Гарси́я (García), Оле́ша (Olésha), Фе́рми (Fermi), and to show which is the stressed word in a sentence, for example Ты́ съел печенье? (Tý syel pechenye? – "Was it you who ate the cookie?") – Ты съе́л печенье? (Ty syél pechenye? – "Did you eat the cookie?) – Ты съел пече́нье? (Ty syel pechénye? "Was it the cookie you ate?"). Stress marks are mandatory in lexical dictionaries and books for children or Russian learners.

## Phonology

The Russian syllable structure can be quite complex, with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to four consecutive sounds. Using a formula with V standing for the nucleus (vowel) and C for each consonant, the maximal structure can be described as follows:

(C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)

### Consonants

Russian is notable for its distinction based on palatalization of most of its consonants. The phoneme / ts / is generally considered to be always hard; however, loan words such as Цюрих and some other neologisms contain / tsʲ / through the word-building processes (e.g. фрицёнок, шпицята). Palatalization means that the center of the tongue is raised during and after the articulation of the consonant. In the case of /tʲ/ and /dʲ/, the tongue is raised enough to produce slight frication (affricate sounds; cf. Belarusian ць, дзь, or Polish ć, dź). The sounds /t, d, ts, s, z, n, rʲ/ are dental, that is, pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the teeth rather than against the alveolar ridge. According to some linguists, the "plain" consonants are velarized as in Irish, something which is most noticeable when it involves a labial before a hard vowel, such as мы, /mˠɨː/, "we", or бэ, /bˠɛ/, "the letter Б".

### Vowels

Russian has five or six vowels in stressed syllables, /i, u, e, o, a/, and in some analyses /ɨ/, but in most cases these vowels have merged to only two to four vowels when unstressed: /i, u, a/ (or /ɨ, u, a/) after hard consonants and /i, u/ after soft ones. These vowels have several allophones, which are displayed on the diagram to the right.

## Grammar

Russian has preserved an Indo-European synthetic - inflectional structure, although considerable leveling has occurred.Russian grammar encompasses:

- a highly fusional morphology

- a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements: a polished vernacular foundation; a Church Slavonic inheritance; a Western European style.

- a polished vernacular foundation;

- a Church Slavonic inheritance;

- a Western European style.

The spoken language has been influenced by the literary one but continues to preserve characteristic forms. The dialects show various non-standard grammatical features.

In terms of actual grammar, there are three tenses in Russian – past, present, and future – and each verb has two aspects (perfective and imperfective). Russian nouns each have a gender – either feminine, masculine, or neuter, chiefly indicated by spelling at the end of the word. Words change depending on both their gender and function in the sentence. Russian has six cases: Nominative (for the grammatical subject), Accusative (for direct objects), Dative (for indirect objects), Genitive (to indicate possession or relation), Instrumental (to indicate 'with' or 'by means of'), and Prepositional (used after the locative prepositions в "in", на "on", о "about", при "in the presence of"). Verbs of motion in Russian – such as 'go', 'walk', 'run', 'swim', and 'fly' – use the imperfective or perfective form to indicate a single or return trip, and also use a multitude of prefixes to add shades of meaning to the verb. Such verbs also take on different forms to distinguish between concrete and abstract motion.

## Vocabulary

The number of listed words or entries in some of the major dictionaries published during the past two centuries, are as follows:

## History and literary language

No single periodization is universally accepted, but the history of the Russian language is sometimes divided into the following periods:

- Old Russian or Old East Slavic (until the 14th or 15th century)

- Middle Russian (14th or 15th century until the 17th or 18th century)

- Modern Russian (17th century or 18th century to the present)

The history of the Russian language is also divided into Old Russian from the 11th to 17th centuries, followed by Modern Russian.

The political reforms of Peter the Great (Пётр Вели́кий, Pyótr Velíky) were accompanied by a reform of the alphabet, and achieved their goal of secularization and Westernization. Blocks of specialized vocabulary were adopted from the languages of Western Europe. By 1800, a significant portion of the gentry spoke French daily, and German sometimes. Many Russian novels of the 19th century, e.g. Leo Tolstoy 's (Лев Толсто́й) War and Peace, contain entire paragraphs and even pages in French with no translation given, with an assumption that educated readers would not need one.

The modern literary language is usually considered to date from the time of Alexander Pushkin (Алекса́ндр Пу́шкин) in the first third of the 19th century. Pushkin revolutionized Russian literature by rejecting archaic grammar and vocabulary (so-called высо́кий стиль — "high style") in favor of grammar and vocabulary found in the spoken language of the time. Even modern readers of younger age may only experience slight difficulties understanding some words in Pushkin's texts, since relatively few words used by Pushkin have become archaic or changed meaning. In fact, many expressions used by Russian writers of the early 19th century, in particular Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov (Михаи́л Ле́рмонтов), Nikolai Gogol (Никола́й Го́голь), Aleksander Griboyedov (Алекса́ндр Грибое́дов), became proverbs or sayings which can be frequently found even in modern Russian colloquial speech.

During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice. Though each of the constituent republics had its own official language, the unifying role and superior status was reserved for Russian, although it was declared the official language only in 1990. Following the break-up of the USSR in 1991, several of the newly independent states have encouraged their native languages, which has partly reversed the privileged status of Russian, though its role as the language of post-Soviet national discourse throughout the region has continued.

The Russian language in the world declined after 1991 due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and decrease in the number of Russians in the world and diminution of the total population in Russia (where Russian is an official language), however this has since been reversed.

According to figures published in 2006 in the journal " Demoskop Weekly " research deputy director of Research Center for Sociological Research of the Ministry of Education and Science (Russia) Arefyev A. L., the Russian language is gradually losing its position in the world in general, and in Russia in particular. In 2012, A. L. Arefyev published a new study "Russian language at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries", in which he confirmed his conclusion about the trend of weakening of the Russian language after the Soviet Union's collapse in various regions of the world (findings published in 2013 in the journal " Demoskop Weekly "). In the countries of the former Soviet Union the Russian language was being replaced or used in conjunction with local languages. Currently, the number of speakers of Russian in the world depends on the number of Russians in the world and total population in Russia.

## Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Russian:

Все люди рождаются свободными и равными в своем достоинстве и правах. Они наделены разумом и совестью и должны поступать в отношении друг друга в духе братства.

The romanization of the text into Latin alphabet:

Vse lyudi rozhdayutsya svobodnymi i ravnymi v svoyem dostoinstve i pravakh. Oni nadeleny razumom i sovest'yu i dolzhny postupat' v otnoshenii drug druga v dukhe bratstva.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.


The Garage (2006 film)

# The Garage (2006 film)

## Abstract

The Garage is a 2006 American independent film written and directed by Carl Thibault.

## Plot

A mechanic at his father's garage during the late 1970s, Matt dreams about leaving his small town existence and pursuing grander ambitions. But strong feelings for a new girlfriend and deep family ties may prevent Matt's ultimate escape, despite pressure from best friend Schultz to take off immediately.

## Production

The film was shot from October 18, 2004 to October 10, 2005 in Lockhart, Martindale, Red Rock, Richland and Uhland, Texas and Los Angeles, California.

## Critical reception

It was shown at over 85 film festivals where it won 20 awards including the Slate Award for Best Director and Best Picture at the California Independent Film Festival.


Stockton schoolyard shooting

# Stockton schoolyard shooting

## Abstract

The Cleveland Elementary School shooting (also known as the Stockton schoolyard shooting and the Cleveland School massacre) occurred on January 17, 1989, at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, United States, when 24-year-old Patrick Purdy, who had an extended criminal history, shot and killed five students and wounded 32 others. As first responders arrived at the scene, Purdy committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

The attack was the U.S. non-college school shooting with the highest number of fatalities and injuries until the Columbine High School massacre a decade later, and of all U.S. school shootings in the 1980s, it had the largest number of victims. It was also the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in U.S. history until the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.

## Shooting

On Tuesday morning, January 17, 1989, an anonymous person phoned the Stockton Police Department regarding a death threat against Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California. At noon that day, Patrick Purdy, a disturbed drifter and former Stockton resident, began his attack by setting his fireworks-laden Chevrolet station wagon on fire with a Molotov cocktail after parking it behind the school, later causing the vehicle to explode. Purdy went to the school playground, where he began firing with a semi-automatic rifle from behind a portable building. Purdy fired 106 rounds in three minutes.

Purdy committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. He had carved the words "freedom", "victory", "Earthman", and " Hezbollah " on his rifle, and his flak jacket was inscribed with " PLO ", " Libya ", and "Death to the Great Satin".

## Victims

The shooting killed five children and wounded about thirty others, including a teacher. All of those who died and many of the wounded were Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants, who had come with their families to the U.S. as refugees.

## Perpetrator

Patrick Edward Purdy (November 10, 1964 – January 17, 1989) was an unemployed former welder and drifter. He was born in Tacoma, Washington, to Patrick Benjamin Purdy and Kathleen Purdy (née Toscano). His father was a soldier in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis at the time of his son's birth. When the younger Purdy was two years old, his mother filed for divorce against her husband after he had threatened to kill her with a firearm. Toscano later moved with her son to South Lake Tahoe before settling in Stockton, California. Purdy attended Cleveland Elementary from kindergarten through second grade.

Purdy's mother remarried in September 1969; she divorced her husband four years later. Albert Gulart Sr., Purdy's stepfather, said Purdy was an overly quiet child who cried often. In fall 1973, Kathleen separated from Gulart and moved with her children from Stockton to the Sacramento area. In December of that year, the Sacramento Child Protective Services were twice called to her residence, on allegations that Kathleen was physically abusing her children. When Purdy was thirteen, he struck his mother in the face and was permanently banned from her house. He lived on the streets of San Francisco for a period before being placed in foster care by authorities. He was later placed in the custody of his father, who was living in Lodi, California, at the time. While attending Lodi High School, Purdy became an alcoholic and a drug addict, and attended high school sporadically.

On September 6, 1981, Purdy's father died after being struck by a car. His family filed a wrongful-death suit in San Joaquin Superior Court against the driver of the car, asking for US$ 600,000 in damages; the suit was later dismissed. Purdy accused his mother of taking money his father had left him, using the money to buy a car and taking a vacation to New York City. This incident appeared to deepen the animosity between them. After his father's death, Purdy was briefly homeless, before being placed in the custody of a foster mother in Los Angeles.

Purdy's criminal activities had begun by 1977, when Sacramento police confiscated BB guns from then 12-year-old Purdy. In June 1980, Purdy was first arrested at age 15 for a court-order violation. He was arrested that same month for underage drinking. Purdy was then arrested for prostitution in August 1980, possession of marijuana and drug dealing in 1982, and in 1983 for possession of an illegal weapon and receipt of stolen property. On October 11, 1984, he was arrested for being an accomplice in an armed robbery at a service station, for which he spent 32 days in the Yolo County Jail. In 1986, Kathleen called police after Purdy vandalized her car after she refused to give him money for narcotics.

In April 1987, Purdy and his half-brother Albert were arrested for firing a semi-automatic pistol at trees in the Eldorado National Forest. At the time, he was carrying a book about the white supremacist group Aryan Nations. He told the County Sheriff that it was his "duty to help the suppressed and overthrow the suppressor." In prison, he twice attempted suicide, once by hanging himself with a rope made out of strips of his shirt, and a second time by cutting his wrists with his fingernails. A subsequent psychiatric assessment found him to have a mild mental impairment, and to be a danger to himself and others.

In the fall of 1987, Purdy began attending welding classes at San Joaquin Delta College; he complained about the high percentage of Southeast Asian students there. In October 1987, he left California and drifted among Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Tennessee, searching for jobs. In early 1988, he worked at Numeri Tech, a small machine shop located in Stockton. From July to October 1988, he worked as a boilermaker in Portland, Oregon, living in Sandy with his aunt.

On August 3 in Sandy, he purchased a Chinese-made AK-47 at Sandy Trading Post, which he later used in the shooting. He eventually returned to Stockton and rented a room at the El Rancho Motel on December 26. After the shooting, police found his room decorated with numerous toy soldiers. On December 28, Purdy purchased a Taurus 9mm pistol at the Hunter Loan pawn shop in Stockton.

Police stated that Purdy had problems with alcohol and drug addiction. He talked openly of hatred toward Asian immigrants, believing that they took jobs from "native-born" Americans. According to Purdy's friends, who described him as friendly and never violent toward anyone, he was suicidal at times and frustrated that he failed to "make it on his own". Steve Sloan, a night-shift supervisor at Numeri Tech, said: "He was a real ball of frustration, and was angry about everything." Another one of Purdy's former co-workers stated, "He was always miserable. I've never seen a guy that didn't want to smile as much as he didn't." In a notebook found in a hotel where he lived in early 1988, Purdy wrote about himself in the following terms: "I'm so dumb, I'm dumber than a sixth-grader. My mother and father were dumb."

## Reaction and aftermath

The multiple murders at Stockton received national news coverage and spurred calls for regulation of semiautomatic weapons. "Why could Purdy, an alcoholic who had been arrested for such offenses as selling weapons and attempted robbery, walk into a gun shop in Sandy, Oregon, and leave with an AK-47 under his arm?", Time magazine asked. The article continued: "The easy availability of weapons like this, which have no purpose other than killing human beings, can all too readily turn the delusions of sick gunmen into tragic nightmares." Immediately following the shooting, Michael Jackson made a short visit to the school and met with some of the children affected by the event.

On September 14, 1989 (four months after the shooting) in Louisville, Kentucky, Joseph Wesbacker (who was allegedly inspired by Purdy) shot up his former workplace using an AK-56 that Purdy also used, killing 8 people and injured 12 others before committing suicide. When police raided his house, they found a TIME magazine issue with an article on Purdy.

In California, measures were taken to first define and then ban assault weapons, resulting in the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989. On the federal level, Congressional legislators struggled with a way to ban weapons such as military-style rifles without banning sporting-type rifles. In 1989, the ATF issued a rule citing the lack of "sporting purpose" to ban importation of assault weapons. In July 1989, the G.H.W. Bush Administration made the import ban permanent. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted in 1994, and expired in 2004. President Bill Clinton signed another executive order in 1994 which banned importation of most firearms and ammunition from Mainland China.

## Media

### Literature

### Television

- The 2023 documentary What Will Save Us? - Remembering the Stockton School Shooting focuses upon the Stockton school shooting. Narrated by Alex Bell, this documentary features interviews with many individuals directly impacted by the shooting, including wounded students.


The Girl from the Naked Eye

# The Girl from the Naked Eye

## Abstract

The Girl from the Naked Eye was released in 15 June 2012 in USA neo-noir martial arts film directed and written by David Ren. It stars Jason Yee, Samantha Streets, Ron Yuan, Dominique Swain, Sasha Grey and others.Directed by Chinese-American David Ren (who made well-thought of film Shanghai Kiss)

## Production

The movie was released under Lifted Productions

## Plot

Jake (Jason Yee) is a hired driver for a seedy escort service operating out of "The Naked Eye" Strip Club, and falls for a witty high-class escort named Sandy (Samantha Streets). However, one night Sandy is found dead, with the only clues remaining being records of cell phone calls made the night she was murdered. Jake sets out to avenge Sandy's death by risking everything and walking a bloody path to find her killer.

## Cast

- Jason Yee as Jake

- Samantha Streets as Sandy

- Ron Yuan as Simon

- Dominique Swain as Alissa

- Gary Stretch as Frank

- Jerry C. Ying as Johnny

- Sasha Grey as Lena

- Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Bobby

## Reception

As of June 2020, The Girl from the Naked Eye holds a 40% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews with an average rating of 5.45/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 40 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Mark Holcomb of The Village Voice gave the film a negative review, writing, "Ren is at least savvy enough to make Naked Eye' s pulp inspirations plain... But there are dozens of better, riskier, more interesting films that go unreleased every year—why this militantly dull effort is taking their place is its only worthwhile mystery." Alison Willmore of The A.V. Club stated that the film's cultural twist was interesting, but ultimately called the film a derivative of Miller's Sin City.


Julio Guzmán

# Julio Guzmán

## Abstract

Julio Armando Guzmán Cáceres (born 31 July 1970) is a Peruvian economist, politician, and leader of the Purple Party who ran for President in the 2021 general elections getting just over 2% of valid votes. He was formerly the leader of the All for Peru political party, running for president for the party in the 2016 general elections, but was disqualified, due to the irregularities of the nomination process.

## Early life and education

Julio Armando Guzman Caceres was born on July 31, 1970, in Lima. He is the second youngest of 12 children. His father, an architect by profession, came to Lima from the rural province of Anta in the Cusco Region. His mother is from Celendin in the Cajamarca Region.

Guzman attended Colegio Sagrados Corazones Recoleta high school in Lima. Guzman joined the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, where he studied economics and started a career teaching mathematics. Then he studied for a Master's in Public Policy at Georgetown University and continued graduate studies at the University of Oxford before completing his PhD in Public Policy from the University of Maryland.

## Professional career

He has been an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and the nearby campus of the University of Maryland..

## Political career

Guzmán worked for 10 years at the Inter-American Development Bank as an economist in integration and trade. He left to work as a deputy minister in Peru's Ministry of Labor in the government of Ollanta Humala. In 2012, he was appointed secretary general of Peru's Cabinet under Prime Minister Juan Jiménez Mayor. Guzmán resigned from the government in February 2013.

Later he worked as a representative of the international firm Deloitte in Peru.

### 2016 presidential campaign

Guzman announced he was running for president of Peru in July 2015. He rose in the polls throughout the final months of 2015 until registering 5% of the vote in January. By February 2016, he had risen to 20% of the vote, second to leading candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori. During the campaign in February 2016, two militants from the Spanish left-wing Podemos party accused Julio Guzmán of having copied their presidential campaign.

#### Disqualification

In February 2016, according to a statement from the National Elections Jury, the requests for modification of the electronic registration form of the National Executive Committee (CEN) and the Electoral Tribunal of the political group Todos por el Perú were declared inadmissible. On February 19, the JEE (Special Electoral Jury) ruled inadmissible the candidacy of Julio Guzmán for the 2016 Presidential Elections. However, on February 24, the Lima Center 1 Special Electoral Jury approved the candidacy, after having corrected the observations made and comply with the requirements set forth in the regulations of the Electoral Law.

In March 2016, the National Elections Jury barred him from the election after it found irregularities in the party's internal processes. A later investigation finalized in 2020 found that Guzman's disqualification was a result of corruption by the Cuellos Blancos del Puerto, a Peruvian drug-trafficking network inside the National Jury of Elections. Guzmán has later referred to his disqualification as "the worst moment of his life".

### 2021 presidential campaign

In 2016, Guzman separated from All for Peru and founded the Purple Party. Guzman registered the party in Peru seeking to participate in the 2021 presidential elections. Following allegations surrounding Peruvian officials being involved in the Odebrecht scandal, Guzman stated that the "Odebrecht case is the meteor that will extinguish the dinosaurs" of Peru's political realm.

## Personal life

In 1999, Guzmán married Ximena Caceres del Busto, with whom he has a son and a daughter. They got divorced in 2009. In 2011, he married American citizen Michelle Ertischek, with whom he has two daughters.

In January 2020, a compromising video of Guzman was released in which he was at a romantic lunch with a provincial Purple Party leader. A fire broke out, caused by candles that overheated a television. Guzmán was questioned for having escaped the blaze while leaving his companion behind. Shortly afterwards, he explained that "there was no infidelity and that he owed the explanations to his wife because it was a matter of a private nature" and apologized for the incident.

## Controversies

### Odebrecht scandal

In August 2020, the Lava Jato Special Team of the Public Ministry, which is investigating the Odebrecht case in Peru, opened an investigation into Guzmán for money laundering. The proceedings will be carried out because the candidate would have received 400 thousand dollars as a contribution from the Odebrecht company for the 2016 campaign. Guzmán responded, "it is materially impossible that I have received money from Odebrecht" and described as "absurd" the complaint "of a third party who has the hobby of reporting everyone on the basis of an interview that a ex-congressman gave on a local radio”.


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)


William P. Ennis

# William P. Ennis

## Abstract

William Peirce Ennis Jr. (April 27, 1904 – December 9, 1989) was a career officer in the United States Army who served as commandant of the Army War College and rose to the rank of lieutenant general.

## Early life

Ennis was born on April 27, 1904, at Fort Hamilton, New York, where his father, Lieutenant (later brigadier general) William Peirce Ennis Sr. (1878–1968), was stationed. His mother was Eda (Totten) Ennis. He was a direct descendant of Lieutenant William Ennis who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and was an original member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati.

He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1922 and graduated in 1926. He had strong family ties to West Point as both his father and grandfather, Brigadier General William Ennis, were graduates of West Point. Like his father and grandfather, Ennis was commissioned as an Artillery officer and rose to become a general. On his mother's side of the family, he was the grandson of 1st Lieutenant C.A.L. Totten and the great grandson of Brevet Brigadier General James Totten, both of whom were also graduates of West Point.

## Military career

Ennis married Frances Cassel Dwyer (1903–1994) on April 27, 1927, shortly after his graduation from West Point. He was stationed in the Philippines in the late 1920s. Ennis completed the Battery Officer's Basic Course at the Field Artillery School in 1931 and then served as a tactical officer at West Point from 1931 to 1936.

During World War II, Ennis graduated from the General Staff Course in 1942. He was promoted to colonel in November 1942 and then served in North Africa and Italy. In Italy he served as the assistant commander of the IV Corps Artillery in support of Free French forces. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters for his service during World War II. After the war, he attended the National War College, graduating in 1949.

During the Korean War, he commanded the X Corps Artillery during combat operations. For this service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star and two Air Medals.

He later commanded the division artillery of the 82nd Airborne Division and served with the American delegation to NATO headquarters. He was also commandant of the Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Ennis was promoted to lieutenant general on July 30, 1960, and was assigned as commanding officer of the Weapon Systems Evaluation Group in Washington, D. C. He retired from the Army on August 31, 1962, after 36 years of active service. He was awarded a second Distinguished Service Medal upon his retirement.

## Retirement and death

After his retirement, Ennis lived in Newport, Rhode Island. He died at Massachusetts General Hospital on December 9, 1989, at the age of 85. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

## Awards

- Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster

- Silver Star

- Legion of Merit

- Bronze Star Medal with "V" device and two oak leaf clusters

- Air Medal with oak leaf cluster

- American Defense Service Medal

- European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

- World War II Victory Medal

- National Defense Service Medal

- Korean Service Medal with seven campaign stars

- Korean Presidential Unit Citation

- United Nations Korea Medal

## Dates of rank

- Cadet, USMA – July 1, 1922

- 2nd Lieutenant (RA) – June 12, 1926

- 1st Lieutenant (RA) – December 1, 1931

- Captain (RA) – June 12, 1936

- Major (AUS) – January 31, 1941

- Lieutenant Colonel (AUS) – February 1, 1942

- Colonel (AUS) – November 10, 1942

- Major (RA) – June 12, 1945

- Lieutenant Colonel (RA) –

- Major General (AUS) – February 23, 1950

- Colonel (RA) – May 15, 1950

- Brigadier General (AUS) – April 15, 1951

- Major General (RA) – April 1, 1955

- Lieutenant General (RA) – July 30, 1960

- Retired – July 31, 1962


The Glove (film)

# The Glove (film)

## Abstract

The Glove (also known as The Glove: Lethal Terminator) is a 1979 action film directed by cult actor Ross Hagen and starring John Saxon. Saxon plays a bounty hunter who's given a large sum to track down a vicious ex-convict who has been murdering former prison guards with a large leather-laced steel glove. It was one of several action films Saxon appeared in following Enter the Dragon.

## Plot

Sam Kellog (John Saxon) is an ex-cop who works as a modern day bounty hunter in Los Angeles. He works for bailbondsman Bill Schwartz (Keenan Wynn) and is assigned to bring in ex-convicts and criminals who have skipped bail. Kellog is frustrated over the low amount of money he receives from his jobs. Recently divorced, Kellog's ex-wife is threatening to end weekend visitation rights to their young daughter over missing several alimony payments. One day, Kellog is offered a large, off-the-book $20,000 bounty by his former police commander, Lt. Kruger (Howard Honig) to bring in an ex-convict named Victor Hale (Roosevelt Grier) who is suspected in the murders of various former prison guards in the L.A. area. Hale was brutalized in prison by the guards who used a five-pound, leather-covered, steel glove called the 'riot glove' and has been using a copy of it to murder the prison guards who used to beat him with it. Kellog takes the job, aware that the 20 grand reward will solve all of his financial problems. Harry Iverson (Michael Pataki), a bounty hunter from New York City, arrives and offers to team up with Kellog to find Hale, but Kellog refuses, claiming that he works alone.

Over the course of the film, the action switches back and forth between the lives of the protagonist Kellog, who narrates several aspects of his life, as well as the antagonist Hale, who in between murdering the former prison guards, makes a living as a guitarist in a jazz band, and is popular and well liked among the tenants in the low-income housing project where he lives. Hale soon realizes that Kellog is on his tail when he learns that Kellog has been asking questions about Hale's whereabouts. Hale begins stalking Kellog as well as making phone calls to his house to stop trying to find him.

At the climax, Kellog and Hale finally meet face to face when Kellog tracks Hale to the roof of Hale's apartment building where Hale (whom annoys Kellog during most of the film by addressing him as "hound dog") offers to make bringing him in a challenge by giving Kellog his riot glove to fight him with. Kellog accepts and a brutal and climatic brawl occurs on the roof of the building where both men batter each other senseless. The fight ends in a stalemate when both of them collapse against a wall, exhausted, and Kellog concedes defeat by removing the riot glove. To show that he does not hold any grudge against him, Hale helps Kellog up and begins to escort him from the building until the bounty hunter, Iverson, suddenly shows up and shoots Hale to death. Iverson tells Kellog that the bounty for Victor Hale was to kill him, not to bring him in alive. The residents of the building, after hearing the gunshots, rush up and literally beat Iverson to death for killing "one of their own", leaving behind the battered and bloodied Kellog on the floor. In a final voice-over, Kellog explains that he nevertheless received the $20,000 bounty for Victor Hale and, having used the money to pay off all of his debts, was able to regain visitation rights to his daughter.

## Cast

- John Saxon as Sam Kellog

- Roosevelt Grier (credited as Rosey Grier) as Victor Hale

- Joanna Cassidy as Sheila Michaels

- Joan Blondell as Mrs. Fitzgerald

- Jack Carter as Walter Stratton

- Aldo Ray as Tiny

- Keenan Wynn as Bill Schwartz

- Howard Honig as Lt. Kruger

- Michael Pataki as Harry Iverson


E.G. Franz Sauer

# E.G. Franz Sauer

## Abstract

Edgar Gustav Franz Sauer (September 4, 1925 - 1979), often rendered E.G. Franz Sauer, was a German ornithologist. He and his wife, Eleanor Sauer, experimented in the 1950s on warblers and how they orient at night. They kept warblers during Zugunruhe in circular cages with a glass bottom and watched the direction they pointed when they tried to fly. They discovered that on starry nights the birds attempted to go towards their appropriate migratory direction, but on cloudy nights they were less active and less precise. This led to the theory that the warblers were trying to migrate using the stars. They tested, and proved, this hypothesis using a homemade planetarium. When the stars in the planetarium disappeared, the birds were disoriented.

## Early life and education

Sauer was born in Mannheim, Germany on September 4, 1925. His doctoral degree was from University of Freiberg. His dissertation compared behavior patterns of European whitethroats living in the wild versus captivity.

## Publications

- Franz Sauer and Eleonore Sauer, "Zur Frage der nachtlichen Zugorientierung von Grasmucken," Revue Suisse de Zoologie 62 (1955): 250-259

- Franz Sauer, "Zugorientierung einer Monchsgrasmucke (Sylvia a. atricapilla, L.) unter kunstlichem Strenhimmel," Die Naturwissenschaften 43 (1956): 231-232

- E.G. Franz Sauer and Eleonore M. Sauer, "Star Navigation of Noctunally Migrating Birds: The 1958 Planetarium Experiments," Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 25 (1960): 463-473

- E.G. Franz Sauer, "Further Studies on the Stellar Oriantation of Nocturnally Migrating Birds," Psychologische Forschung 26 (1961): 224-244

- E.G. F. Sauer, "Celestial Navigation by Birds," Scientific American. August 1958, 42-47


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 as part of their HDVS line, 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.


Tri-City Railroad

# Tri-City Railroad

## Abstract

The Tri-City Railroad (TCRY) was a privately owned Class III railroad founded by Randolph Peterson in 1999.

The rail line Tri-City Railroad operates on is located in Richland, Washington and owned by the Port of Benton. Called the Southern Connection, it was constructed between 1949 and 1950 as a link to the rail lines inside the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Tri-City Railroad contracted with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2005 to assist in developing the Radiation Portal Monitoring System technology for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's use at railroad border crossings nationwide. In 2014, it contracted with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to assist in testing for shock and vibration in the movement of spent nuclear fuel by rail.

In 2011, Tri-City began operating on Mare Island in California.

In June 2022, the Port of Benton ended its relationship with Tri-City Railroad after a Benton County court found it had breached the terms of its 2002 lease and failed to maintain the tracks. The railroad ceased operations in July 2022.